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104 plaques found that match your criteria
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John Galt 1779-1839
Guelph was founded on April 23, 1827, by the Scottish author and colonizer, John Galt, first superintendent of the Canada Company. That body, composed of a group of British speculators, purchased land throughout Upper Canada, including the Huron Tract which embraced most of the unsurveyed lands between Guelph and the site of Goderich. Galt was conscientious and hardworking and showed considerable humanity in his dealings with the Company's pioneer settlers. However, the large expenditures involved... -
John Langton 1808-1894
Born in Lancashire, England, Langton graduated from Cambridge University in 1829 and emigrated to Upper Canada in 1833. He purchased some 500 acres of land in Fenelon and Verulam townships, where he was one of the first settlers and built "Blythe House" near Fenelon Falls in 1837-38. From 1851-55 Langton represented the Peterborough area in the legislative assembly of Canada. He was appointed auditor of public accounts in 1855 and from 1867 to 1878 served... -
John McLean 1799-1890
In this house from 1847 to 1857 lived the noted explorer and author John McLean, who was born in Scotland and joined the Hudson's Bay Company in 1821. In 1838 he became the first white man to cross the Labrador peninsula from Ungava Bay to Hamilton Inlet and in 1839, discovered the Grand Falls of the Hamilton River, one of the world's greatest cataracts. His book, 'Notes of a Twenty-five Years' Service in the Hudson's Bay Territory", is an important source of information on the Canadian Fur Trade. -
John Wesley Dafoe 1866-1944
Born in Bangor Township, Dafoe began his career with the 'Montreal Daily Star' in 1883. Two years later he became editor of the 'Ottawa Evening Journal' following which he served on the 'Manitoba (later Winnipeg) Free Press', 1886-92. Returning to Montreal he worked on the 'Daily Herald' and 'Star'. In 1901 he rejoined the Winnipeg paper remaining its editor until 1944. A crusading journalist, he championed Dominion status, the League of Nations and the welfare... -
Joseph Medlicott Scriven 1819-1886
Born and educated in Ireland, Scriven was a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin. He emigrated to Canada in 1847 and during the 1850's became tutor to the family of Captain Robert L. Pengelley, R.N., a retired British naval officer who had settled in this vicinity. A deeply religious man, he published a book entitled "Hymns and Other Verses" in 1869. However, the poem entitled "Pray Without Ceasing", for which he was to become famous, was... -
Jumbo
Near this site on September 15, 1885, one of the best known and most beloved animals met an untimely death when he was struck by a railway locomotive. Jumbo, the 13,000-pound African elephant, had been brought to North America in 1882 from the London Zoo where for seventeen years thousands had been fascinated by the mammoth creature. His purchase for £2,000 by the American, P.T. Barnum, raised a nation-wide outcry in Britain and daily reports... -
Lucy Maud Montgomery
In this house, the author of "Anne of Green Gables" lived for fifteen years, and here wrote eleven of her twenty-two novels, including "Anne of the Island" (1915) and "Anne's House of Dreams" (1916). Born in 1874 at Clifton, Prince Edward Island, she was educated at Charlottetown and Halifax. From 1898 to 1911 she lived at Cavendish, P. E. I., and there began her career as a novelist. In 1911 she married the Reverend Ewan... -
Marie Dressler 1868-1934
Leila Maria Koerber, a talented actress and singer known internationally as Marie Dressler, was born in Cobourg. About 1883, she joined a touring stock company, later gaining recognition on Broadway in a series of successful comedy productions, including "Tillie's Nightmare". Although she made her first film in 1914, entitled "Tillie's Punctured Romance" with Charlie Chaplin, her real success in motion pictures began in 1930 when she played in "Anna Christie" with Greta Garbo. During the... -
Mary Pickford
Born in 1893 in a house that stood near this site, Gladys Marie Smith appeared on stage in Toronto at the age of five. Her theatrical career took her to Broadway in 1907 where she adopted the name Mary Pickford. The actress's earliest film, "Her First Biscuits," was released by the Biograph company in 1909 and she soon established herself as the international cinema's first great star. Her golden curls and children's roles endeared her... -
Mazo de la Roche 1879-1961
Born Mazo Louise Roche in Newmarket, this celebrated Canadian writer attended the Ontario School of Art and the University of Toronto. She established an international literary reputation when her book "Jalna" won the Atlantic Monthly competition of 1927. It was the first of 16 novels narrating the history of the Whiteoak family and set in the Clarkson, Ontario, area. The books provide a comprehensive picture of life in the province from the mid-19th to mid-20th... -
Merrill Denison 1893-1975
A prolific and accomplished playwright, Denison was born in Detroit and raised in Ontario. In 1921, after pursuing studies in architecture, he became Art Director of Hart House Theatre, Toronto. Denison soon began to write comedies, some of which were conceived at his summer home in Bon Echo and performed in this playhouse. As author of "The Romance of Canada", a highly successful series of historical plays broadcast in 1931-32, he received wide acclaim as... -
Mill of Kintail and Robert Tait McKenzie, The
This gristmill was constructed in 1830 by John Baird, a Scottish pioneer. In 1930 it was restored by Robert Tait McKenzie (1867-1938), the prominent Canadian surgeon, physical educator, and sculptor, as his summer home and studio. Born in Lanark County, McKenzie graduated from McGill, and taught there and at the University of Pennsylvania. He served with the R.A.M.C. in the War of 1914-18 and instituted a plan for the rehabilitation of the wounded. McKenzie is noted for his sculpture of athletes and war memorials, including the Scottish-American War Memorial in Edinburgh. -
Robert Holmes 1861-1930
