Trout Hollow Mill Burns 155 Years Ago

"The mill is reduced to ashes."

The mill at Trout Hollow near Meaford, Ontario, where John Muir lived and worked with the William Trout family, burned to the ground the night of February 21, 1866.  William’s daughter Rachel Trout gives us the exact date in her diary:

“Wed Evening 22nd – What I feared this morning is really true. The mill is reduced to ashes. It seems like some fearful dream. “

The mill’s loss had a significant impact on the Trout family and Muir.  Trout Family History states on page 295:

“When our mill was burned we all separated, each for himself.”

John Muir’s story is well known.  He left Meaford shortly after the fire in search of work.  After traveling south back to the United States in search of work, he would soon afterwards commit himself to, in his own words, “follow his dream of exploration and study of plants.”  This path led him to become an influential naturalist and environmentalist, and was instrumental in the founding of The U.S. National Park system.  

The story of the Trout family in the aftermath of the mill fire is, of course, less well known.  The mill fire left a lasting impact on the Trout family, separating them from each other and setting them on their own life journeys.  

Elder William Trout (1801-1877)

William and Catherine Trout of Meaford

The total loss at Trout Hollow created a tremendous financial hardship for the patriarch of the Trout family in Meaford.  They not only lost the mill and the modest income it provided making tool handles, they lost an entire season’s worth of inventory. Though his finances would eventually recover, his health deteriorated rendering him unable to work.  He spent most of his time with family and at the Disciples meeting house where he preached and tended to its congregants.  His wife Catherine died in 1869 and shortly afterwards he moved in with his daughter, Mary Trout Jay, where he would live out his days, passing eight years later.

Mary Trout (1831-1883)

Mary was the oldest of William’s surviving children and not only acted as a “second mother” at home, but also helped operate the Trout Hollow mill with her brothers.  A few months after the fire Mary wedded Charles Hugh Jay (1839-1909), a close friend and business partner of her brother William H. Trout.  Charles was part owner of the Trout Hollow mill and was instrumental in handling the settling of accounts after the fire.  After her father moved in with them, the Jay home became the new center of the Trout family, providing comfort to visiting family members that had moved away.  The Mary Trout Jay house, built in 1874, still stands today.  Two doors down is the home built by her son, John C. Jay.  Recent pictures of these beautiful homes are included below.  Mary died in Meaford at the age of 52 after a long illness.  Her descendants live across Ontario—several in the Meaford area—while others live in the U.S., including Illinois, California, and Georgia.  

Mary Trout Jay House, Meaford

John C. Jay House, Meaford

William Henry Trout (1834-1917)

Mr. & Mrs. William H. Trout and their children, Milwaukee, 1895

The younger William left Meaford almost immediately after the fire in search of work.  He headed for Oil Springs, Ontario, by way of Toronto, a 300 mile journey from Meaford.  While in Toronto he visited nearby Pickering and proposed to his girlfriend Jennie Knowles, before continuing on to Oil Springs.  There he immediately found work as a machinist.  He soon moved to nearby Petrolia and together with Charles Jay and another friend from home, built a blacksmith and machine shop for servicing oil wells.  This venture was short-lived due to the plummeting price of oil.  William returned home and worked various jobs in Owen Sound as a millwright and machinist, before marrying his fiancé Jennie at the family homestead in Pickering in November 1867.  Eventually the family moved to Peterborough, Ontario, where they lived for about ten years before moving to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  William worked as a machinist, and then as a draftsman and mechanical engineer and patented close to 30 inventions related to the sawmill industry.  He spent the last decade of his life researching our family roots, culminating in his work, Trout Family History, published in 1916 just a year before his death.  Five of William’s eight children survived into adulthood, and today their descendants are spread across the U.S., from California to Texas to New York.

Edward Trout (1835-1923)

Edward Trout, c. 1860, Toronto

At the time of the mill fire in 1866, Edward had been living in Toronto for about five years working as an agent for the Toronto Leader newspaper.  His success in this job allowed him to send money home to help pay his father’s debts.  This pattern would continue for much of the rest of his life.  Edward’s success allowed him to help many members of the family financially.  He granted several family members free tuition at the British American Business College in Toronto, of which he was president and owner.  With his financial assistance his wife, Jenny Kidd Trout, established the Toronto Medical and Electro-Therapeutic Institute and became the first licensed female physician in Canada.  Though they had no children of their own, Edward and Jenny adopted two children, Jenny’s grand-niece and grand-nephew, Helen and Edward Huntsman.  Edward and Jenny retired to Los Angeles, California, where many of the Huntsman-Trout descendants reside today.  

