Settlers
 |
|
Rebecca Lake from Sunset Cabin, ca. 1940 (Wendy Kimmel)
|
Along the south shore of Rebecca Lake, from west of Brook’s Mill and around into Hutcheson Bay, the original ownership of the surveyed lakeshore lots was:
Lot 4, Concession 5 – William Nelson. Mizpah Church was located here and eventually the Community Trash Pit and the Sinclair Transfer Station.
Lots 5 and 6, Concession 6 – These lots were originally registered by Elizabeth Hart, wife of Andrew Hart. Andrew was not eligible to register more than two lots, as he had already made claims for Lots 20 and 21, Concession B, which later became the Billie Bear property, so these two lots were put in his wife’s name. Friends of the Harts included the Nairn family. In 1879 Andrew Hart arranged to have David Nairn take over these lots and clear them. In 1888 the Nairns moved to Huntsville, and Andrew, Elizabeth, and their two daughters Mabel and Bertha moved here to be closer to the school at Nelson’s clearing.
 |
||
| Rebecca Lake from Sunset Farm, looking north, July 1949 (Wendy Kimmel) |
Lot 7, Concession 7 – Joseph William Sharpe.
Lot 8, Concession 7 – James Bennett. The Bennetts were from Williamsport in Chaffey Township, to the west of Sinclair. They never lived here but used their lands for hunting.
Lot 9, Concession 7 – George Field. George was the son of settlers Henry Field and Ann Goodall. George and his brother William were killed in a boiler explosion at the family sawmill on Pell Lake in 1915.
Sources:
Mansell, W. Dan, and Carolyn Paterson, eds., Pioneer Glimpses from Sinclair Township, Muskoka (Peterborough: asiOtus Natural Heritage Consultants, Barbara Paterson Papers, 2015).
Paterson, Barbara, personal communication with Wendy Kimmel.