Robert Holmes spent a lifetime drawing and painting Canadian wildflowers, depicting many varieties in watercolours. Holmes was born in Cannington and is buried here. After studying at the Ontario School of Art and the Royal College of Art, his teaching career at Upper Canada College, the Central Ontario School of Art and Design, and its successor, the Ontario College of Art, spanned forty years. Holmes was a president of the Ontario Society of Artists, a... -
Sara Jeannette Duncan 1861-1922
An internationally renowned author, Duncan was raised in the adjacent house and educated locally. She taught school briefly, but then determinedly turned to journalism, gaining notice for her distinctive and witty writing style. In l890 Duncan published her first book, A Social Departure, based on dispatches produced during a trip around the world. Following her marriage, the next year, she took up residence in India where she continued to pursue a literary career. A prolific... -
Sir Gilbert Parker 1862-1932
In this community of Camden East, where his father was a storekeeper and justice of the peace, was born Gilbert Parker, Canadian novelist and poet. Educated at the University of Toronto, he became a journalist and later turned to writing fiction. He moved to England in 1889 and achieved a considerable reputation as an author of historical novels, many of which, such as "The Seats of the Mighty", had a Canadian setting. Parker sat in the British House of Commons 1900-1918 as member for Gravesend and was knighted in 1902 for his literary achievements. -
Sir John Stephen Willison 1856-1927
One of Canada's most influential political journalist and a strong advocate of the Imperial Federation movement, Willison was born on a farm about 6.5 kilometers northeast of here. He began his career in 1881 with the London Advertiser. Two years later, he joined the Toronto Globe and in 1890 was appointed chief editor of that newspaper. In 1902, he resigned to become editor of the Independent Toronto Daily News (1902-1917) and in 1910 was named... -
St. Anne's Anglican Church
Built in the Byzantine style, St. Anne's was designed by the noted Toronto architect Ford Howland to serve a large and vigorous parish. It was constructed in 1907-08, replacing an earlier building which stood on the site. In 1923 the interior was richly decorated under the supervision of architect William Rae and artist J.E.H. MacDonald. Members of the Group of Seven and their associates executed the fine paintings in the dome and surrounding the altar... -
Stephen Butler Leacock 1869-1944
This internationally-known Canadian author and humorist was born here December 30, 1869, and, at the age of six, emigrated with his family to Ontario. Graduating from the University of Toronto in 1891, he taught at Upper Canada College and, in 1901, began lecturing in political science at McGill University, heading that department, 1908-1936. Though Leacock wrote extensively on political science, economics, and history, he achieved his greatest distinction as a humorist. Some of his best... -
Stephen Butler Leacock 1869-1944
This internationally-known author and humorist is buried in the churchyard. Born in Swanmore, Hampshire, England, Leacock came with his family to this township in 1876. Graduating from the University of Toronto in 1891, he taught at Upper Canada College and, in 1901, began lecturing in political science at McGill University, heading that department, 1908-1936. Though Leacock wrote extensively on political science, economics and history, he achieved his greatest distinction as a humorist. Some of his... -
Susanna Moodie 1803-1885
This talented writer, the wife of a retired British army officer, emigrated with her husband and daughter to Upper Canada in 1832. In 1834, they moved to a nearby farm lot to be near her brother, Samuel Strickland, and her sister, Catharine Parr Traill. The following six years of unsuccessful effort to develop a wilderness property provided the theme for her best known work, "Roughing it in the Bush". In 1840, they moved to Belleville... -
Thomas and Frances Stewart
In 1822, the Stewart family emigrated from County Antrim, Ireland, to Upper Canada and the following year they began to farm this land on the Otonabee River. Thomas A. Stewart (1786-1847) served as justice of the peace and member of the Legislative Council and through his public service he played a significant role in Peterborough's early development. His wife Frances (1794-1872) wrote a series of detailed and highly descriptive letters concerning the life and early... -
Tom Thomson 1877-1917
One of Canada's most distinguished painters. Thomson was born at Claremont, Ontario County, but two months later moved with his parents to Leith where he lived until the age of twenty-one. After working in Toronto as a commercial artist until 1913, he supplemented his limited income from painting, and fulfilled his love for the Canadian wilderness by serving as a guide and fire ranger in Algonquin Park. An exponent of a distinctive style of Canadian... -
Walter Seymour Allward, R.C.A. 1876-1955
A renowned Canadian sculptor, Allward was born in Toronto and attended Central Technical School. He studied under William Cruikshank and Emanuel Hahn, prominent Canadian sculptors, and later in London and Paris. His first important commission, the Northwest Rebellion Memorial (Toronto), was executed in 1895. Allward's mature style was revealed in the Baldwin-Lafontaine Monument in 1915 (Ottawa). His greatest project was the Canadian War Memorial at Vimy Ridge, France. This vast, solemn work, completed in 1936... -
William Arthur Parks 1868-1936
The first Director of the Royal Ontario Museum of Paleontology, Parks was born in Hamilton and educated at the University of Toronto, from which he received a Doctorate in 1900. Initially known as an expert on "stromatoporoids", a unique group of invertebrate fossils, he later turned his attention to the study of vertebrate paleontology. The expeditions Parks organized to the Canadian and American West between 1918 and 1935 provided most of the material for the... -
William Henry Drummond 1854-1907
Physician and poet, William Henry Drummond was born in Ireland in 1854, and came to Canada with his parents about ten years later. In 1884 he graduated in medicine from Bishop's College, Lennoxville, serving in rural Quebec before establishing a practice in Montreal. The "Poet of the Habitant", Drummond wrote in the broken English of the French-Canadian farmer and woodsman. His poems, published between 1867 – 1908, were characterized by humour and pathos. They touch...