In 1813, after 19 years as a fur trader with the North West
Company, John Macdonell (1768-1850) retired to Hawkesbury Township
with his wife, Magdeleine Poitras - a Métis born on the Manitoba
section of the Qu'Appelle River - and their children.
Macdonell's home, known as Poplar Villa, is a graceful adaptation
of the Palladian style. It served as a centre for his milling,
general merchandising, warehousing and freight-forwarding
business.
Using the commercial instincts he had honed in the competitive fur
trade, Macdonell opened a general store in Pointe Fortune, served
as a freight forwarder in the movement of goods from his property
to Lachine, near Montreal, and sponsored the building of the Ottawa
– the first steamboat on the Ottawa River. He also made noteworthy
contributions to the region's public life as a judge in the Ottawa
district (1816-25), and later as a member of the Upper Canada House
of Assembly. Macdonell died in Pointe Fortune in 1850.
In 1882, the Williamson family bought the house. It remained in the
Williamson family until the early 1960s. The Ontario Heritage Trust
acquired it in 1978 to save it from demolition, and conducted
extensive architectural and archaeological investigations on the
property.
The site is now managed by the Friends of Macdonell-Williamson
House/Les Amis de la maison Macdonell-Williamson under a custodial
agreement with the Trust.
Felications a Kabuiter pour PAT !!!