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["Kincardine" is one of the
titles of the Governor-General of Canada in office at the time the survey
of the "Queen's Bush" was made, viz. the Earl of Elgin and Kincardine.
In the outline map of the
proposed townships in the "Queen's Bush" referred to in Chapter II. the
name first written as that of this township was ''Lambert,'' while the
name ''Kincardine'' appears on that now known as "Wallace," in the county
of Perth. These two names there show as being crossed out and the present
names written in with lead-pencil.]
Extract from the Report of
County Valuators, 1901.
"This township has a very
considerable portion of rough land, broken by creeks that are very
injurious, rendering agricultural pursuits difficult, many farms with
scarcely a level field upon them. These remarks apply to that portion of
the township south of the 6th concession. There is considerable light,
sandy land in this township. Two strips cross from north to south and
average from one and a half to two miles in width. There is also
considerable light and stony land on the Lake Range. In buildings this
township has not kept pace with adjoining municipalities, excepting the
northern portion, which will compare very favorably with other parts of
the county. The rate per acre for Kincardine township is $32.45. The rate
per acre of village property in this township is about 34 cents."
The survey of Kincardine
Township was not made, like that of most of the townships in the county,
as a whole and at one time, but in three sections and in different years.
As related in Chapter II., in 1847 Alex. Wilkinson, P.L.S., surveyed the
Lake Eange lots, and in 1848-49 A. P. Brough, P.L.S., laid out the Durham
Eoad and three concessions to the north and south of it. Then followed, in
1850, the survey of the remaining portion of the township, which included
concessions four to twelve. This last survey was made by J. W. Bridgland,
P.L.S., under circumstances mentioned in Chapter V. The lands in
Kincardine were among those set apart as school lands, the price of which
at first was fixed by the Crown at 12s. 6d., but subsequently reduced to
10s. In Appendix H is given a copy of the advertisement offering the lands
in the township for sale, [The entries in the books of the Crown Land
Department show that the first sale was made on August 19th, 1851, to Sam
Splan, of lot 26, concession 3, S.D.R. ] which were among the first in the
county offered for sale.
For the first ten years of
its history Kincardine was the leading township in the county of Bruce.
This was brought about by the comparative readiness of access thereto by
water, giving it not only the earliest of the pioneer settlers, but also
the largest number of them. That it was the senior township in the pioneer
days is borne •out by the corporate name by which the municipality of the
county was then known, namely, "The United Townships of Kincardine and the
remaining townships within the county of Bruce." Leading, therefore, as
Kincardine did, in settlement and also in municipal matters, the author
has, in the writing of this History, been led to record, in Chapters III.,
IV. and V., relating to the history of the county at large, many early
events especially associated with Kincardine, and the reader of these
pages of the township's history is asked to recall what is written
relating to it in the above-mentioned chapters; and as until January 1st,
1858, the village of Penetangore was unincorporated and formed part of the
township of Kincardine, the history of the village at first was that of
the township, so that the chapter following this, on the town of
Kincardine, must also be consulted to obtain a complete historical
narrative of the township.
The first settlers to enter
the township, as well as the first in the county, were Allan Cameron and
Wm. Withers, who in the spring of 1848 settled at the mouth of the
Penetangore River, months before the town-plot of Kincardine was surveyed.
During the following summer and fall, Donald, Alexander and John McCaskill,
James and Alexander Munroe and some others settled on the Lake Range and
on the North Line. At the same time the Durham Line received its first
settlers in the persons of John C. Digman and Major William Daniel.
There was a steady inflow
of settlers into Kincardine in 1849, who squatted on lands not yet offered
for sale. Along the lake shore farm lots were taken up by George and Alex.
