Early Settlement

The Township of Downie was named in honor of Robert Downie, Esq., a director of The Canada Company.   It contains in round numbers, 49,000 acres of fine land, and is valued on the roll of 1901 at $2,064,750.   In 1829, that portion fronting on the Huron road was surveyed by Mr. McDonald; concessions Nos. 2 and 3, in 1832; a further portion, in 1835; the whole being completed in 1839, by Mr. Carrol.   This latter part was a portion of the Gore, adjoining Blanshard. In its easterly section Downie was swampy, extending from the Avon at Stratford to Zorra.   In the Monteith settlement, about four miles from Stratford, a detour of eight miles had to be made with ox teams in order to reach the village.   It is also worthy of remark, as indicating our marvelous progress, that people still living can remember on one occasion when an old settler kept watch during a long dreary night, listening to a pack of howling wolves, in their frantic efforts, trying to gnaw holes through a log building that they might regale themselves on a young domestic animal that it contained.

The system of agriculture pursued in Downie is that of mixed farming, and, having such excellent soil, has been attended with abundant success.   In every department a high point of farm husbandry has been reached, as will be noted further on.   Topographically it is level in the eastern portion, rising to hilly in its western parts.   Excellent drainage is everywhere obtainable, it being intersected by streams of considerable magnitude flowing through well-defined valleys.

Along these streams, therefore, will be found the earliest trace of settlement.   This is a peculiarity of all new countries, from the beginning of all time to the present.   In Perth County civilization is first found on the Avon, at Stratford, next on Black Creek, at Sebringville, then on Trout Creek, where first were located Monteith, Rankin, and Dempsey, and again at Avonton, far away in the wilderness, where John Murray came in 1842.   It is also worthy of note in a new settlement how various nationalities group themselves together, doubtless for mutual sympathy and friendly communication.   Thus, in the southeast corner we find a group from the North of Ireland, Monteith, Rankin, Dempsey, Wilson, Nelson, Thistle, Dunsmore, Robb and Hesson.   Southwest, from the South of Ireland are Clyne, McNamara, Hourigan, Killoran, Payton, Walsh, O'Connor and McCann. North, along the Goderich road, are Germans, and we have such names as Seebach, Kastner, Sebring, Pfrimmer, Arbogast, Shelleberger,Klein, Goettler, Goetz and Schweitzer.   Northwest is a Scotch settlement, and here, particularly along the Avon, we find the Ballantynes, Murrays, Dunlops, Strathdees, Thompsons, Grahams, Mclntyres, Stephensons, Armstrongs, Muirs, Aitchesons, and many others whose names indicate Scotland as their birthplace.   Settlement in this township, which began in 1832, was not completed till 1850.