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People, organizations, and families
Addison family
Family

The Addison family members are descendants of Mark Robinson, Ranger and Superintendent of Algonquin Park from 1907-1936. Ottelyn Addison is the daughter of Mark Robinson, and was born in 1909. Her children are William D. Addison, Peter M. Addison, and Edward M. Addison. Ottelyn spent her childhood summers in Algonquin Park, and has written two books about Algonquin Park, "Early Days in Algonquin Park", and "Tom Thomson, The Algonquin Years". She was also editor of "The Young Naturalist" and "The Richmond Hill Naturalist Bulletin". Ottelyn currently lives in Aurora, Ontario.

Doane family
Family

The Doane family were a Quaker family who settled in York County, probably in East Gwillimbury Township, as early as 1815. According to the 1878 Atlas of York County, the family held land on concession 3, lot 15, in that township, more or less equidistant from Sharon and Queensville Post Offices. Other members of the family branched out to North King Township (third concession, near the Holland River), to Pickering Township, Toronto, the United States, and in one case, to the Baptist Mission at Cocanada, Madras, India.

Cameron family
Family

Charles Cameron was born July 29, 1830 at Lossiemouth, Scotland. In 1856 he emigrated to Canada West and opened a business in the town of Peterborough. Three years later, Sophia Barron, also of Lossiemouth, followed Charles Cameron to Canada West, and they were married at Kingston, February 22, 1859. Together they raised four children: Annie Walker, b. 1859; Alfred and Albert, twins, b. 1864, and Sophia, b. 1868. Two other children, Clara, b. 1861 and William, b. 1866, died in infancy. In 1860, Cameron formed a business partnership with Donald McKellar, and as the firm of McKellar and Cameron, they opened a general store at the corner of George and Hunter Streets, Peterborough. They sold groceries and hardware, and acted as commission merchants. On December 8, 1869, the store was destroyed by fire. In 1869, Sophia and the three youngest children went on a visit to Scotland. Charles and Annie later joined them for Christmas in the same year. In the new year Charles returned to Peterborough and became an insurance and steamboat ticket agent. He continued in this line of work until 1903. He died a year later on February 25, 1904. His wife Sophia never returned to Peterborough; she died in Elgin, Scotland, April 29, 1873. It is unknown as to when the children returned to Canada. Albert Cameron went into a curtain and draperies business called Rumsey and Cameron. His twin brother Alfred became a Provincial Land Surveyor. Alfred married Jennie Rose on November 2, 1895 and together they had 8 children. Their first born died at the age of two. Three of their daughters, Jessie, Margaret and Jean remained in Peterborough throughout their lives, and they are responsible for the donation of this fonds to the Trent University Archives. The Cameron home on Chemong Road was dedicated as a women's shelter in 1996.

Dickson family
Family

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.

Family

The Theodore Thorne Hamilton family is associated with the earliest settlement of the Bobcaygeon area and later relocation to western Canada, where Theodore Thorne Hamilton was a telegraph operator with the Canadian National Railway. Hamilton was born 10 April 1890 in Bobcaygeon and died 3 August 1959. While in western Canada, he resided in Eudako, British Columbia.

Geale-Rogers family
Family

The Honourable Robert Hamilton (1826-1891) was a factor of the Hudson's Bay Company who was stationed at Fort Edmonton. He married Ann (Annie) Seaborn (Seabourne) Miles (born in 1838 at Rupert's House d. 1863). Annie's mother was Elizabeth (Betsy) Sinclair (b. ca. 1805 and d. 1878) and her father was Robert Seaborn Miles Sr. (1795-1870). Like Robert Hamilton, Robert Miles Sr. was a Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company. One of Robert and Annie's sons, Robert Miles Hamilton (1864-1939), married Alice May Barker and resided at "Auburn" in Peterborough, Ontario. Alice's father was the Honourable Samuel Barker, a Conservative Member of Parliament and a barrister. Alice and Robert Hamilton's children were Miles Beresford Hamilton, Robert Barker Hamilton, Alice Seabourne Hamilton, and S.R. Hamilton (male). Both Beresford and Robert Barker Hamilton served overseas during World War I. Alice Seabourne Hamilton married Charles Norman Geale.

Edward Armour Peck, whose papers are also included in this fonds, was the natural father of Arthur Henry Peck and the adoptive father of Charles Norman Geale. Edward Armour Peck was married to Kitty Revel.

Richard Birdsall Rogers was born at Ashburnham in 1857. He was the son of Robert David Rogers and Elizabeth Birdsall and a grandson of Richard Birdsall. He lived in Ashburnham until 1916 and then moved to "Beechwood Farm" in Douro Township. He was a land surveyor and was appointed Superintending Engineer of the Trent Valley Canal in about 1884. During his time in this office, he built the Peterborough-Lakefield Division and the Simcoe-Balsam Lake Division of the Trent Canal including the Hydraulic Lift Locks at Peterborough and Kirkfield, besides many dams and other works on this canal. Richard married Clara Mina Calcutt of Peterborough in 1881. They had seven children. Their daughter, Leah, married Herbert Geale, the brother of Charles Norman. Two of Richard and Mina's sons, Heber and Harry, served overseas in World War I.

