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WHAT’S INSIDE
c There are few official records
that cover the first few decades
of the settlement of Pickering
Township, and what records
there are can sometimes be
contradictory. By comparing
the sources, we here attempt to
tell the story as accurately as
possible at the distance of 2
centuries. We also believe,
however, that there is much we
do not know of this period.
c For a few years around 1911
it looked as if Pickering
Township was about to be
invaded by a number of high-
profile gentlemen farmers. But
in the end, only a few of the
business men who purchased
property along the corridor just
to the north of Kingston Road
stayed long enough to make an
impact on the community.
c Engineer turned farmer, Andrew
Glen took a while to make the
transition, but he was a patient
man and a good observer, and in
the long run learned the ways of
rural life mostly through his own
initiative — with the help of the
animals he had the care of.
PATHMASTERPICKERING TOWNSHIP HISTORICAL SOCIETY
WINTER EDITION VOLUME 29 NUMBERS 1 & 2
With notes compiled by John W. Sabean
The early years of the
settlement of Pickering —
from about 1795 to
1820 — are not well
documented. The earliest
general history of Pickering
Township appeared in the
1877 Illustrated Historical
Atlas of Ontario County
(Toronto: Beers). Four
years later a second general
history was printed in the
newly formed Pickering
News. We are indebted
to these two sources for
much of what we know
of the first few decades of
Pickering’s history. But
not all. In an attempt to
recreate that period as fully
and accurately as possible
we are first reprinting
the story as told by the
Pickering News (as being
the fullest account), and
then annotating it with
information from other
sources as noted.
The Pickering News, at
the beginning, follows the
same story as told by the
Illustrated Historical Atlas,
but adds commentary to
the narrative. Note that the
Atlas account (of the joint
Whitby-Pickering meetings)
begins under the heading
of Whitby, the Pickering
section begins with the
1811 meeting. There are
some slight differences in
the two accounts.
Pickering News,
11 November 1881
Pickering: Early Settlement
of the Township
Part of Pickering was
surveyed in 1791 and 2 and
the remainder in 1795.1 It
embraces an area of 75,660
acres.2 There are nine
concessions, and three on
the Broken front, south
of the Base line, No. 1
forming but a small angle
at Port Union.3 The earliest
municipal record is an old
Township minute book
giving the marks of cattle,
sheep and hogs — “belonging
to the inhabitants of
Pickering and Whitby.” This
begins under date of 4th June
1801.4 The first regularly
recorded minutes which
we have been able to find
are as follows:5
A Record of a meeting for
chussing the Town Officers
and other Regulators for the
The Pickering NewS’
HISTORY OF PICKERING TOWNSHIP
As it appeared in the News from 11 November 1881 to 10 February 1882
Portraits of Joshua and
Catherine Richardson,
immigrants to Pickering
from Ireland in 1820.
Jo
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towns of Pickering and Whitby,
held at the house of Samuel
Munger, in Pickering — March
7th Day, 1804.6
Ebenezer Ransom, Town Clerk.
John Majors, Eleazir Lockwood,
Assessors.
Anthony Rummerfield, Adam
Stephens, Town Wardens.
David Stephens, Collector.
Samuel Munger, Matthew
Dewileger, John McGahen,
Wm. Peck, David Crawford,
Pathmasters.
David Loyd, Abraham
Townsend, Fenseviewers.
Silas Marvin, Pound Keeper.7
“A Vote cal’d [called] and
passed that no Hogg shall be a
free comener Except they will
wey [weigh] more than Forty
w’t [weight].”
“Voted that no fence be
Lawful except it Measure 4
½ Feet high and 2 feet at the
bottom the Rails to be more
than 4 inches a part.8 Meeting
closed until warned again.”
“Received of Mr. E.
Lockwood, Collector of the
townships of Pickering and
Whitby for the year 1802, Five
pounds 19s Halifax Currency
being in full Accruing to the
Assessment Roal for that year
Returned.”
Wm. Allen, Treasurer. H.D.9
“£5,19 sh.
“York, 18th April, 1803.”
We have retained in the above
the original orthography.
Pickering would appear to
have been united with the old
township of Whitby, in the
Home District, at the time
mentioned.
The name of Peak, of Duffin’s
Creek, occurs in records,
previous to 1800.10
The next record, which is for
the township of Pickering alone,
is dated 181111, and runs as
follows:
“Agreeble to an Act of the
Legislature of the Province,
made and passed in the thirty-
third year of His Majesty’s
Reign, for the purpose of
choosing and nominating
certain fit and proper persons
to serve as Parish and Town
officers. We, the Inhabitants
of the Town, met the first
Monday of March, for the
purpose of choosing the
following officers:
“Thomas Hubbard,
Town Clerk.
David Crawford, John
Haight, Assessors.
Abraham Townsend,
Collector.
Noadiah Woodruff, Thomas
Matthews, John Lawrence,
Abraham Townsend,
Pathmasters.
Joseph Wixson, Timothy
Rogers, Poundkeepers.
John Richard, James Powell,
Town Wardens.
“Bylaw — Voted that fences
be four feet and-a-half high,
and Not more than five Inches
between Rails.”
In our extracts, we still keep
the original spelling.
Next year, under date of
March 2nd, 1812, the name
of Nicholas Brown is to be
found as one of the “session”,
and that of James Lawrence is
mentioned as Pathmaster.12 And
there is the following brief —
though brimful of meaning,
memorandum at foot:13
“Our town ofisors [officers]
ware Put in by the Quarter
Sesons for the year A.D. 1813
By Reason of the war that was
Declearede against us By the
States in the year 1812.”14
“By the same reason our
town metin war [meeting was]
omitted in the year A.D. 1814
and our Town officors war Put
in the same manner.”
