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The Orgill family is a branch of the Boyd family of Bobcaygeon, Ontario. Mrs. Norma Orgill, the donor of the collection, is the wife of Herbert Orgill, a descendant of William (Willie) Thornton Cust Boyd (1859-1919). Willie was the son of the lumbering entrepreneur Mossom Boyd (1815-1883).

Daniel Nill was a farmer who at one time owned the property at 1202 Morton Line in Cavan, Ontario. The fonds consists of items which were found on the property in 2001; they relate to Nill and to members of the Mason family.

The Theodore Thorne Hamilton family is associated with the earliest settlement of the Bobcaygeon area and later relocation to western Canada, where Theodore Thorne Hamilton was a telegraph operator with the Canadian National Railway. Hamilton was born 10 April 1890 in Bobcaygeon and died 3 August 1959. While in western Canada, he resided in Eudako, British Columbia.

The Collins and Gammon families are descendents of Thomas Alexander Stewart and Frances Stewart, Irish immigrants who arrived in the Peterborough area in 1822.

(Biographical information copied from Trent University Archives newsletter "Archives News", Issue Number 48, January 2014: "The Wallis Family" by Janice Millard).

"The link between the two [Wallis family and Forbes family] is Louisa Forbes who became Mrs. James Wallis. Louisa was the mother of well-known Peterborough-born artist and sculptor Katherine Wallis and Louisa’s father was Capt. Robert Miller/Millar Forbes.

Capt. Robert Miller Forbes had a distinguished career in the British Navy. It was, however, marred by an incident in 1798. Robert caused his ship commander, Capt. Lord Henry Paulet, later Earl St. Vincent, to be court martialed. Paulet apparently struck the then Lieutenant Forbes while Forbes was on duty on their ship – the Thalia. Paulet lost the case - but soon after he was given clemency, re-instated, and in 1819 became a Vice-Admiral. Robert Miller did not fare as well. In a transcribed letter he says that “he became the object of the most cruel and vindictive persecution… that has proved a barrier to his professional progress thro’ the mis-representations of that distinguished officer.”

After the Napoleonic Wars Robert Forbes, along with a number of ex-British military personnel, took their families and settled in France. Robert’s first child, Louisa, was born in Avranches, France. There is a watercolour in our new donation of the Church where Louisa was christened. It is likely by Katherine Wallis. The Forbes family moved around in Europe and sons were born in St. Servan Sur Merin Brittany, France. Finally the family moved to Peterborough.

Robert Forbes had an even more well-known brother – Charles John Forbes. Charles was in both the British Navy and the British Army. While in the Navy, Charles was present at the Battle of the Nile (also called the Battle of Aboukir) where Nelson defeated the French Navy. Another person at Aboukir was Charles Rubidge. Perhaps Charles Forbes and Charles Rubidge reminisced together about old battles.

While in the British Army, Charles Forbes was present for the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. Our donation contains a letter written 29 Jan. 1815 on board H.M.S. Alceste, off Cat Island (near New Orleans), and sent to James Cobb, Secretary, East India Company (a cousin). In the letter Charles says that the information given to the Admiral was “fallacious” and that unlike what they had been led to believe, no “settlers of Louisiana and the Floridas” flocked to join the British cause and hence they had insufficient troops for the encounter with the Americans. It’s interesting to note that even by the end of January, Charles did not know that a treaty to end the War had been signed.

Charles had two separate enlistment periods with the British Army. Like his brother, he retired when the Napoleonic Wars were over and lived in Europe, but a few years later he re-enlisted in the Army. In 1824 he worked for the Commissariat in Nova Scotia and in 1825 he went to Montreal and stayed for 8 years. He was then posted to Jamaica and, like many Europeans who lived in the tropics, became ill. He briefly to went to England and then finally retired at half pay back in Quebec.

While posted in Quebec he acted as Commissary General for the Army and ensured there were supplies for the engineers and workers who were building canals in the Montreal region. While he was there he purchased land in the village of Carillon, on the Ottawa River just south of Lachute, Quebec, in what is now the Argenteuil Region of Quebec.

There he built a wonderful house called “Bellevue”. In our newly acquired scrapbook of Louisa Forbes there is a sketch of that house. Charles was known far and wide for his hospitality and many important people would visit him – including the Governors General.

Another well-known owner of land in the area was Sidney Robert Bellingham - nephew of Thomas A. Stewart. Sidney was very interested in politics and played a role in the 1837 rebellion – as did the British veteran Charles John Forbes."

The Atwood family is associated with nineteenth-century settlement in the Lakefield, Ontario region. James Parr Clinton Atwood (1836-1912) immigrated to Canada from Gloucestershire in 1855 and married Anne Traill Fotheringhame (Annie) Traill (1838-1931), daughter of Thomas Traill and Catharine Parr Traill, in 1858. Together they had seven children: Henry, Emily, Clinton, Katharine, George, Anne, and Florence. The Atwood family is related to the Upper Canada pioneer Traill, Moodie, and Strickland families.

Sydney (Sid) Helmer Standen was born in 1905 in Minesing, Ontario, the son of Andrew Ronald and Ada Louisa Standen. In 1911, his family moved to Kindersley, Saskatchewan where Sid was later to become a teacher; he also served in World War II.

