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4 [ } ns tm & is V \/ im\ s ¢ it \'{ < 'J ! %%, k'fi (Goas "( -- € | & 3 Te g---- y ul tP*=> A \ the rest of the journey on foot. When The Scottish element figured large-- se )___ Early Settlement thiey arrived at the spot they had se-- . ly in the settlement of Elderslie, h of the ¥>~~ lected they did enough work to secure Ire 1833 NC Rows buik al tavemn ' Township of Elderslie a "squatters claim"" -- returned home of hewed logs on the site where the ' 1 (to Chatsworth) returning with their Central . hotel now. stands, . giving | ; The township of Elderslie is named families and all their worldly. goods ample accommodation to the rapidly anc. Scotland's patriot Sir William the following spring. . The first lapse increasing . travel. . Mr. Valentine's Wallace, Knight of Elderslic, of the journey was made by team sawmill enabled the settlers to build This township has a large amount (from Chatsworth to Hanover). There better buildings. of heavy, clay land with parts of it a raft 12' x 30' was constructed and In 1854 the great rush began with ' low and wet, also a . considerable on it the families and their possessions the McBeaths, MeDonalds, McGre-- \ amount of swamp. A portion of the were floated down the Saugeen . to gors, Balfours, McLaggans, Fortunes $ township is broken up by the Saugeen their new home. That summer a and others arriving. Andrew Dobbin River, However there is very little shanty (the fourth to be erected. . in followed took up 1000 acres of land ' waste land and on the whole it is a Elderslie) 16 ft. square was put up in around where Dobbinton now stands } fair, average township. which both families lived. This shanty and so Dobbinton was founded and ' Elderslie_ received. its. first settlers was later on used as a school house, named. on April 18, 1851 when Simon Or-- the first in the township of Elderslie In the fall of 1854 a great land sale chard and his family after floating with Mrs. Thomas Pearce as teacher. took place at Southampton and in the down the Saugeem River on a . raft In early fall two men Henry Brown rush every lot was taken up. So great from Walkerton landed . where . the and Robert Cockrane walked from was the number who passed through village of Paisley now stands. Three Durham. to see their old neighbours Paisley to attend the sale that in two \ weeks later Samuel T. Rowe with his Rowe and Orchard and to see the days Mrs. Rowe had cooked and ' family followed his old friend in the much praised lands of Elderslic. They served a whole ox, while Mr. Rowe venturesome voyage down the Sau-- located lots -- returned. home . and attended to the "liquid" portion: of the ' geen and settled. beside him. . The came back again in November . to business. . Two large kettles, one with lands in the south western part of the take possession. . They moved. their beef and the other with potatoes were township were the first to . receive belongings to Walkerton (which . by kept boiling all the time but as Mr. |_ their quota of settlers owing to the now contained two stores and a post Rowe had a good stock of cattle and |_ fact that the Saugeen River permitted office) und made the usual trip down a field of potatoes, it was simply a P them to float down its waters on rafts the river on a raft. The river was question of "killing and. digging." @ | _ conveying them -- their families and very low and neither men. knew how The polling booth for . the first belongings from the vicinity of either to handle a raft. . It became . caught municipal election. was. in "Rowe's Hanover or Walkerton. on stones and the men had to jump tavern", Paisley, Ont. in 1854. John Elderslie township was surveyed in into the iey water to. pry. . the . raft Gillies, George Williscroft, Charles the summer of 1851 (survey party loose. They continued on their way Ginty, . Robert Falconer and R. T. headed by G. McPhilips.) and being and night found them on the 4th. of Rowe were elected as councillors and classed among the school lands of the Brant -- cold, wet and very. miser-- these at their first meeting (as the law province was opered for sale in July able. was then) elected R. T. Rowe . for 30. 1952. Pioneers who . located Their match supply which they car-- reeve. Thomas Orchard was. town-- themselves on farm lots prior to this tied in their pockets was very . wet ship treasurer. date were known as "squatters" and but luckily the powder in their gun There was. much work clearing |_ they had, on the appearance of this was dry so with some batting pulled roads etc. and it was about 1854 that notice offering the lands for sale, to out of a quilt and the gun . powder "Elora Road" was mapped out by Mr. |_ take immediate steps to . have . their they soon had a fire going. They G. McPhillips and it still is Elora squatters rights recognized. . The fitst\ _ qried themselves, made a bed out of Road -- but with the high hills cut T~ person to purchase lard in . Elderslie [ brush and each man rolled himself in down -- the curves straightened and || _ was "Jobn Fraser" (Eldon. Fraser's a blanket. . When they wakened. . in its hard surface. . We, who. now. live grandfather) for lot 34, concession A //_ the morning they were covered with on the Elora Road consider ourselves now the property of Mr. and. MrS. | _ six inches of snow. They again start-- very fortunate indeed. Lockerby set-- Tack Cottrill. The date of PurCha"A ed on their way and by night had tlers had great hopes of the road go-- was December 6th, 1852. = arrived at Rowe's tired and very hun-- ing through their section, but it passed | The first to follow Messrs. Orchard ery. The mext day with the help of right through Paisley so Lockerby ne-- and Rowe in taking up lands in El-- Rowe and Orchard they built a shan-- ver developed. derslie were David _ Lyons . and ty 12' x 14' floored with split bass-- The water power at Lockerby was Thomas Hembroof, who . settled . on wood -- the fifth shanty in the Town-- early made use of and a grist mill was |_ the northern branch of Saugsen, at ship of Elderslie. Mr. Brown stayed in operation in 1856. The water the.point now known as Lockerby. until midwinter but Cockrane return-- power. later supplied electric. current Hembroof and Lyons who . were ed to Durham. Wolves were very for lighting up the village of Paisley. now living where Chatsworth . now plentiful and howled around the shan-- One of the most noted men of El-- _\ _ | _ stands lost no time after Elderslie was ties all night. _ Nevertheless. Mr. derslie was John Gillies who for 17 surveyed to select a point at which to Brown. enjoyed his two. months and years was reeve of the township. . He settle and one morning in October remarked "With a few good books and his family settled in the part of : 1851 they left home loaded with ne-- the solitude held no terrors for me." Elderslie: township. now . known -- as % cessities to stay im the bush, They In 1853 the Clements, Greens, Mc-- "Gillies Hill." travelled south and at length reached Brides and McCartneys . came . in. | _ the north branch of the Saugeen river Then the Gillies family came follow-- | _ following it partly on foot and. partly, ed by Taylors and Curries -- and so a ' by canoe. They arrived at the county a whole colony was settled. en 1 line and owing to the amount of drift-- &/ " % az ((Wo. wood in the river they had to make be \ ' 9 f : | J f ; -- i0 e 2 2 EL L in esns a C '\{\ h " . i?{"\\ 6 / F swP v a &' 'T/\w K / wolhge~. ~ w : .