XIV.

GANANOQUE'S FIRST PUBLIC SCHOOL,

1816.

BY FRANK EAMES.

To perpetuate and honour the names of certain pioneers who founded Gananoque's first Public School; to present as far as possible complete transcriptions of the early documents recovered concerning that work, and to impress upon the principals, the school boards, and the local teachers of to-day their duty of bearing in lasting remembrance those pioneers who laid so good a foundation, are the chief objects of this paper.

Any item concerning the initial step of civilization's noblest movementeducation-is of great importance, and eminently worthy of permanent record. By the reproduction of some original documents concerning the step taken in Gananoque one hundred years ago, the writer hopes to rescue some important historical facts before the fast fading characters of a most beautiful handwriting become wholly illegible.

Blown about by the winds, the first paper was salvaged from the street (Brock Street), one early morning. A short time after, others were obtained from children who had found them on a "dump." Some thirty or forty odd papers and letters, all dealing with Gananoque life of a century ago, were obtained in this way, by one who fully realized their great importance to the community.

The documents referring to the early school were copied and then presented to His Honour Judge Herbert Stone MacDonald, for it was from the old homestead they had been wantonly discarded as "trash." The Judge, appreciating their value, sent them to the press for publication, which was partly carried out; but other school papers equally important came to hand later, and the whole were again collected for the present effort. Light thus falls across the first milestone in a century of educational endeavour in Gananoque. The names of worthy men again appear to the view of a well established community. State documents may reveal state history, but for local history within the state go to the pioneers.

First mention of the actual locality known as Gananoque is to be found in the "New York Colonial Documents" where the entries kept by Frontenac on his journey up the St. Lawrence to Kataroqui-Kingston-are published verbatim.

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Two men sought the grant of land whereon stands the town of to-day; these were Sir John Johnson and Colonel Joel Stone. Both men deemed worthy of consideration for the land grant, which was evenly divided by the Gananoque River passing along its centre. The grant, which was roughly triangular in shape, was bounded on the south by the River St. Lawrence, on the northeast by the Gananoque River to the mouth of Mud Creek, and by a line running from there southwesterly to the River St.

Lawrence at Lindsay's Point of to-day. The Point at that time was known as Shiriff's Point, a man by the name of Shiriff having settled there. When Shiriff died his wife went to live with Carey and his young daughter, Mrs. Shiriff being Carey's sister. Carey's daughter married a Mr. Jamieson whose name appears in the list of proprietors of the schoolhouse later. Jamieson's family consisted of two daughters and a son, whose families are included among Gananoque's population of to-day.

Colonel Stone was a direct descendant of William Stone, who sailed from London, England, with twenty-five others in May, 1639, landing and settling in Connecticut. In this state Colonel Stone was born, at Gilford, in August, 1749. After helping his father on the farm until he grew to manhood, he developed inclinations for business in which he became a success. He lost his winnings from this source through his British loyalty, which caused the revolutionary element to become suspicious of him.

A "Gananoque Souvenir" published by the late Treasurer of Gananoque, Mr. Freeman Britton, a brother of the learned Judge, tells us that he rode off one night for New York, where he joined General Wentworth's forces on June the 20th, 1777. In 1778 he was commissioned to recruit for the forces of Sir William Howe, a brother of the equally famous "Black Dick" or Richard, Lord Viscount Howe, who at that time was Commander of His Britannic Majesty's fleet in North America, and who later, as first sea lord, took command again and broke the blockade of Gibraltar on the Glorious First of June."

The Colonel, while engaged on his recruiting mission, was surprised and taken by the rebels at night; he escaped, however, and being in ill health went to the sea to recuperate; returning to New York he was assigned to a Lieutenancy in Company 22, New York Militia.

On the twenty-third of March, 1780, he married Miss Leah Moore, the daughter of an ocean skipper, William Moore.

The Colonel then made application to England for recognition of his services, and later went over there personally to arrange his affairs to the best advantage. For three years he remained in this endeavour, and finally had to prearrange matters and leave for the west and his new home in Upper Canada. The Colonel's wife, by appointment, met him at Quebec, in 1786, and after a brief stay there they went on to New John's Town, or Cornwall of to-day. He arrived there in 1787 with his family of four persons, himself and wife, with two children, William and Mary Stone, the latter becoming eventually the wife of Charles MacDonald, uncle to the present learned Judge MacDonald. A leatherbound handbook of William Stone's which bears his signature and date of purchase in Montreal, is now in the possession of the writer.

