History Of Ontario - Essa Township / Kempenfeldt - Nottawsaga River (the Swamp)

NOTTAWASAGA
SETTLER Con. Lot.

ADAIR, John 10 32
BELL, Angus 8 23
BELL, Archibald 8 25
BELL, John 10 26 (S1/2)
BELL, Malcolm Sr. 8 25
BOWERMAN, Joseph 9 4 (N1/2)
BERTLE, John 3 15
BERTLE, Joseph 4 15
BULMER, John 7 6
CAMPBELL, Alex 10 33 (N1/2)
CAMPBELL, Angus 4 23
CAMPBELL, Duncan 2 17 (Pt)
CURRIE, Archibald 8 21 (S1/2)
CURRIE, Donald 11 35 (S1/2)
CURRIE, Hugh 8 28
CURRIE, John 12 35
CURRIE, Malcolm 8 25
CURRIE, Peter 8 25
DALLAS, William 9 20 (N1/2)
DIXON, John 8 1
DOOLING, Patrick 7 16
DUGGAN, Edmund Sr. 4 16
FENELON, Thomas 2 17 (N1/2)
GILLESPIE, Donald 11 30
JARDINE, Andrew Sr. 10 30 (N1/2)
JARDINE, David 10 30 (S1/2)
KLIPPERT, George 9 26 (N1/2)
KNEFF, George 9 25 (Pt)
LAWLER, Andrew 10 5
LAWLER, James 9 19
LEACH, William 8 20
LOTT, John 4 3
MARTIN, Anthony 11 23 (E1/2)
MARTIN, Robert 2 4
MARTIN, William 8 25
MATCHETT, James 4 4 (Pt)
MATTZ, ..... 8 25
MOORE, Peter 3 31
MOORE, William 7 31
McCALLUM, Archibald 4 23 (N1/2)
McCALLUM, John 10 28 (Pt)
McCALLUM, Malcolm 8 25
McCUTCHEON, William 12 28
McDERMID, Archibald 11 33
McDERMID, John 8 27 (S1/2)
McDERMID, Malcolm 10 33 (S1/2)
McDUFFIE, Dougald 11 29 (N1/2)
McEWAN, Archibald 10 31
McEWAN, Neil 9 26 (S1/2)
McFADYEN, John 1 19
McGILLIVRAY, Arch 9 29 (W1/2)
McGREGOR, John 9 20 (S1/2)
McLEAN, Duncan 4 30
McNABB, Duncan 7 19
McQUEEN, Donald 5 23
McQUEEN, John 11 35 (N1/2)
McQUEEN, Neil 12 33
NEELANDS, Hamilton 4 4 (Pt)
PATTERSON, John 11 29 (S1/2)
PATTERSON, William 2 12 (S1/2)
PAUL, Neil 4 21 (S1/2)
ROSS, William 8 23
SMITH, Randall 12 37
SMITH, William 9 6 (N1/2)
SMYTH, John 11 1
SWALM, Conrad 8 29 (S1/2)
THOMPSON, Samuel 8 26
WILLING, Nathaniel 9 24
SUNNIDALE

SETTLER Con. Lot.

BELL, John 5 19
BIRCHALL, Samuel 13 9
CAMERON, John 1 27
CANE, Hugh 12 8
CATHEY, Geo. 14 4 (SE Pt)
COATES, Matthew 3 21
CROW, Joseph 13 6
CURRIE, John 12 3
CURRIE, Donald 12 3
FINLAY, William 2 26
FISHER, S. 7 12
GARDINER, James 12 8
GOODE, Cephas 13 4
GILCHRIST, Alex 10 5
GILLESPIE, Alex 10 12
HAGGART, Timothy 11 9
HARVEY, Patrick 13 8
McCALLUM, Peter 9 15
McCALLUM, John 10 14
MACAULAY, Gilbert 10 13
McKENZIE, John 10 4
McNEILL, Alex 1 27
MOORE, John 11 3 (E1/2)
PATTERSON, Malcolm 9 17
O'CONNELL, John 2 26 (NW1/4)
O'CONNOR, Patrick 7 12 (N1/2)
RICHEY, James 13 4
SHUALL, William 1 27
SOMERVILLE, Arch'd 5 20
SMITH, George 7 11
SHAW, Donald 9 16
SHAW, John 9 16
SHAW, Duncan 9 15 (N1/2)
SULLIVAN, James 11 11
SEELER, Henry 12 7
THOMPSON, T. John 14 3
The following history is verbatim from the book "The History of Simcoe County" by Andrew F. Hunter. First published in 1909 and reproduced in 1948 by the Simcoe County Historical Society.
NOTTAWASAGA

Soon after the survey of the Township of Nottawasaga by Thomas Kelly, in 1832, and Chas. Rankin in 1833, a few settlers began to take up lands within its borders. A local immigrant agent was appointed in the person of H.C. Young, a gentleman of Scottish birth, who appears to have held the position for about one year. It would be in Mr. Young's term of office in 1834, that two or three notable settlements were begun in the township -a Highland Scotch settlement at Duntroon, a settlement of Irish Catholics on the fourth line, and a small German settlement near Batteau. It is related that. "These first settlers did chopping for the Government, being paid in provisions, which at first they had to carry from Barrie on their backs, but were subsequently supplied from the shanty store of the overseer, Mr. Young, who was also a Crown Lands Agent. Some Dutch (German) settlers are said to have refused the work thus offered them, and it is alleged that a number of them starved to death, though others lay the cause of their mortality to sickness." (The Government's instructions are printed in our last chapter, on Sunnidale.)
The experiences of the pioneers Samuel Thompson and his brothers, upon locating in the forests of Sunnidale, have been referred to in the chapter on that township. Owing to their land in Sunnidale being near a large cedar swamp extending into Nottawasaga, the locality was to aquish, and they accordingly determined to remove to a better spot in Nottawasaga. As Mr. Thompson's narrative of their removal contain glimpses of the events that were happening in the district at that time, we shall refer to the reader the account in his own words.

DUNTROON

Mention was just made of the establishment of a Highland Scotch Settlement at Duntroon, but it should not be inferred that all the early settlers near that place were of that nationality. A few of those who located early were of Irish nativity, and a few were Germans. Some of these Nottawasaga pioneers had been previously located in Sunnidale, but owing to the marshy character of the land and other causes, their families soon cast their lots in the more westerly township. Late in 1834 or the early part of 1835 a number of five acre lots were laid out, and given to immigrants without power of sale, at Bowmore at that time, but since named Duntroon. It is said that twenty-one settlers availed themselves of this provision by the Government, and removed their familes there. The names of these pioneers are as follows:-
John Adair, Malcolm Bell, John Birtle, Alexander Campbell, Angus Campbell, Archibald Currie, Peter Currie, William Dallas, Andrew Jardine, David Jardine, Andrew Lawlor, Archibald McColeman, John McDermaid, Archibald McEwan, Neil McEwan, John McFayden, Archibald McGillivray, Duncan McNabb, John McQueen, Wm. Martin, Conrad Swalm.
Most of these settlers, however, left the five acre lots within a year or two afterward and took up bush farms in the neighbourhood. In this respect it may be of interest to contrast the Bowmore pioneers with the French settlers of Penetanguishene. In both cases the system of granting small lots was adopted by government; and while in the former case the settlers entirely forsook the small holdings, the movement was not so marked in the latter case.
One of the earliest to arrive at the five acre lots was Malcolm Bell who came with his family in October, 1834. He died July 5, 1854, in his 74th year. Numerous descendants of his have been residents of the locality. His eldest son, Angus Bell, was Clerk of the Township for a number of years.
Peter Currie came with the first contingent of Islay settlers in the fall of 1834, but did not live long to see the growth of the settlement, having been killed by a falling tree in March, 1835. The place where the accident occurred was north of Duntroon, on or about lot 26, con. 8, and his death was the first that took place in the new settlement. One of his sons, John Currie, afterward settled on lot 35, con. 12, and another, James Currie, on lot 38, con. 10.
Hugh Currie came to Canada in 1833, and lived for some time in Oro, but in 1836 he settled on lot 28, con. 9, near Duntroon, where he lived for upward of 55 years, and for 52 he was an elder in the Presbyterian Church at Duntroon. His death occurred at Collingwood, October, 1893, at about 83 years of age.
William Dallas, also a native if Islay, Scotland, like all the others here, settled first on a five acre lot, then moved to lot 20, down the 8th kine. About the year 1893 he died at the home of his daughter in Manitoulin Island, where he was buried. His son William became the occupant of the homestead.
It is stated that Neil Bell was the first white child born in the township, in March, 1835, but there is a diversity as to this particular, as a later account states that John Ross, a son of he man who built the first grist-mill, was the first child born within its borders.
Archibald Freguson came a short time later that the others in this interesting group of settlers. He was a stonemason before coming to Canada. His son, Peter Ferguson, became the first school teacher at Duntroon, although in this particular, as in some others, there are two accounts of the case, another stating that Malcolm Livingstone was the first school teacher. The truth of the matter is that Peter Ferguson belonged to the Old Kirk, and the Livingstone family to the Free Church. Each party had a teacher of its own, and the writer cannot ascertain which was the earlier of the two. One thing is certain; there was strong feeling manifested on both sides, as according to one amusing account, even the children of the respective schools could not pass in the roads without flinging sticks or stones at each other.
Peter Ferguson was a good platform speaker in both Gaelic and English, and became the first reeve of the township in 1850, when the name of "reeve" took the place of the district councillor. He represented the township for seven years at the County Council board, in the first year of which (1850) the question of taking £50,000 stock in the Northern Railway came up, and as the vote in the Council was a close one, he was given credit for giving the casting vote in favour of the measure, and in this way earned the dislike of many prejudiced against it. At a later time he was postmaster at Colingwood and also Customs inspector there. Subsequently he removed to the Northwest.
Amongst the best known of the later settlers at Duntroon was Francis Hewson, who arrived in 1842. He had come in 1820 from Ireland with his paents to Innisfil, where they were the first settlers in the township. He became the Township Treasurer of Nottawasaga in 1850, and held the position until his death, which occurred, February 10, 1900. He also held other positions of trust, and was President of a Pioneer Society organized in Nottawasaga in 1892.
Jas. Mair was the Free Church local preacher at a later period, and held services mostly in Gaelic, although he was also versed in English.
After the Rebellion of 1837, Archibald McAllister, moved his family from Toronto where he had been living, and purchased lot 27, con 8, Nottawasaga, near Duntroon, where he lived until a short time previous to his death on December 15, 1893. His son, Dr. L. McAllister, was reeve of the Township for some years, and later, Township Clerk.
As to the question of who kept the first store at Duntroon, there are two accounts in existence, as usual, one stating that William Milloy kept the first store, while another says that Francis Baxter kept the first.
Some question as to the disposal of the five acre lots having arisen at a later day, William Gibbard, the surveyor, was employed to make a plan of these lots, as laid out upon lot 25, in the 8th and 9th concessions. Mr. Gibbard's plan, which is preserved in the Department of Lands at Toronto, is dated May 26, 1860. A burial lot and a school lot had been provided in the original survey.
One by one the settlers on the five acre lots at Bowmore bought larger farms further south and west, and moved to their new purchases, the settlers persisting in their work of clearing and moving further back. At an early date they opemed the eighth line, or Hurontario Street, as it was called at a somewhat later date, southward to the Bowerman settlement at Dunedin. They opened this road, notwithstanding a series of formidable hills, deep valleys, the Devil's Glen itself, (near Glen Huron), and other frightful places to be crossed. A traveller along this road to-day journeys past houses and barns perched upon alarming hills that would frighten the bravest dweller of the flat country, yet all this land is as fertile as clay can be, and it attracted the early settlers thither.
They soon learned how to navigate the steep hills with ease. They have a chain and shoe attached to the waggon, and when going downhill with a load they fix one wheel of the waggon on the shoe, attaching the latter to the fixed part of the waggon by the chain. With the one wheel firmly set so that it cannot revolve, they move down the hill with ease and safety. For going up a hill, a trailing "dog" holds the waggon in its place while the horses rest. With these appliances they navigate the hills with almost as much ease as the denizens of the lower ground navigate the plains.
The first post office at Duntroon was opened about the year 1836, and was known for many years in the post office annals as "Nottawasaga." By 1857 it had been changed to "Bowmore." The first postmaster was Angus Campbell, who held the position for about twenty years, and after him Francis Hewson was appointed.
The original town hall for the township was erected here but was burned down. At one time a considerable quantity of business was carried on at Duntroon, but the arrival of the railway alterd the course of trade. For some years, however, after the first opening of Nottawasaga, the clearings around Duntroon made the main settlement in the township.
The evidence of Chas. Rankin, the surveyor of this township, in regard to the slowness of its settlement up to 1838, is given in Lord Durham's Report, and has also been quoted in Dent's "Upper Canadian Rebellion," Vol 1, p.61. There had been no clergy reserves in Nottawasaga, and hence there had been a greater profusion of land grants to others. According to Mr. Rankin, the whole of the land in the townships of Nottawasaga and Collingwood had been granted, mostly to persons who did not become actual settlers, but the townships themselves were almost entirely unsettled (Collingwood Township having then only one settler). So much wild land intervening between one settler and another, made communication amongst them extremely difficult.
The Rev. John Climie, who had formerly been a settler in the Township of Innisfil, became the first resident minister of Nottawasaga at Duntroon. In the Manuscript Minutes of the General Quarter Sessions for the Home District, under the date, April 6, 1841, is the following entry:-The Rev. John Climie of the Township of Nottawasaga, minister of the Congregationalist Society, appeared and was recognized as such and received a certificate (to solemnize marriages) according to the statute, having first taken the oath of allegiance." To get this certificate Mr. Climie had been under the necessity of travelling to Toronto where the Quarter Sessions met, as this was before the erection of Simcoe into a separate district. Having obtained the license to marry couples, Mr. Climie was called upon quite frequently to perform the ceremony for the pioneers' sons and daughters. Mr. Climie built the first church in the township in 1842, a little south of Duntroon. The first Presbyterian congregation was organized at Duntroon in or about the year 1841, but there was not stationed minister here until the Rev. John Campbell came in 1853.
Some years ago, Mr. W.J. Honeyford furnished the following particulars of the first congregation to one of the local newspapers:- "the first church was organized on July 20, 1841. It was Congregational, with nine constituent members, who were the Rev. John Climie and his wife, John Moore and Mrs. Moore, William Throope, John Rogerson, Henry Hunter, Joseph Honeyford and E.F. Honeyford."
About the year 1838 William Ross built the first grist mill in this locality, on the upper part of the Batteau River on lot 23, con. 8, having received from Government a grant of land for the purpose. It is stated that Mr. Ross constructed nearly the whole of the mill with his own hands, even to the making of the millstones. About five years after the erection of the mill Mr. Ross lost his life through being caught in the machinery, the date being recorded as April 30, 1843, at the age of 56 years, in the inscription on the headstone in the Duntroon Cemetery.
Fred T. Hodgson, of Collingwood, who had arrived in Nottawasaga in 1848, and was familiar with the townships growth, wrote a series of "Nottawasaga Reminiscences," which appeared in the Collingwood Enterprise in 1907, in the issues of that newspaper for June 13 and 27, and July 11. They contain many references to the pioneer days at Duntroon, and in other parts of the township.
Donald Blair also wrote a series of letters on "Early Days in Nottawasaga," for the Collingwood Bulletin, in 1908, the initial letter appearing in the issue of that journal of August 6, and continuing for five weeks. Various interesting particulars are given by that writer, more especially about the early days of Duntroon, with which he was personally acquainted from his youth upward.
In addition to the appellation of "Bowmore," the Village of Duntroon, was known as the "Scotch Corners." It was near this place that in the winter of 184-, Rev. Dr. Burns, the late distinguished Presbyterian divine, had an experience of travel which is to odd to be omitted. On the occasion in question he was making a missionary tour among the outlying settlements in this northern country, and when close to Duntroon he was nearly shot for a bear. The details of the incident appear to have been something like these:

