Fonds

The Caverhill family originated in Scotland. In 1831, silk merchant Thomas Caverhill I (1785-1837) immigrated to Canada with his second wife, Elizabeth McKenzie (1787?-1856), and his five children: William, John, Thomas II, Jane (1822-1905) and Jessie (1827-1863), all born of his first marriage. In 1832, Elizabeth acquired Carillon Island in the Ottawa River and the family settled there.

Upon the death of their father, John (1819-1882) and Thomas II (1825-1882) moved to Beauharnois and began working in business and politics. By 1845, John was a councillor for the village of Beauharnois, while Thomas II was mayor in 1848. The two brothers opened stores in the surrounding villages, under the name J. & T. Caverhill. In 1854, they founded Crathern & Caverhill with partner James Crathern. This firm, which moved to Montreal's St. Pierre Street in 1865, became one of the largest hardware wholesalers in Canada.

The Caverhills engaged in numerous activities in addition to their business. In 1873, Thomas Caverhill II was elected to head the Richelieu Navigation Company. Crathern & Caverhill also supported the creation of a Canadian fire insurance company. In the late 1870s, Thomas Caverhill II and some colleagues were involved in a court case pitting the Montreal City & District Savings Bank against the Montreal City Passenger Railway Co. (of which Thomas II was Vice-President). The transit company was accused of conducting fraudulent transactions in order to falsify its actual profits.

Thomas Caverhill II married Elizabeth Spiers Buchanan (1828-1904) in 1854, while John wed Mary Jane Sibley (1830-1910) in 1859. Following the death of both brothers, two of Thomas Caverhill II's sons, George (1858-1937) and Frank (1854-1899), took over the administration of the family business. In 1884, together with Joseph Bowles Learmont and Thomas Henry Newman, they founded Caverhill, Learmont & Co. Crathern & Caverhill continued to exist until 1897, when it was taken over by Caverhill, Learmont & Co. The company prospered and opened warehouses in Winnipeg and Vancouver before expanding to Toronto and to Ottawa in the 1940s.

After Joseph Bowles Learmont's death in 1914, George Caverhill became the sole owner of the company, which was incorporated in 1925. He was also involved in the world of finance. He became a director of Canada Steamship Lines and president, in 1907, of the Montreal Board of Trade. He went on to become president of the Montreal Loan and Mortgage Co. and a director for several companies, including the Montreal Trust Co., Canadian Cottons Ltd., Montreal Light Heat and Power Co., Montreal Tramways Co., Montreal Island Power Co. and Bell Telephone.

On February 2, 1887, George Caverhill married his cousin Emily Margaret Caverhill (1862-1934), the daughter of John Caverhill. The couple had three children: Marjorie (1899-1970), George Rutherfurd (1897-1939) and Andrew (1892), who died in childhood. During the 1910s, the family lived in a sumptuous home at 84 Simpson Street. Having become a millionaire, George Caverhill was a great collector of art and antiques, in addition to pursuing his passions of genealogy and animals.

When George Caverhill died in 1937, his son George Rutherfurd took over as president of Caverhill, Learmont & Co. Although he was succeeded by L. Davies and then Ross Hutchison, his sister Marjorie Caverhill remained the sole owner of the company until her death, in 1970. Benedicta (Caverhill) Innes-Kerr and members of the Hutchison family then took control of the company, which is in operation to this day and has been called Caverhill Learmont Inc. since the 1960s.