I have been contacted by a lady called Christine Cooper, who is trying to trace her Curries. Her Grandmother was Amt Lila Currie from Inverell.(Inverell is a small town in New South Wales,Australia. Many Curries settled in the surrounding area in the 1800's). Christine's great grandparents were James Archibald Currie and Sarah Carson born Mungle Creek. I've looked up my road directories, and I can't find Mungal Creek.I've asked her for more details of early ancestors. Thank you, Carol Rowe (Currie)

For those of you researching Currie & Gillespie families, this was given to me by Alice Burke. Christine Harenberg CURRIE FAMILY HISTORY IN NOTTAWASAGA DATES TO 1887 DAUGHTER MARKS 100TH YEAR James Currie born in Islay Scotland in 1824, married Christena Gillespie in 1847 Died in Nottawasaga Simcoe County May 13 1889 and is buried in Creemore Cemetery. Christena Gillespie, born in 1830 in Islay is also buried in Creemore Cemetery. James Currie lived for 25 years in Mariposa Twp. before coming to Nottawasaga Twp in 1857. The township was then sparsely settled and could almost be termed a wilderness. He was accompanied by his wife and four children. James hewed out a comfortable livelihood for himself and his large family on the farm that he occupied until his death. They had 15 children 10 boys and 5 girls but only 11 grew to maturity. An obituary written by J. B. Spurr and appearing in the Creemore Star, May 16 1889 has this to say,- “In 1864 the Government saw fit to appoint him one of our Magistrate’s Justice of the Peace for the County of Simcoe. Which position he held and the duties thereof he impartially discharged until his death. He did not use the office of Magistrate for financial gain but for the meting out of justice to litigants who sought his judgment. When parties came with trifling disputes, he advised them to settle the dispute without law. When a case came before him his judgment was unbiased; therefore he was respected by all classes, creeds, nationalities. When his advice was sought, it was given in a cheerful honest manner that none who took it might err. James Currie was one of the pillars of the Baptist Church, a Christian not only in name but in deed as his walk and conversation in life showed and proved him to be. He was a loving partner, a parent dear, with a cheerful smile and a pleasant face. Christena Currie continues to live on the farm with her family. She was lovingly cared for by her youngest daughter Mary. She was a highly respected pioneer mother. As funeral services were so different 80 years ago from the present-day services, we feel that the Currie’s will be interested to read what was written in the Creemore Star regarding the funeral of James Currie:- It was estimated that there were 300 rigs in the procession which reached almost from the farm home at Bayview to the Creemore Cemetery. The following Sunday Rev W. E Norton Conducted a memorial service in the Baptist Church using as his text:- “ The time of my departure is at hand; I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” The choir sang, :How blessed is the Scene when Christians Die.” The church was draped in black. The Dead March in Saul was played solemnly and effectively by the organist Mrs Alex Gillespie. THE FAMILY OF JAMES AND CHRISTENA CURRIE Christena, along with her parents was a charter member of the Creemore Baptist Church. On May 15 1873 she married Robert Ross who was the young minister in that church. At that time transportation was very difficult, minister’s salaried were low with the result that when Christena Currie left home her family really saw very little of her. Archie and Ann Currie who settled on Lot Con 3 in 1850 just east of Creemore had ten children, 6 boys and 4 girls who all grew up to maturity, healthy and sturdy. They went to Bayview School, following a blazed trail in a north-west direction through the woods. In this day of consolidated schools, it is interesting to know that in the years 1855-1865 when the older Currie children went to school there were two schools at Bayview. In 1865 the Catholic school closed and all attended one school where Angus Bell taught for a number of years. At that time 9 Currie’s attended school, 2 girls and 7 boys. In 1868 land was purchased from James Currie for $25. and a new school was built. The younger Currie’s in both families attended Currie’s School. The boys worked on the farm as they grew up and later went to lumber camps in the winter. Their mother made all their clothes including the heavy coats. mitts, socks and even the straw hats. They always went barefooted in the warm weather. They had lots of fun, though children to-day would think it a hard life. And it was a bare life- that is why they enjoyed their fun so thoroughly. When Archie Currie came to lot 10 Con 3 it was 200 Acres, but in 1870 the East half was sold to Robert Steele. This situation is quite unique perhaps more so than a, “Century Farm.” For 97 years the Currie and Miller children have played with the Steele children who were next door. In 1875 land was selling for $1. an acre in Bruce County, so Archie moved with part of his family to Kincardine Twp. His son John married and took over the family farm. Besides John, Archie and Annie, the two eldest in the family who were now married also remained in Creemore. Archie married Henriette Manning. Their family lived in the Creemore area for many years. Their daughters were Annie, Mrs. Chas Stone, and Miss Etta Currie, later