Robert Willan and Edward Willan seem to have been the owners of the two work books which comprise this fonds. Robert and Edward may have been brothers or even father and son. Their books are dated 1806 and 1832, respectively. An inscription on the last page of Edward's book reads "Thomas M. Willan, South Monaghan."
Jacob Way (1804-1882) was born in Northport, Prince Edward County. He moved with his wife Alzina Moran (1823-1851) and their son Edward Hoag Way (1845-1922) to Tyendinega Township, Hastings County. After Alzina’s death, Jacob married Delilah (Scriver) Herns (b. 1823) and they had a son Gideon Shepard Way (1853-1937). The family moved to Murray Township in Northumberland County. With the exception of Alzina who is buried in Tyendinega, the others are buried in the Stockdale Cemetery in Hastings County, north of the area where, over time, all three had farmed and raised their families. Extended family names include Scriver, Ostrander, Herns, and Moran. (Information provided by Yvonne A. Green).
(Biographical information copied from Trent University Archives newsletter "Archives News", Issue Number 48, January 2014: "The Wallis Family" by Janice Millard).
"The link between the two [Wallis family and Forbes family] is Louisa Forbes who became Mrs. James Wallis. Louisa was the mother of well-known Peterborough-born artist and sculptor Katherine Wallis and Louisa’s father was Capt. Robert Miller/Millar Forbes.
Capt. Robert Miller Forbes had a distinguished career in the British Navy. It was, however, marred by an incident in 1798. Robert caused his ship commander, Capt. Lord Henry Paulet, later Earl St. Vincent, to be court martialled. Paulet apparently struck the then Lieutenant Forbes while Forbes was on duty on their ship – the Thalia. Paulet lost the case - but soon after he was given clemency, re-instated, and in 1819 became a Vice-Admiral. Robert Miller did not fare as well. In a transcribed letter he says that “he became the object of the most cruel and vindictive persecution… that has proved a barrier to his professional progress thro’ the mis-representations of that distinguished officer.”
After the Napoleonic Wars Robert Forbes, along with a number of ex-British military personnel, took their families and settled in France. Robert’s first child, Louisa, was born in Avranches, France. There is a watercolour in our new donation of the Church where Louisa was christened. It is likely by Katherine Wallis. The Forbes family moved around in Europe and sons were born in St. Servan Sur Merin Brittany, France. Finally the family moved to Peterborough.
Robert Forbes had an even more well-known brother – Charles John Forbes. Charles was in both the British Navy and the British Army. While in the Navy, Charles was present at the Battle of the Nile (also called the Battle of Aboukir) where Nelson defeated the French Navy. Another person at Aboukir was Charles Rubidge. Perhaps Charles Forbes and Charles Rubidge reminisced together about old battles.
While in the British Army, Charles Forbes was present for the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. Our donation contains a letter written 29 Jan. 1815 on board H.M.S. Alceste, off Cat Island (near New Orleans), and sent to James Cobb, Secretary, East India Company (a cousin). In the letter Charles says that the information given to the Admiral was “fallacious” and that unlike what they had been led to believe, no “settlers of Louisiana and the Floridas” flocked to join the British cause and hence they had insufficient troops for the encounter with the Americans. It’s interesting to note that even by the end of January, Charles did not know that a treaty to end the War had been signed.
Charles had two separate enlistment periods with the British Army. Like his brother, he retired when the Napoleonic Wars were over and lived in Europe, but a few years later he re-enlisted in the Army. In 1824 he worked for the Commissariat in Nova Scotia and in 1825 he went to Montreal and stayed for 8 years. He was then posted to Jamaica and, like many Europeans who lived in the tropics, became ill. He briefly to went to England and then finally retired at half pay back in Quebec.
While posted in Quebec he acted as Commissary General for the Army and ensured there were supplies for the engineers and workers who were building canals in the Montreal region. While he was there he purchased land in the village of Carillon, on the Ottawa River just south of Lachute, Quebec, in what is now the Argenteuil Region of Quebec.
There he built a wonderful house called “Bellevue”. In our newly acquired scrapbook of Louisa Forbes there is a sketch of that house. Charles was known far and wide for his hospitality and many important people would visit him – including the Governors General.
Another well-known owner of land in the area was Sidney Robert Bellingham - nephew of Thomas A. Stewart. Sidney was very interested in politics and played a role in the 1837 rebellion – as did the British veteran Charles John Forbes."
