Anglo-Celtic Roots

The Cowley Family Saga: From Sherwood Forest to the NHLȄPart 1©

BY CHRISTINE JACKSON

After researching her own family history in England for some 35 ›‡ƒ”•ǡ–Š‡ͺͶͶ–Šƒ‹˜‡”•ƒ”›‹͸Ͷͷ͹‘ˆƒ—‡Ž†‡Šƒ’Žƒ‹ǯ• voyage up the Ottawa River unexpectedly offered Christine an opportunity to research a pioneering Canadian family with deep ”‘‘–•‹‰Žƒ†ǤŠ‡•‡ƒ” Šˆ‘”–Š‡‘™Ž‡›ˆƒ‹Ž›ǯ•„‡‰‹‹‰• and their significant and sometimes colourful role in the development of the Ottawa Valley quickly became what is now an ongoing obsession.

his is an account of an Ottawa ƒ”‹‰–Š‹•›‡ƒ”ǯ• 400th Valley pioneer familyȄthe anniversary of the French explorer- T Cowley familyȄwho arrived cartographer Samuel de Champlain here from England in the 1830s and, passing by our area on his way up ƒˆ–‡”ƒ–”ƒ‰‹ •–ƒ”–ǡDzƒ†‡‰‘‘†Ǥdz the Ottawa River. This article (Part I) traces the lives I have always been interested in the in Canada of some of the family history of my community, as well as members, while Part II will shed the age of my house on Cowley light on their English origins in Avenue, where I have lived for 25 Sherwood Forest and the English years. I had always known that my Midlands, and will speculate about street and several others in the what may have led one of them, at neighbourhood were named by the age of 65, to bring his young Robert H. Cowley, when he laid out family to British North America. the subdivision in 1903.2 My involvement with the history of He called it Riverside Park, although this family started early this year, the name had to be changed in 1950 when a friend sent me two papers (to Champlain Park) when this on the natural and human history of section of what was then Nepean our Ottawa neighbourhood of Township was annexed by the City Champlain Park, written by of Ottawa. members of the community association.1 The authors were Between the 1890s and the First seeking support and suggestions for World War, a property boom was

Anglo-Celtic Roots Ȉ—ƒ”–‡”Ž›Š”‘‹ Ž‡ 3 Volume 19, Number 3 ȈFall 2013 underway across Canada, and in document and, at the same time, Ottawa the opening of the Britannia offering to work on providing streetcar line in 1900 brought large further information. areas of what was then Nepean Not unsurprisingly she took up my Township within commuting offer of helpȄand I was off and distance of the city. running! While residential subdivisions set My assignment was this: back from the river were generally If you are someone who likes to go aimed at the working classes, those digging into the past, I have a mystery laid out along the Ottawa River you may wish to help me solve. I were promoted as summer resorts would love to know why Captain to the middle class, and they began Daniel Keyworth Cowley's body was to fill with cottages. Riverside Park exhumed from Beechwood Cemetery was one of those, and Nepean and moved to an unknown cemetery assessment rolls show that, by in North Bay, Ontario. I learned this 1911, 34 of the 52 assessed tidbit during a phone conversation I had with a staff person at Beechwood buildings there were cottages.3 My Cemetery. She had the register of own house was likely built in 1918 burials in front of her and told me as a seasonal clapboard cottage and about this notation describing his subsequently winterized.4 exhumation. Is this something you One of the aforementioned papers would like to follow up on? contained preliminary research on My research last fall tells me that the Cowley family done by a fellow Mary McJanet Cowley (the Captain's resident. From that I learned that wife) lived until 1919. She was buried in Bristol, Québec. Why are this the father of the R.H. Cowley who husband/wife not buried together? had planned our neighbourhood And since she was alive for a good 20 had a connection to Cha’Žƒ‹ǯ• years after he died, why did she agree lost astrolabe, supposedly found to have him exhumed and buried upriver in 1867. elsewhere? Intrigued, I studied the research DzšŠ—‡†dzƒ†„—”‹‡†‹Ž‡•ƒ™ƒ› paper and started using from his wife!Ȅthat certainly FamilySearch, findmypast and caught my attention. Being Ancestry to check genealogical unfamiliar, however, with Canadian details online about the Cowley family history resources, I knew of family and to fill in some of the only one expert on cemeteriesȄ unknowns. As a result, I was able to fellow BIFHSGO member and make a little progress, the details of blogger John Reid. which I passed on to the author of In no time John found the entry for the Cowley paper, suggesting that Daniel Keyworth Cowley in the she may wish to update her Anglo-Celtic Roots Ȉ—ƒ”–‡”Ž›Š”‘‹ Ž‡ 4 Volume 19, Number 3 ȈFall 2013

