Bruce County Genealogical Society - Elderslie Township
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Bruce County Genealogical Society

Box 1083, Port Elgin, Ontario, Canada N0H 2C0

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Elderslie Township

A map of Elderslie Township can be found on the Bruce County GenWeb website. Elderslie Township was named after the Scottish patriot Sir William Wallace, Knight of Elderslie.


Elderslie Township Places

  • Cantire - a hamlet on the 4th and 5th concessions. It is an altered spelling of Kintyre. Many of the early settlers came from Kintyre, Scotland.

  • Carnegie - a post office and hamlet on lot 24 of the 7th concession.

  • Chesley - the Chesley post office was opened in 1868. It was named after Solomon Chesley, a post office department bureaucrat. Before the post office opened, the village had been called Sconeville. Chesley was incorporated as a village in 1879.

  • Dobbinton - named after James Dobbin, who was the first postmaster when the post office opened in 1868. On the 12th concession. 

    Dobbinton United Church

     

  • Dunblane - a hamlet and post office on the Elderslie - Saugeen townline. See the Saugeen Township page for more information.

  • Ebenezer - a hamlet on the Elderslie - Arran townline. A church was first built in Ebenezer in 1857. A skating rink was built in 1915.

    Ebenezer skating rink
    Ebenezer United Church plaque

     

  • Ellengowan - on the Elderslie - Brant townline. The post office opened in 1858.

  • Gillies Hill - a hamlet and post office, on the 6th concession, named for early settler John Gillies. The first settlers arrived in 1852. The post office opened in 1874.

    Gillies Hill School 
    Gillies Hill Women's Institute plaqueGillies Hill Women's Institute plaque
    Gillies Hill municipal
    government plaque
     

     

  • Grimston - a post office originally in Sullivan Township, Grey County, and then in Arran Township, it served residents in the northeast corner of Elderslie Township.

  • Lockerby - a hamlet on the 6th and 7th concessions. There was a post office briefly in 1857. Lockerby had a grist mill and sawmill, and in 1872 a dam was built. An electrical power plant was built in 1894.

    Lockerby mill plaque
     
    Lockerby mill dam
     
    Lockerby Conservation Area sign
     
  • Mickle - a post office and hamlet on the 8th concession at the Bruce - Grey county line.

  • Paisley - located where the Teeswater River flows into the Saugeen River, was named after the town of Paisley in Renfrewshire, Scotland. Paisley's first settlers arrived in 1851. Simon Orchard arrived first, followed shortly after by Samuel Rowe. The post office opened in 1856, and Paisley was incorporated as a village in 1874. The town hall was built in 1876.

    Samuel Thomas Rowe plaque in Paisley
    Simon Orchard
    plaque in Paisley
    Paisley Town Hall
    Paisley Cenotaph and Old Fire HallPaisley Cenotaph and Old Fire Hall
    Stark's Mill on the Teeswater River in Paisley
    Paisley foundry chimney plaque
  • Porridgetown

  • Ravelston - a post office opened in 1888 on the 11th concession. Later renamed Salisbury.

  • Salem - a more recent name for Salisbury.

  • Salisbury - a hamlet and post office on the 10th and 11th concessions. In 1891 the Ravelston post office, on the 11th concession, was renamed Salisbury. Today the hamlet is called Salem.

  • Scone - a hamlet and post office on the North Saugeen River. The post office opened in 1857 on the Elderslie - Brant townline. In 1859 it moved to the 2nd concession of Elderslie.

  • Sconeville - an early name for Chesley.

  • Scooptown - a hamlet on the 14th concession. It was settled by families from Colonsay, Scotland.

  • Skibbereen - was on the 8th concession. It was named after Skibbereen in County Cork, Ireland.

  • Vesta - a hamlet and post office at the 15th sideroad of the Elderslie - Brant townline. The post office, which opened in 1860, was in Brant Township. Other buildings, including the sawmill, church and tavern, were on the Elderslie side of the road.

  • Williscroft - a hamlet and post office, named for George Williscroft, of Lot 9 of the 13th concession. The post office opened in 1856.

    Williscroft plaque

Elderslie Township Notable People

Isabella Valancy Crawford, born in Dublin, Ireland in 1850,  moved to Paisley in 1858, where her father was a physician. A biographical sketch and poems can be found in Canadian Poets.