Boss, George and Alex. Murray, James, Duncan, Robert and John Rowan,
Malcolm, John and Murdoch McLeod and Archibald Sinclair. About this time
also the "free grant" lots received many settlers—so many, in fact, that
only a few names can be here mentioned, such as George Ryckman, Samuel
Taylor, William Fanning, Robert Stewart, John Sellery, William Millar,
Robert Brown, Thomas Harris, John Hays, Nicol McIntyre, William
(Dalhousie) Miller and W. L. Armstrong, all residing on the south side of
the Durham Road. On the north side there was Jacob Latschaw, John Mosely,
William G. Cuyler, John Hicks, William and Henry Daniel, Patrick and
Daniel Kehoe, Frank Bone, Andrew Horne, Samuel McCloskey, Samuel Colwell
and Samuel McLellan. The North and South Lines each similarly received a
contingent of settlers, among them being Archibald Robinson, John
McCullough, John Evans, Andrew Gardiner and Robt., Alex., Donald and
Kenneth McKenzie, who settled on concession 2, N.D.R., and George and John
Morrison, William Withers, S. Clements, Robert, George and Andrew Atcheson,
S. Shelton, the Emmersons and Touchbournes who took up land on concession
2, S.D.R. As the township from concession 4 north was not surveyed until
1850, settlers did not penetrate into the centre of the township before
that date. The first to do so is said to have been Harvey Wilson, who
squatted on lot 17, concession 7. After the lands in Kincardine were
offered for sale in 1851 its settlement was rapid. A large portion of the
settlers who came in then were Highland Scotch, either by birth or
descent. Among the many fine types of settlers and citizens of this stock
who helped in the making of Kincardine Township, the author would
prominently place the Rev. William Fraser. Active in municipal matters, he
was elected to fill the office of reeve on three occasions; he was also
local superintendent of public schools for the western district of the
county for six years. His enterprising spirit led him to erect the first
mills in the township outside of the village. Mr. Fraser's influence and
example was wholesome and tended to setting high the standard • of
citizenship. Mrs. John Reekie, of Margaret, Man., has supplied the author
with some facts regarding the Rev. William Fraser, which he is pleased to
insert here. They are as follows:
"In the summer of 1850 the
Rev. W. Fraser, Baptist minister, resigned his charge at Breadalbane,
Glengarry, being desirous of procuring land for his boys. With this end in
view he travelled through a good part of the Western States, as well as
sections of Canada, but finally located at Kincardine, as in his
estimation it was the most promising of all places he had seen. He first
settled on a farm adjoining the town, but afterwards moved to what is now
known as Lorne, where he built both a saw and a grist mill, the former in
1851 and the latter in 1854. In those early days religious privileges were
very few, so Mr. Fraser opened his own house for church service, preaching
every Sunday two sermons, one in Gaelic and one in English; the service
usually lasted three hours. These services were held first in his own home
at Kincardine, afterwards at Mr. Rowan's at Stoney Island, then at his own
house at Lome, at Mr. John Patterson's near Tiverton, at the first school
house at Tiverton, and finally in the church built in that village. Mr.
Fraser walked five miles and a half to Tiverton every Sunday, preached
three hours and then walked back again. This he did for years, all without
fee or reward save the blessing of the Master, whose he was and whom he
served. Mr. Fraser was for some time the only one nearer than Goderich
that was authorized to perform the marriage ceremony. [Jarnes Millar, who
had charge of Mr. Sutton's mill from 1854-'56, says that one day a young
man and woman came in with a small grist. Leaving it to be ground, they
started afoot and walked the four miles of rough road to the Rev. Mr.
Fraser's, were married, came back for the grist, and then off to their
shanty in the bush. A marked contrast to the extended honeymoon trips of
the present day.] Sometimes he had to travel several miles on foot for
this purpose, and considered himself amply recompensed when a couple of
dollars were pressed into his hand by the happy bridegroom. Good old man,
he rests from his labors and has his reward. He sleeps in Tiverton
cemetery with many of his flock about him. His chief monument is the
congregation he was so instrumental in gathering together." [The Rev. Wm.
Fraser was a native of Invernesshire, where he was born in 1800. His death
occurred August 30th, 1883.]