Timothy Rogers, who built a
mill at Duffin’s Creek, was one
of the earliest settlers. Nicholas
Brown came in from Vermont in
1810, and with him the Quaker
settlement of the same family.
The Haights, who also belonged
to the Society of Friends were
early settlers and prominent
members of that body.
In 1815, the names of
McCauslin, Scott, Clark and
Smith occur amongst the
Township officers. William
McCausland, on the Lake
Shore, is one of the
representatives of the
first family, and spells his
name a little different from
the old stock; but the family
is the same.
[1816] The names of
Vanceleek, Flowerfield, Post,
Powell, Crawford, Ray, occur
in 1816 amongst the township
officers. The descendants of
Post, Ray and Powell are still
well known and influential
families in this neighbourhood.
In the same year, 1816, a
by-law was passed in the
following terms:
“Hogs is not to run as free
commoners nor Horses.” And
if the rules of Lindley Murray15
be violated in the Grammar,
there is a brevity in the style of
composition that might well
commend itself to the law makers
of the present year of grace.
1817 — The names of
James Sharrard, Peter Mathews,
Joseph Brown and Samuel
Doolittle appear in the list
of township officers. These
have still their well known
and highly respectable family
representatives in Pickering
and Whitby.
In the following year, 1818,
the names of Spenser Udell
and Andrew Losson appear.
The Lawsons of course will be
recognized as representatives of
the latter name.
A by-law of this year enacts:
“Hogs is not allowed to run
on the commons without a yoak
that is six inches above
the Neck and four Below.”
2
Pickering News,
11 November 1881
1819-1820, the two following
years we find the names of
Zephania Jones, James Wood
and Daniel Yeak. And a by-law
with the following proviso:
“Voted — That our fences is
to Be Naybourly [neighbourly]
and Lawfull,” and “Voted —
That Horses Shal not be
commoners,” were the essence
of brevity in passing by-laws in
the year 1820.
1821 — The names of
Joseph Winters, George Castor,
Asher Wilson, Joseph Webster,
are found in the list of officers.
They will be recognized in
some of their descendants of
to day. In this year there are
more by-laws, written with
the same brevity, as to hogs
and fences. And the Township
proceedings conclude with
the “vote” — “That the next
meeting is to be holden at John
[Major’s] in 1822.” This is not
the first re- [illegible] find of
the ancestor of the re- [illegible]
family who bear the name of
[illegible], as will be seen, John
Major appears as one of the
assessors as early as 1804.16
In 1822, the by-laws as to
fences, cattle, etc., are of the
same character. “James Brown,
Samuel Eves, Solomon Sly,
George Anderson, John Albright
and Cornelius Churchill”
appear as Township officers,
and by-laws as to fences, cattle
and hogs are briefly recorded in
similar terms.
In 1823, we find the name of
Richardson first occurring. In
this year John Sharrard becomes
Town clerk, and Thomas
Hubbard, Collector.
Joshua Richardson,
John Blair, David Wood,
Pathmasters
The families of Sharrard and
Richardson have still got their
representatives in Pickering, and
do not disgrace the “old stock”
from which they sprung. The
Richardsons were Irish Quakers,
from the Queen’s County, and
most of the descendants of to-
day are numerous and wealthy.
Members of the family have
held the highest offices in the
county, and one of them is at
present a member of the Local
Legislature for an eastern
constituency.
[1824] The names of Silas
Orvis, Rueben Steel, John
Henry, Daniel Betts, William
Smith and William Losie appear
in the list of township officers
this year. Members of the
family, and their connections
are well known and occupy high
positions. The following by-law
was passed in this year — we
give it verbatim et literatim:
“Firstly voted that the Fences
shall be five feet high and
Not More than four inches
between Rails two feet from the
ground.”
“2nd, that hogs are to Run at
large till they Do Damage
and then the owner of the hogs
is to pay the same and yoke
them with a 6 inch yoke six
Inches above the Neck and
four Inches below the Neck
and Let them Run.”
3rd. That any unruly Creature
of any description either horse
or ox or Cow or Bull Mully
or young Creature of any sort
or size shall Not be a free
Commoner but shall be liable
to be taken up and put In the
pound By any person Either
Man woman or Boy and the
owner shall pay all Damages,
poundages and Costs whether
said Creature was found Doing
Damage or Not.”
If the same by-law applied to
the “unruly creatures” of the
present day what poundages
and damages we should see!
And what a description of the
“unruly creatures”— male and
female — running at large!
In 1825,17 the name of
William Sleigh appears as
Township Clerk — the word
“township” being written
instead of “town” for the first
time. From this up to 1835
we have the names of some
of the most prominent men
in the township of Pickering
up to the present day. They
include such names as Leys,
Morel, Cair, Barclay, Caster,
Gazer, Greswold, Carling,
Peck, Dunlop, Cool, McWain,
Leavens, Davis, Smith, Berry,
Stoner, Monger, Thomson,
Parnell, Webb, Laur, Crowthers,
Hatrick, Austin, Palmer,
Hughes, Lock, Gates, Wright,
3
Illustrated Historical Atlas of Ontario County (Beers 1877).
