Millbrook - William Preston Davis

As a British Home Child my grandpa, William Preston Davis (WP) sailed to Canada and took the train with other children to the Marchmont House receiving home in Belleville Ontario.  
He didn’t have to wait long at the home before he was on his way to Millbrook, a small town in Peterborough County.  

A good place to start this post on Millbrook is with the Grand Trunk Railway station.  WP arrived at this station on the 13 May, 1899.  He probably waited for someone to pick him up and wondered what this new life would bring.  He was 15 years old.

This photo of the train station is on the wall at the old school - now library - in Millbrook.

This photo is on the wall at the Red Lobster restaurant in Peterborough.  I saw it when I went for supper with Margaret Tinney.

WP lived with and worked for William Tinney in Cavan and learned the blacksmith trade.  He then moved to Millbrook and worked for Mr. Campbell.

This Barnardo document above, shows that in June 1903 WP had moved to Millbrook and was working in the blacksmith shop for Mr. Campbell.  It’s not clear from the document if he lived with Campbell or not.  It also doesn’t give a first name for Mr. Campbell.There was George Campbell family in Millbrook and we thought that was the one WP worked for but that Campbell was a farmer, so it didn’t fit.Initially I was told that the Campbell family of Millbrook went to the St. Thomas Anglican Church a pretty little church in town.

The photo above is the St. Paul's Anglican cemetery. You can see George Campbell listed on the document.  I was fortunate that there was a historical event at the cemetery and the chapel was open with displays.

 

I now believe that is not the correct Campbell family.  The Campbell who was a blacksmith in Millbrook was Henry Campbell - see below.

At the Trent University Archives (TUA) I found this old document which shows Henry Campbell a blacksmith in Millbrook. There were other blacksmiths but none with the name Campbell.  So I think this is the man WP worked for when he moved to Millbrook.I wondered if WP lived with Henry and I found my answer at the TUA.


The Voters’ List for 1904 Millbrook shows  Davis, William living on Ann Street and Campbell, Henry Blacksmith living on Tupper Street.   This shows me that WP was not living with Campbell in 1904.  He may have lived there initially because he was still ‘indentured’ with Barnardo’s and had not finished his time. Henry Campbell was not in the graveyard at St. Paul’s Anglican cemetery where people from St. Thomas were buried.  So which church did Henry and his family attend?  There were surprising number of churches in the small village of Millbrook, but I discovered that he attended St. John’s in Ida, the same church as the Tinney family.


St. John’s Ida. The minister, shown in the photo above, was the Ven. Thomas W. Allen 1853-1906.  WP attended this church with the Tinney and the Campbell families. So the connection between WP working for Tinney and then Campbell makes sense to me.  Tinney and Campbell were both blacksmiths in nearby towns, they probably were friends and when WP became a full blacksmith Henry Campbell hired him. 

Campbell is buried at St. John’s church yard in Ida.  I made a detour on my way back to Toronto and stopped in the pouring rain at Ida to take a photo of Henry Campbell’s grave.  The condition of the stone is poor with lots of moss on it.  I expect that no one comes to see this spot.  I cleaned it off as best as I could with my hand and took some photos (which won't upload right now). So I'll post later.