Mrs O Whiteman who always came back to visit. Their son John lived in Creemore until after he married Ethel Featherstone, also of Creemore. Their son Harold is the United Church minister at Hensall Ontario. In May 1872, Annnie married John Miller a quiet industrious Irishman who took her to the farm that he had hewed out of the forest on the 4th line. Born into that home were,- Stuart, Archie, Adam, Josie, Annie, Alex and Jim. IN 1901 Archie Miller married and bought his father’s farm. John Currie had decided to move his large family to St. Joseph’s Island. John Miller bought the Currie farm and took his wife Annie back to her father’s farm where she had grown up. Annie Miller died in 1915 and John Miller died in October 1919. John Currie’s family is favourably remembered by people who were children in the 90’s. They were Rae, Douglas, Norman, Jennie, Vera, Tena, Mae and John Archibald. The family of course attended Cashtown School. When they went to St Joseph’s Island they took their milch cows with them from Creemore. The cows were walked up the 4th line eventually reaching Collingwood where they were put on a boat and taken across Lake Huron. Mr and Mrs Currie are both buried on the island. Several of the family are at Sault Ste Marie. Mr and Mrs James Currie of Creemore had a very large family, 10 boys and 5 girls. The 13th child was beautiful little girl to whom they gave two Gillespie names, Annie Florence born May 10 1867. A most interesting fact about this little girl is that she is still living- Mrs George E. J. Brown, Wentworth Lodge Dundas. Annie Currie lived on her parents’ farm Lot 12 Con 4 Nottawasaga until Oct 6 1897 when she married George Brown, a young lawyer, and went to live in his spacious home in Creemore. Their only child Jay was born in 1898 in Creemore where he attended school. The Brown’s had one of the few cars in Creemore in the years 1914-1916 and some people remember having their first car ride with Jay and his mother. War broke out and Jay joined the Amed Forces and went overseas. His parents waited anxiously for the day when he would return to them but on March 18 1919 George Brown died. Mrs Brown was always a most gracious lady with hosts of friends. For many years she was the organist in the Creemore Baptist Church. Following the war, Mrs Brown went to Toronto to live, making a home for her son while he completed his education and later graduated as a druggist. She had spent the first half of her century in Creemore. Twenty years ago she came back for a few years, living in the house of Miss Annie Currie, who was nursing in Toronto. She has one grandson David Brown who is at present taking his Doctor's degree at the University of Colorado in Denver and should emerge in a couple of years with a PhD in Bio-Chemistry. NOTTAWASAGA THE GILLESPIE CLAN SCOTTISH IMMIGRANTS BECAME BANKERS AND BUSINESS LEADERS A ship sailing from Islay in the Hebrides in 1837 had aboard it Angus Gillespie, his wife, Christena McMillan, their five children, Archie, Ann, Christena, Mary, Dougald, ranging in age from 18 years to one year, all on their way to Canada. It was a tiresome voyage but eventually they arrived safely in Ontario in Victoria County on a farm situated between Lindsay and Woodville in Mariposa Twp. There they found Archie and James Currie with their parents who spoke the Gaelic language, were of the Baptist faith and already established in Mariposa for five years (1832). Perhaps the first farm was not completely satisfactory for in 1844 the Gillespie’s were living in Thorah Twp. near Beaverton. We know that four children, Duncan, Catherine, Flora and Alex and that the two black-haired giant sons from the Currie home had become interested in the pretty young Gillespie sisters. In 1845 20 year old Ann married 24 year old Archie Currie and in 1847 the second daughter Christena married James Currie. The Gillespie’s left Victoria County and in 1848 were among the early pioneers in Nottawasaga Twp. in Simcoe County. occupying Lot 17 Con 4 the farm presently owned by Reg Redrupp, north of Creemore. They bore all the harships endured by first settlers, cutting down trees, putting up buildings, travelling long distances to market, and having no school or church nearby. Good reports, however, must have been sent back to Mariposa for in the winter of 1850 Archie and Annie Currie made the long trek to Nottawasaga Twp. along with three small children. Travelling in sleighs they crossed Lake Simcoe on the ice at the Narrows (Atherley) followed down on the old trail to Barrie and going west eventually reached Creemore. They settled on Lot 10 Con 2 Nottawasaga Twp., the farm presently owned by John Miller, their great grandson. In 1857 James and Christena Currie also came to Nottawasaga. They settled on lot 12 Con 4 at Bayview on a farm that commands a spacious panoramic view. They lived on this farm for the remainder of their lives making it a beautiful home. There was no Baptist Church in Nottawasaga for a number of years but this large family was the nucleus of the Creemore Baptist Church. In the Canadian Baptist historical collection, Hamilton, there are reports from theological students who spent their summers in the early 1860’s working in Nottawasaga. On several occasions reference is made to being entertained, “in the hospitable home of Mr and Mrs Angus Gillespie.” The Creemore Baptist Church was organized in 1866. Ann Gillespie had many sorrows during the years that she lived on the 4th line.