John Hunter

By Guy Scott

John Hunter was the “founder” of Kinmount buying lot 1, concession 13 Somerville from a speculator about 1858. This lot was the village south of the river. He built first mills on the river as soon as he could get his wagons in from Bobcaygeon via the new Bobcaygeon Colonization Road. He was first postmaster (1859 – 1871) as well as serving other roles in the pioneer village such as Justice of the Peace, issuer of marriage licences and commissioner for taking affidavits for the Queen’s Bench. He also operated both a sawmill and a grist mill on the east bank of the Burnt River at the dam. No doubt he built the first dam at its current site to use for his mill complex.

The sawmill was built first and was in operation by December 1859. The Crown Lands agent reported in that year: “A sawmill has been erected at Kinmount during the last six months and is found of great benefit to the settlers as it saves 18 miles of carriage (from Bobcaygeon) for lumber”. The 1861 report says “Only one grist mill has been completed north of Bobcaygeon as yet, via at Kinmount by John Hunter.” The mills were a big boon to the early Kinmount community and attracted business from farmers all along the Bobcaygeon Road. John Hunter mortgaged his holdings heavily. Business was not sufficient to carry the mortgage and by 1870 John Hunter was bankrupt. But his holdings had potential, and his holdings were assumed by William Cluxton. Cluxton surveyed the property into town lots in 1874 and 1876. The railway arrived in 1876, and sparked a big boom in town, but Hunter was in California by then. The Hunter family lived in Kinmount for about 14 years, three children were born here and two girls married locally and remained in the community. The rest of the family all moved to California. The Hunter family moved to California in 1871, supposedly for John’s health. He died in 1892 and his obituary was published in the Fenelon Gazette.

Here is a listing of the John Hunter Family from ancestry.ca:

John Hunter married Sarah Downing in Scotland. They had 7 children:

1. Sarah (1850) married a Faulkner and lived in Galway.

2. Agnes (1853) married Silas Crowe and lived at Nogies Creek.

3. Catherine (1854) married a Williams, but moved to Anaheim.

4. Isabella (1857) married a Ramage in California

5. John James (1860)

6. Walter (1866)

7. William (1874)

The family seems to disappear in California.

Obituary:

The Fullerton Journal, of Orange Co., California announces the death on Saturday, April 9^th, of Mr. John Hunber, formerly a resident of this county, and the Barrie Examiner, the editor of which paper is a nephew of the deceased contains the following obituary notice:

“John Hunter, was born in Dumfrieshire, Scotland, and came to this country in 1845. He lived in Canada for about 26 years, mostly at Kinmount, Victoria County, and while there he sat in the County Council for some time as Reeve of Somerville township. He owned a gristmill and a sawmill at Kinmount and was postmaster and justice of the peace there for many years. In earlier times his name was familiar in Bobcaygeon and the townships north of that place. He left Canada for California with his family in 1871, thinking that a milder climate would improve his heath, as he suffered from rheumatism.”

Deceased was 67 years of age, and leaves a wife, three sons and three daughters to mourn his loss.”