John Malcolm Trout ( 1837-1876)

John Malcolm Trout, c. 1860, Toronto

Like his brother Edward, John was also living in Toronto when the mill burned down.  He had been married almost three years to his childhood sweetheart, Eliza Jane McMillan, and had a one year old baby girl, Florence.  John had recently taken a job as a reporter for the Toronto Leader, where his brother Edward also worked.  This work came naturally to John, as his talent with reading and writing was evident at an early age.  He was reading the New Testament at age four.  His brother William regarded his speaking ability as “perhaps the best in the Academy” when they were in school together.  He left the Leader and with his brother Edward, started their own paper The Monetary Times.  He edited the evening edition of the Toronto Daily Telegraph, and published a book, The Railways of Canada: 1870-1.  John died of tuberculosis at the age of 39, which his brother William believes was hastened by John’s demanding work routine and the heartbreak of losing two children to diphtheria.   His son Herbert, a promising young doctor, also died of tuberculosis at age 30.  His two remaining daughters, Rose and Florence, married and had children.  Today their descendants are spread across the U.S., from California through the Midwest, to South Carolina and Florida.  

End of Part I

The lives of James, Peter, Harriet, Rachel, Margaret, and Alexander will continue in my next post.

Rachel Emerson Mystery Solved?

Henry George Trout (1770-1852) and his wife Rachel Emerson (1775-1845) raised ten children together in the backcountry of Upper Canada, today known as Ontario.  Henry’s story is well-documented.  But we know almost nothing of Rachel’s past and her familial roots have never been identified.

A native of Westminster, England, Henry arrived at the Port of Quebec in the summer of 1792 as a private in the Queen’s Rangers.  He served for ten years before settling in a village near Fort Erie.  By the time his unit was disbanded in 1802, Henry and Rachel already had two children and had presumably already been married. 

The little we know of Rachel’s background comes from Trout Family History (1916), written by her grandson.  It mentions only that she was born and raised in Connecticut by “English” parents.  The author’s speculation that her family may have been U.E. Loyalists has never been confirmed with supporting evidence.  

The oldest known original document to reference Rachel is a baptismal record for two of her children.  Charlotte (1812-1877) and Hannah (1815-1817) Trout were baptized at the St. John’s Anglican Church in Sandwich, Ontario, which is today Windsor, across the border from Detroit.  (Henry and Rachel's home in Fort Erie had been seized and destroyed by the Americans in the War of 1812.)

However, records that would positively link her to a family have never been located.  Maybe they’ve been lost to time.  Maybe they never existed in the first place.  Maybe we’ve been looking in the wrong places.

We do however have valuable clues, both in the historical record and modern DNA analysis, that point to one particular Emerson family—the Jonathan and Sybil Emerson family of Brownville, New York.

It is important to note that this story is still unfolding, and there is more yet to discover.  But the available evidence at the very least makes clear where the search for Rachel must be focused.  

Recent Developments

In 2018 I contacted one of my matches at MyHeritage after noticing our match “triangulated” with another known descendant of Henry and Rachel Trout.  MyHeritage had recently launched their triangulation tool as part of their chromosome browser tool kit.  In simplest terms, if three DNA matches triangulate, they likely share a common ancestor.

My contact turned out to be actively researching her Emerson ancestor whose background was also undocumented.  Hero Emerson (1796-1839) married David Phelps (1796-1885) and is buried in Perch River Cemetery, near Brownville, Jefferson County, New York.

My contact “HE1” has been researching Emersons in Jefferson County for years, and had pieced together from the available evidence that she was likely the daughter of Jonathan Emerson, an early pioneer to the area who settled as early as 1803 according to census records and tax rolls.  She also had in her possession a copy of what may turn out to be the most significant original document in making Rachel’s connection: a court filing by Sybil Emerson renouncing executorship of her husband Jonathan’s estate. 

