LIVING TOGETHER, WORKING TOGETHER – THE STORY OF TWO PIONEER FAMILIES
Article by Meghan Smith/Photography by Tomasz Szumski
The Muskoka lifestyle is as much about the landscape as it is the people who are living it. Throughout its history, Muskoka has offered its inhabitants, year-round and seasonal, a playground as well as a place of opportunity.
The Wallace and Pain families boast deep roots in Muskoka. Their beginnings in Muskoka started during the land grant-era and have stayed in the area since, with the land continuing to be a big part of their lives.
“Most families, the Pains, the Wallaces, the Minetts, they were all here pretty much at the same time in the late 1800s,” says Richard Wallace, founder of Richard Wallace Real Estate. “They grew up together, they worked together, they played together, they fished together. It was a community.”
Henry Wallace, Richard’s great-grandfather, came to Muskoka to build a church in Bracebridge. Henry and his brother both ended up taking land grants, along with John Frederick Pain. “We still have a book with the original land grants and the names of the Pains and the Wallaces and it shows their original acreages,” says Adam Wallace, Richard Wallace’s son and broker and co-owner at Richard Wallace Real Estate in Port Carling.
The first plot of land owned by the Wallace family was located on Bruce Lake, named for Adam’s great-uncle Bruce Wallace. Henry Wallace inherited the land in time and relocated to the acreage originally granted to the Minett family. While the Minett name remains in the area today, the Wallace family history is honoured in the naming of Wallace Bay on Lake Rosseau.
“John Frederick Pain, who was my great-grandfather, had the original plot,” explains Douglas Pain, broker of record and co-owner of Richard Wallace Real Estate. “The resort, Paignton House was named for Paignton, England, although the family name does not have the same spelling.”
Paignton House was a family affair. First started by J. F. Pain, Robert Dickinson Pain took over the management, followed by William “Archie” Pain, Douglas Pain’s father.
“All my sisters and everybody in the family worked at the resort,” says Pain. “On top of that, my father and Adam’s grandfather were very good friends. They grew up together. Our families intertwine.”
The resort stayed in the family until 1973 when it was sold to Ken Fowler. Fowler resold the property, bought it back and finally built the current JW Marriott The Rosseau Muskoka Resort, on the property. Pain and his family continue to live on a portion of the property that was part of the original land grant of 141 years ago.
“Living right next to Paignton House, my great-grandparents and grandparents owned steam boats and they drove them to make an income,” explains Adam Wallace. “They toured around the lakes with people, showing them Muskoka.”
Richard’s grandparents operated cruise boats to show tourist the lakes and scenery while Irvin and Iris Wallace, Richard’s parents followed into seasonal tourism by opening Wallace Marine in the early 1960s. The Wallaces operated a cruise boat named Lady Elgin, ran the marina, produced maple syrup and even had a market garden to serve their clientele.
“We worked as a family,” comments Richard Wallace. “My brother, mom, dad and I, we worked seven days a week, 14 or 16 hours a day. Like a lot of families in those days, you did whatever it took to survive and to prosper.
"You couldn’t imagine having a better lifestyle growing up. At one time we tapped 1,200 trees for syrup! We worked together and we played together and I’m lucky that was the case.”
“I worked at the marina for six years when I was kid,” explains Pain. “The Wallaces and the Pains have known each other for generations. It was a little ironic when my sister Janet and Richard Wallace got married.”
Family ties and stories are an important element in maintaining the history and memories of past generations in Muskoka. Tales of family members walking to Washago in the winter to purchase flour or taking the train to a curling tournament and being unable to curl because the railway porter had put the rocks in the engine room while in transit and the rocks were too warm, are hallmarks of families with a long and deep connection to Muskoka.
“I used to hunt golf balls when they had tournaments on at Paignton House, as a kid, and then I’d sell the balls back to them on the same round,” laughs Pain. “Guys would say ‘wait a minute, I think I lost that on the second hole!’.”