In company with a friend he was driving thither through a snow storm, and when at the foot a hill near the village, the rig in which they were travelling upset and caused something to go wrong with the harness. In order to get out of this predicament and proceed on their journey, it was necessary to get a piece of rope from a pioner's cabin which was in sight at the top of the hill. So setting out on his errand, dressed in his great bearskin coat and cap, and with huge fur gauntlets on his hands, the travelling missionary found the hill so slippery and difficult of ascent, owing to a recent thaw succeeded by keen frost, that he could not keep his feet, so was obliged to get down on all-fours to proceed. Jut at that time the woman of the house for which he was making, happened to come to the door, and through the falling snow espied the strange object coming toward them, whereupon she cried out to her husband: "Mac, get your gun! here's a bear." The man rushed out with the gun in his hands, and was taking sight, when he became conscious of the mistake, and burst out with a loud guffaw, and said, "Tuts, woman; why, that's Dr. Burns!"​

THE BACK SETTLEMENT

Soon after the formation of the settlement at Duntroon, a new one was begun on the tenth line and on the lands adjacent to it. This onw was known as "The Back Settlement," as it lay closer to the Mountain ridge, across which there was no communication in the first years. The first settler close to the foot of the mountain was Donald Currie, a native of Islay. He had brought his family to Canada in 1834, reaching the Township of Oro, where he spent his first Canadian winter, and where one of his children died. The following summer he moved his family to Nottawasaga, which he had visited by himeslf the summer before, and placed them on one of the five acre lots at Duntroon. As showing the tender care of Highland people for their domestic animals, for their first winter in this new settlement at Duntroon they picked basswood leaves in the fall and saved them for cow feed. These, with the assistance of some turnips they got from Duncan McNab who had arrived the season before them, and had grown a small crop, together with the browse, kept their cow alive over the winter.
After living at the five acre lots for two or three years, he moved his family to the "Back Settlement," as already stated, taking up lot 35, con. 11, (S. half). About the year 1839, at the raising of a log building for Archibald McEwan, a log slid back and broke Donald Currie's leg. There was no Doctor nearer to the place than Barrie, which was about thirty miles distant, so before they could get Dr. Pass from the county town several days had elapsed, as a result of which his leg had to be amputated. There was no chloroform in those days, but he stood the ordeal without murmuring.
Donald Currie died January 15, 1868, aged 80 years. Of his family who grew up to maturity, there were:- Archibald, Laughlan, Peter, Flora, Ann (Mrs. Barr), Mary, Donald. The eldest, Archibald, received a five acre lot, but after marriage to up lot 37, con. 12. A grandson of the elder pioneer, Donald Currie Barr, of Collingwood, was Warden of the County in 1908.
One of the pioneers in the same settlement was Archibald McEwan, who took up lot 31, con. 10. He had settled also for a short time on one of the five acre lots at Duntroon, before moving to the "Back Settlement."
Another pioneer in the same part of the township was John McCallum. He came to Canada in 1836 and took up land in Sunnidale, but remained there for only one year. He then came to Nottawasaga and settled on lot 28, con. 10, where he resided until his death, March 23, 1894.
Andrew and David Jardine had settled in the five acre lots at Duntroon in 1834, and went to lot 30, con. 10, about the same time as the others who moved to this part of the township from the Government block. At a later time Andrew Jardine was a Justice of the Peace and became the first Clerk of the Division Court. He died, July 20, 1871, aged 70 years. David Jardine died May 27, 1865, aged 73 years. Some interesting Reminiscences of the pioneer days in Nottawasaga, by David Jardine, junior, appeared in the Collingwood Enterprise of June 7, 1907.
Amongst those who came to this part of the township at a slightly later period was John Macgillivray, who arrived with his family in 1848, having lived for a short time in North Carolina. He settled on lot 27, con. 12, where he lived until his death on April 21, 1892. Several members of the family of this pioneer have occupied prominent positions in the country.

THE FOURH LINE CORNERS and SOUTHWARD

The road allowance between lots 25 and 25, the whole road, in fact, from Sunnidale Corners to Duntroon (or Bowmore), was cleared out in the fall of 1834, and it was the pioneer's road for many years. Settlers began to locate in 1834, upon the Fourth Line of Nottawasaga, which was soon opened up to meet the Crossroad northward. McEachren's tavern was erected at the meeting place of the two roads at an early time, and the place got the name of the "Fourth Line Corners." At a later time it has been called Ballygrant, in which is included the settlement southward.
John McIntyre took up lot 24, con. 3, and settled on the crossroad at an early date, his patent being dated May 26, 1836, and his name becoming also attached to this locality.
Sothward, on the higher ground, the families of John and Joseph Bertles, Edmund Duggan, Patrick Dooling (or Dolan), Thomas Fenelon, and a few others settled in 1834 or the following year, soon after the township's survey, although they were not all located on the fourth line, but within easy distance of each other. Luke Harcourt also became an early settler in this small settlement of Irish Catholics, for a short time, on lot 17, con. 4, having come from the Township of Adjala, where we had occasion to notice him amongst the pioneers. In fact, several of the settlers in this part of Nottawasaga arrived by way of Adjala, having reached Nottawasaga by a trail through the forest leading from one township to the other, across the Pine Plains of Tosorontio. The old cemetery of the Roman Catholics on lot 13 on the fourth line was the first cemetery of that denomination in this part of the country. Owing to the soil being so wet, notwithstanding the high elevation of the groound, the place was abandoned as a cemetery for the one upon lot 25, con. 6, but several of the original settlers are buried at the earlier one on the fourth line.
To the northward of the settlement of Irish Catholics just mentioned, a few families of Highland Scots from Islay, also settled in the first years of the township's history, including the families of Campbell, Currie, McCallum, McQueen and McLean.
John Currie of this part of the township was one of the early school teachers, and was also Township Clerk for a period (1843-6, etc.)
On the fourth line, at lot 20, the East Nottawasaga Presbyterian Church, erected in 1854, has a pioneer graveyard, and is the resting place for the remains of a large number of early settlers. The building is now a brick edifice, but was originally built of more primitive materials, in keeping with the times in which it was erected.

THE SIXTH LINE GERMAN SETTLEMENT

In the year 1834 a small group of families including those of Swalm, Mattz, Kinder, Bulmer (Boomer), Knuff, Klippert,
Moyer and Stoutenburg, left their homes in Hesse-Cassel, Germany, to find new abodes in the forests of Ontario.

Their voyagae across the ocean lasted thirteen weeks and was more hazardous than usual for even those days
of perilous sea voyages.

In a fierce hurricane the vessel was carried out of her course and nearly wrecked,
but managed to hold on her voyage after repairs by the ship carpenters.

In addition to the perils of the sea, they had to face that terrible scourge the cholera,
from which a number of the company died and were buried at sea.

In course of time they reached Quebec, and after the hardships and delays of quarantine, or the apology for it which then existed, in the St. Lawrence River, the remnant came on this county.

After waiting for three weeks at Barrie, which then consisted of three or four small shanties,
until the last portion of the Government Road had
been opened out from Sunnidale Corners to Duntroon,
this small group of pioneers set out for their destination in Nottawasaga in the latter part of October, 1834.

With great difficulty they reached the new Government block of land, newly divided into five acre lots, where they were among the first to arrive. To each family there was alloted a five acre lot, with a certain amount of provisions in exchange for chopping or othr labour, as already explained in the chapter on Sunnidale.

After spending about three years at the five acre lots, some of this small group were the first to form the settlement of Germans on the Sixth Line near the Batteau.

The hardships of some of these German families were unusually severe. Edmund Duggan of the fourth line used to relate in after years how his crops there consisted partly of turnips which he sold to the German settlers of the Batteau, and upon which they chiefly subsisted. He thought some of them were indolent and thriftless, and hence they suffered want, but it is more probable that their half-famished condition had robbed them of their natural energy.
It is stated how Boomer, (or Bulmer), once lost his way in the woods, and was nine days without food. Found by some Indians in a dying condition he was taken to their camp and restored, but it was not easy to understand to what settlement he belonged. After partial recovery the Indians took him to Toronto, and left him with the Government officers, who sent him back to his family in Nottawasaga.
Conrad Swalm, another of the group, made his way to the earlier settled Township of Markham, and earned enough to purchase food for his hungry wife and little ones at home on the plot. Altogether the sufferings and hardships of the pioneers of Simcoe County furnish no sadder story than the annals of this little group of settlers from Hessse-Cassel. The cause perhaps lay, in part at least, in their want of knowledge of the new surroundings and conditions into which they had been transplanted.

DUNEDIN

The families of Bowerman, Clark, Cooper, Hill and Sing came from the vicinity of Bloomfield in Hallowell Township, Prince Edward County, about the year 1834, and were the first families of the settlement around Dunedin, which some people mistakenly called the "Yankee Settlement." They were of U.E. Loyalist descent, and not U.S. citizens, but they had the Bay of Quinte dialect, which was distinctly of the "Down-east Yankee" kind, and that gave rise to the mistaken name. It is said that these familes, or at least some of them, were of Quaker origin. This settlement would appear to have been the first in the township, some having come into it by way of Orangeville and Horning's Mills in the summer of 1834.
In the Bowerman family there were four brothers,- Joseph, Judah, Israel and Benjamin Bowerman. This settlement was formed under the direction of the first named, Joseph Bowerman, who was also connected at various times with the opening of new roads in the vicinity. He died February 20, 1877, in his 66th year. Judah Bowerman built the first mill at Dunedin at an early date.
The River Road, passing through Dunedin and following the Noisy River, was opened at an early period of the settlement.
The name Dunedin was given to the post office about the year 1870.
Near Lavender, the families of Coyle, Mastin and Tupper settled about the year 1834. Peter Mastin died April 28, 1878, in his 82nd year. Wm. Bulmer, another pioneer of this neighbourhood, died May 4, 1899, in his 77th year.

CREEMORE

Nulty & Webster built the Creemore Mills on the Mad River about the year 1845, having formed a partnership with each other for this purpose. In connection with this mill, Mr. Webster had a small store, the first one in the place, and G.I. Bolster came as clerk in this store. The post office was opened in 1849, with Edward Webster as postmaster. Subsequently Mr. Bolster carried on a business of his own, and became the postmaster. At a later day he was Inspector of Weights and Measures, with headquarters at Orillia. Launcelot G. Bolster, the pioneer of the family of this name, died June 3rd, 1867, in his 80th year.
In November, 1883, the County Council passed a By-law for the erection of Creemore into a Police Village. It thus became the first Police Village created in this county, and police trustees were to be elected for the village.
In June 1889, the County Council passed a By-law appointing James A. Spence as enumerator to take the census of Creemore. In this case the council gave some time for the taking of the census of the village, as the Beeton Lawsuit (Fenton v. County Simcoe), three years before this, had had a wholesome effect upon their deliberations. At the next session of the council (November) it appeared by Mr. Spence's enumeration return that Creemore had 753 inhabitants, whici was more than the required population, within the limits of 500 acres, and it was therefore entitled to incorporation, for which the Council passed a By-law, November 20, 1889. The first returning officer appointed was Joseph Hood, and the first reeve elected in January, 1890, was James A. Spence.
On the higher ground to the south of Creemore and Avening, somw settlers had established themselves at an early time. Amongst these were John Lott, Robert Martin, James Matchett and Hamilton Neelands. Hamilton Neelands, jr., served the township as deputy-reeve and reeve for several years, and afterward took a Government position. During his latest years he was in the Inland Revenue office, London, Ontario, where he died March 1, 1893.
In this part of the township, (viz., south of Creemore), John Rhodes had the first threshing machine in the fifties. It was one of the primitive kind, viz., without a separator attached to it. Mr. Rhodes, who was a native of Yorkshire, England, died October 1, 1895, in his 81st year.
In this part of the township, Joseph Honeyford, sr., and W.J. Honeyford, later of Alberta, and formerly of Avening, were also among the first settlers.

AVENING

George Carruthers, a native of Dumfriesshire, Scotland, came to Buffalo, N.Y., in 1848, and in the following year came to the site of Avening, where he chopped and cleared an opening in the forest, to which he moved his family in 1851.

Frederick C. Thornbury came from West Gwillimbury where he had kept a tavern about 1845 and later, and built grist and saw mills at Avening about the year 1860. These passed into the hands of his son, W.H. Thornbury, who became also the first postmaster on the establishment of the office, February 1st, 1864. The latter was reeve of Nottawasaga in 1868-9. F.C. Thornbury died January 16, 1872, aged 63 years, and W.H. Thornbury died in New York, in September, 1908.
George Carruthers and sons, who had been the pioneers, as mentioned above, also erected mills about the same time as the mills of Mr. Thornbury. One of the sons of Mr. Carruthers, the pioneer, viz., John J. Carruthers, was reeve of Nottawasaga in 1870-2, and also in 1874-6; he went to New Zealand in 1882. George Carruthers, jr., of the mills, died Aoril 25th, 1906, in his 67th year. An Wm. G. Carruthers has been postmaster at Avening for several years.
It would appear that the builders of mills on the Mad and Noisy Rivers, which supply excellent water powers, began the erection of mills on the upper parts, and established them in rotation down the stream. Thus, beginning with the earliest at Dunedin, then the mills at Creemore in 1845, and those at Avening about 1860, followed each other down stream into the flat lands, the hills having been settled and cleared before the easterly lower parts.
When the Carruthers family settled at Avening in the early fifties, there was only another settler on the second line northward, near Cashtown of the present time.

GLEN HURON

Jas. Cooper built a sawmill at Glen Huron at an early date, which was probably the first mill at the place;
but it was a small one; and he either sold or abandoned it in 1852, to build another at the Batteau,
on the rise of the prospect of the railway passing there.