Beechwood Cemetery Burial felt I was getting to know Daniel Register, which records his death Keyworth Cowley and I had begun date as 4 February 1897, the ”‡ˆ‡””‹‰–‘Š‹ƒ•Dzƒ’–ƒ‹ƒǤdzȌ removal of his remains on 14 May Someone at Beechwood Cemetery –Š‡•ƒ‡›‡ƒ”–‘Dz‘”–Šƒ›ǡdzƒ† must have mistakenly entered the nota–‹‘Dz˜ƒ—Ž–dz‹–Š‡‡ƒ”• Dz‘”–Šƒ›dz‹the burial register column.5 In fact, most of the entries (they even added quotation marks), for February 1897 show interment perhaps being unfamiliar with the in the vault shortly after death and tiny settlement of Norway Bay burial at Beechwood in May, June upriver and/or unsure of what s/he and even July. heard. It turned out that there was nothing Some Googling took me to the strange or unusual about what had Cemeteries of Pontiac County, Šƒ’’‡‡†Ǥƒ’–Ǥ‘™Ž‡›ǯ•”‡ƒ‹• Québec website, run by the Upper had been temporarily interred in a Ottawa Valley Genealogical Group. vault at Beechwood, pending a time There I found the legal land in the spring (May) when the descriptions of the Norway Bay problems of frozen ground and Anglican and United cemeteries and winter transportation out of town a reference to the transcription of would permit burial. The same thing headstones completed there in happened in 1927 on the death of 1977 by Joan McKay.7 his son Robert. So that solved the mystery of the so-called Consulting the cemetery Dz‡šŠ—ƒ–‹‘dz‘ˆƒ’–Ǥ‘™Ž‡›ǯ• transcription at the Ottawa Public body. Library, I found that it describes a section of the cemetery as being There remained, however, the issue devoted to the Cowleys and includes of the body having been sent to the mention of a gate on the North Bay for burial. And once Dz‡ Ž‘•—”‡dzƒ†–Š‡ƒ‡DzǤ again, John Reid came to the rescue. ‘™Ž‡›ͳͺ͹ͳdz™‹–Šƒ ‘ƒ–‘ˆ John found photographs of some arms.8 There follows a list of some Cowley headstones online in the 14 Cowley family members, Canadian Gravemarker GalleryȄ including Capt. Daniel Keyworth graves which are at Norway Bay Cowley himself and his wife, Mary United Cemetery, in Bristol McJanet Cowley. Township, Pontiac County.6 That Šƒ†–‘„‡–Š‡ƒ•™‡”Ǩƒ’–ƒ‹ƒǯ• I have since visited the cemetery wife Mary was from Bristol and seen the headstones, and I am Township, so it was logical that her now quite satisfied that Captain husband and other family members Cowley was buried at Norway Bay would be buried there. (By now I with his wife, and not at North Bay.

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This information I also reported navigation in the Ottawa Valley? back to my community association These were my initial questions. colleague who had written about Well, I found that he was the eldest the Cowley family. But I did not yet Š‹Ž†‘ˆƒ‹Ž‡•‘™Ž‡›ǡƒDz’”ƒ –‹ ƒŽ tell her that I had become hooked „‘–ƒ‹•–dz‹–Š‡‘–ƒ‹ ƒŽ ƒ”†‡• on researching this family, largely at Kensington (London), England, as a resuŽ–‘ˆ”‡ƒ†‹‰ƒ’–ƒ‹ƒǯ• who, at the age of 65, arrived in lengthy 1897 obituary in the Ottawa Lower Canada with his wife, Citizen9 and the book on which my Harriott, aged 53, and their two colleague had based her researchȄ childrenȄa boy named Daniel a biographical memoir of Captain Keyworth (age 14) and a girl named ƒǯ••‘ǡ‘„‡”– ‡”›‘™Ž‡›ǡ10 Harriet (age 8).11 (Their second which contains much family history child, Robert, born in 1818, had died and a family tree going back to just one year after birth.) 1697. Daniel Keyworth Cowley, the future Using these two documents and Captain Dan, had been born 9 trying to confirm in modern January 1817, at 19 Dartmouth genealogical databases the dates Street in the City of Westminster and places that were mentioned in (London), England.12 Baptized in the them, unsourced, proved to be an Anglican parish church of absorbing process. But throughout, WestminsterȂ–Ǥƒ”‰ƒ”‡–ǯ•ǡ it became clear to me that Captain adjoining Westminster Abbey, his Dan was a larger-than-life second given name of Keyworth personage who rightly earned the was the family name of his paternal title of patriarch of the Canadian grandmother (Elizabeth Keyworth). Cowley dynasty, which he founded and dominated during his long life Š‡„‹‘‰”ƒ’Š›‘ˆƒ‹Ž‡•‘™Ž‡›ǯ• from 1817 to 1897. His obituary- grandson R. H. Cowley states that writer referred to him as a ven- Mailes, having been commissioned erable figure who was one of the to bring some soldiers out from earliest pioneers of steam England, came with his family to navigation on the Ottawa River, Montréal in 1831, where he saying that established a garden. his life was one attended through- After only one year in Montréal, out with unwonted interest and however, Mailes died in the adventure. infamous 1832 cholera epidemic, So where did this adventurer come which spread through Lower and from, and how did he get his Upper Canada and is believed to reputation as a pioneer of steam have killed at least 4,000 people in Montréal alone.13 He was buried in

