65 Forsyth Street

The Gladney House

Philpot Law Office

Information taken from Ruby McCoy article in Marmora Herald.

Many people in the Marmora area are familiar with Andre Philpot's Law Office but probably not everyone knows it was once the home of a prominent business family by the name of Gladney.

The red brick house was built in 1880 for William Edward Gladney, his wife, Mary Elizabeth Mills, and their two sons, Edward and Clarence.

Across the front and back of the house were attractive verandas but regrettably these were removed after the Gladneys sold it. On the roof is an unusual, some say whimsical tower with iron cresting. It is believed the cresting was made locally, but by whom is not known. When the house was built, it was surrounded by large grounds, but these have been sold off in lot through the years.

Edward Mark Gladney, (1883-1962) son of William Edward Glady, brother of Clarence (1890-19540), Kenneth (1899-1982 and CORA Letitia (1885-1972)

E.M. Gladney, a Mason for over 50 years, 1908-1958

Marmora Herald April 15, 1920
The marriage took place in New York yesterday of Miss Beatrice Anderson and Mr. E.M. Gladney, a former Marmora boy. After a wedding trip, Mr. & Mrs. Gladney will take up residence in Toronto.

William Edward Gladney was a partner with another prominent man, A.W. Carscallen(who lived at 53 Forsyth) in a general store and tailor shop situated where Lynch's grocery store was at 1 McGill St. When William Edward died, his sons, Clarence and Edward Mark, took over managing the store, until about 1932, when Clarence rented it to Mr. Albert Maynes and in 1934, sold it.

After William Edward Gladney died, his widow, Mary Elizabeth Mills Gladney married Alexander W. Carscallen, who had also lost his first spouse. So there was a family relationship, as well as a business one, between the two families.

Mary Elizabeth Mills Gladney Carscallen (1857-1936)

William edward Gladney Born :9 June, 1B54 Ontario, Married mary elizabeth mills 26 Mar, 1882 an died Sept 1, 1902

left RUTH MEATH GLADNEY DEVLIN (RUTH'S FIRST MARRIAGE TO EDW. GLADNEY AND RUTH'S SECOND MARRIAGE TO JOHN DEVLIN). Centre: Mary Mills Gladney (later carscallen) Right: Cora Gladney Hodge Baby Glad Hodge. Mary Mills was married twice also, first to Wi… — left RUTH MEATH GLADNEY DEVLIN (RUTH'S FIRST MARRIAGE TO EDW. GLADNEY AND RUTH'S SECOND MARRIAGE TO JOHN DEVLIN). Centre: Mary Mills Gladney (later carscallen) Right: Cora Gladney Hodge Baby Glad Hodge. Mary Mills was married twice also, first to William Edward Gladney and then to A.W. Carscallen.

Many people remember Clarence Gladney's two daughters, Elizabeth (Lib) and Jean (Mrs. Hugh Beach of Belleville). Even after Elizabeth and Jean had grown up and moved to Belleville, they continued to spend summer holidays at their Crowe Lake cottage which the family built in 1926 when that area was just beginning to be "the place" to spend the summer months.

JEAN gLADNEY IN FRONT OF fRANK gRANT’S HOUSE

Photos donated by Janet Harper-Long

Elizabeth died in 1990 and is buried in the large rock-walled plot in Marmora Common Cemetery, where many of hr relatives and some of the Carscallen family are buried together.

Jean Beach often returned to Marmora to stay at their cottage an visit with her aunt Mary Hickey, and cousin, Isabel Lewis and Phyllis Hickey Maxwell. Mary Hickey's husband, Warren Hickey, and Jean's mother, Jennie Cora Gladney, were brother & sister.

THE GLADNEY FAMILY ALBUM

Click here for family tree information

In 1978, Andre and Anne Philpot, bought the property in order to move their Law Office from their home at 47 Forsyth. The property, by this time, had changed hands several times, (including the Wells and Nesseth families), had been converted into two apartments and the lot to the south sold off by the Wells family for a new house built by them.

Extensive renovations took place before opening the law office, reverting it back to one dwelling. In the process, the large sliding doors between the front room and the dining room were discovered, having been panelled over for the apartments. Insulation was added, all walls were drywalled, floors sanded and all the painted woodwork sandblasted. A solid wood panelled conference room was built by joining two of the bedrooms upstairs.

The law office ran there from 1978 to 2006 when the Philpots retired and sold to lawyer Brad Comeau from Stirling, who ran a branch office there for two years. Thereafter, it was sold for a private residence again. Over the years, the Philpot office served thousands of people and hired close to twenty people. Best known and longest lasting were Betty Nobes, Betty Lou Corrigan, Cathy Cook Moorcroft, and Mary Edge, who together kept the ship on an even keel. Two lawyers did their articling there - Clark Harrop from Madoc, and Len Bryan who eventually set up practice in Tweed in 1983. Others employees included Donna Street, Penny Lummiss, Julie Harrison, Lisa Belanger, & Evelyn Botting.