The Millwright’s House

The Millwright’s house originally stood on the North side of the Mill Pond/Creek on the Bannockburn Road towards Kingston. We are not sure who originally built the house or how old it is. John A. Ladner once lived on that property and we know he was there at least by 1840s. There is a possibility the house is about 180 years old.

Online records indicate John A. Ladner was born in Nine Mile Creek in 1807 and passed away at his home on Bannockburn Road in 1879. John and his wife Flora Livingston were married in 1840 and had several children. John A. operated a mill at that location. Flora died in 1898. After John’s death, there is no record of Flora and children in census in 1881 and family researchers are not sure where they moved, possibly off Island. Ladner’s were Loyalists who moved to PEI from New York and they may have leased the land. We think that it was not owned, as the Beer deed says it was purchased through land agent William Douse who represented Lord Selkirk.

I later found this clipping where it says the property was formerly occupied by John A. Ladner when it went up for sale in March, 1864. So maybe they lived here between from the time they were married until 1864. It does say he died at his home on the Bannockburn Road though, so still some questions.

Connection to Beer Family

Thomas Beer (immigrated from Devon, England in 1832) and his wife Jane Robertson Beer (immigrated from Derry, Ireland) my great great grandparents purchased the farm across the road from the original location of Millwright’s house which is now owned by Dixon’s. You can still see the original barn on the hill. 

Thomas Beer then bought the farm on the west side of the Bannockburn Road in 1866 (would have included the house where Ladner’s lived) from land agent William Douse/Lord Selkirk. I am not sure where that left the Ladners, if they continued living in the house. There are some dates that don’t add up e.g. John Ladner died at his home in 1879 and his wife died in 1898 and millwrights lived in the house, we thought in 1870s, because lumber from the house built in 1871 came from the mill. Maybe they boarded there. I have gathered the best information available.

Thomas later sold the farm to his son James Beer (married to Mary Ann Livingstone). James built or updated the existing mill and the men that worked on it stayed in the old (Ladner) house, hence it acquired its name, the Millwright’s House. The lumber from the mill was used to build a new home on the property in 1871. James and Mary Ann raised four children, three girls, Margaret Jane (Maggie), Amy Ann, Zaida Elizabeth, Ina May and one boy, Frederick Boyd. 

In 1905, Frederick Beer purchased the farm on the south side which was originally owned by Angus MacPhail (bachelor). Angus had purchased the land from Lord Selkirk and named it Ardmore Farm (Ardmore is gaelic for “great height”). We have the original copy of the deed which offers a detailed description of the farm. The buildings that are original to the Angus MacPhail farm are the barn and the small building at the back of your house. That small building was likely Angus’ house. We do know later that Thomas Cann and his family lived there, as he worked for my grandfather at the family mill. The field to the south was originally a small property of 26 acres owned by Simmons family which was later purchased by Angus MacPhail and is now part of the Beer farm. The field behind extends back quite a distance and the forested area extends back that far again. 

When Frederick Beer got married to Frances Darrach in 1911, he took over his parent’s home and they had four children – James, Florence, John (my father) and Arnold (Fred’s father). The millwright’s house was then moved across the mill pond and up the hill beside the home place (on the south side of laneway) and Fred’s parents, James and Mary Ann lived out their days at that house. Later I have a link to a photo gallery and one of the photos show the two houses. James died in 1918 and his wife died in 1919 – she had moved to her daughter’s place in Kingston the last year of her life. In 1919, the mill was expanded to include a shingle mill.

After my great grandparents James and Mary Ann passed, my father John Beer, said they stored grain in the house. It remained vacant until Fred’s oldest son got married. James married Rita Rodd in 1937 and they renovated the house. 

In 1941, James and Rita moved the house across the laneway to where it stands now. It took a while to move it and, as the story goes, Aunt Rita cooked meals in the house to feed the men that were moving the house. 

In 1945 when James’ brother John (my father) returned home from WWII and married Hazel MacLean, they purchased the farm and moved into the Millwright’s house. James and Rita moved to Cornwall. My parents raised three children: Blois (lives in Edmonton), Doreen (lives in Clyde River) and me, Vivian (lives in Charlottetown). When my parents were first married, they wintered in Charlottetown as my father worked at Maritime Electric. My mother said she couldn’t wait until Spring to move to the country. She loved gardening and had beautiful flower gardens around the property.

There was a large barn that has since been removed, that stood in front of the home. You can see where the land is raised and there are likely still some remnants of foundation. There was also a grainery which earlier was a fox pen that had been removed. The pump house still stands and there is a stone well in that building. Where the rhubarb patch is there was a hen house.

Photos of the homeplace here.