Irvine Johnston Obituary - 6 Feb 1885

from "The Canadian Post" (Lindsay, Ontario), 6 Feb 1885, as copied in the book "They Came to Mara"

CANNINGTON

(Correspondence of the Post.)

AN OLD SETTLER GONE -- There died in Cannington on Sunday, January 17th, one of the oldest settlers in the village or township, Mr. Irvine Johnston, aged eighty-eight years and twenty-four days. He was born in Ireland in the county of Fermanagh, within a few miles of Enniskillen. He emigrated to this country in the year 1819 and landed in Nova Scotia and remained there a few years. During his stay in that province he engaged in lumbering. He located here in 1826. At that time he located in the township of Brock. He drew twelve hundred acres of land, the most of which was in the neighborhood of the village. Two hundred acres of this land he divided with the settlers coming in. He baceme one of our most successful farmers, but has lived retired for the past twenty years. He was a zealous adherent of the Methodist church. He was buried with Orange honors Monday. To the Orange cause he was always a strict adherent. The funeral was headed by the 34th batt. band and was attended by a large number of sorrowing friends. Among those present were Bro. T. W. Dodds, Sonya, W. M., L. O. L., No. 664, and Bro. P. McSweyn, district master, Mariposa; Bros. C. D. Johnston, W. Ramsay and Bro. W. Foster, district master, Brock; Bro. Hugh Wilson, county master of north Ontario. There must have been over two hundred Orangemen present.