4
Tool, Burton, Robert and James
Richardson, Richmond, Judge,
McKay, Knowles, Wurts, Scott,
Blanchard, Stouffer, Chapman,
Terry, Gibbs, Holmes, Ward,
Lamaer, Van Horn, Platt, Betts,
Horsburg, Lankern, O’Brien,
Reazin, Campbell, Hodley,
Thornton, Niswander, Granger,
Plumb, Rowe, Rushness,
Crider, Knox, Rowland Brown,
Ambrose Boon, Richard Dale,
Joseph Gormley, John Jackson,
Wm. Wilkey, Ebenezer Birrell,
Bice, Burkholder, Tracey,
Stephens, Wm. Dunbar, Thos.
Anson, Jacob Waltenberger, and
others, appearing amongst the
Wixsons, Woodruffs, Rogerses,
Sharrards, Churchills, Posts,
Browns, Haights, Mathews, of
an earlier date.
With this quarter of a
century of the early history
of Pickering, the readers of
The News this week must rest
satisfied. In the future issues of
this paper the early settlement
and biographical sketches of the
early settlers will be continued,
with more detail and at greater
length than we can afford in
the limits marked out for the
purpose the present week.
Pickering News,
18 November 1881
Pickering: Early Settlement
Sketches, &c.
Continuing our remarks of last
week under this head,
and which brought us to the
year 1825 — we turn back
for a moment.
Caleb and Henry Powell
came in in 1810, and settled on
No. 10, Broken Front. Their
descendants still live on the
place. Mr. J.B. Powell, the well-
known Whitby merchant, of the
Dominion Warehouse, is a son
of Caleb.
When Mr. Ebenezer Birrell,
the well-known and highly
respected Squire of Greenwood,
settled in 1834, there were
few settlers back of the 6th
concession; and even that line
was but partially opened. The
leading roads were the front, or
Kingston road, running through
the [illegible] of the township
northwards to Brock. The
leading men, then, on the front
road, were “Squire” Galbraith,
a P.L.S., and “Squire” Leys,
who kept the only post office
for years.18
Mr. Leys died in 1853,
deservedly regretted. There was
also a Mr. Smith, a J.P., near
Duffins’ Creek. And with the
late Mr. Donald McKay, and
occasionally “Squire” Fothergill,
from Toronto, and Dr. Boyes
from Whitby, these gentlemen
formed the Commissioners of
the Court of Requests. The
Court sat in Squire Ley’s school
house. The house belonging to
the Posts was the only brick
house then in Pickering, and
was kept as an inn. Mr. Ballard,
at the Rouge Hill, also kept a
house of public entertainment
at that place, and there was
a little wayside public house
occasionally kept at Dunbarton.
Mr. Leys was then the only
storekeeper in Pickering. His
home was a great place of
resort. Along the Brock road,
Elder Barclay, Jas. Sharrad, and
Joshua Wixson lived on the
9th concession, where he and
others had old cleared farms.
This latter was the only person
in Pickering who had a grist
mill; it was built about a mile
east of where Claremont now
stands. About this time Mr.
Fothergill commenced building
a mill on Duffin’s Creek, near
the present line of the Grand
Trunk Railway, but it did not
continue long in operation. Jas
Demorest built a saw mill on lot
12, in the 6th concession which
was of immense benefit to that
portion of the township. A Mr.
Sicelly had also a saw mill and
grist mill on lot 15 in the 5th,
which, much about this time,
he sold to Mr. Howell, who
erected a distillery and built a
store, and with his sons carried
on a considerable business.19
Mr. Henry Howell, the only
surviving son, still resides in the
town of Whitby. Mr. Crawford
had afterwards a saw mill on
the 4th concession and John
Palmer one on the west branch
of the creek, about lot 21 in
the 2nd concession. The closest
settlement eastward, was rear of
the 5th concession, where were
located Messrs. Mackie, John
Clarke, and Isaac Campbell
(a brother of Mr. Calvin
Campbell). Beyond this there
was no open road. Captain
Macauley, having considerable
Illustrated Historical Atlas of Ontario County (Beers 1877).
Francis Leys memorial stone.
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wild lands in that quarter, gave
50 acres to have the side line
between 10 and 11, in the 4th
and 5th concessions, and 6 and 7
in the 6th and 7th and south half
of the 8th concession opened.
Notwithstanding the want of
roads, the lands in this quarter
were mostly settled upon, or
bought up and settled within
a few years. Most of the next
settlers were immigrants—a
fair mixture of English, Irish
and Scotch. About this time,
Samuel and Joseph Jones, with
their large families, settled on
the 7th concession, and have left
their descendants comfortable
homes. Messrs. Waddle,
Hickingbottom, Gordon, and
James I. Davidson, settled at
this date. John Miller settled
in Pickering in 1835. He came
out in 1832 from Scotland,
bringing sheep and pigs to his
uncle George, of Markham. In
1839 his father, Wm. Miller,
and family, followed, locating
on the old homestead, lot 25,
7th con. The Millers afterwards
commenced the importation
of thorough-bred stock, for
which they have become so
famous, and for which the many
stock breeders of Pickering since
made the township famous.20
It then took three days to go
to Toronto and return
from Mr. Miller’s.
A by-law of the township
provided, in 1835, “Any dog
found two miles from his master
should be shot.” The meeting
this year was held in Alex’r
Thompson’s tavern,21 where the
meetings also continued to be
held during many subsequent
years.
In 1836 John Clarke
appears as Township Clerk. The
Commissioners appointed were
John A. Haight, Isaac Campbell,
and Jos. Wilson. The names of
Linton, Logan, Bentley, Agnew,
O’Connor, Heaney, Carpenter,
Michell, Sullivan, Gibson,
Burns, Beaman, Stickney,
McKittrick, Gilchrist, appear
on the list. The Commissioners
met several times during the
year, and gave judgment in a
good many cases, fining parties
for road obstructions and non-
performance of Statute Labor.
