The Dunlops in Simcoe County Part 2.

p. 55

THE DUNLOPS IN SIMCOE COUNTY (continued)

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The obituary in the Orillia Packet has Alexander arriving in the area, together with his parents and siblings, in 1831. The date of 1831 cannot be correct because Alexander has been located with his parents on the 1841 census (June) at Hornshill, near Frankfield, Glasgow, Scotland.

Hornshill/Frankfield
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Alexander was married in Orillia in October 1843 so he, and presumably his parents and siblings, were in Orillia by then. If Alexander left Glasgow soon after the family was recorded on the 1841 census he might well have arrived in Orillia in the latter part of 1841. That fits with the obituary in the Orillia Times, and if we assume a typing error for the date of 1831, in the Orillia Packet too.

Both obituaries suggest that Alexander arrived in Orillia from his father's farm in Ayrshire, and we have difficulty in accounting for that, other than to suggest that the writers of the obituaries may have confused Alexander's birth on a farm in Glasgow, with the early origins of our Dunlops, in Ayrshire.

Alexander's father, Thomas, was born in Paisley on 13 June 1793, to Thomas Dunlop and Jean Whyte. Thomas Senior was, at that time, working as a weaver in Paisley, but he and the family moved, about 1801 or 1802, to Glasgow, where he took up farming in the then rural area of Frankfield, about 3 miles from the city centre.

Thomas Junior, described in the parish registers as a farmer in Frakfield, married Margaret Cowan on 12 March 1815 in New Monkland Parish, Glasgow. Thomas and Margaret had at least nine children: Thomas, born 11 February 1816, and presumed to have died in infancy; Alexander, born 22 August 1818, in the Barony Parish, Glasgow; Margaret, born 11 February 1821, in the Barony Parish; Andrew, born 19 January 1823, in the Barony Parish; John, born 29 May 1825, in the Barony Parish; James, born 12 June 1829, in the Cadder Parish, Glasgow; Margaret, born 7 May 1832, in the Cadder Parish (presumably the first Margaret had died); David, born 25 May 1835, in the Cadder Parish; and Robert, born about 1836.

Regardless of when, precisely, Thomas arrived in Orillia, he died there on 10 April 1852, and he left a will, which helps further to inform us about the family's doings in Orillia. The substance of the will was as follows:
I give and divide unto my four sons Andrew, John, James, and David the homestead and farm being composed of lot number four in the fourteenth concession of the Township of Medonte in the County of Simcoe and Province of Canada to be divide between them in the following manner, that is to say my executors hereinafter named shall divide the said lot into four equal portions and they shall have the said portions valued by competent persons and in case one or more of the portions shall be of greater value than the others then those whose portions shall not be equal in value shall receive from those whose portion is of more value such amount of money as shall make all the portions of equal value...I give to each of my four sons Andrew, John, James and David one of the said portions for the term of their natural lives and at their decease to their youngest surviving sons and their heirs forever.
Andrew, the eldest of the four sons named, was to have the first choice of portions; John, the next in line, the second choice; James, the third in line, the third choice of portions; and David, the last of his sons, the portion remaining. David's inheritance of the fourth portion, however, was conditional upon his paying the sum of five pounds to his sister Margaret, and a similar sum to his brother Alexander.

What puzzles this writer is where Alexander fits into the picture. Thomas has strived to be fair to Andrew, John, James and David, and has not completely forgotten his daughter Margaret (who was married to Tom Rix on 20 May 1851 in Medonte Township, and was thus supported by her husband when Thomas made out his will on 1 April 1852), but except for the five pounds that David was to give him, Alexander was nowhere mentioned.

Could that have been because Alexander had prospered, and his personal wealth outstripped that of his father's? The obituary in the Orillia Times does seem to suggest that Alexander had been very successful, that he had owned a lot of property in Orillia and Barrie, as well as a large distillery and two hotels. But if that were the case, why was David to give him Ł5? It is known from researches at the Archives of Ontario, Toronto, that in 1845 and 1847 Alexander was a merchant in Medonte Township; that in 1849 to 1853 he was a tavern keeper in Orillia; and that in 1854 he was an inn keeper in Orillia. The 1861 census shows him to have been a hotelkeeper living in a frame house, with two pigs worth $2.00 and 1/2 acre of ground. His investments in business and real estate were stated to be worth $1000.

Much of the information obtained in the Archives of Ontario fits fairly neatly with the obituary in the Orillia Times. Alexander does seem to have been of an entrepreneurial temperament, and probably quite well off. He certainly does not appear to have been in any great need of David's Ł5 in 1852. It is also noted, however, that Thomas constructed his will in such a way that his property would, eventually, fall into the hands of his youngest grandsons, thus excluding his eldest grandson, just as he had excluded his eldest son. We must concede, it is regretted, that at this distance in time we can do no more than speculate upon what was in Thomas's mind when he made out his will.

The obituary of Alexander in the Orillia Packet refers to the small distillery that his father, Thomas, owned in Warminister (assumed to be a whisky distillery), and Thomas's will refers to the distillery in its final part:
I also give and bequeath my gun to my daughters husband Thomas Rix. I desire my execcutors to let the farm before mentioned one year after my decease also to sell or dispose of the Distillery and utensils used therein or belonging thereto...before the expiration of the time for which mortagage has been granted to Walter Barr on the said Distillery and utensils and apply the surplus of such sale together with the rent arising from the farm after deducting the necessary expenses to the liquidation of the debt due to the Indian Department for the aforesaid lot of land.
If this writer interprets the final paragraph of Thomas's will correctly, then he was not expecting his four sons to actually work the portions of land that they inherited. Instead, he anticipated that the land would be let out. And, since the property was encumbered by debt to the Indian Department, that could have made very good sense. It would appear also, that when Thomas made out his will in April 1852, the distillery he had built was then operated by Walter Barr, but mortgaged to Thomas. Walter Barr was, it might be added, one of the two executors to Thomas's will. Thomas described Barr in his will as, 'my trusty and worthy friend'. The other executor was Edwin Graham, the Orillia Postmaster.

It is noted by this writer that Thomas and Alexander's prosperity in Simcoe County was dependant, in part, upon their distilleries, and I am most curious about where they acquired their skills as distillers? Did they learn those skills in Orillia, or did they bring them with them from Glasgow? Could Thomas have brought a still with him from Glasgow? (The two questions become especially pertinent when one realises that the 1841 census shows that a John Harvey was a 'distiller' at Garthalmock, within a very short walk of Frankfield Farm.)

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