Amelia: 100 Years Later

Eldon House as a community museum and heritage site received over 12000 visitors annually in pre-pandemic times, but the impact of the museum is even further reaching. Social media traction, researchers, and partners add to the number of people who visit Eldon House every year and hear the story of the Harris Family. Even over 100 years since her death, staff of Eldon House are conscious of the impact that Amelia Ryerse Harris has on the museum.

Amelia, as one of the founders of Eldon House, transformed the house into a place for family and into a social center for Londoners. Her connections with fellow Canadians and British citizens elevated the Harris Family in the community and ensured good marriages for her children. After the death of her husband and eldest son, she fought to keep Eldon House in the possession of the Harris Family. It is thanks to her strength and tenacity that the home remained in the family’s control for so long. The influence of Amelia can be felt in museum today, with its many objects and extensive written records, for which Amelia was a great contributor. Diaries and letters from the Eldon House matriarch can be found with the Harris Family papers at Western Archives and Special Collections.

As the museum continues to serve the community, staff look to Amelia for information on the past, and as continued inspiration for historical research.

An image of Eldon House, a large white building with green shutters. In the foreground there are red and yellow tulips in full bloom.
Eldon House in the spring.
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We acknowledge that we are on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, Lūnaapéewak and Attawandaron. We honour and respect the history, languages and culture of the diverse Indigenous people who call this territory home.

We acknowledge all the treaties that are specific to this area: the Two Row Wampum Belt Treaty of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy/Silver Covenant Chain; the Beaver Hunting Grounds of the Haudenosaunee NANFAN Treaty of 1701; the McKee Treaty of 1790, the London Township Treaty of 1796, the Huron Tract Treaty of 1827, with the Anishinaabeg, and the Dish with One Spoon Covenant Wampum of the Anishnaabek and Haudenosaunee.

The three Indigenous Nations that are neighbours to London are the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation; Oneida Nation of the Thames; and the Munsee-Delaware Nation who all continue to live as sovereign Nations with individual and unique languages, cultures, and customs.