Thomas McDowell - First Mayor of Palmerston
*The following is a written response to a research request in 2013
He was born in Ireland in 1828 and came to Canada with his family sometime around 1842. They settled in what is now Tecumseh, Simcoe County (near Barrie). When he was 26 along with his wife Sarah (Thompson) they purchased land on lot 18 of the 11th Concession in Wallace (to visualize this it's essentially Main St., south and Queen St. west.). They would have bought the land in Stratford (each lot was parcelled out in 100 acres). There is some discrepancy in the records on when exactly they settled on the land itself. According to a history written in 1879 he settled on the land in July 1854, however the land was not officially put up for sale by the Canada Company until September 1854. So that means one of two things. Either it should be July of 1855 or he squatted on the land and made the trip to Stratford in September to make the purchase. This was actually quite common and would make sense, he would have had a head start on clearing the land, planting a crop and getting a cabin built before winter. I would consider this the most likely case because McDowell was quite an intelligent character. It wasn't until the fall of 1854 that more settlers started arriving in the vicinity. By 1855 most of the land was snatched up.
McDowell was a part of a group that have been referred to as the "Simcoe Settlers", which was a group of people who had originally settled in Simcoe County and moved to Wallace Township when the land opened up. The reason for this; is that Simcoe County was well established by this point and available land was scarce. Most of them settled to the southwest of Palmerston. One other member of this group was William Thompson (the father of Sarah Thompson). Thompson purchased the adjoining lot (Main St. south, and Queen St. east). William Sr. passed away soon after and the land went to his son William Jr..
Not a lot happened for a number of years afterwards. You have to keep in mind this was a very remote place, while you had neighbours you were essentially on your own. With the purchase of the 100 acres (roughly $1.50 per acre) of Crown land (you could purchase up to 200 acres but most couldn't afford it) you had to meet certain requirements. Such as building a dwelling and staying on the land for 6-8 months of the year and you had to clear a minimum 2 acres of bush each year for 5 years.
So put to put all of this all in perspective, think of the challenges these young families faced; first off most of them came to Canada from Ireland during the Potato Famine, so they left their homes, families, friends and everything they knew because everything was lost in Ireland. People were starving, poverty was rampant because the crop failures meant no food or income. Families (or what was left of them) took every penny they had and tried to find a new life. They packed up their meagre belongings and got on a ship that took weeks to cross the Atlantic. The boats were crowded, conditions were unsanitary so disease was everywhere; it was quite common for people to die on the boats and never make the entire trip. Once you landed it didn't get much better. After going through the processes of coming to a new country (hopefully you passed the medical exam, many didn't and weren't allowed in) you then had to find somewhere to live. Many people essentially wandered until they could find a roof over their heads in a city like Montreal. You then needed to figure out where to go, if by chance you were lucky enough to find a land agent that could sell you one of the newly opened lots in Ontario you were considered lucky. If you had enough money to make the purchase you would then set off for your new home. Keep in mind about when you arrived; you may not be able to get to your land for months after you made the purchase because of the weather or time of year. Once you set out there were half decent roads until about Toronto/Hamilton. A trip from Montreal to Toronto would probably take about a week or more, if you had enough money you could go by ferry, but most people walked or took a wagon. Once you get to Toronto you needed to get everything you needed to basically live for about a year or more. With all of that and the family in tow you headed off to your new home. To get there, you were lucky if there was a muddy bush path, in some cases there were "roads" but these were simply large paths that had been cleared by surveyors, the soil wasn't able to handle the weather without the shelter of the trees so normally it was a soupy mess of mud, tree stumps and huge ruts.
In the case of the Simcoe Settlers they were travelling south, but likely went via Toronto then to Stratford for the land purchase. Those that purchased on the Minto side headed to Elora. From 1855 to 1870 most settlers scraped together a living on subsistence farming. The closest markets were Guelph or Stratford which you would travel to maybe twice a year. Once in the spring and once in the fall. Any of your supplies or "luxuries" you needed for the year would have to be purchased or bartered for (e.g. sugar, flour, tools etc) This was also your opportunity to sell any of your excess labours, so crops, livestock etc. Later on this distance traveling was one of the large selling points for people to encourage railways to come through their area.
Thomas McDowell called the first years after settling the "best sport he ever had in his life". He spoke of hunting partridge and fishing for trout that were very plentiful throughout the year.
It wasn't until 1867 that a post office opened up in Dryden, which was located near the bend in the road headed to Listowel. The next closest was Trecastle which was a few miles east toward Moorefield. So that means many of these settlers went for nearly 12 years without any real contact with the "outside world".
