Recent discoveries, combined with archaeological evidence accumulated in the past, has made it apparent that the north shore of the Ottawa River, between the Chaudière Falls and the mouth of the Gatineau River, constituted a cultural landscape dating back more than 4,000 years -- millennia before the establishment of Bytown and the start of the Rideau Canal.

Evidence has been found at Hull Landing (today the site of the Canadian Museum of History) of an ancient burial ground used as long ago as 4,500 to 4,900 years. That same location served as the beginning of a major portage.

This portage, of course, was required to navigate around the nearby Chaudière Falls, itself, for thousands of years, a place of great spiritual significance and power.

Downstream, the delta of the Gatineau River was a summer gathering place providing a wealth of food and resources such as for making stone implements..
Both the Gatineau River and the nearby Rideau River had been bringing travellers together to meet, trade and exchange information for as many as 4,600 years.

In the attached two articles, originally published in the Canadian Journal of Archaeology in 2015, professor and journalist Randy Boswell and renowned archaeologist Jean-Luc Pilon delve into the great significance of this important archaeological zone, located, by ironic happenstance, at the core of Canada’s national capital, and counting among its “tenants”, the Canadian Museum of History.

In the second of the two articles, we learn more specifically about how the findings from this site impacted in the origins of Canadian archaeology, the formations of Canada’s first museums and the important role played by Bytown-era physician Dr. Edward Van Cortlandt in the early investigation and exhibition of Canada’s prehistoric past:

"Below the Falls; An Ancient Cultural Landscape in the Centre of (Canada’s National Capital Region) Gatineau": pilon-boswell-cja.pdf

"The Archaeological Legacy of Dr. Edward Van Cortlandt": boswell-pilon-cja.pdf

Elsewhere in the HSO Bytown200 Bicentennial Story Collection, Algonquin elder Albert Dumont and Algonquin author Dr. Lynn Gehl have both written about the historic and spiritual significance of the Chaudière Falls and surrounding area:

Albert Dumont The Kettle of Boiling Waters Chaudiere Falls Algonquin Territory

Lynn Gehl Akikodjiwan

Has a gap in the official record at Narrows Lock, between 1896 and 1897, concealed that truth that the lock was actually maintained by the Rideau Canal’s first female lockmaster during that period?

Three generations of the Mooney family (all named Michael Mooney) served as lockmaster at Narrows Lock, spanning 87 of the lock’s first 122 years of operation.

During the unexplained period in question, no name is listed, yet the lock kept running, the boats kept moving -- someone kept the gates.

Kate Carty Mooney had lived at the lock station her entire married life. She understood the water levels, the boats, the seasons, and the weight of responsibility the lock carried.

In her submission to the HSO Bytown200 Bicentennial Storytelling Challenge, filmmaker, writer, musical artist Patty Mooney mines family memory and public records to make the case that, from the time her great-grandfather died, until his son was appointed the next year, it was more than likely Patty’s great-grandmother Kate Carty Mooney who had stepped in as lockmaster at Narrows Lock.

The Woman at the Lock

Kate Carty Mooney and the Unrecorded Year at Narrows Lock

There is a gap in the official record at Narrows Lock on the Rideau Canal. Between the death of Lockmaster Michael Mooney Jr. and the formal reappointment of his son Edmund, known to everyone as Ebb, in 1897, the Parks Canada lockmasters document lists no name. The lock kept running. The boats kept moving. Someone kept the gates.

That someone, according to family history passed down through four generations, was Kate Carty Mooney: wife of Michael Mooney Jr., mother of Ebb, and, in the memory of all who knew the family, the first woman to hold the gates at Narrows Lock.

This is her story, as best as it can be told from family memory, public records, and the silences that speak as loudly as the documents themselves.

The Carty Family: Roots in Canada West

Before Kate Carty became Kate Carty Mooney, her family had already established deep roots in Canada West. A death notice in The Ontario Reporter, published in Whitby, Canada West on September 13, 1851, records the death of John Carty, placing the Carty family in Ontario five years before the first Michael Mooney took up his post at Narrows Lock. The Carty family was part of the great wave of Irish emigrants who made Canada their home in the mid-nineteenth century, arriving with faith, industry, and a determination to build something lasting in a new country.

That determination proved generational. A Westport, Ontario birth register from 1906, the same year Father Tom Mooney was born in that same town, records the birth of Kathleen Carty on April 30th, daughter of D. Carty and Anastasia Welch, father's occupation listed as Railroad Trainman, residence Westport. The Carty family remained in the Westport community, living alongside the Mooneys, for decades after Kate's marriage. The two families were woven together not just by marriage but by place, by community, and by the shared life of a small Ontario town on the shores of Upper Rideau Lake.

