To honour Richmond’s 200^th anniversary, we will be posting factoids about our rich history. You should expect to see 200 pieces of information that you may or may not have already known.  The topics of these posts are: #101. Lacrosse #102. Edward Rielly’s horses #103. First Presbyterian Manse #104. Whiskey  #105. Grammar School Prizes

If you have a question about the source of a factoid please contact us.

Factoid #101. The May holiday of 1868 had flags and military musters; it also featured a lacrosse game. “In the afternoon a sharply contested La Crosse match took place which attracted a large number of spectators to the ground, who watched its progress with great interest. The players were all dressed in the club costume which gained no small admiration from the many ladies present at the match.” Richmond had a lacrosse club with uniforms. What is still unknown is if there was a league or regular games. Life was not all hard work and strife. There was time to party and play.

Factoid #102. As noted in previous factoids, hotel owner Edward Rielly loved horses and operated a stagecoach between Richmond and Ottawa. It should not be surprising that the census of 1861 recorded that he owned 22 horses. Mr. Reilly also loved horse racing and built a track on land, which is now part of the fair grounds.

Factoid #103. The Presbyterian congregation in the village was much smaller than that of the Anglicans or Roman Catholics; it received far less support from the government. Although two acres of land were set aside for a cemetery in 1818, a petition in 1823 for six acres on York St. was denied. The congregation continued to use the schoolhouse and was part of the circuit covered by the Rev. William Bell of Perth well into the mid 1830s. The Rev. Andrew Glen had been the resident minister for three years in the 1820s, but it was not until the 1840s with the arrival of the Rev. David Evans and his family that the congregation had a resident minister for any length of time. Lot 8 on the east side of McBean St. (site of the present church) was purchased in 1838 and a frame church was completed in 1847.

This location was not the congregation’s prime choice for the location of a church. In 1855 the congregation purchased for £150 sterling a 10-acre park lot on Perth St. (Lot 13) at the corner of the Huntley Rd. (now a vacant lot). The intent was to build a church and manse, and to use some of the land for a new cemetery because the  cemetery land it received in 1818, and still uses today, was low and frequently flooded. Only a manse was constructed at this location.

“St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church” a history published in 1983 provides us with a unique history of the manse. “It was a log building now clapboarded. It is a centre door plan with four rooms downstairs, the parlour with a bedroom behind it on one side, and the dining-room and kitchen on the other. The front door has side and top lights.” This construction and layout were very typical of many of the log houses built in the village in its first fifty years.

The church history tells us that in 1867 a soirée was held to raise money to build a fence in front of the manse. The congregation decided that “a good and sufficient board fence and a large and small gate be procured and built at the front of the manse grounds”. In 1870 a shed and kitchen were added to the house for a cost of $55. In 1877 a well was dug and in 1877 it was decided to get outside (storm) windows. The manse became redundant in 1889 when the decision was finalized to erect a new manse beside the church at the McBean St. location.

In the twentieth century the Neelin family owned the house for more than 60 years. Unfortunately it was demolished.

Factoid # 104. Celebrations like the May holiday as well as the need to constantly provide hospitality to the hundreds of travellers passing through the village would have required some alcoholic refreshments. In the early days Richmond had as many as five distilleries. Although the Canadian Directory of 1858 recorded Thomas Lyon as a distiller, no whiskey production is listed on the 1861 census. Lyon struggled to maintain his family’s various businesses but the distillery may have been the first casualty.

Some whisky would have been purchased from Bytown but village merchant Thomas Lewis had another source. He had an agreement with J. P. Wiser of Prescott whose business was flourishing. The comparison of the dynamic growth in Prescott and slow decline of Richmond is apparent. (You may read more at the recent post “Whiskey Merchants – Thomas Lewis and J.P. Wiser”)

Factoid #105. The “Ottawa Citizen” of July 3, 1868 published a list of students who placed first in the exams for various subjects at the Richmond Grammar School. This list tells us the specific subjects that were taught in the school and also gives us insight as to the brightest students in the community.

First Greek Book (B. Shillington )

Latin Prose Composition (J. B. Lewis), Virgil & Caesar (J. B. Lewis), First Latin Book (R. Pearson)

French 1st Class (M. Scott), 2nd Class (Robert Y. Street), 3rd class (J. Pettit)

Euclid Books I, II, & III (R. Pearson), Arithmetic 1st Class (J. B. Lewis), 2nd Class  (R. Y. Street)

Canadian History 1st Class (R. Pearson), 2nd Class (B. Shillington), English History (J. B. Lewis)

English Composition (R. Pearson), English Grammar (B. Shillington), Spelling (B. Shillington), Writing (R. Y. Street).

Who were these young scholars?

1. Shillington was probably Thomas Benjamin, aged 15, who lived with his parents and five siblings just a half a block from the school at the corner of Lennox St. and Strachan St. His father, William, was a storekeeper. Benjamin spent most of his adult life in Blenheim Ontario where he was a teacher, merchant and tailor. He was a two-term mayor.
2. J. B. Lewis was the third generation of Richmond men named John Bower Lewis. He was a grandson of Capt. John B. Lewis and a nephew of the Ottawa mayor and lawyer J. B. Lewis. This young man, son of merchant, Thomas Lewis, spent his early years living on Strachan St. within sight of the school and then moved to McBean St. As an adult “Bower” became a Civil Engineer, Dominion Land Surveyor, and Provincial Land Surveyor. He lived most of his adult life in Ottawa. Unmarried, he had a great love of flowers and his Echo Drive home had a garden containing hundreds of perennials.

As for the other Richmond Grammar School scholars, if you have any information, please leave a comment.