Benson Mills was a large grist mill which was owned and operated by John Robinson Benson, husband of Catherine Evans Lee. He purchased the mill from Adam Scott. J.R. Benson was one of ten children in a family that settled in Peterborough.
Founded in 1931, Beta Sigma Phi is an international women's organization that focuses on stimulating personal growth and development of its members through cultural and social programs and through service to others. Members volunteer for such activities as blood donor clinics, daffodil day, and meals on wheels. The organization supports various charities. Beta Sigma Phi was established in Peterborough in 1944.
The Better Bait Company was situated at 631 Lundy's Lane in Peterborough, Ontario. The company claimed to be the manufacturers of quality fishing tackle. The owner and operator was Perce Dyer, a Peterborough resident in the 1940s.
Janet P. Bews was a Professor in the Ancient History and Classics Department, Trent University, from 1966 to 1999. She received her BA from Queen's and her MA and Ph.D. from Royal Holloway College, London. Her scholarly interests included Tacitus and Vergil, Julian of Norwich, Hildegard of Bingen, Dante, C.S. Lewis, Gilgamesh, and Charles Williams. Bews was Senior Don (1966) and Senior Tutor (1982, 1986) at Traill College, and was Chair of the Classics Department (1974-1978). Bews retired from Trent University in 1999 and was awarded Professor Emeritus at that time. She died on August 27th, 2000.
Hazel Bird was a recognized naturalist known especially for her work in restoring the bluebird population of Northumberland County. Born in Northumberland County, Bird served in World War II where she met her husband, Tom Bird. The couple resided in Harwood, Ontario and had seven children; in the 1950s Tom Bird died due to a boating accident. In the 1960s, Hazel Bird initiated the Eastern Bluebird restoration project in Northumberland County and continued to coordinate and lead this project for almost 40 years; with the help of volunteers, “The Bluebird Lady,” as she was sometimes referred to, erected, monitored, and recorded information about the bird boxes until an accident in 2004 prevented her from doing so and resulted in the termination of the project. Bird was involved in many naturalist organizations in Ontario including the Ontario Outdoors Educator’s Council, The Willow Beach Field Naturalists and the Willow Beach Young Naturalists. She also taught classes, first as a volunteer, and then as a paid employee at the Laurie Lawson Outdoor Education Centre in Cobourg and was recognized for her work in 1996 receiving the Ontario Eastern Bluebird Society Conservation Award. In that same year it was announced by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife of Canada that the Eastern Bluebird, which had been designated as a “rare bird” since 1984, was no longer considered a species at risk. Bird died 1 February 2009. In 2012 the Nature Conservancy of Canada designated the Hazel Bird Nature Reserve in Ontario’s Rice Lake Plains in her honour.
Margaret Love was born September 15, 1819 in Dublin, Ireland to Michael Love and Margaret McGowan. In 1819 the family left for Newfoundland where Margaret's father had been posted. In 1824 her father died and the family returned to Ireland. Her mother died in 1845. At this point Margaret's sister Ann, who was married and living in Canada, sent money to Margaret to emigrate to Canada. During her first year in Canada Margaret worked out in service to other families. On July 10, 1846 she married Robert Bird. Like other pioneers they did much of the work themselves. She died while she was in her nineties.
The Birdsall collection of bookbinders' finishing tools was acquired by the Rare Books Department at the University of Toronto in 1968. The Birdsall collection was started when William Birdsall purchased the bookbinding business of John Lacy and Son in Northampton, England, in 1792. The new establishment consisted of a bindery, a book store, a circulating library, a post office and insurance and banking were transacted on the side. William brought his sons, James and Robert, into the business in 1823 and by 1826 James was the sole owner since his brother and father had both died. In the 1840's Anthony, a great-nephew of the founder William, bought the business and his son Richard entered the business in 1857. Anthony died in 1893 and Richard continued the business under the name of Birdsall & Son. The firm became a private company after 1915 when the descendants of Anthony and Richard took over the firm. Each successive generation expanded on the collection of tools and styles of bookbinding with developing interests in preservation, restoration and the history of books and bookbinding. The University of Toronto acquired the collection when the last member of the Birdsall firm died leaving behind the firm's vast collection of bookbinding tools and paperwork. (Taken from: Evans, Emrys and Rachel Grover. Birdsall Collection of Bookbinders' Finishing Tools. Toronto: Department of Rare Books & Special Collections, 1972.)
