Under the free land grant of Patent no 288 William Victor Russell of the township of Sinclair in the district of Muskoka and Province of Ontario is the owner with an absolute title , lot number 5 in the 13th concession containing 144 acres, more or less for which the said William Victor Russell under the free land grants and Homesteads Act on the 25th day of February 1883. The title of the said William Victor Russellis subject to the provisions of the free Grants and Homestead Act and the exceptionsand qualifications mentioned in Section11 of the Lands Titles Act

 

 

The Free Lands Grants and Homestead Act was passed by the Ontario Government in 1868( one year after confederation) to encourage settlement and cultivation, and not being Mineral lands or Pine Timber Lands in a tract between the Ottawa River and Georgian Bay were made available to actual settlers who agreed to meet set conditions for establishing a homestead.

 

Surveyor John McAree described the land in Sinclair township as rolling, gently in some places, abruptly in others. McAree mentioned the presence of settlers already in the area, butwas not impressed by the agricultural value of the land, a disappointment shared by many settlers struggling with Muskoka rock.

 

Another settler, Andrew Hart took up a free land grant on Bella Lake in 1876. His grant of 167 acres included the present site of Billie Bear .

 

Other families, the Parkers and McBriens  ( McBrien’s Pond,  which is just upriver from the current bridge  ) settled along the Sinclair Road across on the north side of the Big East River. The road crossed the river a little west of where the Sinclair bridge stands today. The river was quite narrow and shallow in that spot at the time. 

 

By transfer # 1797 dated the 14th of July,1905, registered the 24th of August 1905 made in consideration of $1.00 William Victor Russell  ,an unmarried man transferred the above parcel to John Whiteside of the town of Huntsville in the district of Muskoka, who is now the owner there of , subject to the restrictions and exceptions contained in the original xxx from the Crown as above set forth. The title of the said John Whiteside , a lumberman is subject to pay unpaid municipal taxes, charges,  rates or assessments and school or water xxx , imposed for the year 1892 or afterwards and also to the exceptions and qualifications   mentioned in section twenty six of the land Titles Act. It sounds like William Russell moved on as many settler did. Most moved out to western Canada. 

 

By 1890, most of the settlers who had come to farm the land in Sinclair Township had moved away due to hardships, many to Manitoba. Only those who supplemented their livings in the logging camps( or supplying food to the camps) were able to survive. The men  worked in logging while the women and children stayed on the homestead and tried to grow turnips, parsnips, etc. Much of the abandoned farmlands in Sinclair township was purchased for back taxes by the timber companies--- and there was a lot of it.

 

 

John Whiteside of the Riverside Lumber Company went into the logging trade and set up a small mill in Huntsville in 1885.He logged pine in Sinclair and Bethune townships. His mill was devastated by several fires. Later, Whiteside started purchasing lots in Sinclair Township including William Russell’s property for future hardwood cutting and after securing the Russel property in 1905 he secured the Widdess and McAlister lots on Bella Lake. John Whiteside retired and later his nephews, the Dinsmore’s, continued under the new name, Bethune Pulp and Lumber with a mill in a different location.

 

 

John Whiteside died September 26, 1911. He left his estate to his two daughters Saide Whiteside and Ida Whiteside, subject to the life interest of his widow, Emma Whiteside and appointed Robert B Whiteside executor of his will as appears by letters probate issued to him on February 14, 1912.

 

By a transfer# 6625 dated December 14,1921,registered December 31 1921 in consideration of $450 for this and other, Robert B Whiteside, executor above named transferred the above lands to the Bethune Pulp and Lumber Company Limited of the town of Huntsville, in the district of Muskoka is hereby entered as xxx of the above parcel .

 

By transfer # 8644 dated September 5, 1924 , registered September 10,1924  for the sum of $500. The Bethune Pulp and Lumber Company Limited transferred the above parcel to the Lost Lake Fur Ranching Company of the town of Huntsville in the district of Muskoka , and is now the owner thereof. 

 

Jim Bennett had gone into partnership with Walter Brothers who had retired from the railway but loved to hunt and trap, and created the Lost Lake Fur Ranching Company. They purchased several adjoining lots . The mink were raised for fur sales until the 1940’s. The wire cages are still on the property directly in front of the cabin....about 200 feet in front of the cabin in the bush. The galvanized wire cages are still in relatively good condition. Of course the wooden frames have all rotted away. There is a spring at the mink cages. Walter built a stone dam on the adjoining Parker property around 1937 and called the large pond “Wally’s Lake” He built a log cabin there around 1947.