Hueston family
Family

The Hueston family (fl. 1918-1919) lived in Thorndale, Ontario.

Kerr family
Family

The Honourable William Kerr, 1836-1906, was born at Ameliasburgh, Prince Edward County, Upper Canada, a son of Francis William and Olive Shelley Kerr. He attended school at Newtonville and later, Victoria College at Cobourg, Ontario where he received his B.A. in 1855 and his M.A. in 1858. Subsequently, Victoria College honoured him with a L.L.D. in 1887. William Kerr carried on his legal studies in the office of Smith and Armour (later Chief Justice of Ontario) in Cobourg. He was called to the Upper Canada bar in 1859 and practised law in Cobourg. He became a Q.C. in 1876. In 1896 he was elected a Bencher of the Law Society of Ontario. During his career, Mr. Kerr maintained his lasting association with Victoria College as a member of its Board of Regents, then as a senator. In 1885 he was appointed the University's Vice-Chancellor. He was heavily involved in the many land transactions undertaken by the University in Northumberland and Durham Counties. Mr. Kerr began his political career as a Town Councillor of Cobourg, from 1862 to 1867 and as the town's mayor, from 1867 to 1873. In 1874, he was elected as a Liberal member of the House of Commons for Northumberland West. He was unseated by petition on September 26, 1874, but was re-elected at a by-election on November 17, 1874. He was later defeated in both the 1878 and 1882 elections. On March 15, 1899 he was called to the Senate. Mr. Kerr was a Methodist by religion. On November 12, 1858, he married Myra J. Field, daughter of John Field M.P.P. They had seven children, three daughters and four sons. The oldest son, William F. Kerr became a partner in his father's law practice to form the firm Kerr and Kerr of Cobourg. After the Senator's death on November 22, 1906 in Toronto, William F. carried on the firm with a series of partnerships. John Wesley Kerr, the Senator's brother, was also a lawyer in Cobourg. He was called to the bar in May 1860 and was commissioned as a notary public in the same year. On June 27, 1870, he married Eva Fraser. It is possible that during his career he was Clerk of the Peace for the United Counties of Northumberland and Durham. He died on September 4, 1903.

Medd family
Family

The Medd family were early settlers in Millbrook, Cavan Township, Upper Canada who later moved to Peterborough, Upper Canada. The first member of the Medd family to settle in the region was Robert Medd. His son Thomas Medd (ca. 1850-1916) married Mary Scott (1845-1922) in 1870. Mary Scott was the granddaughter of Adam Scott, the first pioneer settler on the site of Peterborough. They had two sons, Sidney T. Medd and A.W. Medd. Sidney Taylor Medd, a barrister, married Estelle Lumsden Ackerman some time between 1909 and 1910. They had two children, Scott Ackerman Medd, born in 1911, and Mary E. Medd. Scott Ackerman was educated at Trinity College School in Port Hope, Ontario and upon graduation, was employed by the Bank of Montreal in both Peterborough and Oshawa. In 1932, dissatisfied with his career in banking, Scott Medd successfully applied to the Royal Academy School in London, England. In 1938, he married Beryl Gray-Rees in London, and on June of the following year, their only child Miriam Frances was born. With the outbreak of the World War II in 1939, Scott Medd's artistic career was interrupted as he spent the next six years of his life with the Royal Artillery. In 1945, he was a member of the British occupation force sent to liberate Norway from the Germans. After the War, Scott returned to art as a teacher at the Camberwell School of Art in London. In 1960, he was appointed Resident Advisor to the Students in Painting at the British School in Rome, Italy. He retained this position until 1970, when illness forced him to retire. Scott Medd had a long and successful career as an artist and teacher. He died 9 November 1984.

Lapp, Henry and Hannah Hoag
Family

Henry Lapp, son of Jeremiah Lapp and Sarah, married Hannah Hoag, daughter of Elijah Hoag and Lydia, on April 27, 1848.

Stewart family
Family

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.

Tinney family
Family

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.

Trotter family
Family

The Trotter family lived on a farm in Lindsay, Ontario at the turn of the century.

Frost family
Family

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.

Caldwell family
Family

Hugh Caldwell Sr. (1824-1903) emigrated to Canada from Scotland in 1843 to the Waterloo area with his father and siblings. He married Ann Nancy MacDonald (1832-1903) in 1855 and settled in Mornington Township, Perth County. In January 1867, he sold his farm and tenant farmed near Strathroy, Ontario for some months before purchasing Lots 16 and 17, Concession 13 in Chandos Township, Peterborough County where he settled in December of that year. In 1875, he was appointed to the position of property assessor for Chandos, Anstruther, and Burleigh townships and held this position at various times until 1890. He opened the first post office in the Clydesdale Settlement of Chandos Township in his house; His son, Hugh Caldwell Jr. [1861-1914] lived part of his adult life in the Emo, Ontario area. Hugh Caldwell Sr. was the great-great grandfather of Leonard Caldwell and his siblings. Hugh Caldwell Jr. was a great uncle.

