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• John McIntosh 1777-1846
  McIntosh's parents emigrated from Inverness, Scotland to the Mohawk Valley, N.Y., and John moved to Upper Canada in 1796. In 1811 he acquired a farm near this site, and while clearing the land of second growth discovered several apple seedlings. He transplanted these, and one bore the superior fruit which became famous as the McIntosh Red apple. John's son Allan established a nursery and promoted this new species extensively. It was widely acclaimed in Ontario...

• Founding of Cornwall, The
  In June 1784, disbanded Loyalist soldiers and their families settled at New Johnstown, the site of present-day Cornwall. Initially called Pointe Maligne, the area had been visited by native traders and French missionaries and explorers during the 17th and early 18th centuries. In 1794, Cornwall was designated a judicial and administrative centre for the Eastern District and by 1805 contained a courthouse, a schoolhouse, two churches and numerous dwellings. The community grew gradually and was...

• Glengarry Fencibles, The
  The regiment of Glengarry Light Infantry Fencibles was raised in 1811-12 largely from among the Highland settlers of this region, many of whom had served previously in Europe with the Glengarry (British Highland) Fencibles. The Canadian corps was recruited through the efforts of Major George Richard John Macdonell ("Red George") assisted by the Rev. Alexander Macdonell (later Upper Canada's first Roman Catholic Bishop) who served as its chaplain. The regiment was taken on the regular...

• MacLeod Settlement, The
  In 1793, some 40 families, including members of several clans, emigrated from Glenelg, Scotland, under the leadership of Alexander MacLeod and landed at St. John's Island (now Prince Edward Island). The following year they came to Glengarry County and petitioned for land. In August 1794, the majority were authorized to occupy 200 acres each in the vicinity of Kirkhill, which was for many years known as Glenelg. Alexander MacLeod, who was located on this property...

• North West Company, The
  Travellers on the canoe route to the West had to make a portage around the St Mary's rapids. The North West Company established a fur-trading post south of the river by 1791. After the British abandoned their occupation of the American midwest, the company moved its post here in 1797. The depot eventually included storehouses, a canal and lock, a sawmill, and a portage road. Wharves were built at either end of the rapids for...

• Martintown Grist Mill, The
  This mill was built in 1846 to replace part of a milling complex developed by Malcolm McMartin early in the century. Like similar operations throughout the province, the McMartin mills provided essential local services in an era of poor transportation. They served area residents by sawing timber, carding wool, fulling cloth and grinding grain. The mills and their associated tavern and store attracted tradesmen and residents, creating the village of Martintown. Malcolm McMartin's son Alexander...

• Holstein Friesian Cattle in Ontario
  In 1881, Michael Cook, who operated a prosperous 200-acre farm here, imported the first Holstein Friesian cattle into Ontario. This was part of a movement among progressive farmers to find a breed of cattle that would produce enough milk for Ontario's growing dairy industry, especially cheese production. Initially Cook imported two bulls and ten cows. He continued to import Holstein cattle from the United States and The Netherlands, and distribute them throughout the province. The...

• Colonel Darby Bergin, 1826-1896
  Bergin was born in York (Toronto) and received his medical degree from McGill College in Montreal. He practised medicine in Cornwall, where he also assisted at a local typhus hospital. He later worked with the Mohawks of Akwesasne during a devastating smallpox outbreak. Bergin was elected Member of Parliament in 1872. He was a passionate and early advocate for rural affairs, public health and social justice. His innovative efforts and political appeals to improve workplace...

• The Flying Frenchmen - Édouard "Newsy" Lalonde
  Professional hockey was in its infancy in the autumn of 1909 when the promoters behind the National Hockey Association, forerunner of the National Hockey League, created the Montreal Canadiens team to attract French-Canadian spectators. Belleville-born Jean-Baptiste "Jack" Laviolette was hired as the playing-manager and captain. Laviolette signed Cornwall's Édouard "Newsy" Lalonde to play forward and recruited his friend Didier "Cannonball" Pitre from the Renfrew Creamery Kings ('Renfrew Millionaires') as a defenceman. This trio of francophone...

• Bethune-Thompson House
  Built by Loyalist settler Peter Ferguson in 1784, the original log cabin on this site is one of the oldest surviving buildings in Ontario. The cabin walls were constructed using a French-Canadian technique called poteaux sur sole where vertically placed, squared logs were held together by horizontal plates located along the top and bottom. The larger home adjoining it was built in 1804 by Reverend John Bethune (1751-1815), the first Presbyterian minister in Upper Canada...

• Cornwall Grammar School
  Cornwall Collegiate and Vocational School traces its beginning to an educational institution founded by John Strachan in 1803. Strachan, an Anglican priest, opened a private school in his home where he hoped to educate young men to take on leading roles in society. In 1806 he built a schoolhouse that became one of the first provincially funded district grammar schools one year later. Many of Upper Canada's elite received their education under Strachan's respected and...

• French Presence in Cornwall, The
  A vital cultural force in eastern Ontario, the Franco-Ontarian community in Cornwall was established during the late 1870s when large-scale industrial expansion led to an influx of workers and tradesmen from Quebec. By 1881 French-speaking residents comprised the largest single cultural group in the town. Supported by a number of religious and scholastic institutions, including l'Église de la Nativité de la Bienheureuse Vierge Marie, the Francophone community grew steadily in the decades that followed. Increasingly...

• Captain Miles Macdonell
  Born in Scotland about 1769, Mile emigrated with his father 'Spanish' John, and other members of the family to New York in 1773. Following the Revolution, they settled near Cornwall at St. Andrew's West. In 1811-12 he became Lord Selkirk's agent, and let the first Band of settlers to the Red River colony. The Nor' Westers endeavored to destroy the Settlement, and arrested Macdonell on a false charge in 1815. Released without trial, he returned to his farm in Osnabruck township, but later moved to his brother's residence at Point Fortune, where he died in 1828.

