Family Histories

Settlers along the Eardley-Masham Colonization Road
On Land Now in Gatineau Park

By John Vincent and Bill McGee, 2022

Original document ^{4.9 MB}

See Table of Content and Index at bottom of page.

1. Introduction

The Colonization Road now called Eardley-Masham Road¹ was built in 1861, and a few settlers farmed along it. The road passes through Eardley township² and Masham township³. The first settlers in Eardley were south of Ramsay Lake, and included families Ramsay, McGee, Brady. After, in the 1930s, Bradleys and Dr Harcourt Bell Church of Aylmer had cottages at the top of Church Hill. Gatineau Park land assembly was more or less complete in the 1960s. In Masham township there was a Duval family near Ramsay Lake and a Philippe family near Hawley Lake, and a series of farms along the road to Camp Gatineau. The Capucin monks had a camp near Ramsay Lake called Camp Notre Dame de la Joie.

There are many trails in the Park starting from the road. A hiker, John Vincent, familiar with the area, wrote his story of a 2002/3 interview with Zeta Bradley Overton concerning the Bradley cottage, 'Grandview', as follows.

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2. The Overton/Bradley Families And Grandview

(Edited transcript of oral description by Zeta Overton (nee Bradley) to John Vincent, November/March 2002/3)

White farmhouse w/green roof, white siding #289 Eardley-Masham Rd, (east side)
House was moved from north side Hwy 148, across from #3289. See below.
Residence of Isabel and Ernest Overton from early 1900's until about early l 960's
Their son, Woodrow Overton, was born in house in 1917; he lived there until about 1935.
Original house was red insulbrick. Has been extensively renovated in recent years including the addition of white siding and green roof.

White bungalow/cottage -#3289, Highwav 148 just east of Eardley-Masham Rd.
Built about 1952 by Woodrow Overton and his brother, Cyril.
Site was comer of Woodrow's father's farm which straddled Highway 148 from Eardley Road east.
Cottage was located on two acres of land going back (south) from #148. Woodrow and Zeta Overton made maple syrup and sugar in spring from maples on property. Kettle is now used at Ferguson's sugarbush near Perth and a plaque identifies its origin.
Built as cottage but front porch, foundation and side addition have since been added. Used as a summer cottage by Woodrow and wife, Zeta (nee Bradley) until early 1980's - when their children lost interest in cottage life.

Bradley Creek and Bradlev Rd.
Bradley Creek is believed to be named after the Bradley family who owned several properties in the Eardley Rd, highway 148 area including Fred Bradley's (See Grandview below) stepbrother who had a farm on the west side of Eardley Rd.
Bradley Creek originates south of Hawley Lake in Gatineau park and flows south towards the Steel/Wilson intersection and then flows south cast across the former Bradley property, Eardley Rd, Highway 148 east of Eardley, and then across the Overton's property (#3289 above). It flows into Ottawa River at a site known as Bradley, which still shows on some maps, directly across river from Bucham 's Bay/Point.
An unnamed tributary of Bradley Creek flows south from the Grandview site to connect with Bradley Ck. Just north of #l48.
Bradley Rd, which runs east from Eardley-Masham Rd. a short distance north of #148, also reflects the Bradley family's influence in the area.

"Grandview"-Top of Church Hill, Eardley Rd, east side
From the mid l930's until the late 1950's, "Grandview" sat on the clearing on the east side of Church Hill, up from the Picnic Grounds, and across from the gate on the west side. Grandview was the Bradley family's summer cottage and confectionary with a sweeping westerly view of the Ottawa Valley.
Grandview was built about 1935 by Fred and Mary Bradley. A dining area was later added to the south side. The property was acquired by the Bradley 's about 1930 from their uncle, John Moore.
Uncle John Moore owned a large block of property around this site and east to Hay Lake (Lac au Foin), as well as near the current St Luke's Anglican church on the north side of 148 just east of Luskville.
The Bradley's daughter, Zeta (born 1919), married Woodrow Overton in 1942 . See photo of Zeta and "Woody" in front of his family home (#289 Eardley-Masham Rd.) after their marriage.

The Bradley's and their seven children spent all their summers at Grandview from the mid l930's to the late l 950's. The cottage was built "on the Mountain" in order to get away from summer cottages on water after their teenage son drowned at Strathcona Beach in east Ottawa.

In the late 1950's the cottage site was acquired by the NCC. While the NCC said the Bradley family could stay on the land for $1 per year as long as they liked, they decided to remove the cottage from the site in the 1960's because it got "too public with hikers and tourists walking all around and looking in their windows. " Grandview cottage was moved to a less grand site down north of Highway 148 near Uncle John Moore's and St Luke's Anglican church (east of Luskville). It was later sold and demolished.
At the back of the property, the Bradley's had a small cabin with a double bed which was rented to people in the summer.
At the front of the cottage the Bradley's first operated a small smoke shop/confectionary from which they sold cigarettes/ice cream, candy etc. to the buses which stopped during their circle tour of the Gatineau (Ottawa, #148, Eardley Rd., Masham , Wakefield).
A later addition was made to the cottage providing a big dining room. The Bradley kid s would make sandwiches and their mother made chicken dinners and pies for sale by the slice to the tourists from the bus tours from Ottawa.
Zeta, in her mid teen's in the l930's used to pick strawberries, blackberries and blueberries near the cottage and on the hill just to the south of the cottage site.
A wide trail (High Hay on map) runs east from the site, directly opposite the gate on west side, to a beautiful view along top of escarpment and beyond it east to Hay Lake. This was the Bradley's trail to "The Lookout" to which the bus tourists would be directed.
Her husband , Woodrow, and her uncle used to go into the bush behind the cottage for a week at a time to cut wood, come down on the weekend and cook up a "mess of food" and then go back up again for another week.
Eardley-Masham Rd in the 50's was a very narrow dirt road without side ditches and Church Hill was much steeper. Before Dr. Church planted the large stand of pine trees on west side, there was a wide view of the valley down to highway 148 from the top of Church Hill.

Top of Church Hill, west side
Pine trees on west side were planted by Dr Church, an Aylmer doctor, who had a summer cottage a short distance west of the gate which entrance still exists on west side. Dr. Church had the now stately mature pine trees planted around his cottage in the l930's.
Dr Church's cottage became a park visitor centre/office in late 1950's but was later demolished The unused water tank about 100 metres inside the gate is all that remains of the NCC's involvement.

"The Pines", west side of Eardley Rd. (About 1 km north of Grandview)
Two big pines are prominent on the west side of Eardley Rd. Now a parking area for hikers and skiers, "The Pines" was the site of the Brady family homestead. Zeta remembers an old house with many kids and small farm animals. She also remembers one time when the Bradys killed a pig and hung it from one of the pine trees to bleed it, only to have it fall into the pail! ( Ernie Brady, who lived in the Glebe Centre in later years was born here. A lane running west from the Glebc Centre behind Oakwood is named Ernie Brady Lane and the Glebe Centre and the Renegades football team both named their mascot cats after Ernie.)
"Dr Ransom" , a hermit, lived opposite The Pines in the clearing a few hundred metres east of Eardley Road on the unmarked trail that runs through the pine plantation.
This trail goes east through the clearing, across a creek, and splits to southeast to climb up to a lookout/ridge above Hay Lake (Hay Knob Lookout) and to northeast up to a branch of trail #56 to what is known as Mud Lake Lookout. From the water tank at the lookout, this trail goes steeply down and east along the old roadbed, still visible because of its blast marks and stone embankments. In the 1950s, the NCC's planned to join the Champlain Parkway 20 kilometres to the east with a scenic parkway through the heart of the Park. After considerable public opposition and recognizing the damage it would cause, the NCC abandoned its parkway plan for this part of the Park in the late 1950s.

Ramsay Family Site⁴
Just before Ramsay Lake on the right, there is a clearing behind a strand of evergreens with a gate/barrier where the Ramsay family lived until about the early l960s when their house and barn was demolished. Following the Ramsay's departure, a nun's retreat was built on the property. It was later demolished in the 1970s.
Trail #56, which runs east from Ramsay Lake, was a dirt road leading to Kidder Lake and Taylor & Renaud Lakes, to Lac Phillipe In the l 940s and '50's Zeta and Woodrow used to go for hikes and picnics at Kidder Lake.
On the north and north west side of Ramsay Lake, the NCC established a large picnic ground on the west of the Road which was extensively used by tourists in the 1940s and 50s.

