Settler of township lots: Lot 7, Conc. 4, Guilford (Stanhope area)

Location: Map point is the approximate location within this 77 acre lot at West Guilford on both sides of the river at the east shore of Pine Lake - St. Andrews Ct.

Land acquisition: 1886 Sarah Barnum (Nelson's daughter & Mark Sisson's wife) from The Crown. Ontario Land Parcel Register-Stanhope (Lot 7, Conc. A - Image 75).

Other properties:

• Lot 7, Conc. 1, Stanhope: 
  - Lands Liable to Taxation: Township of Stanhope Patent Register. 100 acres to James Moore  Nelson Barnum subsequently received the patent for this land in 1872. Ontario Land Parcel Register - Stanhope (Image 75).
  - 1873 to Andrew Mowry (married to Eliza Barnum); 1975 Daniel Bull; 1913 William Eldon Bull
• Lot 5, Conc. 13, Minden - Patented 1878 from The Crown; 1878 to W M Ross; 1916 to Archibald McKay. Ontario Land Parcel Register - Minden (Image 200).

Dates of residency:

• 1870 Peterborough County Directory, Stanhope: Nelson Barnum, Conc. 1, pt
• 1903 Business Directory, Guilford: Nelson Barnum, Maple Lake, Lot 7,Conc. 4
• 1911 Census of Canada, Guilford: with his wife, Sarah, their 6 children, including daughter Sarah Jane, her husband, Mark Sisson, and their 5 children
• 1917 Death at Lot 7, Conc. 4, West Guilford

Interesting facts:

Some of Guilford's pioneers, like Joseph Griffin and the sons of Andrew Barnum, had owned land in Stanhope before moving east to Guilford. The Barnums (Almond, William, Charles and Nelson), chose lots on the shores of Pine Lake, the first assessment for William is 1878 but he was probably there earlier. Source: In Quest of Yesterday by Nila Reynolds. Published by The Provisional County of Haliburton, Minden, Ontario 1973 pg. 154

Nelson Barnum had his home and store and the first post office in West Guilford on land that stretched along the south shore of Pine Lake. In 1906, he gave some of that land to his daughter Sarah Jane and her husband, Mark Sisson, and they took over the store and the post office. Source: Explore Haliburton by Susan Wilson (Stoddard Books, 1997, pg 82).

Kennisis Lake was named for Joe Kennisis, an Indian whose family had lived by that lake for 5 generations, ever since the expulsion of the Iroquois. Older residents recall when Kennisis himself used to walk to Haliburton village to shop, then carry the groceries home on his back. The late Nelson Barnum, who settled at the foot of Pine Lake in Guilford township, knew Kennisis well. Barnum's grandson, Mr. Jack Henderson of West Guilford, remembers being told of a lead mine which supplied the Indians with metal for bullets. If it was not flooded when the new dam was built, a lost galena deposit awaits refinding near Big Kennisis. Quest. pg 12

Maple Lake Post Office - 1901 to 1903: Lot 28, Conc. 4, Stanhope Township. Current address: Hwy 118, east of Fader Drive. The Postmaster was Mark Sisson. The Post Office would have been located at his property. He resigned in 1903 and then moved to West Guilford, He had been given land there by his father-in-law Nelson Barnum. He later took over the job of Postmaster from Nelson Barnum at the West Guilford Post Office in 1915 and served for 15 years.

Preceding landowner: The Crown

Succeeding landowner:

• 1907 James Harwood. Powell 1.5 acres; James E. Powell (b. 1832) on 1911 Census of Canada

Link to Settlers of Algonquin Highlands family tree

Photo 1: Sarah and Nelson Barnum.

Photo 2. Nelson Barnum Homestead.