Names Names and more Names of Almonte

Almonte Gazette 1875

These are the memories of Mr. Robert Young and Mr. R. L. Bond formerly of Almonte. These two gentlemen had known each other since early boyhood had shared the same experiences and pleasure during a long period of years, and it was only natural that they should seize on this occasion to talk over old times.

Ottawa Daily Citizen March 1870

The following story is about the town of Almonte as it was back in the 1870s. But before proceeding with the story, just a word about the narrators themselves. Mr. Young was born on a farm near Benny’s Corners, six miles from Almonte. His father was the late Peter Young, who came to this country from auld Scotia in the early thirties. Mr. Young left the farm at an early age and lived for several years in Appleton, where he learned the foundry business.

In 1870 he went to Almonte and a few years later he entered into partnership with his two brothers, Andrew and William and they started up a foundry business in a small way in an old stone building on Water street. About 1878 they acquired more pretentious quarters down by the Mississippi River and they continued to operate this plant until 1907. Waugh Brothers later conducted a stove manufacturing business in the same building.

January 1870 Ottawa Daily Citizen

Mr. Bond was born in Carleton Place eighty-four years ago. His father, the late Joseph Bond, who came out from Mount Rath, Queens County, Ireland, about 1824, settled in Carleton Place while it was still known as Morphy’s Falls. In 1861 the family moved to Almonte where the father engaged in the shoe making business. After learning tinsmithing Mr. R. L. Bond went into what was known as No. 2 mill to learn the finishing trade. Later he went to the United States and in 1870 (time of the second Fenian Raid) he returned and Joined No. 1 company of the 42nd Battalion of Almonte.

In 1898 Mr. Bond came to Ottawa and went to work for the Pease Furnace Company, then situated on Bank street, near Albert. Later he was with the Ottawa Furnace and Foundry Company, and still later with the Laurentian Foundry.

Almonte was a much more lively place in the 1870s those days the town boasted a population of more than three thousand; the Almonte railway station was the busiest on the Ottawa and Brockville line; the town had no fewer than six woollen mills and, according to Mr. Young, more business was transacted in one week than in a whole month now.

Ottawa Daily Citizen 1875

Back in the 1870s Almonte’s woollen mills were: No. 1, on the island, conducted by B. and W. Rosamond; No. 2, on Mill street, by Elliott, Routh and Sheard; Gilbert Cannon’s mill, down on the bay, Just below the hill; John Baird and Company, on Mill street near McLean’s grist mill; the Anchor Knitting Mill, on the island, and William Thoburn’s mill, on Little Bridge street. In later years Judge Jamie-son’s son married Miss Annie Thoburn and became proprietor of the mill. Rosamond’s No. 1 mill was the largest manufacturing plant in the town; it employed about 300 hands.

The following are some of the people who figured prominently in the business life of the community in the 1870s were:

Andrew Matthew, general merchant and issues of marriage licenses; F. H. Davis, proprietor of the Almonte House; Aaron Barnelt, cooperage business; Donald Cameron, blacksmith: John Murray, tanner (on the island); William Forgle, grocer and butcher: Sandy Lang, blacksmith; Arthur Lang, saw mill; Dugald MeEwan, tailor; Duncan McGregor, proprietor of the Victoria Hotel (Riley’s House); Frank McMulkin, blacksmith; John Menzies, general merchant and registrar for North Lanark; Henry Patterson, cabinet maker and chief constable of the town. William Templeman, afterwards editor of the Victoria, B.C.. Times, and minister of interior in the Laurier government, was guiding the destinies of the Almonte Gazette. The Gazette was started in 1868 by Mr. Templeman and R. J. Northgraves as a four-page sheet, all hand set. Mr. Bond was a brother-in-law of the late Mr. Templeman.

Rueben Bond and grand daughter Georgina (Gina) Wilson; daughter of Christina (Bond) Wilson.

W. H. Rea conducted a large general store where one could get anything from carpet tacks to a mowing machine; William Riddle, chair factory, where the Penman factory was now, on Mill street; John Patterson, blacksmith; Andrew Smith, wagonmaker; James . H. Wylie, postmaster; J. B. Wylie (son of J. H.), general merchant; Brown and McArthur, general merchants, at the corner of Bridge and Mill streets; Noble Bennett, blacksmith; John Glover, cooperage business; R. Driscoll, proprietor of the Almonte Foundry, near the Agricultural Society grounds; Daniel Glossop, boot and shoe manufacturer. Alex. McLean and J. C. Stevens were proprietors of the town’s two grist mills. John Scott was station agent for the Brockville and Ottawa Railway.

Almonte also boasted a splendid volunteer fire brigade in the early seventies. In 1874 the town purchased a new, fire engine (hand pump) and the brigade decided to take part In a pumping contest at Brockville. The new engine was larger and more up-to-date than any in the Ottawa district and there was not one of the sixty who manned it who did not tip the beam at over 200 pounds, while several went around the 240 pound mark, The story of how the Almonters put a couple of things over on their competitors and won the contest.

When the contest was concluded Archie Houston, proprietor of the hotel at which the Almonters stayed, bought about two dozen brooms and arranged them around the Almonte fire engine, thus indicating “a clean sweep.” It was not until the late 1860s that lovers of the “stanes” in the Almonte district formed a club and built rinks in the town, but at a much earlier date pioneer Scotch settlers gathered on the Mississippi river at Rosebank (Blakeney), four miles below Almonte, and had the time of their lives.

Ottawa Daily Citizen March 1870

They fished nicely rounded stones from the bed of the river, decorated them with fancy silver-mounted and ebony handles and then “curled” to their hearts’ content. One of the most outstanding curlers of that time one who learned (the roarin’ game in auld Scotia and who, towards the end of his career, boasted that he had been a curler for seventy-five years, was James Templeton. He was a member of the Almonte Curling Club for over fifty years. In 1894, James Templeton was honoured as Almonte’s oldest citizen and the oldest active curler in Canada. He was 90 years old. When he was seventeen years old, he began “curling and courting”. At age 90 he said “I have been at the rink, ready for a game with the besom and stanes. I don’t think there are many who can beat that score”. Templeton built his house for his family on the eighth line of Ramsay. Mrs. Templeton and the children were brought from Smiths Falls by hired teams to their new home, but the long journey was too much for the baby’s strength, and she died within half-an-hour of the family’s arrival — the only death that occurred among his eight children. (Millstone)

Later, when the Almonte Club was In full swing, Mr. Young and Mr. Bond were members and others included Messrs. William Willoughby, Alexander Sinclair, Peter McArthur, Alexander Young, Peter Young Peter McDougall, William Temple man, J. K. Cole and Samuel Davis.

In 1881 Almonte had Its first mayor contest. Dr. Patterson and James Rosamond opposed each other for the exalted position and when the ballots were counted It was found that Mr. Rosamond had been elected by one vote. Dr. Patterson’s supporters and friends were not satisfied to let it go at that and they demanded a recount. The ballots were counted again and the doctor was found to have one more vote than his worthy opponent and was duly declared elected.

When the North Lanark Agricultural Society was organized back in the 1860s the exhibitions were held in a field just off Main street, where Robert Scott, stonemason, built a fine stone residence in the late 1870s. That is when the present Water street site was selected and the grounds were expanded by filling in part of the bay. The first exhibitions were small affairs, consisting mainly of a showing of livestock and a very meagre display of roots and vegetables. When the horses were being judged they were paraded up and down Main street, while spectators lined both sides of the street.