The latter undertaking is mentioned in its proper place under the heading of the Batteau.
Jas. Hamilton was at a later day one of the well-known residents of this neighbourhood, from his connection with the Township and County Councils for a number of years. His death occurred in November, 1894. His son, W.H. Hamilton, was a county commissioner, and Warden in 1900.
Another well known settler, who came here about 1845, was Jas. D. Stephens, or as he was more familiarly called, "Tally-Ho" Stephens. He was a man of more than usual energy, and lived in this neighbourhood until about the year 1880. He succeeded John Frame, in 1845, as the District Councillor for Nottawasaga, and married Mr. Frame's widow for a second wife. At an early date he built a carding mill at Glen Huron, also the first grist and saw mills at Hurontario, and it is stated undet that heading, and had various other mercantile and manufacturing branches of business. About the year 1880, he retired to Winnipeg to live with his son, where he died, November 9, 1891.
The "Green Bush" tavern on the eighth at lot 18 was a famous hostelry in the pioneer days, kept by Jas. D. Stephens, who also had a store here. The hospitality of the place still lives on in a group of old apple trees which supply, in their season, the birds and squirrels with an abundance of fruit, although almost every other sign of the life of former days has departed except the foundations.
Opposite the "Green Bush," the family of Robertson were early settlers. One of the members of this family, and Calvin Throope of Sunnidale, afterward entered into partnership with each other as Robertson & Throope in the Atlantic Iron Works, Brooklyn, N.Y., and made sugar refinery machines.

SINGHAMPTON

One of the first settlers at Singhampton was Richard Richmond, who built the first sawmill here in 1840, on the Mad River.
The village itself, which is half a mile west of the mill site, was surveyed in 1856 by Cyrus and Josiah R. Sing, on their property. These brothers had come from Price Edward County, as it is stated under the heading of the Dunedin settlement, and had removed to the upper parts of the Mad River in 1852 or earlier.
The post office was established in 1852, under the name of the Mad River Mills, of which the early postmaster was Andrew Yuill; he was succeeded at a later time by Josiah R. Sing, whose family name was given to the office. Cyrus Sing subsequently became a settler at Meaford, where his death occurred, April 25, 1904, at an advanced age.

STAYNER

This place had its origin with the opening of the railway in 1854.

The first settler was Andrew Coleman who was a foreman or sub-contractor on the construction of this part of the Northern Railway.

Mr. Coleman came to Stayner in 1854 and built the first hotel on the site of the "Queens" when the rest of the land now covered
by the buildings of the town was almost an unbroken forest. The first building was a shanty, and was used as a boarding-house
for the men employed on the railway construction.

Mrs. Coleman was the first white woman to live in the place, and after the completion of the railway
the family remained as permanent residents.

He sold the original site in two or three years and built other hotels in the place.

Another of the first settlers was Gidoen Phillips, who built a sawmill, and was appointed a Justice of the Peace, April 3, 1857.

For a number of years the place was known as Nottawasaga Station, and the post office,
which was established in 1855 with Donald Baine, a lumber merchant and storekeeper, as the first postmaster, was also known by the same name. About the year 1857, the village, but not the post office, was called Dingwall, but about the year 1864 the name was changed to Stayner, which it finally retained.
In June, 1872, the County Council passed a By-law for the incorporation of Stayner as a village, with A.M. Ingersol as the first returning officer. The first reeve elected (for 1873) was George Randolph.
The Ontario Legislature passed an Act to incorporate the Town of Stayner, March 23, 1888, as 51 Vict., chapt. 61.

NOTTAWA

One of the good mill privileges of the Pretty River was where Hurontario Street crosses it,
and here Buist & Melville built saw and grist mills in or about 1853.

They had been carrying on business at the Old Village in the earlier years of the fifties,
and then took up the erection of the big mills at Nottawa, where they also had a general store.
After the opening of the railway, various sales of vacant lots took place on "wild cat" schemes in this part of the township, and one of these sales was advertised to take place, October 14, 1856, at Collingwood, the property to be sold consisting of building lots on lot 37, con. 8, of Nottawasaga, at Nottawa Mills. About this time Bourchier & Lyall had a saw-mill near this place.
Another of the early stores at Nottawa was kept was kept by Jas. Cooper, who had erected the mill at the Batteau, as it stated under that heading. In Mr. Cooper's store at Nottawa, two clerks were employed by him, F.T. Hodgson and Thomas Long, afterward well known residents of Collingwood. It was with Mr. Cooper that Mr. Long made his entry into business life, afterward so successful, his first wages having been $12 a month and board.

THE BATTEAU

James Cooper built a mill at the Batteau River in 1852, about 2 miles from its outlet, where the railway crosses it, and a hamlet of some size grew up. There was an overshot waterwheel in use in this mill, which in a year or two passed into the hands of Jas. D. Stephens, who had been carrying on business in the Hurontario mills at the bay shore for some time before this. Mr. Stephens also built at the Batteau another mill with a central discharge waterwheel.
On selling his mill at the Batteau, Mr. Cooper built a store at Nottawa. Mr. Cooper was one of those who had come from Prince Edward County with the Bowermans, Sings, and others, to the Dunedin settlement, as already noticed, and had carried on a small sawmill at Glen Huron before coming to Batteau and Nottawa. Ultimately Mr. Cooper went to Bracebridge, where he carried on a sash and door factory, saw-mill, etc., and died there.
About the year 1866, Batteau was called "Warrington," but the name did not remain long with it.

THE HURONTARIO MILLS

It may have been observed in our peregrinations through this township that the various rapid streams flowing down out of the glens in the face of the "Mountian" furnished good water power for numerous pioneer mills. One of the good mill privileges on the Pretty River was at its outlet into the Nottawasaga Bay, and here were the Hurontario Mills built early in the forties about a mile to the east of Collingwood of to-day. The place had previously been a frequent resort and camping place of the Indians for fishing and other purposes.
Of late years this place has been called the Old Village. The first person who began to build a saw-mill at the outlet was Francis Baxter, who had a store at Duntroon, and who obtained the patent for lots 43 and 44, con. 7 (70 acres), February 14, 1843. Soon afterward he got timber out for the mill, but did not carry out the work any further. James Connell took up the project and completed it, getting the patent for N. half 43 and lot 44, con. 8, (200 acres), on September 24, 1844. The business was then conducted by Chas. D. Stephens and his brother M.N. Stephens, who also buit a grist mill at the mouth of Pretty River in 1845, and conducted them for some time.
Andrew Maarackell and a Mr. Cook soon opened inns at the place, which was for some time the only spot showing signs of life along this shore of the bay.
In the industry of boat-building, Hector McAllister built the first boat at the Old Village, having obtained a patent for land in this locality in 1856.

COLLINGWOOD

The beginning of the town took place immediately upon the selection of the place as the terminus
of the new railway during or perhaps a short time before the winter of 1852-3, which was two years
before the completion of the line.

Joel Underwood was the nominal owner of 335 acres of the site of the town, nearly opposite the small islets or rocks known as the Hen and Chickens. And when the place was selected for the terminus, a small group of two or three men entered into partnership with Mr. Underwood, who supplied the land, to erect a steam saw-mill, which, with the board dwellings that soon arose around it, became the nucleus of the future towm.
Mr. Underwood's silent partners, who were Sheriff Smith, David Morrow, and the Rev. Lewis Warner, and who were then residents of the county town. (although Sheriff Smith shortly afterward took up his residence in Collingwood), had got some inkling through county offical sources that the Hen and Chickens terminus had been, or would be, selected. With the information which had thus become known to them, this company lost no time in making a start on the new town site. As Mr. Underwood's mill was built two years before the railway was actually completed, the boiler and machinery for it had to be hauled by team, and the hauling was done by John L. Waarnica of Tollendal. Mr. Underwood was a Yankee who had arrived here about the year 1847, and being of a loquacious turn, although without capital, floated the project successfully.
Prior to the choosing of the place as the railway terminus, the survey of the harbour, which was the first of many surveys if we except Bayfield's general survey, was made by Sandford Fleming (afterward Sir Sandford Fleming), who was an assistant engineer on the railway construction, and whose family relatives were well known early settlers at Craigleith. One of Mr. Fleming's assistants or helpers in this survey work was the late Alex. Smith of Vespra.
Mr. Underwood was the nominal owner of the land on which the town's first buildings were built, but Sheriff Smith had patented, on November 4, 1852, lot 43, (200 acres), and on November 22, 1851, lot 44, (135 acres), in the 9th concession of Nottawasaga, and afterward had them surveyed into building lots by Wm. Gibbard, the surveyor. Besides the steam saw mill, erectd at the outlet of what is still called Underwood's Creek, Mr. Underwood opened a store. This was on First Street, just south of the outlet of the Creek, while the sawmill was on the opposite side.
Joseph H. Lawrence was also one of the first settlers of the town, and became one of the first office-bearers in the Methodist Church on its establishment in 1853, and the Superintendent of the Sunday School on its formation in the following year. Mr. Lawrence was appointed Town Clerk in 1858, and held the office until his death in June, 1877.
it is stated that James Smith had the first store in Collingwood, and George Collins the first tavern.
As to the choice of a name for the town, the adjacent township of Collingwood, under the name of Alta, had been surveyed twenty years prior to the first survey of building lots in the town, and the name of Alta abandoned for that of Collingwood. But as to who actually appplied it to the new railway terminus of 1852-3, there is a slight difference in the published reports. One account of how the harbour and railway terminal point got its name at the instance of D.E. Buist is recorded by David Williams in his paper on the naming of the post offices in Simcoe County, alreay referred to in another chapter.
A few boats started singly to run regular trips with the opening of navigation in 1855, but the first regular line of steamboats, in connection with the railway, began in 1857.
Collingwood was incorporated as a town under a local Act of the Canadian Legislature passed June 10, 1857, for that purpose, as 20 Vict., chap. 96. In this way it did not pass through the "village" stage. By this Act, the town ceased to be part of Nottawasaga on January 1, 1858, and became a municipality by itself. Wm. B. Hamilton was chosen by the Council, as the law then required, the first Mayor of the town for 1858, and Jas. Telfer was elected the first reeve to represent the town in the County Council. John McWatt, who was chosen Mayor in the following year, 1859, was the first Mayor of the town chosen by the votes of the people, the law having been changed in this particular. Mr. McWatt was elected Mayor for succeeding years up to and including 1866, in which year he removed to the county town. He had formerly resided in Barrie until he was appointed collector of customs at Collingwood in 1856. It was during John McWatt's Mayoralty tht H.R.H., the Prince of Wales, now King Edward VII., visited Canada in 1860, and the Collingwood Town Council decided to invite the Prince to visit the place. Mayor McWatt was despatched to Quebec to obtain the promise of a visit from His Royal Highness, the Council granting $50 toward the expenses of the mayor's trip on this important errand, which resulted in complete success, and the subsequent visit of the Prince was a good "ad" for the town and county.
A Jubilee History of Collingwood (published on the occasion of Queen Victoria's Jubilee, 1887) was issued by the Collingwood Enterprise-Messenger, and contains the chief doings of the town council from the beginning in 1858 until 1876, with much other historic material. Some of the aldermanic disputes of those early days of the town furnish quaint reading for the people of to-day. The author's name is not given, but it is fair to suppose that important parts of that interesting town history were prepared by John Hogg, who was one of the pioneers of the town, having arrived in May, 1856, and established the Enterprise at the beginning of the following year. He was reeve of the town for fourteen years, beginning with 1863, and was Warden of the County in 1873, besides holding various other offices of trust at different periods of his life. His death occurred February 11, 1901.
Several bad fires have occurred in the town at different times, but the one on Sunday, September 25, 1881, was perhaps the most disastrous of them all, destroying as it did a large portion of Hurontario Street, (the main thoroughfare), in the business part of the town.
In June, 1882, the ratepayers of the town having approved of a By-law for the purpose, Collingwood issued debentures to the amount of $25,000 to assist in building and establishing a Dry Dock and Ship-building Yard in the town.
Fred T. Hodgson prepared for the Board of Trade an extended Report for the year 1893, giving much information about the town. This was issued in the form of a booklet in 1894, and contained a sketch of the history of the town and its vicinity.
The following history is verbatim from the book "The History of Simcoe County" by Andrew F. Hunter. First published in 1909 and reproduced in 1948 by the Simcoe County Historical Society.
SUNNIDALE

As it has been our custom to speak of some of the prominent pioneers in each township, it comes next in order to do the same for Sunnidale. In the "Reminiscences" of Samuel Thompson the early connection of that pioneer and his brothers with the township was told in Mr. Thompson's own words at considerable length. This man with his brothers Thomas and Isaac came from England in 1833 and took up land on the newly-opened highway through Sunnidale. After two years of the usual hardships there, they exchanged their Sunnidale lot for one in Nottawasaga, and removed thither. This was in the autumn of 1835; but their stay there was even shorter, as in the summer of 1837, Thompson left Nottawasaga to seek permanent employment in Toronto. He was a printer, and readily found work in a newspaper office, as the times were feverish owing to the approaching Rebellion.
In 1839 he acquired an interest in the Toronto Herald Newspaper, and continued in this profession until 1860, publishing in succession, during those years, the Herald, Patriot, News of the Week, Atlas and Daily Colonist newspapers, and finally the Quebec Advertiser. The story of his life and experiences is told by himself in a most interesting manner in "Reminiscences of a Canadian Pioneer" already mentioned. When the Toronto Public Library was established in 1883, Mr. Thompson's services to the country were remembered by appointing him to a position in connection with it; but he only survived a year or two. Alex. McNeill, in the list of Sunnidale pioneers, was the early innkeeper of the township, probably the first in it.

The Shaw family, of whom there were three brothers, John, Duncan and Donald,
settled in Sunnidale in the very earliest period of the township's settlement.

The last named, Donald Shaw, was related by marriage to Wellesley Richie,
the Government agent for locating the settlers upon their lands,
and two sons of Mr. Shaw became artists, one of whom, H.R. Shaw, resided in Rousseau, Ontario,
and the other, D.A. Shaw, resided for many years in the county town and produced work in both portrait and landscape painting.

Donald Shaw sat for about twenty years in the township and County Councils,
and in the earliest period of schools (1844, etc.), was the Township School Inspector.

Gilbert Macaulay, mentioned in the Pioneer List in the Appendix,
was the pioneer School Teacher of this township, and is referred to in the chapter on the early schools.

A little further onward, Alexander Gillespie settled about the same time and also became a useful pioneer.

He was the first postmaster of "Sunnidale" post office on its establishment June 4, 1840,
and for some years in he forties was the Township Clerk, as well as a Justice of the Peace,
having received the latter appointment in 1857.