The renouncement is significant for several reasons.  It was filed September 22, 1819.  As we have no death record for Jonathan, this document suggests he was recently deceased and that his estate is located in Jefferson County.  It also confirms his wife’s name as Sybil (we have no marriage record), and that they had a son Ira D. Emerson.  (It also proves that Sybil was still alive in 1819, as some believe she died young and Jonathan remarried Rhoda Bailey, but that is another story.)

The document is significant for another reason.  Of Henry and Rachel Trout’s ten children they only gave a middle name to one, their last.  John Emerson Trout was born August 21, 1819 in Burlington, Ontario.  Did Rachel name her son in memory of her recently deceased father?  If not it’s certainly a remarkable coincidence.

With just this one court filing you can begin building a family tree.  It contains names, relationships, locations and dates.  Once you have this foundation in place, building out the family tree is fairly straightforward assuming the original documents are available. In the case of our Emersons, sometimes the supporting evidence was there and at other times not.  DNA analysis can help by giving us an avenue to test our guesswork.  

If Hero and Rachel were siblings, did they have other family members whose descendants are among my matches?  With thousands of matches and associated family trees and few tools to sort it all out, it was information overload.  Enter Ancestry’s ThruLines, launched in early 2019.

Ouija Board or Valid Research Tool?

Though it’s not without controversy, ThruLines isn’t black magic.  It simply compares the family trees of your DNA matches, and using information from its entire user base, suggests possible common ancestors.  It’s a bit like copying your friend’s homework.  Actually it’s more like reviewing the whole class’s homework and choosing the most popular answers.  You still have to verify everything with good sources.  ThruLines simply streamlines the process of where to look.  My results so far have been astounding.  I have multiple matches with descendants of others in the Emerson family. And other cousins have been reporting similar results.  Early returns are very promising.

Rachel's brother Jonathan settled in Jefferson County, NY, alongside his father. 
(DNA matches are shown in pink.)

Rachel's siblings Desire and Ira D. Emerson also settled Jefferson County.  Ira later moved to Genesee County, New York, between Rochester and Buffalo.

Rachel's sisters Harriet and Hero married brothers, Daniel and David Phelps, and raised families in Jefferson County.

Who Were The Emersons?  A Family Profile

The available evidence combined with an historical backdrop can be used to paint a narrative for the Emerson family.  Jonathan Emerson was born June 14, 1750, in Hudson, New Hampshire, to Timothy and Hannah Emerson.  In 1771 he married Sybil Farmer, the 17 year old daughter of Benjamin and Rebecca Farmer, in nearby Hollis, New Hampshire.  Three years later they gave birth to their first child, Sybil Emerson.  Shortly afterwards Jonathan and Sybil relocated their family to Bolton, Connecticut, a village just west of Hartford.  

The reasons for this move are unclear.  It may be related to the events leading up to the American Revolution, or Jonathan may have simply moved his family seeking opportunity.  The Emersons were farmers and moved steadily westwards before eventually settling in Brownville, New York.  More research is required to reveal the exact reasons why.

Jonathan and Sybil remained in Connecticut for about a decade.  We have birth records for three of their children who were born there: Jonathan Jr. (1777), Desire (1779), and Elijah (1781).  Rachel was likely born here too in 1775.

The Emersons next move was to Rutland County, Vermont.  They appear on the 1790 U.S. Census, but they may have arrived as early as 1782.  Sybil’s father and brother (Benjamin Farmer Sr. and Jr.) are shown on the census to be living nearby.  One historical account published in 1886 states Benjamin Farmer Jr. was an early settler to the area which would place him there in about the 1780 timeframe when other early settlers arrived.  Many of the land grants in the area required the owner to build a house and either farm five acres or move another family onto the property.  The terms were five years.  It’s possible this is what motivated the Emersons to move next door.  Local research especially into land records may prove valuable.

It is here in Rutland County where our Rachel may have been living when she met her future husband Henry Trout.  Their first child George was born in 1799 in Fort Erie, Ontario.  1799 is also the year we see Jonathan Emerson move his family westward once again, this time to Westmoreland, Oneida County, New York, just west of Utica.

Romantic Montreal 

The circumstances of Rachel and Henry’s courtship have always been a mystery.  How does a girl from Connecticut meet a sergeant in the British army who was living in Canada?  It’s easy to understand the traditional presumption that her family were Loyalists who fled north in the migrations that were common in the mid-to-late 1780s.  The picture doesn’t seem any clearer with Rachel presumably living in Vermont at the time of their meeting.

