(transcribed by Ryk Weber)
1828 found him back in England, restless, unloved and middle-aged. Unable to alter the last condition, he took care of the second by obtaining legal separation from his wife. He then set up a happy home with seventeen-year-old Frances Doubleday, the refined and educated daughter of a Welsh attorney. Rains had retained custody of his younger son, and Frances soon presented him with another. In 1830, with love now secure in his life, he decided to assuage his restlessness by selling his commission and emigrating to Canada. But Frances had only one living relative, and the prospect of being separated, probably forever, from her beloved sister, Eliza, was more than she could bear. William didn't hesitate; Eliza would go with them to the new life.
When they first settled on Lake Simcoe there was little cause for raised eyebrows; the refined couple's history and illegitimate status had been left behind. Rains' ability, education and experience were recognized in his appointment as Commissioner of Peace. But by 1834 he was getting restless again. With two associates he petitioned for a land grant on frontier St. Joseph Island, where only a few French and Indians were currently living. Furthermore, his domestic affairs had come to need the obscurity that such a remote location offered.
In 1835 the Rains family and partners set sail with a few settlers from Penetanguishene at the foot of Georgian Bay. They came to anchor in the long sheltered bay that indents the south shore of St. Joseph Island, and there they established the settlement, complete with sawmill and store. Rains named it Milford Haven, for the scene of his happy childhood summers in Wales.
But all was not happy in the new Milford Haven. Few additional settlers came, and Rains, the major financial backer of the enterprise, ran out of money when his London agent managed to lose 30,000 pounds sterling in investments that went sour. He quarreled with his partners, and, disgusted by his first venture into business, decided to withdraw from the company and go it alone. He built a new home about ten miles west of the settlement, on a promontory that became known as Rains Point.
It would be more accurate to say he built two homes. Even before they left Lake Simcoe, Eliza, the devoted sister and aunt, had become the loving consort. By now the parties to this menage a trois were completely open and candid about their private arrangement. Apparently it satisfied them all. The sisters, devoted to one another, were quite willing to share a husband, who was devoted to both of them. Each enjoyed the role of mistress in her own home and direct supervision of her children. Among the three of them they educated a combined total of nineteen youngsters. Rains maintained an extensive library for the purpose.
Nor was the Canadian Government unduly outraged by Rains' personal life. As he had done on Lake Simcoe, he served as magistrate for Algoma District for many years. By 1860 he was beginning to feel those years and retired from his business supplying wood to steamers on St. Marys River. He died in 1874 at the age of 85. His improprieties forgotten or overlooked, Major Rains was buried in Sault Ste. Marie with full military honors. Although his story has faded into legend, every boat that cruises St. Marys River, or moves northeast between Drummond and St. Joseph Islands into the North Channel, encounters his memory in the places he named, and the places named for him -- Rains Point, Rains Lake, and Rains Wharf Range.