Henry Sherin and Elizabeth Moulds were married May 1, 1814 in Ireland and emigrated to Canada, in 1822, settling near Cobourg, Upper Canada. Their son, John C. Sherin, born in 1827, moved from the Cobourg region to Lakefield in 1854. He opened the first general store in the area in 1855, J.C. Sherin and Son. In 1861, John C. was made Justice of the Peace for Douro Township. He was married to Elizabeth Fee, and later to Mrs. Schofield. In 1881, John C. sold the family store to the firm of the Madill Brothers, but bought it back in 1885 and moved into the dry goods trade. John C. died May 24, 1901. J. Henry Sherin, son of John C. Sherin and Elizabeth Fee, was born in 1867 and educated at Pickering College. J. Henry (Harry) continued to operate the family store for 35 years after his father's death. He was also Lakefield's C.P.R. agent for 48 years. J. Henry Sherin was married to Mary Mabelle Rathbone in October, 1902. Together they had four sons, Playter, George, John, and Harry. J. Henry died in December 1952, at the age of 85. His son Harry attended the Ontario Agricultural College in Guelph, Ontario, and when he returned to Lakefield in 1946, he opened the Sherindale Hatchery, which he operated until 1964. In 1963 he married Mrs. Gretchen Kraus of Lakewood, Ohio and they had one son, Timothy Sherin. Harry's brother Playter Sherin also had a son, Dr. John P. Sherin, who resided in Lakefield after attending the University of Toronto Medical School. His medical office was located on the site of his great grandfather's first store.
Jean Shearman (1925-2005) and Elizabeth Shearman Hall (1920-2015) were the great-great-granddaughters of Frances Browne Stewart (1794-1872) and Thomas Alexander Stewart (1786-1847), who immigrated from Ireland to Douro Township in 1822. They were sisters of Rev. John Shearman. Their grandmother, Anna Maria Stewart Williams, was the granddaughter of Thomas Alexander Stewart and Frances Browne Stewart, and the daughter of William Stewart. Jean Shearman was born 28 August 1925 and lived in Toronto, Ontario; she died in 2005. Elizabeth Shearman Hall was born 7 March 1920; she died in 2015. The sisters dedicated much of their lives to transcribing the Frances Stewart letters and creating a biographic reference guide to them and all associated families.
Robert Waddell and Hugh Waddell were brothers who were both businessmen in Durham County in the middle to late 1800's and the early 1900's. Robert Waddell resided in Balieboro and Hugh Waddell lived in Millbrook, Ontario.
The Honourable Leslie Miscampbell Frost, lawyer and Premier of Ontario, was born in Orillia, Ontario on September 20, 1895, the son of William Sword Frost and Margaret Jane Barker. He was educated at the Orillia Public School and the Orillia High School. He later attended the University of Toronto and Osgoode Hall. He served during World War I in France and Belgium, with the 20th Battalion, Queen's York Rangers, and was discharged with the rank of captain in 1918, after being severely wounded. Frost was called to the Bar in 1921. He was a member of the legal firm Frost, Inrig and Gorwill, among others, and was an honorary bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada. He married Gertrude Jane Carew (1894-1970), in 1926. They never had children. Leslie M. Frost had a long and successful political career. He was elected to the legislature of Ontario in 1937, and he was consistently re-elected at each election until his retirement in 1963. He was Treasurer of Ontario and Minister of Mines in both the George Drew and T.L. Kennedy administrations. In 1949, Frost was chosen leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, and was sworn in as Premier and Provincial Treasurer on May 4, 1949. He remained Provincial Treasurer until 1955 and Premier until 1961. Besides his legal and political career, Frost took on many other obligations. He was a member of the Board of Governors of the University of Toronto and the first Chancellor of Trent University. He also held several directorships, including: the Bank of Montreal, Air Canada, Corporate Investors Ltd., Lever Brothers Ltd., KVP Company Ltd., John Deyell Ltd., Canada Life Assurance Company, Victoria and Grey Trust Co., Massey-Ferguson Ltd., and radio station CKLY. Frost was also keenly interested in history, primarily military history and the histories of Victoria, Peterborough and Haliburton Counties. He was the author of several books: Fighting Men, Forgotten Pathways of the Trent, Pleasant Point Story: a History of Pleasant Point and The Records on Sam Hughes Set Straight. Leslie M. Frost died at Lindsay, Ontario 4 May 1973. Cecil Grey Frost, younger brother of the Honourable Leslie M. Frost, was born in Orillia, Ontario, on August 27, 1897. His father, William Sword Frost, operated a jewelry and watchmaking business in Orillia, and as Mayor, introduced the concept of daylight saving time to the municipality. Cecil Grey Frost served overseas with the Canadian Machine Gun Corps during the World War I. When he returned to Canada, he attended Osgoode Hall Law School and graduated in 1921. He and his brother Leslie then opened a legal firm in Lindsay, Ontario, and both soon became active in local Conservative Politics. This led to Cecil's election in 1936 as Mayor of Lindsay, and in 1937 to the Presidency of the Ontario Conservative Association, As well, he organized and managed Earl Rowe's campaign in the provincial election of 1937. Thought of as a potential party leader himself, Cecil Grey Frost remained politically active until his sudden death on 8 June 1947. Robert John “Jack” Beal (1919-1994) was Gertrude Jane Frost’s nephew. He was married to Eileen Beal; their son, Robert “Bob” Beal, is a journalist and historian.