“My grandmother – she bought property at Lash Point on Lake Rosseau with 4,000 feet of shoreline for $50,” says Richard Wallace. “She sold it for $150 and a cow.”
“We still have the deed down in the boathouse and it talks about the money but it doesn’t talk about the cow,” says Adam Wallace. “We still talk about the cow. The cow is the story.”
The Wallace and Pain families both live in the area year-round, understanding the seasonality of the climate and the community. Actively participating in local events and tournaments is another perk of the Muskoka lifestyle.
“It’s a small community,” comments Richard Wallace. “We had a one-room school in Minett but we were just as well prepared with our education there as anyone elsewhere. In a small community everybody works together and helps each other out."
Adam Wallace took over Richard’s mantle of organizing the annual Dave Ellis Pro Am Tournament at the Muskoka Lakes Golf and Country Club several years ago. The tournament is now in its 33rd year and proceeds support the South Muskoka Memorial Hospital Foundation.
“Members from the golf club participate but there’s a lot of local support,” says Pain. “Some people have played in it the whole time, every year we’ve run it.”
Growing up in the area has provided the Pains and the Wallaces with their Muskoka lifestyle, as well as assisting in their careers. Knowledge of the lakes and the land, and their local connections, have proven invaluable in developing their business and in further deepening their roots.
“We were on the lakes every day with the marina, out with clients and I did all of my real estate showings by the water,” comments Richard Wallace. After seven years working locally with his mother, Richard Wallace opened his own real estate company, based out of Minett in 1978. He and his mother, Iris Wallace served all of Muskoka, with the office now located in Port Carling.
“I grew up here, then left for Toronto, went to school for a few years and then moved back here with my wife,” says Pain. “I started in the business in January 1989. Richard sold to me in 2005 and then Adam came in as a partner in 2010 and we co-own the business now.”
With Pain joining and then buying the real estate business, the family connections deepened when Adam Wallace joined as a partner in 2010.
“I never really left, even to go to school,” says Adam Wallace. “I’m a northern boy so I went further north for school. I went to Laurentian University in Sudbury. I came home on most weekends because it wasn’t that long of a drive. I never saw myself leaving the area as I grew up.”
The company started by Richard and now run by Pain and Adam Wallace celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2018. Although not the oldest brokerage in Muskoka, the family ties to the local region factor into the company’s continued success.
“We offer something a little different than other companies,” says Adam Wallace. “We’re more boutique-like. We give more of a hands-on business opportunity. Plus, 40 years stands out”
“The ties we have to the area have been instrumental in our success,” says Pain. “We’ve always been known for honesty and integrity. We can stand on any piece of property around here and give you a history of who owned it and what was on it. That’s very important.”
Business ventures have only drawn them further into their own history and the community. Pain recalls preparing a title search on a property near Port Carling 20 years ago and discovering his family had owned the land at one time. When his family sold that land, the funds were used to add the third level on to Paignton House.
“That’s the history that our families have with real estate and with Muskoka, says Adam Wallace. “The land and the water, which really, few other people can say.”
Family businesses have come and gone, some being passed onto family members while others have passed into other hands. The lifestyle and traditions adapted from those early beginnings continue to connect the past and present.
“Our old family traditions, like fishing and making maple syrup, the Muskoka traditions, we try to keep those up,” shares Adam Wallace. “Our ancestors did them out of necessity while we do them as hobbies. I want to pass those things on to my kids. It’s important. That’s who we are.”
Adam Wallace fondly recalls time as a fishing guide during his teenage years, as well as working at Muskoka Lakes Golf and Country Club. The family cottage was right beside the marina and provided ample opportunity for swimming, fishing and other memorable experiences.
“I was really young when we owned the marina,” says Adam Wallace. “I remember going there and my favourite thing was to raid the ice cream freezer. Free ice cream, as a kid running around. It was a good way to grow up.”
