(21 Oct. 1866-20 April 1943), foreman. (Edward I. Tarlton, E. I. Tarlton, Ed Tarlton) Born in Montreal. Parents: James Tarlton and his wife Sarah Burrowes, both natives of Ireland. Aged 21, E. I. Tarlton was married in Montreal on 8 Aug. 1888 to Elizabeth Jane Drummond (1868-19 July 1928). In 1899, leaving Gananoque, where he had apparently been working as a painter for a carriage company which closed, he came to Alexandria to work for the Munro & McIntosh carriage factory as a painter, soon becoming foreman of the Munro & McIntosh paint department. Tarlton owned the first automobile in Alexandria, bought at Casselman on 14 July 1910. He reinforced his income from the Munro & McIntosh firm by doing commercial lettering for stores and railway crossings. He also painted the stage scenery for plays staged by St. Finnan’s Parish at Alexander Hall. Besides being an important member of the Munro & McIntosh work team, he was extremely active over his years in Alexandria in a great many community activities. A man of wide interests, he was evidently a good community man, a joiner, a promoter, and the kind of man who is longed for in every community to “get things started.” If he had any interest in party politics, no record of it has come to light, but he served on the town council.

     Tarlton remained in Alexandria throughout the decline of Munro & McIntosh, and indeed till almost the end of manufacturing in the carriage factory, then left with his family for Orillia in Sept. 1922. On leaving, he was presented with a gold-headed cane by the citizens of Alexandria. (Glengarry News 29 Sept. 1922) At Orillia, he worked for the Tudhope Carriage Co. till it closed, and afterwards had a private business in automobile finishing and sign-painting. He died after being struck by a truck in Orillia, five children surviving him. Presbyterian. Mason. The burial was at Gananoque.

     In 1984 his son, A. Ross Tarlton (b. 3 Sept. 1892), of Hamilton, published a valuable autobiographical article in the Glengarry News containing many observations from his childhood years in Alexandria. As a young man, A. Ross Tarlton worked for the contractor D.R. Mcdonald. E. I. Tarlton’s eldest son, James Tarlton (30 Dec. 1890-14 Oct. 1985), returned to spend the last months of his life with his daughter Betty and son-in-law, Serge Dreimanis of Glen Roy.

Glengarry News 23 April 1943 * private information * A. Ross Tarlton, “His Father Drove the Town’s First Automobile,” GN 19 Sept. 1984 (with photo of E. I. Tarlton in car) * MacGillivray & Ross 476-485 * Ostrom 116, 120, 332 * picture of his residence, Glengarrian 23 Dec. 1904 * to work for Munro & McIntosh, GN 20 Oct. 1899 * visits Caledonia Springs resort, GN 8 Aug. 1902 * owns first rubber-tired carriage in Alexandria, GN 5 Sept. 1902, 22 July 1910 * elected to town council on resignation of Dr D.D. Macdonald, GN 10 June 1904 * active in local gun club, GN 2 Dec. 1910, 19 May & 24 Nov. 1911 * is erecting cottage at South Lancaster, GN 15 May 1914 * obituaries of James Tarlton, GN 16 & 30 Oct. 1985