More Local Treasure Than Pirate’s Booty on Treasure Island

My actual book of “Pioneer Sketches of the District of Balhurst “( Lanark and Renfrew Counties) Volume 1” signed by Andrew Haydon 1925

When I began documenting the letters between Andrew Haydon and Thomas Alfred Code I assumed the approximately 40 page history journal relating to the Code family had been put into the book Haydon wrote about the district of Bathurst.

The journal I have in my pocession included correspondence with Andrew Haydon, member of the Canadian Senate (1924-1932) who asked Thomas Alfred Code for biographical information. Code in his attempt to aid Haydon put together correspondence, typed biographical information, and news clippings as well as a few letters handwritten from his mother in this journal.

The American seller that sold me the book also assumed that when Hayden later published “Pioneer Sketches of the District of Balhurst “( Lanark and Renfrew Counties) Volume 1” had included a small portion of Code’s information in his book. He didn’t. The letters between Hayden and Code were done in 1929 and the book was published in 1925, so I figured that the letters were to be of use to him in Volume 2 if Hayden ever wrote it. Instead, he wrote Mackenzie King and the Liberal Party 1930, and then died in 1932.

In this book by Andrew Haydon he discusses the settlement and development of the ‘old’ Bathurst District. The District of Bathurst included most of Lanark, Renfrew and Carleton Counties in present-day Ontario. From the world events that set the scene for settlement of the ‘upper’ province, to specific information about individuals who came to call Bathurst District their home.

My actual book of “Pioneer Sketches of the District of Balhurst “( Lanark and Renfrew Counties) Volume 1” signed by Andrew Haydon 1925

The author has included many first hand accounts of those who experienced the hardships and opportunities of settlement in a new land. Includes many references to the early families and individuals in the region. So, this makes the Code letters and ephemera I have in the journal all the more important to local history.

“The history of Bathurst still waits to be written. A well known English writer has explored in fiction the story of the Five Towns. The history of Bathurst turns to the geography of its Five Rivers– the ancient forest home of Algonquin tribes, whose wigwams once dotted those picturesque tributaries of the Ottawa, still carrying the French or Indian names of Rideau, Mississippi, Madawaska, Bonnechere and Petawawa.

And along the Five rivers the adventurous pioneers constructed scores of mills, little and large, around which were clustered scores of hamlets, many of whose locations are marked today by the crumbling ruins of an old stone chimney, or otherwise rest but in the dim memories of a rapidly disappearing generation.”– Andrew Haydon

It goes to show you that you should never judge a book or even words by their cover as History is not a burden on the memory but more of an illumination of the soul.

The Code Journal of local history and Code Genealogy

Andrew Haydon-–He was the author of Pioneer Sketches of The District of Bathurst (Lanark and Renfrew Counties, Ontario) (The Ryerson Press, 1925) and Mackenzie King and the Liberal Party (Allen, 1930).

Come and visit the Lanark County Genealogical Society Facebook page– what’s there? Cool old photos–and lots of things interesting to read. Also check out The Tales of Carleton Place.

Information where you can buy all Linda Seccaspina’s books-You can also read Linda in The Townships Sun andScreamin’ Mamas (USA)