It was Lieutenant-Governor Gore who later gave the rank of Colonel to Joel Stone when he was posted to the command of the 2nd Regiment of Leeds.

Joel Stone landed at Gananoque in 1792 and erected a temporary abode on "The Point" which is now the coal and lumber yard.

A Frenchman named Carey answered a signal hung in front of Stone's camp, and they eventually became partners, but the partnership was of short duration. It seems to have terminated when the camp took fire and destroyed practically all of Stone's effects. After this Carey went outside

of Stone's boundary line to the west and settled with his young daughter, previously mentioned.

Stone, by remaining, became the first settler and founder of Gananoque. His letters of application for privileges are addressed from Cadanoryhqua and Ganenoquay, respectively, in 1792. The town is situated in the extreme southwest corner of the County of Leeds, and in the township of that name. It is 18 miles from Kingston East and 32 miles from Brockville West. Of such great beauty is this charming location that the natives upon the first arrival of the French were found to be calling the locality "Manatona," or "The Garden of the Great Spirit," and such it may well be called. No grander or more scenic aquatic playground exists than the Thousand Islands. They are not only beautiful; they are sublime in the fullest sense. Canadians generally, know very little of their magnificence. A more glorious heritage never fell to a worthy people than the Thousand Islands to Canadians.

Many forms and renderings of the name Gananoque have fallen under the observation of the writer, and for the sake of its interest he has retained them and they are presented here. Variation in spelling such a name might very well be traced to its ready adaption in various forms; again, it might be attributable to the loose, guttural and very difficult articulations of the aborigines from whom it passed through the French pronunciation into English. We are sure that the chief interests of the early comers were centred in the more lucrative peltry bales, or the more material log heaps and fallow fires, than in the spelling and definition of the name. A count shows 15 different renderings of the name of which Count Frontenac's comes first in an excerpt from his diary; he tells us that: "On the eleventh a good day's journey was made, having passed all that vast group of islands with which the river is spangled, and camped at a point above the river called: 1. On-non-da-qui, up which many of them go hunting.

2. Gan-non-o-qui. From the Huron, "Oughseanto," a deer.

3. Kah-non-no-kwen. "A meadow rising out of the water." Leavitt's History of Leeds and Grenville.

4. Ca-da-no-ghue. "Rocks in running water."

5. Ga-na-wa-ge. From Morgan's Map of the St. Lawrence.

6. Ga-na-na-quy. Ontario Archives, 1905, pp. 504 and 512.

7. Co-na-no-qui. Ontario Archives, 1905, p. 511.

8. Ca-da-noc-qui. From Colonel Stone's application to the legislature for bridge and ferry privileges, 1801. Granted this, he carried out his plans and charged toll as follows: Horse and one man, one shilling; one man, threepence; one boatload, one shilling and sixpence. The Colonel passed his privileges on to one Silas Person in 1802.

9. Ca-da-no-ry-hqua. From Colonel Stone's letters.

10. Ga-nen-no-quay. From an old account book of the Colonel's, 1819. 11. Gau-nuh-nau-queeng. "Rendezvous, or Place of Residence." From "History of the Ojebway Indians " (p. 164) by Rev. Peter Jones (Kakewaquonaby).

12. Ga-na-no-qui. Not Iroquois, but supposed to be Huron.

13. Ga-na-no-coui. Chewett's Plan of Upper Canada, 1793.

14. Gar-an-o-que. Proclamation of Counties in Public Archives. Sess.

Papers 29. C. Page 79, Constitutional History Canada. This form is admittedly a misprint.

15. Ga-na-no-que. The accepted form of to-day which first appears (to my knowledge) in an old account book in the early twenties.

Regarding Sir John Johnson, he was a son of Sir William Johnson who figured so prominently in colonial wars. Sir John commanded a regiment of some eight hundred men; the post of Isle aux Noix was held by him and it was from thence, at the north end of Lake Champlain, the discharged fighters under him came to Canada where they had secured grants by drawing lots. It was one of these men, in the person of Thomas Howland, who eventually became one of the first trustees of Gananoque's school, that Sir John put in charge of his interests at Gananoque. Mr. Howland cleared a piece of land and erected a home near Skinner's factory of to-day. Sir John, who never lived upon his Gananoque grant, chose to make his abode in the Province of Quebec, at Argenteuil, and later he became its seigneur. Sir John never developed his holding, nor its water power privileges, and all eventually passed to Joel Stone and Charles MacDonald.