Timothy Haggart, placed in the List on lot 9, was employed in the party of Wellesley Richey,
and soon afterward became a resident of the county town where he spent the remainder of his life.
Of Henry Seeler on lot 7, it is recorded that he was a native of County Kerry, Ireland. He was chosen District Councillor for Sunnidale for the year 1846, but grew tired of the office, and for the next three years the township was without any regular representative at the District Council board, there being nobody in the township with means enough to lose time to fill the office. George Sneath in his article on Sunnidale fifty years ago (printed in No. 1 of the Pioneer Papers of the Simcoe County Pioneer and Historical Society, page 13) relates how in the year of Mr. Seeler's District Councillorship he travelled on foot to Barrie. He died April 7, 1893, having nearly reached his hundredth year; his aged wife had died a few hours before him, and they were both buried in one grave, after residing 59 years together on the homestead.
In the pre-rebellion years Joseph Crowe located on the Sunnidale Road, at the place which bears his name to this day (Crowe's Corners). The district around Meaford was settled about the same time as Sunnidale; and as it was long prior to the railway days, a great deal of teaming was in requisition by the new settlers in that remote section of the country. Mr. Crowe's house was a convenient hostelry or stopping place for the night. The ice of Nottawasaga Bay was extensively used in winter time over which the supplies for these Meaford settlers could be transported. On one occasion, while on a teaming expedition, when the condition of the ice toward spring was critical, Mr. Crowe lost a valuable span of horses through the ice, and he himself narrowly escaped from drowning. Such were the ups and downs of pioneer life.
Were we to mention at some length the trials and hardships of the Sunnidale Road settlers, these sketches would become lengthy, as they were particularly severe. Sufficient has already been said of their troubles. The Appendix contains the roll of the names of those who had settled in the township prior to 1837.

Another notable pioneer who settled on the Sunnidale Road, four miles south of Sunnidale Corners,
and who arrived in the spring of 1837, was S. Fisher.

He was 76 years of age at the time, had been a London publisher, and was not well adapted for the hardships of bush life.

However, he persevered, but did not succeed well at his advanced age.

He died in 1848, and his grandson, George Rogers, succeeded him on the homestead.

Some of Mr. Fisher's experiences in this locality are described in Mr. Sneath's paper
already referred to, and also by W.L. Smith from a narrative of George Rogers,
published in the Weekly Sun (Toronto), of September 3, 1902.

A little way northward from Mr. Crowe, George Cathey had a pioneer sawmill near the Nottawasaga River. He was a Captain in the Militia and drilled the pioneers' sons, as Mr. Sneath has related in the interesting article referred to. In many ways Mr. Cathey was a useful man in that neighbourhood.

John Currie, mentioned on lot 3 in the list of the pioneers, was the Township Clerk in 1845, and belonged to the same family as others of that name in Nottawasaga.

Various early settlers along this Sunnidale Road were natives of the Island of Islay, Scotland, some of whom removed to Nottawasaga.

Nearly all the early settlers in Sunnidale lived along the Government Road.

Having now made a few references to the early settlers along this pioneer road called the "Sunnidale Road,"
some remarks ought to be made in regard to the arrangements for settling the pioneers upon their lands.

The chief agent appointed by Government to do this work was Wellesley Richie,
and in the "Memories" of the Rev. Thomas Williams
(published by the Simcoe County Pioneer and Historical Society, in 1909)
there is an account of the work as it was carried on, Mr. Williams
having been one of Mr. Richey's party in his undertaking.

The following instructions to Mr. Richey from the Government Department
will throw a little light upon the events of those far off days.

COMMISSIONER OF CROWN LANDS OFFICE,
YORK, 14th May, 1833.

Sir,- I am directed by the Lieutenat-Governor to acquaint you that he will authorize the employment
of fifty Indigent Emigrants in clearing land in the Township of Sunnidale,
but as the expenditure on account of Emigration last year, greatly exceeds the amount anticipated,
I am instructed by His Excellency to state that the work must be done by contract,
and that he cannot sanction any outlay unless his special authority for the same is first obtained.

As it is not possible, at present, to say what number of Emigrants will stand in need of being employed
at the expense of the Government, the numbers of acres to be cleared cannot be specified, but it is His Excellency's pleasure
that you should proceed to Sunnidale forthwith and select a number of the most eligible lots,
upon each of which it is proposed to clear ten acres of land by contract at the rate of £4 currency per acre
for clearing and fencing the same.

The Emigrants to be employed being such only as do not possess the means to purchase land
and who cannot obtain employment elsewhere; you are authorized by His Excellency to advance each settler,
when he has chopped fit for logging, one acre, the sum of one pound, ten shillings;
and if his circumstances are such, that he cannot subsist himself and family
while he is employed in chopping that acre, you may advance him one shilling
and three pence per day, for each day's work preformed,
and deduct the amount from the one pound ten shillings above mentioned.
His Excellency requires that weekly returns of the expenses incurred at your Agency
should be forwarded to me and you are authorized to draw on the Commissioner of Crown Lands for the amount.

In order to prepare for the employment and accommodation of the Emigrants expected to arrive this season I am directed by His Excellency to inform you that he will sanction the following outlay for that purpose. It is, however, to be borne in mind that in no instance is the contract to be entered into if the amount of the tender exceeds the sum specified.

1. To repair the log houses erected for the use of Emigrants at Kempenfeldt Bay (at Barrie).

2. To build an Emigrant shed in Sunnidale and a small log house for your own accommodation.

3. To build a bridge across the Nottawasaga River, cost not to exceed £20.

4. To build a boat 18 feet keel, cost not to exceed £7. 10s.

5. To open the road from where Walker's contract terminates, to the Nottawasaga River-about 1/4 of a mile.

His Excellency is very anxious to give the experiment of employing Indigent Emigrants in clearing land
a fair trial as he conceives it to be of the utmost importance to discover some mode of employing them
by which the amount expended will revert to the Government for the purpose of carrying on similar operations in future;
and if the improvements you are authorized to make on the different lots of land can be sold for what they cost the Government,
that object will be obtained.

I am, Sir,
Your Most Obedient Servant,
(Sgd.) Anthony B. Hawke

Mr. Wellesley Richie.

The vicinity of New Lowell was not improved unti 1853, when Peter Paton, Neil and Martin Harkin,
and others, began to open its forests. Peter Paton became thr first postmaster of New Lowell in 1855.

His son, Robert Paton, was M.P.P. for Center Simcoe, 1890-8.

At Sunnidale station, which was at first called Silver-shoe, and Strongville since 1904, John Ross settled in 1854
and became its first postmaster in 1856.

In June, 1858, by a By-law of the County COuncil, Sunnidale was detached from Vespra,
with which it had been grouped for municipal purposes, and authorized to elect a Township Council after January 1, 1860.

Whether intentional or not, the By-law was framed so as not to come into effect for more than a year and a half after it was passed. Misunderstanding the date, the Sunnidale ratepayers, at the beginning of 1859, elected a Township Council, with John Ross as reeve,
but the County Council held it to be illegal, wand would not allow Mr. Ross to take a seat at the County Council board.

As the people of Sunnidale had elected their Township Council, and did not wish to be retarded for a whole year
in becoming a separate corporation, they applied early in 1859 to the Canadian Parliament for an Act
to legalize their proceedings, but the Bill did not pass in the Legislature.

In the serious bush fires which devastated portions of this County during August and September, 1881,
several settlers in Sunnidale, especially in the northerly parts of the township,
sustained heavy losses by the destruction of their buildings and other property.

 

INNISFIL, Ontario


SETTLER Con. Lot

ALJOE, Robert 6 17 (W1/2)
ALLAN, Gavin 3 16
ARMSTRONG, Thomas 6 3
ARTHUR, John 8 13 (N1/2)
BATTERS, Thomas 4 2
BOYS, Richard 5 14
BOOTH, Wm. 10 14 (S1/2)
BREEND, George 10 17
CALDER, Thomas 12 12
CLEMENT, Albert 4 12 (S1/2)
CLEMENT, Lewis, J. 1 16 (N1/2)
CLIMIE, John 2 21
CLIMIE, William 2 21
CLIMIE, John, Jr. 2 17 (S1/2)
COLEMAN, John 2 2
Coleman, William 2 2
COLEMAN, Richard 2 2
COSGROVE, George 8 22
CRIPPS, John 4 20
CROSS, Wm. 6 20
CUMMINS, James 2 1
DEACON, William 8 2
DENURE, James 5 19
DOAG, Thomas 7 19 (N1/2)
DUNCAN, Thomas 6 19 (S1/2)
DUNCAN, Wm. 6 18 (N1/2)
EASTON, Thomas 9 3 (Pt.)
FERRIER, Andrew 3 1
FIELDS, William 6 21
FIFE, Joseph 7 2
FISHER, William 6 11 (N1/2)
FITTEN, Robert 12 26
FLEMING, James 7 2
GARTLEY, Peter 6 21
GIBBONS, David 11 11
GIBSON, Wm. 11 5
GIMBY, John 4 15
GOWERLY, Wm. 10 17
GREEN, Jacob 9 3
GROESBECK, Cornelius 6 18
GROSE, Henry 4 22
HAMILTON, ...... 7 6
HAMMOND, John 13 24
HEWSON, Francis 14 30
HAYTER, Moses 13 25
HINDLE, James 3 6 (N1/2)
HUNT, Joseph 12 25
HUNT, George 8 2 (S1/2)
JACK, William 5 22
JACK, John 6 22 (S1/2)
JACK, James 3 21
JEFFERSON, Robert 10 18
JOHNSON, J. 6 9
JOHNSON, John 8 1 (S1/2)
KELDER, Thomas (See also Calder) 12 12
KETTLE, Robert 1 16
KILGORE, Samuel 5 1
LAIRD, Robert 2 15
LAWRIE, John 2 17
LAWRIE, Wm. 2 17
LAWRENCE, Wm. 9 15 (N1/2)
LENNOX, Wm. 3 10 (Pt. 9)
LENNOX, John 3 8
LESSLIE, Wm. -- (near Nantyr)
MAIN, William 2 16
MANEER, Samuel 8 15 (N1/2)
MYERS, David 10 15
McCONKEY, James 4 15
McCONKEY, William 5 15
McCONKEY, John 3 16
McCONKEY, Robert 7 21
McCONKEY, Thomas 8 16
McCONKEY, John 8 22 (S1/2)
McCORMACK, James 6 8 (N1/2)
McCULLOUGH, Wm. 6 17 (N1/2)
McGINNIS, James 4 17
McGRUTHER, George 4 17
McKAY, Robert 2 16
McKINLASS, Samuel 2 6 (Pt.)
McLEAN, Robert 3 17 (S1/2)
McLEAN, James 7 19 (S1/2)
McLEAN, Alex 5 20 (S1/2)
ORCHARD, Joseph 11 14 (S1/2)
Orser, Gilbert, Jr. 8 26 (N1/2)
PATTERSON, John 5 14
PATTERSON, Benjamin 8 18
PATTERSON, Samuel 7 20
PERRY, George 1 1
PERRY, John, Jr. 2 1 (S1/2)
PERRY, John, Sr. 1 1
PERRY, Thomas 2 1 (N1/2)
PICKEN, Robert 1 3
PRATT, John, Jr. 7 15 (S1/2)
PRATT, John 11 16
RAY, Thomas 5 3
REID, James 4 19 (N1/2)
RENNIE, James 2 4 (N1/2)
RICHEY, John 4 6
REIVE, Thomas 5 14
ROBINS, James 9 15
ROBINSON, Robert 12 26
ROGERSON, James 2 19
ROGERS, Patrick 11 16
ROSS, Alexander 5 11
ROSS, Benjamin 8 15
SCOTT, Mitchell 5 11
SHAW, John 8 19
SHAW, Robert 8 20
SHAW, Joseph 8 20
SHILSON, James -- (Tollendal)
SIBBALD, John S. 14 13 (N Pt.)
SIMMONS, James 2 1
SMITH, Thomas 11 18
SOMERSET, John 9 5
SOULES, James 13 26
SOULES, David 13 26
SUTHERLAND, John 1 4
THOMPSON, John Jr. 9 16
THOMPSON, John, Sr. 9 16
TODD, Davidson 2 20
TODD, Ebenezer 2 19
TODD, Charles 3 21
TODD, Hugh 5 12
WALKER, John 7 1
WALLACE, Robert 5 22 (S1/2)
WARNICA, GEORGE F. 12 15
WARNICA, John 12 14
WARNICA, George F.H. 12 13
WARNICA, Joseph 7 15 (N1/2)
WARNICA, William 12 12
WILSON, James 10 18 (N1/2)
WILSON, Charles 2 15
WICE, Henry 10 13 (N1/2)
WICE, Samuel 12 13
WOOD, Nathaniel 12 16
WOOD, Jonas 12 16
WRAY, Thomas 5 3
WRIGHT, Samuel 6 3
The following history is verbatim from the book "The History of Simcoe County" by Andrew F. Hunter. First published in 1909 and reproduced in 1948 by the Simcoe County Historical Society.
INNISFIL

