The Irish Potato Famine lasted from 1845 - 1848, devastating Ireland - leaving one-million dead and losing another million who emigrated to Canada and the United States.  John Carmichael, a weaver in Kilrea Parish, County Derry, arrived in Spencerville, Ontario, in 1847 with his wife Mary Price and their first four children, Andrew, Mary, Joseph and Samuel.  John and his brother James were the sons of Daniel Carmichael a weaver (b. 1773) and Nancy Murdoch of Kilrea Parish. 

James had settled in Canada a year earlier and John was able to purchase a tract of land from him.   There is a note in the Prescott Land Office that John, who was illiterate and signed with an X, purchased his property from his brother.  James owned Lot #27 and John Lot #31. 

John built the brick home pictured above in 1855 and some years later St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church was constructed across the street from the house.  His son Andrew was a senior warden of the church and  was involved in its erection which may have occurred between 1862 and 1879.   Both John and Andrew are buried in the churchyard along with their wives, Elizabeth and Isabella, Harvey's mother.  Isabella Johnstone's parents were born in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, introducing the first 19th century Scottish blood  - Clan Douglas - into our branch of the Carmichael family. 

The Rev. Dr.  Harvey Carmichael was born in Spencerville, Ontario, in 1869. Due to working on the farm and in the family store he didn't start Kemptville high school until the age of 16.  He completed all course work in one and a half years and was admitted  to Queen's University in Kingston. 

 His father Andrew opened a grocery store on the first floor of their home where all 12 or 13 children helped out.  They each became proficient at Morse Code as there was a direct line coming into the store (preceding the telephone).  Before earning his Master's in Philosophy at Queen's Harvey spent almost a decade working for the Canadian Pacific Railway where he won recognition for being the fastest telegraph operator in the province.  His father Andrew also built carriages in a shop to the south of the church and was the village blacksmith. 

Harvey simultaneously received his Bachelor's in a dual major of Arts and Philosophy and Master's in Philosophy from Queen's  in 1897 and won the coveted Gold Medal in Philosophy.  In 1921 he received a  Doctorate in Religious Education from the Hartford (CT) Theological Seminary.