Jackson’s Landing

History of the Land and House

1833 - 1896     from Crown land to James O’Brien Bourchier
1896 -  1914    James Anderson, Sr.
1914 -  1932    James Anderson, Jr. and wife, Susannah J. Anderson sold to Irving Robertson, who built house in 1927
1932 -  1961    Barbara Ann Mackenzie Robertson, Irving’s wife
1961 -  1973    Colin Mackenzie, nephew of Barbara Robertson
1973 – 1997    Earle Byrnes Shouldice
2005                John and Lynn Gilbank

Prior to 1833
Shortly after the first contact with Europeans, tribal warfare caused a decimation of the Huron People by the Iroquois from the south.  This land was used over the next 150 years by the Iroquois as a prime hunting and fishing ground. The Ojibway (Chippewa) also began to move into this area.

The location of this home on a small elevated peninsula surrounded by water, could very well have been a site for a traditional burial ground.

Irving Earle Robertson, First Owner of the House

The first owner and builder of the house was the prestigious Irving Earle Robertson, (1872 -1932).

He was son of John Ross Robertson (1841 – 1918), a publisher and philanthropist.  In Upper Canada College, his father started The College Times, the first school newspaper in Canada.  In 1876 John Robertson founded The Evening Telegram, one of Toronto’s leading newspapers.  These were challenging footsteps in which to follow.

He married Barbara Ann Mackenzie in 1927.  Barbara Ann Mackenzie was a nurse from New Zealand.

The house was built in 1927 as a “summer cottage” for Irving E. Robinson and his new wife, Barbara.  It was named “Auldearn” after the 17th century home of his ancestor, Andrew Robertson, in Nainshire, Scotland. 

Irving died at 11:00 pm in his home at 110 St. George’s Street in Toronto on January 4, 1932 at the age of 49.  The Toronto Star Jan. 5, 1932 pg. 3-14  states that he was “seriously ill some time ago”, and “last Thursday a slight attack of pneumonia developed”, although “he rallied on Friday”.

Irving E. Robertson had a series of losses and challenges in his life:

In 1881, fourteen months before he was born, his sister, Helen Goldwin Robertson, died at the age of 11 months of scarlet fever.

On August 26, 1886, his mother, Maria Louisa Gilbee, died at the young age of 39.  Irving was just 4 years old.

On April 3, 1888 his father married Jesse Elizabeth Holland who was 28 years old, 19 years younger than John Ross Robertson.  Irving was 6 years old.

On August 16, 1916, Irving Robertson was declared medically unfit for service in France WW1.  He was 34 years of age.

May 31, 1918 his father, John Ross Robertson, passed away at the age of 77 years.

Days later, in June 1918, his older brother, John Sinclair Robertson, died at the age of 45.  Irving is 36 years old.

Sept – Dec. 1918; 1920.  Correspondence indicates that his nephew, John Gilbee Robertson, son of older brother, John, was sent to a school in Baltimore where he was declared, “a misfit”, “incapable of average education”, “vile language”’ “striking other boys”, and was not to be left alone with his mother, who kidnapped him from school in January, 1920.

November 14, 1928  He was appointed editor of the Toronto Telegram.

May 11, 1930.  Evidence in a letter written by Irving to Claude Pearce, controller of Toronto Telegram, that Mr. Pearce gave him the “worst disappointment of his life”.

Rescue Mediums’ Premonitions

Before they arrived, with no knowledge of where they were going:

Jack                                                     -  Jackson’s Point
Railway track                                       -  railway terminus at this location
Construction site
2 houses connected in succession
burial site                                              - possible Ojibway burial ground
buried in wrong place
something below house

In the house:
Jackie and Christine determined that there were three prominent spirits in the house – two men and a woman. 

They felt:

-  the presence of a refined lady who helped in the house.  She looked after someone.  They also felt a child drowning connected with this lady.

-  a gentleman in the house, who liked the changes to the house.

- a dog here, like a Labrador

-  that this land was sacred, a burial ground.

In the basement area, the hidden room filled with empty alcohol bottles was discovered.  Some dated back to 1928.  Here they experienced:
 - a feeling like a massive heart attack
-  something wrong with the left hand
-  something buried way underneath the basement
-  poison
-  ‘Joe’, ‘Joseph’ connected to the house

Still to be Researched
They felt that a female child, a toddler, drowned there in the 1920’s or 1930’s.

They determined that something was buried within the walls - documentation, something on a ring, a structural thing wants finding.  Also something was buried beneath the ground.

COINCIDENCE ?

The pool table that the current homeowners purchased in Alberta is almost identical to the one that Irving Robertson had in the house according to archival photos.