CHERRY CREEK AND ITS NEIGHBORHOOD
Before 1830 a few familes had taken up farms, and were already making their first clearings. To notice the more conspicuous, at least, of these settlers, and to review the most notable incidents of their first years in the forest, the plan proposed is to begin at the southern extremity of the township and proceed northward along the Penetanguishene Road, making short digressions here and there into the various intersecting concessions, wherever a particular individual or event of notoriety should be recalled.
Lewis J. Clement, a "Dutch Canadian," arrived upon N. half 16, con. 1, from Niagara, in June, 1829, with his wife, one child, a hired man, and a yoke of oxen. He built a temporary brush tent, which was by them called "home," for a brief period, until a more substantial and commodious dwelling place couold be erected. Clement's house, built by the carpenter, James Soules, was the first frame house in Innisfil, and is still standing. In subsequent years. Mr. Clement became a magistrate. He died April 9th, 1873, in his 74th year. A large family then survived him, of whom the best known, perhaps, were Dr. Lewis Clement, of Bradford, and Stephen Clement, who was for a time deputy-sheriff of this county, under Sheriff Smith, and who afterwards became sheriff of Shoal Lake District, at Birtle, in Manitoba.
Robert McLean, an Irish soldier settled upon lot 17, con. 2, in May, 1829, a month earlier than Clement. Dugald McLean, a son of this pioneer, and John Lawrie, jr., were the sawyers of the settlement, and they were drowned about 1840 off De Grassi Point. Both McLean and wife died from an attack during an epidemic of cholera, which carried off numerous settlers in that section in September, 1849.
Another notable pioneer, though not one of the earliest, was Charles Willson, (S. half 15, con. 2), who arrived and settled in 1833. In company with the Maconchy brothers, of lot 15, con. 5, he came from the North of Ireland, (Tyrone or Derry), and to a member of that family he became married. He was one of the three Wardens of Innisfil for the year 1841, before a Township Council was organized, and filled other important positions, at different times. But in 1850 he removed to Tecumseth.
On a corner of his farm, Robert Laird, who had settled at an early date, opened a store about 1835 -- the first store in Innisfil. This was the nucleus of Cherry Creek.
James Rogerson, (N. half 19, con. 2), a native of Scotland, arrived in 1833. Of his family, which was large, several members of it became residents of this neighborhood.
Alfred Willson, the son of a U.E. Loyalist, came from Holland Landing after the Rebellion and took up the north half, lot 16, con. 2, at Cherry Creek. He was the representative of Innisfil at the meetings of the Simcoe District Council from 1843 until 1849, both years inclusive. He also contested this county in December, 1851, with the Hon. W.B. Robinson, but was not successful. Some time later he moved to Bell Ewart, where he lived until his death, in 1888, at the aage of 77 years.
Hiram Willson, his brother, with two sons, Lambert and Wellington, came from Sharon, in York County, later, and purchased S. half, lot 16, con. 3, near Cherry Creek, also becoming settlers of long standing.
THE "DALHOUSIE" SETTLERS
Innisfil, like West Gwillimbury, had its "Scotch Settlement," but the group of settlers which it comprised came from another quarter, and at a later date -- the autumn of 1832. We turn off the main Road now to notice this group of interesting pioneers. Previous to that year they had settled in the Township of Dalhousie, Lanark County, but finding its rocky surface anything but a congenial dwelling place, and seeing no prospects of making a permanent home there, they deserted in a body and settled in the south-east of Innisfil.
Their native place was Glasgow and its vicinity, where some of them had belonged to the recalcitrant brotherhood of Glasgow weavers, so notorious in British history. They had left Scotland at the time of the intense public excitement preceding the passing of the Reform Bill. Most of them had taken part in the agitation; and, like the Pilgrim Fathers of an earlier time, they preferred to live beyond the sea rather than endure the grievances of their native land. Most of them, too, were platform orators, and enthusiastic Reformers, which their descendants are to this day. The individuals who, with their families, composed this interesting group of settlers were: -- John Lawrie, N. half 17, con. 2, Rev. John Climie, S. half 17, con. 2, John Todd, S. half 19, con. 2, Hugh Todd, N. half 12, con. 5, Gavin Allan, 15, con. 5, Robert Wallace, S. half 22, con. 5, William Duncan, S. half 18, con. 6, William Cross, 20, con. 6, James Jack, N. half 21, con. 5.
They settled closely together; and this circumstance, together with the fact tha a number of their descendants remained at the old homesteads and in the same neighborhood, gave the south-east part of Innisfil the Scotch-Presbyterian character which it possessed.
At the Rebellion of 1837 some of these settlers did not desire to go to the front and assist in the quelling the uprising, as they naturally sympathised to some extent with the principles advocated by William Lyon Mackenzie and his party. As the "Dalhousie" settlers were not outspoken in their opinions on the matter, they were suspected of having non-pacific intentions. One of them possessed an old rusty musket, which was promptly taken from him lest he should aid the rebels' cause, and he was forced by loyalists to go to the frontier. This circumstance attached the name of "Rebels in Disguise" to the "Dalhousie" people and their descendants for some years after the Rebellion. Another report was circulated that they had been banished from Glasgow to Dalhousie, and that they had fled from their place of banishment to Innisfil. This report was chiefly made to do duty at municipal elections, when any of the "Dalhousie" settlers were candidates.
John Lawrie, the first on the list given above, was a prominent person in his neighborhood, and a platform speaker of ability. His two sons, John and William, together with Dugald Mclean, were the three sawyers of the settlement, for which they manufactured almost all the lumber for the district with a whipsaw in one of the old-time saw-pits. About the year 1840, John Lawrie, jr., and Mclean obtained a canoe near De Grassi Point one Sunday afternoon and set out to cross the lake to Roache's Point on the opposite shore. They were never heard of afterwards, and it was supposed that they had been drowned off De Grassi Point.
The other son, William Lawrie, probably became better known at one day than any other member of the group. A few years after his arrival in Innisfil he married a daughter of Rev. John Climie, and filled a variety of callings. At one time he preached occasionally; at another he occupied the position of chief constable of this county, after having served a term in Bradford as Bailiff of the Division Court, and another in Barrie in the office of Sheriff Smith. At other times he was bailiff, auctioneer, etc., and travelled throughout this county to a considerable extent in these capacities; few men in his day knew it better than he. One of his most notable exploits was the arrest, in 1858, of Robert Coulter, the outlaw, charged with murder at Holland Landing. On another occasion he was in company with John Rose, of Bradford, when they were beset by robbers, near the place, but the two succeeded in warding off the attack. Subsequently he removed to Wroxeter, Huron County, where he carried on a conveyancing business for some years, and reached an advanced age.
Rev. John Climie, the second individual on the foregoing list, had been a weaver in a village seven miles from Glasgow. A brother of his started the famous Clark spool firm of Glasgow, the name of the firm continuing for several years to be Climie & Clark. His family consisted of four sons and some daughters, who came with him from Scotland. One of the sons died in Innisfil soon after their arrival. Rev. John Clime, jr., of this family, was a Congregationalist minister, ans was stationed from 1840 onward for sometime at Bowmore (now Duntroon), in Nottawasaga, and subsequently at Darlington, 1851; Bowmanville, 1856, and Belleville, 1861. It appears to have been difficult for him to abstain from taking part in politics. His son, Mr. W.R. Climie, was secretary of the Ontario Press Association, and editor and proprietor of the Bowmanville Sun until his death in 1894. William Climie, another son of the pioneer, lived on the homestead, on the second concession line. The two remaining brothers, George and Andrew, went to Perth County, and have left there a numerous line of descendants.
OTHER SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH-EAST
At Churchill Galvin Allan, one of the "Dalhousie" settlers, took up lot 16, con. 3 (N. half), in 1832, and lived there for about eight years, when he moved a mile further north, his sons have been identified with this neighborhood from the beginning of the settlement.
On the opposite corner of the cross roads, (on S. half, lot 15, con. 4), John Gimby, a native of England, settled with his family in 1833. Three children of this family died during the local outbreak of cholera in the autumn of 1849.
This family removed to the Township of Derby, near Owen Sound, where John and Joseph hewed out new homes for themselves in he unbroken forest. These two men in their neighborhood became well known, the latter of whom died on Nov. 21st, 1889, at the agoe of 63, leaving a large family. In the early years of its existence Churchill was known as "Gimby's Corners," and subsequently as "Bulley's Acre," from the rough characters who often congregated there and held a "Merry Dublin."
One of the best known citizens of Churchill for many years was Henry Sloan. By trade he was a waggonmaker, and pursued his calling at this place. He was a prominent Orangeman, one of his ancestors having come with William of Orange from Holland, and settled in Ireland. He was second deputy-reeve of Innisfil for two years (1869-70).
In the neighborhood of Lefroy, Henry Grose, who had arrived in the county in 1832, after some time spent in West Gwillimbury, settled on S. half, lot 21 con. 4, Innisfil, and had a sawmill there at an early date. He was a native of England, became a justice of the peace, and was at one time a member of the Township Coucil. His death occurred in 1888.
The village of Lefroy was named after Gen. Sir John Henry Lefroy, who, from 1844 until 1853, was in charage of the Magnetic Observatory in Toronto. Gen. Lefroy's first wife was a daughter of Chief Justice Sir John Beverley Robinson.
Johnn Cripps, who arrived upon S. half 20, con. 4, about the same time as the other pioneers of this neighborhood, at first performed all his farmwork with one ox; then, after fortune had smiled more graciously upon him, with a horse and an ox yoked together -- which presented a spectacle rather more amusing than convenient. Some years later he sold his farm, and shortly afterwards a false report was circulated by some one that gold had been found upon the farm which he had just left, causing him sorely to regret the sale of his possession.
While in this neighborhood, it may be proper to say a few words upon Bell Ewart -- once the commercial metropolis of this Lake Simcoe region. For a long time, immediately after the opening of the Northern Railway in 1853, it was the busiest distributing point in the north; for there the taffic of all Lake Simcoe centred. It was the headquarters of the boats, and the shipping, of the lake. In 1852, Sage & Grant, two capitalists from the United States, built a large sawmill there -- the largest in these parts at the time. While good timber was plentiful around the lake, a large business was carried on; but after a few years the timber limits became partially exhausted, the large mill was accidentally burned down, and Bell Ewart dwindled in size.
With regard to the orthography of the word Bell Ewart, a curious circunstance arises. The place was named after the late Mr. Bell Ewart; and the word is so spelled in all records of the post office department. But for some reason or other the most frequent rendering was Belle Ewart; and a majority of the older books and records persisted in using the final "e."
It is recorded, though with what degree of correctness we have been unable to learn, that a pioneer named Jacob Gill pitched his habitation, in 1821, on lot 23, con. 2, near DeGrassi Point, "just in from the lake shore, where for a number of years he was left the sole disturber of the woodland peace."
With Bell Ewart the list of deserted villages is not exhausted, for about three miles to the north of that place, beyond Cedar Point, on the shore of a small bay, was once the village of Lakeland. Here was a sawmill and two or three dozen houses, but the place lost its human habitations.
Returning now to the Penetanguishene Road, from which we have deviated, and still advancing on our way northward, the fifth concession is next reached, where a few settlers arrived quite early. The Maconchy brothers settled upon lot 15, con. 5, in 1833, having come from the North of Ireland with Charles Willson, as already stated. The career of the late Thomas Maconchy was sketched in our chapter on Bradford, whither his family went from this farm about 1840.
In 1832 came John Patterson and located upon lot 14, con. 5. Patterson was accompanied by Thomas Reive, who returned to Scotland, coming again to Canada in 1834, with the late Richard Boyes, of Churchill. The latter in that year became a settler on the same farm with Patterson, but Reive did not permanently settle on it until 1846, remaining there until his death on October 13th, 1889.
Other early settlers of the same neighborhood are included in the following list: -- Mitchell Scott, (1833), N. half 11, con. 5, Alex. Ross, (1835), S. half 11, con. 5, William Fisher, (1835), 11, con. 6, J. Johnson, (1835), S. half 9, con. 6, James Reid, (1830), S. half 19, con. 5, Alex. McLean, (1832), S. half 20, con. 5, Peter Gartley, (1833), S. half 21, con. 5, John Pratt, (1835), S. half 15, con. 7, W. McCullough, (1831), N. half 17, con. 6, James McLean, (1832), S. half 19, con. 7.
Where the eighth concession crosses the Penetanguishene Road, a group of well-known settlers located at an early period. "Squire" McConkey settled upon lot 16, con. 8, in the early part of 1829. His family was the first to settle upon the Main Road here, after it was opened. His son, Thomas D. McConkey, was a merchant in Barrie from 1843, onnward, M.P. for North Simcoe, and finally Sheriff of Simcoe.
"Squire" Benjamin Ross also arrived upon S. half 15, con. 8, in the autumn of 1835. For about thirty years he was clerk and treasurer of Innisfill Township, and the Innisfil post office of which he was postmaster during the same time, was the first in the township, and the only one for several years until the opening of the railway. He died at an advanced age in 1875, leaving a number of sons and daughters, one of whom being ex-Mayor C.H. Ross, of Barrie.
Samuel Maneer, a native of England, located upon N. half 15, con. 8, with his family in the autumn of 1831. A large number of descendants of his family are now residing in different parts of the province. A few other settlers took up lands near him about the same time, including James Robins and John Thompson.
James Wilson, William McCullough and William Booth were soldiers of Irish birth, who in 1831 were disbanded from Niagara or Toronto and did not return to their native country but took up lands in this township. With them was Joseph Orchard, a native of England, who also as a veteran soldier obtained land and turned his attention to farming in Innisfil. In the fall of each year when the turnip crop was ready to harvest, Mr. Orchard (and Mr. Wilson likewise) used his sword for "topping" the turnips, i.e., cutting the leaves off them, thus coming as near as possible to a fulfilment of Isaiah's prophecy that the sword shall be turned into a plough share, and the spear into a pruning hook. It was the writer's privilege once to find another sword in this county used as a stove-lid lifter.
COOKSTOWN AND THE SOUTHWEST
While in the southeast of Innisfil there was a distinctly Scotch immigration, in the west and southwest parts of the township there was a large influx of Irish settlers from Ulster. The two settlements were separated from each other by the "Big Swamp," which almost amounted to isolation, and on this account they have ever since largely retained the distinctive social features impressed upon them by the first settlers. These Irish settlers in the southwest arrived by way of Perry's Corners, (Cookstown), to the south of which, at a short distance, was the only road across the "Big Swamp," which extended far up into Innisfil.
In the autumn of 1824, John Perry located upon the corner lot of Innisfil. This man, it appears, and his sons, were inclined to follow Nimrod's pursuits, and in their early hunting expeditions wouold wander over the adjoining townships, which were then but thinly populated, calling at the settlers' houses. For several of its first years Cookstown was known as "Perry's Corners." Subsequently, one Dixon kept a tavern there, and it was then called "Dixon's Corners," which name in turn was changed, in 1847, to "Cookstown."
John Sutherland, a native of Sutherlandshire, Scotland, was an early settler in the first concession. He died May 8, 1888, aged 82 years.
Amongst other settlers who came at an later date to Cookstown was Thomas R. Ferguson, formerly M.P. for South Simcoe, who was also of Irish birth. He came to this country when quite young, and subsequently engaged in mercantile business at Cookstown for a number of years, with success. He first became reeve and representative of Innisfil in the County Council in 1852, and held the position for many years, during seven of which he was Warden of the County. In 1857 he was first elected member of Parliament for South Simcoe, and remained its representative till 1873.
Thomas Bathers, with his family, located upon the first concession, also, at an early date, and like the Perrys, their neighbors, were given to Nimrod's pastime
