Low Down Articles
Echoes from the Past
Article 73 of 111
This article first appeared in the "Echoes from the Past" column of the The Low Down to Hull and Back News.
Reprinted with permission. Search complete list of Low Down Articles.
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Soldier Settlement in Meech Creek Valley
by Patrick M.O. Evans
This concerns Sergeant William Baldwin late of Her Majesty's (Queen Victoria) 80th Regiment of Foot, of the Township of Hull, in the District of Montreal, in the Province of Lower Canada, who petitioned for a grant of land.
Sgt. Baldwin was to receive a grant for his military service. The Letters Patent granted to said William Baldwin 200 acres of land, being Lot 28, Range 15 (Meech Creek Valley). The document was signed by D. Daly on behalf of Sir Richard Downes Jackson Knight Commander of the Most Honorable Military Order of the Bath Administrator of the Government of our Province of Lower Canada, and Commander of our Forces in British North America. The grant was dated the eighth of February, 1843, in the third year of our reign.
It was not as simple as it seems, there were "strings attached". Sgt. Baldwin had to build a dwelling house. He was also required, within a period of one year to "plant and effectually cultivate at least four acres, and shall within seven years plant at least seven acres".
There must have been two more William Baldwins after the sergeant as the gravestone in a small burial place in the valley testifies:
William Baldwin d. June 1869 AE 35, therefore not old enough to have been a sergeant in 1843. On the same stone is William Baldwin d. Jan 29, 1892 AE 29. Also appears a Frederick Baldwin d. Feb 2, 1968 AE 7.
In the same burial ground is another stone in memory of Charlotte Wright (granddaughter of Thomas Wright, Philemon's older brother). Charlotte married three times, her second husband being William Baldwin who died in 1869.
For a number of years the valley was called Baldwin Valley, the name which I learned when I moved to the Gatineau forty one years ago.
Through the passage of time there have been changes, notably that of the Crosses who acquired much of the valley property. In fact the road which forms a circuit from Highway 105 via Pine Road, through the valley, returned to the highway is referred to as The Cross Loop. A few years ago the National Capital Commission, took over the valley in order to establish a zoo, which never did materialize.
However, to end on a happy note, there is at least one Baldwin descendent, Mabel, wife of Jim Hammond. The Hammonds, rescued the pieces of the Baldwin gravestone and set them in a cement base in effort to preserve this morsel of heritage for posterity. They are also owners of a copy of the 1843 land grant.