Around 1865 was when things started getting interesting. Between 1865 and 1867 there were some terrible crop failures in the area combined with an economic depression happening in North America; these two factors led to massive food shortages, people defaulting on their loans to pay for their land and starvation. At the time John McDermott was Reeve of Wallace Township (he owned land and a sawmill in Dryden) to say the least he had a beef against the County government based in Stratford and the financial aid that was being directed to the townships in southern Perth County. Due to the crop failures there was a program put in place to distribute wheat and flour to the worst affected farmers. For some reason Wallace Township did not receive its fair share. This is the catalyst that I feel is what made Palmerston what it is today and what led to the eventual success of Thomas McDowell and William Thompson.
John McDermott was a savvy businessmen and he knew a few things would happen if a railway was to pass close to him. First, the railways needed to buy land to lay track and built depots; Second, they would need materials to build the lines and depots. In a mutually beneficial opportunity McDermott went to the Great Western Railway which was trying to get access to Owen Sound and its shipping port. The Grand Trunk Railway was doing the same but trying to get to Goderich. The Grand Trunk was based operating in Stratford while the Great Western was operating in Guelph. As a way of thumbing his nose so to speak at Stratford and the southern Townships that would benefit from the Grand Trunk lines McDermott struck a deal with the Great Western Railway which supported the start up company the Wellington, Grey and Bruce Railway (WG&B) (as a side note hundreds of small railway companies started up at this time looking to make it rich, most were absorbed later on by the two larger companies). What would happen is the small companies would approach the local governments and attempt to sell stock in the companies or for bonuses to help build the railway. Listowel was the largest centre in the area at the time and they denied providing a bonus to the WG&B because they assumed it only natural the railway would go through there. The Township of Minto however was very willing to support the upstart railway. McDermott took the opportunity and began selling portions of land to the railway to help steer them towards Dryden. According to the Wallace Township records, three separate properties owned by McDermott had portions sold to the WG&B. Thomas McDowell sold a portion of his land to the WG&B as well. Surprisingly, the land was very close to a well maintained road way that had a well establish saw mill about one mile away. Meaning that location would be the perfect spot for a depot and station as it could be a material hub. Shockingly, this saw mill just happened to be owned by John McDermott!
When it was decided that the McDowell property would become a station point on the railway it was realized that this is where money could be had. The railways were considered an economic gold mine with all of the reciprocal services, like hotels, stores, taverns etc. plus the employment the railways brought with them. So McDowell, William Thompson and William Murdoch (owner of the land on the adjacent Minto side) started dividing up their land into town lots. This all started happening around 1870. McDowell and Thompson were very smart about how they sold their lots. A part of the agreement with a potential buyer was that they had to begin building immediately. So no land was left vacant; also they wouldn't sell multiple lots to individuals, once again keeping in mind that they may not build or they would wait until the land became more valuable. By selling single lots that were being built on immediately vastly increased the value of the other lots being sold. So McDowell and Thompson made huge sums of money selling their 100 acres that was purchased for $150 each 15 years earlier.
What I find curious is how McDowell would shift his attention to various ventures as they were needed. In the early 1870's he began investing in a sawmill within the quickly growing village. In 1871 he is listed in the Canadian Census as being a Stonemason. So he was now focusing his energies on being the person that would build the buildings he was demanding from the owners of the land which he had just sold to them!
In 1874 he led the committee of citizens to Stratford to apply for village status, when this failed he led the group to Toronto to apply for town status from the Provincial Government; which was successful. McDowell was also the person (along with John McDermott and William Thompson) that formed a group of people from Wallace, Minto, Maryborough and Howick Townships in a push to become an independent County from Huron, Perth and Wellington. His intention was to make Palmerston into a county seat, which would make it even more economically prosperous. From 1875-1880 McDowell was the Mayor of Palmerston, which was a full time job in itself.
Once the political wrangling of Wellington versus Perth versus Blake (this would have been the new county name) had settled down McDowell stepped down from being Mayor and according to the 1881 census and became an insurance agent. Which was genius in my opinion, this would have been a hugely successful business to operate in a community that was growing by leaps and bounds. Building and home insurance would be needed by the new citizens (the population went from 1,400 in 1874 to 2,500 by 1880 and was expected to double again in the next 5 years. Also, working on the railways was very dangerous and many of the employees would have life insurance on themselves, as well the railway depots would have insurance on their employees. So McDowell would have been doing quite well in the insurance business.
Eventually McDowell would retire and went to live with his daughter in Hamilton, passing away in 1909 at 81 years of age. To sum it up Thomas McDowell was a very intelligent and resourceful person, he would have had to work very hard to get to the point in life he achieved. The years of faming in such a remote place would have been quite the challenge, however he was opportunistic and is a great example of achieving success from the railway boom.