John Vincent, Ottawa. May 2003.

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3. The Colonization Road

Perhaps Ferdinand Mongin (1808-) a native of France who farmed lot 57 Range 2 of Masham in 1861.

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4. The Families In Eardley Twp

4.1 Ramsay Family

William Ramsay was granted Lot 26 of Range 13 in 1860. He bought lot 28, and the northern half of lot 27 by 1902⁵. The name Ramsay Lake was well established soon after. The early history of the family in Canada is somewhat confusing. It seems that William Ramsay emigrated to Canada from Scotland about 1833 and settled near the Welland Canal. He is in the 1843 Census for Thorold Ontario with 3 persons from Scotland in the dwelling. There is a marriage to Isabella Clark in 1849 in Gore District, which includes the Welland Canal, in 1849, shortly after her arrival from Ireland. We can verify the name Isabella Clark from the marriage of son William to Emma Duval in Aylmer in 1907, which states that his parents were both deceased. There is a marriage of a son John A Ramsay son of William Ramsay and Isabella Clark, born 1850, to Martha Quincey in Seneca Township of Haldimand County in 1871, so it is likely that there were others in the family born in central Ontario as well. But the 1871 census has a son John Alexander born 1863 in Quebec. How John A. met Martha Quincey with father William in Quebec in unclear. But the family appears in the Eardley Census for 1871 until 1901. So the data presented only records the Quebec-enumerated family. William Stewart Ramsay (1823 Leswalt, Wigtonshire, Scotland-emigrated 1833-) & Eleanor Clark(e) (1833 Ireland-emigrated 1847-) had family Mary Janet (1863-1940 in South Shields, Durham, England), John Alexander (Lilia P Wright) (1864-1944 in Colton, St Lawrence Co., NY, USA), William Samuel (Emma Duval) (1866-1953), Robert James (1867-1940 in Laclede, Bonner, Idaho, USA), Andrew Alan (1870-1942 in Rupert, Quebec), Isabella M (Robert George Kennedy) (1875-1976 in Penticton, BC) and Agnes Ann (Samuel Kemp Kennedy) (1881-1943 in Moosomin, SK).

The family farm was taken over by William Samuel Ramsay(1866-1953) & Emma Duval (1882-1933) who had family Thomas William (1909-1968), Clara (Walter Stewart) (1911-1983 in Muskeegee, Georgia), Corinne Alice (1912-1935), Mathilda (Oscar Desloges) (1915- 1992 in Ottawa), Florence May (Emile Philippe) (1917- 2006), Jeanette (Wilfred Laurier Brady) (1919-2005), and Edwin Percy (1921-1974 in Luskville).

The Ramsays were first associated with Lot 26 of Range 13, Eardley, and later also with lot 27 and 28 to the west. He sold lots 26 and 27N to the FDC in 1947, and lot 28 in 1952.

Joan Finnegan, 'Tallying the Tales of the Old-Timers', 'After the Beer was in the Tubs, All the Labels Came Off', page 9 recounts this story given to her by Howard Clark (1907=) : "Bill Ramsay used to come down to our place and work. He'd cut wood and we'd give him a load of hay in trade. And going up the mountain, one of his team of horses played out and old Bill unharnessed her, tied her behind, and he got into the harness and helped the colt draw the hay up the mountain. The whole way up!"

4.2 Dunning Family

The 1901 and 1911 Census has John Dunning (1862- 1934) & Mary Janet Ramsay (1864-1948 in Canton NY) and child Rose (1891 in New York-). In 1911 they also have under their roof Stanley and Eddie Thompson. They are listed on lot 25A of Range 13, which is the eastern 3/4 of lot 25.

4.3 'Mass Migration' Nepean To Eardley

It is surprising that three families are listed in the 1843 Census for Nepean that subsequently located in upper Eardley. The Census does not give their addresses in Nepean, but there are names⁶ on the same page that indicate the west end, near Bells Corners, John McGee, Luke Hogan and Edward Cochlin. There are internet references to Luke Hogan of co. Tipperary being a stone-mason, so living near the ridge of Nepean Sandstone near the Campground on Corkstown Road makes sense. Hogan and Cochlin may have farmed on Range 12 below the mountain but John McGee was certainly on the mountain.

4.4 Luke Hogan Family

Luke Hogan & were on lot 27B Range 12 of Eardley in the 1861 census. But in 1871 the Census taker gives lot 27, range 13, which I think is an error.

There is no other evidence that they lived above the escarpment. I include family information for completeness only.

Luke Hogan (1798 Borrisokane, co Tipperary,Ireland-1887) & Elizabeth Ballard (1809 Terryglass, co. Tipperary, Ireland-1896) had family Michael Ralph (Eleanor Marie Mongin⁷) (1831in Ireland-1916 Wisconsin), Richard (1833-1894 Goulbourn), Margaret (Andrew Wilson) (1835 in Nepean-), Jane (James Cuddie) (1838 in Nepean-1922 in Winnipeg), William (Florence Ellen Carrigan) (1842 in Carleton-1921 in Moose Jaw), Luke (Letitia Davis) (1848 in Eardley-1928 in Waterloo, ON), and Elizabeth (Jeremiah Carrigan) (1852 in Eardley-).

4.5 Coughlin Family

The 1861 Census shows the Coughlin family on lot 26A of the range 13, Eardley. Edward Coughlin (1798-1862) married first Jane Dooley (1800 Kings co, Ireland-1842 Ottawa) and they had family William (1830-1924), Ellen (Louis Gervais) (1833-1921), John (1836-) and James (1841-) and married secondly Catherine McLaughlin (1823 co. Meath, Ireland-1885) had family Charles Edward Thomas (Marietta Cowan) (1846-1918 McNab Twp, ON), Richard G (1853-) , and Catherine (1856-).

In the 1861 census, on lot 27 of Range 13 we find Louis Gervais⁸ (1826-1898 Hull) & Ellen Coughlin (1833-1921 Westboro). They had family Helen Leonore Jeanvieve (1851-), Julia (1852-), Joseph (Harriett Allard) (1857-1948 Ottawa), Louis Edward (Sarah Whitton, Margaret Brown) (1859-1926), Jane (John Driscoll) (1861-1944 in Westboro), Laura (1863-1898 Hull), Ellen (Stephen Scanlon) (1864-1950 Ottawa), Julie (1865-), Philippe (Nathalie Laplante) (1867-1938 in Hull), Elizabeth (James Delaney) (1869-1946) and Clara (1879-). Some family members anglicized the surname to Jarvis.

4.6 McGee Family

John McGee (1806 co. Limerick, Ireland-1886) & Bridget Burns (1811 co. Limerick, Ireland- 1895) (the widow of George Hanrahan) were married at Notre Dame Cathedral in Bytown in 1840. Their family included Mary Jane (1841 U Canada-1918), Richard (Anne Kirwan) (1842 U Canada-1891), John (Margaret Morin) (1843 U Canada-1921 Aylmer), Robert (Mary Ann Larkin) (1846 L Canada-1909), Catherine (John Bartholomew Walsh ) (1850 LC-1936), Bridget (1851-1924 Detroit), William (Hannah Walsh) (1853-1923), George (1859-) and Daniel Martin (Anne J McCall) (1861-1933 Ottawa). The 1861 census includes five 'servants', Richard Finn, Denis Cooney, Louis Jotte, Paul Clement and William Barnes. In the 1871 and 1881 censuses the five 'servants' are gone but George Handrahan (1836- ) is present; he might be a son of Bridget Burns by her first husband. So my supposition is that John McGee started farming in Quebec around 1845.

John McGee was granted the south half of lot 27, Range 13, in 1865, and John McGee jr the north half of lot 23, Range 13 in 1866, John McGee the west half of lot 20, range 13 in 1865.

The 1861 census has John McGee on lots 25A and 25B of range 13, and Daniel is shown on the same lots in 1911.

In the 1881 census we have Richard McGee. Richard McGee (1842-1891) & Anne Kirwin (1852-1884) had children William John (1877-), Catherine Bridget (Martin Kelly) (1879-), James (1881-) and Anne (1884-).

