A high school in Lindsay bears his name, but how much do you know about I.E. Weldon and his family?

Isaac Ernest Weldon was born in 1873 to parents, Reverend Isaac Weldon (1836-1885), born in the former Mariposa Township, and Elizabeth (Eliza) Jane Rea (1846-1943).

Eliza Jane Rea Weldon (1846-1943)

Eliza was born in the former Ops township to Isaac Rea and Elizabeth Buchanan Wade, who came from Ireland with her brother, Robert. Isaac Rea’s father, Thomas Rea, emigrated from Ireland and founded the hamlet of Reaboro with his eight sons. Isaac received his commission as Captain shortly after the McKenzie Rebellion. When word of the rebellion reached him, he quickly formed a company of farmers, and armed with clubs, forks and a few muskets marched toward Toronto. They got as far as Markham when they heard the rebellion was over. For his efforts, he was given a Captain’s commission, a uniform and a sword.

Eliza grew up in Reaboro and attended high school in Omemee. After she married Isaac Weldon, she travelled with him as he performed minister duties across Ontario until they settled near Cannington.

After her husband’s death, Eliza moved to Lindsay with her children, where she lived at 39 Bond Street West in a house her husband built and was later occupied by Arthur Carew; in 1927 she moved to 59 Cambridge Street North with her daughters. For a number of years, Eliza visited the jail with a few of her friends to conduct prayer service for the inmates. She was well regarded as a church worker and the town appointed her ‘Dispenser of Charity.’ She was a member of the Women’s Missionary Society, Ladies’ Aid, Women’s Temperance Union, and the Children’s Aid Society.

Eliza died in 1943 and was buried next to her husband in Riverside Cemetery, Lindsay.

Rev. Isaac Weldon (1836-1885)

Rev. Isaac Weldon’s parents were Levi Weldon (1806-1886) and Maria Lake (1811-1898). They married in Hastings in 1833 and sometime before their oldest child, Isaac, was born in 1836, they moved to a farm in the former Mariposa township. More children followed: Nicholas, Ruth, George, and John Hazzard.

Rev. Isaac was a graduate of the Oakwood Grammar School. As a minister, he worked all over Ontario:

Norwood in 1861
Omemee in 1862-1863
Hastings in 1865
Campbellford in 1866-67
Milford in 1868-1870
Trenton 1871-1873
Ameliasburg in 1874-1875
Lakefield in 1876-1878
Cannington in 1879. (from Cyclopedia of Methodism, volume 1, 1881.)

Rev. Isaac and Eliza had four children: George Levi Weldon (1869-1936), Theresa Cecila Eliza (Etta) Weldon (1871-1970), Isaac Ernest Weldon (1873-1962), and Annie Florence Louisa Weldon (1875-1954).

According to the 1881 Census, the Rev. Isaac lived with his wife and children in Cannington, but Isaac soon passed away by 1885 in the village of Colborne.

George Levi Weldon (1869-1936)

George was 16 when his father passed away. At some point he moved to Alberta, where he worked as a post master. He never married. He died in 1936 and was buried in the family plot at Riverside Cemetery in Lindsay.

A painting by George was donated to the museum in 2013. There are other George Weldons from the Kawartha Lakes area, and it’s not known if this painting is by George Levi Weldon or one of his namesakes. The oil painting depicts a church and graveyard along a waterfront.

Theresa Cecilia Eliza Weldon (1871-1970)

She was known as Etta, and like her brother George, shared a namesake in the Weldon family of Oakwood with a relative named Loretta. In 1912, Etta graduated from the School of Nursing at the New York Hospital, and continued to work as a registered nurse in that city into the late 1920s, chiefly at Brooks Hall at Barnard College, before returning to live with her mother and sister in Lindsay. In 1936, Etta made Lindsay’s front page news when it was learned she was named in Miss Evelyn Ballantyne’s will. It appears Etta and Evelyn may have become friends during Etta’s time in New York. The daughter of William Ballantyne (Ballantine), a lawyer, and Evelina Nack, Etta was named along with twenty-five of Evelyn’s distant relatives to share her New York property that was at the time valued at $15,000.

After returning home to live with her mother and sister, Etta was an active citizen in Lindsay. She was member of RMH Association and the Women’s Missionary Society.

