Mrs. Chatterton Mrs. Chatterton

 

Duncan McIntosh and operated as a hotel under the name of McIntosh House, it was bought in 1882 by the widow Mary J. Chatterton. By 1886 she has sold to Peter Salter, who ran it until about 1890. The Chatterton House Hotel guest register dating from 1886 to1889 was transferred from the City of Ottawa Archives Photo to the Carleton Place & Beckwith Heritage Museum

 

Mrs. Mary Chatteron was the mistress of flirtation and also had rather a large appetite, and she is one of my favourite people of Carleton Place. She owned what is now the Queen’s Hotel for several years in the 1800’s. As legend goes, Mary Chatterton ran a lot of her “Chatterton House” in the Queen’s Hotel alleyway. It was well reputed that Mrs. Chatterton served more than alcohol to her clients!

An advertisement for Chatterton House read: “the proprietress has spent a large portion of her time in catering to the wants of the travelling public and this house has become justly famous for its good cheer and pleasant associations.” 

She later sold it to Albert Salter. Mr Salter according to newspaper reports in June 1 of 1899 had reconstructed the old Chatterton House with a veneering of brick- raising it two stories and added a large wing. Obviously that was not working out.

On the 20^th of October 1899 it was noted in the newspaper that Mr Salter, proprietor of the well known Queen’s Hotel in Carleton Place had disposed of the property, with Mrs Chatteron once again being the purchaser. The price was noted being up into the double tens with five figures.

 

The newspaper account reported Mrs Chatterton had conducted a business on the same site some years ago and was a most amiable and obliging hostess. Mr Salter had purchased the property from her and added much to the accommodations to suit the requirements of the times. “He retires after a successful career and will devote his energies and wide resources to the perfection and personal superintendence of the Queen;s Royal hotel at Lake Park which will be enlarged and greatly improved in many respects before the opening of the news season. In the meantime he and his family will live privately in town.”

IN 1900 Albert Salter gave up the then Queen’s Hotel and it looks like he was a hotellier of all trades. It was documented in the newspapers that he took possession of the Revere Hotel which was on the corner of Bridge and High Street. That seemed odd as in another newspaper report it was mentioned that in 1900 Mr J Mc Claren of Perth bought the Revere Hotel had bought the hotel for $2700. So it seems Mr. Salter was micro managing many businesses, running the place, and did not own it. Nothing different than what happens in today’s world.

On 7 Nov 1900 the Ottawa Journal reported that Mary Chatterton had taken over the complete management of the Queen’s Hotel. There was no word if the alleyway business re-opened. Today I found more genealogy about the family, so documenting it.

 

One thing about Mrs. Chatterton who owned the Queen’s Hotel among other businesses– she owned a lot of local property
Clipped from The Ottawa Journal, 08 Sep 1905, Fri, Page 11

MARY JANE NEELIN (BARBARA MORPHY, JOHN, EDMOND) was born 1856, and died June 1920 in Carleton Place, Ontario, Canada. Jeremiah F Chatterton and Mary J Neelin married on Tuesday, November 4, 1873 in Carleton Place, Lanark, Ontario. 

1881 Lanark County, Carleton Place (Village)

 

46 CHATTERTON EVA 7 46 CHATTERTON LERRY 33 46 CHATTERTON MARY 27

 

Child of MARY NEELIN and JEREMIAH CHATTERTON was: 

i.

EVA5 CHATTERTON, b. 1874

James (Hilliard) MacDougall was the son of Duncan MacDougall and Harriett Hill. He was born November 6, 1866 and married Eva Chatterton on November  14, 1894 at St. James Church in Carleton Place.

 Perth Courier, November 30, 1894

McDoogal-Chatterton—Married, at Carleton Place on the 15^th inst., at the residence of the bride’s mother, by Rev. Archibald Elliott, rector of St. James Church, Mr. J. Hill McDoogal to Miss Eva Chatterton, only daughter of Mrs. M. Chatterton.

006557-94 James Hill MACDOUGALL, 27, commercial traveller, Canada, Carleton Place, s/o Duncan & Harriet MACDOUGALL, married Eva CHATTERTON, 20, Canada, Carleton Place, d/o Jerrimiah (as written) & Mary CHATTERTON, witn: Charles BURGESS & Caroline NERLIN, not given, 14 Nov, 1894 at residence of bride’s father Carleton Place

There was a discrepsency of course where they were married. Was it at St. James or her mother’s home.

James Hill MACDOUGALL and Eva Chatterton had 6 children.

 

 

 Mary Neelin Chatterton’s sister

Caroline G. Burgess (born Neelin), 1869 – 1915 married Charles F. Burgess.They had 2 sons:  and Caroline Neelin Burgess was Mary Chatteton’s sister.

