dePencier Farm

This photo of a boy and a horse was taken on the dePencier farm in the 1930s. The farm, at 320 acres, was located at the corner of Seymour Street and Wallace Road. James Albert dePencier had retired from building houses in North Bay and established this homestead in Widdifield Township.  he house was built about 1902 and enlarged later.  

The farm passed into the hands of his two sons, Jack and George, when he died in 1929. Jack had moved out West, but after serving in the First World War (and marrying an English war bride) he returned to the farm and took over the dairy operation. The milk was delivered by a “democrat” wagon to the Co-operators Creamery at Cassells and Highway 11.

George married in 1913 and first lived on the farm, where a second house, barn and milk house were built. Later, he and his family lived in town where he worked as a carpenter and ran a cartage business. They had a family of ten, including nine boys and one girl (Five sons served in World War II). This family moved back to the farm in 1942.  

The dairy business continued as a mainstay. Son Tony remembers helping milk fourteen dairy cows before school. In 1951 the major barn was hit by lightning and burned to the ground.  

Memories of… Farm On The Lake
“When the dePencier farm in Widdifield Township was established (about 1902) the land backed on 4 lakes: Circle, dePencier, and Twin Lakes. The history of the farm is intertwined with the lakes.  

While the original house was being built on the homestead, the family lived in a houseboat on the lake. Later when a fire swept close by, and there was concern for the house, barn and livestock, the horses were taken out into the lake and tied to a barge. Tony dePencier recalls in the 1950’s and 60’s having to cut holes in the ice to water their dairy herd (before school).”

— Shona (dePencier) Dufresne & Tony dePencier