When Kate Carty married Michael Mooney Jr. and came to Narrows Lock, she was not a stranger to the region. She was a daughter of it.

Three Michaels and a Canal

The Mooney family's connection to Narrows Lock is one of the most remarkable in the history of the Rideau Canal. Three generations, all named Michael Mooney, held the position of lockmaster there, spanning 87 of the first 112 years of the lock's operation. As family cousin Jim Bulger has observed, after all that service, the lock could well have been renamed Mooney's Lock.

The first Michael Mooney and his wife Jane Cain were both born in Ireland but emigrated to Canada, where Michael became lockmaster at Narrows Lock from 1856 to 1871. His son, Michael Mooney Jr., took over in 1871 and served until his death in 1894. Together, father and son gave the lock more than three decades of continuous Mooney stewardship. The family became so woven into the identity of the place that Mooney's Bay, now a beloved public park on the Rideau River in Ottawa, carries their name to this day.

Michael Mooney Jr. married Kate Carty, and together they raised nine children at the lock station, among them John Henry Mooney (my grandfather) and Michael Edmund Mooney, known to everyone as Ebb. Ebb grew up watching his father and grandfather work the gates, learning the rhythms of the water and the seasons from the people who knew them best.

Ebb would go on to marry Anna Cecelia Mooney, known warmly to family and friends as Birdie. By all family accounts, Ebb and Birdie were exemplary people in every respect. Their son, Father Thomas Edmund Mooney, was born in Westport, Ontario on January 21, 1906, within sight of the lock his great-grandfather had first tended fifty years before. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto and diplomas from the Pius X School of Music in New York and became Director of Music at St. Mary's Roman Catholic Cathedral in Kingston, beloved by his congregation and widely admired across the diocese.

When war came, Father Tom volunteered as a chaplain in the Canadian Army. Before he was killed ministering to the wounded at Ouse Camp, Belgium, on September 14, 1944, he wrote a letter to his mother. The Toronto Daily Star of September 26, 1945, quoted his words when the story was shared at the 12th annual meeting of the Canadian Catholic Historical Association: "If I am killed, I am not afraid. The only important thing is to be ready to face God, and I am ready. Somehow it wouldn't seem so useless if one 'got it' here." He was 38 years old. He was believed to be the first Canadian Catholic Chaplain reported killed in action in the Second World War.

He is buried at Adegem Canadian War Cemetery in Belgium, Plot X, Row A, Grave 8. His headstone carries the inscription: 'Greater love than this no man hath' and 'Caritas Christi urgetnos,' the love of Christ compels us. He is commemorated on Page 397 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance. His life was honoured further by the naming of Mooney Creek in the Yukon Territory. His story was told in a small booklet, 'A White Knight of God,' written by Rev. D.A. Casey. A creek in the Canadian wilderness, a headstone in Belgium, a page in the Book of Remembrance: the family's reach across this country, and across its history, runs deep.

The memorial service held for Father Tom at St. Mary's remains among the very largest in the history of the City of Kingston. People and clergy from all faiths and all walks of life came to pay their respects. Family cousin Jim Bulger recalls that Carmel Patterson Bulger, who attended the service, said she had never seen her mother cry until she came home from Father Tom's memorial. She was not alone in expressing her sorrow that way.

The Mooneys of Narrows Lock were, in every generation, people who gave themselves fully to something larger than themselves. From Kate at the lock gates to Father Tom at the front, the family's story is one of service, sacrifice, and an unbroken commitment to the communities they called home.

Kate at the Lock

When Michael Mooney Jr. died in 1894, the question of the lock's continuity arose immediately. Kate's brother, William Carty, stepped in to hold the position. Then in the summer of 1895, Kate's son Ebb took over temporarily. Ebb was discharged in late 1896, and the Parks Canada compilation of Rideau Canal lockmasters, assembled from primary sources by Ellen Manchee and updated through 2007, records no lockmaster at Narrows Lock for the period between that discharge and Ebb's permanent reappointment in 1897.

In the language of official records, this is simply a blank. No name, no date, no note.

In the language of family memory, this is Kate.

Family members recall that Kate Carty Mooney served as lockmaster during the time between her husband's death and when her son took over permanently. She knew the work intimately. She had lived at the lock station her entire married life, raising nine children there while watching three generations of her family work the gates. She understood the water levels, the boats, the seasons, and the weight of responsibility the lock carried. When the station needed her, she was ready.