Perth Courier, December 7, 1894–Burgess-Neelin—Married, on the 28^th November at the residence of the bride’s sister, Mrs. Mary Chatterton, by Rev. John Grenfill, Mr. Charles Frederick Burgess of Galetta, Carleton County, son of John Burgess, Esq., of Baltimore, Ontario to Miss Carrie Neelin of Almonte, daughter of William Neelin, Esq., of Carleton Place.

Seems like Mrs Chatterton lost her child or they had been fighting over her before his death.. Perth Courier, March 31, 1882

Life Insurance—The late Mr. J. Chatterton of Carleton Place had taken out an endowment policy for $1,000, designating the payment of the sum should go to his little daughter Eva on his decease. An order has been issued by the High Court for the payment of the sum as soon as the guardian of the child has been appointed.

Clipped from The Ottawa Journal,  09 Jun 1899, Fri,  Page 4

 

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)

 

 

 

 Mrs. Chatterton, Prostitutes, and Things You Maybe Don’t Want to Hear

Hell on Wheels at Lady Chatterton’s Hotel in Carleton Place

Tales of the Chatteron House Corset — Queen’s Hotel in Carleton Place

Carleton Place Then and Now–Bridge Street Series– Volume 11

The First Mosh Pits in Carleton Place —

Searching for the Red-Headed Wench of Carleton Place

John Sparrow’s Royal Parilion – Chatterton House Hotel Carleton Place

All the President’s Men — Backroom Dealings in Carleton Place?

Before you read this:

I googled their signatures before I wrote this. The Claus one is down pat so is Gould and Vanderbilt. Although Roosevelt’s does not match exactly—after going through about 50 of them I found some characteristics LOL… But this is one for the books. All four were thick as thieves in those days.

In 1870, the Brockville and Ottawa railway had reached Carleton Place. After both railways were bought out by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, Carleton Place became a hub. Because of its huge lumber business, it became an important mark on the map. Our local hotels were full in those days of travelers from in and out of town. In looking through the Chatteron House Hotel (Queen’s Hotel) guest registrar I spotted the name Vanderbilt. Wondering if  that individual was related to the US Vanderbilts I began to research the other names also from New York.

All of the four names signed on that registrar were four men who built America.Was this a hoax? Or did some back room deal happen in Carleton Place? Did they figure they would not be noticed in a small rural town? You tell me.

Here are the cast of characters whose names all appear on the Chatterton House Hotel registrar above.

William Vanderbilt: (1849-1920)

William Vanderbilt was for a time active in the management of the family railroads, though not much after 1903. What was most important about the Vanderbilts was they owned the only rail bridge into New York City, and it was both the gateway to country’s largest and busiest port. In their hands. They used it as a weapon in all matters trying to accumulate power in the transportation business. The Canada Southern always contained much Vanderbilt and Gould money.

Theodore Roosevelt-(1858-1919)

Theodore Roosevelt, former US president was born into a wealthy and influential family in New York City and knew all these gentleman very well. You see the Roosevelts, Goulds and Vanderbilts and a host of other’s influential families homes were just three miles apart in New York state. Rich people lived by each other in those days in their opulent mansions. All the families entertained here, at picnics by the pool and simple dinners at which the cocktail “hour” was limited to a mere five minutes at the Vanderbilts. But, when it all came down to the wash, what they all had in common was money and power.

Teddy was an avid traveler and had come to Canada before as he was friends with Cecil Spring Rice (1859-1918) a British Diplomat living in Canada.  Spring Rice was posted to Washington, D.C. in 1887 as the British Ambassador and returned to Canada as second secretary in 1889.  His friendship with Roosevelt, who was now working at the United States Civil Service Commission, continued to grow.  Their close relationship undoubtedly added to the Ambassador’s diplomatic clout in the USA. Roosevelt was soon put forth as the Republican party’s candidate for the District’s House seat in Albany. He was a member of the New York State Assembly (New York Co., 21st D.) in 1882, 1883 and 1884. He immediately began making his mark, specifically in corporate corruption issues and became the 26th President of the Unites States in 1901 after the assassination of President McKinley. One of his earliest campaigns was blocking a corrupt effort by financier Jay Gould to lower his taxes. Was Roosevelt’s endeavours all a smoke screen?

Jason “Jay” Gould (May 27, 1836 – December 2, 1892) was a leading American railroad developer and speculator. He was publicly known as what was called a robber baron whose success at business made him the ninth richest U.S. citizen in history. Gould, owner of the Union Pacific railroad company was the Wolf of Wall Street long before anyone else. In an effort to take full control of the Erie, Gould was trying to gather up investors and money.  One such investor was a man going by the name Lord Gordon-Gordon. This “lord” was able to swindle Gould out of $1 million in stock and then flee on a night train to Montreal, Canada in 1872, and then on to Manitoba.

