File:Farm on Rose Hill Road - Denbigh, Wales.jpg

Carmen Grant became the owner of the farm at Rose Hill in 1948, years after working there as a young man. The owner when he worked there (we think his name was Kohler) was a butcher who delivered the meat to Renfrew by sleigh or wagon. The next owner was John Shroeder who sold it to Carmen, 300 acres for $3000. Carmen only had $2800 saved so the other $200 was paid by 3 heifers “on the hoof”. Hyde Creek runs through the property and timber ran down the creek and through the farm to the Madawaska River in logging days.

When #9 Rose Hill Schoolhouse closed, a very small school with two windows and a door on each side, it was moved down the hill road and added to the east side of the farmhouse for the kitchen. The farm is still in the family but the house was taken down to save on taxes.

Carmen worked many places as a labourer - in lumber camps, on farms, building Highway 41 using horses and shovels since no heavy equipment existed at the time. He met Olive Flake while working for her father at a sawmill. When they married, they first lived with another newly married couple in a sugar shack on Stein’s property in Denbigh; it is still standing. Running the farm meant a lot of work and all 10 children in the family helped. Sunday was always a day of rest but otherwise there was never an idle moment.

Reproduced from the 2019 CDHS Annual Calendar. Thank you Ina (Grant) Newman for sharing the photos and story with Red Emond and Wendy Hodgkin.

Part of the Ina Newman Albums Note: All CDHS Flickr content is available for the public use (non-commercial) providing our Rights Statement is followed: