Henry Rennie and his brother Robert immigrated to Canada in the 1820's from Kilsyth,
,Strlingshire, Scotland. Alexander immigrated to Canada in 1826. Henry settled on lot #35 Third
Range Hinchinbrooke.
A church was built on Henry Rennie's lot around 1829, west
of the school. This church became known as Black's - the name of the people
who lived on the lot to the west and who had settled earlier than Henry Rennie.
This church was used till Rennie's Methodist was built in 1866.
Sometime after Henry's son died in 1831, he gave one acre for a burial
ground which later became Hillside
Cemetery in 1924. Many of the Rennies who settled in this area are buried
there. Henry's farm was passed to his nephew James (Alexander's son) as Henry's
own sons had moved to the United States.
Below is a painting by Joanne Jackson Rennie from a sketch of what the homestead
looked like as viewed from the Hillside Cemetery in 1881. Nowadays there is only woods
and brush - the only remaining signs are the massive maple trees that lined
the drive on the left hand side of the picture.
Henry Rennie 1790-1841 |
Robert Rennie 1794-1857 |
Alexander Rennie 1798-1869 |
The picture from the McCord Museum in Montreal: