Things You Might Not Know About Craig’s Castle — Castle Hill Farm

 

It was the former home of James Craig once called Craig’s Castle.

Three generations of Craigs lived there with John Craig being the original settler emigrating from Northern Ireland.

It sits adjacent to the little hamlet of Prospect on the Richmond Franktown Road.

It once had a duck pond, beautiful gardens and a windmill

In 1965 the farm was bought and was owned in by Mr. and Mrs. L. J. Armstrong and they raised Black Angus cattle and did extensive restorations to the home.

There was an upstairs centre suicide door- A “suicide door” is the slang term for a door hinged at its rear rather than the front. Such doors were also originally used on horse-drawn carriages.

The  central hallway has a curving stairwell.

Originally the house had two bedrooms over the large downstairs that were intended only for the hired hands.

Originally in the 1830s there was a small log home on the property which is the first house he and his  Irish bride lived in. It was almost swallowed up by a dense forest.

A few years later the Craig’s daughter, Maria, married William Henry Leach who bought the farm and lived on it after her father died. They left the property to their son William J. Leach.

The family dog ran the churning machine on a treadmill. Being reluctant to earn his keep the dog kept running away on churning days and hid in the woods. As a result he was put in the basement until his services were needed and his paw marks could still be seen at one time where he attempted to escape. (author’s note- that poor dog)

 

Read more about the Craig Farm here.. CLICK

ome 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 and The Tales of Almonte

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

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Things You Might Not Know about the William James House — Prospect

 

1-The 1830 “charmer” directly is behind St. . Augustine’s Anglican Church in Prospect village, a tiny community about 10 miles southwest of Richmond.

2-This storey-and-a-half rubble stonework beauty is of Loyalist or Neo-classic Neo-classic.

3-Bubble glass panes are found throughout the house and the present living room (formerly the kitchen) has 3 downstairs bedroom or “birthing” room, opening from one side .

4-Unlike most houses of the period, the staircase in this one led upwards – from the kitchen. In other words, front and rear doors are both centred with a connecting hall.

The stair rail is of tiger maple with a delicate, simple newel post and fine stringers.

 

5-There are four ample bedrooms, bedrooms, a slightly smaller one opening off the master bedroom. A former cupboard is now the bathroom and the square window over the rear door is unusual. Ceiling hooks exist in both living room and upstairs and it is thought they were used for hanging lamps. Or possibly they could have been utilized utilized downstairs for hams and other meats.

6-William James was the original owner and was, evidently, a gentleman of both means and good taste. He built the sawmill on the Jock tributary and was certainly not a man to be rushed, according to local legend. The story goes that he would put a cedar log on for sawing after breakfast and went back at lunchtime, four hours later and extracted the finished plank.

7-It would seem Mr. James, was not wholly dependent on the sawmill for his livelihood. The land for St. Augustine’s Church was donated by the James family in 1854.

8-There is a local story regarding the two surviving James sisters who attended the. church. “They didn’t see eye to eye,” the tale goes, “and quite often at Sunday services they sat in different pews”.

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.

 

 

Beckwith council, staff and members of the heritage committee and public gathered outside Prospect United Church on Richmond Road for the reveal. – Submitted photo

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—

 

Clipped from The Ottawa Journal,  07 Jul 1943, Wed,  Page 18

Clipped from The Ottawa Journal,  14 Jun 1947, Sat,  Page 30

 

Jayne Munro-Ouimet Linda, the Poole’s that we’re involved with the newspaper business in Carleton Place lived in the Prospect area of Beckwith Township

Clipped from The Ottawa Journal,  17 Oct 1889, Thu,  Page 4

 

Clipped from The Ottawa Journal,  19 Feb 1901, Tue,  Page 2

Clipped from The Ottawa Journal,  14 Aug 1929, Wed,  Page 11

 

 

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)

 

 

St. Augustine’s Church and Christ Church

Who were the Carleton Place Orioles?

St. Augustine’s Church and Christ Church

 

 

Built in 1854, St. Augustine’s had a seating capacity of 120 to welcome Irish Anglican worshippers from the Prospect area who had previously made do in a school house. The church closed in 1967 but the building, cemetery and grounds are still maintained by the Ashton Parish. A service is still held here once a year during the first Sunday in August.

Clipped from The Ottawa Journal,  03 Oct 1970, Sat,  Page 46

 

Clipped from The Ottawa Journal,  01 Jun 1929, Sat,  Page 5

August 1934 A Delightful Evening

The social held last Monday evening in the beautiful grove, on the farm of Mr. and Mrs. Cameron McTavish, first concession of Drummond, under the auspices of St. Angustine’s church, will stand out as one of the most enjoyable events of the summer months to be field in that section. A most elaborate program had been arranged and all entered heartily into the festivities. Read more Who were the Carleton Place Orioles?

 

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)

 

 

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The Old Church in Island Brook That Needs a Home

Let The Church Rise– A Little History of St. James Anglican Church

The Church that Died

St James and St Mary’s Christmas Bazaar 1998 -Who Do You Know?

Old Churches of Lanark County

When The Streets of Carleton Place Ran Thick With the Blood of Terror!

Annie Bella Brunton & Adam Wesley Jones

 

 

This picture hangs upstairs in the Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum and yesterday I decided to research them.

Annie Bella Brunton and Adam Wesley Jones were married June 19, 1913 at the groom’s house in Prospect, Ontario. Together, they operated  a farm in Beckwith township. They had 4 children:

1. Peter Alden Jones, b. 21 Apr 1921, Almonte,Lanark,Ontario- d. 3 Dec 1992, Stittsville,Ottawa-Carleton,Ontario,Canada  – Age: 71 years
> 2. Wilmer Adam Jones
> 3. Harold Brunton Jones
> 4. Lillian Eillen Jones

 

Prospect United+ / Methodist Church Cemetery
Lanark Co./Reg./Dist., Ontario

JONES
Adam Wesley Jones
1884-1974
His Wife
Annie Bella Brunton
1887-1981

 

Robyn McGrath emailed me and said the following:

This picture still hangs in their old farm house – a place where my parents (their grand daughter and her husband) still farm and still call home! I live next door in his son, Harold Jones’s, house! Great to see this article/photo about my great grandparents and our farm.

Barb Jones Saddlemire

Adam Jones was my Great Uncle. My grandfather Peter Jones lived beside Uncle Adam until 1968 and relocated with his son George Jones to South Mountain, Ontario. My father was Gilbert Jones whom resided in Brinston since 1970. I remember going to see Brenda and Barry when I was little, my goodness that was the late 60’s

Lloyd Brunton My aunt Bella and uncle Adam too. She and I used fight all the time. Good natured fighting of course. The last time I saw her she was in a nursing home on High Street and I was there to play for some musical thing. I had a beard then, and it was rather ugly, and she looked at me and didn’t say hello or anything she just said “You get that thing shaved off before the sun goes down”. I said something like “Nice to see you too Bella”. Bye the way, to the lady who posted this, I went to school with Gilbert. Knew him well