Braddish Billings, 1783-1864

The history of the Billings Family in Ottawa begins with the patriarch, Braddish Billings I, who was the first settler in Gloucester Township.

Braddish Billings I was born in Ware, Massachusetts on September 23, 1783 around the end of the American Revolutionary War. His father, Dr. Elkanah Billings, had served in the American army. In 1792, Dr. Billings moved to Canada with his wife, Joanna, and their seven children, eventually settling in Elizabethtown (Brockville).

In 1801 eighteen-year-old Braddish took the Oath of Allegiance. American by birth, he had to pledge loyalty to the British Crown if he wanted land in Upper Canada, to join the militia, and to “enjoy the privileges of British subjects.”

In 1808 Braddish left Elizabethtown to take part in the timber trade along the St. Lawrence River. The following year, he set up a lumber operation with William Marr near Merrickville, but their partnership ended in 1810 after a storm caused a massive loss of timber. The storm prevented them from fulfilling a contract and left them in debt.

Braddish began his associations in Gloucester in 1812, working as a lumberman for Philemon Wright of Hull. Unfortunately for Braddish, war broke out that year between Britain and the United States, and his bateau (small, flat-bottomed rowboat used on rivers) was seized on the St. Lawrence.

These early misfortunes left Braddish in debt and in need of a permanent base to build his fortune on. In the late fall of 1812, he built a shanty *a simplified cabin made of round logs with no windows, an opening without a door, a hole in the roof in place of the chimney and plenty of daylight between the logs* on Lot 17 (416 acres) in the Junction Gore of Gloucester, although this land officially belonged to the clergy reserve. Braddish was probably drawn to the site because of its close proximity to the Rideau River, its abundant timber, its creek, and its fertile soil. He began clearing the land and planted potatoes, hay, Indian corn, and turnips. He also continued lumbering for Philemon Wright.

Braddish married 17-year-old Lamira Dow—a teacher in Merrickville—on October 18, 1813. He had just built a new log home and the couple moved in on October 28. After transporting all of their worldly possessions on a harrowing four-day journey from Merrickville via canoe, Lamira describes their situation:

Braddish and Lamira’s first child, Sabra, was born in this house in 1815.

Braddish continued to farm and work in the timber trade. He employed many hired men and some relatives to help him handle both occupations. Like his career in lumbering, Braddish’s initial forays into farming proved challenging: In 1815 the first wheat crop planted on Lot 17 failed miserably. Nevertheless, Braddish’s participation in two industries made his situation more secure because his income was not tied up in a single market.

In fact, one of the keys to Braddish’s success was his ability to merge the two enterprises. He geared his farm towards the needs of the lumbermen, selling them salt pork, wheat, potatoes, corn, hay, oats, potash, dairy products, and wool products. Meanwhile, the lumber companies reduced spending and increased profitability by getting provisions locally. Braddish’s connections also gave him easy access to lumber for his homestead.

In 1814, Braddish floated lumber down the Rideau River from Merrickville to Gloucester so that he could build a frame barn. He also built a new frame house that year, which he, Lamira, and Sabra moved into in the summer of 1815. In 1817, Braddish made his first payment towards Lot 17, which he technically had been squatting on. The following year, he began the lengthy process of petitioning the government for the rest of his property.

More people were beginning to homestead in Gloucester, but they could only get sawn lumber from the mills at Merrickville and Hull. Braddish tapped this local market by building his own sawmill in 1823. Again he stood to make a profit, because he received a portion of any lumber that his neighbours milled.

Braddish tried a few other ventures. In 1821 he opened a tavern that supplied travellers with lodgings and liquor. He also operated a ferry across the Rideau River.

Hard work and ingenuity took Braddish far, but he also had the luck of being in the right place at the right time. In 1826 Colonel By came to Ottawa to build the Rideau Canal and Braddish became an overseer of the construction. He also received contracts to supply materials and to build barracks, a wharf, and workshops. The canal project opened the area up to more settlers, which created a building boom, attracted more businesses, and made goods more readily available.

In 1827, Braddish quit the lumber business to focus on agriculture. He built a larger, more genteel house on ‘the hill,’ which the family moved into in October 1829 By then, the rest of the Billings children had been born: Cynthia (1816-1818), Lamira (1817-1910), Braddish II (1819-1871), Elkanah (1820-1876), Samuel (1821-1910), Sally (1822-1915), Charles (1825-1906), and Hiram (1826-1827).Forty-eight years later, Charles Billings recalled moving into the new Estate House:

Braddish realized the need for more land and purchased more lots directly from settlers and owners. At one point, he owned as much as 1,200 acres (in various parts of the Ottawa Valley), but he only cultivated around 700 acres. He continued to add to his farm property, building employee houses, barns, stables, sheds, a dairy, a milk house, a smokehouse, a woodhouse, an icehouse, and a storehouse.

Because of his social visibility and economic prosperity, Braddish was able to turn his attention to civic interests. He was one of the twelve household heads listed in the 1825 Gloucester Township assessment roll and he became involved in local politics around that time, receiving all official documentation from Osgoode and Gloucester. His various appointments in the community included: clerk, assessor, path-master, collector, pound-keeper, and warden.

In 1830, Braddish became the Surveyor of Highways for Russell County. In the following year, he built a bridge across the Rideau River that enabled farmers to take their products to the market in Bytown. Later, in 1848, he helped bring about the Bytown Prescott Railway by taking up subscriptions for funds and selling part of his land for the track.

Braddish also served as a magistrate in both Gloucester Township (1834) and the Bathurst District (1835). He was part of the movement that started in 1828 to make Bytown the judicial seat of its own district. Besides signing petitions and attending meetings, Braddish also helped construct Bytown’s first jailhouse and courthouse, which qualified the town for the change and allowed the Dalhousie District to form in 1842.

Braddish was one of the first six Justices of the Peace for the new district. In 1846 he was elected as a District Councillor and he worked with the finance and education committees—a fitting role considering Braddish built Gloucester’s first schoolhouse approximately fifteen years earlier.

In 1848, Braddish campaigned to become the MLA for Russell, but he had to drop out due to his poor health and failing vision. Despite his health problems, Braddish remained active.

Braddish Billings was eighty years old when he passed away on April 8, 1864. No photographs of him exist except for one ‘mourning portrait’ taken on his deathbed, but his son Charles provides a description in his memoirs:

Charles also wrote his father’s obituary for the Ottawa Citizen. After recounting Braddish’s accomplishments Charles added a personal note:

His name lives on in history alongside the Ottawa Valley’s other Founding Fathers.

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