In 1837 it was resolved
that the township on every
concession be divided into
four divisions, and that
every division appoint its
own overseers. This does not
appear to have worked well,
for at the next meeting of the
Commissioners it is resolved
“that it have no effect.”
Mr. Birrell was elected one
of the Commissioners in 1836;
Jno. Sharrard,22 Town Clerk.
The name of Peter
Matthews, which had hitherto
appeared year after year very
prominently in the list of
officers, disappeared this year.
He was hanged with Lount for
taking part in the rebellion.
The names of Greig,
Burkholder, Collins, O’Leary,
Ballantyne, Anson, appeared
in 1839. Jno. Wilson was
appointed Clerk in 1840 and
in 1841 the township had a
librarian, Mr. Thompson, the
tavern keeper, to take charge of
the books (viz: Journals of the
House of Assembly) presented
by the sitting member, Mr.
Small, to the township. The first
district councillors were elected
in 1842. They were Alexander
Campbell and Mr. H. Michell.23
Pickering News,
2 December 1881
Pickering: Early Settlement
Sketches, &c.
The early record of sheep-
marks, entered in the “Pickering
Town Book,” has some interest.
The record begins 17th March,
1811.
The first name recorded is
that of Thomas Hubbard (he
was than Township clerk).
The next is James “Lamoree”
(evidently a corruption of
the French Lamoreux). Next
Andrew Lasson (Lawson). And
then follow Thomas Mathews,
John Major, Peter Mathews,
Joshua Wixson — all recorded
in the month of March, 1811
The marks and signs are
given in little diagrams opposite
each name.
In April, 1815, Joseph
Wixson has a new mark
recorded, and his is the only
name that appears in that year.
1816, April 5. William
Watson has his marks
recorded — the only entry for
the year.
No entry appears in 1817,
and in 1818 only one, under
date of October 20th — John
McWain.
Two names are entered in
1820: February 15th — Amos
Wixson; May 12th, Samuel
Monger.
In 1821, we find the
following: Andrew Hubbard,
David Patterson, Jacob
Crawford, David Crawford,
Noadiah Woodruff, William
Smith, “Esqr” John Matthews,
James W. Sharrard, E. George
Barclay, John Stotts, William
Matthews, Samuel Eves,
Nicholas Brown, George Post,
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Howell’s Hollow plaque.
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Portrait of John Miller
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Joseph Webster, John A. Haight,
Joshua Sharrard, James William
Sharrard, Evans Fierin[?], “Ase”
Wilson, Abraham Losie, Joseph
Plumb, Samuel Plumb, Thomas
C. Sharrard.
The names are given in the
order in which they appear,
and the original orthography
adhered to. The spelling of
the names, it will be borne in
mind, is not that of the parties
themselves, but as written down
by the clerk, at the time, who
does not appear to be always
accurate in his spelling of
proper names. As an instance,
the name McCausland, which
had been always thus written
by Mr. William McCausland’s
ancestors, is incorrectly put
down as McCauslin.
Dunbarton
The village of Dunbarton
derived its name as well as its
origin from its first proprietor
and projector, the late William
Dunbar, Esq. Half a century
ago he, with his household,
settled on the lot of land he
had bought, and on which he
lived till the day of his death,
in 1869. Then, the now well
cleared and cultured farms
were but large woods and
little clearings. The roads, too,
were then in keeping with the
character of the country, and
even on the Kingston Road,
though long opened and largely
travelled, being the leading
thoroughfare of the country,
broken wagons and crippled
stages, were at certain seasons,
neither few nor far between,
while the Rouge hill was ever
a terror to travellers, both far
and near. Of the first settlers,
that is, those who were the men
and women of the day, along
the front road from the Rouge
to Duffin’s Creek, not more
than one solitary individual
that we know of now remains,
and while in not a few cases
their descendants still retain
the properties, yet many of the
farms have changed hands and
several of them oftener than
once, the purchasers, almost
without exception, being old
country people. From the Rouge
to Duffin’s Creek, only five of
the first houses now remain, and
these are occupied by Messrs.
McConochie, Grant, Morrison,
Bush, and the occupant of the
old Woodruff house. Of the
first owners of the land in that
range, only two, Messrs Alison
and Haney, remain, the former
only, however, being a resident.
Somewhere about thirty
years ago, the village and the
adjoining harbour both had
their inception and in both Mr.
Dunbar ever took an active
interest, being in the latter not
only a large shareholder but
superintendent of that work.
But its history deserves another
paper. The village plot when
laid out, was rapidly bought
up and built upon, and from
that day to this, both the
houses and the householders
have maintained a high degree
of respectability. To the credit
alike of its originator and its
inhabitants, intoxicating liquors
were never manufactured, and
only for a little time sold within
its bounds, and those who did
so, soon had to shut up shop.
Three stores now, and for a
long time past, have readily and
reasonably supplied the wants
of the community. In one of
them is the Post Office, with its
mails twice each day. On the
establishment of the Post Office
the inhabitants agreed to call
it Dunbarton in honor of its
originator, the name first got
and ever retained.
In its waggon and
blacksmith shops any kind of
work in keeping with the craft
can be gotten done, satisfactory
alike in prices and performance,
while in its saddler’s shop
harness of all kinds is got up at
once stylish and substantial. Its
carpenter, too, has done himself
no little credit by what he has
undertaken and accomplished.