However contemporaneous accounts tell us the locals made great use of waterways and travel was common.  And after the ratification of Jay’s Treaty in 1795, Americans were welcomed into Canada and they traveled there freely for several years, until the tensions that led to the War of 1812 began to rise.  It was during this time that Montreal overtook Quebec City as the largest city in Canada, and became the most important trading hub in the region.  We can only speculate if Montreal is where Henry and Rachel may have met, but it seems like a likely candidate. 

In this 1797-1798 timeframe Henry would likely have been assisting in the building of forts in the warmer months, and at home during the colder months, which we believe was in Fort Erie.  We have original records showing Henry shuttling supplies and troops during the War of 1812, as an adjutant lieutenant in charge of the militia camp outside Fort Erie.  He may have had similar responsibilities during the latter years of his time with the Queen’s Rangers.  There could be any number of reasons why he may have visited Montreal.  With about 9000 residents at the time, it was far larger than his home of Fort Erie, or any other settlement in the region of Lake Ontario.

Much must be left to speculation about Henry and Rachel’s first encounter.  What we do know is that travel in the region during this time was vibrant.  Americans were traveling into Canada frequently, offering a reasonable alternative to the traditional belief that the Emersons fled into Canada as Loyalists.

Looking Ahead...

After Westmoreland, we next find the Jonathan Emerson family in Brownville, Jefferson County, New York.  Though Rachel had already moved to Fort Erie by this time, several of her siblings later settled near their father in Brownville.  I and a few other confirmed Trouts have DNA matches with some of the descendants of these Emersons.  We even have a few matches whose ancestors are the siblings of Jonathan and Sybil.  This is about as far back as autosomal DNA analysis will take us, but the results so far are not insignificant.  There is much that can yet be accomplished by collaborating with other Trout and Emerson descendants.

After decades of searching, we finally have some fresh locations to look for traces of Rachel, namely Jefferson and Rutland counties.  Hopefully our local institutions will reopen to the public soon, and our search can move into the next phase.  The latest findings are not proof, but they are without a doubt the most exciting and promising clues we’ve ever uncovered about our Emerson roots.  

Please contact me if you would like to participate in this research, or have other evidence or ideas to offer.

Sources:

Bolton (Conn.), and Vernon (Conn.). Vital Records of Bolton to 1854 And Vernon to 1852. Hartford: Connecticut Historical Society, 1909.

Weld, Isaac, 1774-1856. Travels Through the States of North America: And the Provinces of Upper And Lower Canada During the Years 1795, 1796, And 1797. 4th ed. London: Printed for J. Stockdale, 1807.

Worcester, Samuel T.  History of the town of Hollis, New Hampshire, from its first settlement to the year 1879.  Boston: A. Williams, 1879.

Simcoe, Elizabeth and Robertson, J. Ross.  The diary of Mrs. John Graves Simcoe, wife of the first lieutenant-governor of the province of Upper Canada, 1792-6.  Toronto.  W. Briggs.  1911.

Smith, H.P. and Rann, William S.  History of Rutland County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers.  Syracuse.  D. Mason & Co. 1886.

Contact me or see my Ancestry Tree for more source documents.

James Trout And His Patented Farm Gate

In my previous post I told of Henry Trout’s patented rack railway system, the first known patent in our Trout family.  The second oldest patent in our family belongs to James Trout (1839-1906) of Meaford, son of Elder William Trout and brother to William H. Trout, author of Trout Family History (1916).

The Trout brothers in 1869.  James is seated on the left.

In his book, William describes his brother James as, “. . . the farmer boy that stayed home.  The only one that farmed with any real farming purpose; and even that did not last very long.”  And apparently James’ specialty was raising pigs.  William continues, “he always carried off first prizes at the township shows, and sold his pigs at fancy prices.”  It is therefore no surprise that James’ first and only invention would relate to his farming expertise--a type of farm gate.

James Trout patented his “Roller and Suspension Gate” in 1869, the same year Canada passed the Patent Act—the first federal legislation governing patent law.  Prior to 1869 patents were governed by the provinces.  It is for this reason James’ patent holds the distinction of holding patent number 50.  