Henry Hindle, an emigrant from England, arrived upon N. half 7, con. 3, in "33 or '34. He was the first white man to cross the "Big Swamp" on the fourth concession line of Innisfil. Upon the occasion in question he was on his way with a grist to Holland Landing, with his oxen and a sleigh. Everything went well, until, on his way home he reached the swamp, where he was attacked by a pack of wolves. To save himself and oxen from being devoured, he was obliged to chain his oxen to a tree, and run around them all night, brandishing his axe and shouting all the time to keep the wolves at bay. When dayight came the wolves fled, leaving the sturdy pioneer to pursue the remainder of his journey unharmed.
In the same neighborhood, which has usually been known as "Hindle's Settlement," there arrived about the same time two brothers from the Borth of Ireland -- John and William Lennox. The former located upon N. half 8, con. 3, and the latter upon S. half 9, con. 4. Both have left numerous descendants. Haughton Lennox, a grandson of John, was first elected M.P. for South Simcoe, in 1900, and is the present member.
Thomas W. Lennox, who served as first deputy-reeve of Essa in 1886 and for several years afterward, is a son of William.
Amongst other early settlers from the North of Ireland, who took up lots near these men, may be mentioned: - John Scroggie, Matthew Gray, John Sharp, James McCormack, Stewart Wright, and others, all of whom came by way of Perry's Corners, and have left descendants in the neighborhood in prosperous positions.
THE VICINITY OF BIG BAY POINT
The first person to disturb the woodland peace in Innisfil was Mr. Francis Hewson, of Big Bay Point. This man came to Canada from Ireland in 1817, leaving his family in their native country until he should prepare a home for them in the forest. At Big Bay Point he purchased 500 acres of land, and in 1820 the family arrived there becoming the pioneers of the township. Shortly after their settlement, he was appointed a magistrate, and in this capacity for some years he tied all the matrimonial knots of the district. He was the first magistrate in the county, and performed the first marriage ceremony. The children of this familw were: -- Fannie, Francis, William, and Anna. Francis removed at an early date to Duntroon, in Nottawasaga, and became, in 1850, the first treasurer in that township. William became a millwright and built saw and grist mills in 1852 at Painswick on the large stream thenceforth known as Hewson's Creek. Anna, the youngest, was the first white child born in Innisfil; and became Mrs. Davis, of Galesburgh, Illinois.
Owing to the lonely situation beside the Lake Simcoe waterway, over which passed the entire traffic between the frontier and the upper lakes, the house of the Hewson family sheltered many early travellers, fatigued by the toil of the journey. Amongst them were Sir John Franklin and his party, who passed through in 1825. After a residence of a few years at Big Bay Point, the family removed away, their farm became deserted, their fields were again overgrown with woodland, and nature once more reigned supreme. The forest of second growth trees which then appeared upon the scene of their first experiences, makes the place so attractive at the present day for those desiring to find retirement in the heated months of midsummer. In early years, Big Bay Point was called Hewson's Point from the connection of this family with the place. In 1834, Mr. Hewson left the Point, and with his family became a resident of Barrie.
Attention has frequently been called in these sketches to the fact that the pioneers mostly settled in groups, according to nationality. Several instances of this feature have already been found; and we now come upon another group of early settlers who had been pioneers in Markhan Township in the vicinity of Thornhill, but who re-settled in the northern part of Innisfil, just in from the shore of Kempenfeldt Bay. One of this Markham group, and the second man to arrive for permanent settlement in the township, was David Soules, who, with his brother, James, in 1823, purchased a block of land west of the Hewson Tract. The Soules brothers were of Nova Scotian descent, and were members of a family of twelve residing at Thornhill.
During the war of 1812-15 David had taken an active part in its stirring events, although he was then but young. He was at Little York when it was taken by the Americans, in April, 1813; he went with Major McDouall's party for the relief of Michilimackinac, in March, 1814, and assisted them in building fourty batteaux on the Nottawasaga River; he was present when the two American frigates were captured with their crews of sixty men; and he assisted in taking them as prioners to Kingston. He was also one of those who opened the military road from Kempenfeldt to Penetanguishene, towards the close of the war. While thus on duty during war time in our county, he formed a high opinion of its superior advantages for settlement; and, as we have seen, afterwards carried his ideas into effect by locating at Big Bay Point, almost before any others had disturbed the Simcoe forests. He settled there in preference to any other place, thinking that if a town should rise in his part of the country, it would be there. Unexpected changes are wrought by time; and the farm which he selected is now far from the beaten paths of commerce.
Soules, upon his arrival, built a small log house about three miles west of the Point, on a portion of his land (lot 26, con. 14), quite near the shore of Kempenfeldt Bay. This log cabin was replaced in 1838 by a frame one constructed of boards cut with an old-time whipsaw. At this place he continued to live for 52 years until his death in 1875, passing through all the experiences of Canadian forest life. With his ox team he assisted Sir John Franklin and his party across the Nine-Mile portage in 1825; and he often earned, in those early years, a few dollars, by teaming over the portage. His wife, Miss Youmans, of Scarboro Township, shared with him the trials of backwoods life through all these years; and their only child, Samuel Lount Soules, was born in 1823. Soules was a brother-in-law of the ill-fated Samuel Lount, and the part which he took in the Rebellion was one of importance and interest.
James, his brother and companion and those years, brought his wife from Thonhill in 1822. He was frozen to death near Hammond's Point, in the fall of 1833. His house was the second frame house in Innisfil.
The next settler, and also one of the Markham group, was George F.H. Warnica, a Dane, who had seen many parts of the world before settling in the U.S. Leaving New York State about 1815, he temporarily resided in Markham, but permanently settled in Innisfil, and became the first settler at Painswick, (N. half lot 13, con. 12), where he and is family arrived in February, 1825. No other settlers lived nearer than David Soules, at Big Bay Point, at distance of six miles; and many were the hardships which they experienced in reaching their forest home over the ice at Kempenfeldt Bay and through the deep snow to their land. Mr. Warnica died in 1847, at the advanced age of 83. His family consisted of four sons: John, George, Joseph and William, who have left a number of descendants.
John, the eldest, was the first assessor of Innisfil, his duties in this capacity having been required as early as the thirties; and on different occasions during the forties he also performed the duties of that office. In 1850 he moved to Wisconsin, where he died in 1882. George, the second son, became the first settler of lot 15, con. 12. It is said at one day he was champion axeman of the township, and the large size of this man, and the strength of his muscle, would seem to indicate the truth of the statement. As in the days of Asaph, "a man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees," so here in the pioneer days of Innisfil, it was of some moment to be a good axeman. He was the first representative, or district councillor, of Innisfil at the meetings of the Home District Council, at Toronto, in 1842, and was a member of the first councils of Innisfil in 1850-1-2, besides being connected with municipal affairs in various other ways. He was also a justice of the peace. His death occurred in 1886. Joseph and William were constables for the district, and as such attended some of the earliest courts at the county town. They were large, fearless and resolute men, not easily overcome in their efforts to kep the peace. Joseph was one of the constables. Joseph was one of the constable at the famous Steele-Robinson election at Barie in 1841. He was a carpenter by trade, and after living some years in Barrie, moved to Michigan, and perished at the close of the Civil War in the U.S., in which he had taken some part. William, the youngest son, was as intrepid as the others. One night, early in the thirties, while living at home at Painswick, the dog made a great uproar, from which William knew that something was wrong. He rose from bed, seized an axe, and without dressing marched forth into the darkness. The dog led him to where their cow was standing over her newly-born calf, keeping at bay a large and famished wolf which was trying to seize it. There was just light enough to see what was taking place. With one blow across the back from the axe he crippled the wolf so that it could not travel, and with another blow on the head he finished its career. The wolf was large, but very gaunt and famished, as wolves often were in the springtime, and this made it so bold. He became the settler of N. half lot 20, con. 10, where he resided till his death in 1876.
Amongst others who came from Markham and took up land in northern Innisfil were Nathaniel and Jonas Wood, two brothers, who settled upon lot 16, con. 13, in 1833, the former on the north half. The baptism of his child by Rev. Father Mayerhoffer, a minister of the Church of England, from Markham, who occasionally came in those early years to visit his former parishioners, was the first event of its kind in the settlement. The services on that occasion, and indeed on many other occasions, in those early years, were conducted in the loft of Warnica's Inn at Painswick, which appears to have been the only available place of meeting in the neighborhood for adherents of all denominations, unti as late as the Rebellion of '37.
Another of this Markham group was Samuel Wice, who came to Innisfil (lot 13, con. 12), in 1833. His brother, Henry Wice (N. half 13, con. 10), was also among the earliest arrivals. It was customary in olden times to have a very large fireplace and chimney in one end of the log cabin; but Henry Wice appears to have outstripped everyone else in that line by having the fireplace and chimney so large as to occupy the whole end of his house. In other words, the chimney was the fundamental feature against which he built his log caabin.
Following closely after these Markham pioneers came a small group of colonists from England, and located in a cluster near Big Bay Point: -- John Hammond, lot 24, con. 13, Moses Hayter, lot 25, con. 13, Joseph Hunt, lot 25, con. 12, Robert Fitten, lot 26, con. 12, John Pratt, lot 16, con. 11.
Hammond was a London carter, who had gathered considerable means, which he invested in Canadian woodland on the shores of Kempenfeldt Bay. He did not enjoy his property for many years, but died in 1840.
Moses Hayter constructed the first sawmill of the neighborhood, at the lake shore on his farm. He afterwards became the first jailer of this county. A sketch of his career appeared in the Pioneer Papers, (No. 1), of the County Historical Society.
To these families of English colonists may also be added the names of Webb and Cullen, the latter of whom, Samuel Cullen, was one of the earliest residents of Vespra, but soon removed to Big Bay Point. Another early resident of the same neighborhood was Robert Robinson, )N. half 27, con. 12). It is related of him that on one occasion, when the family ran out of breaed and were pinched for food, he threshed some wheat over a barrel, winnowed it in the wind, and carried the grist all the way to the nearest mill, at Holland Landing, on his back, and home again. Mr. Robinson was a zealous Orangeman, and the first Orange Hall in the township was built on the corner of his farm. The last years of his life were spent in retirement at Craigvale, where he died in 1865.
EARLY TOLLENDAL AND ITS CITIZENS
Tollendal had its origin with the erection of a sawmill -- the first in Innisfil Township-- in '29 or '30, by George McMullen. With him was associated in this work George Emes, a man of some experience in mill construction, who came from Roache's Point, in North Gwillimbury, for the purpose of building it. The mill was soon purchased by Captain Robert O'Brien afterward Admiral O'Brien, cousin of Lieut.-Col. E.G. O'Brien, of Shanty Bay, who in turn disposed of it to Mr. Edmund S. Lally. The latter gentleman became, therefore, one of the first residents of Tollendal.
Mr. Lally had come to Canada in 1835, with letters of introduction to Sir John Colborne, the Lieut.-Governor, and had joined his brother, Meyrick Lally, at Shanty Bay, who had preceded him by three or four years. Shortly afterward he purchased from Captain O'Brien the mill property at Tollendal, and resided there until 1845. Being unaccustomed to the conditions of life in a new country, he, at times, in common with all pioneers, had difficulty in providing for his family; but with time all these difficulties were overcome. He was appointed County Treasurer in 1845, and thereupon moved to Barrie.
His sawmill at Tollendal was then leased and carried on by Alex. Sibbald. A grist mill had been erected in 1835 beside the sawmill by three men who had united their efforts for that purpose. The water power at this place was good, and its proximity to Kempenfeldt Bay rendered it easily accessible by water to a large number of settlers. This was the first grist mill in the township, the settlers up to that time having been obliged to carry their grists to the Red Mills at Holland Landing. This early grist mill at Tollendal was rented and operated by Jas. Priest, who was a resident of the place for a number of years.
It was from Mr. Lally that Tollendal received its musical name.
At an early date when the County of Simcoe was about to be severed from the Home District, Tollendal partook in the strife to become the county town, it being at that time as large a place as Barrie. An agitation had been previously started to make Kempenfeldt the county seat; thereupon Tollendal also became a competitor for the honor. Mr. Lally decided that the capital should be located at the head of the bay, which was about midway betwen the two rival villages. And thus was determined the fate of all three places; Kempenfeldt and Tollendal dwindled, while Barrie, at the head of the bay, sprang into sudden importance and life. Some time after, Mr. Lally moved to Barrie. He held conjointly with the County Treasurership, the agency of the Bank of Upper Canada. Upon the failure of that bank, in 1866, he was instrumental in establishing a branch of the Bank of Commerce at Barrie, of which he was manager for a long time. Mr. Lally retired from banking, and died at Barrie, June 17th, 1889, at the age of 83. During his life he was commissioned Lieut.-Col. of the Simcoe Battalion.
Amongst the early figures of Tollendal was John Chantler, who was born in England in 1816, and was at first a member of the Society of Friends. He emigrated in 1832 and settled in Newmarket, but removed to Tollendal in 1839. For a time he operated the grist mills at the latter place; and with him resided his sister, Elizabeth, who was united in marriage on Jan. 10th, 1842, to Rev. George McDougall, the Methodist missionary to the Indians of the North-west, sketches of whose life have appeared from the pens of Rev. Dr. John McLean, and his son, Rev. Dr. John McDougall. Shortly after her marriage, and at the time when Barrie was experiencing a boom consequent upon its selection as the county town, John Chantler removed thither and became one of its first merchants. At a later time he left Barrie, and was for many years a resident of Stroud.
Other early residents of Tollendal were the Sibbalds. John came with his wife and family of small children to Canada in 1832. They arrived at Kempenfeldt, in November, when the weather was to rough fpr the steamer "Colborne" to land at Tollendal, so they had to cross the bay in a small boat to their destination after the storm had abated. They came from Edinburgh, although Mr. Sibbald was a native of Roxburgh, and his wife a native of Fifeshire, the two having met and married in the Scottish capital. Mr. Sibbald died, Sept. 26th, 1865, aged 65 years.
Alexander Sibbald, as we have said, was for some time the tenant of the Lally sawmill. John Sibbald, his brother, was also for many years a resident of Tollendal. Andrew, another son, of the same family, followed the teaching profession, and in 1875, when Rev. George McDougall, the North-west missionary, was on a visit to his friends in Innisfil, Andrew Sibbald accompanied him to the far North-west, where he has been a teacher of the Indians since that time. The father of this family, John Sibbald, was the proprietor of the earliest public-house in Tollendal.
Robert Simpson, in 1841, built a brewery at Tollendal, but it was destroyed by fire Jan. 1st, 1848. Inducements were than held out to him to locate his business at the county town, which he did. Thirft Meldrum also had a distillery at Tollendal, in its pa;my days, which was also destroyed by fire.
Among the later arrivals in the northern portion of Innisfil was William C. Little, a native of Gloucestershire, England. He had received an education as a surveyor, in which calling he served for some time in Australia, and was also in India, where he was engaged as a young man's private tutor. He came to Innisfil in 1847 and settled on lot 6, concession 13. In 1853 he became a member of the Innisfil Council and in 1856 was chosen one of Innisfil's representatives to the County Council. He served the township at the County Council for many years, retiring at the end of 1879. He was first elected M.P. for South Simcoe in 1867, and continued to represent that constituency in the House of Commons until his death, December 31st, 1881. Of his sons, E.A. Little represented Cardwell in the Ontario Legislature from 1894 to 1906, and became registrar of the Surrogate Court for this County. Another son, Alfred T. Little, joined the medical profession, and is Medical Health Officer in the county town.