He was born in Ireland in 1828 and came to Canada with his family sometime around 1842. They settled in what is now Tecumseh, Simcoe County (near Barrie). When he was 26 along with his wife Sarah (Thompson) they purchased land on lot 18 of the 11th Concession in Wallace (to visualize this it's essentially Main St., south and Queen St. west.). They would have bought the land in Stratford (each lot was parcelled out in 100 acres). There is some discrepancy in the records on when exactly they settled on the land itself. According to a history written in 1879 he settled on the land in July 1854, however the land was not officially put up for sale by the Canada Company until September 1854. So that means one of two things. Either it should be July of 1855 or he squatted on the land and made the trip to Stratford in September to make the purchase. This was actually quite common and would make sense, he would have had a head start on clearing the land, planting a crop and getting a cabin built before winter. I would consider this the most likely case because McDowell was quite an intelligent character. It wasn't until the fall of 1854 that more settlers started arriving in the vicinity. By 1855 most of the land was snatched up.
McDowell was a part of a group that have been referred to as the "Simcoe Settlers", which was a group of people who had originally settled in Simcoe County and moved to Wallace Township when the land opened up. The reason for this; is that Simcoe County was well established by this point and available land was scarce. Most of them settled to the southwest of Palmerston. One other member of this group was William Thompson (the father of Sarah Thompson). Thompson purchased the adjoining lot (Main St. south, and Queen St. east). William Sr. passed away soon after and the land went to his son William Jr..
Not a lot happened for a number of years afterwards. You have to keep in mind this was a very remote place, while you had neighbours you were essentially on your own. With the purchase of the 100 acres (roughly $1.50 per acre) of Crown land (you could purchase up to 200 acres but most couldn't afford it) you had to meet certain requirements. Such as building a dwelling and staying on the land for 6-8 months of the year and you had to clear a minimum 2 acres of bush each year for 5 years.
So put to put all of this all in perspective, think of the challenges these young families faced; first off most of them came to Canada from Ireland during the Potato Famine, so they left their homes, families, friends and everything they knew because everything was lost in Ireland. People were starving, poverty was rampant because the crop failures meant no food or income. Families (or what was left of them) took every penny they had and tried to find a new life. They packed up their meagre belongings and got on a ship that took weeks to cross the Atlantic. The boats were crowded, conditions were unsanitary so disease was everywhere; it was quite common for people to die on the boats and never make the entire trip. Once you landed it didn't get much better. After going through the processes of coming to a new country (hopefully you passed the medical exam, many didn't and weren't allowed in) you then had to find somewhere to live. Many people essentially wandered until they could find a roof over their heads in a city like Montreal. You then needed to figure out where to go, if by chance you were lucky enough to find a land agent that could sell you one of the newly opened lots in Ontario you were considered lucky. If you had enough money to make the purchase you would then set off for your new home. Keep in mind about when you arrived; you may not be able to get to your land for months after you made the purchase because of the weather or time of year. Once you set out there were half decent roads until about Toronto/Hamilton. A trip from Montreal to Toronto would probably take about a week or more, if you had enough money you could go by ferry, but most people walked or took a wagon. Once you get to Toronto you needed to get everything you needed to basically live for about a year or more. With all of that and the family in tow you headed off to your new home. To get there, you were lucky if there was a muddy bush path, in some cases there were "roads" but these were simply large paths that had been cleared by surveyors, the soil wasn't able to handle the weather without the shelter of the trees so normally it was a soupy mess of mud, tree stumps and huge ruts.
In the case of the Simcoe Settlers they were travelling south, but likely went via Toronto then to Stratford for the land purchase. Those that purchased on the Minto side headed to Elora. From 1855 to 1870 most settlers scraped together a living on subsistence farming. The closest markets were Guelph or Stratford which you would travel to maybe twice a year. Once in the spring and once in the fall. Any of your supplies or "luxuries" you needed for the year would have to be purchased or bartered for (e.g. sugar, flour, tools etc) This was also your opportunity to sell any of your excess labours, so crops, livestock etc. Later on this distance traveling was one of the large selling points for people to encourage railways to come through their area.
Thomas McDowell called the first years after settling the "best sport he ever had in his life". He spoke of hunting partridge and fishing for trout that were very plentiful throughout the year.
It wasn't until 1867 that a post office opened up in Dryden, which was located near the bend in the road headed to Listowel. The next closest was Trecastle which was a few miles east toward Moorefield. So that means many of these settlers went for nearly 12 years without any real contact with the "outside world".