Prominent as it ever ought
to be, stands the church, a
commodious and substantial
brick building, belonging to
the Presbyterians, while in the
outskirts is the goodly brick
school house. Thus the spiritual
and the intellectual are wisely
cared for, while our worthy
doctor successfully ministers to
the ailments of the body. For
a considerable time a tannery
did good service in the village,
but the removal of the railway
station did much to injure the
village and incommode the
surrounding community. A
daily stage, however, in part
supplies the lack and lessens the
inconvenience. The situation is
pleasant, having the beautiful
bay with its harbour, in front,
and the wide stretching lake
beyond. The locality is healthy,
the surrounding country fertile,
while its inhabitants alike in
enterprise and intelligence will
favourably compare with those
of any other community.
Pickering News,
9 December 1881
Pickering: Early Settlement
Sketches, &c.
Taking up the record of the
parties who registered sheep
marks in “The Town Book”
from 1821 — where we stopped
last week, we proceed to give the
following in continuation:
1822 — Joseph Munsell, Portrait of William Dunbar
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Thistle Ha’ plaque
Jim
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Sales poster for William Miller
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John Smith, Wm. Peak,
Samuel Major, Asa Mathews,
Joseph Mathews, Albert Smith,
Asa Wixson, Joseph Press, Asher
Wilson.
1823 — Timothy Rogers,
David Clock, George Anderson,
John Udell, Joseph Brown,
Abraham Wurts, Charles Hadley,
Alexander Horsburgh, Wm.
Sharrard.
1824 — John Miller, Mary
Mathews, John Craig, Amos
Greswold, David Louis.
1825 — Thomas Major, Wm.
Sleigh, Moses Allan,
Wm. Smith, John Williams, John
Albright.
1826 — Harvey Woodruff,
John Cuer, Aaron Betts, John
Blair, Dan’l Waltenburger.
1827 — Caleb Powell, Cyrus
Howard, Henry Powell, Moses
Tucker.
1828 — Stephen Thompson,
James Brown, Herbert Gager.
1829 — Lawrence Losie,
Beasley Blanchard, Ephraim
Scott, Asahel Scott, John Tool,
Thomas Thompson, Miran
Bentley.
1830 — Eli Leavens, Silas
Orvis, Rhoda Lamoreaux,
George Wright, Harvey
Champney.
1831 — Ira Brown, Robert
Wilson, Wm. Hatrick, Jr., Oliver
Thornton, Henry Jones, Jas.
Scott, James Lamoreaux, Jr.
1832 — Nicholas Austin.
1833 — John Dolphin.
These were the early
names and marks recorded
in these years.
1834 — James Johnson,
Altamont Donaldson, Isaiah
Webb.
1835 — Sylvanus Brown,
John Reynolds, Henry Major.
1836 — Caleb B. Stickney,
Wm. Sarles, James Mackie, John
Clerke, James Monger, Levi
Mackie, John Ridley, Charles
Jayne, Loren Foster.
1837 — George Magee,
David Garner, Stephen Palmer.
No further entries appear to
have been made up to 1844. In
that year we find —
1844 — James Barclay, David
Mathews.
1845 — Amos Way.
1846 — Robert G. Barmin.
No entry for 1847.
1848 — David L. Barclay.
1849 — Wm. S. Barclay,
Wm. Turner, Hugh Pugh, John
Erhart, Wm. White.
We find another blank up to
1852 — Wm. Hy. Michell,
Thomas Pallester.
Another blank occurs until
1855 — Hugh Pugh.
1856 — Nichol McIntyre.
No further entry appears up to
1873 — when the following
occurs: Hugh Pugh’s mark
transferred to his son Thomas
Pugh.
The last entries are —
1876 — Casper Wilson
— two holes in the right ear,
and one in the left. Wm. Bell,
lots 31 and 32, 6th con., two
holes in each ear.
We now return to the record
of the township meetings and
by-laws.
Under date of 16th January
1826, “a meeting of the
inhabitants of the township
of Pickering met (agreeable
to appointment) at Mr. John
Blair’s” where the following
persons were appointed office-
bearers:
Wm. Sleigh, Town Clerk.
Noadiah Woodruff and
Wm. Major, Assessors.
Thomas Major, Collector
Overseers of Highways
Henry Powell, from the
Lake shore to 2nd concession.
George Post, from the
township to No. 9 on the
Danford road.
Francis Leys, from No. 8 to
Duffin’s Creek, and to the mill.
Joseph Morell from Duffin’s
Creek to No. 25.
John Henry, from No. 4 to
Scarborough line.
John Cuer, from the Danford
Road to the 4th Con, between
lots 10 and 11.
Robert Widderfield, from the
Danford Road to the 4th con.,
between Nos. 2 and 3.
Harvey Woodruff, from No.
16 to No. 22 in the 5th con.,
and sideroad between Nos. 18
and 19, from the centre of the
2nd con. to the centre of the 5th
concession.
Peter Mathews, from the
centre of the 5th con. to the
centre of the 6th.
Amos Greswold, from
No. 21 to the town line of the
5th con.
George Barclay, Jr., from the
centre of the 6th to the 8th.
Ebenezer Avery, from the 8th
and 9th con., east to No. 24.
George Carter, for the 8th and
9th con., west from No. 23 to the
town line.
David Wood and Samuel
Major, Poundkeepers
Wm. Crothers and Asher
Wilson — Town Wardens.
By-law — “Noted — that
the fences are to be as last year.
Boars are not to run at large, but
if they do they may be castrated,
at the discretion of the person
on whose premises they may
be found, and at the risk of the
owner.”
“Other hogs as last year.”
