Thomas Jarrett was born in Wilmington, Kent, England in 1874, the child of Edwin Jarrett and Jane (Parrick). The family were in Canada by 1881. Thomas married Ella May Strickland in Toronto in 1892 and the couple settled in Trenton, Ontario. Thomas Jarrett died there on 17 May 1935.
Lindi Pierce is a photographer and writer who lives in Belleville, Ontario.
Rubidge, Frederick Preston, D.P.S.
Frederick Rubidge was born March 10, 1806 in London, England. He emigrated to Upper Canada in 1825 to study surveying. In 1831, Frederick officially qualified as a provincial surveyor, later working for the Board of Works for the Province of Canada (Public Works). He also dabbled in architecture, drafting several prominent buildings, including the conversion of Rideau Hall to the official residence of the governor general of Canada, the Montreal Court House and the Parliament buildings. In 1872, Frederick received his dismissal from the government, as he was a civil servant over age 65. He died in Montreal on August 16, 1897.
John D. Evans was born in Goderich, Ontario on 27 May 1843. He was educated at the Upper Canada College in Toronto. He trained as a land surveyor and moved to Belleville, Ontario, in 1867. He worked as a surveyor and architect, being responsible for a number of buildings in Belleville including what is now City Hall (built 1871-1873). He worked as the Chief Engineer of the Central Ontario Railway from 1881, retiring in 1925. Evans died in Toronto on 7 November 1930.
His son, John Walter Evans was a prominent engineer and surveyor in the City of Belleville.
John Thomas Ransom was born on August 25, 1889, to parents Giles Sanders Ransom and Margaret Wilson at York, Ontario. He married Lottie Ruth Long on March 19, 1912, at York, Ontario. He was a Provincial Land Surveyor active in Hastings County from the 1940s-1960s. His son, Thomas S. Ransom was also a surveyor in the local area. John Ransom died on October 13, 1962.
Around 1773, James Peachey worked in the office of the surveyor general for Quebec. By May 1783, he was employed as a deputy surveyor under surveyor general Samuel Holland. He surveyed lots of land for troops and loyalists in Upper Canada. He died on November 24, 1797 likely due to an epidemic in Martinique where he was deployed.
Onesiphorus Bartley was born on April 4, 1815, at Bristol, Gloucestershire, England, to parents Onesiphorus Windle Sr. and Mary Ann Collett. He was baptized July 3, 1822 at Wiltshire, England. At some point he immigrated to Ontario, Canada. He then married his wife, Sarah Carroll, on September 1, 1844 at St. Pauls, Woodstock, Oxford, Ontario. In the 1878 Belleville Directory, his professions were listed as Provincial Land Surveyor and civil engineer. He died on September 28, 1879. His estate was left to his only next of kin - his son.
Simpson, George Albert, P.L.S.
George Simpson was born on October 11, 1842, to parents Hilda Platt and Benjamin Simpson, at Hallowell, Prince Edward, Ontario. He officially registered as a Provincial Land Surveyor on October 7, 1864, and relocated to Belleville, Ontario. In 1873, he married Emma Ross of Picton, Ontario. He died on January 8, 1905 in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Drewry, William Stewart, P.L.S.
William Drewry was born on January 20, 1859, at Belleville, Ontario, to parents John Burnham Drewry and Glorianna Climie. He was apprenticed to Evans and Bolger in 1879 and qualified as an Ontario Land Surveyor (1882), and a Dominion Land Surveyor (1883). Throughout his career he surveyed with several government departments, railways and private firms. In 1884, he married Clare Lillian Hazard. He died on December 2, 1939 in Victoria, British Columbia.
Hermon, Royal Wilkerson, P.L.S.
Hermon was born on March 4, 1830, at a farm in Rednersville Township, Prince Edward County, Ontario, to parents William Hermon and Sarah Roblin. He had 8 siblings. His paternal grandparents were "Pennsylvania Dutch," and immigrated to Canada in the 1770s, while his maternal side were United Empire Loyalist settlers. Hermon went to school at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. He went on to teach school and eventually train and qualify as a Provincial Land Surveyor. He set up practice in the Counties of Hastings and Prince Edward. From 1882 to 1884, he was employed as Inspector of Dominion Lands Survey.
His first wife was Anne Louise Bolton of York, Ontario (m. 11 May 1861), by whom he had two children, Ernest Bolton and Robert. After her death in 1867, he married Olive A. Jeffs the following year. They had three children: Edward William, Royal Ridley and Roblin Compton. After the passing of his second wife in 1875, he remarried once again. This time he was wed to Mary Doan and produced two more children: Mary Gertrude and Bartle Pierre. After a long and prosperous life, Hermon died of "surveyors stomach trouble" on February 9, 1907, at the farm where he was born 77 years earlier.
Butler, Matthew Joseph, O.L.S.
Ponton, Archibald William, P.L.S. & D.L.S.
Archibald was born on January 25, 1859 to parents Archibald Sr. and Mary Frances Patterson, at Belleville, Hastings, Ontario. He trained as a land surveyor under Thomas Bolger, P.L.S., and then moved west in 1879 as assistant land surveyor to Bolger. Throughout his career, Archibald was active in Regina and Northwest Territories as a Dominion Land Surveyor and as an architect. He died at Edmonton, Alberta, on 20 January 1915. He was a cousin of Lt. Col. W.N. Ponton.
Charles Shaw was born on November 11, 1854, to parents Margaret and Alexander, at Oak Hill, Toronto, Ontario. He married Ida Laura Cathlene Jones, at Trenton, Ontario, on March 14, 1883. They soon relocated to Wellington, Prince Edward, Ontario. Throughout his career, Charles worked as a Provincial Land Surveyor and as a Civil Engineer, with private and government firms. After relocating again, this time to British Columbia, he was employed as a Captain of a prisoner of war camp. He died on May 9, 1942 at Saanich, British Columbia.
Webster, Frederick Theodore, O.L.S.
Fred Webster was born on September 19, 1892, at York, Ontario, to parents Fred F. Sr. and Mary Elizabeth Cobb. Throughout his career he was employed as an Ontario Land Surveyor.
He married his wife, Emily Lala Alford, on September 3, 1919, at Carleton, Ontario and died on August 14, 1962.
Caddy, Edward Christopher B., P.L.S. & D.L.S.
Edward Christopher Caddy was born on June 28, 1815, at Quebec, Capitale-Nationale Region, Quebec, Canada, to parents Colonel John Thomas Caddy and Hannah Goddard. He had 12 siblings. Throughout his career he was employed as a Provincial and Dominion Land surveyor. He surveyed various lands in Ontario. He married Sarah Playter Rogers, in 1856. They had 9 children. Caddy died on September 26, 1897, at Cobourg, Northumberland County, Ontario.
Walter Evans was born on April 10, 1870, at Belleville, Ontario, to parents Mary Ellen Henry and John Dunlop Evans (a surveyor and architect). He married his first wife, Jennie Leah Henry, on September 18, 1901, at Ottawa, Ontario. He later married Marjorie Miriam Struthers after the death of his first wife in 1925. Throughout his career he worked as an Ontario Land Surveyor and engineer. He worked with his father, John Dunlop Evans, at their company "Evans & Evans, Civil Engineers and Ontario Land Surveyors." After his father's retirement in 1928, the company became "J. Walter Evans & Co. Engineers & Surveyors." Evans was also a trailblazer in the steel and metal industries - placing patents on many of his electrical furnace inventions. He died only 8 years after his father, on November 6, 1938 at Beardmore, Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Elizabeth Mitchell is a librarian and resident of Belleville, Ontario.