The full patent documents may be found HERE.  The hand-written script is difficult to read and my attempt to transcribe it can be found below.  The gate itself seems pretty straightforward.  The design allows the gate to open both horizontally and vertically, and a series of pins permit the gate to be locked into any size opening.  And though the patent does not mention its purpose one can imagine this style of gate would be useful for separating animals by size especially during weaning.  

The James and Mary Trout house was built in 1875, and was home to frequent family and community gatherings.  It burned down in the late 1990s or early 2000s and today a new home sits in its place.

Just a few weeks after James registered his patent, he married Mary Amanda Williams (1847-1922).  He continued farming for only three or four more years, then sold his farm and moved into the town of Meaford.  He and his brother-in-law Charles Hugh Jay went into business together, lending money and providing insurance to area farmers and townspeople.  The legacy of the Trouts and Jays lives on through their many descendants, many of whom still live in the Meaford area. 

Patent Transcription

Ottawa  20th August 1869

Certified that this is the drawing referred to in the Specification hereto annexed.   

James Trout

Witnesses 

Nicholas Sparks 

Robert Hick Jr.

To All whom it may concern be it known that I James Trout of the township of St. Vincent in the County of Grey in the Province of Ontario, Yeoman, have invented a new and improved upon useful Farm Gate, and I do hereby declare that the following is a full clear and exact description of the construction and and operation of the same—reference being had to the annexed drawing.

The gate is represented in that part of the drawing between the left and center posts and is constructed of [hinge] horizontal bars. The top and bottom bars being __ by the length of the enclosure of gate.  The centre and main bar being of each a length as to extend to the right hand post to put a distance of at least the width of the length of the gate which main bar has flanges in the upper and lower sides of it to pass through rollers “A” “A” which rollers have grooves in them [corresponding] with the flange (deeply shaded) of the main bar. On the hinge Bars of the Gate upright slats are nailed, which form the enclosure  (such a number of slats as may be required) But the Gate can be made of Horizontal Bars instead of slats. The Rollers “A” “A” [turn] on Bolts which pass through and are attached to sliding pieces “B” “B” which can be raised perpendicular to any height required and ___ ___ the ___ to the same height.  The sliding pieces work in grooves (deeply shaded) inserted in the center and reverse posts.  The sliding pieces can be kept at any height required by means of pins passing under or through the sliding piece in the groove through the center post and over the sliding piece (in the groove) through the right-hand reverse post.  In the center and reverse posts in the grooves are holes in which the pins are put.  A pin is put in the flange of the main Bar to the right of the center post which acts as a stop to the gate upon its opening. [Coming] to the Rollers “A” in the reverse post,  the gate is fastened by a catch latch to the

left post.  On the ends of the Horizontal Bars are tenons to rest in Mortices in the left post or if the post be grooved to rest on pins passing through the posts [above] horizontally.  The Groove.  The Groove is intended for the raising and lowering the gate.  The Gate can be made on the same principle to work from left to right—or any halves working from both sides to ___ ___.  And the principle upon which it is built can be applied as well to do on barns, stables, or other out buildings 

What I claim ___  my invention is ______.

1st the main horizontal bar with the flanges [working] in the rollers “A” “A” which can be [attached] horizontally to the centre, above or below the centre of the Gate and the complete manner of balance and support and ease of working of the Gate.

2nd The Rollers “A” “A” and their effect in [reclaiming?] the main bar and gate in their proper position. 

3rd The sliding pieces “B” “B” and their effect of raising the gate to any height required.  And the manner in which the whole principle can be applied to do on for barns, stables or other out buildings, as well as to gates for gates or doors working ______ from left to right—from right to left - as in halves from both sides to the centre. 

City of Ottawa in the County of [Carleton]

the twentieth day of August in the 

Year of Our Lord One thousand

Eight Hundred and Sixty nine -

Signed in the presence of 

Nicholas Sparks 

Robert Hick Jr.

Sources:

Trout, William H. Trout Family History. Meyer-Rotier Print. Co., 1916.

Canadian Intellectual Property Office.

Oldest Trout Family Patent Discovered

Our Trout family tree is brimming with inventors and engineers.  This ingenuity can be traced back to the Trout family’s difficult pioneer life near the village of Erin, Ontario.  