“Horned cattle to run at large,
exception unruly ones which are
to be kept up.”
“Horses as last year.”
The above appears to
be the whole municipal work of
the year.
The following year, 1827,
on the first of January, the
inhabitants of the township also
meet [sic] at Mr. John Blair’s.
The same clerk and assessors
were re-elected, and George
Barclay, Jr., appointed collector
in the place of Thos. Major.
Amongst the overseers of
highways this year are Herbert
Gager, Wm. McCasling, Wm.
Peck, Sr., Alex Dunlop, Asa
Matthews, Benj. R. Cool. Ezekiel
McWain, and George Anderson.
Jos. Wixson and Samuel Eves are
appointed Poundkeepers, with
Post Card: Dunbarton’s Main Street
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David Wood. — And the Town
Wardens are — George Barclay,
Sr., and Eli Leavens.
By-law — “Voted — That
the lawful fence shall be five
feet high, and not more than
four inches between the rails to
the height of two feet from the
ground.”
“Boars are not to run at large
from the first day of May to the
1st of November.
“Other hogs to be free-
commoners.”
“Horned cattle as last year.”
“Horses are not to be at large.”
The boars appear to have been
troublesome in these times, when
so much municipal legislation
was required [to] keep them
within bounds. How pleasant it
would be if the bores of to-day,
both in Pickering and elsewhere,
could be restrained in a similar
manner.
1828 — George Barclay and
Eli Leavens are made assessors
and Noadiah Woodruff,
collector.
Amongst the new names of
overseers are Joses Winters,
Lawrence Smith, John Davis,
Abraham Losie, Cornelius
Churchill, Geo. Berry.
Poundkeepers — Asher
Wilson, Wm. Crothers.
Thos. Hubbard and John
Matthews — Town Wardens.
By- laws — “Voted”
— “That boars be under the
same restrictions as last year.”
“That bulls are not free
commoners.”
“That horned cattle may
run at large till they do
mischief, unless they are shown
to be breachy.”
“That horses are not
to run at large.”
“That any person that shall
knowingly allow Canada thistles
to grow on his farm shall be
liable to a fine of two pounds ten
shillings, to be laid out on the
highways in the district wherein
the said thistles are neglected,
which said fine to be paid to the
overseers for the time being.”
There is rich simplicity about
allowing the horned cattle to
run, “until they do mischief,
unless they are known to
be breachy.” But there is no
ambiguity as to the by-law about
the thistles.
Pickering News,
16 December 1881
Pickering: Early Settlement
Sketches, &c.
1829 — The “Town Record”
for 1829 opens with the
statement that “The inhabitants
of the Township of Pickering met
(agreeable to appointment) at
Mr. Eli Leavens’ on the 6th day
of January for the purpose of
choosing and nominating Parish
and Town officers for the present
year, when the following were
appointed:
William Sleigh, Town Clerk.
Noadiah Woodruff, Joseph
Wixson, William Sleigh,
Assessors.
Overseers of Highways, 1829
Silas Orvis, Abraham Stoner,
Henry Powell, Solomon
Churchill, Joseph Morell,
John Henry, jr., Charles Ward,
James Monger, George Smith,
Samuel Major, Peter Matthews,
Lawrence Losie, Thomas
Thompson, Parnell Webb.
William Crothers, Thomas
Major, Poundkeepers.
Francis Leys, James W.
Sharrard, Town Wardens.
By-Law.
The only by-law “voted” this
year was as follows:
“The lawful fence to be the
same as last year.
Boars are not to be free
commoners.
Other hogs are to be free
commoners.
Bulls to be free commoners.
Any creature that is known to
throw down a fence are not to
be free commoners.
All other horned cattle are to
be free commoners.
Horses are not to be free
commoners.”
This was all the municipal
legislation of the year. If the
grammar is not according to
Lindley Murray, the deficiencies
are more than counterbalanced
by the brevity of the sentences
in which the proceedings are
recorded. There are no “And
whereases”, “Be it enacteds”,
or “first, second and third
readings”, or “goings into
committee of the whole”. But
we have the plain meaning
and intent of the meeting in
a few common-sense words,
free from all legal phraseology
and circumlocution jargon.
The language is as sturdy and
Historical plaque: Peter Matthews Ph
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Relief sculpture of Peter Matthews
at Mackenzie House.
9
abrupt as the sturdy settlers
themselves were in those days.
1830 — In 1830 the
“Town Meeting” was again
held at the home of Mr. Eli
Leavens — and as late as
the 13th of February! William
Sleigh is again clerk — in
which position, we may here
remark, he continues up to,
and including the year 1835.
William Sleigh and Herbert
Gager are appointed assessors,
and William Hatrick, junior,
collector. The list of overseers
of highways includes the
names of Silas Orvis, Edward
Lawrence, Nicholas Austen, Eli
Leavens, Joseph Morel, John
Palmer, Joel Hughes, Timothy F.
Gates, Benjamin Locke, Harvey
Woodruff, Asa Matthews,
Abraham Losie, Thomas
Sharrard, Jesse Wixon, George
Spencer. Poundkeepers —
Nicholas Brown and Abraham
Losie. Town wardens—John A.
Haight and Andrew Hubbard.
One by-law, contained in
half a dozen lines, similar to
that of 1829, was “voted”.
The only addition being
that — “Sheep are not to
be free commoners”.
Pickering News,
23 December 1881
Pickering: Early Settlement
Sketches, &c.
The record from the “Town
Book” was brought down to
1830 in the last issue.