This account is carried in family memory and has not found its way into the official record of the Rideau Canal. The appointment ledgers of the Department of Public Works recorded formal titles, and formal titles in that era went to men. Kate kept her own record in the way that mattered most: the lock ran, the boats passed through, and four generations of family remember who made that happen.

Why This Story Belongs in the Record

The HSO Bytown200 storytelling challenge specifically invites stories about people whose contributions have not been fully captured in the historical record. Kate Carty Mooney is precisely that person.

If family history is accurate, and the timeline fits, the gap is real, and no contradictory record has been found, then Kate was doing the work of lockmaster on one of the Rideau Canal's busiest stations at a pioneering moment: a woman holding the gates at a time when such a role had belonged exclusively to men. She kept the lock running because it needed to be kept running, and she was the one who knew how.

Women's contributions to the Rideau Canal's history have long lived in exactly this kind of space: visible in family memory, present in the daily work of the stations, and largely absent from the formal record. The Bytown bicentennial is an opportunity to say, plainly and for the record: there was a woman here, and her name was Kate Carty Mooney.

What the Record Does Confirm

The following facts are documented in public sources and are consistent with the family's account:

The first Michael Mooney and his wife Jane Cain emigrated from Ireland to Canada, where Michael served as lockmaster at Narrows Lock from 1856 to 1871.

Michael Mooney Jr., son of Michael and Jane, married Kate Carty and together they had nine children. He served as lockmaster from 1871 until his death in 1894.

Following Michael Jr.'s death, Kate's brother William Carty held the position. Ebb then took over temporarily in the summer of 1895, was discharged in late 1896, and was reappointed permanently in 1897, serving until 1946, a tenure of fifty years.

Three generations of Michael Mooneys served as lockmaster at Narrows Lock, covering 87 years of the lock's history. Mooney's Bay in Ottawa is named for the family.

The Parks Canada lockmasters document records no official lockmaster at Narrows Lock between Ebb's 1896 discharge and his 1897 reappointment.

Father Thomas Edmund Mooney, son of Ebb and Anna Cecelia, and great-grandson of Kate, was born in Westport, Ontario on January 21, 1906. He earned a B.A. from the University of Toronto and diplomas from the Pius X School of Music in New York. He served as Director of Music at St. Mary's Roman Catholic Cathedral in Kingston before volunteering as a Canadian Army chaplain. He was killed in action at Ouse Camp, Belgium, on September 14, 1944, age 38, and is buried at Adegem Canadian War Cemetery, Plot X, Row A, Grave 8. His death certificate, graves registration documents, cemetery headstone schedule, the Book of Remembrance (Page 397), the Toronto Daily Star, The Observer of the Rockford Diocese, and The Guardian of March 1945 all confirm these details. He was the first Canadian Catholic Chaplain reported killed in action in the Second World War. Mooney Creek in the Yukon Territory was named in his honour.

The Carty family's presence in Canada West is documented as early as 1851, when a death notice for John Carty appeared in The Ontario Reporter of Whitby, Canada West, on September 13, 1851. This places the Carty family in Ontario five years before the first Michael Mooney took up the Narrows Lock post, establishing Kate's family as long-settled Canadians before her marriage.

A Westport, Ontario birth register from 1906 records the birth of Kathleen Carty, daughter of D. Carty and Anastasia Welch, with a Westport residence, confirming that members of the Carty family remained in the Westport and Narrows Lock community into the twentieth century, living alongside the Mooneys across generations.

Archives Ontario holds a photograph of the Carty family at Narrows Lock circa 1916, further confirming the family's enduring presence at the station across generations.

Family tradition also holds that a Carty Point near the Narrows Lock area carries the family name, though this has not yet been confirmed through the Canadian Geographical Names Database and warrants further local research.

Family members recall that Kate served as lockmaster during the period between her husband's death and when her son took over permanently. The lock's long continuity under Mooney and Carty stewardship, and Kate's lifelong presence at the station, make this account entirely consistent with what the written record shows.

The Story Lives in the Family

When photographs of Kate Carty Mooney were recently shared within an online family history community, the response confirmed something important: this story is carried independently across more than one branch of the family.

Linda Diane Crump Kenney wrote: "We got the same story from Maureen Murray Kenney, born May 1940 and married to Wilfred Kenney. Maureen's mother, Anne Mooney Murray, must be your Dad's cousin. She would have been born around 1910 and graduated as a nurse from Hotel Dieu Hospital in Kingston in the late 1930s."

