Timothy Eaton
Before Timothy Eaton established his retail empire in Toronto, Ontario he apprenticed as a clerk in a general store in Glen Williams, Ontario in 1853?
Timothy Eaton was born in March 1834 in Northern Ireland in the town of Ballymena, County Antrim. His father, John, had just died two months earlier at age 50 of Cholera, the epidemic that swept Ireland from 1832-34 killing more than 50,000 people in 1832 alone. His mother Margaret already had five daughters and three son’s to look after in their two story home on their forty acre farm. However, the family was considered prosperous for the time.
In 1852, at the age of 18, Timothy decided to leave Ireland and the all too common cholera epidemics and potato famines. Timothy’s brother, Robert, had moved to Canada and was living in the Ottawa Valley. Timothy’s sister Margaret had, some years earlier, married a neighbour Robert Reid. They had moved to Canada and bought a farm in Georgetown, Ontario. Two of his other sisters, Sarah and Nancy, had joined Margaret and Robert Reid on the farm. Shortly after Timothy’s arrival in Canada he went to live with his sisters on this farm. He immediately found work in a general store in nearby Glen Williams as a junior clerk.
In the mid 1850’s the Grand Trunk Railway opened up south-western Ontario. Timothy Eaton’s brother, Robert, established a dry goods business in St. Mary’s. In 1854 Timothy and his other brother James set up in business in a log cabin in Kirkton some ten miles from St. Mary’s. The business was known as the J and T Eaton General Store.
The Store where he worked in the Glen is now KW Realty.
Timothy Eaton was born in March 1834 in Northern Ireland in the town of Ballymena, County Antrim. His father, John, had just died two months earlier at age 50 of Cholera, the epidemic that swept Ireland from 1832-34 killing more than 50,000 people in 1832 alone. His mother Margaret already had five daughters and three son’s to look after in their two story home on their forty acre farm. However, the family was considered prosperous for the time.
In 1852, at the age of 18, Timothy decided to leave Ireland and the all too common cholera epidemics and potato famines. Timothy’s brother, Robert, had moved to Canada and was living in the Ottawa Valley. Timothy’s sister Margaret had, some years earlier, married a neighbour Robert Reid. They had moved to Canada and bought a farm in Georgetown, Ontario. Two of his other sisters, Sarah and Nancy, had joined Margaret and Robert Reid on the farm. Shortly after Timothy’s arrival in Canada he went to live with his sisters on this farm. He immediately found work in a general store in nearby Glen Williams as a junior clerk.
In the mid 1850’s the Grand Trunk Railway opened up south-western Ontario. Timothy Eaton’s brother, Robert, established a dry goods business in St. Mary’s. In 1854 Timothy and his other brother James set up in business in a log cabin in Kirkton some ten miles from St. Mary’s. The business was known as the J and T Eaton General Store.
The Store where he worked in the Glen is now KW Realty.