In addition, in 1881, we find John McGee (1843 -1921 Aylmer) & Margaret Morin (1858- 1942) who raised Mary Theresa (George Archibald Fairbairn) (1881-), Robert John (Anne Leoline Gannon) (1882-1956 in Timmins), Anne Bridget (Michael John Moore) (1884-1942 in Augusta Twp, ON), George (1886-1894), Margaret (W Harry Lipton) (1888-1969), Louisa Mae (1891-1894), Thomas Michael (Mae Teehan) (1893-1967), Peter Daniel (1895-1967), James Simon (Anna Helena Duffy) (1897-1974 in Ottawa), Joseph Darcy (1899-) and Nora Mary (Frederick John Patrick Moyle) (1902-1938 in Fort William, ON).

In 1891 we find William McGee (1853-1923) & Hannah Walsh (1863-) with family Emma Bridget Mary (Edmond Duval ) (1887-1979 Kirkland Lake), George Michael (1889-1969), Daniel Robert (1891-), William Richard (1893-1978 Quyon), Edward John (1894-1918), Andrew James (Velma Elizabeth Cleveland) (1897-1989 Memphis TN), Sarah Letitia (1902- 1992) and Helen Veronica (Rene Charbonneau) (1904-2004).

The 1891 Census includes James McGee (1835-) and wife Catherine (1857 US-), and Mary (1888-) and Catherine (1890-). I do not know if they are related to John McGee and his descendants, where they came from, or where they went.

The 1921 Census has only William and Hannah Walsh and family on lot 27 range 13, but beside the following.

Daniel McGee and his sisters Catherine (in 1911 and 1921) and Mary (in 1911) on lot 25 Range 13.

4.7 The McMullen Family

Alexander McMullen (1821-1913) & Margaret Burns (1816-) are shown in the Census for 1861 (lot 23 Range 13) and 1871 (Lots 23 and 24), but then they moved to Huntington Quebec. They apparently has one child, Margaret Ann (1864-).

4.8 The McAllisters⁹

The census for 1871also shows John McAllister (1798-1885) & Rebecca McMullen (1809 co Antrim, Ireland-1873) on lots 21, 22 and 23 of range 13 with children Rebecca (George Davidson) (1849-1925 in Thunder Bay, ON) and Elizabeth (1852), the youngest of a large family. But the Census of 1861 shows them on Range 11, W 1/2 of lot 25. The McAllister of Eardley genealogy expert Robert Butler thinks the range 13 reference is dubious; I agree.

The north half of lot 22 Range 13 was granted in 1863 to James Balmer McAllister (1833-bef. 1881) who married Jennie Benedict (who married secondly Alfred Kidder in 1884 after McAllister's death) in 1855 in Shawville. The first entry in the land registry concerns unpaid taxes by widow Robinson from 1909 to 1918 and it was sold by the County to John Rodger Binks in 1931, who sold it to Cameron Edwards and he to the FDC in 1942.

The 1871 Census shows Robert McAllister, the son of John McAllister & Rebecca McMullen, alone on lot 26, Range 12. But in the 1881 Census, for which there is no location information we find Robert McAllister (1841-1911) & Jane [Jennie] Benedict (1853-1895) with family Robert Nelson (1875-1932), Colleen Jane (1878-), Rebecca Edith (Peter Hugh Valillee) (1880- 1962), Florence (1882-1945), Howard Church (1886-1907) and (born in Hull) Clara (1888- 1902).

And the 1911 Census shows at lot 25, Range 12, Wilson McAllister (1843-1924) & Emma Taber (1853-1950 in Kingston) also the son of John McAllister & Rebecca McMullen, but with none of their family of eight children. But previous censuses showed them on Range 11, lot 25. Wilson McAllister had moved to 126 Bayswater St in Ottawa by 1913.

4.9 Brennan Family

The 1871 Census shows on lot 25 and 26 of the 13th Range Thomas Brennan (1821Castleconner, co Kilkenny, Ireland-1887) and Ellen Devine (1826 co Sligo, Ireland) who had family Denis (Jane Angela Casey) (1849 in Nepean-1899 in Quyon), Julie (1851-), Thomas (Ellen Burns) (1854 in ON-1930 in Windsor ON), Peter (Bridget Ryan) (1855 in ON-1935 in Ottawa), Michael (1859-), John (Catherine Isabel McDonald) (1860 in Fallowfield-) and Mary Ellen (Joseph Patrick Foran) (1864 in ON-1897). The 1891 Census has Peter with his wife Bridget with his mother Ellen, and, nearby brother Thomas. I cannot confirm the address of the census, and it suspiciously overlaps others in the same census.

4.10 Proulx Family

The 1891 and 1901 census has Joseph Proulx (1874-1912) and Caroline Barnabe (1868-) who had family Marie (1901-). But the census for 1911 also has Georges Proulx (1878-1917) & Marie Vaillant (-) with children Marie Anna (Leo Chenier) (1908-1995), Joseph Albert (Jeanne d-Arc Millette) (1909-1981), Joseph Hormidas (1911-1981), Arthur Leo (1913-1984) and Georgette (1917-1928).

4.11 Brady Family

The Brady family first settled in Eardley in Heyworth, where the Mountain Road meets Highway 148. There is a 'Brady Crescent' there now. According to Ancestry Family trees James Brady (1852-1927) married first Esther Findlay (1852-1881), daughter of John and Martha Findlay, and had three children Martha Jane (William Kennedy Tannahill) (1872-1952), James Russell (Lyla Margaret Cochrane) (1873-1924) and Arthur Clement (Alice Laudrian alias Leblanc alias White) (1880-1944), and secondly Esther Findlay (1857-1930), daughter of John Findlay and Susana Purcell. James was a storekeeper near Heyworth. Son James Russell apparently working on the railroad, and his family was born in many locations across Canada. James Brady (1852-1927) bought land along the Masham-Eardley Road starting in 1914, and, after his death ownership of the land passed to his son Arthur. I am assuming that Arthur Clement and his family lived in the area under study, and that James lived in Heyworth, but the 1921 Census has no location information.

Arthur Clement Brady (1880-1944) in 1909, in Renfrew, married Alice Landriau alias Leblanc alias White (1890-1961).

They had family Arthur James (Ella Lamendeau) (1910-1962), Ernest Clifford (1912-in Ottawa), William Wesley(1913-1984 in Ottawa), Wilfred Laurier (Jeanette Ramsay)(1915-1990 in Eardley), Borden (Ruth Tapp Swan) (1918-1978), Mary Violet Helen (Emile Levesque) (1918-2005 in Ottawa), Stewart Leonard (Dorothy Emma Bradley) (1919-2001 in Rochester NY), Edith Dolly May (Forest Newton) (1923-2000 in Kanata), Dorothy (Josephat Beaudoin) (1924-2004), and Shirley (Florient Chartrand) (1927- 1994).

I am not sure which of the family farmed near here. Perhaps Arthur. But Wilfred Laurier Brady) (1915-1990)and Jeanette Ramsay (1919-2005) lived for a few years on the Ramsay property and had their two sons Richard and Lorne there. They later moved to a farm nearby, but not in the Park lands.

Their sons attended this school on Highway 148 then near Upper Eardley United Church. The sons are c. Lorne and d, Richard. What a clever way to make a class picture! This is from p. 221 'Footprints on the Water' 3rd Edition, by Lawrence Craig Erwin, printer www.lulu.com, 1996. Apparently Joan Finnegan taught at this school in 1944, and she wrote a fanciful account in '', but she changed the names of the students.

The property at lot 26B and 25B, Range 13, had been sold by Arthur to his sister Martha Jane Tannahill in 1933, and by her to her nephew Arthur James in 1944. He sold part to George Lamendeau (probably his brother-in-law) in 1945, and they both sold to the FDC in 1946 and 1947, except for the part used for the Camp Notre Dame de la Joie.

In Range 12 Mrs William Wesley Brady, born Virginia McRea sold lot 26B to the FDC in 1962. In 1946 Arthur Brady (Jr) sold part of lot 25A to the FDC in 1946.

Arthur Brady was listed in the North Onslow Valuation Roll of 1944 as the owner of lot 25B range 9 of Onslow. After Arthur's death in 1944, and visits to the Notary, Alice Brady had full title, and she sold the property to Henri Renaud in 1948, he to Emile Philippe (husband of Florence Ramsay) in 1952 and he to FDC in the same year. This property in on old trail 68 to Ben Lake, and must have been a woodlot.