Anne Mooney Murray was a daughter of the Mooney family, from a different line than the submitter's own. The fact that she passed the same account of Kate to her daughter Maureen, who passed it to Linda, means this memory was alive in at least two separate branches of the family simultaneously, preserved independently and consistently over generations.

A commenter in the same thread, noting the 200th anniversary of the Rideau Canal, observed that the story of the first female lockmaster would be a wonderful contribution to the historical record. That observation is the direct inspiration for this submission.

Oral history that survives across multiple independent family lines, telling the same story in the same terms, carries a particular kind of authority. Kate Carty Mooney kept the lock. Her family remembers. And now, two centuries after the canal first opened its gates, it is time to write it down.

Primary Documents Accompanying This Submission

The following original documents are submitted with this account as supporting evidence for the history of Father Thomas Edmund Mooney and the Mooney family of Narrows Lock:

Military death certificate: Rank H/Captain Thomas Edmund Mooney, Canadian Chaplain Services, killed in action Belgium, 14th September 1944. Next of kin listed as Mr. Michael Edmund Mooney (father), R.R. #1, Westport, Ontario.

Graves Registration Report Form: Adegem Canadian War Cemetery, Belgium, Schedule No. 65, certified October 1955. Confirms burial at Plot X, Row A, Grave 8.

Graves Concentration Report Form: Adegem CDN Military Cemetery, E. Flanders. Confirms reburial from Moerbrugge on 21 June 1945.

Cemetery headstone Schedule A: Records the full inscription on Father Tom's headstone: 'Chaplain to the Forces / The Rev. T.E. Mooney, BA. / Canadian Chaplain Service / 14th September 1944 Age 38 / Greater love than this / No man hath / Caritas Christi urgetnos / R.I.P.'

Adegem Canadian War Cemetery register page: Confirms full biographical details including parentage, education, and role as Director of Music, Kingston Cathedral.

Second World War Book of Remembrance, Page 397: Lists H/Capt Mooney, Thomas Edmund, CCS.

Toronto Daily Star, Wednesday September 26, 1945: Headline 'If I'm Killed, I'm Not Afraid: Heroic Padre's Last Words.' Reports Father Tom's letter to his mother written before his death.

The Observer (Official Organ of the Rockford Diocese), October 29, 1944: Photograph of Father Tom with caption confirming he was the first Canadian Catholic chaplain reported killed in action.

The Ontario Reporter, Whitby, Canada West, September 13, 1851, Vol. 2, No. 22: Contains a notice recording the death of John Carty, establishing the Carty family's presence in Canada West five years before the first Michael Mooney became lockmaster at Narrows Lock.

Westport, Ontario birth register, 1906: Records the birth of Kathleen Carty, daughter of D. Carty and Anastasia Welch, resident of Westport, confirming the Carty family's continued presence in the Westport community in the same year Father Tom Mooney was born there.

A Personal Note from the Submitter

My name is Patty Mooney. I am a filmmaker and musician based in San Diego, California, and Kate Carty Mooney is my great-grandmother.

I grew up knowing her name. I knew she had kept the lock. I knew it was something the family was proud of, in the quiet way families hold onto the things that were always understood but never written down. Researching this submission, in the context of the Rideau Canal's 200th anniversary, brought me to the gap in the official record that makes her story a genuine historical question worth asking.

I am submitting this story in the hope that it will encourage further research. If there are parish records, Department of Public Works correspondence, boat passage logs, or any other documentation from Narrows Lock in the 1894 to 1897 period that might shed light on who was operating the station day to day, I would be deeply grateful to know of them. The family's memory is strong, it is consistent across branches, and it deserves a place in the written record.

Kate Carty Mooney kept the lock. The boats passed through. The water did what water does. And for her unrecorded time at the gates of one of the oldest continuously operated canal systems in North America, she deserves to be remembered by name.

On Tuesday June 9. 2026, the HSO Museum Club had the privilege of visiting Beechwood Cemetery for a tour, led by Nicolas McCarthy, about the history of Bytown and the role that Beechwood played in it. 

As the tour began, we learnt that Beechwood is a non-denominational cemetery which could be seen in the layout of the plots and in the symbols present throughout the cemetery. Our first stop as we walked was the gazebo on the property that provides a gorgeous view of Parliament Hill, which is fitting given the industry and jobs that Parliament Hill brought to Ottawa. The spot also showed us how integrated the cemetery is within Ottawa and Bytown history as Tommy Douglas, the man responsible for the preservation of that view, is buried at Beechwood.

