Samuel Dickson was born in 1809 in County Cavan, Ireland. He emigrated from Ireland to Peterborough in 1830 and became employed by James Hall as a distiller. In 1840 he built a saw mill on the Otonabee and owned all the land from Parkhill (Smith Rd.) to the bridge on Hunter Street on both sides of the river. He married Ann Holmes and they had ten children: one son and nine daughters of whom only six daughters survived. Samuel Dickson was on the Peterborough Council for four years. He built a number of houses and owned a large portion of Peterborough property. He died in 1870 when, while supervising the repair of a railway pier, he fell into the river and drowned. His daughters married and they and their husbands helped to run the lumber business. His eldest daughter, Mary Ann, married T.A. Hazlitt, who on the death of Samuel Dickson became the manager of the lumber business. Elizabeth married William Davidson and through her line the family maintained the lumber business. In 1906 the Dickson family sold some of their property and established the Peterborough Lumber Company which would give jobs to some of the older men from the Dickson Co. Samuel's grandson Dickson Davidson was the President of the new company. When he died Laura Davidson became President. At her death in 1957, Helen Munroe McCrae, became the President. She was a great granddaughter of Samuel Dickson.
John and Mary Anne Fair had a number of children. The oldest daughter, Martha Jane Fair married William Hall. John and Mary Anne's second son was John Joseph Fair. Their youngest daughter was Caroline Fair and she held a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Joseph Walton (1772-1826) was the first settler of the Walton family to settle in Smith Township, Peterborough County in 1819. He married Hannah Stuart (1772-1861) and they had seven children: John (1797-1881), Nancy, Joseph (1913-1900), William (1814-), Matthew (1817-1902), Jacob (1820-1865) and Robert (1823-1904). The family farmed in Smith Township and eventually spread out across Canada and the United States. Verna Burgess is the granddaughter of Joseph Walton who married Sarah Jane Chalmers (1821-1875). Their daughter Emma (1861-1946) married Dr. Francis John Burgess (1861-1945), a general practitioner and pharmacist in Lakefield, Ontario, and they had four daughters: Lelia, Verna, Doris, and Helen. Verna became a high school Department Head and she sat on the committee (as representative of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation) to examine the need to have a non-sectarian degree-granting college, which would eventually become Trent University.
The Buckhorn Wilderness Centre, established in 1966, was a non-profit corporation dedicated to the preservation of typical Canadian wilderness for the education and cultural enrichment of future generations. In 1971 responsibility for the Centre was transferred to the Otonabee Region Conservation Authority.
The Denoon family arrived in Peterborough between 1871 and 1883. In 1883 William Denoon lived north of Hunter and west of George, pt 7 as a tenant. In 1887 William was working with livestock presumably in the butchering business since by 1890 he is a butcher. He died in Ashburnham 30 May 1891 of consumption at the age of 39. By 1896 Mrs. William and John Denoon were running the butcher business. The Denoons were butchers for approximately 23 years (1887-1910). By 1926 Elizabeth Denoon (widow of William) lived with Kenneth M. Denoon. Kenneth was a gardener and was a home owner on the north side of Lansdowne Street. By 1936 and 1937 only Kenneth M. Denoon can be found living in Peterborough with his wife Lola Y. and still living on the north side of Lansdowne Street. In 1937 Kenneth is a farmer. Presumably John and Kenneth M. Denoon were children of William and Elizabeth Denoon. (This information is found in the Peterborough County Directories located in the Trent University Archives.)
The Stuart dynasty began in Britain with the reign of James I (James VI of Scotland) in 1603. His reign was marked by the Gunpowder Plot, a new translation of the bible, the rise of Puritanism and increasing hostility between monarch and Parliament as the latter increased under the influence of barons and an increasingly powerful merchant class. James I died in 1625. (See, for example, Victor Slater. The Political History of Tudor and Stuart England. N.Y.: Routledge, 2002).
Brighton Township was created by an Act in 1851. It is bounded on the north by Seymour Township; on the west by Cramahe Township; on the east by Murray Township and on the south by Lake Ontario. It is part of the United Counties of Northumberland and Durham. The Village of Brighton was incorporated in 1890 but existed well before then. Built on the Brighton Harbour as a point of entry it had a population of 500 in 1850 and 1700 in 1878. In 1850 it had two grist mills, a plaster mill and a tannery. By 1878 it had four churches and a school. The early settlers were the Singletons, Thayers, Proctors, Butlers, Lockwoods, Wills, Dr. Gross, Sanfords and Ketchums. John Lockwood was the first postmaster of the village. Brighton Harbour used to be known as Freeman Point and Gosport.