Arthur Clement Brady died without a will in 1944, and this meant a visit to the Notary later that year to transfer the property solely to his widow, Alice; a family of 10 made this complicated. The properties mentioned in these transactions include 25 acres, lot 25B, range 10, Eardley; lot 15A, range 10, Eardley 100 acres; bush lot 51, range 1, Masham 100 acres; bush lot 25B, range 9, Onslow; north half of lot 523, ward 5, Hull, and animals and farm equipment from the homestead owned by his sister. Evidently it took more than the homestead on the Eardley- Masham Road to feed, heat and otherwise provide for a large family!

4.12 Moore Family

Thompson Moore (1821 Quebec-) & Eleanor Cane (1827 Ireland-) had family Thompson (1855-), Charles George (Elizabeth Ann Bradley)(1857-1908), Sarah¹⁰ (William Bradley) (1858-1892), Eleanor (1862-), Charlotte (1864-), John¹¹ J (1866-), Maria (John Lynn) (1868- 1906), Howard (Mary Jane Heylands) (1870-1941 in Aylmer), Mary Ann (1872-), Job (1874-) and Frederick Arthur (1875-bef 1881). All the children were born in Quebec. The 1871 Census gives Thompson Moore (1821-) with occupation farmer & Lumberer, perhaps with his brother Job, in the lumber trade. They are on lot 24, Range 12. Moore tried many times to give his racial origin as American, but the enumerator would change it to English or Irish.

4.13 Patrick Rush and Jane Fairbairn

The 1901 Census has Patrick Rush (1835-1911 Aylmer) & Jane Fairbairn (1842-1931 in Maniwaki). Jane Fairbairn was previously married to Michael Moore (1833-1889 in Maniwaki) and the census include two (of seven) of her children, Elizabeth Moore (1879-) and Michael Moore (Bridget Ann McGee) (1881-). Their location is given as lot 26 in Range 13.

4.14 Benedict/Cane Family

The 1871 Census features Samuel Benedict (1805 in United States-) & Eleanor McAllister (1811-), their daughter Jane (Robert McAllister) (1849-1895) and three children from an earlier marriage of Eleanor--Sarah Cane (1841 in Ireland-) Charles Cane (1843 in Ireland-1931) and Mary Anne Cane (1845 in Ireland-)¹². The 1871 Census has this family at lot 26, Range 12, near Thompson Moore & Eleanor Cane on lot 24. The death notice of Charles Cane states that he died at the home of his nephew Howard Moore in Breckenridge, and Howard was a son of Thompson Moore & Eleanor Cane¹³, which implies that he was a brother of Thompson Moore's wife.

4.15 Murphy Family and the Church Hill Picnic Ground

In 1957 the FDC purchased a property, 15.70 acres, from Cecil Murphy Jr of Tonawanda, NY, a aircraft maintenance mechanic, he having inherited it from his father Cecil Murphy.

Francis Murphy first appears in the 1871 census at Lot 26, Range 11. But in 1901 he and part of the family are in lot 26, Range 12. Francis Murphy (1838-1917) and Eleanor Sally (1844-1918) had children King [William] (1866-), Thomas (1867-), James (1868-), Richard Joseph (1869-), Edward Sally (Louisa Priscilla [Alice] Kidder ) (1870-), Frances Ambrosina (Horace Spencer Kidder ) (1872-1943), John Alfred Sally (1876-), Catherine Florence (1878-), Betty (1880-), George Wellington (1884-), Lily Theresa (1888-) and Cyril Lawless (Ethel Johnson) (1892- 1951 in Buffalo). The Murphys do not appear in the 1935 Voter's List. Oddly enough in 2021 Cecil Lawless Murphy III owned a small property in the district. The map also shows the former location of the road, and the municipality still has the road on its books. The lot north of Murphy's lot is still privately held (2021).

4.16 Kirwan Family

William Kirwan (1836-1916) & Mary Anne Latchford (1840-1924) had family William (1869- 1871), James (Orrilla Jane George) (1871-1932 in Boulder CO), Catherine (1874-1962 in Ottawa), John Francis (1876-1934 in Jasper, AB), Edward (1878-1898 in Crowsnest Pass, AB), Mary Theresa (Alfred Joseph McCann) (1881-1968 in Beaverton, WA), Elizabeth (Robert Edward Barry) (1883-1956) and Anne (David James Currie) (1886-1963). In 1901 they were on lot 25B, and in 1911 lot 26A, Range 12.

4.17 Daniel Ransum

Daniel Ransum was born in Norway in 1881 and emigrated to Canada in 1901. In 1911 he was in Russell near Ottawa, and in 1921 he was living on Queen St in Ottawa near the canal with occupation 'manufacturer' in the 1921 census. He was noticed in the Ottawa Citizen for reporting, to police, a broken window in a second hand shop on William St. in 1920. The next we hear of him is that his Studebaker was stolen from him in 1928 from in front of Bowles Lunch on Rideau Street, Ottawa; the article gives Eardley as his residence.

Ransum engaged in a number of land transactions in the area. In 1935 the Quebec Gazette indicates a sale of his holdings to satisfy a debt to Henry E. Hurdman¹⁴, one auction by the Sheriff at Luskville, and other in Old Chelsea.

But evidently he made up with Hurdman, or the Sheriff, and soon re-owned the property. Ransum died in May 1938 and his properties were sold to the Federal District Commission by his heirs. Negotiations were ongoing in October 1938 so this must have been one of the earliest land acquisitions by the FDC. The heirs lived in Norway, and the Norwegian lawyers, embassies in London, and the Norwegian Consul in Montreal were involved; the sale was finalized on 31 July 1939 (the same day that Lusk Lake was sold to the FDC by Mrs Ray Lusk.) The Norwegian heirs were his mother Karoline Mathisen Linhjem, of Stokke, Vestfold, sister Agnes Hildur Rudgvedt of Skien, Telemark, and brother Sigurd Stensholdt of Vestfold. The deeds seem to indicate that Ransum was an alias, but the alias information was erased. The property acquired was lots 17, 18, 23 and 24 of Range 13 of Eardley.

The part of lot 14A in the 9th range of Hull is land with Scott Road through it, in Old Chelsea. Oddly enough, Esther Findlay, widow of James Brady, father of Arthur Brady, of the Eardley- Masham Road, sold part of this lot to John Hendrick in 1930, while Brady bought his land from William Scott in 1924.

4.18 Dr Harcourt Bell & Mamie Church of 'Church Hill'

Dr Harcourt Bell Church (1892-1955) & Mamie Heeschen (-1954) built a cottage on the Eardley-Masham Road in 1940. Dr Church was a country physician. His obituary appeared in the Ottawa Journal Monday 18 July 1955.