Logan and Fairley family
Family

The family history of David Logan (c 1890-1866) and Margaret Fairley (1799-1891) and their descendants is portrayed in A Logan Family - Eight Generations in Canada. Logan and Fairley were the great-grandparents of Marlow Banks, author and researcher of the above book. Born in Scotland, it is believed that Logan and Fairley married around 1830 and had two children before leaving for Canada around 1834 or 1835. They settled in Smith Township, about nine miles north of Peterborough, and later moved to Douro. They had four more children after arriving in Canada.

Bagnani, Gilbert and Stewart
Family

Gilbert Forrest Bagnani was born April 26, 1900, in Rome, to General Ugo Bagnani, of Rome and later London as military attache at the Italian Embassy, and Florence Dewar, daughter of Dr. James Dewar of Cobourg, Ontario. Gilbert spoke both English and Italian and later learned to speak Greek, Latin, Arabic, French and German. He was educated at the Nobile Collegio del Nazzareno in Rome and at a preparatory school called Gibbs' in London. His schooling was interrupted by World War I. He served as a Second Lieutenant of artillery towards the end of the War. After the War he returned to the University of Rome where he received his doctorate. Instead of entering law as he had planned, he turned to the Italian School of Archaeology in Athens to study antiquities which were becoming a strong interest of his.

In 1929 Gilbert married Mary Augusta Stewart Houston of Toronto, daughter of Stewart Houston (editor of "The Financial Post") and Augusta Robinson (daughter of John Beverley Robinson, Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario, and granddaughter of Sir John Beverley Robinson, Chief Justice and Attorney-General of Upper Canada). Stewart's father died while she was young and her mother took her to Europe for a more cosmopolitan education than she could receive in Canada. Gilbert and Stewart had an apartment in Rome and for seven seasons worked, in the Sahara Desert, with the Royal Archaeological Mission to Egypt.

In 1937 they fled fascist Italy and purchased a 200 acre farm and house built around 1845 near Port Hope, Ontario and named it "Vogrie". They added a large, forty foot long, two storeys high addition in which they housed their library, oil paintings, drawings, tapestries and ceramics. In 1945 Gilbert was invited to teach ancient history at the University of Toronto and in 1958 he became a Professor. He retired from the University of Toronto in 1965. During the time that the Bagnanis were in Toronto, Gilbert was a founding member and president of the Oriental Club of Toronto, a supporter of the Art Gallery of Ontario and an active member of the Archaeological Institute of America, of which he was vice-president from 1951 to 1954. Stewart was head of Extension at the Art Gallery of Ontario from 1951 to 1963. In 1965 the Bagnanis returned to "Vogrie". In the same year, Gilbert was asked to accept a term-appointment at Trent University. He was honoured with a LL.D. by Trent in 1971 and he continued to teach as a Professor of Ancient History until 1975. During the period between 1965 and 1975 Stewart remained active, lecturing on art in various venues and developing the Mackenzie Gallery at Trent University. Gilbert and Stewart did not have children. On February 10, 1985 Gilbert Forrest Bagnani died. Stewart moved to their Toronto home. In May of 1996 Mary Stewart Houston Bagnani died. The "Vogrie" property was inherited by Trent University after the death of Gilbert in 1985. Antiquities, art works, furniture, books and documents were bequeathed to a number of institutions, including Trent University, after the deaths of Gilbert and Stewart Bagnani.

Family

The family of Walter Nichol Davidson resided in Brighton, Ontario. Walter Davidson (?-1936) was a merchant-tailor. He married Isabella Massie D. McDonald (?-1946). They had two daughters: Annie Helen (1878-?) and Jessie Isabella. Annie wasa school teacher and she studied through correspondence courses from the University of Toronto Extension Branch. She married dentist by the last name of Harnden. This Davidson family maybe related to the Davidson family [(77-003)]: https://www.trentu.ca/library/archives/77-003 of Cobourg, Ontario. One letter in the 86-015 fonds is addressed to a W.N. Davidson and speaks of a "Lizzie", perhaps Elizabeth, and a "Jim", perhaps James. Both collections are similar in that they contain large number of deeds and mortgages.

Bateson family
Family

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.

Birdsall family
Family

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.)

Hay-Dunlop family
Family

Some members of the Hay and Dunlop families are descendants of Thomas Alexander Stewart (1786-1847) and Frances Stewart (1794-1872), Irish immigrants who arrived in Cobourg, Ontario from Ireland in 1822 and settled the following year in Douro Township near the present city of Peterborough.

Collins and Gammon families
Family

The Collins and Gammon families are descendents of Thomas Alexander Stewart and Frances Stewart, Irish immigrants who arrived in the Peterborough area in 1822.

Reid family
Family

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.