In 1852, William Lyon Mackenzie introduced to the Legislative Assembly a resolution asking for a survey of the Huron-Ottawa Territory. His intent was to increase settlement within the uninhabited region of Canada West, to encourage immigration from Europe, and discourage emigration from the province. This resolution, along with similar recommendations, led to the Colonization Roads policy, and ultimately to the passing of the Public Land Act in 1853 by the Legislature. This Act allowed the government "to appropriate as free grants any public land in the province to actual settlers, upon or in the vicinity of any public roads in any new settlements which shall or may be opened through the Lands of the Crown." The survey of the Bobcaygeon Road came about as a result of this legislation. Before 1854, the Bobcaygeon Road did not extend beyond the village of Bobcaygeon. By 1857, the road had been constructed to Kinmount. A year later, surveyor Michael Deane was commissioned by the Department of Crown Lands to conduct a survey of lot frontages along the proposed Bobcaygeon Road from just north of Kinmount (Somerville Township) to Bell's Line. In 1860, surveyor Crosbie Brady was hired to survey the Bobcaygeon Road from where Deane had left off, north of Bell's Line, to Nippissing Road Line, on the south shore of Lake Nippissing. Throughout the years, the road and the lots along either side of the road have been re-surveyed for the purpose of establishing specific boundaries and correcting any mistakes in the initial surveys. All that remains of the original Bobcaygeon Road today is Highway 649 which extends from the village of Bobcaygeon to Highway 121, south of Kinmount. (Taken from: Spragge, George W. "Colonization Roads in Canada West." Ontario History. Vol. XLIX, no. 1, 1957., and W. D. Thomas. Bobcaygeon: The Hub of the Kawartha's. Bobcaygeon: W. D. Thomas, 1980.)
The Boyd family, in Canada, originated with Mossom Boyd who was born in India in 1814 and died at Bobcaygeon, Ontario July 23, 1883. He was a member of the Anglo-Irish gentry and emigrated to the Sturgeon Lake region of Upper Canada in 1834. In 1844 Mossom married Caroline Dunsford. He became assistant to Thomas Need, owner of the Bobcaygeon sawmill and he eventually took over the mill when Thomas Need returned to England in 1843. Mossom was able to develop the mill into a large lumbering enterprise with land holdings and timber rights in Albany, New York; Bobcaygeon, Peterborough, Prince Albert in Saskatchewan, 20 000 acres around Cowichan Lake in British Columbia and 260 square miles in Quebec. By the 1870's he had the largest enterprise in the region. After his death the business was run by his son, Mossom Rater Boyd, who extended the business into Quebec and Vancouver as well as moving into steamboating, stock raising and railway development. (Taken from: "The Canadian Encyclopedia." Vol. I A-For. Edmonton: Hurtig Publishers, 1985.) The Boyd enterprises not only included lumbering but also breeding polled Hereford cattle and cross-breeding cattle and buffalo. The Boyds were involved with the Lindsay, Bobcaygeon and Pontypool Railroad and the Trent Valley Navigation Steamship Company. This diversification helped the Boyd's through the lumber depression of the 1890's. Mossom Martin and his half-brother William Thornton Cust Boyd were active partners along with their cousin John MacDonald of Albany, New York in the firm of Boyd & Company. When Mossie died in 1914, the next generation became involved in the administration of the various estates and gradually disbanded the huge operation. The third generation of Boyds tended to have their own interests and professions although all were involved intermittently with the lumbering and stock farm concerns. Please see the end of the finding aid for the Boyd family genealogy.
In 1852, William Lyon Mackenzie introduced to the Legislative Assembly a resolution asking for a survey of the Huron-Ottawa Territory. His intent was to increase settlement within the uninhabited region of Canada West, to encourage immigration from Europe, and discourage emigration from the province. This resolution, along with similar recommendations, led to the Colonization Roads policy, and ultimately to the passing of the Public Land Act in 1853 by the Legislature. This Act allowed the government "to appropriate as free grants any public land in the province to actual settlers, upon or in the vicinity of any public roads in any new settlements which shall or may be opened through the Lands of the Crown." The survey of the Bobcaygeon Road came about as a result of this legislation. Before 1854, the Bobcaygeon Road did not extend beyond the village of Bobcaygeon. By 1857, the road had been constructed to Kinmount. A year later, surveyor Michael Deane was commissioned by the Department of Crown Lands to conduct a survey of lot frontages along the proposed Bobcaygeon Road from just north of Kinmount (Somerville Township) to Bell's Line. In 1860, surveyor Crosbie Brady was hired to survey the Bobcaygeon Road from where Deane had left off, north of Bell's Line, to Nippissing Road Line, on the south shore of Lake Nippissing. Throughout the years, the road and the lots along either side of the road have been re-surveyed for the purpose of establishing specific boundaries and correcting any mistakes in the initial surveys. All that remains of the original Bobcaygeon Road today is Highway 649 which extends from the village of Bobcaygeon to Highway 121, south of Kinmount. (Taken from: Spragge, George W. "Colonization Roads in Canada West." "Ontario History." Vol. XLIX, no. 1, 1957., and W. D. Thomas. "Bobcaygeon: The Hub of the Kawarthas." Bobcaygeon: W. D. Thomas, 1980.)
