Alexander Baker / Margaret Ann Morrison / Margaret Ann Faulkner

Settler of township lots: Lot 2, Conc. 2, Guilford (Stanhope area)

Location: Map point is the approximate location within this 100 acre running one lot east of the Stanhope/Guilford border east of Camp Towhee Road near Hurricane Lake.

Land acquisition: 1865 from The Crown. Ontario Land Parcel Register - Guilford (Image 109).

Other land:

  • Lot 1, Conc. 2, Guilford - 1883 from John Smyth (second wife's first husband); 1918 to John Morrison. Ontario Land Parcel Register - Guilford (Image 106).
  • Lot 3, Conc. 2, Guilford - 1905 from William Priest; 1911 to William Baker. Ontario Land Parcel Register - Guilford (Image 111).

Dates of residency:

  • 1903 Business Directory, Guilford: Alexander Baker, Maple Lake, Lot 2, Conc. 2
  • 1911 Census of Canada, Guilford: Alexander Baker, Lot 2, Conc. 2

Interesting facts: 

The years before 1885 saw a steady influx of homesteaders to West Guilford, including Alec and William Baker. A logging firm called McArthur and Thompson were cutting in the area. In Quest of Yesterday by Nila Reynolds. Published by The Provisional County of Haliburton, Minden, Ontario 1973. pg 155

Scattered stones of varying dimensions deposited by the melting glaciers were a major hazard facing a farmer. A settler on Guilford's Irish Line, Alex Baker, owned a particularly level field whose only drawback was an abundance of such stone. Determining to clear the field for all time, Baker and his sons picked stone every spare moment for 3 long years. When the field was as smooth as the butter his wife produced with her dash churn, Baker relaxed and congratulated himself on next year's bumper harvest. Come the spring and his elation evaporated. The winter's frost had worked a whole new crop of rocks to the surface. Alex Baker always swore they grew there! Source: Ibid. pg 43

Alexander and his brother William farmed all their lives. They lived for many years beside one another on what is now called the ''Irish Line'' in Haliburton, Ont

Preceding landowner: The Crown

Succeeding landowner:

  • 1906 Margaret Ann Baker, his wife
  • 1913 John James Morrison
  • 1931 Sarah Jane Morrison
  • 1961 John James Morrison

Link to Settlers of Algonquin Highlands family tree

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