Auld

(from Commemorative Bibliographical Record by Beers and newspaper clippings)

In 1838 William Auld left his Linlithgowshire home in Scotland with his wife and six children. They sailed to New York, then up the Hudson River and across the Niagara River. They then took a team to Hamilton and on to Warwick Twp. where they purchased two hundred acres of land on Lot 13, Con. 2 NER (First School Road). With the help of his sons, William soon had some land under cultivation and was able to purchase another 100 acres north of Brickyard Line.

William (–1876) remained on the farm with his wife Agnes Allen (–1861) until her death. He then sold his farm to his sons William and Robert and returned to Scotland. His other children were John, Margaret, Janet [ Jennet] and James. Later he returned to Canada and married a widow from Hamilton, Mrs. Dalley. He is buried there.

John A. married Euphimia Willemine Muir (1829– 1915). He died young and his wife went on to run a millinery business in Strathroy for 34 years.

Margaret married William Dixon and they both died in Hamilton.

Janet married Charles Meredith Janes who owned the Maple Leaf [Maple Grove] Hotel in Warwick Village.

James became a large land owner and died in Hamilton.

William Jr. (1825–1894)  purchased the north ½ of Lot 13. He built a brick home circa 1870s. William Jr. was thirteen when his parents came to Warwick Twp. He married Ann McIntyre (–1873) from West Williams Twp., Middlesex County and they had seven children. When William was 48, his wife died and he later married Christina Anderson.

William Auld homestead. Source Belden’s Illustrated Historical Atlas of the County of Lambton, 1880.

William Jr. and Ann's children were: Robert who married Ellen Brent and who became a Warden of Lambton County; David who married Jennie Iles;  Dr. John C. Auld who married Elizabeth Wichman; Betsy (Ferguson); Agnes (Wilkie); Annie (Forbes) and Janet (1860–1942) who married David Ross of Warwick Twp.

Their son John C. (1864–1912) graduated from Strathroy Collegiate Institute and then went on to the University of Toronto to study medicine. He then traveled to Scotland and graduated from the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow. In about 1892 he married and started his practice in Watford. He  practiced  medicine for almost twenty years before he passed away. John and Elizabeth raised two sons: Romeo and Valee. Romeo was 18 and Valee was 16 when their father died. Both served in the Canadian Armed Forces in World War I — Romeo in the Army and Valee in the Air Force. After the war both men moved to the United States — Romeo to the automotive business in Detroit; Valee becoming a medical doctor. The entire John C. Auld family is buried in Watford cemetery.

David and Jennie Auld remained on the homestead with their son Harold and daughter Maxena. Their son Franklin (–1980) moved across the road to farm Lot 12. He married Lela Viola Thompson and they had eight children. Their daughter Eloise married LaVergne Hollingsworth of Watford.

After David (–1924) passed away suddenly from heart failure, his son Harold took over the homestead that his great-grandfather William Sr. had pioneered. Harold passed away in his mid 40s, also from a heart attack. Harold's wife, Ivadell (Attwood), worked for a time at Walker Brothers on Mitton St. in Sarnia, then went to Brantford where she worked at the School for the Blind. In retirement she moved back to Warwick Village.

Franklin and Harold's sister, Anna (1900–1994), married Lloyd Cook of Warwick Village.

Harold and Ivadell had three children: Eleanor who married Russell Trenouth of Watford; Beth who married Larry Neumann from Warwick Village; and Bob who married Evelyn Blain.

William Auld Jr.'s brother Robert (1834–1903) purchased the south ½ of Lot 13. He built a brick house and good barns on the south side of Bear Creek. Robert was only four when the Aulds came to Warwick Twp. At first he attended private school taught by James F. Elliott, an Irish school teacher, and later public school. He started growing fruits and berries as well as stock raising on his farm. For many years he had a high reputation as an apiarist.

Robert married Ann Harrower who was born in Warwick Twp., daughter of Andrew and Sarah (Williamson) Harrower. They had eight children: William (1861–1946), a Warwick Twp. farmer who married Martha Moore; James of Watford; Agnes who married Calvin Hodgins of Plympton Twp.; Sarah, a housekeeper for William Vanderbilt Sr. of New York; Andrew who farmed on the homestead; Margaret who married L. Luckham of Warwick; Nettie who married George MacKenzie of British Columbia; and Annie who married James Hunt of Sarnia.

Robert and his brother William built the Auld Grist Mill at the creek on 12 Sideroad for grist, sawing and carding. They also manufactured bricks and tiles behind William's house. William Auld and William Janes went into partnership for eight years until they sold the business to the McCormick Bros.

Robert Auld's homestead was the site of the Auld Bridge. It crossed Bear Creek to the Auld residence. The idea originated from a visit to Scotland where Robert got plans from the original bridge. The Aulds engaged a Mr. A. Love, a bricklayer and stonemason from Forest, to build the bridge near the old Auld Mill Dam. The two arches were built of brick made from the clay pits on his brother's farm. Many artists and photographers came to visit the bridge over the years. Ice jams and spring flooding took a toll on the bridge and in the 1960s it was no longer useable. A new lane was constructed on the other side of the creek.

Robert's son Andrew (1873–1934) was known as Peck. He remained on the homestead. His orchards numbered over a thousand trees which produced carloads of apples, mostly Northern Spy, that were shipped to western Canada and overseas to Britain. He also produced bumper potato crops. He married Nellie Iles of Warwick, a sister of his cousin David Auld's wife Jennie.

Andrew lived vigorously both in work and play. He was enthusiastic about his annual deer hunts to Lake Nipissing and shared venison with his friends. Andrew unfortunately died at the age of 61 as a result of scalding from falling backwards into a vat of boiling sap at his maple sugar bush. Andrew and Nellie did not have any children.

Chapter 24 of 25 - Auld Family

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