The Tayles of Emileeeeee Mcpheeeeee

In 1857, James Rosamond looked at the Mississippi River and apparently saw something more useful than a pretty view. He built a woollen mill—and Almonte’s industrial future began to hum, quite literally. The Irish-born entrepreneur had already established a woollen factory in Carleton Place in 1846, but Almonte offered bigger possibilities. His sons Bennett and William later expanded the…

Postcard that was on Ebay and Adin has no idea where this was. Photo done with AI Postcard- Adin Daigle.. and he colourized it. The Hunt So I searched and searched and finally found the lady the postcard was either being sent to or owned it. It was in Ancestry and I noticed the way it was written and it was and I in the card, not a T and it was exact. So her name was Miss Ida Code after…

Adin Daigle Stumbled across this 1920s/30s bad boy on the weekend. This is exactly the kind of crap I’m into!! Marked RIDEAU – Langelier (Liée) Limited, Ottawa, Ont. Can’t be too many of these still around. If I’m not mistaken, this was in the Carleton Place and Beckwith Museum long before it was a museum! Yes, this toilet was once part of the Victoria school- and now Adin Daigle thinks its…

Mississippi River, Appleton, photo by Malak Karsh-1945-1946 Appleton, Town of Mississippi Mills, Ontario, Canada Credits: North Lanark Regional Museum (2012.79.12.26)Photographer: Malak Karsh Donated by Eleanor Wright & Irene Dunn Thompson Appleton: Where the Teskeys Put the River to Work Long before Appleton became the peaceful little Mississippi River community we know today, it had a…

For nearly a year in 1882, any mention of the Sutton Flats Murder lived not in police files but in whispers. The story drifted across Quebec like woodsmoke, curling through farm kitchens where neighbours paused over teacups to exchange theories, lingering at railway stations where strangers filled the silence between trains with speculation, and settling onto hotel verandas where warm summer…

The Hull Witch and the Butter Curse There are many ways to solve a household problem. You can call a repairman, ask a neighbour, consult a cookbook, or, if you lived in rural Osgoode Township about fifty years ago, visit a witch in Hull. The thing is this same thing happened in Pakenham in the 1800s so was this a thing witches did in times gone pass? Was screwing around with butter a thing???…

There are sisters, and then there are sisters who have somehow managed to become best friends. Bonnie and Karen (who lives in Morewood, ON. and grew up in Carleton Place and then Franktown) are what are affectionately known as “Irish twins,” born just 11 months apart. Close enough in age to share a childhood, but apparently close enough to drive each other slightly crazy, too. Bonnie was the big…

By February, I’ll be standing in snow up to my knees saying, “I’d give anything for summer.” We humans are kind of fascinating creatures, and we carry the remarkable ability to complain about the very things we spent six months wishing for. Still, when the warm weather finally arrives, I always find myself thinking about the summers of childhood. Funny how one hot afternoon can transport you…

If there were awards for the shortest honeymoon in Canadian history, Brockville’s most spectacular marital meltdown of December 1867 would deserve at least an honourable mention. Forget champagne toasts and moonlit strolls. This newlywed adventure featured tug-of-war, public humiliation, runaway sleighs, and an audience that treated the whole affair like front-row seats at the theatre. The tale,…

The Great Sunday Milk Scandal of Almonte Imagine causing a courtroom commotion over… a bottle of milk. That was exactly what happened in Almonte in the late 1890s when five milk vendors found themselves standing before Squire Robert Smith, accused of the shocking crime of selling milk on a Sunday. By today’s standards it sounds almost laughable, but under Ontario’s strict Lord’s Day laws, even…

Illustation base came from a photo- Gillies/ McLaren Mill Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum The Ottawa Citizen Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • Sat, Jun 18, 1932Page 28 If there was ever a man who could turn loading lumber into an Olympic sport, it was Phil Wright. Back in the early 1890s, Phil was offered a shipping job at Peter Maclaren’s famous mill in Carleton Place. Before hiring him,…

( you can see my house in the background) Also read- Crams Tannery Before and After Campbell Street When Cram & Munro opened their wool-pulling and tannery business in Carleton Place around 1870, they probably imagined years of honest work, steady profits, and the occasional complaint about the smell. They likely did not expect their greatest enemy to be the very machine sent to save them. The…

Toronto Star, 1901 Newspapers have always loved a good mystery, but they positively swoon over one involving disguises. Mention a young woman in men’s clothing, a moonlit hospital, desperate fugitives, and one very nervous police inspector, and suddenly every respectable citizen becomes Sherlock Holmes after two cups of tea. In the aftermath of the sensational murder and attempted escape,…

CLICK ABOVE READ-The Hopetown Murders Revisited.. These are the kind of stories that small communities carry quietly for decades — the ones where someone always knows just a little more than they’ve heard. Today we’re in that territory: an unsolved double murder in rural Ontario that’s been open since 1987, and why it still matters now. Let’s start with the Hopetown farmhouse. On a quiet…

Little John Island may be small enough to miss if you sneeze while boating, but it has spent centuries sitting front-row to the history of the Rideau Lakes. Tucked beside Rideau Ferry where Big Rideau meets Lower Rideau Lake, the island has watched pioneers paddle past, log drives thunder through, and elegant steamers weave among the channels. Nearby waters even guard the resting place of the…

In 1928 there was a newspaper article about the local municipal government in 1885. They tackled a sort of issue that could only exist before the invention of social media, cable television, or people having hobbies. They didn’t argue about taxes, nor roads or even the economy. What did they argue about for land’s sake? They argued about shovels, yes shovels. Specifically, whether city labourers…

If you ever want to know something just email me at [email protected] .. Thanks to Hillary Bayne for asking.. There are moments in history that are difficult to read about because they reveal both the very worst and the very best of humanity. Canada’s typhus epidemic of 1847 is one of those moments. It was a year when fear walked beside compassion, when death travelled aboard every tide of the…