Isabella Valancy Crawford
plaque in Paisley

James Dale Fraser was born on lot 34, concession A, and attended Dunblane school. In 1925 he became the Chief Grain Inspector for Canada.

John Gillies, born in Scotland, arrived in Elderslie Township in the early 1850s. He was a reeve,  magistrate and warden, and in 1872 was elected member of parliament. He lost his House of Commons seat in 1882, but in 1883 won a seat in the Ontario Legislature. The Canadian biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self-made men: Ontario volume contains a biographical sketch.

Christian, Conrad and John Krug and their brother-in-law Henry Ankenmann founded Krug Brothers Furniture in Chesley in May, 1886. Younger brothers William and George Krug, and parents Peter and Anna Krug also moved to Chesley later the same year. The Krug furniture factory continued operations until 1987.

Hon. Duncan McLean Marshall was born on concession 12, Elderslie Township on September 24, 1872. He was a cabinet minister, and later a senator. Before entering politics, he was in the newspaper business in Thornbury, Clarksburg and Bracebridge and Edmonton. He was married to Christena MacIsaac of Prince Edward Island, and had three sons, John, Duncan and Bruce. He died in 1946.

Honourable Duncan
Marshall plaque

John MacNeill, born in 1874 on Lot 30, Concession A of Elderslie, became president of the Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec, and also President of the Baptist World Alliance.

David Browne Milne, artist, was born in Saugeen Township, and also lived in Elderslie Township. See the Saugeen Township page for more information about him.

David Brown Milne plaqueDavid Brown Milne
plaque in Paisley

Thomas O'Hagan, whose parents were from County Kerry, Ireland, was born in Ontario in 1855. He spent his childhood on the 8th Concession of Elderslie. He was an essayist and poet. Some of his poems recall his Elderslie farm life. A biographical sketch and poems can be found in Canadian Poets. He died in 1939.
 


Bibliography

A Century of Excellence, Krug Bros. & Co. Furniture Manufacturers by Howard Krug, 2001. Amicus No. 25569048.

Chesley ... Past & Present by The Chesley Centennial Committee, 1980. Amicus No. 19203638.

From Days of Yore: A Pictorial History of Chesley: A Collection of Postcards and Photographs by the Historical Committee of the Chesley Homecoming, 1995. Amicus No. 15220449.

An Historic Album of Paisley by the Paisley Centennial Book Committee, 1974. Amicus No. 2322348.

History of the County of Bruce by Norman Robertson, 1906. Available online.

The History of Elderslie Township 1851 - 1977 by The Elderslie Township Historical Society. See Publications page. Amicus No. 865267.

It Happened in Ellengowan by Mary I. MacKay, 2000.

I Think We'll Go Too by Mary I MacKay, 2002. See Publications page. Amicus No. 29656838.

The Scooptown Diary by Mary I. MacKay, 2003. See Publications page. Amicus No. 29656842.


 

Bruce County's Townships (before  1998 amalgamations)

Albemarle Township
Colpoy's Bay United Church, Colpoy's Bay, Albemarle Township, Bruce County

Amabel Township
Wiarton, Amabel Township, Bruce County

Arran Township
Christ Church Anglican Cemetery Record, Tara, Arran Township, Bruce County

Brant Township
Walkerton town clock, Walkerton, Brant Township, Bruce County

Bruce Township
Underwood United Church, Underwood, Bruce Township, Bruce County

Carrick Township
Mildmay church, Mildmay, Carrick Township, Bruce County

Culross Township
Salem United Church, Culross Township, Bruce County

Eastnor Township
Barrow Bay, Eastnor Township, Bruce County

Elderslie Township
Memorial plaque, hamlet of Williscroft, Elderslie Township, Bruce County

Greenock Township
Plaque, village of Pinkerton, Greenock Township, Bruce County

Huron Township
Huron Township Hall, Ripley, Huron Township, Bruce County

Kincardine Township
Mural, village of Tiverton, Kincardine Township, Bruce County

Kinloss Township


Lindsay Township
War Memorial, Lindsay Township, Bruce County

Saugeen Township
Dunblane Presbyterian Church, Saugeen Township, Bruce County

St. Edmunds Township

Lighthouse, Tobermory, St. Edmunds Township, Bruce County
Bruce County Genealogical Society
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