Found in the family files

Early History of Torbolton

The following interesting paper prepared by Mrs. Levi Penny of Woodlawn on the history of Torbolton was given at a meeting of the Torbolton Women's Institute:

The smallest of the ten townships in Carleton County is Torbolton. It is the most northerly of Carleton County, is bounded on the North and East by the Ottawa river, township of March and on the West by township of Fitzroy. The largest stream is Constance Creek which empties Constance Lake and flows into Constance Bay. Farther up the river is Sand Bay and Buckham's Bay.

In early times it was used by lumbermen and was filled with logs from end to end.

Before any settlers reached Torbolton a French Canadian called La Pottie settled in Torbolton at a very early date. He erected a log house on a point of land that juts out between Constance Bay and Ottawa River. He hunted, fished and trapped, he kept a sort of tavern and store, patronized by the raftsmen and others engaged in the lumber trade of the Upper Ottawa. He lived here many years and the ruins still remain and it is called La Pottie's Point

The first settler of Torbolton after La Pottie was Captain Baird, who settled along the Ottawa River. He came out May 26th in year 1824. John Buckham arrived May 28th in the same year. He was the first to buy land in Torbolton, $10.50 for first 200 acres bought. Lieutenant Ibbitson of the army and Lieutenant Grierson of the navy settled along the river above Captain Baird.

Those were all the settlers except a man named MacLaren who was drowned in 1826, by upsetting a canoe returning from the post office in South March where he had gone to receive a letter from his mother in Scotland. The body was recovered and buried by three or four settlers. This was the first death in the community. Lieutenants White and Ibbitson soon left for Montreal. In 1826 new settlers came out, the brother of Lieut. Grierson and David MacLaren and a Scotch couple named James and Elizabeth Weir.

About one hundred years ago there were about 30 residents in the township, only a few acres cleared. The early settlers had many hardships. Mr. and Mrs. James Weir were among the first residents back from the river. They were poor and Mr. Weir had to go to Hull or Richmond for flour. He worked to earn it and had to carry it on his back. He walked through thick forests and swamps, had no guide except trees which were blazed by surveyors, was often late, and sometimes to escape being killed by wolves, he had to climb a tree with the flour and wait there until dawn. He was once delayed for several days and the supplies at home were used. They owned a cow, and it strayed away. Mrs. Weir lived many days on brouse which was boiled like greens and a few berries. Another time her husband went away and Mrs. Weir went into the bush in search for the cow with her two little children. She tried to cross a stream by walking over a fallen tree carrying the children. She slipped and fell into the water and was stunned, but later recovered and was lying partly covered with mud and water. The children had crawled out and were playing on the bank. She managed to get enough berries for the children. She made a shelter by bending small twigs together and fastening them at the top with other twigs, then she broke off more twigs and made a bed. There in the midst of the forest, lost, she spent that night watching the children and in dread of wolves which she could hear in the distance. The next day her husband returned and set out in search of the family. He found his wife and little ones.

Along the river front the people had fewer harships, they travelled by canoe to Penney's mill or the Bretons at Chaudiere. Often the water was rough and they had to wait until sundown until the breeze fell. They paddled down to the mill by night, the next day the wheat was ground and they started on their return trip at night again. Sometimes storms came up and delayed them for several days or a week in making their trip to the mill.

The roads in Torbolton developed slowly, it was many years after Bytown had started before any roads ran from Torbolton to South March, but there was a road through Huntley. Huntley was more thickly settled and had better roads while Torbolton had fewer early settlers. In going from Torbolton to Bytown they went through Huntley but later there was a road cut through Torbolton and March. We could scarcely call it a road as it was so dangerous.

Mr. John Buckham was the first man to drive a team over this road and nearly lost his valuable team from being mired in mud. Mrs. Buckham was the first woman to ride over the road. She went to Bytown on horse back and in returning home she came to the forks in the road and the horse stopped and decided to take a short cut. It was getting late and Mrs. Buckham let the horse go. She had to cross streams, was almost mired several times, had to dismount and crawl over creeks and gulleys, the horse floundered on, and she remounted the opposite side and went through mud and logs, and branches often dragged her from her horse. At last she arrived safe and sound at home.

The first school was a log building erected on the river front on the property owned by Lieut. Baird. The neighbors and a few citizens paid the teacher. The school was open only in the winter.

Mr. Glen was the first minister, he was a Presbyterian, he received land in Torbolton, and intended to settle upon it. He came regularly from Richmond to Mr. Buckham's house and held services, the first service being in 1824 in Mr. Buckham's new house which was the first erected in Torbolton. It is a comfortable home now, it then was looked on as something extraordinary. Mr. Glen walked all the way from Richmond and back through pathless forests, there were no roads and no houses and on one of the journeys, he developed a severe cold and died. Later the Presbyterian church was built, the first wedding in Torbolton was in John Buckham's house, John Smith, who later became reeve of Torbolton, married Jeanette Ferguson, Mrs. Buckham's niece.