Last Heritage Paper looked at a fine stone house on Concession 12 being considered for designation by the Town of Flamborough. Continuing the theme about the Mountsberg area of East Flamborough Township, this month the founding family of the Mountsberg community, Josiah Mount is the subject of this paper.
In 1835 a group of English friends, all strong adherents of the Methodist church, crossed the Atlantic Ocean together and travelled on to Upper Canada, settling in the northern section of East Flamborough Township. They were the families of Philip Johnson, John Revel, Cornelius Hewins and Josiah Mount. Accompanying the Mount family was Joseph Page, Mrs. Mount’s bachelor brother. All the family members were from the county of Lincolnshire, except Josiah Mount who was from the neighbouring county of Leicestershire. Mary Ann, Josiah’s wife, was baptized 29 September 1797, the eldest child of Matthew Page of Oxcombe, Lincolnshire and his wife Elizabeth Spiking of Tetford, Lincolnshire who were married in Tetford, 16 May 1796.
The area that these families came to was a complete wilderness, with no roads of any type, just blazes on trees to help the incoming settlers find their locations. Only a couple of other families from Scotland preceded them to this “back section” of the township. Although Josiah went straight to the 100 acres of Lot 5, Concession 12, East Flamborough Township that was to become his property, he was unable to obtain his deed from the owners, The Canada Company until 12 July 1840, when he paid £75. From the time of their arrival, until 1959, with the death of Jennie Mount, Josiah’s grand daughter, the property had continuous Mount Family ownership. In January 1965, the century old two-storey frame house that had been the family’s second home, was badly damaged by fire. Built about 1870, it was located beside the family’s original log home which had become the kitchen of the later dwelling.
In 1852 Josiah Mount was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Mountsberg Methodist Episcopal Church following a decision to build a place of worship in the community. Within the next few years the settlement also received the right to have a Post office, whien the name of Mountsberg, in honour of the Mount family, had been selected as the village name. About 1860 Josiah and Mary Mount left their farm on Lot 5 and moved to the cross roads settlement of Mountsberg where their sons Matthew and Charles had built them a house for their retirement. However they only stayed a short time, as in 1865, they returned to the home farm, following the death of their son Page, who had been operating it together with their youngest son, Alpheus, who only recently married, now needed help with the work.
Their new home on Lot 7 in the village was rented to the Mountsberg school teacher for a number of years before being sold to private ownership, probably to settle Josiah’s estate. Josiah Mount died 10 January 1873 aged 78 years, 10 months, 29 days and is buried in the Methodist Episcopal Church Cemetery, Mountsberg. May Ann Page-Mount died 9 August 1875 aged 77 years, 10 months, 12 days and is buried in the same cemetery as her husband.
Family history suggests that Mary Ann’s mother died about 1841, and her father Matthew came to live with his son Joseph, as the English government was urging the elderly who had children in Canada or any other colony, to go to them. Matthew Page lived for only a few years with Joseph and his wife, Ann Revel and died about 1850. He is reputedly buried on the Joseph Page farm as was the custom when there was no cemetery in the community.
John Mount was the eldest child of Josiah and Mary Ann Mount. He was aged 18 years when the family arrived in East Flamborough Township. No date for his wedding to Mary Ann Wheeler of Burlington has been found. About 1845, John purchased the 100 acres S. E. corner property of Lot 7, Concession 12 which fronted onto Centre Road, the main north-south routeway through the township and the cross road that was eventually to become known as the Mountsberg Road. This cross roads location was where the village of Mountsberg would develop. John and his brother Richard began clearing the land, and this is where John built his log house and all the children from his marriage to Mary Ann Wheeler were born – the youngest, William being born after his father died in 1867.
Richard Mount, the second son of Josiah and Mary Ann Mount married Margaret Cairns, born in County Down, Ireland and daughter of Richard Cairns (c. 1789-1873) and Catherine/Katherine Davidson (c. 1798-1879) of Nassagaweya Township on 7 May 1846. They lived on Lot 3, Concession 7, East Flamborough Township until they left for Iowa during the late 1850s. Prior to their move to the United States, Richard had worked first with his brother John clearing the corner lot that John had purchased about 1845 and then with his brother Matthew in his Blacksmith and Carriage Shop on the corner of Centre Road and Mountsberg Road.
Matthew Mount married Rachel Chambers in 1859. She was the daughter of Daniel Chambers (1796-1871) and his wife Rachel (1799-1882) who at the time of their daughter’s marriage were living in West Flamborough. About 1850, Matthew received 1 acre of property at the corner of Centre Road and Mountsberg Road from his brother John, although no deed was available until June 1867, just a month before John died. Matthew built a Blacksmith and Carriage Shop on the property and made about every small implement used on surrounding farms – from square-cut nails to ploughshares, including shovels, hoes, axes, chains, hammers, crowbars and meat hooks. He received the deed to his property from his brother John in 1867 and within a few weeks the family left Mountsberg and moved to Victoria Harbour on Georgian Bay where Matthew continued as a Blacksmith and a maker of carriages and wagons.
Page Mount married Elizabeth Dougherty in 1859. She was the daughter of James and Johanna/Joanna Dougherty of Lot 9, Concession 13, East Flamborough Township. When Page’s father, Josiah moved to the village, Page continued to farm the home property of Lot 5, Concession 12 and about the same time purchased 42 acres of Lot 6, Concession 12 from Charles Revel and moved his family there, leaving his youngest brother Alpheus in the house. Page Mount did not receive the deed to his purchased property until April 1865, just months before his unexpected death. Page Mount died 20 November 1865 aged 35 years, buried in the Mountsberg Methodist Cemetery. Elizabeth Dougherty-Mount died 31 December 1881 aged 42 years and is buried in the same cemetery.
Charles Mount was a Master Carpenter and worked with Matthew in his Carriage Shop from about 1850. In 1854, aged only 22 years old, he was given the task of building a frame church for the Methodist Episcopal congregation of Mountsberg. The simple small white frame building that he constructed is still in existence, although not on the original site. He later built a house on Mountsberg Road for his family, following his marriage, just adjacent to the one he helped build for his parents to have as a retirement home. In 1866 he received the deed for the ¼ acre of his property that his brother John had given to him and a year later the family left Mountsberg and moved to Michigan where Charles continued his carpentry and wagon making business.
Alpheus Mount, who was the youngest son and only one born in Upper Canada, remained on the Mount farm. He married Hulda/Huldah Wingrove, the daughter of Thomas Wingrove of Mountsberg and Catherine Griffin of Smithville on 26 March 1863. Alpheus Mount died 19 May 1918 in his 82nd year and was buried in the Baptist Church Cemetery, Mountsberg. His wife died 22 May 1921 in her 79th year and is buried in the same cemetery. The family became members of the Mountsberg Baptist Church in 1875, about the time that the Methodist Episcopal Church in Mountsberg began a slow decline in membership as several of the other sects within the Methodist church united to form the Methodist Church of Canada.
A detailed history of the Mount family including information of the two daughters born to Josiah and Mary Ann Mount are to be found in the vertical files, Flamborough Archives.
© The Waterdown-East Flamborough Heritage Society 2000, 2023.The Mountsberg Historical Society also published a book covering the history of the settlers of Mountsberg, entitled ‘The Mountsberg Heritage’, and is available in our shop.
