Thomas Alexander Stewart was born in Ireland and worked for the firm of Robert Reid and Son, which manufactured linen, cotton and silk. When the company ran into financial trouble, and eventual bankruptcy, Thomas and his wife, Frances Browne Stewart (1794-1872), emigrated to Canada with their children and Thomas' brother-in-law and former business partner, Robert Reid and his family. The party of 27 set sail from Belfast Lough on June 1, 1822. Seven weeks were spent on the ship before reaching Quebec. From Quebec they travelled to Kingston, and then on to York, where Stewart and Reid were each granted 1200 acres, provided they settled in an unsurveyed township. Douro Township in Peterborough County was suggested as a promising region. On September 9, 1822, Stewart and Reid travelled to the area with surveyor Richard Birdsall, and each chose land on the Otonabee River. Thomas Stewart became a prominent and influential citizen in the area and died in 1847 from typhoid fever. Extensive biographical information on the Stewart family, plus friends, neighbours, and associates, may be found in accession [02-001]:https://www.trentu.ca/library/archives/02-001
Thomas B. Collins owned a general store in Millbrook, Ontario, in the late 1800's and early 1900's.
Thomas Harold Kenyon Choate was born in Warsaw, Ontario, 28 July 1915. Referred to by the name "Ken" or "Kenyon," Choate was the eldest son of Harold G.E. Choate and Beatrice Coulter (Selkirk) Choate and a direct descendent of Thomas Choate of Warsaw, Ontario. He married Ruth Mary (Powell) Choate, born in Trafalgar Township, Halton County, Ontario, 19 July 1920; she died in Peterborough, Ontario, 10 May 2006. Because his father and his brother also bore the name Harold, Choate signed his name "Thomas K. Choate" or "T.K. Choate" in an effort to avoid confusion. The name "Kenyon" was his maternal grandmother's surname. Choate died in Peterborough, Ontario, 8 October 2008.
Thomas Watson was a school teacher in 1858 for the Grammar School at Port Hope, Canada West, which was established in 1853. (Taken from: Hope and its Port. East Durham Historical Society, 1992.)
Mr. and Mrs. T.M. Fletcher lived in Thornton, Ontario (Simcoe County). Mrs. Fletcher's [1st] husband was Frank Sanford. Sanford owned and operated a furniture factory in Fenelon Falls until the time it burned down (date unknown). It was never rebuilt. The Fletchers donated land for the Ivy Anglican Church in 1918 and at the 60th anniversary of the church, Mr. Fletcher wrote a history of the Fletchers, which was published in the Barrie Examiner in 1963.
Stafford Frederick Kirkpatrick was born December 12, 1809, the seventh son of Alexander Kirkpatrick, in Coolmine, County Dublin, Ireland. He later emigrated to Canada and settled in Peterborough, Upper Canada, where he was a Barrister at Law and later became a Judge. He was also a militia officer. In 1835, Kirkpatrick married Henrietta Fisher, daughter of Alexander Fisher, and together they had six children. He died in 1858.
Stephen Anderson Otto was an advocate of heritage conservation in Ontario. His involvements in heritage conservation included initiating the Ontario Bicentennial celebrations, and directing the Ontario Heritage Foundation. He was also a member of the Toronto Historical Board, and head of the heritage-conservation programs run by the Ontario government (taken from Toronto: No Mean City, 3rd edition, by Eric Arthur, 1986). Otto died 22 April 2018 in Toronto, Ontario.
Susan Jane Neale is the daughter of Colin Neale and Patricia Anne Turvey. She has two siblings, Andrew and Christina, and lives in Peterborough, Ontario with her husband Paul Joseph Hulsmans. Between 1982 and 1994, Neale worked as an archaeologist in England, Ontario, and Nunavut and from 1995 to 2001 at Fleming College as a member of faculty. Since the year 2000, she has served as Museum Director at Peterborough Museum and Archives and from 2001 to the present, also as Research Associate in Trent University’s Anthropology Graduate Program. Neale earned a Master’s degree in the Department of Anthropology at Trent University in 1985. She has served on several committees and boards at local and provincial levels and has published and presented a number of papers pertaining to archaeology, to museum management and renewal, and to emergency preparedness and recovery from a museum perspective.
Shirley Quan worked for the Department of Native Affairs as a student volunteer during the summer of 1962. She was sent to Baker Lake in the Northwest Territories. She completed an arctic wild flower project while she was there.
Sydney Bellingham was born in 1808 in Castlebellingham Ireland and briefly lived in Douro Township, Upper Canada. In the summer of 1824, Bellingham arrived at the homestead of Thomas and Frances Stewart. Thomas was his uncle; the brother of Sydney's mother Elizabeth Jane (or Jane Elizabeth) Stewart Bellingham. Sydney remained in Douro as a farm hand until 1827. He then obtained employment in Montreal, moved there and spent the majority of his life there until 1878. He was a merchant and politician in Quebec. He died in 1900 back in Castlebellingham which he had inherited.