Dr. Harcourt Bell Church, dearly loved Aylmer doctor, whose fame as a country physician won him national recognition when he was elected president of the Canadian Medical Association four years ago, died suddenly Sunday.
Hundreds of his patients, colleagues and other friends were shocked when news of his death reached them.
Dr. Church's death occurred as the result of a heart attack at his Summer home, Church Hill, on the fringes of Gatineau National Park at six o'clock Sunday morning. He was 62.
His health had forced him to give up many interests in the past year, but he continued to practise until last Thursday.
The body is at his home, Bancroft Street, Aylmer, where the funeral service will be held Wednesday afternoon at two o'clock. Burial will be at Bellevue cemetery.
Dr. Church, last of four generations of his family to serve Aylmer and the wide district around it for the past 110 years, was a country physician of the finest tradition. But his interests did not lie solely in the medical needs of his patients and friends.
For over a period of many years he was interested in all community matters. He had served as chairman of the Aylmer Protestant High School Commission, had occupied high posts in Victory Loan campaigns during World War II, and was confidante and adviser to a great many of his patients.
He was recognized as an outstanding diagnostician and was one of the senior and moist highly esteemed members of the medical staff of Ottawa General Hospital.
So highly respected was he by hospital authorities that some years ago he was named medical instructor to the School of Nursing at the General, a position he held until his death. He had formerly been a lecturer in medicine at Ottawa University.
He possessed a jovial manner and keen sense of humor that won him friends everywhere. His friends and acquaintances were from all stations, but none was he more fond of than children, who were always welcomed into his home.
One of Church's great interests was education, and for many years he was chairman of the High School Commission at Aylmer. It was during his tenure as chairman that the new Aylmer High School was constructed. Last year because of ill health he was forced to relinquish that post.
Dr. Church was a son of the late Dr. John R (Jack) Church of Aylmer and his wife, the former Mary Bell Klock. He received his early education at Aylmer Academy and the Lachute High School. Following his graduation, he entered McGill University where he received his medical degree in 1917. He returned to Aylmer to practise. During World War I he served in the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps as a medical officer in Canada and overseas, He returned to Aylmer at the war's end.
In those days before good highways, Dr. Church used horses and a cutter in the Winter. He kept horses along his many routes so as not to tire out one animal on a stormy night.
Twenty-mile round trips to mountain homes were not uncommon and more than once he broke trail for his horses. And where horses would not go, Dr. Church skied or snowshoed to emergencies. He was a familiar figure to many Aylmer district residents in his great buffalo coat and fur hat.
As a youth he helped pay his way through medical school, working Summers as a fire ranger in Northern Ontario mining camps, and on north land survey parties.
Dr. Church's hobby was his Summer home which he built near Gatineau National Park in 1940. On the acres around it stands a magnificent pine reforestation project.
Dr Church was married on Christmas Day, 1919, to the former Mamie Heeschen, who died August 5, last year. Dr, Church was active in the Gatineau County Agricultural Society and for some years was president of the Aylmer Fair.
He was a member of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church and King Solomon Lodge, AF and M, Aylmer. He was also Aylmer district medical officer for the RCMP.
Surviving are one brother, Dr. Cyril Church, New Yirk City, and several nieces and nephews. A younger brother and his five children predeceased him.
Ottawa Journal Monday, July 18, 1955

4.19 Notre Dame de la Joie Camp

This property on was owned by the Capuchin Fathers (who also have the chapel on Meech Lake). There are sources that state it was for either girls, girls and boys, nuns, or male members of the order. From the map there were many cottages on the property, and it is close to Ramsay Lake. The fathers in the person of Abbe Romeo Blondeau bought the land in 1949 well after the departure of the Bradys and Ramsays, and the 'Peres Capucins' sold to the NCC in 1967.

The NCC had a Wilderness Interpretation Centre here, or near here, and its parking lot where trail 56 meets the E-M The Church Hill Reforestation Project 2019 [J Goatcher] Road is still obvious. The parking may be reopened; here are the plans.

Road is still obvious. The parking may be reopened; here are the plans.

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5. Settlers in Masham Township near the Road

5.1 The Duval Family

This family appears only in the 1911 Census for Masham on Lot 53, Range 1. The Actes Index does not mention them; they may have been renting the land. By 1921 they had moved to Bristol Twp.

Damase Duval (1845-1917) & Emelie Jane Paquette (1852-1926) had family Claire (1871-), Damase (Rachel Goyer dit Belisle) (1872-1849 Rouyn), Moise (Clara Marsan dit Lapierre) (1876-1910), Eva (1880-), Emma (William Samuel Ramsay) (1882-1933), Corinne (Joseph Narcisse Marsan dit Lapierre) (1883-), Marie (Emelien Legros) (1886-), Edmond (Emma Bridget Mary McGee) (1888-1960 Kirkland Lake) and Elma (1888-).

Son Damase (1872-1949 Rouyn) & Rachel Goyer dit Belisle (1875-1947 Rouyn) had children Rachel (1893-1949 in Rouyn), Guillaume (1895-1932), Moise (1897-), Patrice (1899-1970 in Riverside, California), Omer (Germaine Lacasse) (1901-1974 in Temiskaming, QC), Margaret Corinne (1903-1990), Rene (1905-), Omeline (1908-), Gladys (1908-) and Eva (1913-).

5.2 The Philippe Family at Hawley Lake

Georges Philippe (1866-1949) & Angèle Philippe (1872-1916) had children Marguerite Marie (Joseph Fournier) (1893-1975), Antoine Gabriel (1896-1916), George Archange Gabriel (1898- 1916), Rosa Alma Alexandrine (Théophile Mathias Martineau ) (1899-1987), Zoé (1900- 1916), Hormisdas Dollard (1901-), Magloire Alfred (1902-1916), Damasse Giles (1903-1916), Priscille (1905-1916), Exide Clarina (1907-) and Amelia Marie (Joseph Chartrier) (1909-). For the 1911 census this family was at lot 55 range 1 of Masham, which includes part of Hawley Lake. The family lost many members in a 1916 typhoid epidemic. Georges and Angèle were first cousins, one removed, of Emile Philippe who married Florence Ramsay, of Ramsay Lake.

5.3 Settlers along the Road to Camp Gatineau

Apparently the current road to Camp Gatineau is fairly recent (ie about 1960), replacing a road just to the north. The earlier road is probably what constituted an extension of ski Trail 56 to Camp Gatineau, and on to Lac LaPeche.The possibility of farming in the area may be inferred from the tree plantations in the area, and which are quite visible on Google Earth.

The settlers would have been in a community that included their neighbours to the immediate north, which was crossed by Sincennes Road, which currently leads to the Lac LaPeche Recreation area of the Park

5.4 1851 Census

The only family in the area in 1851 Census was Louis Ayotte on lot 51. But in 1861 they were listed in the Rang¹⁵e 3, lot 56 along with other nearby members of the Ayotte family: Charles & Elizabeth Guevremont, Olivier and Emerence Fleury, and Cyriaque and Emelie Racette. Louis Ayotte (1820-) & Henriette Cloutier (1824-) from Mauricie had family Louis [Elodie Racette] (1843-1922 Sturgeon Falls, ON), Olive [Joseph Aldas Pariseau] (1845-), Joseph [Olive Pariseau] (1846-), Philomene [Magloire Desormeaux] (1848-), Adeline [Moise Rocon dit Bastien] (1853-1881), Jean Baptiste [Herminas Rocon dit Bastien] (1857-) and Sophie [Honore Pariseau] (1859-1942). Most of the children were married in Aylmer.

Here is a table of those appearing in the Canadian Censuses that had location information.

Range	Lot	Grantee	1851	1861	1871	1901	1911	Vendor
2	50	James Robertson						Donat Pequin et al, Damas Brunet
2	51	James Robertson	Louis Ayotte & Henriette Cloutier				Arthur Lebeau & Albina Goupille came from Mtl, returned by 1921	Donat Pequin et al, Damas Brunet
2	52	Michel Renaud		Michel Renaud & Mary Ann McGuire (and lot 54)		Louis Coderre & Exilda Pinsonnault	Alfred Belisle & Lucie Guilbault	Minesippe Belisle
2	53	James Nesbitt		Charles Clusiault & Hortence Daze		Joseph Renaud & Philonise Coderre	Joseph Renaud & Philonise Coderre16	Thomas Renaud
2	54	Michel Renaud		see note for lot 52			Philias Roy & Melodie Renaud	Thomas Renaud,Urgel Roy
2	55	Charles Renaud		Pierre Renault & Roseanne Lariviere				Urgel Roy
2	56			Joseph Guertin & Clercie Aube		Modeste Rielle (Yelle) & Hermine Pinsonnault (moved to River Valley ON)		Henri Renaud, Thomas Meunier
2	57			Ferdinand Monjion & Asenath Kidder		Napoleon Bertrand & Emma Renaud (moved to Nipissing)	Honore Renaud & Julia Renaud	Dosithee Renaud & Helen Kilbride

Although the 1871 Census for Masham generally includes location information, that information is missing for the farms on range 2 in the west end. So we only have location information from the 1861 census.

5.5 1861 Census

Ferdinand Monjion & Asenath Kidder were both from the USA, Monjion being born in France. They were in Hull in the 1851 Census, and, after building the Eardley Masham Colonization Road, they moved to Wisconsin. Ferdinand Monjion (1808 France-1883 Sturgeon Bay, WI) & Asenath Kidder (1801 USA-1879 Clay Banks WI) had children Napoleon (1837-), Spencer (1843-1878 Clay Banks WI), Asenath Elizabeth [Horace Eames] (1843 Oswego NY-1891 Menomonee WI), and Eleanor [Michael Ralph Hogan] (1845-1898 Sturgeon Bay WI).

