One of the most noteworthy families of West Flamborough Township is the Flatt Family, who throughout history have served the community with distinction through virtually every field, including business, lumbering, importing, real estate, and politics.
Robert Flatt left his family in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, in 1815, and emigrated to Western Canada to begin employment with the Hudson Bay Company. Four years later, during a work assignment of escorting a prisoner to Fort York, Flatt decided to resign from his position and settle in the area that is now Millgrove, West Flamborough Township. At the time, the township had a population of only 16, and citizens were assessed by their possessions, rather than by how much land they owned. Robert Flatt possessed only a yoke of oxen, but he quickly managed to settle into a comfortable, yet modest lifestyle. He married Mary Baker, the daughter of Abraham and Esther Yake, the founding family of Bakersville, East Flamborough, and had a family of 14 children.
It was in Millgrove, where Robert’s son John Ira began establishing a successful family name. At a young age, John Ira married, and cleared 50 acres of his West Flamborough property. He had three sons, Jacob, Daniel and William, with whom he began a small-scale lumbering businesses from his property. In only a short time, the lumber business became profitable and the family began importing their lumber from Michigan and Northern Ontario. The British navy used their pine for ship masts and floor planks. In 1860, John’s three sons took over the lumber business as he began a career in politics. He was a member of the West Flamborough Council for seven years an in 1894 was elected to the Provincial Legislature for four years. As a Member of Parliament, he became well-known in his fight for farmers’ rights, and his role in abolishing the tollgate system in 1899.
In the mean time, the family’s lumber business experienced continued growth. By the turn of the century, Daniel was living in Michigan, operating four lumber camps in Michigan and Wisconsin, while the other two brothers stayed in Millgrove, to run the Canadian operations. The lumber business had over $500,000 in yearly exports to the U.K. alone and was the largest export lumber business in America, until they sold the company in 1904.
In 1905, after disposing of the lumbering business, William entered Real Estate, a relatively unchartered occupation. In 1910, he bought 22.5 acres of Burlington lakefront property, and several other properties throughout Burlington and Hamilton, allowing him to play a significant role in their layouts. He became a Trustee of the Burlington School Board and in 1924, bought land on Cedar Springs Road, where the “Dakota Powder Mill” had exploded in 1884 and killed several workers. William fell in love with the surrounding property, and wanted to build a private resort while preserving nature. He erected 80 rustic wood cabins, each selling for $250-$500, a community hall, golf course, swimming pool, ski hill and bowling green, and the resort, which he named the Cedar Springs Resort, soon became one of the most popular private resorts in Ontario. Upon his death, an historic plaque was erected by the residents as a memorial, and can still be seen today on the front stone gate.
In 1900, William’s two brothers had begun a livestock import/export business and established the Trout Creek Stock Farm in Millgrove. They imported the highest quality, purebred cattle and hogs from England, and using their back yard as a breeding area, quickly established export markets across Canada and the United States. They were the biggest breeders of Yorkshire hogs in Canada, and won numerous awards all over North America for livestock quality, including their World Record two-year-old Holstein for butter fat. Today, they are one as of the recognised as one of the breeders credited with increasing the quality of livestock in Canada.
After achieving great success with their livestock business, Daniel and his son John Ira Jr. soon tired of it, and in hopes of a new challenge, opened the Hamilton Dairy Company in Millgrove. Like their other industrious ventures, the dairy wholesale and resale business flourished. After its establishment in 1907, extreme growth forced the erection of a new dairy in 1913, and further expansion in 1926. In 1926, the dairy absorbed several other local dairies, including Bonnie Bank Dairy, Brant Ice Cream, Caledonia Creamery Ltd., Jarvis Creamery Ltd. and Wentworth Dairy Ltd., to become Hamilton Dairies Limited. The corporation had more than 100 employees, served 10,000 homes daily with milk, cream and butter, and had a capital of well over $1 million. As President, Director and General Manager, Daniel and John Ira eventually sold the business to the Borden’s Milk Company in 1930.
The Flatts were an extremely successful family, but perhaps it was not just their prosperity that achieved the family such respect. The Flatts were committed community members and volunteers and had a reputation as charitable, kind and modest people. They were deeply involved in the Methodist church, and local schools. Robert Flatt Jr., the grandson of Robert Flatt, served as a Sunday School Teacher for 84 years of his life, while his wife worked in the Nairn School, and was president of the Millgrove Women’s Institute. Mrs. John Ira Flatt Jr. was a counsellor for the Young Women’s Fellowship of West Flamborough, and two members of the Millgrove Flatt family gave their lives fighting in two World Wars. Daniel Flatt was the trustee of Millgrove Church for many years, and became heavily involved with humanitarian work. He joined Philpott Gospel Tabernacle in Hamilton and was manager of the Relief Depot, which offered relief for over one thousand families, and he later gave the generous donation of a hospital unit in Nigeria, to serve African leper colonies.
Three multi-million dollar industries was quite an accomplishment for one family, but achieving such prowess, modestly and gracefully, makes such a feat even greater. Several descendants of Robert and Mary Flatt still live in Wentworth County today.
Editor’s Note:
For more history of the Cedar Springs community, check out their website which includes images from the community’s beginnings as well as an original brochure and so much more.