Sidney Smith was born October 16, 1823 at Port Hope, Upper Canada, to John David Smith and Augusta Louisa Smith. John David Smith sat in the House of Assembly of Upper Canada of Durham from 1828 to 1830. Sidney Smith was the grandson of Elias Smith. Elias was a successful merchant and trader, who left New York to settle in Upper Canada and who founded Port Hope in 1792. Sidney Smith studied law in the office of his brother, John Shuter Smith, and was admitted to the bar in 1844. Smith married Mary Ann Bennett of Cobourg, Upper Canada, on January 21, 1845. He continued to practice law throughout his life, first in Cobourg and later acted as solicitor for the Commercial Bank of the Midland District, the Bank of Montreal, the Midland Railway of Canada, the town of Cobourg, and then in Peterborough. In 1853 he was elected a municipal councilor for both Cobourg and the township of Hamilton, and was the warden for Northumberland and Durham. In 1854, Smith was elected as a Reformer to the Legislative Assembly for Northumberland West and was re-elected in 1857. From February 2, 1858 until the government's defeat on the Militia Bill in May 1862, Smith was the postmaster general in the cabinet of John A. Macdonald and George-Etienne Cartier and was also a member of the Board of Railway Commissioners. Also in 1858, Smith introduced the Upper Canada Jurors' Act and carried it through the assembly. Smith's most notable accomplishment while in office occurred in 1859 when he concluded arrangements with the United States, Britain, France, Belgium, and Prussia for mail services to Canada and the United States. By 1860, he gained abolition of Sunday labour in the Post Offices of Canada West. Smith was defeated in the general election of 1861 by James Cockburn but he was elected to the Legislative Council for Trent in the same year and was able to retain his portfolio of postmaster general. In 1863, he resigned his seat in the Upper House, sought election to the assembly of the constituency of Victoria, was defeated and resigned from politics permanently. He returned to full-time law practice in Peterborough and also served in the militia as captain of the Peterborough Infantry Company No. 2. In 1866 he was appointed inspector of registry offices for Canada West, and continued in that position for the province of Ontario after Confederation. Sidney Smith died September 27, 1889 in Cobourg, Ontario.
Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Henry Earle was born at Brook Farm, Lancashire, England, August 15, 1854, the eldest son of the second Baronet of Allerton Tower and Emily Fletcher. He was educated at Eton; Trinity College, Oxford; and received an Honours M.A. from Cambridge. He joined the British Military, 3rd Battalion, in 1869, and was made a companion of the Distinguished Service Order in 1887. Earle served in the Jowaki Campaign, 1877; the Afgan War, 1878-1880; the Egyptian War, 1882; the Burmese Expedition, 1886-1887; the Ruby Mine Column, 1886; the Mainloung Expedition; and with the Yorkshire L.I. in the Frontier Campaign in Tirah, where he became severely wounded, 1899-1900. In 1900 he succeeded his father and became the 3rd Baronet of Allerton Tower. He continued to serve in the army from 1914 to 1916. In 1891 he married Evelyn Grace Boileau. He died July 16, 1939.
Spencer J. Harrison was born in 1962. An artist who has lived and painted in Peterborough for several years, Harrison's work has been exhibited locally, nationally and internationally. Of special significance is his project "Would You Beat this Man?, or more affectionately, "The Fag Project"" which was shown in several cities across Canada and addresses the issue of fear and hatred of gay people. The project is known widely as "The Queer Project." Harrison is also an art instructor and a graduate of the Frost Centre, Trent University. Harrison was artist-in-residence at Trent University in 1994-1995.
Ruth Catherine Allen was born in 1918 in Cramahe Township, the daughter of Durwood and Beatrice Allen (nee Hennessey). The Durwood Allen family lived on a farm in the Castleton, Ontario area. Ruth attended Peterborough Normal School in 1938 attaining her Teachers Certificate. During the course of her teaching career she taught in Morganston, Frankford, Napanee and South Cramahe Public Schools.
Ruth and Kenneth married 30 June 1947 in Brighton, Ontario. They had two daughters, Mary Margaret and Kathryn Ann, and lived in the community of Salem. Ruth died in a car accident on June 29, 1979. After her death, Ken married Joyce Blakley. Joyce died in 1985 and Ken in 2007.
(Taken from information supplied by the donor).
S.C. Shaw was an artist who painted in the Peterborough region in the early 1940's.
Scott Young was born in 1918 in Cypress River, Manitoba. He started his writing career at age 18 for the Winnipeg Free Press in 1936. He was soon writing sports columns in Winnipeg, and later Toronto, and in 1949 published the first of 40 books. He has written a number of books which cover parts of his own life such as "Neil and Me"-- a book about his son Neil Young; and "A Writer's Life"-- an autobiography. His career in journalism has produced thousands of articles for "The Globe and Mail", "The Telegram", "Sports Illustrated", "Maclean's" and other magazines during the 1950's, 1960's and 1970's. Scott served in the Royal Canadian Navy during World War II (1944-1945). Previous to this he was sent to England by Canadian Press (CP) to cover the news of the War. He has received numerous awards and a Doctorate of Letters, Honoris Causa, from Trent University. He has been married three times (Edna Blow Ragland aka Rassy; Astrid Carlson Mead; and Margaret Hogan) and has a number of children and step-children (Neil, Bob; Deidre, Astrid; Maggie, Caitlin and Erin).