Richard Birdsall was born in 1799 at Thornton-le-dale, England, and educated at Londesborough, Yorkshire. His family intended a naval career for him upon graduation. Instead, when he graduated in 1817, he emigrated to Canada. Due to his education, he qualified for a position as a fully-accredited land surveyor in Canada West. In May of 1820, he was commissioned to survey the Newcastle District, where he remained for the rest of his life and became a very prominent man. The Newcastle District was comprised of the counties of Northumberland and Durham and included which would later become the counties of Peterborough, Victoria, and Haliburton. In 1821, he married Elizabeth Burnham, daughter of Zaccheus Burnham, who was a prominent early settler in the District. From his father-in-law, Birdsall bought 920 acres of land at the northeast end of Rice Lake (Lot 1, Concession 1, Asphodel Township) and made his home there. His wife died in a tragic fall in 1827 leaving Birdsall with four young daughters. He remarried in 1836 to Charlotte Jane Everett of Belleville and had four more children with his second wife; two of these were Richard Everett Birdsall (1837-1877) and Francis (Frank) Birdsall (1838-1914). Between the years of 1827 and 1836, Birdsall carried out most of his surveying work, including the survey for the town of Peterborough. In 1831, he was commissioned Captain of the fourth Regiment of Northumberland Militia and he led the Asphodel contingent when the militia was called out in the Rebellion of 1837. Later he was an officer in the Peterborough Regiment. Birdsall was also a Commissioner of the Court of Requests and a Justice of the Peace. When the Colborne District was created in 1841, he was the councillor for Asphodel and in 1850, when districts were replaced by counties, he represented Asphodel at the Peterborough County Council as its first Reeve. He continued in this position until his death on January 20, 1852. (taken from Peterborough: Land of Shining Waters. Peterborough: City and County of Peterborough, 1967.)
Richard Birdsall was born in 1799 at Thornton-le-dale, England, and educated at Londesborough, Yorkshire. His family intended a naval career for him upon graduation. Instead, when he graduated in 1817, he emigrated to Canada. Due to his education, he qualified for a position as a fully-accredited land surveyor in Canada West. In May of 1820, he was commissioned to survey the Newcastle District, where he remained for the rest of his life and became a very prominent man. The Newcastle District was comprised of the counties of Northumberland and Durham and included which would later become the counties of Peterborough, Victoria, and Haliburton. In 1821, he married Elizabeth Burnham, daughter of Zaccheus Burnham, who was a prominent early settler in the District. From his father-in-law, Birdsall bought 920 acres of land at the northeast end of Rice Lake (Lot 1, Concession 1, Asphodel Township) and made his home there. His wife died in a tragic fall in 1827 leaving Birdsall with four young daughters. He remarried in 1836 to Charlotte Jane Everett of Belleville and had four more children with his second wife; two of these were Richard Everett Birdsall (1837-1877) and Francis (Frank) Birdsall (1838-1914). Between the years of 1827 and 1836, Birdsall carried out most of his surveying work, including the survey for the town of Peterborough. In 1831, he was commissioned Captain of the fourth Regiment of Northumberland Militia and he led the Asphodel contingent when the militia was called out in the Rebellion of 1837. Later he was an officer in the Peterborough Regiment. Birdsall was also a Commissioner of the Court of Requests and a Justice of the Peace. When the Colborne District was created in 1841, he was the councillor for Asphodel and in 1850, when districts were replaced by counties, he represented Asphodel at the Peterborough County Council as its first Reeve. He continued in this position until his death on January 20, 1852.
In 1852, William Lyon Mackenzie introduced to the Legislative Assembly a resolution asking for a survey of the Huron-Ottawa Territory. His intent was to increase settlement within the uninhabited region of Canada West, to encourage immigration from Europe, and discourage emigration from the province. This resolution, along with similar recommendations, led to the Colonization Roads policy, and ultimately to the passing of the Public Land Act in 1853 by the Legislature. This Act allowed the government "to appropriate as free grants any public land in the province to actual settlers, upon or in the vicinity of any public roads in any new settlements which shall or may be opened through the Lands of the Crown." The survey of the Bobcaygeon Road came about as a result of this legislation. Before 1854, the Bobcaygeon Road did not extend beyond the village of Bobcaygeon. By 1857, the road had been constructed to Kinmount. A year later, surveyor Michael Deane was commissioned by the Department of Crown Lands to conduct a survey of lot frontages along the proposed Bobcaygeon Road from just north of Kinmount (Somerville Township) to Bell's Line. In 1860, surveyor Crosbie Brady was hired to survey the Bobcaygeon Road from where Deane had left off, north of Bell's Line, to Nippissing Road Line, on the south shore of Lake Nippissing. Throughout the years, the road and the lots along either side of the road have been re-surveyed for the purpose of establishing specific boundaries and correcting any mistakes in the initial surveys. All that remains of the original Bobcaygeon Road today is Highway 649 which extends from the village of Bobcaygeon to Highway 121, south of Kinmount. (Taken from: Spragge, George W. "Colonization Roads in Canada West." "Ontario History." Vol. XLIX, no. 1, 1957., and W. D. Thomas. "Bobcaygeon: The Hub of the Kawarthas." Bobcaygeon: W. D. Thomas, 1980.)