The connection to the land extends beyond the family business. When Adam Wallace was married five years ago, they tied the knot at The Rock, the golf course built on a portion of the original Pain land.
“The Wallace land abutted that property,” shares Adam Wallace. “When we got married we actually took pictures on the line where the Wallace land met the Pain land, which was kind of neat.”
In addition to marking Canada’s sesquicentennial, 2017 marked the 140th anniversary of the Pains living on their original homestead. The Pain family, as well as the Wallace relatives, gathered to celebrate their history and Canada Day.
“Everybody has stayed pretty close – Bracebridge, Port Carling, Minett,” explains Pain. “It was nice to have everyone all together for something like that.”
When William “Archie” Pain owned and operated Paignton House, if fish was on the menu for dinner, he had to catch the fish. Living off the land was a necessity of the time period, especially when factoring in hungry resort guests. The necessity has become a sport and a hobby for many enjoying what Muskoka has to offer, including Adam Wallace.
“Grandpa Pain loved to fish,” says Adam Wallace. “As a kid, he would take me fishing and those are some of my fondest memories. At four years old, I’d be sleeping in the boat with my life-jacket on and he’d still be fishing.”
“When Adam was little, growing up, he’d wake up and go catch some crawfish, then he’d go fishing, bring it home, clean it and have it for dinner,” says Richard Wallace. “Now, most kids don’t even know what a crawfish is, because they haven’t grown up doing that. The use and their enjoyment of Muskoka has changed so much in the last 25 or 30 years. In another 30 years, it will change again.”
The landscapes, the homes, the cottages and the resorts have all changed through the years since Muskoka was settled. There are treasured spaces that, if you had visited them 50 or 100 years ago, would still look the same. There are many locations that have adapted and changed to suit the needs to those living or cottaging in the area.
“Where Janet and I are living now abuts land my family previously owned,” explains Richard Wallace. “We’re calling our farm the Full Circle Farm. We’re back home.”
The Muskoka lifestyle, living with the land and the changing seasons, at a slightly different pace, is what makes people keep coming back and will for years to come.
The Muskoka lifestyle is as much about the landscape as it is the people who are living it. Throughout its history, Muskoka has offered its inhabitants, year-round and seasonal, a playground as well as a place of opportunity.
The Wallace and Pain families boast deep roots in Muskoka. Their beginnings in Muskoka started during the land grant-era and have stayed in the area since, with the land continuing to be a big part of their lives.
“Most families, the Pains, the Wallaces, the Minetts, they were all here pretty much at the same time in the late 1800s,” says Richard Wallace, founder of Richard Wallace Real Estate. “They grew up together, they worked together, they played together, they fished together. It was a community.”
Henry Wallace, Richard’s great-grandfather, came to Muskoka to build a church in Bracebridge. Henry and his brother both ended up taking land grants, along with John Frederick Pain. “We still have a book with the original land grants and the names of the Pains and the Wallaces and it shows their original acreages,” says Adam Wallace, Richard Wallace’s son and broker and co-owner at Richard Wallace Real Estate in Port Carling.
The first plot of land owned by the Wallace family was located on Bruce Lake, named for Adam’s great-uncle Bruce Wallace. Henry Wallace inherited the land in time and relocated to the acreage originally granted to the Minett family. While the Minett name remains in the area today, the Wallace family history is honoured in the naming of Wallace Bay on Lake Rosseau.
“John Frederick Pain, who was my great-grandfather, had the original plot,” explains Douglas Pain, broker of record and co-owner of Richard Wallace Real Estate. “The resort, Paignton House was named for Paignton, England, although the family name does not have the same spelling.”
Paignton House was a family affair. First started by J. F. Pain, Robert Dickinson Pain took over the management, followed by William “Archie” Pain, Douglas Pain’s father.
“All my sisters and everybody in the family worked at the resort,” says Pain. “On top of that, my father and Adam’s grandfather were very good friends. They grew up together. Our families intertwine.”