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Papineau Cemetery with some of immigrants and French-Canadians the British officers who had that lasted from 1835 to 1845.15 accompanied him from England. A major Irish timber operator had ƒ†Ž›ǡƒ‹Ž‡•ǯ™‹ˆ‡ ƒ””‹‘––†‹‡†–Š‡ organized a group of Irishmen, following year in nearby Lachine, known as the Shiners, to vandalize Québec;10 her burial record14 notes other timber operations. They that her late husband was a attacked French-Canadian timber DzŽƒ„‘—”‡”Ǥdz ƒ˜‹‰™‘†‡”‡†™Šƒ– rafts, fought against French- ™ƒ•‡ƒ–„›–Š‡–‡”Dz’”ƒ –‹ ƒŽ Canadians on the streets of Bytown, „‘–ƒ‹•–ǡdz Šƒ˜‡–‘ ‘ Ž—†‡–Šƒ–‹– and also disrupted local political probably meant gardener, which meetings. would surely have been a seasonal Although in the spring of 1837 the occupation in Montréal. government was able to bring the At the ages of 16 and 10 respect- violence under control by deploying ively, the two Cowley children, troops and arresting Shiners, Daniel Daniel and Harriet, were orphaned Cowley had not been favourably and left to face life alone. It is not impressed with Bytown and had known what immediately happened already hastened up the Ottawa to Harriet in the Montréal of 1833, River to Arnprior. but she survived to marry and be These were turbulent times, widowed twice. I will return to her. however, and 1837 saw anti- Daniel, however, had to leave school government insurrection in both and support himself. He became a Lower and Upper Canada. Accepting ‰”‘ ‡”ǯ•ƒ’’”‡–‹ ‡ˆ‘”–Š”‡‡›‡ƒ”•ǡ the call to arms, Daniel Cowley, at after which he got work as a ƒ‰‡ʹͲǡ‡Ž‹•–‡†‹Š‹‡ˆ ƒ„ǯ• ’—”•‡”ǯ•ƒ••‹•–ƒ–‘ƒ’ƒ••‡‰‡” militia at Pakenham, and his story of vessel plying the Lower St. how he journeyed there in the dead Lawrence (Lac St-Louis to Trois- of winter was reputed to have been Rivières), an experience that one of the most entertaining in his introduced him to river travel. repertoire.9 Although in uniform at the subsequent Battle of Saint- In 1836 he moved to BytownȄ Eustache, he did not see action. founded only 10 years earlier and not even incorporated as a town Once quiet was restored, Daniel yetȄto work as a bookkeeper for became a purser on the early Colonel Joseph Hammond. But Ottawa River steamboat, the George Bytown then was the scene of what Buchanan, which plied Chats Lake in became known as –Š‡Š‹‡”•ǯƒ”ǡ the Ottawa River between Chats a conflict between Irish Catholic Falls (above Quyon) and Portage- du-Fort. In 1838, at the age of 21, he

Anglo-Celtic Roots Ȉ—ƒ”–‡”Ž›Š”‘‹ Ž‡ 7 Volume 19, Number 3 ȈFall 2013 took over as master of the vessel, —ƒ„Ž‡–‘ˆ‹†ƒ”‡ ‘”†‘ˆ ƒ””‹‡–ǯ• thus beginning a storied career as first marriageȄto a John EllisȄbut riverboat-man, entrepreneur and a legal report concerning a land pioneer of river transportation that dispute indicates that they lived in was to last another 44 years. Perth, in Upper Canada, and that John died in February 1849.17 (Daniel Cowley was the executor of ‘ŠŽŽ‹•ǯ™‹ŽŽǤȌ Harriet Ellis was certainly living in Perth when, in March 1851, she married for a second time,18 to Charles Pulker, 15 years her senior Figure 1: Chats Falls, Lake Chaudière on and a bookseller and stationer from the Ottawa, 1822, by Charles Ramus Ireland, who had set up on Sparks Forrest Street in Bytown.19 Source: National Gallery of Canada (http://gallery.ca/) The Cowley clan in Canada really had its origins in 1844, when Capt. Daniel K. Cowley married Mary McJanet (alternatively spelt McJennet or McJannet), a Scottish immigrant from Ayrshire, who lived in Bristol, Pontiac County. 16 Daniel was an Anglican and Mary a Presbyterian, but they married in the Anglican Church at Sand Point, Figure 2: Daniel Cowley and his wife near Arnprior, immediately across Mary McJanet (undated) –Š‡––ƒ™ƒ‹˜‡”ˆ”‘ƒ”›ǯ•Š‘‡ Source: Robert Stothers, A Biographical in Bristol. They then became one of Memorial to Robert Henry Cowley the first families to settle the By the 1850s, most of the good ”‹˜‡”ˆ”‘–‘ˆ‘–‹ƒ ǯ•Žƒ”‡†‘ farmland in the Bytown area had Township, adjoining Bristol, where been taken up and patented; they raised 12 children. immigrants were having trouble Š‡”‡‹•— Š‘”‡–‘ƒ‹‡Žǯ• finding land to settle. Newspaper story, but I will digress a little here advertisements began appearing in to recount how his younger sister, those years soliciting new settlers Harriet, was responsible for starting to the American Midwest.20 So, by another branch of the family in the 1854, Harriet and Charles had United States. As yet I have been moved to the so-called tri-state area