While referring to the
Highland Scotch settlers, so numerous and influential in Kincardine, the
memory of the author reverts back to a long list of prominent men who had
the prefix "Mac" to their surname: McLeod, McDonald, McKenzie, McKay,
McKinnon, McLean, McLennan and others, and he feels at a loss whom to
particularize. There was Murdoch (Elder) McLennan and Donald his namesake
on the same concession; J. P. McIntyre, for seven years reeve; Murdoch
McLeod, also a reeve, and later township treasurer for years. There are
the McDougald brothers on "the tenth"— Malcolm, Allan, John, Donald,
Charles and Neil, sons of Donald McDougald. The McEwens on "the boundary,"
who have sent several of their sons into the ministry; and many others, as
well as those mentioned who were not "Macs," the Campbells, Mathesons,
Frasers and Rowans, men who have done their part faithfully. Besides the
Highland Scotch, the township had among its original settlers many fine
men of Lowland Scotch, English, and North of Ireland origin. Of Lowland
Scotch lineage there was William Millar, who gave his name to a
post-office on the Durham Road, and who was reeve or deputy reeve of the
township for over a dozen years; His namesake also at Bervie, the owner of
one of the finest farms in the township; William and John Reekie, the
founders of Armow, and Forbes Robertson. While as representative of those
of English birth there might be mentioned William and George Daniel,
William Withers, Samuel Avery and John Sellery, men who did yeoman service
in the development of the township. It is in the vicinity of Bervie that
we find the largest number of North of Ireland men, and the fine farms
they hewed out of the bush speak volumes as to their worth as settlers.
As in all backwoods
settlements, the roads, so-called, in pioneer days followed a blaze made
by an axe on the trees. Settlers landing at Kincardine and seeking to
reach the Durham line left the town-plot by way of Russell Street. Major
William Daniel relates the following recollections in regard to this
entrance to the township: "I remember when Frank Bone moved in; he had a
sleigh-load of furniture, provisions, a stove, besides various boxes and
bags. The blaze led down the hill past the English church. There were no
roads or bridges; it was a case of climb mounds and slide down hollows.
Mr. Bone found it so rough that he was afraid to drive his horses down the
hill, so after unhitching them he let the sleigh go down alone. Before
reaching the bottom it capsized and scattered the load broadcast." Of his
own experience Major Daniel says: "The first load I hauled in was by
sleigh in winter time. I had to drive the horses through the rivers, as
the ice was not strong enough to bear them. It was late in the day when we
reached my shanty, and wet as the horses were I had to picket them to the
trees all night without anything to eat," Of a slightly later date the
Major says: "At Lot 19 on the Durham Road there is a hill; at the foot of
it the road was crossed by a small stream. The oxen, by constantly
slipping down, had at this point cut the road into a slough that was about
three feet deep and thirty feet in length. Coming down this hill
ox-sleighs would shoot out of sight in the mud and water. Sometimes the
drivers would be unfortunate enough to tumble into the mud, and on passing
my place, some rods farther on, presented a sorry sight."
The promise of the
Government to open up the Durham Road was carried out, as far as
Kincardine was concerned, in the summer of 1851, George Jackson, the Crown
land agent, reporting under date of July 12th of that year that the Durham
line was opened, cleared and causewayed. [The cost of this work, extending
a little over nine miles, was £215.] The reader of to-day should not be
carried away with the thought that the work reported as finished furnished
easy access to the back country, or enabled travel to be made with
comfort. Grading was not called for in the road contracts [See a footnote
in Chapter V. for requirements of contracts for opening up the Durham Eoad.