Seth Soper Smith was a lawyer who practiced in Port Hope, Ontario in the early 1900's.
Sir Robert Peel was born February 5, 1788, the eldest son of (Sir) Robert Peel and Ellen Yates. In 1805, he entered Christ Church, Oxford, where he studied classics and mathematics. Upon completing his degree, his father bought him the seat of Cashel in Tipperary, and at the age of twenty-one, Sir Robert Peel entered the House of Commons. In 1810, Peel was made the Under-Secretary for War and Colonies, and in 1812, he accepted the post of chief secretary to Ireland, a post he held for six years. From 1818 to 1822, Peel remained in the House of Commons, but as a private member. In 1820, he married Julia Floyd, daughter of Sir John Floyd, and they had two daughters and five sons. In January, 1822, Peel rejoined Lord Liverpool's government until 1827, when Lord Liverpool died and Peel resigned from the House due to political differences with Liverpool's successor, Lord Canning. On August 8, 1828, Canning died and Sir Robert Peel ventured back into the political arena. One of Peel's most notable successes occurred in 1829, when three bills written by him were successfully passed into law. The bills dealt with the suppression of the Catholic Association, Catholic emancipation, and the regulation of franchise in Ireland. On May 3, 1830, upon the death of his father, Robert Peel succeeded to the baronetcy. In 1834, Peel was assigned the double office of First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer. He retired from office on June 29, 1846. Sir Robert Peel died on July 2, 1850 after a fall from his horse four days earlier. Peel's most notable achievements include the revision of the British penal laws, the creation of a sound financial system, the incorporation of free trade, and the establishment of a metropolitan police force.
Thomas Wesley Poole, physician and journalist, was educated at Victoria University and received his M.D. in 1856. He practised medicine in Norwood, Canada West; but in 1864 he moved to Peterborough, and became the editor of the Peterborough "Weekly Review". Later he went back to the practice of medicine and practised in Lindsay, Ontario. He died in Lindsay on August 27, 1905. T.W. Poole was the author of "A sketch of the early settlement and subsequent progress of the town of Peterborough. 1867"
Robert E. Bowley was born in Hagersville, Ontario and moved to Peterborough in 1963. He married Kathleen Richmond Barclay and was a chemistry teacher, author, and historian. Bowley had an avid interest in stamp collecting and postal history, and was a volunteer postmaster in 1980 at Lang Pioneer Village, Keene. He was also president of the Peterborough Historical Society, and established Rebel Publishing in 1995 in order to publish his version of Mutiny on the Bounty.
Robert Bell was a Provincial Land Surveyor working in Canada West during the late 1840's. He was responsible for the survey of Bell's Line, a road which was never constructed, which was to have run westward through the northern portions of Peterborough and Hastings Counties, from the Madawaska River to Bracebridge. The Peterson Road, which was surveyed and constructed a few years later, eight miles south of and parallel to the Bell's Line survey, was considered to be a more suitable route for east-west travel in the region. It is thought that Bell was born in Ireland in 1821 and that he later emigrated with his parents to New York. In 1843, Bell obtained land in Kemptville, Canada West, and worked in and around Bytown (Ottawa) for three years. In 1847, he was instructed to begin the Bell's Line survey. Upon the completion of the survey in September 1848, Bell retired from surveying; and the following year, he purchased an Ottawa newspaper which was to become the Ottawa Citizen. He died in 1873 at the age of 52.
Isabella Carr resided in Otonabee Township in the early to mid-1800's.
Isabella Brownlie was born in approximately 1828 in Scotland. Her mother died in childbirth and her father remarried. She had a number of sisters and a brother Claud. Isabella was brought to Otonabee, Upper Canada at the age of eight, from Scotland, by William Christie and his mother as a servant. She married James Miller who was from Perthshire, Scotland on December 1, 1845. They settled on land in Otonabee Township, half a mile from the Otonabee River. They had five sons: William Wallace, born December 29, 1846; Thomas Menzies, born September 18, 1849; James, born October 23, 1852; Peter, born September 4, 1859, died October 11, 1859; and John Claud, born October 14, 1863. They also had two daughters: Isabelle Fulton, born August 5, 1848; and Margaret Ann, born May 7, 1855. Isabella died September 8, 1869.
Ivan Bateman is a retired businessman and family historian.
Lieutenant Colonel J. Deacon was a military officer with the Midland Regiment during the Riel Rebellion in 1885. He was born in 1824 in Ireland and settled in Victoria County in 1866. He was on County Council and was Mayor of Lindsay, 1878-80 and 1886.