Anglo-Celtic Roots Ȉ—ƒ”–‡”Ž›Š”‘‹ Ž‡ 8 Volume 19, Number 3 ȈFall 2013 of Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa, an perhaps for development purposes, area of recent and heavy Irish but did not always pay his land settlement. taxes, and, by the start of the American Civil War in 1861, was Charles was soon appointed ’”‘‘–‹‰–Š‡•ƒŽ‡‘ˆƒDzƒ‹”–‹‰Š– postmaster21 in Afton, a new ˆ”—‹–Œƒ”dzƒ†ƒ†˜‡”–‹•‹‰Š‹•‡Žˆƒ• settlement on the Chicago and ƒDz‰‡‡”ƒŽƒ— –‹‘‡‡”ƒ† North-Western Railway, just outside ‘‹••‹‘‡” Šƒ–Ǥdzˆ–‡”™Šƒ– Janesville, Wisconsin, where, in was apparently a varied life of 56 ͳͺͷͷǡ–Š‡—Ž‡”•ǯ†ƒ—‰Š–‡”ƒŽŽ› years, he died in 1864 in Cedar became the first child born in the Falls, Iowa.25 As for his English-born village.22 wife Harriet, after bearing seven Charles Pulker became a childrenȄor five depending on naturalized American citizen23 and which census record you believeȄ the local newspapers tell us that he she continued to live in Janesville was politically active in the for at least another 30 years, before Democratic Party, liked public moving to Battle Creek, Michigan, to speaking and was very much in live with a daughter and her favour of whisky, which he was family,26 where she died in 1914 at licensed to sell. 24 He bought land, the grand old age of 91.27

Figure 3: Map of the Upper Ottawa River Valley Source: Christine Jackson Around the time Harriett moved to „”‘–Š‡”ƒ‹‡Žǯ• ƒ”‡‡”™ƒ•„‘‘•–‡† the United States in the 1850s, her when he partnered with Jason

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Gould, who had recently con- smoke from Pembroke down the structed a popular overland link narrow Muskrat River and lake of between Cobden and the Ottawa the same name to safety in Cobden. ‹˜‡”ƒ– ‘—Ž†ǯ•ƒ†‹‰ǤŠ‹• route There they found the Muskrat had avoided obstacles in the Upper been burned to the waterline. Ottawa River and improved access While Jason Gould never recovered between Bytown and Pembroke. 28 from losses incurred in the fire, It consisted of 13 miles of wooden Capt. Cowley bought the North Star, Dz ‘”†—”‘›dz”‘ƒ†ǡ‘˜‡”™Š‹ Š which he operated alone until 1862. passengers and freight were carried by stagecoach before transferring to barges for the remainder of the trip to Pembroke via Muskrat Lake and the Muskrat River. Replacing the barges, the new company built the Muskrat, the first steamboat on the Upper Ottawa River, followed shortly afterwards by a bigger and better steamer, the North Star. Figure 4: The Manor House August 1853 revealed something of on Richmond Road the character of the now 36-year- Source: Cowley family collection old Daniel Cowley, when a terrible The year 1867 was an eventful one bush fire, starting on Île des for Daniel Cowley and his family. Allumettes opposite Pembroke, The Captain bought 200 acres of ravaged Renfrew County, wiping land along the Richmond Road, out settlements and homesteads outside Ottawa in what was then and devastating 800 square miles of Nepean Township, and the family territory.29 Showing outstanding moved from their Clarendon home leadership and bravery, Capt. in the Pontiac into a handsome Cowley had his passengers on the stone house called Maple Manor, North Star help prevent the which they renamed The Manor steamerȄand his clothesȄfrom House. Destroyed by fire in 1903, it catching fire by repeatedly dousing was said to have been located about both with water, while the crew 300 feet west of what later became worked to keep the craft in Island Park Drive, placing it near the midstream. ‘”‡”‘ˆ–‘†ƒ›ǯ•ƒ‹Ž‡•ƒ†ƒ–”‹ ‹ƒ Thus he and his crew successfully avenues in Ottawa. 10 brought the North Star and its That year was also notable for the passengers through and under a discovery of what has come to be canopy of raging fires and heavy Anglo-Celtic Roots Ȉ—ƒ”–‡”Ž›Š”‘‹ Ž‡ 10 Volume 19, Number 3 ȈFall 2013

‘™ƒ•Šƒ’Žƒ‹ǯ••–”‘Žƒ„‡ manuscript written by the Captain and for the part played by Captain about the Muskrat Lake PortageȄa Cowley in the story.30 Samuel de manuscript now at the centre of the Champlain reputedly lost his ‹Š‡›‘‹– ‘—†ƒ–‹‘ǯ•ʹͲͳ͵ astrolabe in May 1613 while special exhibit, "Whose Astrolabe? portaging around rapids on the Origin and Cultural Ownership of a Ottawa River using the route Jason Canadian Icon," which presents Gould chose over 200 years laterȄ ƒ’–Ǥ‘™Ž‡›ǯ•ƒ ‘—t of his role in shown by a dashed line in Figure 3. the event and challenges whether the astrolabe found by Edward Lee In 1867 a 14-year-old farm boy ‹ͳͺ͸͹™ƒ•‡˜‡Šƒ’Žƒ‹ǯ•Ǥ named Edward Lee found an astrolabe (dated 1603) while For the next 13 years, Captain helping his father clear trees near Cowley worked as superintendent one of those lakesȄGreen Lake of the Union Forwarding Company, (now Astrolabe Lake). and, under his stewardship, the company built 10 new steamers and Lee was promised $10 for his find extended operations up the Ottawa by the property owner and River to Deux-Rivières (Mattawa). steamboat captain, Charles But completion of the Canadian Overman, but he never received Pacific Railway along the Ottawa payment. Overman gave the River to North Bay in 1882 put a astrolabe to his employer, Richard final end to the once-lucrative Cassels of Toronto, President of the steamboat traffic on the river, at Union Forwarding Company, after it which point the fleet was sold and had lain some months in the desk of Captain Cowley retired to his Manor Captain Cowley, who was now that House near Ottawa. ‘’ƒ›ǯ•ƒƒ‰‡”Ǥƒ••‡Ž•‹–—” sold it to a New York collector, Like many families during this Samuel Hoffman. period, the Cowleys faced numerous personal tragedies.7 Lives then The astrolabe was willed in 1942 to could be shortȄended by diseases the New York Historical Society, that today can be easily cured. where it remained until June 1989, Daniel and Mary Cowley lost 4 of when it was acquired by the their 12 children, who were Department of Communications for between the ages of 7 months and the (former) Canadian Museum of 25 years. Civilization. Their eldest child, Harriet, had Capt. Cowley has perhaps been seven children with husband viewed in a poor light for his part in Archibald Smirle, but sadly none of the handling of the astrolabe, but them lived more than 12 years, and that story is invalidated by a

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Harriet herself died aged 39, having The steamship and some of those seen four of her children die before who worked on her are shown in her. Figures 5 and 6. Perhaps 1877 and 1888 were Besides the royal visitors, the ‡’‹†‡‹ ›‡ƒ”•ǡƒ•–™‘‘ˆƒ‹‡Žǯ• Captain met with many well-known ƒ†‘‡‘ˆ ƒ””‹‡–ǯ• Š‹Ž†”‡†‹‡†‹ people during his years as a ͳͺ͹͹ǡ™Š‹Ž‡ ƒ””‹‡–ǯ•–Š”‡‡ marinerȄLieutenant-Colonel By, surviving children all died in 1888. who built the Rideau Canal; Sir ‡‘”‰‡‹’•‘‘ˆ–Š‡ —†•‘ǯ•

Life could be precarious, yet the Bay Company; companions of the Cowley family is notable for the Arctic explorers Sir John Franklin, number of members who have lived Sir John Richardson and Captain to a remarkably old age. Back; and Sir James Macdonnell, the Left without father, mother or other DzŠ‡”‘‘ˆ ‘—‰‘—‡–dzȋƒ–‡”Ž‘‘ǡ relatives in a strange new land, 1815). Daniel K. Cowley had begun his Captain Dan lived to the age of 80, business career at a very early age. dying at home of an aneurysm after ‹••‘ǯ•„‹‘‰”ƒ’Š‡” said that a rich and successful life.5 His wife ƒ‹‡ŽDz†‡˜‡Ž‘’‡†‹–‘ƒ•–”‘‰ Mary, the Scottish immigrant who upstanding man of powerful bore 12 children in the wilds of the Ž‡ƒ†‡”•Š‹’ǡdz„Ž‡••‡†™‹–Š‰‘‘† Upper Ottawa Valley, outlived many judgment and business acumen.10 of her family, dying in 1919 at the He was successful enough to put impressive age of 97.7 two sons (Thomas and Daniel) through expensive medical courses at McGill University; another two sons (Mailes and John) followed him into the riverboat business, and yet another (Robert) became a highly regarded educator. Captain Dan became widely known Figure 5: The SS Ann Sisson moored at and trustedȄenough to be selected Quyon about 1871 Source: http://www.railways.incanada.net/ to accompany HRH the Prince of Articles/ Article2006_10.html Wales (the future Edward VII) in 1861 and Prince Arthur, Duke of While Captain Dan was the Connaught in 1869 on their visits dominant figure in the Cowley around the Ottawa region. Prince family in the nineteenth century, Arthur, in fact, travelled on the SS several of his descendants led Ann Sisson on his tour.31 successful and interesting lives of

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Figure 6: Group on the SS Ann Sisson, including Capt. D.K. Cowley(4) and R.S. Cassels(2) Source: Anson A. Gard, Pioneers of the Upper Ottawa and The Humors of the Valley (1906) –Š‡‹”‘™ǤŠ‡ƒ’–ƒ‹ǯ•›‘—‰‡•– R.H. Cowley (1859Ȃ1927) had also son, Robert H., became a teacher ‹Š‡”‹–‡†Š‹•ˆƒ–Š‡”ƒ‹‡Žǯ• specializing in the sciences. He was business acumen, as he became later named a chief provincial and prominent in the various land Toronto school inspector, and was transactions and speculation that widely respected in his field. were ongoing in Nepean Township in the boom period at the turn of the In his thirties he was one of the twentieth century. One of his land ‡ƒ”Ž‹‡•–‰”ƒ†—ƒ–‡•‘ˆ—‡‡ǯ• purchases was the tier of lots ‹˜‡”•‹–›ǯ•‡š–”ƒ—”ƒŽ ‘—”•‡•ǡ located north of the Canadian going on to obtain his M.A. in 1893. Pacific Railway line (the current OC He was noted at university for the Transpo Transitway trench) and quality of his botanical specimens; reaching to the shores of the Ottawa one wonders, did he inherit an River. This included what we now interest in botany and gardening know as Champlain Park.1,2 from his grandfather Mailes and ƒ‹Ž‡•ǯ„”‘–Š‡”ƒ‹‡Žǡ„‘–Š‘ˆ ™‘‘ˆƒ’–ƒ‹‘™Ž‡›ǯ••‘• whom were botanists? An article by became medical doctors. Thomas R.H. Cowley published in 1905 on (1846Ȃ1871) sadly died at only 25, th‡•—„Œ‡ –‘ˆDzŠ‡ƒ ‘ƒŽ† ™Š‹Ž‡–Š‡ƒ’–ƒ‹ǯ•ƒ‡•ƒ‡ǡ”Ǥ  Š‘‘Ž ƒ”†‡•dz‹ŽŽ—•–”ƒ–‡•Š‹• Daniel Keyworth Cowley (1856Ȃ progressive and liberal ideas as an 1938), became a prominent educationalist.32 physician, practising for nearly 30

