James Doble Home – 3 Cedar St S
James Doble was born in 1826 and lived to 1907. He was the brother of William Doble and Margaret Ruddy, who lived at 32 Albert Street. James was a wealthy landowner and had thousands of acres of land between Victoria Corners and Sunderland. It was once said that you could walk from Victoria Cornice to Sunderland and always be on Doble land. At one time James Doble was involved at the Doble bank in Sunderland and he later sold it to the Home Bank.
On the maps of 1904, the Home bank was on the west side of Taylor’s Store and attached to it. James Doble lived at the corner of River and Cedar streets on the southeast corner. About 1900 he developed a plan for the lots on both sides of River street. It involved about 60 building lots from Highway 12 right up to the CIBC bank at Albert Street. Because of this, the street by the Sunoco station was called Doble Street and the first road to the west was called James Street.
When James Doble died, his home was lived in by his wife Mary Jane Ray, and his stepdaughter Lottie Ray. James Doble was a very generous man. He donated the land for the St Mary’s Church rectory in 1874 and that land was used by the ministers until 1942. He also donated land to the St James West Brock Church on the 4th of Brock in Durham 23 for church picnics and functions in the summertime and after services.
James, like many of the Dobles as far back as 1834, was buried in the St. James West Brock Cemetery. When he died, he left many farms, homes and building lost to his nephews and nieces in his will about 1972. The safe for the Doble bank was still in the front living room of this house.
Lottie Ray married West Doble and stayed in the home until 1984. When the estate was sold the home was full of antiques and the future owners found money Hidden in the walls. The nephews of James Doble knew of his generosity and would often wear their worst beaten up old shoes. If there was a chance they might run into Uncle James, he would scold them about those miserable boots and immediately rushed them off to the shoe store to get a new pair.
2. Saint Andrews United Church – 10 Church St N
3. Sunderland Town Hall – 120 River St
4. Dr. Joseph Henry Oliver Home – 128 River St
5. St. Mary’s Anglican Church – 134 River St
6. Dr. James McDermott Home – 160 River St
7. The Fogg House – 198 River St
8. The Blacksmith Shop – 135 River St
9. The Nipissing House Hotel – 123 River St
10. Stop 4 Variety – 111 River St
11. The Old Drug Store – 108 River St
12. The Gigantic Hand Saw, Guardian Pharmacy – 103 River St
13. Flindell’s Fresh Mart – 97 River St
14. The Beall Block – 93 River St
15. The Harness Shop – 89 River St
16. Taylor’s Store – 85 River St
17. The William Doble Home – 32 Albert St
18. The Sunderland Presbyterian Church – 5 Albert St
19. Doyle’s General Store – 3 Albert St
20. The McDermott Block – 1 Albert Street S
21. The Sunderland Telephone Company. – 63 River St
22. James Doble Home – 3 Cedar St S
23. William Nassau Doble Home – 12 River St
24. Thomas Welsh Home – 20 River St
25. Robert Doble Home – 48 River St
26. The Bank – River Street (CIBC) – 74 River St
27. The Brock House Hotel – 82 River St
28. The Hardware Store – 92 River St
29. The Early Undertaker – 96 River St
30. The Printing Shop – 98 River St
31. The Magic Door – 100 River St
32. The Sunderland Legion – 104 River St
33. 108 River Street – 108 River Street
34. Freeze Creamery – 5 Church St N
35. The Sunderland Memorial Arena 1948-2009 – 20 Park St