The names of the contractors are to be found in a second footnote in the
same chapter.] nor even were the larger stumps of trees removed, and the
path twisted and turned about these stumps. The black mould of the woods,
that formed the surface of the road, retained moisture and was readily
transformed into mud. There were no side ditches to drain off the water,
so it remained until by the absorption of the soil and the evaporation
caused by the heat of the sun the mud dried up, as it sometimes did, about
the middle of the summer. The author has not the data giving the year of
the opening of the "base line," but is of the opinion that it was not
opened until 1853-54, under the supervision of David Gibson,
Superintendent of Colonization Roads, as mentioned in Chapter V. The
traffic to the north from Kincardine village was by the old lake shore
road. This pursued a sinuous way along the beach as far as McCaskill's
Bay, where it mounted the high bank and continued north along it as far as
Stoney Island, where it came down to the beach. After passing the few
houses there it entered the small timber, through which, at a short
distance from the lake, the roadway was cut, continuing therein until
Inverhuron was reached, the only clearing passed being John McRae's. This
was a pleasant road to travel over on a bright, sunny summer day. The
smell of the woods, the cool, fresh air of the lake, the dry, soft soil,
made walking enjoyable, while the song of birds and the murmur of the
waves lapping on the pebbly beach near-by combined to give one, during a
walk along this part of the road, the consciousness that it was happiness
to live and enjoy these charms of nature. The present Lake Shore Road, a
continuation of the main street of the town of Kincardine, was opened
about the year 1858 by consent of the owners of the various farms through
which it is laid out. Prior to that, a foot-path along the fences existed,
which was used by pedestrians. Some delay occurred in obtaining from all
the proprietors a gift of the right-of-way, but, as far as the author
recollects, no compensation was allowed to any of them for the land
surrendered.
The municipal life of each
local municipality has received some notice in this History. To do the
same in respect to Kincardine Township means that some of the facts given
in Chapter IV. and elsewhere must be repeated, but to do justice to the
history of the township the narrative of its municipal life must be
related, even if some repetitions occur. The occasion for such repetitions
is the unique position Kincardine occupied as the mother municipality of
the county as it was originally constituted. From it, by a process similar
to that to be witnessed in an apiary, the several townships swarmed off
from the parent hive to exist in future as separate municipalities.
Kincardine, as the name of a municipality, dates back to January 1st,
1852. As stated elsewhere, the full title of the municipality was, "The
United Townships of Kincardine and the Remaining Townships in the County
of Bruce." This union of eleven townships existed during 1852 and 1853.
[The names of the members of the Township Council and of its officers,
amount of taxes levied, etc., are recorded in Chapter IV.] On January 1st,
1851, a general shake-up of the municipal units within the county took
place [See Appendix F.] the townships of Bruce and Kinloss alone remaining
united for municipal purposes with Kincardine. After the lapse of one year
Kinloss retired from this union, while Bruce remained united to Kincardine
until January 1st, 1856, since which date Kincardine has existed as a
separate municipality. Nevertheless the township has lost in territory
since then, through the incorporation of Kincardine village (January 1st,
1858), and of Tiverton village in 1879. In a footnote are to be found the
names of the various reeves who presided over the Council Board from 1852
to 1906.
[Names of the reeves of the
township of Kincardine : William Rastall, 1852, '54, part of 1857; Rev.
Wm. Fraser, 1853, part of 1858, part of 1859; Malcolm McPherson, 1855;
David McKendrick, 1856, part of 1857; Archibald Leitch, part of 1858; Wm.
Millar, part of 1859, 1860 to 1870; Thomas Blair, 1871, '72; John Corbett,
1873 to 1880, and 1886; M McKinnon, 1881, '82; Wm. Reekie, 1883, '84, '85;
Thomas Bradley, MD 1887 '89, '90, '91, '92; L. T. Bland, 1888, '93, '94,
'95, '96; Leonard Shewfelt, 1897, '98; Robert Johnston, 1899, 1900; F.
Colwell, 1901, '02 '03 '04; John Evans, 1905, '06.]