In 1852, William Lyon Mackenzie introduced to the Legislative Assembly a resolution asking for a survey of the Huron-Ottawa Territory. His intent was to increase settlement within the uninhabited region of Canada West, to encourage immigration from Europe, and discourage emigration from the province. This resolution, along with similar recommendations, led to the Colonization Roads policy, and ultimately to the passing of the Public Land Act in 1853 by the Legislature. This Act allowed the government "to appropriate as free grants any public land in the province to actual settlers, upon or in the vicinity of any public roads in any new settlements which shall or may be opened through the Lands of the Crown." The survey of the Bobcaygeon Road came about as a result of this legislation. Before 1854, the Bobcaygeon Road did not extend beyond the village of Bobcaygeon. By 1857, the road had been constructed to Kinmount. A year later, surveyor Michael Deane was commissioned by the Department of Crown Lands to conduct a survey of lot frontages along the proposed Bobcaygeon Road from just north of Kinmount (Somerville Township) to Bell's Line. In 1860, surveyor Crosbie Brady was hired to survey the Bobcaygeon Road from where Deane had left off, north of Bell's Line, to Nippissing Road Line, on the south shore of Lake Nippissing. Throughout the years, the road and the lots along either side of the road have been re-surveyed for the purpose of establishing specific boundaries and correcting any mistakes in the initial surveys. All that remains of the original Bobcaygeon Road today is Highway 649 which extends from the village of Bobcaygeon to Highway 121, south of Kinmount. (Taken from: Spragge, George W. "Colonization Roads in Canada West." Ontario History. Vol. XLIX, no. 1, 1957., and W. D. Thomas. Bobcaygeon: The Hub of the Kawartha's. Bobcaygeon: W. D. Thomas, 1980.)
Pat Bolger ( - 2007) was a teacher/librarian at Renfrew Collegiate.
Henri Bourassa, journalist and politician, was born at Montreal, Quebec, on September 1, 1868, the son of Napoleon Bourassa and Azalie Papineau, and the grandson of Louis Joseph Papineau. He was educated by tutors, and became a journalist. He was a contributor to Le Nationaliste, a journal published in Montreal; and in 1896 he was elected to represent Labelle as an independent Liberal in the House of Commons. He became a pronounced "Nationalist" and in 1910 he founded Le Devoir, a Nationalist newspaper in Montreal, of which he became the editor-in-chief, and he continued as editor until he broke with many of the Nationalists, and resigned from the paper in 1932. Bourassa has been described as a man of erratic impulses. This is exemplified in his resignation from the House of Commons in 1907 so he could sit in the Quebec Legislative Assembly. He remained in the Assembly from 1908 to 1912. He sat once again in the House of Commons from 1925 to 1935, when he was defeated in his old constituency, Labelle. Bourassa was an outstanding political figure, and a first-rate orator. He also published many pamphlets on political questions, in both French and English. Henri Bourassa died at Outremont, Quebec, on August 30, 1952.
John Merton Bowes was born in California in 1927. He first became a licensed real estate agent in 1950 at the age of 23. He began working in Toronto where he was the manager of Ridout Real Estate. He later moved to Peterborough, Ontario and founded his own firm, now known as Re/Max Eastern, in 1980. He went on to collaborate with Bill Cocks and together they established Bowes and Cocks Ltd., of which he was the president for 15 years. Bowes dedicated his career to ensuring that the development of Peterborough’s real estate was a reflection of the City’s needs as it doubled in population from 40,000 to 80,000 citizens in a few decades. One of his most notable moments includes his initial proposal of a toll road linking the QEW, southwest of Toronto, with Highway 115/7 in the 1990s. John Merton Bowes was the author of two books: Dreams For Sale – Make Me an Offer and Greater Peterborough – Building A Metropolis in Kawartha Cottage Country. He died in Peterborough in 2021.
Kathleen (Kay) Richmond Barclay Bowley was born in 1922 in Ottawa, Ontario, and was one of four children born to parents Robert George Douglas Barclay (1895-1969) and Sarah Richmond Stovel (1900-1977). Raised in western Canada, she later lived in Toronto where she married Robert Eric Bowley in 1954; together they had two children and moved to Peterborough in 1963.