 

Tiny
Tiny Township, Ontario in canada

SETTLER Con. Lot

AMIOTTE, Cuthbert 15 16 (S1/2) (sometimes as AMYOT)
BOWDEN, James 1 80 (S1/2)
CRAWFORD, Mrs. 1 100
DeCHENEAULT, Louis 16 16
DESAULNIERS, Louis 15 13
JEFFS, Robert 1 95
LABATTE, Louis, G. 17 16 (S1/2)
LANAGAN, Thomas 2 107 (sometimes as LANDRIGAN)
McDONALD, Edward 1 114
PENETANGUISHENE

SETTLER OCCUPATION

ARMOUR, James Canteen keeper
BELL, W.C. Blank
BEMAN, Eli Blank
BOYER, George Blank
BURNIE, James Blank
CADIEU, Andrew Blank
COLLOMBES, Louis (sometimes as Columbus)
CORBIERE, Lewis Blank
CROTEAU, J.B. Blank
CUMMINGS, Lewis Lieutenant
DANIEL, Mary Blank
FAIGHAN, William Blank
FARLINGER, James Blank
GORDON, George Trader among the Indians
HAMILTON, James M. Storekeper
HURD, J.C. Blank
INGALL, Lieutenant Blank
JEFFREY, Stephen Innkeeper
JOHNSON, Lawrence Blank
KEATING, James Fort Adjutant
KENNEDY, Edward Blank
KING, Athenias Blank
La RONDE, Charles Blank
LEDUC, Thomas Blank
LEMAIS, J.B. (sometimes as Lemay)
LEMIRE, Henry Modeste Blank
MESIER, Joseph Blank
MITCHELL, Andrew Trader among the Indians
MOBERLY, Capt. R.N. Agent, Bank of U. C.
O'DONOVAN, Samuel Blank
QUIGLEY, James Blank
RAWSON, Sentlow Blank
REVOLTE, Dedin Blank
RICHARDSON, Samuel Blank
SIMPSON, William Trader among the Indians
SMITH, John Blank
SMITH, Thomas Blank
SOLOMON, William Government interpreter
VARNAC, James Blank
VESSIEUR, Andre Blank
WALLACE, Robert Innkeeper
WARREN, James Blank
TWENTY ACRE LOTS, ADJOINING
PENETANGUISHENE

SETTLER Park Lot. Special Remarks

BOUDRIA, Antoine 40 (sometimes as Beaudry)
BOUCHIER, J.B. -- None
CHEVRETTE, Louis -- None
FREISMITH, Joseph -- None
FRICHETTE, Etienne 17 None
GERROUX, Pierre 4 None
LACROIX, John -- None
LAFRERIERE, Antoine 18 None
LANGLADE, Charles 35 None
LaPLANTE, Pierre 38 None
LARAMIE, James A. -- None
LAVALLEE, Denis 5 None
Le GARDE, J.B. 37 None
LEGRIS, J. Baptiste 32 None
LETARD, Joseph -- (St. Onge, dit Latard, Joseph)
MITCHELL, George -- None
PRECOUR, Augustin -- None
POMBERT, Cyril 12 None
RECOLLE, Joseph 39 None
RAWSON, Thomas 2 (Patent to Sentlow Rawson)
ROY, Joseph 1 None
SICARD, Francis 41 (as Francois Secord)
SORELLE, Pierre 26 (Pierre Blette, or Sorrel)
TOPIER, Widow 3 (sometimes as Taupier)
VASSEUR, Charles 6 None
The following history is verbatim from the book "The History of Simcoe County"
by Andrew F. Hunter. First published in 1909 and reproduced in 1948 by the Simcoe County Historical Society.
TINY

THE LAFONTAINE SETTLEMENT
This settlement began soon after the migration from Drummond Island in 1828,
when the contingent of French-Canadians who had ben connected with the post at that place
was transferred to the vicinity of Penetanguishene, and each one given a small grant of land.

About the time to which the skectches of the pioneers in this history mostly refer, viz., 1836,
when the French-Canadian settlers just referred to were living chiefly in Penetanguishene,
some of them began to take up larger farms in the fertile valley in concessions 15 and 16 of Tiny,
in what is now known as the Lafontaine settlement.

This contingent of French-Canadians, who settled at Penetanguishene,
and some of them afterward around Lafontaine, have left their impress upon the localities and their surroundings.

Louis DesCheneaux settled about the year 1830 and built the first house near Lafontaine, on lot 16, con. 16.

He was born in 1789, and had come to this country about the same time as the migration mentioned.
This was the beginning of the settlement, and others soon followed, four of whom settled on other parts of the same lot,
viz., Chas. Cote, John LaCroix, Cyril Pombert, and Joseph Thibault. Before the year 1836,
we find that the following had also settled in the vicinity of Louis DesCheneaux:

Colbert Amyot (Cuthbert Amiotte), south halves lots 16 and 17, con. 15.

Louis Desaulnier, lot 13, con. 15.

Louis George Labatte. south half lot 16, con. 17.

These three settlers received the patents for the lands named in the year 1836.

The second settler in the list just given, (Desaulnier), had been a government interpreter to the Indians.

And L. G. Labatte's location was at the extreme north end of Tiny beside what is known as Thunder Bay.

Others who went to the settlement about the same time as the first settlers mentioned above, or a short time later, were:

J.B. Boucher, lot 15, con. 16.

Louis Chevrette, lot 13, con. 17.

Edward Doucette, lot 13, con. 17.

Antoine and Oliver LaFreniere, lot 18, con. 15.

Chas. LaMoreau, lot 15, con. 15.

Joseph Messier, lot 17, con. 15.

Augustin Precourt, lot 16, con. 15.

The fine stream which flows through this "Happy Valley,"
and is the only stream of any considerable size wholly within the township,
has been known by various names, including Boucher's River, Marchildon's Creek, etc.

The name of Messier's Lake was attached to one of the small lakes in the north part of Tiny,
from the above named early settler.

Numerous facts about some of the above mentioned settlers and others are preserved in a monograph
by A.C. Osborne on the Drummond Island migration in the third volume of papers
and records issued by the Ontario Historical Society, 1901.

This settlement of French-Canadians is the only one of any extent in this county in which the English language is not spoken.

Formerly, in Oro and in Nottawasaga, Gaelic was spoken by the first settlers,
but Gaelic is now practically obsolete in those townships.

Surrounded, as the settlement in Tiny has been, by English speaking settlements,
the French speaking settlers there have inevitably acquired English gradually.

This is especially true of the men, who have been further afield that the women;
so that at the present time there is scarcely a man who cannot express himself in both languages.

In regard to the facility of acquiring English, Jas. C. Morgan, Public School Inspector,
replying to questions submitted to him by the County Council, in November, 1893,
stated that the French language was then taught in two schools of Tiny, Nos. 13 and 19,
and was used to a slight extent, for purposes of communication in two more,
Nos. 17 and 18. He stated further that the French population in Tiny
had always been most anxious to have English taught thoroughly.

 

"THE KING'S MILLS

A trail or portage lead across from the head of Penetanguishene Bay to the Nottawasaga Bay from the earliest times.

At the westerly end of this Indian path on Nottawasaga Bay, at what has been known as "Tiny Beach,"
a sawmill was erected in the first years of this county's settlement, about 1832,
and was known as the "King's Mills." When Sir Richard Bonnycastle visited the locality soon afterward,
he passed this way, and speaks of the place in his "Travels in Canada."

At a later time about (1858), the mill, or its successor, passed into the hands of a company of shareholders,
consisting of John McWatt, - Sutherland, John Dewe, and H.P. Savigny, the surveyor,
the firm being known as John McWatt & Co. Subsequently, as it is said,
Mr. Dewe acquired all the shares of these partners and conducted the sawmill for a short time
with Riley Randolph as manager, but a depression in the lumber market resulted in the failure of the undertaking.

Mr. Dewe subsequently became Chief Post Office Inspector for the Dominion,
and held the office for several years.

Members of the Randolph family afterward were mill owners in the Township of Nottawasaga
at the Batteau River and Stayner.

The sawmill in Tiny was about half a mile from Nottawasaga Bay.

An early occupant of the north half of lot 18, con. 12, near the mill,
was Hypolite Brissette, whose son, John Brissette, became well known as a voyageur.

John Vent & Co., of a neighbouring lot, were also mill owners at a later time.

 

TAY, ontario


SETTLER Con. Lot

BANNISTER, David 1 76 (S1/2)
BOYER, Charles -- ---
COWAN, William 1 98 (W1/2)
DUSANG, Aimable -- ---
DEVINE, John 1 103
DUSOME, Francis -- (Near the Wye)
FORTIN, Henry -- ---
LETOURNEAUX, Joseph 1 84
LUDLOW, George 1 101
McDONNELL, Michael 2 101
MUNDY, Ahser 1 112
MUNDY, Israel 1 112
QUIGLEY, Charles 1 85
WHELAN, James 1 109
WILSON, William 1 100
The following history is verbatim from the book "The History of Simcoe County" by Andrew F. Hunter. First published in 1909 and reproduced in 1948 by the Simcoe County Historical Society.
TAY

With the Township of Tay, and the neighbouring inlet of Gloucester, Sturgeon, and Matchedash Bays,
a historic locality is reached.

From very early times the large estuary between Christian Island and the rocky Muskoka shore
was known in a general way as Gloucester Bay, and was regarded as an important branch of the route to Lake Huron.

Modern usage has applied the name of "Gloucester" to a smaller offshoot of the original bay.

As might naturally be expected the first settlers in Tay were, or had previously been, connected with Indian trading.

This had been the occupataion of Micheal MacDonnell, the earliest pioneer of the township,
who located upon lot 101, con. 2. In 1816 he had entered the service of the Hudson's Bay Company
when he was quite young, became an officer in the service of the same Company,
and acted as a kind of private secretary for Lord Selkirk, when that nobleman was in Canada.

For three years he was connected with Lord Selkirk and the Red River Settlement.

But he returned to his native Ireland for a while (1820-1), and during this time Lord Selkirk died.

Lady Selkirk appreciated Mr. MacDonnell's services in behalf of her husband,
with whom he had been intimately associated in the Red River.

Soon afterward Mr. MacDonnell again returned to the fur country, but the two companies had amalgamated,
and he did not like the new regime, so he resigned his position and took to the life of a civilian.

It is recorded (Mr. Osborne's Drummond Island Migration, p. 140) that he came from Drummond Island in 1826.

Another account states that he finally settled in Tay in 1829,
having then acquired the estate of the place named.

Both of these dates are probably correct.

He was squarely built and of medium size; and from a fantastic custom of wearing his hair
or perhaps from some artificial wig, the settlers called him "Wiggie" MacDonnell to distinguish him
from John McDonald, the other fur trader.

Samuel DeBurgh Frazer came from Ireland to Tay in 1839, his mother having been a Miss MacDonnell,
sister of Michael MacDonnell just mentioned. He acquired the estate of his uncle, or at least a part of it,
and became one of the most prominent men of Tay for many years, being known as "Squire" Frazer.

He was the representative of Tay in the Simcoe District Council in 1848-9, and on the united townships of Tiny and Tay
becoming entitled to a reeve of their own in the Simcoe County Council in 1851, he became their first reeve
and occupied the position for six years. Again, in 1869, when Tay was separated from Tiny,
he became the first reeve of Tay and was elected for succeeding years until 1874 (inclusive),
and again in 1878 he was elected. During the last named year the incorporation of Midland
as a village was effected, and he became its first reeve in 1879, also filling the position in the following year.

In 1881-5 he was again reeve of Tay, and retired from public life at the close of this period,
after being the chief officer of one municipality or another for 22 years,
although never receiving election to the warden's chair.

The first settlers in the south parts of Tay came from Durham County
in the late sixties and early seventies. One of the earliest of this numerous colony from Manvers
and adjacent townships was Robert Webb, who came to the west half of lot 3. concession 5, in 1865,
when the valleys and hills to the north of him were all a wilderness, and he continued to live on it until about 1887.

Tay contained comparatively few settlers until the building of the Midland Railway.

The township was not a separate municipality until 1869, but was connected with Tiny for municipal purposes until that year.

It appears, however, that it had the required number of names on the assessment roll
(100 resident freeholders and householders) for some years before that time,
to entitle it to get separation from Tiny; but, owing to some difficulty in the Municipal Act,
real or alleged, there was some doubt as to the power of the County Council to pass the necessary By-law, until June, 1868.

MIDLAND

Peter Burnett surveyed the original town plot of Midland in 1872 and 1873.

It is also in record that A.C. Thomson made surveys about the same time on lots 107 and 108, concession 2, Tay,
for building lots.

A place named Everton had been surveyed on lot No. 111, concession 1, Tay, in the year 1853,
but it did not materialize, and it is worthy of note that since the erection of the smelter
on the northwest side of Midland Bay, and the consequent rise of houses in that part,
the real estate transfers have reverted to the original plan of Everton,
which had not been used for about half a century.

The Bay was called Mundy's Bay in former years, from the first settler, Asher Mundy,
whose land (lot 112, con. 1) extended from the Penetanguishene Road almost to the harbour
which was selected about November, 1871, as the proposed terminus of the Midland Railway.

Midland's first years appear to have been checkered by the transactions of rival real estate dealers,

as at every other railroad terminus. Harkley's Swamp at the west end of the town was a troublesome place to bridge,

and was the burial place of numerous grants of money for road-making purposes.

The first merchants in the place were N. Courtemanche, Thomas Gladstone (who also started a hotel),
and H. Sneath.

The post office was opened in September, 1872, Mr. Gladstone being appointed the first postmaster.

Cook Bros. commenced the erection of the first sawmill during the winter of 1871-2, and finished it in the following summer.

Of this well known firm of lumbermen, H.H. Cook, was a member. He was first elected M.P. for North Simcoe
over D'Alton McCarthy in 1872, and afterwards became well known in public affairs,
having been engaged in eleven political contests at one time or another in some part of North Simcoe.

Chew Bros. erected a steam shingle mill a little later, and also erected other mills in subsequent years.

As the place grew in size, the need arose for incorporation. At its session in June, 1878, the County Council
passed a By-law appointing Jordan Cronkhite census enumerator, and laid the matter over till the October session
for further consideration. By October, Mr. Cronkhite's census showed that the proposed limits of the village
contained 836 inhabitants, and accordingly the Council passed a By-law to incorporate it as a village.

The limits stated in the By-law of incorporation were the east halves of lots 105, 106, 107, 108 and 109
in the 1st concession of Tay, and the west halves of lots 105, 106, 107, with the whole of lot 108,
in the 2nd concession, making a total of 469 acres.

The first municipal election was to be held in McFarland's Hall, and Alex. Paterson was appointed returning officer.

At the first election, Samuel Frazer was chosen the first reeve for 1879.

The sketch of the rise of Midland which appears in Belden's Atlas (published in 1881) is fairly complete
and ought to be consulted by anyone desirous of possessing all the particulars that can be obtained.

The writer of that sketch,-Charle W. Ashford, (afterward, the Honourable Clarence W. Ashford
of the Hawaiian Islands)- had been connected with the staff of surveyors aaand civil engineers
on the construction of the Midland Railway, and from his own personal knowledge of the early days of Midland,
he was in a position to write the sketch referred to. It reflects severely on the operations of the Midland Land Company,
which transacted a real estate business at the beginning of the place.

The Ontario Legislature passed, in March 1872, an Act to incorporate the Midland Land Company,
as 35 Vict., C. 97. And in 1882, the Legislature also passed a further Act to ammend the original Act
incorporating the Company, as 45 Vict., C. 77.

With the growth of Midland, it obtained sufficient population to entitle it to incorporation as a town in 1887,
which it became in due course of time, with J.B. Horrell as the first Mayor, and W.H. Bennett as reeve.