• Captain Samuel Anderson 1736-1836
  This property formed part of the extensive lands granted to Capt. Samuel Anderson, U.E.L., one of the first persons to settle on the site of Cornwall. Born in New England of Irish parents, he served with the British forces during the Seven Years War. At the outbreak of the American Revolution Anderson was imprisoned by the rebels after he had refused a commission in the Continental Army. He escaped in 1776 and was appointed a captain in the 1st Battalion K.R.R.N.Y. He became a justice of the peace for this area in 1785 and later served as the first judge of the Eastern District.

• District Court House and Gaol 1833
  The central portion of this building was completed in 1833 and served as the court-house and gaol of the Eastern District. First named Luneburgh, this district was established in 1788 by proclamation. In 1794 an Act of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada authorized the magistrates of the District Court of Quarter Sessions to erect a court-house and gaol at Cornwall. A two-storey frame structure was completed on this site about 1802 and, until destroyed...

• "Cariboo" Cameron 1820-1888
  Born in this township, John Angus "Cariboo" Cameron married Margaret Sophia Groves in 1860. Accompanied by his wife and daughter, he went to British Columbia in 1862 to prospect in the Cariboo gold fields. That year at Williams Creek he struck a rich gold deposit. While there his wife died of typhoid fever and, in order to fulfil her dying wish to be buried at home, he transported her body in an alcohol-filled coffin some...

• Claude J.P. Nunney, V.C. 1892-1918
  Born in Ireland, Nunney was brought up in Lancaster Township, Glengarry. He enlisted in the 38th Battalion, C.E.F., in 1915 and in 1916 was sent to France where he won the Military Medal and Distinguished Conduct Medal. On September 1, 1918, his unit was heavily counter-attacked near Vis-en-Artois. On his own initiative, Private Nunney went through the German barrage to the forward posts, where, by his fearless example, he encouraged his companions to repulse the...

• College of Iona, The
  Established by the Reverend Alexander Macdonnell, father of Roman Catholic education in Upper Canada and later Bishop of Kingston, the College of Iona was opened in 1826 in a log building near this site. The central portion of the nearby stone structure, erected by Macdonnell in 1808 as the presbytery for the parish, served as a residence for teachers and students. Much of the cost of construction and of the operational expenses of the school...

• Dr. Mahlon W. Locke 1880-1942
  Born in nearby Matilda Township, Locke studied medicine at Queen's University and in Scotland. In 1908, he opened his medical office in this house. Interested in arthritis, which he believed was caused principally by fallen arches, he treated many arthritics in the following years by manual manipulation of their feet. Large numbers of his patients claimed to be cured or relieved by this method, and his reputation spread thought North America and overseas. From 1928...

• Duncan Cameron
  Born in Scotland about 1764, he settled with his parents in Schenectady, New York. His father served with a Loyalist regiment during the American Revolution, following which the family moved to Glengarry. In 1784, Duncan entered the North West Company where, as manager of its Red River Department, he endeavoured to persuade Lord Selkirk's settlers to abandon their lands. When Selkirk's forces attacked Fort Gilbraltar in 1816, Cameron was captured and taken to England. Released and compensated for false arrest, he returned to Williamstown in 1820. He died in 1848 and is buried here.

• Fraserfield
  Begun about 1812, this house, one of the finest country residences of its day, was the home of the Honourable Alexander Fraser, Quartermaster of the Canadian Fencibles during the War of 1812. Fraser became Colonel of the 1st Regiment, Glengarry Militia, in 1822 and served under Sir John Colborne in Lower Canada during the Rebellion of 1837-38. Elected in 1828 to the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada, he was appointed in 1839 to the Legislative Council. From 1842-49, he was first Warden of the Eastern District, now the counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry.

• Glengarry Congregational Church 1837, The
  This log structure, completed in 1837, is the oldest remaining chapel in Ontario built by Congregationalists. Its first minister, the Reverend William McKillican (1776-1849), emigrated to Canada from Scotland in 1816, and settled in Glengarry the following year. Here, in 1823, he established one of the earliest congregations of his denomination in Upper Canada and ministered throughout the surrounding region. He was succeeded by his son John (1824-1911) who first preached in this chapel in...

• Glengarry Emigration of 1786, The
  Early in September 1786, a group of some 500 Scottish Highlanders, the majority of whom were Macdonells, arrived at Quebec. They were led by their parish priest from Knoydart, Glengarry, the Reverend Alexander MacDonell (Scotus). Forced to emigrate because of the depressed economic conditions of the Highlands, they had been encouraged to come to Canada and settle among their fellow countrymen in what is now Glengarry County. Despite initial hardships, most of these Scottish pioneers...

• Reverend Charles W. Gordon 1860-1937, The
  Born at Indian Lands (St. Elmo), Gordon was ordained a Presbyterian minister in 1890. He served as a missionary in the North West Territories until 1893 and the following year was called to St. Stephens in Winnipeg. A chaplain during the War of 1914-18, he was Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Canada 1921-22. Under the pen name of Ralph Connor, Gordon became one of Canada's leading authors and wrote such books as "The Man...

• Reverend John Strachan in Cornwall, The
  This pioneer clergyman, legislator and teacher was born in 1778 in Aberdeen, Scotland and, in 1799, came to Kingston as a tutor. In 1803, after entering the Church of England, he was ordained and appointed missionary at Cornwall. Here, in 1804-05, he built its first Anglican Church. Shortly afterwards, he opened a boys' school, which became renowned for its high academic standards and eminent graduates. In 1812, he became Rector of York (Toronto), and subsequently...

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