Kathleen Bowley was as a member of the Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service (WRCNS or “WRENS”) and served in England and Belgium during World War II, from 1942 to 1945. She earned a B.A. in English and History at Queen’s University, graduating in 1949. Throughout her life, Bowley was an advocate for the higher education of women.
Bowley was an active volunteer in the Peterborough community serving in many capacities with several organizations and clubs: Kawartha Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society, Peterborough Historical Society, Lang Pioneer Village, St. John Anglican Church, Peterborough Symphony Orchestra choir, and the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW) Peterborough Club. Bowley was also an avid genealogist. She died in Peterborough in 2010.
Robert E. Bowley was born in Hagersville, Ontario and moved to Peterborough in 1963. He married Kathleen Richmond Barclay and was a chemistry teacher, author, and historian. Bowley had an avid interest in stamp collecting and postal history, and was a volunteer postmaster in 1980 at Lang Pioneer Village, Keene. He was also president of the Peterborough Historical Society, and established Rebel Publishing in 1995 in order to publish his version of Mutiny on the Bounty.
The Boyd family, in Canada, originated with Mossom Boyd who was born in India in 1814 and died at Bobcaygeon, Ontario July 23, 1883. He was a member of the Anglo-Irish gentry and emigrated to the Sturgeon Lake region of Upper Canada in 1834. In 1844 Mossom married Caroline Dunsford. He became assistant to Thomas Need, owner of the Bobcaygeon sawmill and he eventually took over the mill when Thomas Need returned to England in 1843. Mossom was able to develop the mill into a large lumbering enterprise with land holdings and timber rights in Albany, New York; Bobcaygeon, Peterborough, Prince Albert in Saskatchewan, 20 000 acres around Cowichan Lake in British Columbia and 260 square miles in Quebec. By the 1870's he had the largest enterprise in the region. After his death the business was run by his son, Mossom Rater Boyd, who extended the business into Quebec and Vancouver as well as moving into steamboating, stock raising and railway development. (Taken from: "The Canadian Encyclopedia." Vol. I A-For. Edmonton: Hurtig Publishers, 1985.) The Boyd enterprises not only included lumbering but also breeding polled Hereford cattle and cross-breeding cattle and buffalo. The Boyds were involved with the Lindsay, Bobcaygeon and Pontypool Railroad and the Trent Valley Navigation Steamship Company. This diversification helped the Boyd's through the lumber depression of the 1890's. Mossom Martin and his half-brother William Thornton Cust Boyd were active partners along with their cousin John MacDonald of Albany, New York in the firm of Boyd & Company. When Mossie died in 1914, the next generation became involved in the administration of the various estates and gradually disbanded the huge operation. The third generation of Boyds tended to have their own interests and professions although all were involved intermittently with the lumbering and stock farm concerns. Please see the end of the finding aid for the Boyd family genealogy.
Mossom Boyd was born in India and son of Gardiner Boyd who was Superior Officer to Colonel Blackall, came to the Bobcaygeon region in Verulam Township in 1833. Over the years, he built up a successful lumber mill, and became one of the most prominent men in the community. When he died in 1883, he was survived by two sons, Mossom M. and W.T.C. Boyd who carried on the family business.
Annie Sheila Boyd was the daughter of Mossom Martin Boyd and Ida Lillian de Grassi, and the granddaughter of Mossom Boyd. She never married.
Winnett Boyd was born on October 17, 1916 in North Wales where his father, Winnett Wornibe Boyd (of Bobcaygeon, Ontario), was serving in the First World War. His mother, Marjorie Sterne St. George, was American. In 1917, Marjorie and the children moved to Canada. Growing up, Boyd lived in Bobcaygeon, Port Hope, Bermuda and Toronto. In 1935, he began studying Mechanical Engineering at the University of Toronto's School of Practical Science. He graduated with a B.Sc. in 1939 and was offered a staff scholarship by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston. He completed one year of graduate studies at MIT as well as a Teaching Assistantship.
