The Early Years

The Early Years
The early years were difficult. Many of the families in the district ran stopping places or an Inn from their houses. There is some evidence which points to John Steel running an Inn from his shanty on the Richmond road in 1820. This may have been to compensate for the questionnable value of his land.

John Steel's Inn

On Oct. 24 1821 it was deemed that John Steel had performed his settlement duties of clearing four acres and building a dwelling. He was therefore entilted to his deed under the terms set down by the military settlement. The 1822 Census of Nepean Twp, paints us a picture of life for the Steel family. At that point, they had 4 acres cleared, and owned 4 oxen and 2 milch cows. No horses were found on the farm. Oxen were more suited to the slow but heavy work of clearing a lot. Their house was merely a shanty, built from logs from the surrounding forest.

The mid-1820's marks the entrance on the scene of Daniel L. McLeod, sometimes known as Donald. His origins are unproven, but some evidence suggests that he "came up" from Glengarry County. John Steel's daughter Jane was the object of his attention, and they married, it is believed around 1825.
During this period, another more significant event in the life of the Steel family took place. The following tale was related to John B. Steele by Dr. John Findlay, a retired veterinarian formerly of Arnprior, Ont.

       During the late 1820's the Steel family, still dutifully carving an existence out of
      the wilderness, was shaken by the death of John, the father of the family. He was
      drowned, possibly in the Tay River during an excursion to Perth. As a young
      widow with a young family, the only hope Mrs. Steel had was to remarry. This
     she did, to a man named Robert Little who had recently "come out" from his
     native Dumfriesshire, Scotland.

It is possible that the Littles and Steels knew one another before emigrating, as the Steel family lived in Dumfriesshire in 1806. Either way, Mr. Little, who "In the year 1824 emigrated from Scotland to thils country for the purposes of settling made a place for his new bride, the former Mrs. Steel, and her son John on his land in Bristol Twp., Pontiac County, Quebec. In May of 1830, the last trace of the family name in Nepean disappeared, and the old family homestead was sold by John Jr. to his brother-in-law Daniel McLeod. Daniel, a blacksmith by trade, soon built a blacksmith shop on the lot and became a longstanding member of the community.

The Move To Bristol Township, Pontiac County Quebec

The period of the 1820's saw
settlement creep up the Ottawa
River as far as Pontiac Cty.
Some of the original settlers of
Nepean and district gave up
their holdings in the area and
moved up the river to the newly
opened territory.

Included in the group was the widow of John Steel and her son John Jr.

Little did the group of settlers realize that a mistake on the part of the land settling agent Sgt.
James Prender who had registered Robert Little and the others would be challenged several years later by a party led by Lt. Daniel de Hertel of the Canadian Volitgeurs

De Hertel's party which
included a surveyor, Theodore Davies, discovered that the settlement of Scottish farmers some with as many as 20 acres cleared, and with barns, were on the lands that had been granted to De Hertel. The settlers amongst whom was Robert Little the new husband of the Widow Cameron, were equally
indignant. When the whole affair was ended the settlers paid a reasonable amount under a mortgage to DeHertel, they retained their lands and all was well.

Children of John Steel
c. 1785- 182?

John Steel had two children both born in Scotland who accompanied their parents to Canada. They were a girl, Jane, and a boy John Steel Jr. The descendants of these two children as far as we know them to be, are identified in the following pages.

Jane Steel

Born in Dumfriesshire Scotland. She married Daniel McLeod c.1825 . They lived
      n1/2 Lot 23 Con.5 Nepean Twp. Jane died in Bristol Twp Jan 26 1892 and is
        buried in Norway Bay United Cemetery, Bristol Twp Pontiac Cty. Quebec
   The family were long standing residents of Nepean Twp. where Jane's husband Daniel
McLeod was a well known blacksmith in Fallowfield. Jane moved to Bristol to live with
    her daughter Catherine McCuaig on the McMillan line. She died at her daughter's
      residence in 1892. The date of death and burial place of Daniel is unknown.

THE CHILDREN OF JANE STEEL AND DANIEL MCLEOD

Catherine
            Born1826 in Nepean Tw    Married Archibald McCuaig
        Lived in Bristol     Died May 1, 1903
John
        Born 1827 Nepean Twp later moved to North Gower (1880)

Alexander Francis
Born June 26, 1830 Nepean Twp Married Mary McKillop (1824-1901)
Lived Pontiac County Died 1862 Buried Norway Bay United Cemetery

Ann
Born 1835 Nepean Twp.Married James Phillips 1858 Nepean Twp.

Daniel
Born 1837 Nepean Twp.

Euphemia
Born 1840 Nepean Twp.

John Steel Jr.
John Steel was the second child of John Steel who came from Dumfriesshire Scotland.
After the death of his father by drowning, John Steel Jr moved to Bristol township, Pontiac county Quebec with his mother and there he married Sarah Odber. The children of Sarah Odber and John Steel Jr. follows.

home Webmaster John Steel and Sarah Odber