172 Gould Street, Castleton

(c.late 1800s)
Roll No. 1411-011-050-16800 – Cramahe Township Ontario

Ontario Farmhouse – Double gable peak

The “Ontario Farmhouse” is a ubiquitous architectural style in Northumberland county, with its acres of agricultural land, horse farms and apple orchards.

172 Gould Street in the hamlet of Castleton, is such a style, with its double gable peak and double wide side wing. This, as distinct from the “L” shaped Folk Victorians which have the same gable end but are much narrower with only one door and one window in the side wing. The Ontario Farmhouse is usually two stories but it can be one and a half stories only.

172 Gould Street is a handsome house sporting the ubiquitous red brick used throughout the county of Northumberland in the mid to late 1800s. It has a single story three panel bay window in the gable end and another in the side of the wing.
The gable peaks are not “gothic”, that is tall and narrow, rather they are considerably broader but nonetheless there is a distinct peak.

There is no gingerbread found in many similar houses, adorning the peaks. The windows are mostly the tall and narrow, round head sash with two over two panes so common to the Italianate architecture. There is a sturdy porch extending from the gable wall across the entire wing shielding the first floor main door and window.

The house sits on an incline and is set back from the road probably about 60 feet, giving it a prominent and agreeable presence in the hamlet.

History or Associative Value

The land upon which 172 Gould Street stands, was sold to Hudson Price Gould in 1870. Gould ran a general store in Castleton and was postmaster and township clerk at one point or another. Tradition has it that this was a working farm house, which assumes a large acreage, but sales prices point to a build date of approximately 1900, which in turn indicates that Gould built the house. However, he never held more than the original 10.5 acres so, architecture aside, it is unlikely that this was a “farmhouse”.

Additional Historical and Genealogical Information

172 Gould Street, Castleton, Ontario Cramahe Township, Concession 7, Lot 34

When Cramahe Township was first surveyed in the 1790’s a seventh of its land was set aside for crown reserves and another seventh was set aside for clergy reserves. These reserves were rented to tenant farmers. The revenues from the crown reserves went to the government. The revenues from the clergy reserves originally went only to the Church of England (Anglican), but after 1824 the Church of Scotland (Presbyterian) was granted a share, and by the 1840s all of the major protestant denominations were included (except the Baptists, who refused to participate). The clergy reserve system came to an end in 1854, when all revenues reverted to the government.

The first official owner of the land on which the Castleton town hall now stands was the Canada Company. The Canada Company was a private British corporation incorporated in 1826 to aid in the development and colonization of Upper Canada with an emphasis on the Crown and Clergy Reserves. Among the lands acquired by the Canada Company were the southern 100 acres of Concession 7, Lot 34, Cramahe Township, where the western part of Castleton now sits. The Company was granted this land by the Crown on 28 May 1830.

By 1834 the 100 acres were in the hands of Joseph Abbott Keeler (1788-1855). No record has been seen of his acquiring them from the Canada Company, although there is an 1881 document certifying that the transfer had indeed been made. The Keelers were involved in the history of the area long before they were official owners of this property, having built a mill in Castleton as early as 1806.

Over the next several years Keeler sold of bits and pieces of this land, and what was left went to his son Joseph Keeler (1824-1881) on 23 September 1854. Joseph Keeler and his wife Octavia (née Phillips, 1827-1899) mortgaged the property, along with many others, with the Commercial Bank of Canada on 29 March 1855.

The Commercial Bank failed in 1867 and its assets were taken over by the Merchants Bank of Canada. The Merchants Bank then proceeded to sell off parcels of land, including 10.5 acres on part of which 172 Gould Street now stands. This parcel was purchased by Hudson Price Gould (1835-1914) on 2 March 1870. Gould ran a general store in Castleton and was a one time or another postmaster and township clerk. He was married to Sarah M. Blakeley (1839-1927) and had five children: Canniff Henry (1860-1861), Frank Saufield (1863-1890), Carrie O. (1868-1957), Seth Burr (1869-1870), and Charles Lewellyn (1877-1924).
On 8 May 1900 Gould and his wife sold the property to John Gould Honey (1849-1945), who was Hudson Gould’s second cousin, both being great grandsons of Abel Gould (1727-1789). Honey was a farmer. He was married to Hudson Gould’s first cousin Elizabeth Ann Gould (1853-1928; they shared grandfather Seth Burr Gould, 1775-1851, son of Abel Gould). John and Elizabeth Honey had two children: Martin Arthur (1876-?) and Fanny Myrtle (1878-?).

John Honey sold the property back to Sarah M. Gould, Hudson’s wife, on 5 July 1906 and the Goulds sold it to Castleton farmer John Richard Pomeroy (1863-1915) on 21 November 1912. When he died of an aortic aneurism in Toronto in 1915, the property went to his widow, Mary (?-?, maiden name unknown), who would own it until 1924.

Tradition has it that this was the farmhouse for a farm lying west of Castleton. However, the owner of the farmland in question both prior to its acquisition by the Commercial Bank of Canada and in 1878 (Atlas of Northumberland County) was Joseph Keeler, who lived in Colborne, not Castleton, and would not have built a house there. In addition, Hudson Gould purchased the property for $450 in 1870 and sold it in 1900 for $5000. This strongly suggests that Gould built the house, and he never owned more than 10.5 acres. Hence the house was probably never a farmhouse.

Tradition also has it that Michael John Doyle (1838-1911) and his family (including his daughter the future Conservative Senator Iva Fallis, 1883-1956) lived in the house in the 1880’s. There is no evidence that this wasn’t true, but Doyle never owned the property. In the 1880’s it was owned by Hudson Gould.
 

1870/0 3/0286 03Merchants Bank of Canada12 55 4Gould, Hudson Price450

1900/0 5/08
12 55 4Gould, Hudson Pricewife67 96 4Honey, John G.5000

1906/0 7/05
67 96 4Honey, John G.wife80 06Blakley, Sarah M.4000
1912/1 1/2180 06Blakley, Sarah M.Gould, Hudson Price15 23 0Pomeroy, John Richard3650
1915/1 2/3115 22 9Pomeroy, Oliver C.Pomeroy, George Vernon66 17 7Pomeroy, Mary

Castleton, ON K0K 1M0, Canada