In 1869, Reverend C.W. Patterson was appointed to Bobcaygeon, Ontario. Previous to 1869, a sum of money had been collected and deposited in the Peterborough branch of the Bank of Toronto as a building fund for the construction of an Anglican Church in Bobcaygeon. It was decided in the same year that enough money had been collected and that a new church and parsonage should be built. Architect John E. Belcher was contracted to design and build the church and parsonage in 1870. On January 5, 1871, Christ Church was formally opened by the Lord Bishop of Toronto.
Richard Birdsall was born in 1799 at Thornton-le-dale, England, and educated at Londesborough, Yorkshire. His family intended a naval career for him upon graduation. Instead, when he graduated in 1817, he emigrated to Canada. Due to his education, he qualified for a position as a fully-accredited land surveyor in Canada West. In May of 1820, he was commissioned to survey the Newcastle District, where he remained for the rest of his life and became a very prominent man. The Newcastle District was comprised of the counties of Northumberland and Durham and included which would later become the counties of Peterborough, Victoria, and Haliburton. In 1821, he married Elizabeth Burnham, daughter of Zaccheus Burnham, who was a prominent early settler in the District. From his father-in-law, Birdsall bought 920 acres of land at the northeast end of Rice Lake (Lot 1, Concession 1, Asphodel Township) and made his home there. His wife died in a tragic fall in 1827 leaving Birdsall with four young daughters. He remarried in 1836 to Charlotte Jane Everett of Belleville and had four more children with his second wife; two of these were Richard Everett Birdsall (1837-1877) and Francis (Frank) Birdsall (1838-1914). Between the years of 1827 and 1836, Birdsall carried out most of his surveying work, including the survey for the town of Peterborough. In 1831, he was commissioned Captain of the fourth Regiment of Northumberland Militia and he led the Asphodel contingent when the militia was called out in the Rebellion of 1837. Later he was an officer in the Peterborough Regiment. Birdsall was also a Commissioner of the Court of Requests and a Justice of the Peace. When the Colborne District was created in 1841, he was the councillor for Asphodel and in 1850, when districts were replaced by counties, he represented Asphodel at the Peterborough County Council as its first Reeve. He continued in this position until his death on January 20, 1852. (taken from Peterborough: Land of Shining Waters. Peterborough: City and County of Peterborough, 1967.)
The Birdsall collection of bookbinders' finishing tools was acquired by the Rare Books Department at the University of Toronto in 1968. The Birdsall collection was started when William Birdsall purchased the bookbinding business of John Lacy and Son in Northampton, England, in 1792. The new establishment consisted of a bindery, a book store, a circulating library, a post office and insurance and banking were transacted on the side. William brought his sons, James and Robert, into the business in 1823 and by 1826 James was the sole owner since his brother and father had both died. In the 1840's Anthony, a great-nephew of the founder William, bought the business and his son Richard entered the business in 1857. Anthony died in 1893 and Richard continued the business under the name of Birdsall & Son. The firm became a private company after 1915 when the descendants of Anthony and Richard took over the firm. Each successive generation expanded on the collection of tools and styles of bookbinding with developing interests in preservation, restoration and the history of books and bookbinding. The University of Toronto acquired the collection when the last member of the Birdsall firm died leaving behind the firm's vast collection of bookbinding tools and paperwork. (Taken from: Evans, Emrys and Rachel Grover. Birdsall Collection of Bookbinders' Finishing Tools. Toronto: Department of Rare Books & Special Collections, 1972.)
Founded in 1931, Beta Sigma Phi is an international women's organization that focuses on stimulating personal growth and development of its members through cultural and social programs and through service to others. Members volunteer for such activities as blood donor clinics, daffodil day, and meals on wheels. The organization supports various charities. Beta Sigma Phi was established in Peterborough in 1944.
The Better Bait Company was situated at 631 Lundy's Lane in Peterborough, Ontario. The company claimed to be the manufacturers of quality fishing tackle. The owner and operator was Perce Dyer, a Peterborough resident in the 1940s.
John Bertram & Sons was a business in Dundas, Ontario in the early Twentieth Century.
Benson Mills was a large grist mill which was owned and operated by John Robinson Benson, husband of Catherine Evans Lee. He purchased the mill from Adam Scott. J.R. Benson was one of ten children in a family that settled in Peterborough.
The Belmont Municipal Telephone System began operation in 1922 in Havelock, Belmont Township, Ontario. This new system preceeded the Bell Telephone Company and the Havelock-Cordova Telephone Company in Belmont Township. It served subscribers for 33 years. In 1953, the Bell Telephone Company entered into negotiations with the Belmont Municipal System to re-acquire the system.
Beavermead Park is located on the east shore of Little Lake, Peterborough, Ontario, on land that was once owned by Canada's first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald.
The Baulch family were tailors who lived in Hampton, Ontario and Port Hope, Ontario. Members of the family include Joseph H. and his wife Laura, Henry N., R. Baulch, and Will Baulch, Rochester, New York.
The Bateson family consisted of George who married Mary (?) and lived in Penetanguishene; Isaac Newton who married Margaret (?) and lived in Dowagiac, Michigan in the United States; Jane who married a Robert Russell (farmer) and lived in Scotland County, Missouri in the United States; Eliza who married James Morrison and lived in Lindsay, Ontario; Margaret who married James Marshall (Carriage-maker) and lived in the village of Cannington, Ontario; Letitia who married William Henry McCardle (labourer) and lived in Midland, Ontario; Mary Eleanor who married Thomas Richardson (blacksmith) and also lived in Midland, Ontario; and William who married Harriet (?) and lived in Bailieboro, Ontario. These nine people were children of Isaac (died January 22, 1880) and Ellen (died September 13, 1900) Bateson of Cavan Township. William Bateson died January 28, 1930. It is unknown who Thomas and John Bateson are except that they were executers of Isaac Bateson's Last Will and Testatment.
The Bark family resided in Toronto, Ontario during the early 1900's and spent their vacation time at their cottage, "Lingerlonger Lodge" which was located on the shores of Moore Lake, just south of Minden, Ontario.
Census taking in Canada was divided into enumeration districts which were usually located around cities and counties. The districts were divided into sub-districts which were usually located around towns, townships and city wards. Villages, small towns, parishes and seigneuries were generally enumerated as part of the township in which they were located. Census and county boundaries did not always coincide since boundaries and town names changed or disappeared. The first census in Canada was undertaken in 1666 by Intendant Jean Talon. Census taking was not required until it was put into the Constitution in 1867. Before 1867 census taking was sketchy and it was not until 1851 that it became established as a way of assessing population and colonial needs for the government. (Taken from: "Census Returns, 1666-1891." Public Archives, Canada, 1987.) In 1792, the United Counties of Northumberland and Durham were officially created in a proclamation made by Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe. The proclamation divided Upper Canada in 19 counties for representation purposes. The United Counties are bounded by Lake Ontario in the south, Hasting County in the east, Ontario County in the west and Peterborough and Victoria Counties in the north. The town line between Hope and Hamilton Townships divide the two counties. Durham County consists of the Townships of Cartwright, Manvers, Cavan, Darlington, Clarke and Hope. Northumberland County consists of South Monaghan, Hamilton, Haldimand, Alnwick, Percy, Cramahe, Seymour, Brighton and Murray Townships. (Taken from: "Illustrated Historical Atlas of Northumberland and Durham Counties, Ontario." Belleville: Mika Silk Screening Limited, 1972.)
The Dunsford family is connected through marriage to families associated with the early settlement of Peterborough and area, namely the Boyd, Langton, and Rubidge families.
James Davidson was born in County Down, Ireland, in 1801, the son of Hugh Davidson. In 1823, James Davidson came to Canada with his sister. They settled first with an Uncle in Smith Township. In 1831, James settled on lot 20, concession 5, Smith Township, and established his own 200 acre farm. He married Elizabeth McConnell of Cavan Township the same year. They had four sons and four daughters: Ann, Hugh, William, Mary Jane, Sarah, James Jr., Robert, and Fanny. In 1837, Davidson fought in the Rebellion. Robert eventually went into the hardware business in Peterborough, Hugh and James Jr. went into farming, and William became a grocer and flour merchant. Elizabeth Davidson died in 1864 and James Davidson died sometime after after 1884. (Taken from: "History of the County of Peterborough." Toronto: C. Blackett Robinson, 1884.)