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Who's Who of Scarboro Heights

Do you know of a local hero or any other worthy person who should receive a little recognition? Please send the full story to me at the email address on our contact page and I'll do my best to link to it from this page when time permits.

For now, follow the above links to a few of the stories that have appeared in The Scarboro Heights Record and the publications of the James McCowan Memorial Social History Society.

Also From Our Publications

The following biographical and socio-economic references represent just a small sample from some of the McCowan Society Publications. Social, economic and local context as well as additional details may be obtained by purchasing the referenced publication.

In McCowan Society Publications, You'll Learn That...

• The Annis family were quite probably the very first white settlers in Scarborough (NF)
• Georgeanna Ashbridge, Isabella McLeod, Isabella Bowes, Jane Underwood all died during their child-bearing years (NF)
• Hannah Ashbridge co-founded the Lakeview Women's Institute (NF)
• The Bairds were among the farm families who were initially reluctant to move the clock to daylight savings time (NF)
• William Crone had several farms on the lakefront (NF)
• John Duncan worked on the straightening of Kingston Road (NF)
• Catherine Bowes was one of the early members of the Temperance Society formed in 1834 (FF)
• Captain James Gibson and family came to Canada from Scotland on the same ship as the Muirs, Tackets, Weirs and McCowans (NF)
• Sandy Glendinning had a dash of "literary genius" and became a renowned poet (FF)
• Allan Green presented an essay at St. Andrew's Young Peoples' Society, "How to Break Bad Habits and Cultivate Good Ones" (FF)
• Joshua Hamblin was killed almost instantly at a logging bee (FF)
• Robert Hamilton was the pioneer total abstinence advocate in the Township (FF)
• Captain Jack Heron served with the Canadian Railway Troops in France during the First World War (NF)
• Colonel Allan MacLean commanded the first militia to arrive in Toronto to help disperse the rebels in 1837 (NF)
• The young Martin brothers distributed beer and cakes at mid-century ploughing matches (FF)
• Alexander McCowan was essentially the founder of the milk marketing movement in Ontario (NF)
• David A. McCowan invented the "Phototeria" (FF)
• James McCowan and his son, David, both died of cholera the same night (WG)
• Ruth McCowan deserved some of the credit for her father's success at the Canadian National Exhibition (FF)
• Robert McNare took first prize at what was probably the first ploughing match in Scarborough (FF)
• Archibald Muir often hired recent immigrants to work his farm (NF)
• John Muir, father of the author of the Maple Leaf Forever, was one of Scarborough's early accomplished athletes (FF)
• Jack Neilson's field was the site of an emergency landing by a plane in 1918 (NF)
• James Neilson boasted of making the foundation of his wealth as a young bush-whacker (WG)
• William Porteous laboured in Scarborough before becoming a railway construction foreman near Goderich (WG)
• David Purdie was a champion quoiter who refused to play for money (FF)
• Robert Purdie was "Precentor" at St. Andrew's in the 1870's. (STA)
• Agnes Rae was left with 4 young children when her husband was killed by a falling tree three weeks after their arrival in Scarborough (NF)
• Robert Rae could not write his own name at the age of 16 (WG)
• Janet Rae was barely 15 when she married William Purdie, age 31, in 1839. (STA)
• Will Scott, Scarborough's first Police Chief, apprehended a well-dressed lunatic who was terrorizing the neighbourhood (NF)
• Max Sisley entertained overhead at Scarborough Fair with bi-plane aerobatics (NF)
• Robert Stobo was a prominent timber merchant. (WG)
• Pte. R.E. Stobo was killed in action in 1916 (NF)
• Ethel Thomson's husband lost a foot and an arm during the First War (NF)
• John Torrance' several farms were sometimes used to give immigrant Scots a helpful start (WG)
• Fred Vivian was a cattle dealer (NF)
• Stephen Washington had a contract to supply the army in Toronto (York) with food (NF)
• James Weir was nick-named "Buccleugh" because of his extensive land-holdings (WG)
• Thomas Wilson bought several farms in Scarborough (NF)
• Clark Young, a descendant of Scarborough Scots, was inducted into the Ontario Agricultural Hall of Fame (FF)
• Margaret McCowan Young and her husband, John, entertained over 500 at their barn dance (FF)

And much more...