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Most
of the historical information below is originally
obtained from Berniece Trimble's book "Belfountain
- Caves, Castles, and Quarries".
For
more on the history of Belfountain, please visit
our History
Page.
Rev.
Andrew Bell
In 1828, it was arranged that
Rev. Andrew Bell, a Presbyterian
minister from Toronto Township,
would come on a regular basis to
Belfountain, once a month. He
walked the distance, winter and
summer, for 18 months, covering
the 25 miles to fulfil his
commitment.
Angus
Blair
Angus Blair was the owner of the
strip of land now known as
Belfountain Conservation Area.
Angus sold his land in 1908 to
Charles W. Mack.
Thomas
Jefferson Bush
Arrived in 1849 and settled on
the south side of the Village. He
was responsible for plotting a
number of roads in the area, and
Bush Street is named after him.
Robert
Western Brock
The house owned by Robert Western Brock is one
of the pioneer family homes of McCurdy's Village.
In fact, it was the first and only house at
one time on Main Street. Brock was a man of
many talents, as were most of the pioneering
families, of necessity.
He
maintained a grocery store in the
front of the house, selling bread
and such to his neighbours, but
his chief trade was that of a
cabinet maker. So, at the back of
the house he made caskets storing
them across the street on the
church property.
But
running the store and making
caskets was not enough - he also
conducted the funerals,
adjudicated legal arguments as
justice of the peace and
magistrate, and, when it was
necessary, acted as the village
dentist.
Brock
and his wife, Jane, had two
daughters and five sons in this
house. One of the sons was a
skilled stone mason who built the
dam and decorative stonework for
Charles Mack at Luck-e-nuf, now
the Conservation Area.
John
Deagle
In 1890 John Deagle, supported by
his wealthy farmer father, bought
a burned-out grist mill in
Cataract for $1,800 - one of 45
such mills along the banks of the
Credit. He took two years and
rebuilt the place, which was five
stories in height. But then
Deagle realized there was no
money in the old technology,
which was using water power to
grind grain, and like many other
19th Century entrepreneurs, he
went high-tech.
Deagle
and his brother spent the next
five years building, by hand, a
powerplant, from the waterwheel
to the dynamo, the poles and the
wires. On November 2, 1899,
Cataract was set ablaze by three
weak light bulbs.
William
Frank
In 1825 government records show
that a United Empire Loyalist
named William Frank was the first
settler here. He successfully
dammed the West Credit and built
a gristmill. He later sold the
mill to the man whose name is
linked to the founding of the
settlement, another UE Loyalist
known by the name of Grize
McCurdy.
Glover
Glover wanted to capitalize on progress of the
town by building a tavern. He approached Grize
McCurdy to buy some land for it, but McCurdy was
a teetotaller, and refused him, saying he didn't
want an establishment like that in "his" village.
Glover bought some other land at the corner of
Main and Bush Streets - where the store now stands
- and built his tavern over 150 years ago.
Grize
McCurdy
McCurdy was a determined man and he built a
sawmill near the gristmill between the Credit
River and River Road, then known as Fork Street.
He dominated enterprise of the settlement and
it became known as McCurdy's Village. Many men
were lured here and to surrounding Caledon hills
at this time on the rumour there was gold to
be found. McCurdy thought he had found silver.
He mined for it east of Belfountain and west
of the Forks and later began the shaft for a
silver mine in a depression known as Hogg's
Hollow, now a posh Toronto neighbourhood near
the 401 and Yonge Street.
The
rumours proved to be false - no
gold or silver. What McCurdy
thought was silver were probably
small bits of lead, which has a
silvery look when the rock is
first cut. These early pioneer
victims of gold and silver fever
didn't know the metals are not
found in sedimentary rock like
the Escarpment.
Iroquois
Indians
The Iroquois were considered to
be the warriors, fighting among
their own related families, which
included the Huron Indians, whom
their dominated. They targeted
the Ojibways and waged war, but
the Ojibways prevailed and
continued to dominate southern
Ontario. They began moving into
the areas surrendered by their
rivals, moving further and
further south, travelling along
the river until they reached Lake
Ontario.
These
were the forefathers of the
Mississauga Indians. They set up
camp at the mouth of the Credit,
a place known as Indian Village,
and in the 1720s the French set
up a trading post nearby. If an
Indian did not have enough furs
to trade for the good he wanted,
he could take the merchandise on
credit. The area became known as
the Credit Trading Post, the
river, the Credit, and the Indian
band, the Mississaugas of the
River Credit.
Charles
W. Mack
Charles W. Mack was born in Nova
Scotia in 1858, raised in Maine
and moved to Toronto in 1876,
where in 1890 he married Addie.
He started his own business in
1892, and invented the cushion
rubber stamp, which his company
manufactured and sold to banks,
businesses and post offices. He
expanded the business with other
inventions that included all
kinds of marking devices for
offices - inventions which were
popular and widely accepted,
leading to his wealth.