Our immigrant ancestor Henry Trout (1770-1852) was one of the first settlers in Erin.  In true pioneer form they had to provide everything for themselves.  Henry and his oldest sons built the town’s first sawmill, the first trading post, and the first potash factory.  They cleared land so they could grow their own food and erected a home. They built spinning wheels and looms and made their own clothes.  Henry even learned to make shoes for the family.  These skill sets, first honed in the Canadian wilderness, would leave a legacy lasting generations.

The earliest patent attributed to a Trout family member that I have located was authored by Henry Trout’s 4th child, Henry Trout (1805-1853) of Hamilton, Ontario.  Like his brothers Henry Jr. was a skilled millwright.  His brother William Trout of Meaford “regarded [his] natural mechanical abilities as superior to his own.”   

Henry’s watermill experience proved useful in similar construction work.  He dredged rivers and built timber slides, notably along the Trent-Severn Waterway.  Later he worked for the Grand Trunk Railway as a superintendent of bridge construction.  It was likely during this time he conceived his idea for a type of rack railway, and received the first known patent in our Trout family.  Henry’s first and only patent was awarded in 1850, just three years before his untimely death from a falling tree branch.  Henry’s sons, Henry G. Trout (1829-1911) and William B. Trout (1850-1926) would both inherit their father’s ingenuity and lead successful careers in the shipbuilding industry.  I will tell their story in a future blog post.

Sources:

Trout, William H. Trout Family History. Meyer-Rotier Print. Co., 1916.

Angus, J. A Respectable Ditch: a History of the Trent-Severn Waterway 1833-1920. McGill-Queen's University Press, 1998.

Patents of Canada: 1849-1855.  Lovell & Gibson, 1865.

Allis-Chalmers Sawmill Visit

In May 2019 Kristen and I with our children visited Disneyland in Anaheim, California.  While there I took an opportunity to go see an antique sawmill that is linked to our Trout family history.

The sawmill is displayed in the parking lot of the Ganahl Lumber Company located at 1220 East Ball Road in Anaheim.  The plaque at the base of the structure is titled “The Big Saw” and reads:

“This nine foot band saw is among the largest log saws ever used in the sawmill industry.  It weighs over 38,000 pounds and has a blade that stretches over fifty-six feet in length.  This saw was used to cut Douglas Fir logs up to ten feet in diameter and fifty-six feet in length.  The lumber from just one of these giant logs would be enough to build two houses of about 1500 square feet each.
The machine was manufactured by the Allis-Chalmers Company in 1910 and put into service by the Jones Lumber Company located on the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon.  For fifty-two years, it was used to cut Douglas Fir lumber that was loaded on seagoing barges and shipped into the growing California market.  The iron giant was finally retired in 1962 when the mill was dismantled and sold at auction.  Despite the age of the machine, it is in sound working condition.  With a little grease, it could go back to work anytime.  But our intention is to keep it on display here as a monument to the pioneers of the lumber industry.”

How is this sawmill linked to the Trout family?  

William Henry Trout (1834-1917) worked as a draftsman and pattern-maker for the Edward P. Allis Company and later Allis-Chalmers from about 1885 until his death in 1917.  He is credited with 34 patents while working for these companies, according to Trout Family History.  I have positively identified 24 of these, all of which are related to the lumber industry, sawmills in particular.  So at the very least we can say the Ganahl display is similar to the designs patented by William during his stint at Allis-Chalmers as chief draftsman.  But upon closer inspection the mill may be the sawmill design William describes on page 227 of Trout Family History: 

“In 1897, Mr. E. E. Fitzgerald, traveller for the Allis Company, met a Minneapolis mill superintendent, who wanted to have his mill with teeth on both edges of the band saw, so as to saw off boards on both the forward and backward movements of the carriage . . . and a contract was made accordingly . . . On the first day of trial it sawed twenty-two boards ten inches wide by sixteen feet long in one minute, and it made such a sensation among the lumbermen that many unsolicited inquiries came in regarding it . . . The new, double-cutting band mill proved to be a great commercial success.”

Note the teeth on both sides of the cutting blade.

William goes on to describe in detail the process by which this design was patented.  And though I don’t have the expertise to positively identify the actual patent, it appears to be the patent shown below, which was filed just a few months before his death in 1917 and was posthumously awarded in 1921.  You can view the full patent HERE.

