1827 - Yes, date unknown
Has no ancestors but 8 descendants in this family tree.
- Yes, date unknown
Died |
Yes, date unknown |
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Father |
John Rudolphus Booth, b. 1827, Quebec, Canada |
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Family |
France Alberte Hunsiker |
Children |
+ | 1. Lois Frances Booth, b. 2 Aug 1897, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada |
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-
Name |
John Rudolphus Booth |
Birth |
1827 |
Quebec, Canada |
Gender |
Male |
Death |
Yes, date unknown |
Person ID |
I634392 |
Geneagraphie |
Last Modified |
16 Oct 2008 |
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Notes |
- J.R. Booth: The Life and Times of an Ottawa Lumberking
John Ross Trinnell. 1998. TreeHouse Publishing, 10 Preston Street, Apt. 403, Ottawa, Ontario KIR 7W4.
Telephone: 613-231-7601. Fax: 613-231-5873.
Third printing, June 1999. 176 pp. ISBN O-9683558-0-3 (bound).
"The history of the world is but the biography of great men" - Thomas Carlyle
This book presents a chronological record of many of the events in the life of John Rudolphus Booth, dean of the Ottawa lumber barrons. It provides a continuous and detailed account arranged in order of time, but essentially without analysis or interpretation. The book is divided into four chapters each depicting a period in the life of Booth. The first period from 1827 to 1895 deals with establishing his empire. J.R. Booth was bom in the Eastern Townships of Quebec in 1827. He moved to Ottawa (then Bytown, Upper Canada) in 1854. His first involvements were to help build and then manage a sawmill north of Hull, Quebec. This was followed by the provision of lumber for the Parliament Buildings and in 1860 by the successful purchase of a 250 square mile timber limit on the Madawaska River, which had reverted to the crown following the death of the previous owner, two actions which ultimately led to the establishment of his vast empire.
The second period in 1896 involved the construction of a railway from Ottawa to Pany Sound on Georgian Bay. The railroad, called the Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway provided the means for hauling sawlogs and timbers from his vast timber limits in Algonquin Park and other areas to sawmills in the Ottawa area. It also reduced the distance for hauling grain between Chicago and Montreal by some 800 miles.
The third period was between 1897 and 1922, a period characterized by fires that burned his sawmills, by injuries to employees and by deaths of friends and
relatives. Nevertheless, during this period, Booth's holdings of timber limits in Ontario and Quebec came to almost 7000 square miles and he became the
largest individual timber limit holder in the British Empire. As well he operated a fleet of vessels on the Upper Great Lakes for transporting western grain to Montreal.
The fourth chapter covers the last two years of his life - from 1923 to 1925 - and includes considerable detail concerning the wedding of Booth's granddaughter, Lois Frances Booth, to Prince Erik of Denmark
as well as Booth's funeral which was held on December 10, 1925, two days after his death. In this final chapter, the author does provide some insight and comment concerning John Booth.
This book is a welcome addition to the forest history of Canada and result from painstaking research conducted by the author who notes that there was no primary material to work with as personal letters, diaries and private papers do not exist. Furthermore, after his death all of the papers from his lumber company and his other activities were apparently destroyed. Accordingly, most of the material presented in the book has been taken from many newspapers, magazines and journals of the day.
The author of the book, John Trinnell, was employed at one time by the Ontario Department of Lands and Forests at Algonquin Park headquarters and has visited many of the locations in Booth's vast empire. Work on the book began in 1978 as a serious pastime. The book should be of interestto anyone having an interest in Canadian forest history.
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