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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.

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.)

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.)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Belmont Municipal Telephone System began operation in 1922 in Havelock, Belmont Township, Ontario. This new system preceeded the Bell Telephone Company and the Havelock-Cordova Telephone Company in Belmont Township. It served subscribers for 33 years. In 1953, the Bell Telephone Company entered into negotiations with the Belmont Municipal System to re-acquire the system.

Sydney Bellingham was born in 1808 in Castlebellingham Ireland and briefly lived in Douro Township, Upper Canada. In the summer of 1824, Bellingham arrived at the homestead of Thomas and Frances Stewart. Thomas was his uncle; the brother of Sydney's mother Elizabeth Jane (or Jane Elizabeth) Stewart Bellingham. Sydney remained in Douro as a farm hand until 1827. He then obtained employment in Montreal, moved there and spent the majority of his life there until 1878. He was a merchant and politician in Quebec. He died in 1900 back in Castlebellingham which he had inherited.

Ruth Catherine Allen was born in 1918 in Cramahe Township, the daughter of Durwood and Beatrice Allen (nee Hennessey). The Durwood Allen family lived on a farm in the Castleton, Ontario area. Ruth attended Peterborough Normal School in 1938 attaining her Teachers Certificate. During the course of her teaching career she taught in Morganston, Frankford, Napanee and South Cramahe Public Schools.

Ruth and Kenneth married 30 June 1947 in Brighton, Ontario. They had two daughters, Mary Margaret and Kathryn Ann, and lived in the community of Salem. Ruth died in a car accident on June 29, 1979. After her death, Ken married Joyce Blakley. Joyce died in 1985 and Ken in 2007.

(Taken from information supplied by the donor).

Kenneth Charles Bellamy was born in 1919 in Cramahe Township, Northumberland County, the youngest son of Charles and Olive Bellamy (nee Bland). The Charles Bellamy family lived in the Smithfield/Brighton, Ontario area. Charles owned a farm in Salem, Ontario in his later years and in his younger years, worked for the Grand Trunk Railway as a brakeman. In 1938, Ken joined the Canadian Armed Forces and served overseas in World War II with the Midland Regiment, Hastings Prince Edward Regiment and the Essex Scottish regiment. Upon returning home, he married Ruth Catherine Allen. Over his career, he worked on the family farm, for the Department of Highways, and with Marbon Chemical Corporation in Cobourg, Ontario.

Ruth and Kenneth married 30 June 1947 in Brighton, Ontario. They had two daughters, Mary Margaret and Kathryn Ann, and lived in the community of Salem. After Ruth’s death in 1979, Ken married Joyce Blakley. Joyce died in 1985 and Ken in 2007. (Taken from information supplied by the donor).

Robert Bell was a Provincial Land Surveyor working in Canada West during the late 1840's. He was responsible for the survey of Bell's Line, a road which was never constructed, which was to have run westward through the northern portions of Peterborough and Hastings Counties, from the Madawaska River to Bracebridge. The Peterson Road, which was surveyed and constructed a few years later, eight miles south of and parallel to the Bell's Line survey, was considered to be a more suitable route for east-west travel in the region. It is thought that Bell was born in Ireland in 1821 and that he later emigrated with his parents to New York. In 1843, Bell obtained land in Kemptville, Canada West, and worked in and around Bytown (Ottawa) for three years. In 1847, he was instructed to begin the Bell's Line survey. Upon the completion of the survey in September 1848, Bell retired from surveying; and the following year, he purchased an Ottawa newspaper which was to become the Ottawa Citizen. He died in 1873 at the age of 52.

John E. Belcher was an architect, civil engineer, and a surveyor who lived in the Peterborough region at the turn of the century. He was involved in the construction of the Chemong Floating Bridge, the Peterborough Public Library, the Bradburn Opera House, the Wallis memorial in St. John's Church, the Canadian General Electric Company and the Anglican Christ Church in Bobcaygeon, Ontario.

John Bee owned Lot 16, Concession 1 in Cavan Township in the 1850's. His family owned and operated a grist and saw mill on the Ganaraska River near Port Hope from the 1850's onwards. John was also a cobbler from 1847 onwards. Hiram Bee had a store and at some point the Bees married into the Austin family.

Alvin Bee was a farmer on Concession 1, Lots 26, 27, 28 in Hope Township, Douro County, in the early 1900s.

Frank C. Beazer was born in Chippenham, England. He left Chippenham in 1912 and worked in Ifracombe, Eastbourne, London and Bath in England. He was a ship's steward on two trips to East Africa before he became a missionary to the Church of England Camp Mission. The first place he went to as a missionary was the diocese of Caribou in British Columbia. He enlisted in Chapleau, Ontario, in the 227 B Company, on July 26, 1916 and travelled to France with the 54th Battalion where he became assistant to the regimental chaplain. In 1919 he attended Wycliffe College at the University of Toronto and received his ordination on St. Georges Day in 1922 in the Cathedral in Cochrane, Ontario. He resided at Kapuskasing for twelve years. In Kapuskasing he helped to build his church and house. He was also an assistant scoutmaster for the Boy Scouts of Canada in Kapuskasing. In 1927 he married Gertrude Hudson of Toronto. He was the pastor for Oxford Mills, Carrying Place and St. Paul's Anglican Church in Roslin, Ontario; Christ Anglican Church in Thomasburg, Ontario and St. Luke's Anglican Church in Peterborough, Ontario. In 1958 Reverend Beazer and his wife visited his two brothers in Chippenham, England. While they were there they were invited to have cocktails with the High Commissioner of Canada George Drew and his wife. Frank was a member of the Masonic Lodge.

Beavermead Park is located on the east shore of Little Lake, Peterborough, Ontario, on land that was once owned by Canada's first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald.

Joyce Beaton ([1932?]- ) was co-founder of Early Canadian Life, a Canadian heritage and history magazine, along with business partner, Janice Johnston. The magazine was published from 1976 to 1980 and Beaton was its editor. She also wrote for Milton, Ontario's weekly newspaper, Canadian Champion and freelanced for an arts and crafts publication. She has written articles for the Toronto Star and Hamilton Spectator and has published books, including When Lightning Strikes... The Life of Evelyn M. Kennedy 1890-1985. Beaton lives in Baysville, Ontario.

C. Beale was a retired military officer who settled in the Peterborough area at the end of the 1830s.

The Baulch family were tailors who lived in Hampton, Ontario and Port Hope, Ontario. Members of the family include Joseph H. and his wife Laura, Henry N., R. Baulch, and Will Baulch, Rochester, New York.

The Bateson family consisted of George who married Mary (?) and lived in Penetanguishene; Isaac Newton who married Margaret (?) and lived in Dowagiac, Michigan in the United States; Jane who married a Robert Russell (farmer) and lived in Scotland County, Missouri in the United States; Eliza who married James Morrison and lived in Lindsay, Ontario; Margaret who married James Marshall (Carriage-maker) and lived in the village of Cannington, Ontario; Letitia who married William Henry McCardle (labourer) and lived in Midland, Ontario; Mary Eleanor who married Thomas Richardson (blacksmith) and also lived in Midland, Ontario; and William who married Harriet (?) and lived in Bailieboro, Ontario. These nine people were children of Isaac (died January 22, 1880) and Ellen (died September 13, 1900) Bateson of Cavan Township. William Bateson died January 28, 1930. It is unknown who Thomas and John Bateson are except that they were executers of Isaac Bateson's Last Will and Testatment.