
Author’s Note-–Had some great conversations with Brian McArton and thought I would add them here as there are things that need to be documented
Linda,
I think the last time you had done a piece about a stone house on High street, number 15. The article was about the house and its coffin door. The Carleton Place House with the Coffin Door
We had a discussion about Henry Wilson building those houses. Later I was able to get the abstract page from the Lanark Genealogy Group for the lot on High Street and one on William Street. Henry Wilson owned both of those lots and very likely built those 2 houses. He actually owned the whole block on William Street. Part of it was sold for the rectory of St. James Church. I am sure you know where it is. The stone house Henry built is right at the south west corner of that block toward Bridge Street. – Brian McArton
The buildings on the north side of High Street were rented houses owned by John McEwen, William Neelin, William Moore and Henry Wilson; and the homes of Mrs. John Bell, Arthur Moore and James McDiarmid; together with Joseph Pittard’s wagon shop, and two doors west of it near the future Thomas Street corner, the new foundry enterprise of David Findlay.
Residents owning their homes on William Street included William Peden and Patrick Struthers, general merchants; Joseph Bond and Horatio Nelson Docherty, shoe makers; Richard Gilhuly, blacksmith; Walter Scott, tailor; Mrs. David Pattie and Henry Wilson.
There were about a dozen residences of stone construction within the central area of the Carleton Place of 1863. They included the homes of Hugh Boulton, Jr. grist mill owner (later Horace Brown); Dr. William Hurd (formerly James Rosamond’s and later William Muirhead’s), Napoleon Lavallee and Robert Metcalf, hotel keepers; Archibald McArthur, merchant; Allan McDonald, carding mill owner; Duncan McGregor, blacksmith; James Poole, publisher; John Sumner, merchant; Henry Wilson and Dr. William Wilson.
Howard Morton Brown

This 2018 installment was of great interest to me on several fronts. Some of the information (clippings) I did not have. So thanks for sharing them. I did note there are a few broken links on the page. The McArton’s of Ramsay Might I ask if you could reconnect them. If it is not too much trouble about Janet McArton.
I did not know about this drawing of the Almonte bridge. I will look around in my files. I know I have a picture of her. I have her date of birth. Let me do a search. I don’t think I have any “stories”. I also note some errors in the “family” tree posted as part of the article; not sure who was the source.
The McCarten’s came to Dalhousie Township in 1829 from Scotland. They basically squatted on a lot of land and later had to beg “petition” for the parcel. They had not followed protocol because the ship they came on set sail for Montreal from Quebec City in the middle of the night. So they missed their appointment with a land agent. There was another John McArton born in 1854—he died of “bowl complaint” and then in 1856 my great grandfather was also named John. The name McArton was changed over the years. I have records that show one person born with the name McCarten, married with the name McCarton and died with the name McArton.

I did note that some of the McArton’s in the above piece are actually from the family of Henry McCarten/McArton who had a farm in Huntley Township. McArton Road is named after this family. Henry was a younger brother to John (1816-1899). They all first lived in Dalhousie Township. My great great grandfather John bought the Ramsay land in 1842 at some sort of “Sheriff Sale”. They came to Dalhousie because my g-g-g-grandmother’s sister was near McDonald’s Corners. John’s wife, Mary Ann Houston had come to Canada in 1821 as part of the Lanark Society Settlers. Her mother was killed by a falling tree on the site of the Houston burying ground. Thats how it got started there. Brian McArton
Related Reading
The Carleton Place House with the Coffin Door
Sent to Canada’s Shutter Island for the Death of Sarah McArton