Beechwood was founded in 1873 when lumber barons saw an opportunity in the farmland to make some money off of its lumber. The development was helped by the discussions at the time about building a cemetery that could stand the test of time, as Beechwood would go on to do. Nicolas then explained that Beechwood has always been a place of natural beauty. As early as the spring of 1874, it was supplying flowers to the governor general and was having to count its guests daily because the newspapers were encouraging people to come out and see the space. In Boston, it was mentioned how there weren’t as many green spaces, so as a result cemeteries played a dual role of a place to bury the dead and a green space, of which Beechwood was a prime example. 

As we walked over to where some of the key members of Bytown are buried, we saw the original entrance to the cemetery marked by cobblestones. This entrance showed that people would carry their deceased loved ones up through the forest path and have to walk by all of the affluent families of Bytown that were buried there. 

Monument photo by Emma Kent.

As we walked through the cemetery, we learnt the specifics of some of those families buried at Beechwood, particularly ones that were crucial to Bytown’s development. For instance, there was the Slater family who were part of the construction of the canal, and the Booth family who became big in the lumber business. Their two plots would have been easily seen when the dead were being brought in from the old entrance. The Booth family in particular was hoping to be noticed with its towering Italian marble monument that is the tallest one at Beechwood. 

As we continued on our tour we discovered that it was not just the Booth family that had an elaborate monument. For instance, there’s the Bytown Mason burial plot, which is the oldest one in the city of Ottawa. It is shaped like a keystone, which has been used by stone masons for centuries, and includes the symbols of a compass, a slide ruler and other stone mason tools. 

While many contributors to Bytown are buried at Beechwood, there are some who stuck out on the tour. For instance, there were quite a few who showed the entrepreneurial spirit of Bytown. There was Thomas Mackay, who convinced Colonel By that the stone at Major’s Hill Park was good enough to use for the Rideau Canal allowing them to save money. Another was Thomas Ahearn who was an inventor, developer, and businessman. He built a car company, tramways, and developed the electricity grid. He was also responsible for electric stoves as a response to his wife’s suggestion that women would love that invention due to the struggles of lighting a stove to cook. 

There are others who weren’t as entrepreneurial but created lasting impacts, such as Ella Hobday Webster Bronson, who, among other things, founded and operated the Ottawa Maternity Hospital. There was George Hay who created the first Ottawa coat of arms which ushered in the ending of Bytown and the beginning of Ottawa.

The final piece of Bytown that can be seen at Beechwood is John Bower Lewis’ plot. He was the last mayor of Bytown, and when he died it was declared a national holiday and he was brought through all of Ottawa, which had been draped in black in his honour. The procession ended at Beechwood, thus ending Bytown and cementing Beechwood as ‘the’ Ottawa cemetery. 

On Sunday, June 14, 2026, Nicolas McCarthy graciously repeated his tour, which allowed a second group of our members and other guests to learn the early history of Ottawa as it is preserved at Beechwood.

June 14th cemetery tour photo by Emma Kent.

The history of Bytown that shines through at Beechwood is especially important to look at in the 200th anniversary Bytown this year. It is incredibly interesting to see how far this city has come to become the Ottawa we know today. A special thank you to Nicolas McCarthy for the tours, and to learn more about Beechwood go to the Beechwood Cemetery website for more information about the cemetery and tours.  You can also check out the book written by Nicolas and Erika Wagner entitled “The Journey of Beechwood Cemetery: Canada's Legacy Written in Stone” that provides even more knowledge about Beechwood.

On Sunday May 31, 2026, the HSO Museum Club had the privilege of touring the National Holocaust Monument, led by members of the Centre for Holocaust Education and Scholarship (CHES), Artur Wilczynski and Alyssa Novick. The monument was inaugurated in September of 2017, after a student had proposed a monument back in 2013, and had helped to get a parliamentary bill passed to construct one.

Our tour began with an explanation of the symbolism behind the shape of the monument. The monument is made up of six triangular sections, and when viewed from above they resemble the Star of David. The above view can also be seen to represent that important symbol of Judaism being broken, with this notion being contrasted by the monument itself, showing that Judaism remained together. The triangles in the design also represent the different triangular configurations that the Nazis used to identify different prisoners based on why they were in the camps. As we descended into the centre area of the monument, the noise from the traffic nearby faded away and we learnt that this was by design. The monument has high and thick concrete walls and a sloping entrance that is meant to symbolize the isolation of the victims of the Holocaust. On one of the walls in the centre area there are panels of information that provide historical context for the monument, such as what the Holocaust was, the growth of the Second World War, the mass murders that took place, and Canada’s role in all of this.

