No women at the club

"The Wharf Street Debating Club was, and remained for many years, a working man's club. It was the place where men from the wharf met and smoked their cigarettes, or puffed on their pipes, and talked of politics, work and sports. It woulkd simply never occur to their wives and daughters to attend these meetings. It seems likely that no conscious effort ws mde to exclude them. It would simply not have occurred to eithr sex that women should or would even want to attend."
– From Dockside Democracy, a study of women in Belleville politics and the role of the Wharf Street Debating Club. By C.W. Hunt.

Daniel Massey's famous first words

Daniel Massey imported a threshing machine for use on his farm near Grafton in Northumberland County, Ontario, in 1842. Although it was a cumbersome machine, it impressed Massey to the point of remarking to his son, Hart, "If only I had a factory instead of a farm." Eventually he bought a factory and began making implements. The company became known as the Massey Manufacturing Company, later as Massey-Harris.

Source: When I Was Young by Raymond Massey; McClelland and Stewart, Toronto, 1976. Found in Rolling Hills of Northumberland.

Boats on Rails

The first works on what was to become the Trent Severn Waterway were begun in 1837. These included a dam at Healey Falls on the Trent River, a dam and lock at Crooks Rapids (Hastings), a lock at Whitla's Rapids, (Scott's Mills), a dam at Hall's Mills (Buckhorn), reconstruction of the lock at Bobcaygeon and a lock at Purdy's Mills (Lindsay). The waterway was finally opened through from the Bay of Quinte to Georgian Bay in 1920, but to this day relies on a marine railway at the Big Chute to complete the passage. The story is told in James T. Angus's book, A Work Unfinished.

Fording Trent River at Campbell's place

"To grind their grain into flour, the Seymour East pioneers, carrying the grain on their backs, forded the Trent to reach the mills on the west side of the river at Meyersburg and Ranney Falls. This ford, at the calmest and shallowest stretch of the river at Major (David) Campbell's property, became known as Campbell's Ford which eventually became Campbellford."

From Gleanings, a history of Campbellford/Seymour, published in 2000 by the Campbellford/Seymour Heritage Society.

Educated at The Pimple

One of the last remaining octagonal school houses in Ontario sits atop a small hill in Morton, in Leeds County. Appropriate to its site, it has been known for generations as The Pimple. Constructed in 1852, the brick building operated as a school up until 1900 and was occupied as a house until 1982. Although it is in disrepair at the moment, a new roof has been added to stabilize the building and prevent further deterioration.

See Hub of the Rideau, A History of South Crosby Township, by Susan Warren.

The Great Farini walked above the crowd

A tightrope walker from Port Hope known as Signor Guillermo Antonio Farini was actually plain old Bill Hunt from Hope Township. In his second public tightrope walk, he reportedly drew 8,000 gawkers to his act above Walton Street in Port Hope in 1859. This was quite a feat, given that the town's entire population was about half that number, but people thronged to Port Hope from nearby Cobourg and neighbouring townships. Later The Great Farini became world-famous for his walks across the Niagara Gorge.
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Adapted from Rollings Hills of Northumberland, published by Northumberland County, 2000

The Latter-day Saints of North Leeds

Elgin, a village in the heart of the Rideau Lakes, was nicknamed Nauvoo in the mid-1800s, after a Mormon centre in the United States. Throughout 1836 and 1837, the charismatic John E. Page converted as many as 700 people to Mormonism in North Frontenac and Leeds counties. Known as the Son of Thunder, Page was described by an unsympathetic Presbyterian clergyman as "a strong robust man, six feet high, very illiterate but possessed of a strong voice. He had formerly been a blacksmith but had given up the hammering of iron for the hammering of Mormonism into the heads of his audience." Fleeing persecution, Mormons from the Eastern United States and Canada trekked to the isolated West in 1838. Thirty wagonloads of families pulled out of North Leeds and followed Page to Missouri. By the early 1860s, there were no Mormons left in the area.

Adapted from Hub of the Rideau, A History of South Crosby Township, by Susan Warren. South Crosby Township has become part of the Township of Rideau Lakes.

Farriers 6, Wharfingers 2

No, this is not the score of a 19th-century hockey game. It's a list of occupations in Northumberland County, according to the census of 1851.

Accountants, 4; insurance agents, 7; bankers, 6; bailiffs, 8; barbers/hairdressers, 13; barkeepers, 8; bookbinders, 3; booksellers/stationers, 3; bookkeepers, 2; boot and shoemakers, 243; blacksmiths, 147; brickmakers, 1; bricklayers, 8; brewers, 6; builders, 1; butchers, 13; boat builders, 1; cabinetmakers, 40; carpenters, 280; carriage makers, 49; carvers/gilders, 1; chemists/druggists, 6; clerks, 125; confectioners, 2; clergy/priests, 36; clothiers, 9; clock/watchmakers, 2; comb makers, 8; farmers, 2,120; fanning mill owners, 2; farriers, 6; fishermen, 5; founders, 7; factory operators, 6; gaolers (jailers), 1; gardeners, 6; grocers, 10; gunsmiths, 1; hoop makers, 1; hatters, 4; painters, 17; paper makers, 10; plasterers, 11; postmasters, 10; potash makers, 1; physicians/surgeons, 9; printers, 14; pump makers, 3; stage drivers, 7; stone cutters, 3; tailors, 96; tanners, 37; teachers, male, 68; teachers, female, 9; tinsmiths, 17; teamsters, 40; tobacconists, 1; toll bar keepers, 4; tray makers, 1; traders, 4; upholsterers, 2; wagon makers, 87; well diggers, 1; wool merchants, 4; wool sorters, 2; wharfingers, 2; whip makers, 1; washerwomen, 9; weavers, 21.

From Rolling Hills of Northumberland, published by Northumberland County, 2000.

Settler lost to malaria

The first settler in South Crosby Township in the Rideau Lakes was Walter Davis, who began clearing a parcel of land south of Elgin in 1800. His son, Walter Jr., built Davis Mills at the location known today as Davis Lock on the Rideau Canal. The lock connects Sand and Opinicon lakes. Malaria, which killed many people during canal construction, also took the life of Walter Jr. He died while his mill was being dismantled in 1830 to make way for the canal lock.

Adapted from Hub of the Rideau, A History of South Crosby Township, by Susan Warren. South Crosby Township has become part of the Township of Rideau Lakes.

The Hero of Batoche died coming home

To the people of Port Hope, Ontario, the hero of Batoche was their own man, Colonel A. T. H. Williams. Colonel Williams was the commander of the Midland Battalion which played a pivotal role in suppressing the Northwest Rebellion at Batoche, Saskatchewan, in 1885. The battalion was raised from communities in Northumberland, Hastings and Peterborough counties. A heroes' welcome was prepared for the returning troops but unfortunately Colonel Williams took ill and died before he reached home. Sir John A. Macdonald unveiled a statue in his honour in front of the Port Hope town hall in 1889.

Adapted from Rolling Hills of Northumberland, published by Northumberland County, 2000.