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›‡ƒ”•‹ ”ƒ„›ǡ‹—±„‡ ǯ•ƒ•–‡” Libya and Britain. A second son, Townships, before being appointed Frank (1916Ȃ93), became a much- medical director of the Protective loved medical doctor who practised Association of Canada, a Masonic for 35 years as a physician, surgeon insurance company based in and coroner in Shawville, Québec. Granby. A third son of John and Edna ƒ‹Ž‡•‘™Ž‡›ǡƒ’–ƒ‹ƒǯs oldest Cowley, WiŽŽ‹ƒƒ‹Ž‡•Dz‘™„‘› surviving son, followed in the steps Bill" Cowley (1912Ȃ1993) might of his father as a riverboat captain, perhaps prove the greatest surprise working between 1869 and 1879 to his great-grandfather, Captain for the Union Forwarding Company ƒǤ‘”‹ͳͻͳʹ‹Dz‘™Ž‡› and subsequently running his own –‡””‹–‘”›dz‹–Š‡‘–‹ƒ ǯ•”‹•–‘Ž boat on Chats Lake to move Township, Bill grew up to be an passengers and freight between award-winning all-star professional Arnprior and Portage-du-Fort. A hockey centre in the National resident of his native Clarendon Hockey League (NHL), and is Township, Pontiac County, he was a considered by some to have been renowned storyteller who lived to the Wayne Gretzky of his time. 34 the great age of 88. He became a star when he joined ‘‡‘ˆƒ‹Ž‡•‘™Ž‡›ǯ••–‘”‹‡• the Boston Bruins, leading the about nineteenth-century life in the league in assists in 1939, 1941 and Upper Ottawa Valley were captured 1943, and helping the Bruins win and recounted in the Ottawa Citizen two Stanley Cups, in 1939 and 1941. in 1926Ȅincluding the famous tar Figure 7 shows Bill Cowley with his and feather case of 1852!33 surviving brothers and father in a Descendants of Capt. Mailes Cowley family photo taken in 1954/55 and his wife Eliza Eaton still live in ‡–‹–Ž‡†DzŠ‡‡‘ˆ–Š‡ ƒ‹Ž›.dzAt the Pontiac. His late son, John A.E. the time of his retirement in 1947, Cowley (1882Ȃ1979), owned a store he was the NHL's all-time leading in Bristol Township and a creamery point scorer and, in 1968, was in Ottawa. At least three children of inducted into the Hockey Hall of John Cowley and his wife Edna Fame. Bennett distinguished themselves, After his hockey career, Cowley all for very different reasons. went on to coach and subsequently Their son Robert H. (1914Ȃ1943) into business, owning a hotel in flew in Bomber Command during Smiths Falls, Ontario and the the Second World War and was Elmdale Tavern/Hotel in flying one of six planes lost without Hintonburg, Ottawa. In 1967, he trace in 1943 somewhere between was a founder and part-owner of

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Figure 7: Bill Cowley with his brothers and father: (L²R) Bill, Frank, John A. E. and Daniel Source: Cowley family collection –Š‡––ƒ™ƒ͸͹ǯs junior hockey Some descendants of the 19th team. Bill Cowley died on New century Cowley pioneer family Year's Eve, 1993, of a heart attack still live in Ottawa and the BristolȂ at the age of 81. He is buried in Norway Bay area of Pontiac Norway Bay, Québec, close to his County, where the family first birthplace of Bristol, where he settled nearly 180 years ago; I am had a home and spent much of his indebted to Jane Cowley Egan, retirement years. daughter of Bill Cowley, and Robert H. Cowley, son of Dr. Frank The title of this article includes C. Cowley, both of Norway Bay, for –Š‡’Š”ƒ•‡Dz ”‘ Sherwood sharing with me their memories ‘”‡•––‘–Š‡ ǡdz‹’Ž›‹‰–Šƒ– and their collection of family the family has passed through photographs and documents. I can enormous changes over the only hope that this necessarily generations. abbreviated account does justice Although such changes occur in all to their ancestors. families to some degree, as do the times in which we live, members Reference Notes 1 of the Cowley family seem to have Champlain Park is the Ottawa neighbourhood bounded by the experienced particularly full and Ottawa River (north), Island Park interesting lives and I have been Drive (west), Scott Street (south), fortunate to discover that others ƒ†—‡›ǯ•ƒ•–—”‡ȋ‡ƒ•–ȌǤ have also found them interesting 2 enough to write about, making it Those streets are Daniel, Keyworth and Cowley avenues. I learned later much easier to bring the family to that he named other streets after life than it would otherwise have places in the region where he was been. bornȄPontiac Street, as well as Bristol Street and Aberdeen Avenue

