Robert Hiram McCallum [ 1843 (Approx.) - 1909 ]

The Province of Ontario Gazetteer and Directory for 1869 lists a partnership between William Campbell and Robert McCallum. That partnership was dissolved by 1870, and McCallum is listed in the 1871 census as a 26 year-old, Ontario-born shoemaker. Lovell’s Province of Ontario Directory (1871) also lists him in business. Robert McCallum had a stand opposite the Gazette Office but in 1881 moved next door to the Post Office on the main street [FFG 10 Sept 1881; 2]. McCallum’s store sign was a large boot that hung over his front door until it was destroyed by vandals in November 1881 [FFG 12 Nov 1881; 2].

In October 1885 McCallum announced “a change in business”; he was selling off his stock of boots and shoes at cost [FFG 17 Oct 1885; 2]. Nonetheless he is still listed as a shoe-maker in the 1891 Census. For whatever reason, the business continued under his name until McCallum’s son Malcolm H. returned to Fenelon Falls from Drayton in 1895 and set up in his father’s old shop as a tailor. Although Robert’s name continued in the directories until 1897, it was obvious that it was his son’s business after that.

McCallum died on May 15th, 1909 at the age of 66 and was buried in the village cemetery.