By Jean Turnbull Elford in Upper Canada’s Last Frontier (1982) Sarnia’s first settlers were French. Most of them, preferring British to American rule, came from Michigan after the British surrendered Detroit to the Americans in 1796. These people, who rented land from the Indians, farmed, and made shingles and fence [...]
by Edward Phelps in Gateway to Bluewaterland (1987) Upon exploring the history of Sarnia, one finds its development comparable to that of a person. Chapter One (From Hunting Ground to County Seat) chronicled the birth and early years of Sarnia – its childhood, if you will. The next stop in [...]
When I was 10 years old, my family lived on South Christina Street, one house north of Devine Street. Directly across the road was the sprawling yard of the Lawrence Lumber Company, which I watched burn during a spectacular fire in the mid-50s. It was only later that I realized [...]
by Charles Phelps in Sarnia: Gateway to Bluewaterland (1987) The site of Sarnia at the dawn of the 19th century was an uncharted wilderness ripe for exploration and settlement. Home to only a small band of Chippewa Indians, whose moderate demands for game and fish were more than amply supplied, [...]
by Phil Egan in First Monday Joe Egan escorts German prisoner off gangway of HMCS Prince Rupert in St. John’s, Newfoundland, 1944. Fifteen German prisoners were turned over to RCMP for internment. (2015) On a summer day in a small town in Germany, two old men sit on [...]
by Phil Egan - special to The Sarnia Journal (2015) Lou Giancarlo had a feeling something was out of place. He couldn’t help wondering what the cannon known to generations of Sarnians as “Big Tom” was doing in Canatara Park. Eight months later, thanks to the efforts of Giancarlo and [...]
by Pat Maclean Born on January 28, 1822 in Logierait, Scotland, one of seven sons, Alexander Mackenzie attended schools in Perth, Moulin and Dunkeld before apprenticing as a stonemason. He emigrated to Canada in 1842, settling in Kingston, where he married his first wife, Helen Neil, whom he had followed [...]
“BIG TOM” CANNON: Sarnia’s Market Square, now called Veterans Park, has been around since Canada’s Confederation in 1867. In 1869, an old cannon, a British-made “32-pounder” originally nicknamed “Long Tom”, was placed in the park. Manufacture: Walker and Company of Rotherham, Yorkshire, England manufactured the “Long Tom” cannon [...]
By Cathy Dobson for The Sarnia Journal (2015) Thirty years after a tragic house fire took the life of a young Sarnia woman, her memory lives on thanks to her family’s determination to improve local fire safety. Twenty-four-year-old Frances Egan came from a big family that included her parents, June [...]
by Phil Egan George Durand arrived in Sarnia in 1833, driving a team of oxen with a wagon laden with goods to provision “The Rapids’” first store. He was here before Captain Richard Vidal and the great influx of English and Scottish settlers. A report in 1834 reveals that this [...]
