The one and one-half storey Gothic Cottage with a fieldstone foundation is noted to have been constructed in 1875. The 1876 Stratford Directory has members of the Verner family, John, Gilbert, Semple, and a brother, Mathew, living either on or near Downie Street. The earliest Stratford tax assessment for 710 Downie Street, not done until 1888, lists Gilbert Verner as the owner and resident.

Gilbert Verner was born on December 24, 1850 in Ardstraw, a small village (population 132 in 1851), and civil parish in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. He was the sixth in a family of seven children (six boys and one girl) born to John Verner and Mary Province. About 1866, the family, including a married son, Andrew, his wife, Mary, and their children emigrated from Ireland to settle in Canada.

Gilbert was listed in the 1871 Canada census in Stratford. He was living with his parents, who were in their sixties, and his brother, Semple. Gilbert, his father, John, and his brother are all listed as farmers which would have them living in the Downie Township part of Stratford. Later, all of the men in the family would, like many in Stratford, work for the railway.

In 1873, Gilbert married Margaret Hutchinson. Margaret was born in 1855 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Her parents, Adam and Elizabeth, had been born in Ireland but immigrated to the USA and later to Canada when Margaret was about two years old. Adam first settled into farming in South Easthope. The family later moved to Stratford where Adam was a foreman for the Grand Trunk Railway. At the time of their marriage, Gilbert’s occupation was shown as a labourer but by the time the 1881 census was taken, he was a blacksmith in the Grand Trunk Railway shops.

In 1876, the couple had their first child, James Gilbert Verner. A year later, their second child, a daughter, Bessie Jane, was born. June of 1879 brought tragedy to the family with the death of three year old James. Two more sons were born, Robert Henry in 1880 and Thomas John in 1882. Their last child and second daughter, Bertha Pearl, arrived in 1891.

Gilbert continued to work for the railway until his retirement in 1927. He was at one time a mechanic, as well as a blacksmith. In 1906, they bought the vacant lot next door, and the porch likely dates to about 1910. Margaret and Gilbert raised their family in the house at 710 Downie where they lived until 1939, just two years before Gilbert’s death. Gilbert died in 1941 and Margaret in 1950. They are buried together in Avondale Cemetery.

Bessie Jane married John Frederick Hall in 1902. He was a machinist for the GTR. Bessie and John lived with her parents for many years. Bessie died in 1956, and John in 1959. They are buried together in Avondale Cemetery.

Robert Henry became a machinist at the GTR shops. He married Ethel Jones in 1910. They named their first son, Gilbert, after his father. Robert and his family lived at 728 Downie Street for many years. He died there in 1948. Ethel died in 1973 and they are buried together in Avondale Cemetery.

Thomas seems to have been the adventurous member of the family. He moved first to Illinois, in 1908, and then to Nebraska, USA where he worked as a machinist. He was later the foreman for the McKeen Motor Car Co. He married Pauline Mcstravick, who was a bookkeeper in a doctor’s office, in 1920. They had one daughter, Patricia Ellen, born in 1924. After Thomas’ death in 1926, Pauline and her daughter lived with her parents.

Bertha Pearl married Arnold Dwight Ward in 1915. They lived on Avon Street and Arnold was a salesman in a grocery store. Their son Arnold James was born in 1916. In 1923, they moved to Detroit, Michigan. They remained in Detroit where Arnold died in 1960 and Bertha a year later.