November 02, 2009, 14:52
Gerald ZimmermannThe Nettleton story continues with it's start:
John Nettleton (from a masonic newsletter)
John Nettleton was born at Lofthouse, Yorkshire, England on the 12th day of November 1832. His father William Nettleton and Grandfather before him carrying on the business of merchant tailors in that village. After learning the business with his father, he worked at the trade ln Leeds, London, Manchester and Liverpool. At the later place he was married to Elizabeth Boardman Womersley an May 9th, 1853 in St. Peter's Anglican Church.
On April 4th, 1857 he and his wife and one child emigrated to Canada, arriving in Toronto on the 23rd day of the same month, following a hectic 19 day journey. After staying there and at Markham village for a short time, he finally settled down in Collingwood in 1867, then a town at its infancy. He immediately set himself up in the tailoring business in a shop in the fourth building on the east side of the main street. He was located there until the great fire of Collingwood in 1881, which destroyed a complete blocck. He then set up business again across the road at the corner of First Street.
In his very first year in Collingwood, he started to prove his ambitions by being elected town councillor for the Centre Ward and for sixteenn years he held the position of either councillor or deputy reeve. He was elected mayor in 1886 and re-elected in 1887. He was connected with and took an active part in almost everything pertaining to the improvement of the town.
In 1888 he was listed in the Cyclopeadia of Canadian Biography in which it was recorded that besides his many affairs in local affairs, he was very active in every other political movement that had taken place in the country and had always worked for and voted with the Liberal-Conservative Party. ...
Buring all this busy time, he was able to build a nice home, which still stands today directly north of the present United Church on Maple Street. ... He and his wife emigreted to Canada with one son. His family subsequently increased to eight, six boys and two girls. As his tailoring business flourished and in order to be able to devote even more time to his many activities, he hired more seamstresses to carry on the business in his absence.
...(part on his many masonic activities and ranks)..
Finally, on January 9th, 1916 he passed to the Grand Lodge Above and was befittingly buried with Masonic Honours.
John came to Collongwood in response to an advertisement from a business man and a map boasting the development of the town as a business centre.In his journal he wrote his disappointment:
"I could see no trace of the fine streets that were shown on the map. The only steeets cleared were Huron and Front Street. Hurontario Street was dotted with stumps, and the houses seems to be located in a swamp, and though it was the dry time of the year,I could see traces where the water had run across the street. There were no sidewalks and you had to take the road around the stumps"
Collingwood became a business center when the railway arrived in 1857. The picture shows a train found in local archives.
Gerald