In 1970, Etta passed away just six months shy of her 100th birthday, outliving all other members of her immediate family. She never married.

Isaac Ernest Weldon (1873-1962)

Isaac practiced law in Lindsay for half a century and was known as “the poor man’s lawyer” as he often defended people without the means to hire a lawyer. Called to the bar in 1898, Isaac graduated from Queen’s College in Kingston and then Trinity College in Toronto and returned to Lindsay to work, first partnering with John McSweyn and then with L.R. Knight before starting two partnerships, one with A. T. Lacey in Lindsay and one with Sproule in Toronto.

In the early 1920s, Isaac gained popularity in Lindsay when he went to bat for the unfortunate clients of the Home Bank (located at 100 Kent Street West, Lindsay) when it went bankrupt. Isaac lobbied government officials and persisted to the point he was appointed joint liquidator with J.T. Clarkson. He successfully managed to get 35% of deposits back for his clients plus dividends for shareholders. He was also appointed to represent the depositors of the Farmers’ Bank when it closed.

In 1949, when murder rocked the small community of Tory Hill, Isaac represented the accused, Herman Woodcox, 33, a person with an intellectual disability. Woodcox was charged with shooting Arnold Gill, 20, on the main street of Tory Hill on Halloween in 1948 in front of several witnesses. It was well known that Woodcox was teased and harassed constantly and had the mental ability of an eight year old. The break in the case came when Woodcox was asked to plead. Sheriff Jasper Forman asked the accused if he plead guilty or not guilty. At this point, Isaac Weldon interjected and stated, “I have not been able to be sufficiently instructed by this man on this point.” Justice Dalton C. Wells explained to the jury that insanity might encompass more than they thought. “A man must not only be physically in attendance but must also be able to understand mentally.” The jury found Woodcox unfit to stand trial on account of insanity, and he was committed to the Lindsay jail.

Such was his popularity that several times Isaac was suggested and nominated as a political candidate, but he always declined. Isaac was a Conservative and Sir Sam Hughes’ secretary for a number of years.

Although Isaac owned many properties in Lindsay and Toronto, including a mushroom farm near the current Vimy Road, when he was in Toronto, he lived in an apartment, and when in Lindsay he lived with his mother and sisters until his death in 1962. He never married.

After his death, Isaac left a portion of his $1,200,000 estate to Lindsay Collegiate Institute for scholarships and bursaries to be given in his mother’s name, Elizabeth B. Weldon. In his life, Isaac was philanthropic to the extent he would often come to the rescue of people, and he was known to help out at least one business college student per year. Post reporter, Merv Everall, asked in 1965, “Isaac Weldon. Who in thunderation is he?” and why he would give up his entire life savings to a school. Everall could have asked Etta Weldon, but didn’t. He asked the manager of Isaac’s estate, Bruce Maidens, who didn’t have any idea, either. But after years of advocating for the most unfortunate in the community, Isaac would have seen the value of education.

In 1967, when the school board decided the municipality needed a third secondary school, unique names were suggested (Lindview Secondary School, Victoria Valley Secondary School, New Century Secondary School) along with naming the school after prominent individuals: Thomas A. Kirkconnell, Sir Sam Hughes, Robert Groves, John A. Macdonald, W. E. Fletcher, T. H. Stinson, Vincent Massey, J. C. Harstone, Queen Victoria, and I. E. Weldon. Ultimately, the Third High School committee decided on “I. E. Weldon Memorial High School.”

The school was officially opened in December 1971.

Annie Florence Louisa Weldon (1875-1954)

Another of the Weldon family with multiple namesakes living in the county, this Florence Weldon was a beloved teacher at Alexandra Public School (previously known as the North Ward School) for over four decades. Like her sister, she was a member of the Women’s Missionary Society. She passed away at the family home at 59 Cambridge Street North. She never married.

The Collection

In 1975, a large collection of items that belonged to Etta Weldon was donated to the museum by Frank Weldon, who lived at 38 Francis Street in Lindsay and worked as County Clerk. Since neither Etta nor any of her siblings married or had children, we presume Frank was a distant cousin assigned to handle Etta’s estate.

Here are a few of the donated items:

I.E. Weldon and his family