Ontario Canada

Biography of Adam Charlton

Adam Charlton, was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, February 19,1806. At the age of eighteen he was sent by his father to America to report whether the prospects would warrant the family in removing to that country. He left England, April 4, 1824, and arrived at New York after a stormy passage of sixty days. His father and the family came the following year. He was married to Miss Ann Gray of Caledonia, N. Y., 1828. For some time he had charge of a store at Garbuttsville, and then at Mamfordsville, N. Y. In July, 1832, he removed to … Read more

Biography of George McDonald

George McDonald, the first merchant in Clifford, and the leading business man of the place, was born in the county of Peel, June 14, 1835. His parents, John and Catharine (McDougall) McDonald, were from Argyleshire, Scotland, his father being a builder and contractor. His mother died when he was one year old. Partly on account of this loss, George received quite limited school privileges in his youth, but subsequently attended night schools, and acquired a fair knowledge of the elementary branches. He worked on his father’s farm until fourteen years of age, then spent four years at Brampton, in learning … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Robert Read

Robert Read, of the Dominion Senate, is the eldest son of Robert Read, senior, in his day an extensive farmer, in the county of Suffolk, England, and was born at Fressingfield, in that county, December 11, 1814. He was educated at Laxfield, in his native county; came to Canada in 1836, settled at Belleville, and engaged in general business, tanning, distilling, and agricultural pursuits, being an extensive farmer for twenty-five or thirty years; he has been a director of the Grand Trunk railway, and is one of the most energetic business men of that part of the Province of Ontario. … Read more

Biography of William Bannerman, M.P.

The subject of this notice, the member of Parliament for South Renfrew, is of full Scotch blood on both sides of the family, being a son of Thomas and Barbara (McCoy) Bannerman, and born in the parish of Kildonan, Sutherlandshire, Scotland, on the 5th of November, 1841. His father was a seafaring man, and after the son had received a fair drill in a parish school, he served an apprenticeship at the same business. Not caring to continue this precarious aquatic life any longer, in the autumn of 1857, our subject came to Canada West, and for seven years was … Read more

Biography of William Grey

One of the oldest residents in Woodstock, and one of its most prominent citizens, is William Grey, who settled in Oxford County in 1825, two and a half miles from the present Town of Woodstock, before the place, as a town, had a name, except “Town Plot.” The spot on which his house now stands, a quarter-mile from the Post Office, was a sugar bush half a century ago. He saw a village start here, and gradually expand into a town of 6,000 inhabitants, industrious, thriving, and intelligent; and no man now living here has done more to build up … Read more

Biography of John Sweetland, M. D.

John Sweetland, son of Simon and Jane (Norris) Sweetland, dates his birth at the City of Kingston, Ontario, August 15, 1835. He is a descendant of the Sweetlands of Exeter, Devonshire, England. He was educated at Queen’s College in his native city, and was graduated from its medical department in 1858. He opened an office at Pakenham, County of Lanark, Ont.; practiced there for eight years, and in 1866 removed to the capital of the Dominion, which has since been his home, and where he has an extensive practice in the several branches of his profession. Since entering the practice … Read more