Around 1865 was when things started getting interesting. Between 1865 and 1867 there were some terrible crop failures in the area combined with an economic depression happening in North America; these two factors led to massive food shortages, people defaulting on their loans to pay for their land and starvation. At the time John McDermott was Reeve of Wallace Township (he owned land and a sawmill in Dryden) to say the least he had a beef against the County government based in Stratford and the financial aid that was being directed to the townships in southern Perth County. Due to the crop failures there was a program put in place to distribute wheat and flour to the worst affected farmers. For some reason Wallace Township did not receive its fair share. This is the catalyst that I feel is what made Palmerston what it is today and what led to the eventual success of Thomas McDowell and William Thompson.
John McDermott was a savvy businessmen and he knew a few things would happen if a railway was to pass close to him. First, the railways needed to buy land to lay track and built depots; Second, they would need materials to build the lines and depots. In a mutually beneficial opportunity McDermott went to the Great Western Railway which was trying to get access to Owen Sound and its shipping port. The Grand Trunk Railway was doing the same but trying to get to Goderich. The Grand Trunk was based operating in Stratford while the Great Western was operating in Guelph. As a way of thumbing his nose so to speak at Stratford and the southern Townships that would benefit from the Grand Trunk lines McDermott struck a deal with the Great Western Railway which supported the start up company the Wellington, Grey and Bruce Railway (WG&B) (as a side note hundreds of small railway companies started up at this time looking to make it rich, most were absorbed later on by the two larger companies). What would happen is the small companies would approach the local governments and attempt to sell stock in the companies or for bonuses to help build the railway. Listowel was the largest centre in the area at the time and they denied providing a bonus to the WG&B because they assumed it only natural the railway would go through there. The Township of Minto however was very willing to support the upstart railway. McDermott took the opportunity and began selling portions of land to the railway to help steer them towards Dryden. According to the Wallace Township records, three separate properties owned by McDermott had portions sold to the WG&B. Thomas McDowell sold a portion of his land to the WG&B as well. Surprisingly, the land was very close to a well maintained road way that had a well establish saw mill about one mile away. Meaning that location would be the perfect spot for a depot and station as it could be a material hub. Shockingly, this saw mill just happened to be owned by John McDermott!
When it was decided that the McDowell property would become a station point on the railway it was realized that this is where money could be had. The railways were considered an economic gold mine with all of the reciprocal services, like hotels, stores, taverns etc. plus the employment the railways brought with them. So McDowell, William Thompson and William Murdoch (owner of the land on the adjacent Minto side) started dividing up their land into town lots. This all started happening around 1870. McDowell and Thompson were very smart about how they sold their lots. A part of the agreement with a potential buyer was that they had to begin building immediately. So no land was left vacant; also they wouldn't sell multiple lots to individuals, once again keeping in mind that they may not build or they would wait until the land became more valuable. By selling single lots that were being built on immediately vastly increased the value of the other lots being sold. So McDowell and Thompson made huge sums of money selling their 100 acres that was purchased for $150 each 15 years earlier.
What I find curious is how McDowell would shift his attention to various ventures as they were needed. In the early 1870's he began investing in a sawmill within the quickly growing village. In 1871 he is listed in the Canadian Census as being a Stonemason. So he was now focusing his energies on being the person that would build the buildings he was demanding from the owners of the land which he had just sold to them!
In 1874 he led the committee of citizens to Stratford to apply for village status, when this failed he led the group to Toronto to apply for town status from the Provincial Government; which was successful. McDowell was also the person (along with John McDermott and William Thompson) that formed a group of people from Wallace, Minto, Maryborough and Howick Townships in a push to become an independent County from Huron, Perth and Wellington. His intention was to make Palmerston into a county seat, which would make it even more economically prosperous. From 1875-1880 McDowell was the Mayor of Palmerston, which was a full time job in itself.
Once the political wrangling of Wellington versus Perth versus Blake (this would have been the new county name) had settled down McDowell stepped down from being Mayor and according to the 1881 census and became an insurance agent. Which was genius in my opinion, this would have been a hugely successful business to operate in a community that was growing by leaps and bounds. Building and home insurance would be needed by the new citizens (the population went from 1,400 in 1874 to 2,500 by 1880 and was expected to double again in the next 5 years. Also, working on the railways was very dangerous and many of the employees would have life insurance on themselves, as well the railway depots would have insurance on their employees. So McDowell would have been doing quite well in the insurance business.
Eventually McDowell would retire and went to live with his daughter in Hamilton, passing away in 1909 at 81 years of age. To sum it up Thomas McDowell was a very intelligent and resourceful person, he would have had to work very hard to get to the point in life he achieved. The years of faming in such a remote place would have been quite the challenge, however he was opportunistic and is a great example of achieving success from the railway boom.