Port Lambton, Ontario

Port Lambton is a village situated on the St. Clair River, in southwestern Ontario, Canada within the municipality of St. Clair Township. According to the latest census, 1084 people live within this Lambton County, Ontario community. Each summer the town hosts Gala Days.

History

Baby's Point is the extreme Southern point of Lambton County. Francis Baby owned all the land from this point, and all of Port Lambton site. Inherited from his Grandfather in 1742. There also was a brother, James Baby. Edward Kelly was the first Post master at Baby's Point 1848.

After 1812, people started to settle along the St. Clair River. Before few people lived there. They were French, and didn't have legal title to the land. When the Irish moved in, the French sold their squatters rights to the Irish about 1833. The Indians could sell land only with the approval of the Province. Anyhow, soon after 1812, people bought up land legally along the St. Clair River.

Port Lambton--livilest little river-town South of Sarnia. Two of each, sawmills, grist mills, shoe shops, blacksmith shops. 8 General stores, 3 hotels, 3 liveries, 2 telegraph offices. Daily mail from Sarnia, daily railway service. School with two teachers. Steamers stopped everyday at the White Star line dock, during the Summer months. Customs House. Docks extends one-quarter mile along the river. Population 450. In the Spring of 1820, Duncan McDonald built the first frame house. Post Office opened in 1871, one time known as Lambton Village. Rural Mail was first delivered in 1908, and all mail routes completed in January 1909.

The first Sacred Heart Church was built at Baby's Point around 1825. It burned. Father Monocq, secular Priest, French, was drowned January 12, 1861, and the body was found in 1862. He was buried beneath the Altar of the first Port Lambton Church. The plaque was on the right hand of the side Altar. The Sacred Heart Church, Port Lambton, was built in 1877. Martin Regan was the first person baptised there, December 1877. It was demolished, and the new church built on the same site in 1964. The R.C.Cemetery started in the 1916. Sombra t. John's Church was built in 1868, and Father Waters was one of the first priests, he resided in Corunnna, Ontario. R.C. Cemetery started in 1870.

Famous people

*Maude Menten, pioneering chemist. Broke ground as a woman and with her famous contribution to scientific thought, the Michaelis-Menten equation. She was born in Port Lambton on March 20, 1879.cite web|url=http://jchemed.chem.wisc.edu/JCEWWW/Features/eChemists/Bios/menten.html|title=Maude Lenora Menten|work=Biographical Snapshots of Famous Women and Minority Chemists|publisher=Journal of Chemical Education|accessdate=2006-06-03]

References