Sinking of the Steamer Mayflower
The Sinking of the Steamer Mayflower November 12, 1912 In 1903 Napoleon Tessier, ship builder of Hull, Quebec, began construction of the paddlewheel steamer “Mayflower”
The Sinking of the Steamer Mayflower November 12, 1912 In 1903 Napoleon Tessier, ship builder of Hull, Quebec, began construction of the paddlewheel steamer “Mayflower”
On this land, Frank (1903-2000) and Stella Golka (1919-2009) raised their family and built the heart of their lumber business. Their story is one of
Mount Madawaska (also known as Radcliffe Hills Ski Area) was once home to our local ski hill, approximately 6km south of Barry’s Bay on County
On October 24th, 1848, the Methodist Church lot was marked out and sold to the Trustees of the Eganville Mission or Circuit of the Methodist
The Madonna House foundress, Catherine de Hueck Doherty, was born in St. Petersburg, Russia on August 15, 1896. Her parents belonged to the minor nobility
The Peterson Colonization Road was one of many roads established by the Government in the 1850-1860’s period to encourage immigrants from Ireland, Germany, England and Poland to emigrate to Ontario to help develop the interior of the province and also be a transportation route for the logging companies to reach their timber “limits.” Other colonization roads in eastern Ontario included; Ottawa and Opeongo Road, Hastings Road, Mississippi Road, Snow Road , Carlow Road and the Addington Road. There were other colonization roads in western Ontario.
Combermere was named in honour of Sir Stapleton Cotton, Viscount Combermere (1773-1865) who commanded cavalry in the Peninsula War. He was Commander-in-Chief in India (1825-1830) and was Field Marshall in 1855. His seat was Combermere Abbey in Cheshire, England.
In the early part of the 1900’s there was a major interest and plan to put a railway through to the corundum mines in Craigmont and Burgess. The plan was to establish a rail line from approximately halfway between the Barry’s Bay railway – the Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway and follow roughly the Old Barry’s Bay road, cross the Madawaska River just below the present day site of Madonna House and onto the Lower Craigmont Road.
Tuesday, November 12, 1912 was a dismal day for the residents of the small community of Combermere. The steamer “Mayflower” which was built and launched in this community in 1904 sank in the large part of Kamaniskeg Lake.
Dennison’s Bridge, or later called Combermere in 1865, was first settled by people from England (Hudson, Dennison), Ireland (Kelly, O’Brien, Fitzpatrick), Scotland (McFarlane), Germany (Boehme, Schweig, Richter, Marquardt, Drevniok), Polish (Shulist, Yantha, Kosnaskie, Dombroskie, Peplinskie, Etmanski, Coulas, Lepinskie, Maika) and French families from Quebec and elsewhere.