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Photo from ––Up the line: More portraits of the Ottawa Valley Perfect

John Porter lived in Carleton Place, but was born and raised in Prospect. His dad Johnny Porter was a blacksmith and acknowledged as one of Beckwith’s blacksmiths, learning his trade in Smiths Falls and then moving to his permanent home in Prospect until he died in 1933. John was what one would call a reluctant blacksmith, liking farming more than being a blacksmith.

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The Anderson garage in Ashton with its 36-foot-long log walls was once the blacksmith shop, as was the Porter garage in Prospect. Little remains to indicate their original use, except possibly the profit-sharing coupon found in the former, apparently issued to the purchasers of Peerless Horseshoe Nails and redeemable only by blacksmiths.

9-In 1962 Arnold and Moira Guetta bought the property property from Mr. and Mrs. D. B. Rees . Previous to the Rees’ tenure, the stone house belonged to John Porter who had bought it from a son-in-law of William James about the turn of the century.-Historical Tidbits on Prospect

The Ottawa Citizen
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
16 Jul 1945, Mon • Page 15

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A new plaque has been unveiled in Beckwith Township telling the story of the village of Prospect. On Sunday, Oct. 1, the day of the annual Doo in the Derry, Beckwith council, staff and members of the heritage committee and public gathered outside Prospect United Church on Richmond Road for the reveal. – Submitted photo- Read the rest here..

A new plaque has been unveiled in Beckwith Township telling the story of the village of Prospect.

On Sunday, Oct. 1, the day of the annual Doo in the Derry, Beckwith council, staff and members of the heritage committee and public gathered outside Prospect United Church on Richmond Road for the reveal.

“The plaque talks about the early settlers in Prospect, and the importance of the road from Richmond to Perth – the road through Prospect,” Kidd told the Canadian Gazette on Oct. 14.

In regards to the initiative, “this term of council thinks it is an important thing,” he said.

The first families to settle in Beckwith arrived in 1818.

Noted on the new plaque: “One of these groups of highlanders left Perthshire in the spring of 1818 after a long voyage across the ocean. Continuing up river they disembarked at the foot of the Chaudière Falls on the Ottawa River. From there they went overland to Beckwith arriving in early fall.”

The first road through Beckwith, from Richmond to Perth, was cleared in 1819. British soldiers did the work. With a width of 60-feet, the road connected the military settlements of Richmond and Perth. It entered Beckwith at Prospect, travelled west to Franktown, continued to Gillies Corners and further on to Perth.

In 1816, following the War of 1812, the Perth Military Settlement offered land grants north of the Rideau to emigrants from Scotland, and to veterans of British regiments, encouraging them to stay in Upper Canada, to help build and defend the fledgling colony.

By 1857, Prospect’s population was 75, and it had daily mail. Some of the prominent people were as follows: William Baxter, shoemaker; John Burrows, postmaster and store and tavern keeper; William Coleman, Wesleyan minister; Patrick Devine, carpenter and joiner; William James, sawmill owner; Fleming May, schoolmaster; Joseph Morris, blacksmith; Johnny Porter, blacksmith; James Sanders, carpenter and joiner; John Scott, sawmill and carpenter’s shop owner; Peter Stewart, tailor; and John Tombleson, shoemaker. Read the rest here..