February 8, 2010:

Hi Al,
 
There's a history of Cantley at http://www.cantley.ca/histoireng.htm that relates its settlement to a gift of 
Crown land from Colonel By to Colonel Cantley:
 
"Towards the end of construction of the Rideau Canal, Colonel By gave Crown land in appreciation to some of his most 
valuable assistants. One of them was said to have been given a large tract on the East side of the lower Gatineau River. 
The seniority of Colonel Cantley among By’s most senior lieutenants would suggest that this was then considered a special place." 
 
The appendix lists Cantley's first families (below). You'd wonder if some of them weren't Canal workers.
 
APPENDIX “A” 

First Families of Cantley 

(Taken from the 1842 Census conducted by William Hamilton: recording year of arrival (mostly from Ireland) in Canada). 

1815 Denis Foley (ML# 401 from County Cork) (Dennis Foley)
1818 William Hamilton 
1819 C.C. Allen * 
1819 Thomas O’Brien 
1820 Maurice Foley (ML# 548 on the McCabe List, from Mothel, County Waterford, married a McBride)
1821 James McDade 
1822 John Birt, Daniel Birt 
1822 William Davis 
1822 Harrison Heaton 
1825 Patrick Burke - possibly ML# 97 from County Antrim
1826 James Reid 
1828 Michael McDermott 
1828 Patrick Scullion 
1828 Edward C. Thompson 
1829 Thomas Barrett 
1829 David, Andrew and William Blackburn * 
1829 William Boon (see newspaper article about William Boon working at Long Island)
1829 John Cashman (married Elizabeth Foley)
1829 Widow Darbey (Mrs. Joseph) 
1829 William Magwood 
1829 Isaac Sharpley 
1829 John Stevenson 
1830 Anthony, John and Peter Barrett 
1830 James Coyne 
1830 Mathew Foley 
1830 Philip Hogan 
1830 Thomas Kirk (Kirk's Ferry)
1830 James, Pat Michael, and Thomas Lynott 
1830 James Blanche 
1830 M. McDermott 
1830 Michael Shields 
1832 Duncan Brown * 
1832 William Thompson 
1835 John Strachan * 
1838 Patrick Kearns 
1838 Patrick Maloney 
1839 John Fleming 
1840 Isaac Smith, I. McDonald 
1840 Patrick McLellan 
1841 John Moore 
1841 Pat Sweeney

Thanks to Anne Burgess for bring the web site of the History of Cantley (link above) to our attention.