The Atwood family is associated with nineteenth-century settlement in the Lakefield, Ontario region. James Parr Clinton Atwood (1836-1912) immigrated to Canada from Gloucestershire in 1855 and married Anne Traill Fotheringhame (Annie) Traill (1838-1931), daughter of Thomas Traill and Catharine Parr Traill, in 1858. Together they had seven children: Henry, Emily, Clinton, Katharine, George, Anne, and Florence. The Atwood family is related to the Upper Canada pioneer Traill, Moodie, and Strickland families.
The Tuer family originated in or around Liverpool, England. Part of the family emigrated to Canada, possibly around the 1840's, and settled into the Port Hope area. They maintained strong links with the family residing in Liverpool as can be seen by the wills and estate settlements in the fonds. One of the Tuer family members, a Peter Tuer (died December 22, 1849), the father, married Mary and they had Peter (who married Lucy and he died April 1, 1855) Charles, Robert, James, William Henry (died January 1, 1853), Clara Tuer (married Henry Gregory), Thomas, Eliza (married Richard Gregory) and Sarah (married Currie Busfield). William Henry, (died 1853) had four children: Fanny (married Robert Olden), Ann (married Lionel Smith) and Francis Hugh and Sarah who were infants at the time of his death. Another Tuer family member was Thomas Tuer (died November 15, 1881) who married Elizabeth Jane Kilshaw and they had Thomas, Henry, Mary, Henry Arthur, Margaret, Jessie and William Frederick Joseph. Thomas Tuer was a bookkeeper living in Liverpool in the County of Lancaster, England, Great Britain. There are a number of family members on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean who carry the same names and this makes it difficult to ascertain familial relationships. (The preceding information was found in the wills and estates records within the fonds.)
The Trotter family lived on a farm in Lindsay, Ontario at the turn of the century.
William Tinney, Sr. arrived in Cavanville (Cavan) in 1870 and set up a family business in blacksmithing. Cavanville was nicknamed Tinney Town after William and his sons John, Hector, Albert, William and Harry. William Sr. established a blacksmith shop and later a carriage shop, which carried out the business of buggy sales and trade-ins. The shop was located just east of the four corners. There were approximately twelve men employed and William Sr.'s sons worked at the various trades involved in blacksmithing. William Sr.'s daughter, Annie, cooked for everyone. The Tinney homestead was a large red brick house west of Cavan Store. In 1908 Albert and Harry assumed management of the business. Albert later had a General Motors Agency and his son, Donald, continued to operate the business until 1970. (Taken from: This Green and Pleasant Land: Chronicles of Cavan Township. The Millbrook and Cavan Historical Society, 1990.) John Tinney also operated the blacksmith shop at one point. Hector Tinney was involved in the World War I and based at Kinmel Park Camp, near Rhyl in North Wales, and later at Etaples in France.
Several generations of the Stewart family have lived in the Peterborough area. Thomas A. Stewart and his wife, Frances, were prominent and influential early citizens of Peterborough. Extensive biographical information on the Stewart family, plus friends, neighbours, and associates, may be found in 02-001.