The centre and side areas also contain six images each embedded into their own wall, of different Holocaust sites as they look today. The images were photographed by Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky who had taken over 150 photos that had been narrowed down to these six. There is no specific order to view these photographs in, and each has an explanation written on a plaque next to it. The monument does not have much writing in it (aside from the panels of historical context) as it can be paired with the IWalk app which contains in depth explanations of the images and Holocaust Survivor testimonies which add a human, personal element to the monument.

The first image is of the abandoned rail tracks leading to Treblinka which had been a labour camp, with Treblinka II, a death camp just a few kilometres south of it. The second image is of the Okopowa Street Jewish cemetery in Warsaw. This was a hiding place used by Jews to escape the deportation to the Treblinka death camp in the summer of 1942. The next image is of a prayer room from a Czech town called Terezin that served as a ghetto. This prayer room, decorated with Hebrew texts, was created by Rabbi Artur (Asher) Berlinger, a German-Jewish artist, imprisoned in the camp, risking severe punishment if caught. Another image shown is of Track 17 in Berlin which was the track that most of the German Jews coming from Berlin were deported on. The track now has steel plaques on it with information about those who were deported. Next to the image is a photograph of Auschwitz-Birkenau which was the largest concentration camp. The last image is one next to the plaques of information which is of the site of the Death March in Mauthausen, Austria. Near the end of the war, the Nazis forced tens of thousands of prisoners to walk for days without food or water, and those who survived ended up at Mauthausen.

Moving away from the centre area, we were led to the room with the Flame of Remembrance, which is a space for reflection and memory. The flame is in the Jewish tradition and is called “Ner Tamid” (Hebrew for eternal light), and it has also been associated with God’s eternal presence.

The last section of the monument is a set of stairs (or elevator) leading up to an upper viewing area that looks out at the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill. This path out of the isolated area symbolizes the journey made by 40,000 Jewish people at the end of the war who came to Canada and eventually found peace here.

A big thank you to Artur Wilczynski and Alyssa Novick for leading the tour and to Ana Cristina Villegas for helping to organize the event! The National Holocaust Monument is open to the public for free every day from 7am to 9pm.

On the evening of Thursday, May 14, 2026, the staff at the Beechwood Cemetery launched a new book on their history. Attending were the two authors, Erika Wagner and Nicolas McCarthy, the current and former Beechwood management and staff, and a large crowd, all who had gathered in the Sacred Space at the cemetery for the formal part of the launch.

Erika Wagner acted as the emcee for the evening, introducing key project members and thanking the audience for their attendance. She went on to explain the somewhat long and involved process that has now produced this fabulous book. She spoke with great excitement and obvious joy regarding her own part in the project, relating a number of incidents along the way, including “help” from her cat, when she had all of the proof pages spread out across her floor. She thanked all who had participated in the research, selection of materials, proofreading, photography and production of what is truly a beautiful piece.

Nicolas McCarthy then spent about fifteen minutes talking about Beechwood Cemetery from its origins in 1873, as a replacement for the Sandy Hill Cemetery, (Macdonald Gardens Park), which had been in use, but faced closure due to the pressure of the expanding community. The Catholic internees of the Sandy Hill cemetery were reinterred at the Notre Dame cemetery, while all others went to Beechwood. The decision was made to make Beechwood a public rather than a religiously affiliated cemetery, thus as each new community found its home in Ottawa, Beechwood welcomed them, created a space for them where their own traditions and expressions of faith would be honoured and respected. Nick went on to speak of the role of Beechwood as Canada’s National cemetery, with dedicated areas for the Armed Forces, the RCMP and CSIS. Finally, he discussed the role of the cemetery and how Beechwood is today looked to by other cemeteries as the example of how to bring the cemetery back into the community.

A reception and book signing followed.

The book itself, The Journey of Beechwood Cemetery: Canada's Legacy Written in Stone , is a large format hardcover volume of 196 pages. It is available in French as L’Épopée du cimetière Beechwood : L’héritage du Canada gravé dans la pierre . It is beautifully illustrated throughout with black & white and colour photos appearing on almost every page. The book tells the history of our city and our country through the lives of both the famous and the forgotten. A joy to read, it can be ordered through the Beechwood website, Foundation Products Archives - Beechwood Ottawa , for pick up at the cemetery or for home delivery.

Back in rough and tumble 1840s Bytown, what was there for a man looking to improve his lot in life -- as opposed to spending his days hanging out in Bytown's abundant taverns?

Bytown’s first “Mechanics’ Institute” was established on January 28, 1847.

