John Robertson (settler)
| John Robertson | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1797 Perthshire, Scotland |
| Died | 3 January 1884 Nepean Township, Carleton County, Ontario, Canada |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Children |
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John Robertson was an early settler of Bell's Corners, Nepean Township, Carleton County, Ontario. While much has been written about him, particularly during the renaming controversy regarding Robertson Road, little of it has been documented. He has been described as a pioneer, weaver, foreman for the Rideau Canal, stone mason, mechanical engineer, storekeeper, farmer, major landowner, lumberman, pathmaster, surveyor of roads, Highway Commissioner, magistrate, councillor, warden of Nepean Township , agriculturalist, benefactor to his community, and an entrepreneur in his lifetime. He was born in Perthshire, Scotland in 1797 and became a silk weaver by trade before emigrating to Canada in 1827. That same year he purchased a partially cleared homestead in what would later become Bell's Corners.
The Rev. J. L. Gourlay in his 1896 History of the Ottawa Valley described Robertson thusly:
"South of Bell's Corners dwelt a man of immense brain power, and the most prominent man as merchant, lumberer, and farmer successful in all, and whose heart was as kind as his head was clear. His ashes have slept for years, but it does us good at this date to bear a true testimony to his undoubted talents and real genuine worth. John Robertson was born in Perthshire, Scotland, and came to this country in 1827, and took up the land now occupied by his son, Thomas McKay Robertson. Some of his sons are deceased many years. One of these, Ebenezer, gave early signs of the greatest promise as an enterprising business man, raised great expectations in his parent's minds, which, had he been spared, we believe he would have fully met or exceeded. It seems the loss of him to his father was irreparable. It prostrated and nearly killed that man of great mind. We do not mean in speaking thus to say that John Robertson had no defects or faults (all men have). But to a thinking mind the excellencies hid the defects. It would never occur to such to hunt them up. Some have dwelt on them, made much of them. But they had their own defects and blemishes, whilst they could not lay claim to one tithe of his towering genius. His wife was not like him, though a distant connection of his own. She was cool, intelligent, kind-hearted, well informed and good, a woman among a thousand."
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