It should be noted there are some inconsistencies with William’s own recollections compared to the actual patent records, notably the dates.  The Ganahl display states it was manufactured in 1910, while the double-cutting mill patent referenced here was filed in 1917.  It’s possible I simply have not found the correct patent.  It’s also possible that Allis-Chalmers began manufacturing and selling this design before it was actually patented.  And though we have no reason to question the 1910 date found on the plaque, I have not been able to verify it either.

Further investigation is required.  

Trailer for upcoming "John Muir at Trout Hollow" Documentary

Here is the teaser trailer for the soon-to-be-released documentary, "John Muir at Trout Hollow" by filmmaker Amy Phelan.  The young woman "Hattie" speaking with John is Harriet Trout (Stirling), daughter of Elder William Trout of Meaford and sister to William H. Trout, author of Trout Family History (1916). 



I do not have a release date yet for the full documentary.  I will post updates here on how to watch the movie when it is available.  Looking forward to seeing this!

Photo Identified, Trout mill site located

          About three years ago cousin Tami Renner, with support from her family, undertook an enormous task of digitizing hundreds (thousands?) of family photos and documents and making them available online.  Many of them date to the 1800s and early decades of the twentieth century.  All are a treasure to the family and we are grateful that they have been preserved.  Thank you, Renner cousins!  The collection can be found here:

          https://rennersteindorf.shutterfly.com/

          Many of the older photos were taken and collected by Tami’s great-grandmother, Jennie Trout Steindorf (1875-1956), daughter of William H. Trout who authored Trout Family History (1916).  As with any collection of historic photos, several are unidentified.  One such unidentified photo has been sitting on my desktop for two years.  It was labeled “Trout mill location.  Possibly Meaford, ONT”

Photo likely taken by Jennie Trout Steindorf c. 1928.

          In an attempt to identify the photo, I forwarded it to several libraries, museums, and historical societies in the Meaford area to no avail.  Then I forwarded it to our friend Robert Burcher, who led our reunion hike to Trout Hollow.  After a few dead ends, Robert wrote to me:

“On a whim yesterday I went into the village of Walter's Falls (on the Bighead River) to see if that was the correct location. When I asked at the front desk of a Hotel that is built on the old mill site the owner just smiled and reached over to a shelf and brought forth this:"

Photo by Robert Burcher.

“Eureka!! Turns out she is somewhat of a historian and member of the Hallman Family, so she could give me the complete run down on the site. She passed this sheet on to me.”

Walter’s Falls was founded by John Walter over 163 years ago.  John Walter (1804-1867) and his wife Elizabeth Payne (1804-1882) are buried in the church yard of St. Philip’s Anglican Church.  This beautiful stone church, built in 1880, is located beside the Inn and is open to the public year round.  Settling around the river, John harnessed the water power to develop a sawmill, feed mill, and woolen mill.  The sawmill was operated by the Olmstead brothers until it was sold to Willard Hallman in the early 1940’s.  The sawmill increased its power capacity and expanded in the 50’s, but outgrew the power and changed to the hydro grid in the early 80’s.  Willard’s son John continued to operate the sawmill until it burned in 1984.

          On page 93 of Trout Family History, we find mention of this mill and confirmation of its association to the Trout family of Meaford:

“And in the early summer of 1852 we built Walter's grist mill.  This was thirteen miles from the lake, and three miles beyond the nearest settler.”

          It’s not much, but we have a date, a name, and a general location, more than enough to confirm the site.  The year 1852 fits the mill history description of “over 163 years ago.”  “Walter’s grist mill” is of course a match.  And “thirteen miles from the lake” fits as well, with Google Maps showing a distance of about 11 miles as the crow flies to Meaford, which sits on the shores of Georgian Bay (Lake Huron).  

          Today the mill site is home to The Falls Inn & Spa, which according to the owners, “stands in tribute to those who laboured and operated in the village.”  We can now safely say that our Trout ancestors are included in this tribute.  

Bullrushes growing within mill's original foundation.  Photo by Robert Burcher.

Section of the original vertical mill shaft.  Photo by Robert Burcher.

The mill was located to the left of the viewing platform.  Photo by Robert Burcher.

A second dam and mill sits upstream.  The metal pipe fed water to the main mill.  Photo by Robert Burcher.