To retrace our steps backward a little, we find that the first substantial habitation was a log house built to accommodate hired help as well as Colonel Stone. It stood, we are told, where Church and Tanner Streets meet at King Street, practically in the middle of the highway of to-day. Here Stone cleared land first. It was a part of his clearing that later became the site of the first schoolhouse, as it was afterward the site of at least two others, as well as a church.

In the growth of the community the first essential was some form of civil government for law and order, and the establishment of improved conditions for both old and young. The recording of such activities are a natural outcome of their adoption. In that early and primitive day, a chest, cupboard, or open shelf became the repository of many important documents. The most natural enemies to papers of importance, under such conditions, are dust, fire and dampness. It is not much to be wondered at that many of the more valuable of our early records are lost; and yet we have to be thankful that our records are as complete as they are, under such conditions.

To the painstaking and methodical care of two of our pioneers and the manner in which they kept their records, our gratitude is due; for while these papers were almost lost through later neglect, yet their neatly folded appearance and careful annotation reveal the sign of scrupulous care. them we owe our thanks for the carefully guarded information now at our disposal. They were Charles and John MacDonald.

Charles, who married the Colonel's daughter Mary, became one of Gananoque's first business men, in 1812. He opened a store which stood upon. the street about midway between the Spring and Axle Company's warehouse and their foundry; the building was a stout frame one, and was sold eventually to a Mr. Henderson, who utilized the timber for barn construction. John became a partner with Charles in 1817, he having just arrived from Troy, New York.

Charles seems to have been very active in the settlement from the first. He did an extensive business, and carried on a sawmill and gristmill, as well as conducting a general lumber trade in which he went so far as to

supply materials for the King's ships at Kingston. It was Charles who carried out the construction of some blockhouses for the Government of that day; he built one on what is known as Chimney Island, so called from the chimney of the blockhouse, which remains standing. Another one he built on Blockhouse Hill, within the town limits. The door of the latter structure faced the western approach of the King Street bridge. According to one source of information, the blockhouse was in command of Mr. Hiel Sliter in 1812. (See Sliter's Memoirs in Leavitt's Hist. of Leeds and Grenville). He says: "In 1812 I joined a rifle company and entered upon my first duties at Gananoque. While in charge of the blockhouse at that time I learned the multiplication table; as no slates were to be had, my companion and myself obtained some chalk and by using the top of the stove as a slate succeeded in mastering the first simple rules of arithmetic."

The last remaining timbers of the blockhouse at Gananoque were taken away in 1859 by Mr. William Edwards, who told me they were used in factory construction. Whether the building was erected before Forsyth's raid upon the settlement from Sackett's Harbour, or after, I have no knowledge, but probably after, for according to a recent article in the Alexander Bay Sun, Capt. Forsyth did great damage there. This is questionable when compared with our own version of the affair; besides, if Forsyth did effect. the damage stated, then the blockhouse was either not built or he could not take it, which seems hardly likely, for that raid is admitted to have been the first American success in the campaign of 1812; in fact, the first success of the war. The raid was made September 9th, 1812. Capt. Forsyth made his landing at Lindsay's Point, about two miles west of the settlement. Outposts had been mounted by the settlers, two in number, between the village and the Point; these were taken by Forsyth's party, who numbered some ninety-five; the mounted outposts, according to the American version, endeavoured to escape and give the alarm, one only succeeded and the other was shot. It is known that the capture of the Colonel was much desired, and a visit was made by the marauders to the Colonel's house. They, in the belief that it was empty, satisfied themselves with firing a shot into the building haphazard, the ball striking Mrs. Stone in the hip; they did not capture the Colonel, however.

Mr. Sliter informs us that in 1803 there were three dwellings only in the settlement, the Colonel's, that of a Capt. Bradish and one belonging to Seth Downs. Mr. Howland's must have been a shack, or he had not arrived at the building stage. However, the number had increased by 1818 to fortysix, and the population was then three hundred and nineteen. This is important, since it shows to what extent the need for consideration of the young, and their welfare along educational lines, had become apparent.

The nearest schoolhouse in Johnstown District to Gananoque was at Halleck's, some little distance west of Brockville. Halleck's school was active in 1811.

Squire Stone and others formed at first a body to consider the construction of a schoolhouse. This they concluded to do by forming among themselves a proprietary body in which each member should assume a certain portion of the burden, according to his means or inclination. The cost of such a building arrived at, they made a division of the total into eighty-five shares; these were disposed of at approximately twenty-two shillings per share. The contract says the cost was to be ninety-four pounds.