One might assume that a "Mechanics' Institute" was somewhere you might go to get your buggy serviced -- but you would be incorrect.

Mechanics’ Institutes, tracing their roots to 1820s Scotland, in fact, were set up to offer weekly lectures and reading room resources to the common man -- established on the novel premise that the working classes were entitled to as much respect as any other class and that their education should be promoted equally with others.

James Powell takes us back to the beginnings of the Bytown Mechanics’ Institute and its intersecting history with similar organizations such as l’Institut Canadien-Francais d’Ottawa:

todayinottawashistory.wordpress.com/2025/11/08/bytown-mechanics-institute/

Follow this link for more of James Powell’s contributions to the HSO Bytown200 Bicentennial Story Collection, as James shares stories of the Rideau Canal, the Shiners’ War, the Stony Monday Riot, The ByWard Market and more:

www.historicalsocietyottawa.ca/resources/bytown-200/james-powell-today-in-ottawa-s-history-428

James is the author of the blog Today in Ottawa's History giving a day-by-day account of local history.

 You can read more about the Bytown Mechanics' Institute in our Bytown Pamphlet #39: The Bytown Mechanics' Institute: Improving the Mind of the Working Class 

On April 25, 2026, the Society hosted the third presentation of its Bytown200 series. It followed a February presentation by Dr. Lynn Gehl on the past, present and future of the Anishinaabeg Algonquin of the Ottawa Valley, and one in March by Allison Margot Smith who gave a screening of her documentary on the Rideau Canal. Presented by Society member James Powell, the third and final part of the Bytown200 trilogy focused on Bytown itself. Despite stiff competition from two hockey games that afternoon with both the Ottawa Senators and the Ottawa Charge in action, close to 100 people attended James’s presentation at the Ottawa Public Library.

James started by looking at the men who were instrumental in Bytown’s early development, starting with Lord Dalhousie, Canada’s Governor General, who with great foresight bought 400 acres of land in 1821 at would become the entrance of the Rideau Canal in anticipation of a sizeable town developing there. James then talked about Colonel By who was given the task of planning the new town that took his name along with constructing the Rideau Canal. Attention then shifted to Nicholas Sparks, who owned much of the land that was to become downtown Ottawa. Sparks became extremely wealthy when the Rideau Canal cut through his property. And let’s not forget Philemon Wright, the founder of Hull, Quebec, Thomas Mackay, the father of New Edinburgh, and Louis-Théodore Besserer, the father of Sandy Hill.

James then gave a fascinating overview of life in Bytown. With a population of about 2,000 in 1840, the small community was divided in two parts--Upper Town which was mostly well-to-do, English and Protestant and Lower Town which was mostly poor, French or Irish and Catholic. The two communities, separately by about a half mile, were linked by one road and one bridge over the Rideau Canal. Regardless of where one lived, however, Bytown was “unsafe, dirty, smelly, unsanitary and unhealthy.”

Ethnic rivalries, often fuelled by alcohol, spilled over into the streets. Irish loggers called Shiners fought their French counterparts for control of the timberlands. Shiner atrocities led one Catholic priest to say Il n’y a pas de Dieu à Bytown. Without running water, sanitary sewers, garbage collection or paved streets, life in Bytown was harsh and unpleasant. Roads were often muddy and covered with horse manure. People donned wooden pattens (overshoes) to protect their boots. But one thing that they could not protect themselves from was disease. Cholera, typhoid, typhus, smallpox, diphtheria, measles, and scarlet fever ran rampant through the town. A measure of health care was brought to the town in 1847 by Élisabeth Bruyère, mother superior of Bytown Sisters of Charity, who founded the first civilian hospital aided by Dr. Van Cortlandt.

Still, there were opportunities for fun and education. In addition to boozing in the town’s many bars and taverns, Bytown citizens enjoyed cricket and lacrosse. Plays were produced at Her Majesty’s Theatre on Wellington Street. Two newspapers, the Bytown Gazette and The Packet, the forerunner of The Citizen, provided windows to the world outside of Bytown. Two literary groups—the Bytown Mechanic’s Institute and Atheneum and L’Institut canadien français d’Ottawa—gave learned lectures and for a fee provided Bytown residents access to circulating libraries.