1831. In this year the “Town
meeting” was again held at
Mr. Leavins’s, on the 3rd of
January. The following were
appointed to serve as “Parish
and Town officers”:
William Sleigh, Town clerk;
William Hatrick, jr., and
Joseph Wixon, assessors; Ira
Brown, collector.
The overseers of highways
were—Robert Richardson,
Henry Powell, James
Richardson, Joseph Webster,
William Wright, John Tool,
Job Barton, David Richmond,
Michael B. Judge, Benjamin
Locke, James McKay, James
Monger, Abraham Knowles,
Asher Wilson, Samuel Major,
Abraham Losie, Landon Warts,
Joshua Wixon, Asahel Scott,
Beasley Blanchard, Christian
Stoffer, Christopher Lamoreux.
Poundkeepers—Joseph
Chapman, Edward Lawrence,
John Terry, Samuel Major,
Joseph Wixon, Israel Gibbs.
Town Wardens—William
Crother and Nicholas Brown.
The municipal legislation of
the year consisted of one by-law
and was contained in eight lines.
There was the usual
enactment against boars and
bulls, cattle “known to be
breachy”, horses and sheep
being free commoners. “All
pigs under 40 lbs weight “are
also declared not to be “free
commoners”. “All other cattle
were allowed to run at large,
and “other hogs” were declared
to be free commoners.
1832 — The meeting was
held at the same place on the
2nd of January. The changes in
the offices are—Ira Brown and
Nicholas Austin, assessors. Wm.
Hatrick, jr., collector.
The names of Benjamin
Holmes, Robert Willson, James
Fulton, Isaiah Webb, Charles
Ward, John Richmond, John
Laman, John Van Horn, Platt
Betts, Stephen Dillingham,
Alexander Horsburgh, Richard
Lankem, John Laur, Michael
Yake, and Daniel O’Brien
are introduced amongst the
overseers of highways.
The Town Wardens are—
Samuel Major and Eli Leavens.
Poundkeepers—Jose Winters,
Benjamin Varnum, James
Munger, Joshua Sharrard,
Joseph Brown, Benj. R. Cool.
In addition to the usual by-
law as to the “lawful fence”
being five feet, and four inches
between rails, and the restriction
upon boars, horses, bulls and
sheep, all hogs are included this
year, and are not allowed to be
free commoners. “All cattle that
will throw down a fence are not
to be free commoners, while all
cattle that are “not breachy”,
are allowed to run at large.
1833 — This year there
was a change in the place of
meeting—being held at Amos
Griswold’s, on Monday, the 7th
of January.
The two Hatricks—William,
jr., and John, were appointed
assessors, and Isaac Campbell,
collector. Amongst the names of
overseers of highways occur those
of Thomas Reason, Abraham
Stoner, Silas Orvis, Edward
Lawrence, James Richardson,
Ira Brown, George White, David
Richmond, Michael B. Judge,
Alex. Dunlop, John Richmond,
John Oyer, James Mackay,
John Knowles, Charles Hadley,
Richard Ray, Powell Woodruff,
Asher Willson, Samuel Major,
Peter Matthews, Landon Wurts,
Cornelus Churchill, John
Sisler, Joseph Wixon, Joseph
Thornton, John Udle, Martin
Nawswander, Allan Grainger,
and Samuel Plumb.
Town Wardens — Francis
Leys and Thomas Hubbard.
Poundkeepers — Wm.
Wright, Henry Henry, Wm.
Major, James Monger, Christian
Stoffer, and Townsend Wixon.
This year — “Bulls are to be
free commoners, while boars,
hogs, “unruly” cattle, horses
and sheep are not. “All other
horned cattle” are also made
free commoners.
Pickering News,
30 December 1881
Pickering: Early Settlement
Sketches, &c.
1834 — On Monday the
9th of January of this year
the “Town meeting” was
again held at the residence
of Mr. Eli Leavens, and the
following officers elected:—
Isaac Campbell and James
Monger, assessors; Henry
Major, collector. Overseers
of Highways: — Robt.
Richardson, Caleb Powell,
James Roe, Joseph Chapman,
Wm. Crothers, John Tool,
Charles Hadley, Altomont
Donaldson, Michael B. Judge,
Robert Gibson, Ambrose
Boon, David Harnden, Jacob
Wiseman, James Hughes, Major
Ward, David Gordon, Thomas
Brand, Harvey Woodruff,
Andrew Thompson, Samuel
Major, George Barclay, John
Sharrard, Geo. Barclay, jr.,
Joshua Wixon, Townsend
Wixon, Joseph Thornton, David
Crider, Peter Rushnell, Jos.
Brown and Robert Knox.
Town Wardens: — Wm.
Hatrick and Asher Wilson.
Poundkeepers: — Nicholas
Brown, Noadiah Woodruff,
Samuel Major, Jas. Monger, and
Christian Stouffer.
The town bylaw “voted” was
that boars “are not allowed to
10
run at large. Other hogs are not
to be free comoners. Bulls are to
be free comoners; unruly cattle
are not; other cattle are to be
free comoners. Horses are not
to run at large. Sheep ditto.”
Descendants of the above
named old settlers are numerous
throughout the township.
The James “Roe” named in
the list of overseers of highways,
was our respected friend of the
late Captain Rowe of Whitby,
who had then newly come to
this country, and had taken up
his residence in Pickering.
1835 — The meeting this
year was held at Andrew
Thompson’s tavern, on 5th of
January, and was the first of
many subsequent meetings
held at that afterwards well
known hostlery.
This was the last year in
which Mr. Sleigh held the
office of Town Clerk. The
names of the officers elected
are: — Henry Major and
Daniel O’Brien, assessors.
