46 FOCUS - OCTOBER 2018 My wife loves century homes. “They have character,” she’ll tell you while pointing out design fea- tures unique to vintage buildings. Another intangible attraction is longevity. Structural changes have almost certainly happened over time, but the building’s original “bones” have weathered more than one hundred years while still standing proudly. Century homes aren’t especially rare, but family enterprises which have survived that span of time are few and far between. Any which do last, just like those century homes, have accumulated their own share of history. Not only has Blackstock’s Carncroft Farm run continuously for almost two centuries, it has remained family- owned throughout all that time. “James Carnaghan, my husband Luke’s great-great-great grandfather , was the farm’s original owner,” Jenny Carnaghan reports. “He first moved from Ireland to England, where he worked as a teacher. At the same time, he rented out land which he worked. When he settled in Canada in the 1830s, he would continue farming.” York – Toronto, as it was known in earlier times – was James’ destination. “He worked as an innkeeper in York until he accumulated enough money to buy a tract of land in 1837 on what today is Scarborough Golf Club Road. ‘Carncroft’ they called it.” Tradition held that a farm re- mained in the family, with the first- born son assuming ownership as his father grew older. “Our family honoured that tradi- tion: the farm passed from James to his son – also called James – and Meet the Carnaghans. Back row, L-R: Bree, Alyssa, Luke with Logan and Jenny in front. Carncroft Farm a Family Affair Down on PHOTOS BY MARYANN FLEMING