The Meighen Family

The Meighen family was for decades one of the prominent business families of the area. The corner of Gore and Foster Streets has remained the hub of business in our community and A. Meighen & Brothers Gent’s Furnishings (men’s clothing) was at the center of it. The large department store would house the local telephone exchange. The directory of 1898 lists the names of the generations of the Meighen family who were part of the expansive family business ventures. The family as involved heavily in the railway and transportation, providing for the pathways that allowed the growing town to thrive.

In the spring of 1839 an eight-member family group walked the short distance from their former homes in Dungiven Parish, on the outskirts of Londonderry, Ireland, to the River Foyle docks and boarded an emigrant ship bound for Canada. Led by Gordon Meighen (1810-1857), the party included his recently widowed sister-in-law, Mary McLenaghan-Meighen (1795-1886)1, her five sons, Arthur, Charles, Nathaniel, William and Robert (all under the age of 15 years), and Mary’s mother, Ann Osborne-McLenaghan (1774-1859). Upon landing at Quebec City, the Meighen party set out for the town of Perth where Mary McLenaghan-Meighen’s brother, Charles, had settled nine years earlier.

The numerous graves in the "Meighen Block" attest to the prominence of this family in local history. Ron Shaw, a local historian and author has documented the Meighen family contribution to our area in this article: CAPACIOUSNESS, CONVENIENCE, COMFORT & BEAUTY