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(both renamed in 1950) after 9 Dz‡ƒ–Š‘ˆƒ‹‘‡‡”ǣƒ’–Ǥaniel K. townships in Pontiac County. ‘™Ž‡›ƒ••‡•–‘ ‹•‡™ƒ”†ǡdzThe Citizen, Ottawa, Friday, 5 February 3 Bruce S. Elliott, The City Beyond: A 1897, p. 7. History of Nepean, Birthplace of ƒƒ†ƒǯ•ƒ’‹–ƒŽͷͽͿ͸Ȃ1990 (Nepean: 10 Robert Stothers, A Biographical Corporation of the City of Nepean, Memorial to Robert Henry Cowley 1991), p. 195. (Toronto: Thomas Nelson & Sons Limited, published for the author, 4 In 2012, when my front door was 1935). being replaced and the old wooden threshold was removed, I was excited 11 Mailes was born in 1766 in Ollerton, to find in the cavity below a Nottinghamshire, one of the eight crumbling copy of the Ottawa Citizen, children of Daniel Cowley and dated 29 August 1918, which I feel Elizabeth Keyworth. The given name sure dates my house. I have yet to Mailes was taken from the family confirm the construction date in the name of Susanna Mailes, his maternal Nepean Township assessment rolls, grandmother. He married Harriott now located at the City of Ottawa Holmes (born 1778 in Lincolnshire) Archives. in 1816 in the City of Westminster (London), England. 5 Edward & Elizabeth Kipp, editors, Beechwood Cemetery, Ottawa, Ontario 12 Cowley family documentation. (Ottawa: Ontario Genealogical 13 ‡‘ˆˆ”‡›‹Ž•‘ǡDzŠ‡ ‹”•–’‹†‡‹  Society, Ottawa Branch, Publication of Asiatic Cholera in Lower Canada, no. 00-07(CD), 2000). ͳͺ͵ʹǡdzMedical History, 1977, 21: 428 6 Dzƒƒ†‹ƒ ”ƒ˜‡ƒ”‡” ƒŽŽ‡”›ǡdz (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/ database, RootsWeb (http://www. articles/PMC1082085/). rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cangmg/) 14 Dz—±„‡ ǡ‹–ƒŽƒ†Š—” Š‡ ‘”†• 7 Kenneth F. Collins and Joan McKay, (Drouin Collection), 1621Ȃ1967,dz Norway Bay United Church Cemetery: database, Ancestry (www. ancestry. Lots 9 & 10, Range 1 & Norway Bay ca), burial record for Harriet Holmes Anglican Cemetery, Lot 10, Range 2, Cowley. Bristol Township, Pontiac County, 15 DzŠ‹‡”•ǯƒ”ǡdzWikipedia (www. Quebec (Ottawa: Ontario Genealogical wikipedia.org: accessed 24 July Society, Ottawa Branch, 1978). 2013). Available at Ottawa Public Library, call no. 929.3714215 N892 (Gene- 16 DzBytown Gazette and Ottawa alogy section, Nepean Centrepointe Advertizer, Births, Marriages and Branch; Ottawa Room, Main Library). Deaths, 1836ȂͳͺͶͷǡdzBytown or Bust (http://www.bytown.net/gazette& 8 The enclosure has since been advertizer.htm). removed for ease of cemetery maintenance, but part of the gate has 17 James Lukin Robinson, Reports of been saved by a Cowley family ƒ•‡•‡ ‹†‡†‹–Š‡‘—”–‘ˆ—‡‡ǯ• member. Bench, Vol. XIII (Toronto: Henry Rowsell, 1856), pp. 546Ȃ549 (avail-

