Settler of township lots: Lot 7, Conc. 5, Guilford (Stanhope area)

Location: Map point is the approximate location within this 100 acre lot at West Guilford east of Kennisis Lake Road running north from Ella Court.

Land acquisition: No record of ownership. 1945 Wesley Welch from The C.L. & E. Co. Ontario Land Parcel Register - Guilford (Image 93)

Dates of residency:

• 1881 Census of Canada, Peterborough East: Occupation: Blacksmith. Location given as Harcourt, Dudley, Dysart, Guilford, etc.
• 1903 Business Directory, Guilford: Duncan Bain, Maple Lake, Lot 7, Conc. 5
• 1911 Census of Canada, Guilford: Duncan & Rebecca Bain, Lot 7, Conc. 5
• 1921 Census of Canada, Guilford

Interesting facts:

There are a lot of wonderful stories about Duncan Bain, a husky Scott, hand with his fists, who exchanged his "highland cot" on the estate of the Duke of Argyll for a cabin in the Highlands of Haliburton. Older residents recall with pleasure the summer he was caretaker at the Hawk Lake depot and every week would begin to sing as soon as he entered Grass Lake. By the time he reached his home at its head, everyone within hearing distance was out in the yard enjoying his concert.

Nor were the musical efforts of this Canadian style gondolier limited to vocals; for years no social occasion at Guilford was complete without Dunc Bain and his fiddle. Probably the most memorable dance he ever played for was the night Nelson Barnum celebrated the housewarming of the new home which replaced his first cabin, and the wedding of his only son, Henry, to Miss Mame Henderson.  Fresh from the drive, Mr. Bain didn't have time to change from his hob-nailed boots before he was called to play for the first square dance. When the party broke up a dawn, the foot which tapped out the rhythm had worn a hole through the plank of the new floor!

Duncan Bain's wife, Rebecca Bell, acted as the community's mid-wife after the retirement of Mary Anne Morrison.

Source: In Quest of Yesterday by Nila Reynolds. Published by The Provisional County of Haliburton, Minden, Ontario 1973 pg 155

On of the immigrants from the British Isles who reached Dysart in 1871 was a twenty-one-year old Scot, Duncan Bain. Working first as labourer, the young man lived on the southeast half of Lot 12, Block G, which Franklin Austin subdivided from the half acre block he owned. Like many men of his time, Bain wanted to become a farmer, but Lot 21, Conc. 6, the former Alexander Everett property on which he settled in 1872, did not suit him well enough. He passed the property on to John Croston, land speculator "par excellence", and moved to Monmouth to work as a blacksmith.

Bain married Rebeca Bell, an English girl, sometime in 1874. Later in 1880, the Bains took over Thomas Kilpatrick's blacksmith shop in Haliburton. The family eventually settled in Guilford.

Source: Fragments of a Dream by Leopolda z L. Dobrzensky. Published by the Municipality of Dysart 1985. pg 192

Preceding landowner:

Succeeding landowner:

Link to Settlers of Algonquin Highlands family tree

Photo 1: Bain Family. Source: Ed Pilcher / Ancestry.com
Photo 2: Duncan Bain. Source: Ed Pilcher / Ancestry.com