Thomas Willington Snarr from Rawdon Township, Hastings County and Annie Eliza Webster of East Whitby Township, Ontario County were married in July 1879. Witnesses were Samuel Robert Webster and Isabella Jane Snarr.
Captain Charles Rubidge, land agent and author, was born 20 April 1787 in the Parish of St. George-in-the-East, London, England. He was the son of Robert and Margaret Rubidge. In October 1796, at the young age of nine, Rubidge entered the Navy as a midshipman on the Arrow, Sloop of War. He served under Lord Nelson and Lord Cochrane and was honourably discharged in 1815, at the end of the War of 1812. In June 1819, Rubidge emigrated to Canada with his wife and three children (they later had three more children) and in May, 1820, became the second person to settle in Otonabee Township. He assisted in the settling of the Peter Robinson immigrants in 1825 and other immigrants in 1831 and 1839. In 1831 Rubidge was appointed Immigrant Agent at Peterborough by Lord Seaton, Governor-General of Canada. He was also the author of two books. The first was A Plain Statement of the Advantages Attending Emigration to Upper Canada (London, 1838) and the second An Autobiographical Sketch (Peterborough, 1870). Captain Charles Rubidge died 5 February 1873.
The Strickland family originated in England at Light Hall, Colton-in-Furness as yeoman farmers and their ancestry can be traced back to the fourteenth century. They were tenants of the Abbey of Furness until the dissolution of the monasteries during the lifetime of Henry VIII. At this time they became landowners and later started to move out of the area to London and other environs. Samuel Strickland (1804-1867) was the first of the Stricklands to come to Canada in 1825. He first spent time in Newcastle District and then later cleared some property for a farm in Otonabee Township. He later sold his farm and purchased land in Douro and there he began clearing land at the present site of Lakefield. His sisters, Catharine Parr (Traill) and Susanna (Moodie) eventually followed him to Canada and settled near him.
The Reid family originated in Ireland and settled in Peterborough, Ontario, in 1822. Descendants have continued to live in the area for several decades, marrying into the Stewart, McNeill, and Godard families.
The Raper family (fl. 1890-1898) lived in the Millbrook and Cavan, Ontario area.
The Orgill family is a branch of the Boyd family of Bobcaygeon, Ontario. Mrs. Norma Orgill (1922-2020), the donor of the collection, was the wife of Herbert Orgill, a descendant of William (Willie) Thornton Cust Boyd (1859-1919). Willie was the son of the lumbering entrepreneur Mossom Boyd (1815-1883).
John Northway was born August 17, 1848, at Leat, near Lifton, England, the eldest son of Thomas Neathern Northway and Grace Doidge. In 1868, John left England for New York, where he was soon relieved of his watch and money. Disenchanted, he made his way to Canada, and went to work for a tailor in Embro, Ontario. From this inauspicious beginning, Northway, using his sound business judgement, became, not just a tailor "on the floor" of a shop, but, by 1901, a merchant, manufacturer and financier with partnerships throughout the province and investments throughout the continent. Having achieved success, Northway sent his children to the best schools, and provided for them the formal education he had never received. John Northway founded two main companies: The Northway Company Limited, and John Northway and Son Limited. Upon his death in 1926, leadership of these two firms fell to his sons, A. Garfield and John A. respectively, under whose direction expansion and later retraction was carried out. The factory, begun in 1896 to supply the companies, was closed down in 1930. John Northway and Sons Limited came to have three stores in Toronto, and one each in Hamilton and Stratford. In 1957, this company bought the Brantford outlet of the Northway Company Limited, which A.G. Norhtway, who foresaw no successor, had been gradually disposing of. In January 1960, A.G. Northway died, and The Northway Company Limited was put into voluntary liquidation by its directors. In November 1960, the directors of John Northway and Sons Limited sold the company to outside interests. It has since disappeared. Dr. Mary Louise Northway, born in 1909, was the daughter of A. Garfield Northway and Mary McKellar and the granddaughter of John Northway, founder of the Northway Company Limited and John Northway and Son Limited. Mary was educated in Toronto and graduated from the University of Toronto, B.A. 1933, M.A. 1934, and Ph.D. 1938. In addition, Mary did graduate work at Cambridge University in England. Dr. Northway taught psychology at the University of Toronto from 1934 to 1968, and the last fifteen years of her tenure were as Supervisor of Research at the Institute of Child Study. She also earned international recognition as a pioneer in the field of Sociometry. From 1950 to 1963, she was the president of the Northway Company Limited. Among the many honours bestowed upon Dr. Northway were: Fellow of the Canadian Psycological Association, Honorary Life Member of the Ontario Camping Association, and an Honorary Degree from Trent University in 1979. Throughout her life, Mary was involved in camping and she believed in the value of Canadian summer camping and tripping. She was the program director of Glen Bernard Camp from 1930 to 1939 and, with Flora Morrison, was co-director of their own girls' camp, Windy Pine Point, from 1941 to 1950. Dr. Mary L. Northway died in 1987. In her will she left to Trent University its largest private benefaction to be known as the Northway Bequest in memory of her father, Garfield Northway, provising permanent support towards a number of areas, including the facilities for the Trent University Archives. (Information taken from a plaque commemorating the dedication of the Northway Reading Room which was written by the Trent University Archivist, Bernadine Dodge.)