Euphemia (Effie) Young McQueen was born in 1903 in London, England, daughter of James and Margaret McQueen (nee Drysdale). In Effie’s first year, the McQueens moved to Scotland and then, in 1913, to Canada, where they settled eventually in Yorkton, Saskatchewan. Effie became a teacher and appeared in theatrical performances and recitations.

Sid and Effie married in 1930 and settled in Hanley, Saskatchewan. They had four sons: Philip Andrew, Neil McQueen, Sydney Drysdale (Dale), and Eric James William; Philip died in 1955 at the age of 22 during a tactical flight training exercise near Chatham, New Brunswick. In 1942, Sid and Effie moved to Burnaby, British Columbia where they were to spend the remainder of their lives. After Effie’s death in 1965, Sid married Gladys Marshall; he died in 1975. (Taken from “Standens and McQueens: A Canadian Story of Migrant Families” by S. Dale Standen, 2014).

Kenneth Charles Bellamy was born in 1919 in Cramahe Township, Northumberland County, the youngest son of Charles and Olive Bellamy (nee Bland). The Charles Bellamy family lived in the Smithfield/Brighton, Ontario area. Charles owned a farm in Salem, Ontario in his later years and in his younger years, worked for the Grand Trunk Railway as a brakeman. In 1938, Ken joined the Canadian Armed Forces and served overseas in World War II with the Midland Regiment, Hastings Prince Edward Regiment and the Essex Scottish regiment. Upon returning home, he married Ruth Catherine Allen. Over his career, he worked on the family farm, for the Department of Highways, and with Marbon Chemical Corporation in Cobourg, Ontario.
Ruth Catherine Allen was born in 1918 in Cramahe Township, the daughter of Durwood and Beatrice Allen (nee Hennessey). The Durwood Allen family lived on a farm in the Castleton, Ontario area. Ruth attended Peterborough Normal School in 1938 attaining her Teachers Certificate. During the course of her teaching career she taught in Morganston, Frankford, Napanee and South Cramahe Public Schools.
Ruth and Kenneth married 30 June 1947 in Brighton, Ontario. They had two daughters, Mary Margaret and Kathryn Ann, and lived in the community of Salem. After Ruth’s death in 1979, Ken married Joyce Blakley. Joyce died in 1985 and Ken in 2007. (Taken from information supplied by the donor).

The Honourable Leslie Miscampbell Frost, lawyer and Premier of Ontario, was born in Orillia, Ontario on September 20, 1895, the son of William Sword Frost and Margaret Jane Barker. He was educated at the Orillia Public School and the Orillia High School. He later attended the University of Toronto and Osgoode Hall. He served during World War I in France and Belgium, with the 20th Battalion, Queen's York Rangers, and was discharged with the rank of captain in 1918, after being severely wounded. Frost was called to the Bar in 1921. He was a member of the legal firm Frost, Inrig and Gorwill, among others, and was an honorary bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada. He married Gertrude Jane Carew (1894-1970), in 1926. They never had children. Leslie M. Frost had a long and successful political career. He was elected to the legislature of Ontario in 1937, and he was consistently re-elected at each election until his retirement in 1963. He was Treasurer of Ontario and Minister of Mines in both the George Drew and T.L. Kennedy administrations. In 1949, Frost was chosen leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, and was sworn in as Premier and Provincial Treasurer on May 4, 1949. He remained Provincial Treasurer until 1955 and Premier until 1961. Besides his legal and political career, Frost took on many other obligations. He was a member of the Board of Governors of the University of Toronto and the first Chancellor of Trent University. He also held several directorships, including: the Bank of Montreal, Air Canada, Corporate Investors Ltd., Lever Brothers Ltd., KVP Company Ltd., John Deyell Ltd., Canada Life Assurance Company, Victoria and Grey Trust Co., Massey-Ferguson Ltd., and radio station CKLY. Frost was also keenly interested in history, primarily military history and the histories of Victoria, Peterborough and Haliburton Counties. He was the author of several books: Fighting Men, Forgotten Pathways of the Trent, Pleasant Point Story: a History of Pleasant Point and The Records on Sam Hughes Set Straight. Leslie M. Frost died at Lindsay, Ontario 4 May 1973. Cecil Grey Frost, younger brother of the Honourable Leslie M. Frost, was born in Orillia, Ontario, on August 27, 1897. His father, William Sword Frost, operated a jewelry and watchmaking business in Orillia, and as Mayor, introduced the concept of daylight saving time to the municipality. Cecil Grey Frost served overseas with the Canadian Machine Gun Corps during the World War I. When he returned to Canada, he attended Osgoode Hall Law School and graduated in 1921. He and his brother Leslie then opened a legal firm in Lindsay, Ontario, and both soon became active in local Conservative Politics. This led to Cecil's election in 1936 as Mayor of Lindsay, and in 1937 to the Presidency of the Ontario Conservative Association, As well, he organized and managed Earl Rowe's campaign in the provincial election of 1937. Thought of as a potential party leader himself, Cecil Grey Frost remained politically active until his sudden death on 8 June 1947. Robert John “Jack” Beal (1919-1994) was Gertrude Jane Frost’s nephew. He was married to Eileen Beal; their son, Robert “Bob” Beal, is a journalist and historian.