 

“Leatherwood” Jim Bennett born in 1895 near Williamsport ,  was a hunting and fishing  guide for many years. Jim moved a cabin from  Algonquin Park to the shores of Rebecca lake to his Hutchison’s Bay camp. Jim had brothers and a sister in Huntsville, but never married. In the 1940’s into the 1950’s, he was a guide at Billie Bear and Limberlost and may have been a guide at Loon Lake Hunting Club. Henry Hammel, who left for Saskatchewan in 1904 after the death of his wife Bertha Hart (sister of Mabel Brooks ) was a guide for Loon Lake Hunting Club .

 

By transfer #18249, dated May 10, 1949, registered June 22, 1949 made in consideration of $1.00 Lost Lake Fur Ranching Company, above named transferred the above parcel to James Bennett of Huntsville , Ontario, guide who is now the owner there of subject to the above taxes, rates, exceptions and qualifications.

 

Under transmission application # 26799 made September 24, 1957, Charles Baker of Huntsville, Ontario, administrator of the estate of James A Bennett, above named , who died on May 16, 1957 , is hereby entered as owner of above parcel.

 

Under transmission Application # 27087, dated October 11, 1957, registered December 5 , 1957 , in consideration of other valuable considerations and $200 , Charles Baker, above named, administrator with Merton Bennett, Elmer Bennett, Violet Baker, Jack Reginald Bennett and Adrie Mathias, concerning therein, transferred the parcel to Willian Henry Burtch of 9 James Street, St . Catharines , Ontario.

 

Under transmission Application No. 89903 , made Match 29, 1978 , Shirley Railton, 20 Edinburgh Drive, St. Catharines, Ontario, William Burtch, 69 Collier Road South, Thorold, Ontario and Lawrence Burtch, 32 Kilbourne Street, St.  Catharines, Ontario, Executors of the estate of William Henry Burtch, above named, who died March 8 , 1971 are hereby entered as owners of the above parcel as executors. Subject to the dower of the wife , if any of William Henry Burtch.

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Under Transfer No. 100201 , registered 13th June,1980, Roy Lenard Burtch , as to an undivided 10/32 interest, Francis W. Stewart , as to an undivided 4/32 interest, and Lawrence Burtch, as to an undivided 9/32 interest, all c/o 349 St. Paul Street West, St. Catharines , Ontario, are also the owners in fee simple with an absolute title of : A RIGHT OF WAY for pedestrians and vehicular traffic in common with all those entitled thereto , in , over along and upon the following lands, namely :

1. All that part of lot 4 , in concession 12, in the said Township of Sinclair, now in the township of Lake of Bays , in the district Municipality of Muskoka , designated as PART 1 on a plan of survey on deposit in the Land Registry Office for the Land titles Division of Muskoka as 35R-6869.

2. All that part of Lot 3 , in concession 12, in the said Township, designated as PART 2 on the said Plan 35R-6869

           Reversing ANY Public or Colonization Road crossing the said lots or either of the at the date of the Letters Patten.

 

 

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Under transmission Application No 135683 , registered 14th July , 1987, Lawrence Allen Burtch , 32 Kilbourne Cresent, St. Catharines, Ontario , L2M 3E4, Executor of estate of William Kenneth Burtch above named, who died on or about 17th February ,1984 , are hereby entered as owners of an undivided 9/32 interest in the above parcel, as Executor.

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Under application No. 140408 , registered 3rd May , 1988, Joan Burtch parent of Susan Elizabeth Burtch and william Michael Burtch hereby applies to have court order entered on the above parcel of land and other lands.

 

By transfer No 140410 , registered 3er may, 1988, Susan Elizabeth Burtch and William Michael Burtch , 10 Grenville Cresent, Thorold, Ontario L2V $g7 are the owners of the above parcel each as to an undivided 9/64th interest

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History Credit, references and excerpts provided from Bella Rebecca Community Association, Bella & Rebecca: History of People & Places, https://brca.on.ca/history

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