Joseph Bruno Guertin (son of Pierre Guertin and Marguerite Duval) (1835-1877) & Clercie Aube (or more probably Aubry¹⁷) (1843-) had family Clarisse [Joseph Poulin] (1858-1932 Hull), Joseph (1860-), Marguerite (1863-), Maria (1866-), Xavier (1868-), Alfred (1869-) Elise [Damase Pelletier] (1873-1903 Cobalt), Henriette (1875-) and Hormidas (1879-).

Pierre Renaud (1814-) & Roseanne Lariviere (1825-) had a family consisting of Caroline (1843-), Charles (1844-), Pierre Homilage (1846 in Chapeau-), David [Sarah Anne Majoury] (1850 in Fort Coulonge-1909 Lisgar, Manitoba), Rose (1852-), Maria (1854-), Adeline (1856-), Joseph (1858-) and Marguerite (1860-). The family is in Hull Twp in the 1871 Census with widower Pierre.

Charles Clusiau(lt) (1809-) & Hortense Daze (1824-1902 Bonfield ON) had children Rosalie (1843-), Eloise [Edouard Philippe] (1845-), Elie [Lucie Proulx] (1847-1910 in Bonfield ON), Charles [Julie Philippe] (1848-1909), Annie [Etienne Gosselin] (1849-), Joseph [Aurelie Galipeau] (1852-), Lea (1853-1921 in Chisholm ON), Hortense (1859-), Alexis (1864-), and Maria [Pascal Barbe] (1864-1939 in Chisholm ON). In the 1871 Census they had moved to lot 40, range 4 of Masham Twp.

Michel Renaud (1815 St Eustache-1883 Ste-Cecile de Masham) & Mary Anne McGuire (1825-1892) had family Henri (1843-1846), Joseph [Phelonise Coderre] (1847-1950), Honore [Marguerite Vaillant] (1849-1936), Marion (1852-), Emelie [Israel Schnobb] (1854-), Henriette [Zephirin Bertrand] (1856- 1888), Michel (1858-), Anne [Pierre Coderre m. in Almonte] (1863-1937), Jean (1860-), George (1864-) and Maria (1867-).

The only two censuses in the 1900s are those for 1901 and 1911.

5.6 1901 Census

We find Napoleon Bertrand & Emma Renaud on lot 57. Napoleon Bertrand (1875-1932 River Valley ON) & Emerence Philomene Renaud (1883-1922 River Valley ON) had the family Donat Napoleon [Auralie Marie Trepanier] (1900-1961), Alda Anne Marie [Joseph Liboiron ] (1909-1955 in Sturgeon Falls ON), Thomas Joseph [Valerie Roy] (1903-1977), Eva Julienne [Patrick Robertson] (1906-1990), Delima Rose (1908-), Elina Ange Marie (1910-1999), Annette (1913-1974) and Aline [Edward Napoleon Legault] (1920 in River Valley ON-1975).

The next farm, lot 56, has Modeste Rielle (Yelle) & Hermine Pinsonnault. The spelling Yelle is common. Alexandre Modeste Yelle (1847-1926 in River Valley ON) & Hermine Pinsonnault (1851- 1925 in River Valley ON) had children Harmina [Joseph Dotte] (1871-1968), Hormisdas (1874-), Marie Anastasia [Remi Ayotte] (1876-), Oscar (1879-1970 in Masham), Florida (1881-1920), Melodie (1884-), Wilfred (1885-1951), Alexandre Modeste [Virginie Jarbeau] (1887-1938), Antheme Firmin Hormisdas (1890-1895), and Raoul [Georgina Laprade] (1893-1964 in Toronto).

Lot 53 had Joseph Renaud & Phelonise¹⁸ Coderre, Joseph the son of Michel Renaud. Joseph Renaud (1847-1926) & Phelonise Coderre (1857-1950) had the family of Joseph (1877-), Amanda [Paul Adolphe Madere] (1879-1912 in Aylmer), Priscilla Valerie [Cyprien Martin dit Barnabe] (1880-1964), Alexine [Paul Hercule Vaillant] (1882-), Georgina [David Pichette] (1884-1970), Marie Anne (1884-), Mary Zepherine [Eusebe Legros] (1890-), Henriette Ida (1894-1894), Eva Edouarde [Louis Victor Daoust] (1895-), Henriette Nahilda [Philias Longpre] (-), Thomas [Cecile Belisle] (1898-1966), Napoleon Emile [Corinne Rheault] (1901-1987 in Sudbury), and George (1904-1915).

Louis Coderre¹⁹ & Exilda Pinsonnault lived on lot 52. Edouard Louis Coderre (1863-1915 in Aylmer) and Exilda Pinsonnault (1866-1952 in Hull) raised the family Marie Anne [John LeBrun] (1886-1961), Marie Gratia [Medard Guertin, Wilfred Tasse] (1890-), Joseph Maston Cyrille [Alice Boulanger] (1893- 1973), Joseph Herve (1891-1900), Maria Alberta (1896-), Philias Alfred Antheme (1904-), Magloire Leo (1905-1910), and Louis Alfred Herve [Marie Gilberte Elira Boisvenue] (1908-1985). The family was in Aylmer by 1911 Census time. After the death of Louis Coderre, Exilda remarried and died in 1952.

5.7 1911 Census

In 1911 we find some new families.

Joseph Honore Renaud & Julia Renaud are on lot 57. Joseph was previously married to Marguerite Prescille Vaillant (1854-1885) , but in 1911 we have the children of his marriage with Julie Renaud. Joseph Honore Renaud (1849-1936) & Julia Renaud (1855-1931) had children Dosithe [Catherine Helen Kilbride] (1890-) and Rosa [Elie Gauthier] (1894-). With his first wife they had children Joseph Honore [Prescille Sincennes, Apolline Justine Bertrand] (1877-1973) , Cyprien (1881-), Yvonne (1882-), Melodie [Philias Roy] (1883-1923) and (twin) Michel (1883-).

On lot 54 we find his Honore Renaud's sister and her husband. Philias Roy (1879-1952) & Melodie Renaud (1883-1923) had family Mary Anne [Joseph Domina Barnabe] (1904-1972), Adelard [Gloriana Gauthier] (1905-1973), Urgel [Reina Renaud] (1907-1996), Marie Rose Hectorine [Aime Gervais] (1910-2007), Gerard (1918-), Marie Agnes Aurore [George Oscar Quintal] (1919-1970), and Henri [Fernande Philion] (1922-2010 in Sturgeon Falls ON).

On lot 51 we find Arthur Lebeau & Albina Goupille. They had family Armand (1908-), Adrien (1910-), Pauline (1912-), Annette (1914-), Simine (1916-) and Georgette (1921-). They were back in Montreal for the 1921 census. There is no mention in the land records of this lot for the Lebeau family.

Alfred Belisle & Lucie Guilbault were on lot 50, on the Eardley Road. Alfred Belisle (1875-1934) & Lucie Angele Philomine Guilbeault (1876-) had the family of Cecile [Thomas Renaud] (1900-1936), Maurice (1902-1902), Maria Rosa (1906-) , Laurence (1906-1920), Minesippe (1908-), and Calixte (1909-).

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6. Happenings after the Park was Formed

There was a flurry of activity in the 1960s to publicize attractions along the Road, as evidenced in this map of the time. The dashed line was a proposed route for the Parkway extension.

From south to north was the Church Hill Parking #9, the Bradley's Grandview #8, McGee Beach²⁰ with an outlook (the Monument) shown, Ramsay Lake Beach #5. Only the Parking #9 survives.²¹

6.1 'Monument' Lookout

6.2 Ramsay Lake

Nature and Natural Areas in Canada's Capital:An introductory guide for the Ottawa - Hull area by Daniel F. Brunton

An area along the road is described in the following article, which gives the origin of the name.

6.3 Hopkin's Hole

W. G. Dore²²

The recent National Capital Commission brochure "Conceptual Plan-Gatineau Park23" refers to Hopkin's Hole, and illustrates it, as if everybody knew all about it. It is not shown on any map and Hopkin's Hole is not mentioned in any gazetteer consulted, so documentation of this name is in order.

John S. Hopkins²⁴ was a student of Paul B. Sears at Wooster College, Ohio, taking his Master's in post-glacial ecology. He needed an undisturbed northern bog from which to get a pollen profile. He wrote to Dr. R. O. Earl²⁵ bog. Dr. Earl then wrote to me because the Collins Bay bog was of the calcareous type and had undoubtedly been disturbed by the annual visits of Queens's University students for the past five decades.