VICTORIA HARBOR

In the year 1869, John Kean, of Orillia, with W.D. Ardagh and Richard Power, of Barrie,
and Albert Fowlie, of Orillia, formed a partnership as Kean, Fowlie & Co.,
and built an extensive sawmill to the east of the Hogg River outlet.

The place now became known as Victoria Harbor, having been hitherto called Hogg's Bay
more frequently. The firm of Kean, Fowlie & Co., operated the sawmill here until the year 1876,
when a change took place in the firm.

One account states that a military officer had a pioneer sawmill at the mouth of Hogg River
at a much earlier date than the Victoria Harbor mill above mentioned,
probably the one marked as McNab's on Gibbard's map of 1853.
Other mills here at later times were those of Nickerson Bros., and John McDermitt.

STURGEON BAY

Thompson's sawmill at Sturgeon Bay, erected in 1848 or a little before, is supposed to be the first in this township, and was situated,
as Gibbard's map of 1853 shows, fully a mile up the Sturgeon River. The road had been opened to Sturgeon Bay
from Coldwater in 1843-4, and the terminus on the Bay became a busy port, marked "Tay Port" on the map
above mentioned, with steamers and other vessels making regular calls.

W.H. Tanner acquired or built a mill here in 1873, and the place assumed the name of Tannerville.

The survey of Port Powell here in 1846 has already been noted in chapt. V., Vol. 1.

Near Fesserton, Benjamin Dusong settled about 1840, and passed his life in the neighbourhood.

His death occured January 8, 1890. Across the water from Fesserton, Mr. Cowan, the fur trader,
established a trading post in the eighteenth century, as it has been already stated in the chapter
on the early fur traders (Vol. 1, chapter 3). The remains of his post have been known as the "Chimnies."

WAUBAUSHENE

The first clearing at this place had its origin about the time the Govrenment built the grist-mill
and houses for the Indians at Coldwater in 1832-3. From the Narrative of Michael Labatte
recorded by Mr. Osborne it appears (p. 140) that Labatte was sent by the Government
to clear the land at Waubaushene for the Indians at the time mentioned.

William Hall erected a sawmill here, the date being recorded as 1851.

The Georgian Bay Lumber Company acquired the land here at a later time, and erected an extensive sawmill.

The project of building a swing bridge across the Narrows of Matchedash Bay at Waubaushene was mooted at an early time.

In January, 1882, the County Council petitioned the Ontario Government for a grant of money to assist in this work,
as settlers, lumbermen and others then had to travel some 25 miles to reach a point not more than two miles from Waubaushene.

Nothing having come of the request, the Council renewed the application in November, 1885, and the question then fell through.

The settlers of Baxter, Matchedash and a part of Tay were labouring under a great disadvantage in having to travel around
Matchedash Bay when they wanted to reach Waubaushene.

In those townships, as the last named petitioned set forth, there was a large tract of land,
the settlement of which was retarded for want of proper means of communication.

PORT SEVERN

It is recorded that a Mr. Stone built the first sawmill at Port Severn before the erection of the one at Waubaushene,
although it is marked as Sanson's on Gibbard's map of 1853. In 1857, Alex. R. Christie purchased this sawmill,
and it was carried on for some time under the name of Christie & Co. The other partner was Andrew Heron of Niagara-on-the-Lake,
where Mr. Christie had carried on a general store prior to purchasing the Port Severn Mill.

Their mill was twice burnt to the ground, inflicting heavy losses upon them.

They rebuilt and enlarged it, and in 1872 sold it to the Georgian Bay Lumber Company.

Along the townline between Tay and Matchedash, which was opened out as a road for some distance northward
at a comparatively early date, an early settler on the Tay side was Walter Lawson,
whose name is given to Lawson post office, of which he was the first postmaster.

 

i am from the 'drury' family
1819
crown hill, on

 

The following history is verbatim from the book "The History of Simcoe County"
by Andrew F. Hunter. First published in 1909 and reproduced in 1948 by the Simcoe County Historical Society.

THE PENETANGUISHENE ROAD

PART. 1. - FROM KEMPENFELDT NORTHWARD TO CRAIGHURST An Order-in-Council was passed by the Government on April 26th, 1819, respecting the settlement duties on the road, and settlers began at once to locate themselves along its course from Kempenfeldt to Penetanguishene. The Order-in-Council ran as follows: - "It being desirable to open the road to Penetanguishene, which commences on the north side of Kempenfeldt Bay, his Excellency in Council is pleased to order that to such persons quailfied to receive grants from the Crown as are able and willing to perform settlement duty, locations of 200 acres will be made, upon their undertaking to begin their settlement duty within one month after receiving the certificate of location, and continuing the same until a dwelling house be erected, and ten acres cleared adjacent to the road, and one-half the road in front of the location cleared also. Ordered, That notice of the above order be published in the York Gazette." As a number of settlers established themselves along this military road in 1819 and 1820, even before the townships lying at the rear of the lots had been actually surveyed, it will be advisable to treat of this Old Survey by itself, from end to end of the road. The plan the government took to allot the lands to the settlers along this road was to give each settler as he came a farm, beginning at the south end and proceeding northward, according as he arrived, assigning a farm, first on one side of the road, then on the other. Here and there along the road, the lands claimed for the Hon. Wm. McGillivray's grant of 6,000 acres, were reserved from settlers, and this acted as a kind of partial blockade. By the end of the year 1819, the allotments reached as far northward as lot 33, or thereabout, and the lots had all been taken up to this place. It was from this plan of settling the lots that in some instances we find brothers, or father and son, in the same family, who has applied at the same time, occupied farms opposite each other, as in the case of Partridge, Brown, White and Craig. It will be convenient to begin at the south end of the road and follow it northward to Penetanguishene. KEMPENFELDT Strange as it may seem to the modern citizen, there was a time in the early life of these parts when the Village of Kempenfeldt was a larger and more promising place than Barrie itself. The time referred to embraced the period between the reclaiming of the forest and the selection of Barrie to be the county seat, about the year 1837, as a result of which the hopes of Kempenfeldt were permanently blighted. The Government reserve of "Kempenfeldt" was first laid out quite early in the century, when the road to Penetanguishene was surveyed by Wilmot, as was mentioned in our sketch of the survey. Subsequently a Government station was established on this reserve for the accommodation of men and stores landed for transportation overland to Penetanguishene. Log barracks and a store were built, the latter of which was kept for a time by John Withrow, and afterward by William Todd. These would begin about the year 1819 or 1820. The Johnson family, who were related to the pioneers of the same name at Johnson's Landing on the Holland River, as mentioned in our chapter on Holland Landing, lived at Kempenfeldt for a while as early as 1822, and after some absence from the place, a part of the family returned to the Penetanguishene

 

Road, near Kempenfeldt, to live permanently in the thirties. Of this family the sons were: Lawrence, James (who resided most of his life near Kempenfeldt Bay and died February 3, 1895, in his 87th year), William (who settled in Flos), Thomas and Joseph. The first years of Kempenfeldt's existence are checkered more or less with the operations of speculators - the invariable frequenters of new and rising towns. A somewhat incomplete account of their operations was published a few years ago in Belden's Atlas, which may serve, if reproduced at this point, to illustrate the varying fortunes of Kempenfeldt in the first years of its existence. "It will be necessary to return to the early part of the nineteenth century, when the Penetanguishene Road was located, and the Town of Kempenfeldt platted at the point of its intersection with the bay of the same name. This was but another attempt on the part of the Government to influence the course of commerce by the issue of a fiat declaring, 'this is a town.' The non-realizations of their anticipations in this respect, however, was by no means an isolated one, as the maps of several western Ontario counties are adorned with 'towns' which never reached a position of greater dignity than a place on paper, reflected from the imagination of Government engineers. "The area embraced within this 'town' was 300 acres, which was sacredly reserved and preserved for the representatives of commerce, and from the clutches of the agriculturist. We have no record of any merchants taking up their residence within its precincts, however, until the surrounding territory had been located by actual settlers, who commenced the subjugation of her forests for purposes of husbandry rather than trade. When circumstances began to indicate a prospect of a future town at Kempenfeldt, the Government disposed of its forty-five acre reserve to the west, and its influence was promised to assist the development of Kempenfeldt. The 'reserve' so often mentioned was purchased by Captain Oliver, R.N. But ere two years had passed over the now established hamlet of Kempenfeldt, radically different opinions as to its future status had been formed by parties in interest. The representatives of Government became convinced that the effort to build up a town in that place must end in failure; while Captain Oliver, owner of the western 'reserve', seeing a brilliant futire in store for Kempenfeldt, induced the Government to relieve him of his forty-five acre purchase farther west, and secured a large tract in the immediate vicinity of the hamlet down the bay." It appears that a Crown Land sale of lots in the town plot of Kempenfeldt took place in 1836 to John Fullarton, on Monck Street and Davis Street-- named, we suppose, from two half-pay officers in Oro, and preserved from oblivion by the circumstances of this sale. Mr. Fullarton's house was on the top of the hill where the roads divide, and its foundations may still be seen at the place. Amongst other early citizens of Kempenfeldt not hitherto mentioned were Charles Collins and Adam Bryant. The latter--Mr. Bryant--was an English house carpenter by trade, and enjoyed the esteem of his fellow citizens. His wife died early in the fifties, leaving no children; and Mr. Bryant himself passed the remainder of his life with his friend, Mr. Lang, the jailor of the county at that time. Captain Robert Oliver, R.N., who has been mentioned, lived about half a mile to the east of Kempenfeldt, on the property now owned andoccupied by Mr. George Raikes. Here the captain owned a large estate. His house near the shore was a rustic edifice of considerable dimensions, from the center of which rose a massive stone chimney stack. A Mr. Roadhouse, of Albion Township, was one of the stone masons who built this large stone chimney about the year 1827. Time and modern destructiveness were for a long time unable to erase this large chimney from its foundations, and it stood near the railway track as a memento of former times, while the house to which it belonged had perished years before. Immediately in the foreground is the "cove" known as Tralfalgar Bay, so named by Captain Oliver in honour of Lord Nelson's great victory. His son, Captain Robert Oliver, left for the States at the outbreak of the Mexican

 

war in 1846, and afterward remained there. Another conspicuous figure at Kempenfeldt was George Ball. He became a permanent resident in 1834, after passing through many thrilling experiences, and remaind continuously in Kempenfeldt from that year. He was born in Co. Fermanagh, Ireland, on May 1st, 1801. While young, he made up his mind to emigrate to Canada, and accordingly took passage in the brig "Workington Despatch," bound for Quebec. All things went well on the voyage for a time, but when in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in July, their vessel was shipwrecked, and only a portion of the passengers and crew was saved, amongst whom was Mr. Ball. The survivors were rescued by some fishermen of the Gulf, and subsequently taken to Halifax in the British warship "Tyne." From the latter place they were taken to Quebec, where they arrived September 8th, 1828, after an eventful voyage lasting several months. It afforded Mr. Ball a pathetic topic of conversation throughout his life to describe the distress and sufferings of the poor shipwrecked passengers on this occasion. Tears would fill his eyes when relating their terrible experiences amid the rocks, and on bringing to his memory the pitiful cries of the helpless children separated from parents and friends. On reaching Quebec Mr. Ball worked his way up to St. Catharines during the autumn of the same year. At this place he found work and abode there until the autumn of the next year, 1829, when he removed to Toronto. In the latter city he narrowly escaped death from being run over from a loaded waggon. As it was, he was laid up from the effects of this accident for a long time. When one considers the narrow escapes Mr. Ball had in those years, it is marvellous that he lived to be more than ninety years of age. In 1833 he came to Kempenfeldt and bought the farm which he permanently settled upon in the following year. As he was unmarried at that time he boarded with his neighbours at Kempenfeldt, but in a few years after his arrival he bought the newly built dwelling of the unfortunate widow Ladd, whose husband had been drowned in Kempenfeldt Bay. It was customary in those early years with Mr. Ball to raft sawlogs across the bay to Lally's mill at Tollendal, where they were manufactured into lumber; he would then return the product to Kempenfeldt for use. Mr. Ball, during those years, while still remaining in possession of his Kempenfeldt property, would find employment in the more frontier sections of the country, and was at one time hired with Hugh Scobie, the Toronto publisher, who owned a farm just west of Bradford. He died October 28, 1891, at 90 years of age. William Mann was another central figure of the place in its early years. He opened a store and tavern in 1831, and subsequently owned and operated a brewery for several years. The name of Mann's Point was more frequently given to the place then Kempenfeldt. His tavern was the rendezvous for many of the social gatherings of that time, as well as a welcome shelter to the weary traveller. Mr. Mann came from Plymouth, Devonshire, Eng., and died October 10, 1872, in his 77th year. A tavern was also kept by one Mr. Ladd, the site of which institution was at or near the brickyard of modern times. Its host is said to have been addicted more or less to the flowing cup; and he met an untimely end by drowning in Kempenfeldt Bay, about the time of the Rebellion of 1837. His widow was well spoken of, and subsequently removed with her family of five children or more to the United States. Amongst other citizens of that hamlet were Barnett Vandeburgh and James Somers. Barnett Vandeburgh, with James Johnson, burnt the first brick kiln at Kempenfeldt in 1836 or earlier. Mr. Vandeburgh returned to Markham Township about the time of the Rebellion of 1837, but subsequently came to Innisfil Township, where he spent the remainder of his life. James Somers and his wife (Elizabeth Snow) were natives of Somersetshire, Eng. Their son, George, has resided in the place throughout his entire life. The pioneer died April 13, 1873, aged 75 years. A Mr. McDonald was a tailor at Kempenfeldt at an early date, and Thift Meldrum built an early wharf at the Point. Early Kempenfeldt, however, did not monopolize the emigrant traffic to the northern districts, which were settled rapidly after 1832. At Hodge's Landing, now known as Hawkstone, more people landed on their way into the northern part of Oro and Medonte; and Wellesley Ritchie, the govrenment agent, lived

 

on the Coldwater Road, at Bass Lake, to place new settlers on their lots. Perhaps no person could have given a better account than Mr. Ritchie, where he living, of the settlement of this county, especially in the northern half. But to return to Kempenfeldt, which thus suffered in the competition with other landing places. When the County of Simcoe was to be severed from the old Home District, Kempenfeldt made a vigorous agitation to become the county town, as it was the largest place. Thereupon Tollendal, across the bay, put forth its claims to be recognized. In the strife which followed it was decided to locate the county seat at the head of the bay, as a result of which the fate of the older Village of Kempenfeldt became sealed for all time to come. First settlers on the Penetanguishene Road (Vespra and Oro). (From Kempenfeldt northward to Craighurst) *The name of John Gough appearing on lot No. 10, should properly appear on a gore lot numbered "Letter D", between lots 10 and 11, the bend in the Penetanguishene Road at that place not being shown in the list.