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able free online through Google 25 Šƒ”Ž‡•—Ž‡”ǯ• gravestone in Books). Greenwood Cemetery, Cedar Falls, Iowa, showing his date of death as 17 18 Dz›–‘™‹”–Š•ǡƒ””‹ƒ‰‡•Ƭ‡ƒ–Š• July 1864 and age as 56 years, digital in the Perth Courier 1834Ȃ1849,dz image, Find a Grave (www.find Bytown or Bust (http://www.bytown. agrave.com : accessed 27 July 2013). net/courier.htm). 26 DzǤǤ‹–›‹”‡ –‘”‹‡•ǡͳͺʹͳȂ 19 DzPulker, Charles, bookseller and ͳͻͺͻǡdz database, Ancestry (www. stationer, Athenaeum Reading Room, ancestry.com), Provo, UT, USA: entry Sparkes st. ȋ•‹ Ȍǡ’’‡”‘™Ǥdz ”‘ for Harriett Pulker in Janesville City Bytown listings in The Canada Directory 1892, and in Battle Creek, Directory, compiled by Robert W.S. Michigan directories 1904 and 1909Ȃ Mackay (Montréal: John Lovell, ͳͻͳ͵ǤDz‡•—•ͳͻͳͲǡdz†ƒ–ƒ„ƒ•‡ǡ 1851), p. 46 (www.collections findmypast (www.find mypast.com) canada.gc.ca). Battle Creek Ward 2, Calhoun County, 20 Dz ‘™ƒǡǤǤǤǣ ‹‰”ƒ–‹‘ˆ”‘ Michigan: entry for Harriett H. Pulker, Ontario, Canada, region in the living with Thomas and Mary Glass. ͳͺͲͲ̵•ǡdzBytown or Bust 27 ‹„”ƒ”›‘ˆ‹ Š‹‰ƒǡDzƒŽŠ‘— (www.bytown.net). County: Death Records, 1897Ȃ1920,dz 21 DzU.S., Appointments of U.S. Seeking Michigan (http://cdm16317. Postmasters, 1832Ȃͳͻ͹ͳǡdz database, contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/coll Ancestry (www.ancestry.com), Provo, ection/p129401coll7/id/60775), UT, USA, entry for Charles Pulker. death certificate for Harriet H. Pulker, died 9 June 1914, of apoplexy, age 91. 22 The History of Rock County, Wisconsin The name of her father was given as (Chicago: Western Historical Daniel (her brother) instead of Company, 1879), p. 673 (available Mailes. free online through Google Books.) 28 This route, consisting of a string of 23 DzǤǤƒ–—”ƒŽ‹œƒ–‹‘‡ ‘”† †‡š‡•ǡ lakes and the Muskrat River, which 1791Ȃ1992 (Indexed in World drains into the Ottawa River at Archives Project),dz database, Ancestry Pembroke, is now called The (www.ancestry.com) Provo, UT, USA, Champlain Trail, being basically the naturalization certificate for Charles same route Samuel de Champlain Pulker, dated 30 September 1856. took in 1613 to avoid rapids in his 24 Dz‡‘ ”ƒ ›‹–Š‡‘™‘ˆ‘ ,dz exploration up the Ottawa River. It Weekly Gazette and Free Press was in one of those small lakes that (Janesville, Wisconsin), 29 October Champlain is thought to have lost his ͳͺͷͺǢDzƒš‡•ǡ–ƒ–‡‘ˆ‹• ‘•‹n, astrolabe. ‘ ‘—–›dzǡJanesville Daily Gazette, 29 This account is taken from an ͵ —Ž›ͳͺ͸ͳǢDz‡™†˜‡”–‹•‡‡–•ǣ undated and unsourced newspaper ‹”‹‰Š– ”—‹– ƒ”ͳͺ͸ͳdzǡJanesville column (probably the Ottawa Gazette, 3 September 1861, digital JournalȌ„› ƒ””›ƒŽ‡”ǡDz––ƒ™ƒ images, findmypast Valley Days: Sturdy Craft Ran (www.findmypast.com). Gauntlet of Flame in Bush Fire of ǯ53,dz

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in the Cowley Collection, Pontiac 32 Ǥ Ǥ‘™Ž‡›ǡDzŠ‡ƒ †‘ƒŽ† Š‘‘Ž Archives, Shawville, Québec. ƒ”†‡•ǡdz—‡‡ǯ•—ƒ”–‡”Ž›, 12, 4 (April 1905), pp. 391Ȃ419. Note: The 30 The astrolabe story is found at the Macdonald School Gardens was a Canadian Museum of Civilization movement (1899Ȃ1909) started by a website (http://www.civilization.ca philanthropist to solve the then rural /cmc/exhibitions/tresors/treasure/ • Š‘‘ŽDz’”‘„Ž‡dz„›—•‹‰‰ƒ”†‡‹‰ 222eng.shtml: accessed 3 August as a means of social improvement. 2013) and in the 2013 special exhibit Cowley was obviously a supporter, as at Pinhey's Point Historic Site, Whose a number of experimental school Astrolabe? Origin and Cultural gardens were subsequently started in Ownership of a Canadian Icon. The Carleton County, for which he was a ‡šŠ‹„‹–™ƒ•’”‡’ƒ”‡†„›–Š‡‹Š‡›ǯ• public school inspector at the time. Point Foundation, based on the work of Prof. Bruce S. Elliott and a group of 33 Dzƒ’–Ǥƒ‹Ž‡•‘™Ž‡›‡ŽŽ•–”‹‹‰ graduate students in Public History at Up-River Stories of Clarendon and Carleton University undertaken to –Š‡”‹•–”‹ –•ǡdzThe Citizen, Ottawa mark the 400th anniversary of ȋDzŽ†‹‡–—ˆˆdz•‡ –‹‘Ȍǡʹ͵ ƒ—ƒ”› Champlain's voyage up the Ottawa. 1926, p. 2. The Cowley manuscript, written in 34 Dz‹ŽŽ‘™Ž‡›ǡdzWikipedia, (www. 1893, on which the exhibit focuses, is wikipedia.org : accessed 12 June in a private collection. 2013). 31 ‘Ž‹Š—” Š‡”ǡDzŠ‡‹‘ Forwarding Company Railway, The © 2013 Christine Jackson First Railway in the Ottawa Valley: The Horse Railway that ran a Royal ”ƒ‹dzǡ‘Ž‹Š—” Š‡”ǯ•ƒ‹Ž™ƒ›ƒ‰‡• (http://www.railways.incanada. net/Articles/Article2006_10.html).

This article was originally published in Anglo-Celtic Roots, the quarterly journal of the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa. Reproduced by permission of the Society. www.bifhsgo.ca

Anglo-Celtic Roots Ȉ—ƒ”–‡”Ž›Š”‘‹ Ž‡ 18 Volume 19, Number 3 ȈFall 2013