I thought about Mer Bleue, but knowing that it had been variously burnt, drained, bombed and exploited, I did not like to recommend it even though it was convenient, accessible, and Ottawa ecologists were keen to know more of its history. We got out the aerial photos and saw a small circular pond with a peripheral bog zone on the top of the Eardley escarpment, not far from the road northward from Eardley just beyond Ramsay Lake. None of my confreres had ever been into it so a party was immediately formed, including Bill Cody and myself, to explore it. The bog was a "textbook" bog; a deep, circular pond of dark brown water, concentrically surrounded by a floating Sphagnum-heath mat, a zone of black spruce-larch and then upland forest, with all the typical bog species present. It was ideally viewed from a granite outcrop on one side.

wrote officially to Hopkins saying we had located a representative bog on Canadian Shield terrain, about 30 miles from Ottawa and that it might be suitable for his study if he wished to come. Furthermore it was above the level of the Champlain Sea and should have a complete pollen record subsequent to deglaciation of this area (at this time we had no knowledge of the age before present for any deposit around Ottawa).

Hopkins was enthusiastic and arrived in late June of 1949 to begin his work. We got him a room at Eardley and he made lunches from things available at the local grocery store.

About two days after he had begun work I visited him at the bog. He had vials, labels and borer sections all spread about in the black spruce-larch zone where the peat would be deepest. He thought the peat was about 10 meters deep.

Hopkins was in the usual state for anybody experiencing a northern bog in June on a warm still day at about 11:00 a.m. "How are you getting along?" "I'm getting out of this Hell Hole right now." (Modern insect repellents were not known until some years later).

When Canada hosted the IX International Botanical Congress in 1959 a field trip was scheduled to visit a typical Canadian bog (Bill Baldwin was irritated that we did not use the term "fen"). There was this unnamed bog on the picturesque escarpment and nobody had worked it except that student from Wooster, Ohio. Let's list it as "Hopkins' Hole." (The name has since had the apostrophe shifted). There is no doubt that Hopkin's Hole is "one of Gatineau Park's special places: a bog lake with a fringing community that warrants a closer look" and it is properly rated under "zones of very high value for conservation."

The NCC is to be commended for their concept of management of Gatineau Park and the whole world of environmental concern should be grateful that Hopkin's Hole is situated where it is.

In preparation for the congress tour, we wrote to Hopkins at the Biology Department of Wooster College to learn more details of the study results. No reply was received and we later found out that Hopkins was last known in California repairing guitar strings.

6.4 Grandview

This map locates the Bradley property precisely. The location on the 1962 map is very approximate.

The sale to the FDC was in 1948.

6.5 Trail Construction c. 1955-60

Many of the trails and roads in the area were built in the late 1950s and early 1960s in connection with preparations for the construction of a Parkway extension. This probably explains trail 56 from Taylor Lake to Lac LaPeche via Lac Richard, the extension to Ramsay Lake, and a trail to Twin Lakes from Mud Lake Lookout.

This NCC c 1970 map shows one idea for the Parkway extension to Lac LaPeche, and an interesting set of roads between the Eardley-Masham Road and Lac Leblanc, some of which may have been used by Hydro Quebec to access the powerline, but which may have been farm roads.

6.6 New Official Trails

The NCC plans to have two new trails start from the road. The first will start at Grandview, proceed on high ground to the east on the escarpment, then loop back to Hay Lake, and then return after climbing to the grand view of Grandview.

The second trail will start from the former Brady homestead, proceed up to the Mud Lake Lookout on trail 56, and then head towards Luskville Falls along the escarpment, while offering many other high-country trails to enjoy.

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7. References

• -Census in 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901, 1911, 1921. [underlined years have location information]
• -Ancestry.ca
• -Lawrence Craig Erwin, 'Footprints on the Water', 3rd edition.
• -Joan Finnegan, 'Tallying the Tales of the Old-Timers', 'After the Beer was in the Tubs, All the Labels Came Off'.
• -Joan Finnegan, 'Down the Unmarked Roads', 'The Road Between the River and the Mountain'. 1997 by General Store Publishing House.
• Joan Finnegan taught at Eardley School No, 4 in 1944, and wrote about the experience in this article. However, she changed the names!

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8. Acknowledgements

Lorne Brady and Shirley May Mohr Davis for information and photographs.

John Goatcher for photos

Robert Butler for McAllister family information

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Appendix 1

Moore Family

Anson Gard's book (1906) has several pages on this family, as follows.

Moore²⁶. Very early in the starting of the Hull settlement came a family from the State of Vermont, and after coming first to Sherbrooke locality, they came up and some of them stopped in Templeton Township. This was the noted Moore family, who were destined to play so active a part in the lumber industry of the Ottawa Valley. The children must have been well grown when they came, since we find the sons Job and David in a successful business before 1831, in which year Job died. Dudley was the father, but I could find no mention of the mother's name. The children were: Sarah, m. James McConnell, one of the three pioneer brothers McConnell, who figured so extensively in the early interests of the country; Dyer married Lois Bebe, sister of Steadman Bebe, and went to Port Hope. He returned to the homestead on the Aylmer Road near where is the present Edw. Skead great stone mansion, and there with the family of his brother David, he died in 1854, at the advanced age of 83 ; Dudley, m. Sarah Molton, and later went to Eardley, on the Eardley Road where now resides his grandson Thomas Moore ; Roger also went to Eardley, to the locality of the Breckonridge station. Benjamin, the son mentioned elsewhere as having drowned "With Wm. Wright and likewise Asa Young," at the Chaudiere. James McConnell mentioned above, as having married Sarah Moore, was the one in the song as having been "preserved, for he swam safe to shore " ; Martin, m. Eunice, a daughter of Truman Waller, of the Aylmer Road, and went to Clarendon Township;

Job, m. Sarah Prentiss. He was the original lumberer of the family. He lived in the same part with the other brothers along the river in the Skead locality. He died in 1831; David, M. Deborah Prentiss, a sister of Job's wife. He was born in 1793 and died in 1849. As will be seen he was the father of the David who made the name so well known in the lumber world.

Record of the Second Generation.

Sarah Moore, daughter of Dudley, jr., will be found mentioned in the James McConnell record.

Dyer Moore, no record, further than given above.

Dudley, son of Dudley, the pioneer Moore, married Polly Molton, a cousin of Abe Lincoln, and went to Eardley, on land owned by the Moore firm of lumberers. (At one time they owned a vast area of timber limits all through the Valley). Children: Abigail, m. Alex. Powell; Eli, m. Elizabeth McCormick²⁷; Levi, m. Phoebe Mulligan, and lived on the lot (No. 1, R. 2) on which his father died in 1850, and which is now owned and occupied by Thomas, his (Levi's) son; Sarah, m. Garrison Milks; Leonard, m. Susan Gainsford; Elias, m. Isabelle McEwan; and David, m. Susan Baxter. David later went to Salt Lake City where he contracted the marrying habit and added nine more wives to the family. You will hardly be interested in knowing their names so I shall just leave them out. Roger Moore also went to Eardley and settled in the vicinity of what is now Breckonridge Station, on the Pontiac. He married "Squire Sally," so called by reason of her shrewd ability in settling controversies among the women of the community "an arduous task?" Possibly. That was the only name I could find for her, since none of the deseendents can remember "Grama's" name. Later: Her name was Sarah Hicks. Children: Elizabeth, m. Calvin Kidder; Joseph, m. Lecty Ingly; Clarissa, m. Barnabas Merrifield; Olive, m. Ambrose Richards; Thomas Benjamin, m. (1) Elizabeth Agert, (2) Emily Watts, the widow of S. P. Osgoode; Laura, m. Lamab Boulanger; Sophia's choice I could not find recorded in the minds of even the "oldest inhabitant", further than he was a Frenchman; David, m. (1) Lucy Woods, (2) Margaret Blakely. He is now living at Bear Lake, a few miles north of Campbell's Bay, where he is extensively engaged in lumbering and farming; Louise, m. Philip Lefevre; and Sarah m. Chesterman.

Benjamin Moore, the fourth son of Dudley, sr., was drowned, as mentioned above. Martin, m. ? Waller, and went to Clarendon.