The resort stayed in the family until 1973 when it was sold to Ken Fowler. Fowler resold the property, bought it back and finally built the current JW Marriott The Rosseau Muskoka Resort, on the property. Pain and his family continue to live on a portion of the property that was part of the original land grant of 141 years ago.
“Living right next to Paignton House, my great-grandparents and grandparents owned steam boats and they drove them to make an income,” explains Adam Wallace. “They toured around the lakes with people, showing them Muskoka.”
Richard’s grandparents operated cruise boats to show tourist the lakes and scenery while Irvin and Iris Wallace, Richard’s parents followed into seasonal tourism by opening Wallace Marine in the early 1960s. The Wallaces operated a cruise boat named Lady Elgin, ran the marina, produced maple syrup and even had a market garden to serve their clientele.
“We worked as a family,” comments Richard Wallace. “My brother, mom, dad and I, we worked seven days a week, 14 or 16 hours a day. Like a lot of families in those days, you did whatever it took to survive and to prosper.
"You couldn’t imagine having a better lifestyle growing up. At one time we tapped 1,200 trees for syrup! We worked together and we played together and I’m lucky that was the case.”
“I worked at the marina for six years when I was kid,” explains Pain. “The Wallaces and the Pains have known each other for generations. It was a little ironic when my sister Janet and Richard Wallace got married.”
Family ties and stories are an important element in maintaining the history and memories of past generations in Muskoka. Tales of family members walking to Washago in the winter to purchase flour or taking the train to a curling tournament and being unable to curl because the railway porter had put the rocks in the engine room while in transit and the rocks were too warm, are hallmarks of families with a long and deep connection to Muskoka.
“I used to hunt golf balls when they had tournaments on at Paignton House, as a kid, and then I’d sell the balls back to them on the same round,” laughs Pain. “Guys would say ‘wait a minute, I think I lost that on the second hole!’.”
“My grandmother – she bought property at Lash Point on Lake Rosseau with 4,000 feet of shoreline for $50,” says Richard Wallace. “She sold it for $150 and a cow.”
“We still have the deed down in the boathouse and it talks about the money but it doesn’t talk about the cow,” says Adam Wallace. “We still talk about the cow. The cow is the story.”
The Wallace and Pain families both live in the area year-round, understanding the seasonality of the climate and the community. Actively participating in local events and tournaments is another perk of the Muskoka lifestyle.
“It’s a small community,” comments Richard Wallace. “We had a one-room school in Minett but we were just as well prepared with our education there as anyone elsewhere. In a small community everybody works together and helps each other out."
Adam Wallace took over Richard’s mantle of organizing the annual Dave Ellis Pro Am Tournament at the Muskoka Lakes Golf and Country Club several years ago. The tournament is now in its 33rd year and proceeds support the South Muskoka Memorial Hospital Foundation.
“Members from the golf club participate but there’s a lot of local support,” says Pain. “Some people have played in it the whole time, every year we’ve run it.”
Growing up in the area has provided the Pains and the Wallaces with their Muskoka lifestyle, as well as assisting in their careers. Knowledge of the lakes and the land, and their local connections, have proven invaluable in developing their business and in further deepening their roots.
“We were on the lakes every day with the marina, out with clients and I did all of my real estate showings by the water,” comments Richard Wallace. After seven years working locally with his mother, Richard Wallace opened his own real estate company, based out of Minett in 1978. He and his mother, Iris Wallace served all of Muskoka, with the office now located in Port Carling.
“I grew up here, then left for Toronto, went to school for a few years and then moved back here with my wife,” says Pain. “I started in the business in January 1989. Richard sold to me in 2005 and then Adam came in as a partner in 2010 and we co-own the business now.”
With Pain joining and then buying the real estate business, the family connections deepened when Adam Wallace joined as a partner in 2010.
