A HISTORY OF THE HAGARTY FAMILY In Logan Township Perth County, Ontario, Canada By John P. Hagarty(1905-1996) My Grandfather John Hagarty and his sister Bridget left Ireland to come to Canada about 1850, to find a new home for themselves, with the understanding that if things were all right they would send for the rest of the family. All of the family survived the potato famine that lasted from 1845 to 1849 in Ireland. They landed in New York and crossed into Canada at Niagara. At that time, Stratford and Mitchell were in the Huron District and the Canada Co. had built the Huron Road from what is now the east side of North Easthope Township to Goderich. The nearest outlet for trade, was through Mitchell, Stratford, on to Berlin" now Kitchener, Galt to Hamilton and then Buffalo. They were able to get a stage coach from Hamilton to Galt or Berlin and arrange rides the rest of the way back to Mitchell. The Huron Road had been opened up and built in the 1830s, from Mitchell north, now known as Highway 23. When they travelled through Logan on their trip to the home of Timothy Regan, Conc. 10, Logan (that Lot is 1.5 miles east of the present Highway 23 on Conc. 10), The trees on the Logan road, as it was called then, had been cut and moved to one side to leave room to get through. John wanted to settle on a farm, so he started to look things over. It must have been quite a decision to make. By the early 1850s, Logan had filled up from Mitchell north to Concessions 1, 2 and 3. It was likely settled to the 8th and 9th Concessions around 1853. This was the year he chose Lot 16, Conc. 9, Logan just north of what was later called Bornholm. This lot faced on the Logan Road and had some good high land on the West and some on the East. The east part of the front, facing the Logan Road was a black ash swamp. About 20 acres of this swamp continued on Lot 16, Conc. 10, half of which my Grandfather also took. The West half of the 50 acres was higher land where part of this lot still has bush on it. He took a total of 150 acres, all in forest. It must have been quite an outlook having a farm, all in trees and no buildings. He had to clear some of this land before he could grow any crops. Some settlers followed the creeks as they often had some land where there was some clearing either from flooding in the spring or they had a beaver meadow on them. It was easy to grow crops on these clearings as they could be easily drained by running small shallow surface drains to the creek, and water was also available for livestock and house use. I expect money was a big problem that a settler had, but it was not the only one. The Canada Company knew this as they had been selling farms in this district for 20 years. They had developed a policy of leasing land to settlers that made it easier on both sides and protected a farmer. If he kept up his rent, he kept up his rights on the land, until he had enough money for a down payment. He could make improvements and could get credit for them if he didn't stay. My Grandfather, John now had two problems. He had a farm with nothing on it but trees, and he had promised to bring his family from Ireland. There were four brothers, one sister, with her husband, William. Uniac, and some family, and also his Mother and Father. John and his sister both got jobs; Bridget at domestic work and Grandfather on the railroad. He also had to get money to pay on his farm and make improvements on it. He worked on the Toronto-Stratford line in the Guelph area..In the next nine years, he had cleared some of his land, built a good sized house, a log barn and stable. He helped bring the rest of his family from Ireland around 1855 and settled them mostly in Logan Township. My Great Grandparents John and Abegail Hagarty, lived on the 10th Conc., Lot 15, Logan, about 40 rods east of Highway 23. Once the family got here he would have four brothers in their late teens or early twenties. At that time, the log house built on the farm by my Grandfather was a good sized house, 28' x 18', with a kitchen built on the back, west side. There was a woodshed west of this. In the main house was a big living room and two bedrooms on the south side, three bedrooms upstairs, a full basement with solid stone walls and foundation. In the there was a frame building, with one big room with two small rooms on the west end, one a pantry on the South and the other a cloak room or entrance. Behind this was a big woodshed. This house was later covered with pine siding. They tore this house down in 1921 and moved the present house (that he built around 1904) across the laneway onto the site of the old house. In February of 1862 he married Mary Nagle, who had come from Ireland. When myGrandparents were married, people were coming into the township. Logan as far as the boundary with Elma Twp. was pretty well filled with settlers. My Grandfather cleared the higher land first and left the swamp part until later, as it would have to be drained before it would be any good. They had bee loggings. After the trees were cut down, the logs were piled for burning. They pulled as many stumps as they could and piled them as well. When he walked back to school or church along this road, lined with trees on both sides, there would be snow in the winter but no wind or drifts as later when the forest had been cleared. One brother, Timothy, bought ten acres from his brother, John, and built a hotel on the corner of the Lot 16, where Weitersen's store stands today. He also built a bank barn on the hotel property. It was used to keep the horses of the travellers who stopped at the hotel. This was a very busy road. In the winter time, it