When Gordon was found to be a fraud, the stock dropped and Gould, who had been swindled out of quite a bit of money, was in very dire straits. In an effort to get Gordon back to the United States, Gould and several associates: who included two future Governors of Minnesota and three future members of Congress (Loren Fletcher, John Gilfillan, and Eugene McLanahan Wilson), attempted to kidnap him. The group was successful, but were stopped and arrested by the North-West Mounted Police before they could return to the United States. The kidnappers were put in prison and refused bail.

This led to an international incident between the United States and Canada. Upon learning that the kidnappers were not given bail, Governor Horace Austin of Minnesota demanded their return and put the local militia on a state of full readiness. Thousands of Minnesotans volunteered for a full military invasion of Canada. However, after negotiations, the Canadian authorities released the kidnappers on bail

In the end, Gould was forced out of the Erie Railroad altogether in 1879.Gould also owned the New York World newspaper from 1879 to 1883, and by 1886 he had acquired the Manhattan Elevated Railroad, which held a monopoly over New York City’s elevated railways.  Gould also gained control of several railroads, including Union Pacific. That is where he met Claus Spreckels.

Claus Spreckels- (1828-1908)

Spreckels used money from his sugar company Western Sugar Refinery in 1874 to purchase a large tract of ranch and timber land in Aptos, California. He built a large resort hotel and, not far away, an extensive ranch complex. Spreckels was one of the original investors in the Santa Cruz Railroad, which began operation in 1875 and passed through his land on its run between Santa Cruz and Watsonville. The narrow-gauge line was later acquired and standard-gauged by the Southern Pacific Railroad, now part of the Union Pacific Railroad was the President of the San Francisco and San Joaquin Valley Railway from 1895 until it was sold to the Santa Fe Railway in 1901. The railroad built a line that competed with the Southern Pacific through the San Joaquin Valley between Richmond and Bakersfield. The railroad was welcome competition for shippers who were strangled by Southern Pacific’s monopoly on shipping rates in the valley. On July 9, 1893 Spreckels found a death threat graffitied on his house. He went into self-exile from Hawaii July 19

Epilogue

There were many sides to Theodore Roosevelt-and let’s face it money and power were important to all these men. So the fact remains- what on earth were all these Republican men doing at The Chatterton House Hotel in Carleton Place? If you think about it– they were doing what politicians do best. In a small local hotel rural they were not going to be bothered by anyone. If  Roosevelt showed such public detest to Gould in later years, why did he have lunch with his son years later as a President of the United States? George Jay Gould was a financier and a railroad executive like his father, leading both the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad and the Western Pacific Railroad.

Was this a hoax? Were names written down for the fun of it? I can see Roosevelt and Vanderbilt, but the names of Gould and Sprekels would not be on the tips of everyone’s list. So what was really going on? Well after hours of looking I found an article about the Gould family visiting the Ottawa area the year before. Seems that Gould had his own train car much like celebrities have private jets today.

The Daily Local News, Ottawa, Canada, October 15, 1886, page 2
Jay Gould, Railroad Tycoon, Visits the City of Ottawa. A Millionaires Appearance. “The Boy” George and His Bonny Bride *Edith Kingdon.

At twenty minutes past one in the afternoon, a special train consisting of the locomotive, a baggage car, a sleeper, a dining car and a regally decorated boudoir car arrived at the First street depot. The boudoir coach was the “Convoy,” Jay Gould’s personal car, and it brought to the city the railroad magnate, his son, George J. Gould, the latter’s wife, pretty Edith Kingdon that was; H.S. Hopkins, second vice president of the Gould system; Capt. Shackford, commander of Gould’s steam yatch the Atalanta, and officials of the M.P. system.

This story is going to keep me researching for a very long time– I keep saying –there is way more history to Carleton Place than Roy Brown.

*Edith Kingdon

She was born in 1864 and educated in England. She was the daughter of Charles Dennis Kingdon and Mary Carter of Toronto, Ontario. She worked as a stage actress until her marriage—George Jay Gould son of Jay Gould

More stories from the Desk Books of The Chatterton House Hotel (Queen’s Hotel) Carleton Place from the Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum

Part 1- Tales of the Chatteron House Corset — Queen’s Hotel in Carleton Place- can be found here.

Part 2- Hell on Wheels at Lady Chatterton’s Hotel in Carleton Place– can be found here.

Part 3- I Will Take Some Opium to Go Please —The “Drug Dispensary” at the Chatterton House Hotel

Part 4- Chatterton House Hotel Registrar- George Hurdis -1884

Part 5-What the Heck was Electric Soap? Chatterton House Hotel Registrar

Part 6-The First Mosh Pits in Carleton Place — The Opera House of the Chatterton House Hotel

Buy Linda Secaspina’s Books— Flashbacks of Little Miss Flash Cadilac– Tillting the Kilt-Vintage Whispers of Carleton Place and 4 others on Amazon or Amazon Canada or Wisteria at 62 Bridge Street in Carleton Place

What the Heck was Electric Soap? Chatterton House Hotel Registrar

Going through the registrar of the old Chatterton House Hotel (Queen’s Hotel) registrar there were many travelling salesmen that came to Carleton Place as they offered special sample rooms along with the Mississippi Hotel. People from around the many rural area towns came to buy their wares for their General Stores.

