EDITOR’S NOTE: This ongoing series on Boyd House, an old stone farmhouse on Huntmar Drive, originally appeared a year ago on OttawaStart.com. We’re republishing and updating the original research here on StittsvilleCentral.ca.
In the 1980’s, previous owners of Boyd House at 173 Huntmar Drive found two old headstones under an old summer kitchen attached to the home. The names on the stones were “William Alexander” and “Walter Holmes”. Who were they?
I was stumped when I started researching this home back in 2013-2014. Nobody named Alexander or Holmes is ever listed as a property owner there, and I wasn’t able to find any direct family links to the Boyd’s. Every once in a while I’ll run a search on Google or Ancestry.ca to see what comes up. Here’s what I’ve uncovered so far.
William Alexander’s grave stone is obscured here but the visible part says he died on August 10, 1868. That appears to match with a genealogical record for a William Alexander born in 1804 in Tyrone County, Ireland.
There’s a second grave marker in the Carp Presbyterian Cemetery for William Alexander:
William was married to Margaret (Davidson) Alexander, and father to a large brood that included Andrew, Ann, Rebecca, Margaret, Elizabeth William, James, Hugh, Sam, Isabel and Francis.
Here’s a possible link:
- William’s daughter Margaret married Sam Bradley.
- Sam Bradley was the brother of Jane (Bradley) Boyd, the original owner of the stone house at 173 Huntmar.
- In other words: William Alexander’s son-in-law’s wife was Jane Boyd, who lived at 173 Huntmar.
There’s a problem with that link: Jane and her husband James Boyd probably didn’t live on the property until they were married in 1875. (James Boyd bought the property in 1872.) So was Alexander (who died in 1868) buried on the land before the Boyds arrived? Or did they bring the headstone with them for some reason?
It’s also possible that Alexander was linked to the previous landowners, the Burroughs. In fact, descendents of the Burroughs contacted me to say they believe Alexander was a father-in-law to someone in their family.
It’s also quite possible that William Alexander is connected to both the Boyds and the Burroughs. There is a lot of crossover between the branches of the family trees in Huntley Township from that era.
But what about this Walter Holmes fellow? What was his connection to the Burroughs/Boyd families? Holmes also has a headstone at Carp (Huntley) Presbyterian Cemetary. Same text, same date of death: died December 14, 1875 aged 85 years. A line of text engraved at the bottom: “Erected by Ellen Holmes”.
So far I have been unable to find a family link between Walter Holmes and either the Burroughs or the Boyd families. Various research suggests that:
- Holmes was born in 1789 or 1790 in Tyrone County, Ireland. (That’s roughly 14 years before William Alexander was born, in the same Irish county.)
- A Walter Holmes owned land at Concession 1, Lot 12f in Huntley, a few kilometers north of 173 Huntmar. In the 1879 Belden Atlas, four years after Walter’s death, the property is shown as belonging to his brother Robert Holmes.
- He appears in the census in 1851, 1861, 1871. His occupation is “Farmer”
- His parents were James and Jane Holmes (coincidentally, the same first names as James and James Boyd, the original owners of the stone house on Huntmar).
- Ellen Holmes is listed as his wife in the 1861 and 1871 census. His wife is listed as “Eliza” in the 1851 census. Both appear to be the same woman, about 20 years younger than Walter.
There were lots of Holmes in the area. In fact, the intersection of Huntmar and Old Carp Road used to be known as Holmes Corners.
One link to the Boyds: in the 1851 census, a 6-year-old James Boyd appears on the same page. So Walter was likely a neighbour with James Boyd’s family who lived nearby in Huntley.
There’s a gravestone in the Carp Presbyterian cemetery for “William MacConahey, Father of Ellen Holmes.” He died January 25, 1870 at age 75, making him about five years younger than Walter.
Ellen herself is buried at the cemetery as well with Walter. It reads: “His wife Ellen Died in the Township of Huntly Jan. 4, 1882 Ae. 83, Yrs.”
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One possible explanation for both gravestones is “recycling”. Life in the 19th century was tough, especially after the Great Fire of 1870 that decimated the area. A cemetery stone was just a piece of rock and if it could be put to good use somewhere, it would be. For example, tilling time. Here’s how one source explained it to me: “At tilling time, farmer used to like to load their tillers with heavy stones to make sure the soil would be tilled deep enough. Old cemetery stones sometimes got a new life as tilling weights. In the past, there was not the respect we have today for cemetery stones.”
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Have the true stories of William Alexander or Walter Holmes been taken to the grave by their family, friends and neighbours? Or are there still historical records that exist that can help solve the mystery? Any readers with more information can add a comment below or email feedback@stittsvillecentral.ca.
Big thanks to Christopher Ryan, Gordon Dewis and Ian White for their assistance in researching this post. Headstone photos are via CanadainHeadstones.com.
PREVIOUSLY: Family memories of Christmas on the farm, and more (Part 5)
Do you know anything about this house or the Boyd family who lived there? Send us a note at feedback@stittsvillecentral.ca.
The name ALEXANDER was linked to the house on Stittsville Main Street which burned not long ago and was demolished. It was originally the Bradley’s store. I knew it best as the Royal Albert Tea Room in about the early 1980s when Ethel and Gerry Smith opened it as a Tea Room. My late wife and I visited it often and the Smiths ran it excellently but when it came time for them to retire it was taken over by a man whose name I don’t know. He was a good cook but was not successful at running it. Eventually it was taken over by two young ladies named Sammon who were very good hosts and cooks although they eventually moved on and it became “Louisiannies” (spelling ?). The Smiths had tried to use the back room as a gift shop, but somewhere along the line it was converted into a licensed small pub with the name ALEXANDERS which had a connection to its history. I don’t know the connection, although it was likely due to some linkage with the ALEXANDERS gravestone at the Boyd House. Perhaps more research or someone else’s memory can fill in the blanks ? I wonder if Ethel and Gerry Smith are still in Stittsville ? It would be appreciated if someone could tell me.
We found the two broken stones at the property. We owned that property from 1980 to 2005; lived in it until January 2011). They had been used up side down by the Boyd family as flagstones at the door of their summer kitchen. The summer kitchen was unfortunately too rotten and dangerous to be restored and had to be taken down in the early 1980’s. Out of respect and for safe keeping, we installed the two stones and pieces in our own “mini graveyard” in a quiet corner of the property (The picture of the Walter Holmes stone in the grass that appears at the top of this article was taken there). In the early 2000s, as we were planning to move, we looked for relatives of the Alexander and Holmes families to give them the stones and we were successful in doing so.
A branch of the Alexander family moved from the third line of Huntley to Meech Lake in Gatineau Park in the mid-1800s. “Alexander Bay” where the O’Brien beach is located, is named in their honor. Alexander house, now demolished, used to stand on the North-West side of Alexander Bay.
Note that the house was in pristine condition when we left it in January 2011 as can be seen in our many pictures published by Glen Gower.
Jérôme and Carol Doutriaux, owners of 173 Huntmar drive from 1980 to 2005, occupants until January 2011.