would be lined up with teams hauling logs and grain to Mitchell. Cutters would be travelling on this road too, with people going to all the towns and visiting each other all day long. Timothy got the Post Office located in the hotel and was the first Postmaster when it opened in 1865. It was at this time, when he failed to send in a name for the Office, that the Department named it Bornholm. He sold this hotel about ten years later to Robert Keyes and moved across the corner where he built the Post Office in part of his home. Timothy didn't stay in Bornholm long after he sold the Hotel. He sold the new Post Office building to Thomas Walsh and moved to Stratford where he bought or built the Commercial Hotel. There was a log Roman Catholic church built in Mitchell in 1858 and the present church built there in 1882. In Logan, a log shanty mission church was built in 1860. There would be Mass there about once a month. The other Sundays, they would go either to Kinkora or Mitchell. There was a frame church built where the present church is in 1865 and it was burnt in 1898. A red brick church was built there in 1899. My Grandparents, John and Mary (Nagle) Hagarty, had five children. Peter, born 1863, died 1867; Katy (Mrs. James Glavin) 1864-1947, John (my Father) 1866-1950; Nellie (Mrs. Felix Regan) 1867- 1957; and Michael 1870-1930. My Grandfather was a Township Councillor in Logan for the years 1875 and 1876. In the year 1866, my Father, John was born. He who had attended Number Five school across from the church on the Logan Road, later went to the High School in Mitchell. He would get a ride with a team or cutter going to Mitchell in the morning and at four o'clock they would be going the other way and he would get a ride home. In 1866 the present barn that is standing on the property was built; it was 40' wide and 70' long; it was what they called a low barn, as it did not have a wall under it and was just set on a foundation. About five years later it was jacked up and a solid stone wall put under it. There was an extra 20 ft. put onto the length, which was later the horse stable, and a root house at the back, which was roofed over. This became part of what they referred to as the bank. All this had a solid stone wall underneath, built by Scottish masons. They built a wall with cut stone and these would extend right through the wall from outside to inside, with large stones showing on the outside, especially on any part towards the front or road. The masons were Peter Campbell and his sons, Jake and Bob. The Campbel's would be here at five o'clock in the morning, after having walked three miles. They would work for two hours, then my Grandmother would have breakfast at seven and dinner at twelve, supper at six. Then they would walk home, for a wage of one dollar a day. There is also a story about the big stones used in this wall. They had to go to Ellice Twp. for these stones. Late in the fall a gang of men would go to Ellice before the frost came. They would pry these stones out of the ground and set them up with small stones underneath, so they would not freeze into the ground. When the first snow came, teams and sleighs with enough men to load these big stones, brought them to the farm the winter before the wall was to be built . The masons would heat these stones the winter before the wall was to be built. They would set fires around them and then throw water on them to split the stones. Then a gang of men would get the necessary logs out of the bush, and with their broad axes would square the timbers. In his barn, even the rafters are black ash poles. In the twenty foot section they put on this barn, the rafters are cedar, but they had plenty of trees. He decided, when he was 55 years old, sometime around 1885, that it was time he retired from work. After that he became an overseer or a retired gentleman. In 1897, Grandfather gave the home farm to his son Mike. He sold to him for the sum of $1.00 and took a note from him for $1000 and an agreement to keep them for the rest of their lives. Mike Hagarty farmed until 1930 when he died after being kicked by a horse. Mike Hagarty was reeve of Logan Township and also warden of Perth County. About 1890 Grandfather along with son John bought the 100 acres on Lot 9, Conc. 8, Logan.( 3 km. east of Bornholm) In 1896, they built a big barn on this farm. It was a big high barn, with full stone walls. It was 45' wide by 76' long. In February of 1912, Grandfather and Grandmother celebrated their Golden Wedding, fifty years married. Grandfather started failing in the winter of 1917 and by spring he was getting worse. It was just old age and they knew it would not be long. One morning in April, Dad and I were getting the horses out of the stable to go to the field. It was seeding time. Mother called out that she had a telephone call that Grandfather was dead. Dad went back into the barn. I was waiting outside and went back into the hall behind the horse stable. He had his hands up to his head and his face against the wall and was crying. When he heard me, he came out and told me to go to the field and harrow, and he went up to Grandfather's house. Grandfather was 87 years old. When I look back to my Grandparents' life, I see people coming from a country with very few opportunities to own property, and chances to succeed in anything were limited. To come to a country, where they could, by hard work and good management acquire so much in a lifetime, and retire with such dignity was really amazing. This wasn't only our ancestors, but was repeated by so many, that I can remember, from all races who came into this country at that period.