Saugeen Township

‘Saugeen’ is a corrupted form of an Ojibway word for the mouth of a river.

Dunblane Presbyterian Church, built 1859

Saugeen Township Places

Aberdour – An early post office at Lot 26 of the 4th Concession. Later replaced by the Turners post office, on Lot 27.
Burnt Corners – An early name for Sparks’ Corners
Burgoyne – A post office and village on the Saugeen and Arran townline. It is the crossroads of the Elora and Saugeen Road (County Road 3) and the Saugeen and Owen Sound Road (County Road 17).
Chantry Island – In Lake Huron, at Southampton
Denny’s Dam – on the Saugeen River, near Southampton. Named after John Denny, who operated a grist mill, sawmill and woollen mill at the location.
Dunblane – A post office and hamlet on the Elora and Saugeen Road. As the post office cancellation stamp had been misspelled ‘Dumblane‘, it was also known by that name.
Goble’s Grove – On Lake Huron at the 6th Concession, south of Port Elgin
MacGregor Point – On Lake Huron, south of Port Elgin
McNab Point – On Lake Huron, between Port Elgin and Southampton
Normanton – A post office, opened in 1854. Was renamed Port Elgin in 1874
North Bruce – A post office and hamlet located at the 1st Concession and the Goderich Road (Highway 21). The post office opened in 1864.
Pipe Clay – a name once given to the hamlet of Turners, on the 4th Concession
Port Elgin – a town on Lake Huron. Named for the Earl of Elgin, Governor General.
Queen Hill – The post office opened in 1877 on Lot 15 of the 14th Concession of Bruce Township. In 1907 the post office moved to Lot 19 of the 1st Concession of Saugeen Township.
Saugeen – This post office was opened in 1851. It was renamed Southampton in 1889.
Southampton – The village, located where the Saugeen River flowed into Lake Huron, was incorporated in 1858.
Sparks’ Corners – Where the Elora and Saugeen Road meets the Goderich Road
Turners – A hamlet on the 4th Concession. The store was located on Lot 27. A post office opened in 1931.
West Arran – A post office north of Burgoyne, opened in 1853. Originally, it was on the east side of the Elora and Saugeen Road, in Arran Township, but later it was moved to the west side of the Elora and Saugeen Road, in Saugeen Township.

Saugeen Township Notable People

John Bell, born on the Isle of Mull, Scotland, was Hudson Bay Company chief trader and explorer. After retiring from the HBC in 1860, he settled in Saugeen Township, where he farmed until his death in 1868. His biography appears in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online.

Thomas Bryce emigrated from Scotland in 1852 and settled on Lot 17 of the Elora Road. He was a talented woodworker, and made clocks, miniature soldiers and horses, and over 100 violins.

Gordon Cummings, born in Saugeen Township, was a private with Kitchener’s Horse Guards, and died in South Africa in 1900. He was the only Bruce County person to die in the Boer War.

Robert Douglass, A.B. M.D., Port Elgin, “the oldest physician and surgeon in Port Elgin, is a native of this Province, dating his birth in the Township of Nelson, County of Halton, June 8, 1833. His father, Robert Douglass, senior, was from the State of New York; his grandfather from Scotland. His mother was Jane McGill, from Belfast, Ireland. … [He] settled in Port Elgin in the spring of 1861.
“Dr. Douglass is an earnest Reformer, and in 1867 was the candidate of his party for the House of Commons, for the North Riding of Bruce, and came within seven or eight votes of being elected. He is President of the Reform Association of Port Elgin, and a man of much influence among his political confreres, and of prominence as a citizen.
“September 30, 1857, Miss Eleanor Sproat, of Milton, county town of Halton, was joined in wedlock with Dr. Douglass, and died July 18, 1877, leaving four daughters, all yet living. Their names are Jennie, Marion E., Eleanor, and Helen Sproat.” From The Canadian biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self-made men: Ontario volume. (Chicago ; Toronto : American Biographical Pub. Co., 1880.)

Robert Leith ‘Dinny’ Hanbidge, barrister and politician, and eventually Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan, had roots in both Southampton and Arran Township. For more information about him, see the Arran Township page.

William Kennedy was one of the founders of Southampton, where he and John Spence purchased a fishing company in 1848. The business was not successful, and he left Southampton to lead an 1851 expedition in search of Sir John Franklin. His biography appears in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online.

David Brown Milne, artist, was born on Lot 19 of the 10th Concession of Saugeen. He was the youngest child of William Milne and Mary Doverty, who had emigrated from Aberdeenshire, Scotland. When he was 8 years old, the family moved to the village of Paisley, in Elderslie Township. He obtained teacher training, and taught school at United School Section No. 7 & 8, Elderslie and Saugeen, on the Elora Road from 1900 to 1903, before leaving to study art in New York. He died in 1953. A memorial plaque was erected in Paisley in 1962 in his honour. Many of his paintings are in the National Gallery of Canada’s collection.

W. Mitchell, a lieutenant in the 32nd Bruce Battalion of Infantry, was a member of the Canadian rifle shooting team, and was winner of the Prince of Wales Prize at Wimbleton in 1882. The Globe newspaper,under the headline “Port Elgin Welcomes its Wimbleton Hero” reported on a banquet held in his honour. A Globe article of the previous year noted that the 1881 Canadian team included four brothers: Sergeant D. Mitchell, 13th Battalion; Sergeant T. Mitchell, 10th Royals; Private C. N. Mitchell, 10th Royals; and Lieut. W. Mitchell 32nd Battalion.

