Person Record
Metadata
Name |
Telfer, John |
Born |
1779 or 1799 |
Birthplace |
Scotland |
Places of residence |
Village of Sydenham (now known as Owen Sound) Leith (Sydenham Twp.) Originally from Dumfrieshire, Scotland and had joined Red River Colony c. 1818 and worked for the Hudson's Bay Co. before going back to Scotland to bring emigrants to Galt. Lived at Sarnia as well. |
Titles & honors |
Telfer Creek named after him? Or Willie Telfer? |
Father |
Willie Telfer |
Nationality |
Scottish |
Notes |
John Telfer was the Government Land Agent involved with helping settlers who arrived at Owen's Sound (Village of Sydenham) in the 1840s. He later moved to Leith. In 1857, he moved his family to Sarnia, but his son, Peter Telfer later returned to the Owen Sound area in the 1860s. In the 1851 census, John Telfer was ___ years old. See Melba Croft's book FOURTH ENTRANCE TO HURONIA and the A. Ross book REMINISCENCES OF NORTH SYDENHAM. See E. Marsh's book A HISTORY OF GREY COUNTY for an image of him (p. 80) John Telfer originated from Dumfrieshire, Scotland. He had joined Lord Selkirk's Red River Colony [in what would become Manitoba] in 1818, and worked for the Hudson's Bay Company. He spent some time back home in Dumfries, organizing emigration of settlers to the Galt district. Lord Sydenham, the Governor-General, appointed Telfer as land agent so that he could organize a settlement at the base of Owen's Sound. In October of 1840, Telfer and some others travelled by batteau from Coldwater to the present site of Owen Sound and joined Charles Rankin, the surveyor who laid out the town plot for the Village of Sydenham. Telfer's log house was the only structure at the Village of Sydenham for the first year. His salary was 10 shillings per day plus rations of pork and flour. He left on November 11, 1840, and returned in the spring. Settlers started arriving at Sydenham in 1841. Mr. Telfer was responsible for accommodating them at the log "Government House" until their own dwellings were completed. He also was responsible for the Government buildings built for the Newash Band of the Ojibwa (as promised to them in an 1836 treaty). He supervised road construction, including the completion of the portage road from Coldwater to Matchedash Bay [near Port McNicoll] as it was a route taken by settlers coming to this area. He also acted as an unofficial postmaster at Owen Sound. Mrs. Telfer moved to the new settlement in 184_. Their ___ was born on ________, 184_. An October, 1844 death notice stated: "At Owen's Sound Settlement, on 4th Ultimo, Mrs. Mary Scott, wife of John Telfer, Government Agent". At Leith, in Sydenham Township, he started a mill and later a distillery, which he sold to Adam Ainslie. W. P. Telford Jr. wrote in 1921 that John Telfer had moved to Leith in 1845 and put up a grist mill. He also said that Willie Telfer, John's father, lived at Leith. In 1849, the land agent's office was transferred to Durham, and Mr. Telfer resigned and moved to Sarnia. Another source says that he went to Galt before he went to Sarnia, where he died in 1871. His son's obituary says that the Telfers moved to Sarnia in 1857. - - - - - Transcript of a Letter sent to the Hon. R. B. Sullivan, Commissioner of Crown Lands, Toronto, Upper Canada: Owen's Sound Settlement Feb 23 1841 Sir as I am expecting a number of people in here as soon as the snow goes of to locate land and as I have no map or plan of the land to show the reserved lots and as it [is] not very convenient to get papers to this place, I think it will be as good for me to come to toronto myself and get those things there has been three men here for land but unfortunately the snow is so deep that all the stakes posts is covered with snow it measures five feet and a half deep on the level on the top of the mountain it is about four feet I have the shingles all made for the other two houses but am rather short of boards to lay them on I will get as much done to them as I possibly can without the boards so that as soon as I get boards in the spring we will soon be ready I should be very glad if you had those plans redy [ready] so that I could return before the rivers break up as it would be dificult [difficult] to get cross them I will come out by the garafraxa road on snow shoes as I think it the nearest rout [route] at present Your Obedt Sevt [Obedient Servant] John Telfer - - - - - - There was a bounty to be given to the parents of the first white child born at Sydenham. Moses Mossette was one of the first settlers there. His wife was an indigenous woman, and when they had the first child, they were not allowed to receive the bounty. The land agent, John Telfer, refused to accept the bounty because of this injustice when his own child was the next one to be born. It ended up that the bounty was never awarded. The Grey Roots museum has a model replica of the log "Government House" that John Telfer operated. It was two 20 x 20 log buildings, conjoined with a passageway, so that one of the rooms could be locked up and used as a secure storage space for provisions or the belongings of incoming immigrants. The "Government House" also became useful as a meeting place for political meetings and as a village school in the 1840s. John Telfer is also mentioned in the book, WHERE'S THE FIRE, p.59, and there is a c. 1920 image that partially shows the roughcast 19th-century building that had been the first post office at Owen Sound (the 1880s brick fire hall was built near it). ------ "First Land Agent Arrived to Found Owen Sound 130 Years Ago", THE OWEN SOUND SUN-TIMES, Oct. 8, 1970. "Early County Settlers Came Up Garafraxa Road, From East Via St. Vincent", THE OWEN SOUND SUN-TIMES, June 6, 1960. MER DOUCE, Volume 1, The Story of Ontario, by the Algonquin Historical Society (1957.027.004), page 9, re John Telfer, by W. P. Telford Jr. Reid, William D., DEATH NOTICES OF ONTARIO, 1980, p. 327 (has death notice of Mrs. Mary Telfer) Telford, W. P. Jr. "Reminiscences of Lake Shore Line, Sydenham", a paper read to the Owen Sound and Grey County Historical Society March 11, 1921. March, 200_, Mr. John Downs of Toronto has some photocopied letters concerning Daniel and James McClarty of Ireland (and Owen Sound). Mr. Telfer was in care of the letters. The originals are now in Montana. In 1983, Fern & Bill Purvis of Sarnia visited the museum. He is a descendant of John Telfer. Brief article in Owen Sound Historical Society's HERITAGE HAPPENINGS newsletter, Vol. 15, No. 1, Jan. 1993, mentions Mr. Telfer. 1857-1957 Grey County Centennial booklet has an image of John Telfer on p. 11. Melba Croft's book, BROOKE, p.21, mentions Capt. Peter Telfer. |
Occupation |
Land Agent Mill Owner Distillery Owner Unofficial postmaster |
Publications |
-BG0GS Volume 27 #3, August, 1997 has information about the Telfers -Croft, Melba, FOURTH ENTRANCE TO HURONIA (has several references to the Telfers) -Croft, Melba Morris, IN THEIR OWN WORDS, p. 238 (letter of instructions from W. B. Sullivan of the Crown Lands Office, to John Telfer, dated Sept. 24, 1840. -Willmot, Elizabeth, WHERE'S THE FIRE?, 1980, p. 59, mentions John Telfer, and in a fire hall photograph there is a glimpse of the old roughcast building that had the been the post office in the 1840s-1850s. |
Relationships |
Appointed by Lord Sydenham to organize a settlement at Owen's Sound. Assisted by Thomas Rutherford (who stayed over the first winter to protect the government stores for Mr. Telfer) |
Role |
Business person |
Spouse |
1. Mary Scott (d. 1844 at Owen Sound), 2. ...... |
Children |
Elizabeth Telfer (Mrs. James Beith) Peter Telfer (youngest son) Jane Telfer (born at Sydenham/Owen Sound) |