Besides Kincardine and
Tiverton the township had at one time another village of which great hopes
were entertained, namely, Stoney Island, or Port Head. Owing to the
shelter afforded to vessels by the small stony island, and the possibility
of constructing a breakwater and harbor on a projecting reef, Captain
Duncan Rowan, who owned the land in the vicinity, sought there to develop
a town. With this object in view he, in the summer of 1856, had lots 32,
33 and 34 on the Lake Range surveyed into village lots. Ere this date, at
the island a wharf had been built which faced the mainland; alongside it
was a storehouse used for the purpose of storing freight delivered by the
steamer Ploughboy on its regular trips. John McLeod had a store on the
beach; William and James Baird built a good-sized steam sawmill on the
hill, and a post-office, called Port Head, was opened in 1857. For a time
the prospects of the little burg were bright, but in the fall of 1857 an
unusually severe storm carried away the wharf and storehouse with its
contents. This catastrophe proved a death-blow to Port Head. The mill was
closed down in 1858, Mr. McLeod moved his store, building and stock, to
Kincardine, and rapidly the village faded away. Captain Rowan lost heavily
by this venture.
[Captain Duncan Rowan was a
native of Argyleshire, Scotland, where he was born in October, 1822. He
inherited an instinct for sailing from his father, who claimed to have
piloted the first steamboat that steamed on the Clyde. Captain Rowan,
along with his brother, John, settled at Stoney Island in February, 1849,
as is narrated in Chapter III. In the following year he forsook farming to
take command of a small schooner, the '' Mary Ann,'' which he sailed
during the seasons of 1850, '51. Following that, he commanded the schooner
" Emily," 1852-'55; the steamer "Ploughboy" in 1856, '57; the "Islander,"
1858, '59; the "Kaloolah" in 1860; the " Valley City " in 1861, '62; then
the "Bruce," the "Silver Spray,'' and the ''Horton.'' He closed his career
as a sailor in 1871 and retired to his farm. Ultimately he moved to
Kincardine, where he died, July 20th, 1903. In 1852 he married Miss
McLean. She sailed with him on the lake for years. Her manner, so quiet,
retiring and ladylike, would not lead a stranger to suspect that she
possessed a knowledge of seamanship and of skill as a wheelsman which was
exceptional and unexpected in a woman and which in emergencies proved of
great service. On the occasion of the collision of the " Silver Spray "
with another steamer in the St. Clair River, Captain Rowan was
instrumental in rescuing thirty-nine persons, who but for his efforts
would have been drowned. Between Captain Rowan and the author there
existed a warm, appreciative friendship, extending over nearly half a
century, the memory of which the latter will ever cherish. The hearty
Highland welcome and honest handshake he extended to his friends was
characteristic of the man—a man known to all travellers who came to the
county of Bruce before the day of railroads.]
As the settlers along the
Durham line saw Cowan Keyes carrying Her Majesty's mail, slung over his
shoulder, on his wearisome tramps to and fro between Penetangore and
Durham, they quickly arrived at the conclusion that with very little extra
cost to the Province there might be opened, for their convenience, a
post-office somewhere between Kincardine and Greenock. This the Department
acquiesced in, and in 1853 a post-office named Bervie [Named after a
sea-coast town in Kincardineshire, Scotland.] was opened on lot 53,
concession 1, S.D.R., of which Nicol McIntyre was appointed postmaster, an
office he held until his death nearly fifty years later. The post-office,
of course, gave a name to the locality, and it seemed but natural that a
village should there spring up. Both the 50th and 60th side-road corners
put forth efforts to have the village. At the last-mentioned corner John
McKinney had a tavern, and near-by, through his efforts, a Presbyterian
church [The Rev. Walter Inglis held services there. The building was of
frame, about 30x50 feet, placed broadside to the road, from which two
doorways gave entrance. A few marble gravestones in what was the graveyard
are all that now marks the spot.] was erected. At the other corner a store
and a sawmill were to be found, and gradually at this point the village of
Bervie developed, the school-house, the Church of England, the Methodist
church and the Orange Hall being the earliest public buildings erected. At
one time Bervie had two sawmills, a planing mill and a grist mill, but it
is not as well off to-day in the matter of industries. It has three
handsome churches and is the centre of trade for a large section of the
farming community. One of its merchants, William Henderson, has been in
business there for over thirty years. Its physician, Dr. Thomas Bradley,
had. been a resident of Bervie since 1861.