James also talked about the fraught political scene in Canada at that time with people divided between Tories and Reformers. When rioting Tories burnt down the Parliament building in Montreal in 1849, incensed by Lord Elgin, the Governor General, signing into law the Rebellion Losses Act, Bytown’s was back in the running to become the capital of Canada. But Bytown too was divided between Tories and Reformers. Just months after Parliament was torched in Montreal, fighting between the two groups broke out on the streets of Bytown. Stones were thrown and shots fired in the Stony Monday Riot in the Byward Market during a public meeting to discuss an invitation to Lord Elgin to check out Bytown as a potential future capital. One man died. Two days later, armed Reformers and Tories squared off close to the canal. Separated only by a group of British soldiers, calmer heads fortunately prevailed and the two groups peacefully dispersed. Civil war was averted. The Packet newspaper wrote: Can it be true? Can such a scene have occurred in the middle of the 19 ^th century in enlightened Canada?

Four years later, the political environment had mellowed, and Lord Elgin finally journeyed to Bytown where he was warmly greeted by Joseph-Balsora Turgeon, Bytown’s first Francophone mayor. Both Tories and Reformers, eager to make a good impression, wined and dined the governor general during his stay in Bytown and his trip up the Ottawa River. The political storm had passed.

Bytown became Ottawa in 1855, a name viewed as more fitting for a town aspiring to be the new capital of Canada. After years of sterile debate and failed votes in the legislature, the Canadian government asked Queen Victoria in 1857 to settle the debate over the location of the new capital. Ottawa won, beating outrivals Toronto, Quebec and Kingston. Following more months of political wrangling, Parliament finally ratified the Queen’s choice in 1859, but the vote was close. Had three MPs voted differently, ratification would have failed.

After the presentation concluded, there was a lively question and answer period covering such topics as John LeBreton’s land speculation, reasons why Queen Victoria selected Ottawa as the capital, schools in Bytown, and the occupations of people who lived in Upper Bytown.

For those unable to attend (or were watching the hockey games!), the presentation was recorded.

This series of paintings was undertaken by Ruth Hall-McMillan in 1976 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the start of construction of on the Rideau Canal by Colonel John By in 1826. The paintings depict scenes along the canal from Ottawa to Kingston during the years 1850 to 1895.

Ruth Hall-McMillan, a lifetime member of the Historical Society of Ottawa, was a local artist and writer whose work bridged the gap between fine art and historical preservation. She passed away in 2025 at the age of 93.

The Ruthven (Ruth) F. McMillan Rideau Canal Series, gifted by her family in honor of their mother, Ruth, and her father, R.H. “Bill” Hall, former Curator of the Bytown Museum.

 RF McMillan Rideau Lock

RF McMillan Hogsback

RF McMillan Long Island

RF McMillan Burrit's Rapids

RF McMillan Merrickville

RF McMillan Kilmarnock

RF McMillan Smith Falls

RF McMillan Beveridge

RF McMillan Chaffey's

RF McMillan Davis

RF McMillan Jones Falls

RF McMillan Kingston Mills

Ruth Hall-McMillan’s immense contributions to the Historical Society of Ottawa spanned four decades. Ruth passed away on December 8 2025, at the age of 93.

Inspired by Ottawa’s 150th anniversary in 1976, with the encouragement of HSO, Ruth produced a magnificent series of oil paintings, a collection called “The Rideau Canal Before 1900”. These works, featured in a solo exhibition at Ottawa City Hall, represented a meticulously researched visual record of the canal’s 19th century history.

In 1991, the HSO was honoured to publish a pamphlet by the same name, written by Ruth with narratives accompanying black & white reproductions of each of these wonderful oil paintings. (See Bytown pamphlet #37: The Rideau Canal Before 1900)

With the support of Ruth’s family, we are honoured to offer this digital exhibit of these paintings: Ruth Hall-McMillan - The Rideau Canal before 1900

Ruth’s late father, Bill Hall, had been Curator of the Bytown Museum during the long era when that was all still under the wing of the Historical Society of Ottawa.

Ruth, a lifetime member of the Historical Society of Ottawa, was a prolific painter whose work bridged the gap between fine art and historical preservation. Ruth had studied at Montreal’s Museum of Fine Arts under the tutelage of Group of Seven member Arthur Lismer and later graduated from the Famous Artists’ School in Westport, Connecticut.

A series of 27 oil paintings Ruth created for Canada’s Centennial year, in 1967, remain on display in the public library in Thorold, Ontario.

In addition, is the enduring legacy of Ruth’s contribution to the health and wellness community. Despite her own struggles with MS, Ruth was determined to give back. Upon learning from her neurologist that a support system was needed for those with Parkinson’s, she co-founded the Parkinson’s Disease Society of Ottawa-Carleton.

In 2012, Ruth was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition for her 35 years’ service to the Parkinson’s community.

Our deepest condolences to Ruth’s family, and thank you Ruth for your life’s legacy and work.