Alexander
McLaren
His father arrived from Scotland
in 1802 and married a woman from
Chatham. They came to Caledon
Mountain, south of Belfountain,
about 1820 and cleared the land
for farming. Alexander's mother
was known to walk the 40 miles to
Toronto, carrying sugar, to trade
for a logging chain with which to
clear the land. She then walked
home again with the
chain.
Alexander
had greater aspirations. He
studied and travelled in the
United States, England and
Scotland and saw the fine old
castles there. He wanted one. His
vocation was as a legal advisor,
writing wills and helping to
negotiate for the railroad. But
his passion was building a castle
of his own.
He
hired a stonecutter from
Belfountain who started quarrying
the stone. He hired an architect,
stone masons and painters and by
1864 the castle was finished -
and it truly was a castle of
Norman design, with a
51-foot-high tower, a winding
staircase inside it, from the top
of which you could see Lake
Ontario. The castle had a
horseshoe-shaped library, a
servants' dining room next to the
family dining room, butler's
pantry, eighteen rooms, nine
bedrooms, with all the formal
rooms finished in birds eye
maple.
Alexander
McLaren enjoyed the castle and
his success - he was successful
in politics as Reeve Of Caledon
Township. In 1866 he was made a
justice of the peace, was
instrumental in surveying the
railroad, and founded the first
United Farmers Group, a political
movement.
The
castle was sold out of the family
in 1937 and had many owners who
enjoyed its uniqueness. In 1961
disaster struck and the castle
burned to the ground due to an
unattended lighted fireplace.
Irene
McLellan
Irene McLellan is the founder and
director of the Belfountain
Singers a community choir of
approximately 40 members who
provide entertainment. Music is
varied including classical,
semi-classical and Broadway show
tunes.
More
info
.....
McNaughton
McNaughton was a cooper by trade
- that is, he made barrels. He
bought land near Bush and
established his cooperage. He was
a self-promoter, and much to the
horror of the villagers, he built
a barrel, a tub, that stood 12
feet wide and 12 feet high, with
a pyramid roof, to advertise his
business.
It
wasn't long after the tub went up
that the village was saddled with
the unfortunate name of Tubtown,
and "McCurdy's Village" was
almost forgotten. McNaughton's
tub was eventually taken apart
and moved down the road to Erin.
McTaggart
During the 1850s the McTaggart family lived
and operated a general store on Main St. There
were, in fact, up to four stores operating in
the village during this time and prospering
from the influx of workers coming with their
families to work in the quarries, build rail
lines or open up new farmland.
In
1921 the general store closed and
the building was sold to 2
sisters from Toronto who
transformed it into a retreat for
the well-to-do, calling it The
Wayside Inn. Many city folk and
artists took their holidays here,
enjoying fine food, afternoon tea
and the ice cream parlour. The
sisters made their home at the
inn until 1964 when the rambling
structure became an antique shop.
Today it is a private residence.
Mississauga
Indians
But during the American
revolution, in the 1780s,
thousands of United Empire
Loyalists arrived in this area,
bringing with them European
traditions. They, like the
pioneer settlers of Belfountain,
cut down the forest for farm
land, and traditional hunting
patterns were disrupted with the
growth of villages. By the 1840s
the Mississaugas were outnumbered
100 to 1 by the white
settlers.
To
preserve their culture, they
banded together with others and
were called the Six Nations,
under Chief Joseph Brant. They
eventually move to Brant Country,
which they called the New Credit
Reserve. Today there are about
1,400 people who are Mississaugas
of the New Credit. Most of them
live off reserve.
Patterson
and Trimble Carriage
Works
The building that currently houses the Credit
Creek Store, the Spa, and Casa Lena was originally
a stable, then a forge (blacksmith shop), then
carriage works.The last horse was shod here
in 1930 and Mr. Trimble got with the times,
assuming the franchise for the Durant Automobile
Agency. He changed the name of the business
to "Trimble's Garage," and set about learning
to become a mechanic. His choice of franchise
turned out to be fortuitous, and although few
of us remember what a Durant looked like, we
should make mention of the man, William Durant.
In
the 1890s it became Patterson and
Trimble Carriage Works,
manufacturing buggies used in the
good weather (they had wheels),
and cutters (on blades), used in
the winter months. They also
established a blacksmith shop to
look after the horses that pulled
their carriages. The Trimbel
Garage prospered during the war
years, and the transportation
legacy ended when the last
Trimble left the building in
1971.
Ojibway
Indians
In the 1700s almost all of
Ontario was populated by the
Ojibway Indians. In the spring
and summer they sustained
themselves by fishing, collecting
maple syrup and harvesting wild
rice. In the winter they hunted
and trapped, as families, and
traded furs with the French for
other goods. Their rivals for
land were the Iroquois, who had a
different language and culture.
Nicola
Ross
Nicola Ross is the author of the
pictorial history book called
Caledon.
She is a regular contributor to
In the Hills magazine and created
the Caledon Countryside Alliance,
a not-for-profit agency dedicated
to conserving Caledon's rural
character. Her resume is posted
here.
She lives in Belfountain,
Ontario.
More
info
...
To
add a person who has contributed
to Belfountain, visit
here.
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