The little village of Armow,
in the centre of the township, had as its founder William Reekie, who in
1854 there built a saw and grist mill. In September, 1857, a post-office
was opened bearing the name of Reekie, with Joseph Shier as postmaster. In
1868 he resigned the position, and the office was closed. In the following
year the post-office was reopened under the name of Armow, with Caleb
Bennet as postmaster. About the same time the first store at this point
was opened by Alex. Gardner. As the town hall is at Armow it is quite
proper to call it the hub of the township.
A portion of the township
bears the nickname "Egypt." Mrs. John Reekie gives the origin of the name
as follows: "That part of the tenth concession that lies east of the 20th
side-line was named 'Egypt' through a Mr. Bell, who was perhaps the first
pathmaster appointed in that section of the township. He was such a hard
taskmaster that he was called 'Pharaoh,' and the section over which he
presided was named ' Egypt.' He was ever after known as 'the King of
Egypt.' That part of the 'Tenth' between the 20th and the 15th side-roads
was known as the 'Wilderness and Red Sea,' as it was rough and swampy.
West of the 15th side-road it was called ' Canaan,'" "Pope" George Daniel
gives a different account of the origin of "Egypt," as follows: "In 1859,
Starvation Year, I was in the Township Council. Corn had been purchased to
meet the needs of the settlers for food; the Council met to distribute the
corn, which we arranged should be divided, an equal portion going to each
polling subdivision. The southern part of the township was well settled,
the northern part was not. The result was that the man living in the north
received seven bushels to the southern man's three. As a result corn was
none too plentiful in the south, but there was plenty in the north—'there
was corn in Egypt.'That is how the name originated." Some old settlers say
that the name was common as early as 1853; if so, Mrs. Reekie's account
seems to be the probable one.
The first public school in
the county was opened in 1851 at Kincardine, while it was still a part of
the township. For some years the increase in the number of schools was
slow, there being in 1855 but four schools in the township; three of these
were built of logs, and one only, that in the village, was of frame. The
school population in that year was but 540. With a large increase of
population in the following years came the demand for more schools. In
1863 there were nine schools, and in 1870 the number had increased to
fourteen, the same number as is within the township to-day. As may be said
generally of the public schools in the county, the schools in Kincardine
have done good work, e.g., school section No. 5, on the seventh
concession, claims to have had, in about thirty years, eighteen of its
pupils enter the teaching profession; pressing on, two of these entered
the ministry, and two others the practice of medicine; which certainly is
a good record for a country school. Among the many prominent sons of the
township who received their primary education in its public schools, the
two following might be mentioned: The Rt. Rev. Isaac O. Stringer, Bishop
of Selkirk, and Lieut.-Col. Hugh Clark, M.P.P. Of the first-mentioned it
may be said that the consecrated, self-sacrificing life and work of this
faithful missionary and his wife [Also a native of the county of Bruce.]
among the Esquimaux in the regions within the Arctic Circle is something
that has brought honor to the cause so dear to his heart, as well as to
his native county, and which his church has wisely recognized in
conferring upon him a diocese which affords opportunities for the further
exercise of that selfsame spirit of Christian service which he has shown
in the past. The author regrets that he is compelled to omit, as too
numerous to be mentioned, the other sons of the township who have come to
the front in life's struggle among surroundings far away from the scenes
of their boyhood. How many there are, may be imagined by a comparison of
the several census returns as given in Appendix L. There the fact is
revealed that of all the townships in the county, Kincardine alone had a
smaller population in 1901 than it had in 1861, and 1,651 less than in
1881. "Where has the population gone?" is but a natural question. Ask the
Western States and our own Western Provinces. There, in numerous prominent
positions, as well as on ranches, farms and mines, are to be found the
"Old Boys" of Kincardine Township, with a warm, warm place in their hearts
for the place of their birth. |
