Arnprior & McNab/Braeside Archives: The Immigrant Experience

For “Land bond” JUL 1825 of Alexander Goodwin

The earliest European squatters in McNab Township settled on government land with the intention of acquiring legal title before the Township was surveyed in the early 1820's. Eight of these settlers signed a bond with Chief Archibald McNab in Montreal in July 1825, years after they had started to work the land. They were Duncan Anderson, Duncan Campbell, Alexander Goodwin, Charles Goodwin, Alexander McDonnell, James McNee, Archibald Stewart, and John Taylor. They joined the group of 84 people who Chief McNab brought here in 1825 under a private immigration scheme.

Identification rests on the name plus the fit with this family's known movements: Alexander Goodwin married at Kilsyth, Stirlingshire in April 1821, his first Canadian child was born at Lanark, Upper Canada in December 1822, his children from 1826 onward were born at Arnprior in McNab Township, and he died at Arnprior in 1856. The archives page names the men but gives no ages or origins, so this is strong circumstantial evidence rather than a proved identity - hence quality 2.

For “Land bond” JUL 1825 of Charles Goodwin

Eight of these settlers signed a bond with Chief Archibald McNab in Montreal in July 1825 ... They were Duncan Anderson, Duncan Campbell, Alexander Goodwin, Charles Goodwin, Alexander McDonnell, James McNee, Archibald Stewart, and John Taylor.

Charles Goodwin b. Jul 1796 Stirlingshire is Alexander Goodwin's eldest son by his first wife Helen Strathairn; he died at Arnprior on 24 Sep 1856, five weeks after his father. Father and son appearing together in the list of eight is what makes the identification of both credible. Quality 2 for the same reason as the father's.