1842 marked the second visit of a United Kingdom monarch to Scotland when Queen Victoria and Prince Albert disembarked at Leith. Their exploration of Perthshire was so pleasurable that they returned annually and ten years later bought land there on which "Balmoral Castle" rests.

Times were not so pleasurable for the rest of the United Kingdom.

In 1842, "The General Strike" involved up to half a million workers and covered an area which stretched from Dundee and the Scottish coalfields to South Wales and Cornwall.

In 1842, Andrew William Hunter, the Scottish son of a Hawick publican, sailed for Canada.

Andrew and Elizabeth's second son died on the ship to Canada. The letter Andrew wrote to his father upon arrival in Montreal expressed great hope for their new life – laced with emotion for their loss and their distance from home.

Eventually, they settled in Beverly Township – near Hamilton, Ontario. Andrew set up a saw mill on "Lot 30, as this district was an island of pine timber, completely surrounded by water." Andrew was successful but died young in a grisly sawmill accident in 1860.

This area is still referred to as "Hunters Corners." Some of Andrew's descendants are farming there today.  (see below Oct 2005)

Andrew's son, Thomas Hunter, the seventh of ten offspring, aspired to be an entrepreneur. Toronto was 100,000 people strong when he moved there with his new bride in 1873.

Thomas' first enterprise was a photography shop on King Street West. He hired his brother-in-law, J. Fraser Bryce – ultimately selling him the business. Bryce became a society photographer whose work is included in most major archives in Canada.

In 1888, Thomas Hunter joined The North American Life Insurance Company. He started his second enterprise once appointed their Special Agent in 1890.

Thomas built his insurance brokerage business – right until his death in 1942.

Four generations beyond Thomas have chosen to pursue this profession.

HUNTERS is not a family business. We do however
respect the perseverance and longevity reflected in
this small piece of history.