A Cyclopædia of Canadian Biography: Brief biographies of persons distinguished in the professional, military and political life, and the commerce and industry of Canada, in the twentieth century
History
A Cyclopædia of Canadian Biography: Brief biographies of persons distinguished in the professional, military and political life, and the commerce and industry of Canada, in the twentieth century
Canada -- Biography
=Robertson, Norman= (Walkerton, Ont.), author of “The History of the
County of Bruce,” and Treasurer of the County of Bruce, Walkerton, Ont.,
was born on June 27, 1845, in Belleville, Ontario. His father, Peter
Robertson, was a merchant of Scottish birth and the son of a
Presbyterian minister, at Kilmaurs, Ayrshire. Mr. Robertson’s mother,
Sarah Ross, was born in England, although of Highland descent, her
grandfather being one of those who followed “Bonnie Prince Charlie” into
England in 1745. Norman Robertson attended the Grammar School at
Belleville, but left school when only eleven years of age, that he might
accompany his father and assist him in his business when he came to the
County of Bruce and settled at Kincardine in 1856. The disadvantage
arising from leaving school at so early an age was in part overcome by
private study and tuition. In 1863 he went to Montreal, taking a
position in a wholesale dry goods warehouse, rising to the position of
English buyer. In 1877 he returned to Kincardine and took over the
business of his father, who retired. He was married at Montreal in 1871,
to Lilla M. Warren, daughter of S. R. Warren, builder of church organs
at Montreal, and afterwards at Toronto. His family consists of three
sons and two daughters. In religion Mr. Robertson is a Presbyterian, and
has been an active worker in Sunday School work for over fifty years. In
politics he is a Conservative. The position of Treasurer of the County
of Bruce became vacant in 1887, and Mr. Robertson was chosen from among
twenty-five applicants. A desire to have put in book form and so
preserved, the records of the settlement of the County of Bruce, induced
the County Council in 1896 to offer a prize for a Historical Sketch of
the County. The sketch prepared by Mr. Robertson carried off, jointly
with another, the prize. This initial effort was followed in 1906 by a
volume of 560 pages bearing the title “The History of the County of
Bruce.” This work has been very favorably commented upon and classed as
one of the best of the County Histories of the Province that have been
published. Mr. Robertson was with the Victoria Rifles, of Montreal, when
that regiment went to the front at the time of the Fenian Raids in 1866,
and has received his military medal therefor.
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