by Jean Turnbull Elford (1982) Beginning with British rule in the northern part of this continent, land was acquired from the Indians as it was needed for new settlers. Because of legislation passed in 1763, no Indian band forfeited their land without their own and the Crown’s consent. The Indians [...]
by Jean Turnbull Elford in Canada West’s Last Frontier (1982) Point Edward, Lambton’s largest incorporated village, placed where Lake Huron empties into the River St. Clair, made its way into recorded history earlier than any other part of Lambton. The first written account comes from the pen of Father Hennepin [...]
By Jean Elford for the Sarnia Gazette (1961) Everyone familiar with downtown Sarnia refers to building number 176 on the east side of Front Street south of Lochiel as the Belchamber. It has been called that ever since James Belchamber had it built as a hotel in 1866. The name [...]
by Jean Elford for the Sarnia Gazette (1971) When a small ship flounders in a Great Lakes storm, there is generally not a sailor left to tell what happened. In a tragic loss of the Kate Bully on October 4, 1869, however, four of the crew of ten survived the [...]
by Jean Turnbull Elford writing in Canada West’s Last Frontier (1982) With Lake Huron on the north side and the St. Clair River along its western border, Lambton County owes its early development and ensuing prosperity in large measure to its position on these waters. The first settlers came into [...]
by Jean Turnbull Elford writing in Upper Canada’s last Frontier (1982) Lambton had three railway lines when the question of bonusing the Erie and Huron arose. This line was to extend north from Erieau on Lake Erie to Sarnia. As well as giving local service, it was to be a [...]
by Jean Turnbull Elford writing in Upper Canada’s Last Frontier (1982) The opening of a line between Port Huron and Chicago in 1879 brought a great increase in traffic to both the Great Western and the Grand Trunk. Three years later, the two lines amalgamated under the Grand Trunk name [...]
by Jean Turnbull Elford writing in Canada West’s Last Frontier (1982) Nothing could look better to the pioneers of Lambton than a railway when what roads they had were almost impassable and water transportation was halted by ice for months on end. In 1836 with commendable optimism the settlers of [...]
by Jean Turnbull Elford writing in Canada West’s Last Frontier The earliest ferry to run between Sarnia and Port Huron was a sailboat. A Sarnia named Crampton got a license to run her in 1836. In the 1840s a horse-powered ferry began to run with George Moffat in charge. Julius [...]