Fonds F562 - Baxter family fonds

George Baxter was the patriarch of the Baxter family in Canada and was the first owner of Cataraqui Grange on the Point Road, now called Highway 15, in Kingston, Ontario. Educated at Oxford to be a Presbyterian minister, George Baxter came to Kingston from Dundee, Scotland, in 1818. He secured the position of assistant to the Headmaster of the Royal Grammar School and became Headmaster upon the retirement of the Principal. At this time, he married Grace Baillie. George and Grace had six children.

Shortly after his arrival in Kingston he bought 450 acres of land that became Cataraqui Grange. In 1820, Mr. Baxter's parents, Peter and Margaret Barbara Baxter, arrived and settled on Cataraqui Grange. Accompanying them was their daughter Isabelle, who married William Lyon Mackenzie in Montreal. After the rebellion of 1837 in Upper Canada, Mr. Baxter lost his position as Headmaster. After his dismissal, Mr. Baxter moved out to Cataraqui Grange, where he lived with his parents until the death of his father in 1837, after which time his mother moved to Toronto to live with Isabelle.