Between 1940 and 1943, Boyd worked in the field of engineering for the Demerara Bauxite Company in British Guiana and the Aluminum Company of Canada Limited in Montreal and Shawinigan Falls. In the fall of 1934, Boyd joined the Royal Canadian Navy, and was soon seconded to the National Research Council. In 1943 and 1944, Boyd studied jet engine design in the United Kingdom on behalf of the National Research Council. In 1944, he began working for Turbo Research Limited and was in charge of the Engine Design Section. Turbo Research Limited had been requested by the federal government to begin building a jet engine for Canada. Boyd and his team began designing the TR.3 in 1945. Soon, this project was abandoned in favour of a smaller design, the TR.4, which was later named the Chinook. In 1946, Turbo Research Limited was sold to A.V. Roe Canada. Boyd was transferred to A.V. Roe, where he continued work on the TR.4 as Chief Designer of the Gas Turbine Division and Assistant Chief Engineer. In March of 1948, the Chinook Engine was officially started for the first time. Concurrently, Boyd designed the TR.5, which was later named the Orenda Engine. He began the design of this larger engine in September of 1946, and it ran for the first time in February of 1949. Boyd resigned from A.V. Roe in 1950.
In 1951, Boyd founded Winnett Boyd Limited as a commission agency of consulting engineers. At about the same time, he started working as a Consulting Engineer for the C.D. Howe Company. At C.D. Howe, Boyd was the Chief Mechanical Engineer, and was responsible for the design of the National Research Universal (NRU) Nuclear Reactor. The NRU is currently operating at the Atomic Energy of Canada Limited plant in Chalk River, Ontario. The NRU is still considered one of the world's finest research reactors and produces a large supply of isotopes used for medical reasons.
In 1956, Boyd began designing the Daniels-Boyd Nuclear Steam Generator (D-BNSG) based on Farrington Daniels' work. After two years of promoting the D-BNSG, the project was dismissed. This led to Boyd's involvement in the nuclear controversy with his paper, "The Promise and the Prospects" in 1959.
In 1959, Boyd became the first President of Arthur D. Little's Canadian affiliate in Toronto. He worked for Arthur D. Little until his retirement in 1981, while maintaining his work at Winnett Boyd Limited. Boyd ran for the Progressive-Conservative Party in the 1972 General Election in the York-Scarborough Riding. He used this campaign to publicly discuss the ideology of his friend, Louis O. Kelso.
Boyd attended the Pugwash Conference in 1965 and 1967. The purpose of the Pugwash conferences is to discuss peaceful alternatives for science and international affairs. Boyd was a founding member of the Canadian Association for the Club of Rome, which is also concerned with world affairs.
In 1974, Boyd co-founded BMG Publishing with Kenneth McDonald and Orville Gaines. BMG published eight books pertaining to Canadian politics between 1975 and 1979.
Boyd began developing a bicycle brake in the 1970s. In the early 1990s he built bicycles called the BMG Suburban, equipped with the back-pedalling brake he invented. Boyd sells these bicycles independently.
In 1948, Boyd was the youngest-ever recipient of the University of Toronto's Engineering Alumni Medal for his accomplishments in the field of jet engine design.
In 1954, he was admitted to the grade of Associate Fellow of the Canadian Aeronautical Institute. He also received a certificate of recognition from the Corporation of Professional Engineers of Quebec in 1959.
In 1981, Boyd was inducted into the University of Toronto's Engineering Alumni Hall of Distinction.
Boyd's writings were published widely in a variety of periodicals. He also had three books published: "Personal Thoughts: A Series on the Canadian Prospect" (1966), "The National Dilemma and the Way Out" with Kenneth McDonald (1975), and "Rebel Engineer" (1998).
Winnett Boyd died in 2017 in Lindsay, Ontario.
William (Willie) Thornton Cust Boyd was the son of Mossom Boyd (1815-1883) and Letitia McGhee Cust (1819-1881) of Bobcaygeon, Ontario.
Along with his step-brother Mossom Martin Boyd (1855-1914), William T.C. Boyd operated the large family-owned enterprises founded by their father, of which the major were lumbering, Hereford cattle breeding, and cattle/buffalo cross-breeding. The Boyds were involved with the planning of the Lindsay, Bobcaygeon and Pontypool Railway, and with the Trent Valley Navigation Steamship Company, of which William T.C. Boyd was President from 1900 to 1904. Boyd was also an active partner in the firm of Boyd and Company along with his step-brother Mossom and cousin John Macdonald. From 1897 to 1899 he served as counsellor for the village of Bobcaygeon, and from 1900 to 1901 as reeve. He married Meta Bridgman in 1889, and had 8 children.
Captain John C. Boylen was paymaster and assistant adjutant of the 127th Battalion, Queen's York Rangers during the World War I. He compiled a war diary from the weekly reports of Headquarters Officers and O.C. Companies. Boylen also wrote news articles on the York Rangers. He was, at one time, secretary for the Ontario Historical Society and Mayor. He was the author of several books including Castle Frank, 1956, and York Township: a historical summary, 1954.
