Stories that emerge from family research and local history files
Robert Gourlay assembled information on some of the Edinburgh settlers to back up his strong support for government sponsored settlement in Upper Canada to solve problems of poverty and unemployment in Britain.
Perth is pleasantly situated on the banks of the Tay, formerly called Pike River. The length of the town is 7/8 of a mile, the breadth, somewhat less. The streets are regularly laid out, and cross each other at right angles, at the distance of 140 yards from each other.
Rev. William Bell who traveled more than most when undertaking his missionary activities leaves us with a vivid understanding of what travel entailed during the early years of the eastern portion of Upper Canada settlement
When the Settlement of Perth was formed in 1816 a number of the settlers, being desirous of having the Ordinances of the Gospel administered among them, transmitted a petition to the Associate Presbytery of Edinburgh, that a Minister might be sent to them. The Presbytery granted their petition and sent out the Rev. William Bell as their Pastor
Among recent publications of Lanark County Genealogical Society (LCGS) were these two volumes detailing some of the history of rural Lanark County. A third book is planned in 2023.
Many more “maladies” ran rampant in the 1800s and took a large number of lives throughout Canada and the United States. The chances of dying young were excessive during the 19th century, but thanks to new treatments involving antibiotics, and improvement in living and working conditions, our ancestors began to experience longer and healthier lives.
The following excerpt made me think of recent changes to weather patterns that we are experiencing, especially those that have given rise to extensive forest fires. The landscape affected by the fires in this record was also affected by the Great Fire of 1870 that devastated much of the Ottawa Valley.
We often wonder what illnesses affected our ancestors and caused their death. Although Rev. Bell was careful to record marriages and baptisms during the early years, he did not record all deaths.
My connection to the Rowat family is via Christian Rowat, 1782-1846, daughter of James Rowat and Janet Stirling of Kirkintilloch, Dunbartonshire, Scotland. She married Abraham Ferrier I, and they arrived in Canada in 1815, and helped to carve the community of the Scotch Line, near Perth, Ontario, from the forests in 1816.
The settlers in the early settlement of Perth, and surrounding townships came from diverse religious backgrounds. Rev. William Bell arrived in 1817 to minister to the Scottish settlers from Edinburgh but soon decided to serve a much larger community.
Family History Musings 