Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2102MORDEN-WATTERS HOUSE 1095 Concession 2 Road Concession 2, Lot 1 Town of Uxbridge Ex-Watters PIN 182 March 2003 by John W. Sabean Historical Consultant Morden-Watters House 1095 Concession 2 Road Concession 2, Lot 1 Town of Uxbridge PIN 182 Ex Watters PROPERTY HISTORY The patent for Lot 1, Concession 2, Uxbridge Township was given to John Willson, 13 March 1805. David Willson, probably John’s brother, purchased the entire 200 acres four and a half years later.1 David kept the land for another 20 years and then began to sell the lot in parcels. Peter Sebodo purchased the southwest quarter in 1834, and sold the same land to Joseph Brown three years later. Brown disposed of his land to John Nigh in 1841, who also purchased the southeast quarter lot in 1841. Abraham Stouffer then purchased 91 acres from Nigh in 1849, and turned them over to his son Christian. Christian sold off a number of lots, including 1 1/2 acres to Eliza Picket in 1842, 3 7/10 acres plus another acre in two parcels to William Cooper in 1850, and an acre to Andrew Lindsay in 1855. Andrew Lindsay bought 3 1/2 acres from William Cooper in two parcels in 1855. In 1852, George Morden began to buy up a number of connected lots in the southwest corner of Lot 1. He purchased Picket’s acre and a half in 1852, 64 rods from William Cooper in 1853, an another 9/10 of an acre from Andrew Lindsay in 1858. This nearly three- acre property Morden kept together until his death in 1887. At his death the property went to his widow, and by the terms of his will after her death it was to go to their daughter Maria Millard. The executors of George Morden’s will turned over the property to Maria Millard in 1900. In 1906 she and her husband sold the land (3 acres) to George Irwin for $800. After Irwin’s death the estate was inherited by his son Weyman E. Irwin in 1929. When Weyman Irwin died the land was sold to Myrtle Hill for $4 400 in 1953. Hill sold to Angelo and Ernest Dimonte in 1955 and the Dimonte’s sold to John L. and Agnes Watters in 1961. The Watters were the owners at the time of expropriation by Her Majesty the Queen. PERSONAL HISTORY Willson Most of the patentees of the southwest corner of Uxbridge Township—Bostwick, Winn, Hazard, Millard, and Evans—were Quakers. None, however, except Millard, settled in Uxbridge.2 John Willson, the patentee of Lot 1, Concession 2, took the Oath of Allegiance before William Willcocks in York on 11 March 1805: JOHN WILLSON of Gwilingbury Yeoman Twenty three Years Old a Protestant, Dark brown Hair and Hazel Eyes five feet six Inches high, having taken the Oaths prescribed by Law do Subscribe the same at York the 11th Day of March 1805.3 John was not a Quaker, as evidenced by his swearing an oath, but David (his brother?), who purchased the land from him, became a noted Quaker after converting from his former Presbyterian faith. It was David Willson who founded the Children of Peace in 1812 and was the inspiration behind the building of Sharon Temple in the 1820s. Neither John nor David settled Lot 1, Concession 2 in Uxbridge, but about 1829 David began to sell the lot off in parcels— perhaps to help finance the building program in Sharon and to defray the expenses of Sharon Temple’s costly festivals.4 Cooper and Lindsay There is no record of any building having been erected in the southwest corner of Lot 1, Concession 2 before 1850. In that year William Cooper, already 60 years old, came to Altona and built an inn at a strategic location mid-way between Claremont and Stouffville. With his son James, Cooper ran the Altona Inn for five years, then retired and sold the business to Andrew Lindsay.5 Lindsay carried on with the hotel until his death about 1859. Not needing all of the land to run the business, Lindsay sold off several parcels north of the inn—most notably to George Morden and James Forsyth. Morden and Forsyth The Mordens and Forsyths were the earliest families to settle in southwest Uxbridge Township. David Morden brought his family up from Pennsylvania and shortly thereafter James Forsyth arrived in the same area on his own, having set out from Georgia. Forsyth married David Morden’s daughter, Eleanor. Their son, David, born in 1808, may well have been the first immigrant child born in Uxbridge Township. Nine more children were to follow —all being raised in what later became the hamlet of Glasgow.6 George Morden, the builder of the house on this lot, was a farmer for most of his life; the usual designation for him in the Assessment Rolls is yeoman, but the Censuses call him farmer.7 Through much of the 1860s, however, he served as the local Constable.8 A couple of the Assessment Rolls refer to him as a general dealer.9 He died in 1887. Irwin Weyman Irwin was a watch repairer. He owned this property and the one next door at what is now numbered as 1065 Concession 2 Road. Long-time residents in the area remembered him as living in the house on this property.10 BUILDING HISTORY The Township of Uxbridge Heritage Inventory assigns the erection of this one-and-a-half- storey frame house to about 1860.11 The town’s computerized assessment database puts it a decade later.12 According to the first available Assessment Roll in 1859, the value of George Morden’s property was set at $420. The assessed value only increased slowly thereafter to $550 by 1874—in fact, it fluctuated over those years from a low of $400 to a high of $600.13 The house therefore had probably been erected by the time of the 1859 assessment. The Census of 1861 describes the Morden house as a frame dwelling, one-storey, on three acres of land.14 The description fits our house, and dates its erection to 1858 by which time Morden had accumulated three acres of land on lot 1. The compilers of the North Pickering Project in 1974 failed to include this house in their inventory.15 Notes 1 All land transactions as per the Abstract Indices of Deeds. John Willson appears on Wilmot’s Survey Plan of 1805. David Willson’s purchase was dated 14 November 1809, but was not registered until June 1825. 2 Wilmot (1805); Sabean (2002), p. 8; York Pioneer (1961), pp. 28, 32, and (1963), p. 23. 3 York Pioneer (1961), p. 31, #64. 4 Sabean (2002), pp. 8-9. 5 Sabean (2002), pp. 11-12. 6 Todd (1980), p. 10. 7 Uxbridge Township Assessment Rolls, MS 648 (8), 1859-1874. Censuses of 1851, 1861, 1871. 8 Uxbridge Township Assessment Rolls for 1863-1867; Conner and Coltson (1869). 9 Uxbridge Township Assessment Rolls for 1861, 1869. 10 Mary Elson. Pers. com. 11 Woods (1991). 12 Michael Klose, Pers. com. 13 Uxbridge Township Assessment Rolls. 14 Census of 1861. 15 Yost (1974).