Soap was usually made at home, but Dobbin’s Soap from Pa. came into the limelight offering a soap made with no clay, grease or resin residue. Soon it was a or commodity for every homemaker to have. They first sold it for 20 cents a bar and then lowered it to 8 cents and finally got it down to 5 cents a bar in 1898. Dobbin’s advertised that Mrs. Enterprise used it and finished her wash by 9 o’clock. Mrs. Fogy however didn’t use it and had to work hard until 12 o clock. Of course there was no word on what time these women got up to begin their wash. It was also touted as the only soap you could use to make household soap for one cent a pound,

So there lies a signature of one Jno. J. Stock hawking his Dobbins Electric Soap selling Lanark County his Dobbin’s electric soap.

Buy Linda Secaspina’s Books— Flashbacks of Little Miss Flash Cadilac– Ttilting the Kilt-Vintage Whispers of Carleton Place and 4 others on Amazon or Amazon Canada or Wisteria at 62 Bridge Street in Carleton Place

More stories from the Desk Books of The Chatterton House Hotel (Queen’s Hotel) Carleton Place from the Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum

Part 1- Tales of the Chatteron House Corset — Queen’s Hotel in Carleton Place- can be found here.

Part 2- Hell on Wheels at Lady Chatterton’s Hotel in Carleton Place– can be found here.

Part 3- I Will Take Some Opium to Go Please —The “Drug Dispensary” at the Chatterton House Hotel

Part 4- Chatterton House Hotel Registrar- George Hurdis -1884

Hell on Wheels at Lady Chatterton’s Hotel in Carleton Place

Part 1- Tales of the Chatteron House Corset — Queen’s Hotel in Carleton Place- can be found here.

Sensitive subject read at your own risk

During the Victorian era you had the medical and moral community who actually opposed the use of condoms as STDs were seen as punishment for having sex out of wedlock. On top of that, by the early 1800’s condoms cost $1 to buy. Remember that in that era a dollar was a lot of money, for some folks it could be a quarter of a days pay. Most items were valued in terms of cents, even by the time of the Old West. So a dollar was closer to what fifty dollars or even a hundred dollars is today. How would you like to pay $50 for just one condom? If you were paying a quarter of what you make in a day you weren’t going to just go and buy another each time you used one, you’d go bankrupt fast if you were sleeping around a lot. The rubber condom would drop the cost to six to twelve dollars during the last twenty-five years of the 19th century, making it more affordable but still, you had the moral crusaders of the day to contend with. 

Then there was douching, which had been around since before the 1830’s as newspaper ads from the 1830’s include ads for what was called a female syringe. This was made up of chemicals such as alum or sulfates of zinc or iron. .

Doctors used arsenic and mercury to treat syphilis before the introduction of penicillin in the 1940s.

One company sold heroin tablets to relieve asthma symptoms.

Old medicines and antique urinals? 

Cocaine drops for toothache came on the market after doctors discovered its pain-relieving qualities. One Belgian company even promoted cocaine throat lozenges as “indispensable for singers, teachers and orators.” Dentists and surgeons also used cocaine as an anesthetic.

While doctors of the late 1800’s considered these drugs legitimate, a whole range of shady patent medicines, sometimes called “nostrums,” also flourished during that period.! People bought nostrums from traveling medicine shows, and the cures beckoned boldly from billboards and newspaper and magazine ads. “You couldn’t get away from them,” Whorton says. “They were inescapable.”

Also, as the state of legitimate medicine evolved, new cures replaced the old. When doctors began treating syphilis with penicillin, a grateful generation was spared the toxic effects of arsenic and mercury, including inflammation of the gums, destruction of the teeth and jaws, and organ damage. Opium and other addictive drugs also fell by the wayside once scientists realized their pitfalls. Novocain replaced its predecessor, cocaine, as an anesthetic.WEB MD

The Photos are of actual prescriptions from The Chatterton House (Queen’s Hotel) Carleton Place. The majority are prescription forms or handwritten scraps issued by local physicians Richard F. Preston and Matthew A. McFarlane. Local druggists were: City Dispensary,W.S. Robertson, McEwen’s Drug Store and Muirhead’s Drug Store. When  Peter Prosser Salter was owner of The Chatterton Hotel for a few years and it appears Salter had hired a desk clerk who perhaps also engaged as well in the druggist field.

Photos from the The Chatteron House Register from The Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum

Dr.Preston Was in the House — The Case of the Severed Foot