“I never really left, even to go to school,” says Adam Wallace. “I’m a northern boy so I went further north for school. I went to Laurentian University in Sudbury. I came home on most weekends because it wasn’t that long of a drive. I never saw myself leaving the area as I grew up.”
The company started by Richard and now run by Pain and Adam Wallace celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2018. Although not the oldest brokerage in Muskoka, the family ties to the local region factor into the company’s continued success.
“We offer something a little different than other companies,” says Adam Wallace. “We’re more boutique-like. We give more of a hands-on business opportunity. Plus, 40 years stands out”
“The ties we have to the area have been instrumental in our success,” says Pain. “We’ve always been known for honesty and integrity. We can stand on any piece of property around here and give you a history of who owned it and what was on it. That’s very important.”
Business ventures have only drawn them further into their own history and the community. Pain recalls preparing a title search on a property near Port Carling 20 years ago and discovering his family had owned the land at one time. When his family sold that land, the funds were used to add the third level on to Paignton House.
“That’s the history that our families have with real estate and with Muskoka, says Adam Wallace. “The land and the water, which really, few other people can say.”
Family businesses have come and gone, some being passed onto family members while others have passed into other hands. The lifestyle and traditions adapted from those early beginnings continue to connect the past and present.
“Our old family traditions, like fishing and making maple syrup, the Muskoka traditions, we try to keep those up,” shares Adam Wallace. “Our ancestors did them out of necessity while we do them as hobbies. I want to pass those things on to my kids. It’s important. That’s who we are.”
Adam Wallace fondly recalls time as a fishing guide during his teenage years, as well as working at Muskoka Lakes Golf and Country Club. The family cottage was right beside the marina and provided ample opportunity for swimming, fishing and other memorable experiences.
“I was really young when we owned the marina,” says Adam Wallace. “I remember going there and my favourite thing was to raid the ice cream freezer. Free ice cream, as a kid running around. It was a good way to grow up.”
The connection to the land extends beyond the family business. When Adam Wallace was married five years ago, they tied the knot at The Rock, the golf course built on a portion of the original Pain land.
“The Wallace land abutted that property,” shares Adam Wallace. “When we got married we actually took pictures on the line where the Wallace land met the Pain land, which was kind of neat.”
In addition to marking Canada’s sesquicentennial, 2017 marked the 140th anniversary of the Pains living on their original homestead. The Pain family, as well as the Wallace relatives, gathered to celebrate their history and Canada Day.
“Everybody has stayed pretty close – Bracebridge, Port Carling, Minett,” explains Pain. “It was nice to have everyone all together for something like that.”
When William “Archie” Pain owned and operated Paignton House, if fish was on the menu for dinner, he had to catch the fish. Living off the land was a necessity of the time period, especially when factoring in hungry resort guests. The necessity has become a sport and a hobby for many enjoying what Muskoka has to offer, including Adam Wallace.
“Grandpa Pain loved to fish,” says Adam Wallace. “As a kid, he would take me fishing and those are some of my fondest memories. At four years old, I’d be sleeping in the boat with my life-jacket on and he’d still be fishing.”
“When Adam was little, growing up, he’d wake up and go catch some crawfish, then he’d go fishing, bring it home, clean it and have it for dinner,” says Richard Wallace. “Now, most kids don’t even know what a crawfish is, because they haven’t grown up doing that. The use and their enjoyment of Muskoka has changed so much in the last 25 or 30 years. In another 30 years, it will change again.”
The landscapes, the homes, the cottages and the resorts have all changed through the years since Muskoka was settled. There are treasured spaces that, if you had visited them 50 or 100 years ago, would still look the same. There are many locations that have adapted and changed to suit the needs to those living or cottaging in the area.
“Where Janet and I are living now abuts land my family previously owned,” explains Richard Wallace. “We’re calling our farm the Full Circle Farm. We’re back home.”
The Muskoka lifestyle, living with the land and the changing seasons, at a slightly different pace, is what makes people keep coming back and will for years to come.