John Thomson 1837-1920
Text from the plaque
Born in Edinburgh, Thomson emigrated in 1854 to New Jersey, there completing his apprenticeship as a paper-maker. He moved in 1860 to Saint John, N.B., where he devised an improved method for the chemical manufacture of wood pulp. Thomson then joined the firm of Angus, Logan and Company, at whose plant in Windsor Mills in 1864 he supervised Canada's first commercial production of wood pulp. In 1872 he, his brother James and J.W. Rooklidge established the Newburgh Paper Mills. The following year, John built a paper mill at Napanee Mills (Strathcona), and in 1879-80 the brothers jointly erected the Thomson Mills near Newburgh which operated under various owners until dismantled in 1932.
Transcribed from the marker, not summarised.
Find the place
The County of Lennox & Addington
The Township of Stone Mills
In Newburgh, on the southeast corner of
Main Street and Factory Street
just north of the Napanee River bridge
N 44 19.450 W 76 52.543
Recorded December 2010. Check current access before visiting.
Visitors' notes
October 12, 2011
Thank you so much for the photo of the plaque for my great-great-Uncle John. I can't travel any longer and thought I would never get to see it. As children in Colinton, Midlothian, Scotland the entire family worked in the paper mills where their father was the engine man. About 1918 my grandfather told my father of Uncle John's accomplishments - but thought he was exaggerating. As a child I heard the same stories. It is so satisfying to learn they were true!