James Rowand was Member of Parliament for West Bruce in the 1890s. He farmed at Dunblane, on Lot 18 of the Range West of Saugeen Road. He died in 1897 at age 67 and is buried in Port Elgin.
“Family came from Paisley, Scot., and settled in Can. 1832. B. in Paisley, 1830, and ed. in Toronto. M. 1854, Elizabeth Gowanlock, of Saugeen. A Farmer. Was a Municipal Councillor and Reeve of his Tp. for ten years. Is now mem. of the Agricultural and arts Assoc. of Ontario. First returned to Parliament by acclamation at bye election held 19 Oct., 1867; re-elected at last g.e.. A Liberal. – Dumblane, Ont.” From The Canadian parliamentary companion, 1891 Gemmill, John Alexander, 1847-1905. (Ottawa : J. Durie, 1891.)

Alexander Smith, “political organizer, is the s. of the late Peter Smith, a pioneer settler in Saugeen, Co. Bruce, Ont. B. in Saugeen, 1866, he was ed. in Walkerton, at the Collingwood Coll. Inst., and at the Univ. of Toronto, where he graduated B.A., 1889, with honours in several depts. Joining the reportorial staff of the Toronto Mail, 1889, he at the same time followed the course of lectures at the Law Sch., Osgoode Hall, and was called to the bar, 1893. In Nov., same year, he was apptd. Secy. of the Ont. Lib. Assn., and organizer for the Lib. party in Ont., both for Provl. and Dom. purposes, which positions he still retains. In religious faith he is a Presb. -34 Victoria St., Toronto. “Has a cool head, a great deal of resource, and a judgment that is rarely at fault. During the great campaign of 1896 he showed first-class generalship.”–Globe”From The Canadian men and women of the time: a handbook of Canadian biography Morgan, Henry J. (Henry James), 1842-1913. (Toronto : W. Briggs, 1898.)

Saugeen Township – Some Early Names

Statement of Sales of Crown Land in Bruce County Previous to 1853 on which arrears are due – Saugeen Township

Date of Sale or Lease	Name of Purchaser or Lessee	Lot	Con	Acres	Sale Number
1852	James Hendry Jr	12.13	4	200	1655
1852	Alex Wallace	32.33W Saugeen R	1	200	1656
1852	Robert Bell	18.19	7	200	1659
1852	John Burgess	4	River Range A	81	1660
1852	Peter Nicholson	24.25	7	157	1661
1852	Wm Gowanlock Sr	21.22	7	242	1662
1852	Wm Gowanlock	2323	78	197	1663
1852	Wm Gowanlock Jr	24	7	152	1664
1852	James Gowanlock	27W Saug Rd	1	100	1665
1852	Thos Turner	11	4	100	1668
1852	James Turner	10	4	100	1669
1852	David Martindale	13	11	100	1743
1852	Saml Robinson	34.35W Saug Rd	1	200	1744
1852	John Thompson	12	7	100	1745
1852	Geo Graham	12.13	8	200	1746
1852	James Turner	11	5	100	1747
1852	Thomas Turner	12	5	100	1748
1852	Louis I. Louis	43.43	Lake Range	197	1749
1852	Coll Lamont	27	3	100 school	1750
1852	Gilbert Lamont	28.29	3	200	1751
1852	Don Lamont	25.26	3	200	1752
1852	John Currie	24.25	1	200	1753
1852	Alex Currie	24.25	2	200	1754
1852	John Goble	32	Lake Range	70	1755
1852	Geo Ferrin Burns~~James Craig~~ [crossed out]	17.18	6	199	1758
1852	John McGillivray	14.15	2	200	1759
1852	Robert Coulson	4	Lake Range	107	1762
1852	Don Wilkie Jr	14	3	100	1766
1852	Thos Burgess	5	A	106	1767
1852	Peter Mcarthur	34.35	1	200	1770
1852	John Cameron	20	4	100	1771
1852	James Stewart	29	Lake Range	79	1772
1852	Wm Stirton	17.18	9	200	1773
1852	James Stirton Jr	19	10	110	1776
1852	John Cameron	14	4	100	1778
1852	Hector Mcarthur	31.32	1	200	1780
1852	D McGillivray	16.17	2	200	1781
1852	John Smith	13.14	6	200school	1784
1852	Wm Kennedy	15.1615.16	89	239	1838
1852	Wm McKellar	12	2	100	1843
1852	Christopher McRae	19	5	100	1853
1852	Peter Smith	1413.14	89	177	1861
1852	John Goble	31	Lake Range	74	1862
1852	Allan McLellan	11	3	100	1863
1852	John Wallace Sr	25	7	110	1966
1852	John Wallace Jr	2619	71st W Saugeen R	8790	1967
1852	John Rowand	18	1 West Saugeen Rd	111	1968
1852	Martin Cook	14	5	100	1976

Transcribed from: Province of Ontario Archives RG 1-21-1-41

Bibliography

Building in faith : one hundred and thirty-five years of Presbyterianism in Port Elgin 1861-1996 : Knox Presbyterian Church 1861-1925, Tolmie Memorial Presbyterian Church 1926-1996 by Tolmie Memorial Historical Committee, 1996.

Dunblane Dunblane’s history.

Down Petticoat Lane by Mary I. MacKay, 2004.

Forgotten Lives, Early History of a Coastal Village by John Weichel, 2001 Southampton’s first public burying ground.

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

Light through the years : 125 years with Knox Presbyterian Church, Burgoyne, 1862-1987 and Dunblane Presbyterian Church by the Burgoyne Historical Society, 1987.

The History of Port Elgin by Heather Robertson, 1975.

Roots and Branches of Saugeen by Saugeen History Hunters, 1984.

St. Andrew’s Saugeen 1870 – 1962.

Skeely Skipper: Southampton’s Master Mariner, Captain John Spence by John Weichel, 1998.