The Nimmo family lived in Bensfort, South Monaghan Township in Northumberland County.
Daniel Nill was a farmer who at one time owned the property at 1202 Morton Line in Cavan, Ontario. The fonds consists of items which were found on the property in 2001; they relate to Nill and to members of the Mason family.
William Hamilton Munro (1882-1976) was born in Peterborough, Ontario, the oldest son of George and Euphemie Hamilton Munro. He attended public school and high school in Peterborough and later entered the School of Practical Science, University of Toronto, from which he graduated in 1904. He joined the engineering staff of his grandfather's firm, the William Hamilton Manufacturing Company, for a short time and later worked for other engineering companies, first with John B. McRae of Ottawa and later with Smith, Kerry & Chase of Toronto. During this period, Munro gained wide experience in dam and power house construction. In 1909, W.H. Munro was transferred to the Electric Power Company of Ontario and in 1910 was appointed manager of the Peterborough Light & Power and Radial Railway Companies, branches of Electric Power. He then joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force and went overseas as a transport officer. On his arrival in England, W.H. Munro was stationed at a reception and training base at Shorncliffe, Kent. Here he remained for eight months before being posted to northern France early in 1916. He was still in northern France on Armistice Day, 1918 and was with the Canadian Forces during their brief occupation of Germany in 1919. On May 29, 1919, Munro married Angele Melina Marie Pouille of Bruay, Pas de Calais, France. He took his military discharge in England and joined Vickers Limited of London and Barrow-in-Furness. This invloved him in water turbine engineering and sales which led to a good deal of travel. Munro left Vickers in 1926 to become manager of the Nova Scotia Tramways and Power Company in Halifax. He remained in this position until 1928 when he was appointed manager of the Bolivian Power Company Limited in La Paz, Bolivia. In 1933, W.H. Munro returned to Canada and joined International Utilities Limited as general manager of one of its divisions, the Ottawa Light, Heat & Power Company. He remained as manager of International Utilities until his retirement in 1951 when he and his wife returned to Peterborough, Ontario. W.H. Munro died in 1976. George Reid Munro (Reid), 1887-1920, was the second son in the Munro family. He graduated from the School of Practical Science in 1905, and in 1907, he joined the survey party of the Hudson Bay Railway Company. During the World War I, he remained in Peterborough, taking care of the William Hamilton Company and looking after the Munro family affairs. He died in 1920, a victim of an influenza epidemic. (Note that some of George Reid Munro's papers relating to his work are located at Library and Archives Canada - MG 30.) Euphemia Margaret Munro (Effie), 1885-1950, was the only daughter in the Munro family. She attended St. Hilda's College and later graduated from from the University of Toronto in modern languages in 1906. In 1918, she graduated from the Training School for Librarianship in Toronto and was appointed librarian of the Peterborough Normal School, a position she retained until her retirement. The youngest Munro child, Alan Hugh Munro, 1889-1948, graduated from the Faculty of Applied Science, University of Toronto in 1911. On graduation he worked for a succession of power companies on power development construction including the Dominion Department of Railways and Canals, Rice Lake Division of the Trent Canal at Campbellford, Ontario. During the World War I, he served with the 6th Field Company, Canadian Engineers from 1914-1919 and was wounded in 1917. After the World War I, he again worked for a variety of companies on construction projects but appears not to have established himself firmly with any one of them, a situation which was exacerbated by the coming of the Depression. Many letters between 1918 and 1921 mention the influenza epidemic and the many deaths.
