John Grant describes his family's history in Beaverton, where the originally came as cottagers. His mother and aunt dated two brothers of the Divine family, whose house John now lives in. His mother also stayed in the house during the polio epidemic in Toronto. His mother's side of the family were settlers in the 1820s on a 100 acre farm near Argyle, which was given to his ancestor as a veteran of the Napoleonic wars in return for clearing land each year. His great-grandfather, William Williamson and his wife Mary Suitor opened a pharmacy in Beaverton and lived over the store in an apartment. In the summer the heat in the apartment was unbearable, so William purchased property on Cedar Beach and built the first cottage there as a cooler place to stay in the summer. The cottage stayed in the family until the 1960s when his maternal uncle passed away in his 40s after working in uranium mines, and no one could afford to buy it out. His mother acquired another property in 1970 though so the family always had a place in Beaverton. John himself worked as a cook for a summer, and later traveled around the area in a rock band on weekends. William Williamson also opened the Beaverton telephone company and ran 12 lines out of a switchboard in the back of his drugstore. He also details how his grandmother and her siblings were afforded the opportunity to attend university and as a result, his grandmother Jessie Williamson graduated with a Bachelor's Degree from the University of Toronto in 1913. William also developed what he called invisible ink, and his son-in-law (John's grandfather) who was a soldier in the first world war told his field commander about the invisible ink William had invented and suggested it for possible use in delivering messages. John retains a copy of an official letter stating the idea who be passed on, but he is unsure of the ultimate outcome.
