The Foundation was entrusted with four precious loose-leaf notebooks in 1995. The pages recorded priceless interviews with descendants of many of the first settlers in Lake of Bays Township. Ruth Martin had the foresight to pursue her interest in our pioneers’ stories. We owe Ruth Martin a tremendous debt of gratitude. 

Settlement around Lake of Bays began after the Free Land Grant Act (1868) made land available. Little of it was arable, however, and the new arrivals faced daunting challenges. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries the lumber industry offered employment for some, and the arrival of the first summer cottagers at the turn of the century added another dimension to life by the lake. The people interviewed from the early 1950s to mid-1970s by Ruth Martin were, in most cases, children or grandchildren of the first settlers in the township. 

Ruth Martin (nee Campbell) summered for many years on Bigwin View Lane. She was born in 1908 and taught at Eastern High School of Commerce in Toronto. She was the social hostess at Bigwin Inn for three summers in the 1940s. When illness prevented Ruth from continuing with her writing, the Ruth Martin Papers were put in safekeeping with her stepdaughter, Annette Benson. Jane Tate, daughter of Mary Lynn Findlay, who was a friend of Ruth Martin, took possession of the papers. Jane Tate and her nephew, Lee Van Ormer, allowed the Foundation to arrange for their publication. 

Margaret McBurney, a former director of LBHF and herself a notable historian, arranged to have the papers photocopied unedited and the originals deposited with the Thomas Fisher Rare Books Library at U of T. Copies were given to the Dwight, Dorset and Baysville libraries. 

The Foundation, with the support of the Township’s Heritage Advisory Committee, has made the papers available as downloadable PDF files. Thank you to Gloria Woodside, a director of LBHF for organizing the project, and the community members who contributed their time and careful efforts in transcribing the typed papers into electronic format.  

Book 1: General Muskoka History

Book 2: Lake of Bays General History – Tom Salmon - Fox Point Road - Birkendale & Ten Mile Bay - Port Cunnington Road - Haystack Bay Tweedsmuir History 

Book 3: Dwight—Portage—Newholm—Portage 

Book 4: Bigwin—Baysville—Gordon’s Corners—Brown’s Brae