Job Moore, who up to that time was the great member of the family, by reason of his being the head of the firm of Moore Brothers. He married Sarah Prentiss. Children: Job, m. Harriat (?) Lemironde, and went to Rolph Township, up the Ottawa; John, m. Elmyra Roma, and went to Des Joachims; Benjamin, m. Nancy Holt, sister of Moses, of Aylmer. He also went to Des Joachims; Isaac, m. Ellen Cutler, and lived and died in Ottawa; Maria, m. John Hollinger, a school teacher, and went to Renfrew; and Thompson, m. Ellen Cain, and went to Eardley, where he is still living the only member of the family alive. Later: Mary A., another daughter, m. Jas. Gilbous and lives near Wolf Lake. She is 83.

David Moore, the youngest son of Dudley, sr., married Deborah Prentiss. He and Job were the "Moore Brothers." Children: Mary, m. Alonzo Lee, lived in South Hull and died in Ottawa; Elizabeth, m. Frank Gagnon; Sarah, m. Moses Holt, of Aylmer. (He is still living at 83); David, m. Catherine Cutler. This was the best known of all. He was born in 1820 and died in 1886. His mansion, built by the famous Thomas, is to be seen on the Aylmer Road, in the western part of Hull City. Olive, m. Wm., son of Wm. McConnell, pioneer; Emery, unm.; James, m. Cecelia Pellitier, and is still living at 76, in South Hull on the fifth range, lot 23. Here is another proof that Teddy²⁸ need not lose hope of the world's running short of people. James is the father of 17 children, only one of whom is not living. They are all strong and fine specimens of man and womanhood. Most of them are grown and several of them married. George, m. Caroline Hodges, a school teacher. They went to Saganaw, Michigan, where he is still living. Harriat, m. the late Judge Wm. Mosgrove, of Ottawa; Eleanor, m. Charles Meech, son of the famous Rev. Asa Meech one of the first preachers in this part of the country ; Amelia, unm., living in Aylmer; and Edith L., m. Wm. Allen, of the Aylmer Road.

From Axe to Wealth

The story of the starting of the Moore firm will illustrate the way the early lumberers had to work to get a business going. It was not all smooth sailing, hardships had to be met and overcome, and only the men who could meet and contend with every condition finally succeeded. The firm was originally Job and David Moore, sr., two brothers. This from an old man, who knew of their start, will best tell of that start: "In their first operations they each took an axe, and with two or three men (on Lake Deschenes near Bytown), with a yoke of oxen, one cow, one bag of Indian meal, one bag of flour, butter and a small quantity of meat. They made a few cribs of timber, rafted them and took them to Quebec, and by hard work and perseverance became very extensive lumberers. Job having died in 1831, the business was continued by David, sr., son and nephew, up to 1849, when David, sr., died. The firm then dissolved and David, jr., took the business and accumulated a great fortune." The nephews mentioned were: Job, jr., went to Rolph Township; Thompson went to Eardley; Isaac to Bytown; Benjamin and John also went into Rolph, along the Alumette, not far from Des Joachims. They were all lumberers, but none of them became a "David," whose success was very great for that day.

Moore data from an old Bible in the possession of Mrs. Wm. Allen, daughter of David Moore, sr. It is the record of Job, the son of Dudley Moore, the pioneer of the family. "Job, son of Dudley Moore, born May 24th, 1791, died August 3rd r 1831. Sarah Prentiss, his wife, born April 4th, 1801, died January 26th, 1831. Children: Job, born June 7th, 1818; John, born August 31st, 1819; Thompson, born February 6th, 1821; Isaac, born January 15th, 1823; (m. Ellen Cutler); Benjamin, born April 28th, 1825 (m. Nancy Holt, daughter of Moses, sr.); Maria, born January llth, 1827 (m. Charles Hollinger) ; and George, born May 25th, 1829, and died a year to the day, later.

The Ottawa Citizen Old Times page has the following paragraph on Thompson Moore of North Eardley.

Appendix 2 Anson Gard on the Kidder Family

Appendix 3 James Nesbitt Mayor of Masham

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Footnotes

1. or Eardley Road of the upper half in Lapeche (Masham).
2. since 1975 part of the Municipality of Pontiac.
3. since 1975 part of the Municipality of Lapeche.
4. It turns out that the Ramsay homestead was a a large stand of spruce trees between the Pines and Ramsay Lake. The lake is on the northern end of the property, the home on the southern end. [Source: Lorne Brady.]
5. Probably earlier. Because of the destruction of the Registry Office in the Hull Fire of 1900, earlier titles had to be re-registered. The owner had the original deeds, of course.
6. Michael Rock and Samuel Courtney.
7. I wonder if this might be the daughter of the contractor Mr Mongins from Masham that opened the Eardley- Masham Road in 1861; she, like he, was born in France.
8. of the Gervais family at the east end of lac Philippe.
9. Robert Butler has published most of the genealogy of the McAllisters
10. Parents of Frederick Bradley of Grandview.
11. Uncle John of Zeta Bradley Overton's story; Zeta's great-uncle.
12. The 1851 Census of Hull Twp has Samuel aged 37, Eleanor aged 41, Eleanor (Benedict!) aged 16, Sarah aged 14, Charles aged 11 and Mary Anne aged 9, as well as Jane Benedict aged 2.
13. Of the 1851 Hull Census, probably.
14. probably Henry Emmanuel Hurdman (1867-1960).
15. Lortie' in the census,
16. Lot 52 is quite clear in the 1911 census; the lot for Belisle is rather indistinct and could be lot 50. I have arbitrarily moved these families. And lot 52 includes Lac Belisle. Never let the facts ruin a good story.
17. The first wedding recorded in Ste-Cecile de Masham was of her sister Mathilde Aubry in 1853.
18. Also Felonise, Phelonise, Phelanise,
19. A brother of Phelonise Coderre
20. I once missed a step on a beaver dam on this trail and went into the water; it is a poor beach!
21. #3 is Clear Lake, not Raby Beach.
22. This note was found by Stephen Darbyshire among Bill Dore's papers after his death in 1996. It is obviously a draft, written sometimc in late 1976. As its contents are of interest to OFNC members, he probably intended to publish it in Trail & Landscape after some polishing.
23. 1975
24. Mr. Hopkins died in January of 1960.
25. Letter from J. S. Hopkins to R. O. Earl, 6 April 1949.
26. The lumbering operations started in Val Tetreau near the southern entrance of Gatineau Park. and extended to Fairy Lake, with a one-saw mill on the creek from that lake.
27. whose daughter Elizabeth Moore (1835-1902) married in 1855 Thomas Lusk son of Joseph Lusk and Elizabeth Balmer.
28. Roosevelt, US President

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Table of Content

1. Introduction
2. The Overton/Bradley Families And Grandview
3. The Colonization Road
4. The Families In Eardley Twp
    4.1 Ramsay Family
    4.2 Dunning Family
    4.3 'Mass Migration' Nepean To Eardley
    4.4 Luke Hogan Family
    4.5 Coughlin Family
    4.6 McGee Family
    4.7 The McMullen Family
    4.8 The McAllisters
    4.9 Brennan Family
    4.10 Proulx Family
    4.11 Brady Family
    4.12 Moore Family
    4.13 Patrick Rush and Jane Fairbairn
    4.14 Benedict/Cane Family
    4.15 Murphy Family and the Church Hill Picnic Ground
    4.16 Kirwan Family
    4.17 Daniel Ransum
    4.18 Dr Harcourt Bell & Mamie Church of 'Church Hill'
    4.19 Notre Dame de la Joie Camp
5. Settlers in Masham Township near the Road
    5.1 The Duval Family
    5.2 The Philippe Family at Hawley Lake
    5.3 Settlers along the Road to Camp Gatineau
    5.4 1851 Census
    5.5 1861 Census
    5.6 1901 Census
    5.7 1911 Census
6. Happenings after the Park was Formed
    6.1 'Monument' Lookout
    6.2 Ramsay Lake
    6.3 Hopkin's Hole
    6.4 Grandview
    6.5 Trail Construction c. 1955-60
    6.6 New Official Trails
7. References
8. Acknowledgements
Appendix 1
Appendix 2 Anson Gard on the Kidder Family
Appendix 3 James Nesbitt Mayor of Masham

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Index