Donald Grant (1798 – 1877) purchased a 4 acre property on the Richmond Road at the corner of what is now Parkdale Avenue in 1863, immediately east of the current Queen of the Most Holy Rosary parish
Grant is listed as resident in the 1865 Nepean Assessment Roll with a household of 7 persons, 1 cow, 1 horse and 1 dog. Grant was a retired or superannuated member of Her Majesty’s Ordnance Department, who served for many years in Quebec City.
Grant, son of Donald and Sarah Grant was born in Queenston, Ontario and baptized in St. Mark’s Church, Newark (now Niagara-on-the-Lake) on July 29 1798, aparish founded in 1790 as Loyalist immigrants arrived from the former American colonies.Donald Grant was married on June 5th 1817 in St. Andrew’s Church in Quebec City to Quebec-born Isabella Campbell. They had two surviving sons, Donald Alexander and James Malcolm, and four daughters, Amelia, Isabella and Catherine, and Caroline.
Grant’s neighbours on the RichmondR Road included fellow Scots Presbyterians, Judge William Aird Ross (who was an executor of his estate), John Durie, bookseller and stationer and Henry & A.G. McCormick, grain dealers.
Grant died in 1877, in his 80th year, leaving his property to his daughters. His widow and daughters occupied the house until about 1880 then moved to Ottawa. The house on the Richmond Road was rented or occupied by James M. Grant until the land was subdivided by Plan 99 in 1888. (see below) The Grant Property is shown as the largest lot on the plan, at the east side of the frontage just west of St. George’s Home (now the Queen of the Most Holy Rosary parish). Grant Street and James (now Armstrong) Street are laid out in their present locations.
The Grant Homestead, shown on the 1912 Insurance Plan as a substantial two storey stone home, had a number of owners over the years. James Lunny, lumber manufacturer, owned the property from 1906 to 1917 when financial difficulties resulted in a sale by auction. The auction poster included this description:
“upon this property there is erected a 2 ½ storey stone dwelling known as Number 1161, on the North side of Wellington Street in the City of Ottawa”
Richard R. Foster purchased the Grant property at auction. He offered it for sale or rent in the 1920s but it remained in the family until 1961 when his sons sold it to Jospeh G. Kavanagh. The house was not shown on the 1956 Fire Insurance Plan, but it is not known when it was demolished.
The site is now occupied by the Kavanagh and Castle Towers apartment buildings.