Overseers of Roads — Silas
Orvis, Henry Powell, James
Richardson, Robert Wilson,
Thomas Reason, John Tool,
Charles Hadley, Rowland
Brown, Stephen Palmer, Charles
Ward, Ambrose Boon, Richard
Dale, Urick Burkholder, John
Jackson, Abraham Wurts,
Joseph Gormley, Wm. Wilkey,
Harvey Woodruff, Andrew
Thompson, Samuel Major,
Peter Matthews, Wm. Bice,
Ebenezer Birrell, James W.
Sharrard, Joseph Wixon, John
Lawrence, Wm. Tracey, Michael
Yake, Allen R. Stevens, Jacob
Waltenbargar
Town Wardens—Cornelius
Churchill, John Strathern.
Poundkeepers—Caleb Powell,
Wm. Crowthers, Charles
Hadley, Septimus Turner, John
Louer, Josh. Wixson.
Fence Viewers appear to
have been appointed this
year for the first time.24 They
were—Joshua Wixson, James
W. Sharrard, Peter Matthews,
Isaac Campbell, Elijah Foster,
Abraham Wurts, Joseph Brown,
Christian Stouffer, Geo. Caster,
Asa Post, Nicholas Austen,
Nicholas Brown, Henry Powell,
Edw. Lawrence, James Roe,
Geo. Brown, Wm. Dunbar,
Thos. Annan.
The by-law “voted” this year
is of the usual character, with
the addition—
“Resolved—That any Dog
found two miles from his Master
may be shot.”
This was hard on the dogs. But
perhaps the “Masters” did not
travel so far away from home in
those days as they do now.
Pickering News,
10 February 1882
Pickering: Early Settlement
Sketches, &c.
The record in the Township
Book for 1836 commences with
a marked change. The meeting
was held at Thompson’s tavern,
when Peter Matthews was
appointed chairman, and the
following Township officers
elected:
John Clarke, township clerk.
John Haight, Isaac
Campbell, and Josiah Wixson,
Commissioners. Wm. Sleigh,
assessor; John Palmer, collector.
The overseers of highways
were:—Robert Richardson,
Enos McAslin, Jas. Logan,
Robert Linton, David Gordon,
John Agnew, John Matthews,
Amos Grisell, Wm. Brennan,
Wm. McConehey, Caleb B.
Stickney, James Carpenter; Levi
Mackey, Jas. Damerest, Wm.
Sadler, James Scott, Joseph
Sharrard, John Little, Joseph
Jones, David Rose, Robt.
Knox, Robert Burns, Powell
Woodruff, Andrew Thompson,
Samuel Major, Harvey
Woodruff, Wm. Mitchell,
Daniel Leaney, John Pearson,
Wm. Winters, Ezra Bates,
Jacob Shanks, Jacob Wideman,
George Spencer, David Garner,
sr., Ford Sanders, John Mills,
Martin Niecewander, John
Richmond.
Poundkeepers—Edward
Lawrence, Wm. Hatrick,
sr., James Sullivan, Jas.
Huntingdon, Landon Wurts,
Christian Stouffer, Townsend
Wixon.
Many of the names have
been familiar for years in
the township, and some of
them who are dead and gone
once made no small noise in
the community. Poor “Pete”
Matthews, who was appointed
chairman of the meeting, was
hanged the year following
for his connection with the
rebellion troubles of 1837.
The usual resolution was
passed as to lawful fences, and
for the prevention of horses,
bulls, rams, boars and hogs
running at large.
About this time the township
was becoming thickly settled.
Before this date, in 1831,2,3,
the Mongers, Joneses, Jacksons,
Isaac Campbell, David
Richmond, Charles Ward,
Elijah Foster, Wing Rogers,
Abraham Wurts, a family of
the Harrisons, Major Ward,
the McKittrick’s, the Littles,
the Mowbrays and others, had
settled along and south of the
5th and 6th concessions. The
Mowbrays came from Donegal,
in Ireland. Ralph Mowbray,
the original settler, purchased
his first lot of land from Captn.
Elmsley in Toronto—his
neighbour and fellow-traveller,
John Little, purchasing also at
the same time. Both came direct
from New York to Toronto
(then Little York), and both
were tradesmen, who, it is to
be presumed, knew little about
farming, or at least little about
clearing the Canadian primeval
forest, at the time. Ralph
Mowbray was a ship carpenter,
and Little, a bricklayer, and
both worked together in New
York, where they became
acquainted, and made up
their minds to emigrate to
Canada. Captn Elmsley gave
land for opening up the road.
Charles Ward was the man
who took the job of chopping
and clearing. He commenced
about half way north of the
PT
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Mowbray home
11
6th con., and got through the
7th and half-way through the
8th, by where Samuel Jones
now lives. Old Mr. Mowbray’s
original purchase was the 150
acres, where his son Ralph now
resides. He afterwards added
50 acres bought from Ward,
which was subsequently sold
to Mr. Gibson. The latter, who
died not long since, has left a
large number of children and
grand-children surviving him.
Farther north than the 6th,
there were no settlers on the
arrival of the Mowbrays in
1833. Along the 6th, although
the road was chopped, the
timber was then standing.
There was a kind of scattering
settlement from Mowbray’s
up to Greenwood Hill, where
the McKittrick’s were settled.
Deer and bear were then
plentiful, north of the 6th con.,
and wolves sometimes gave
annoyance. There were no
wheeled vehicles, and it took
two days to go and return with
oxen and a sleigh to Oshawa,
to get the wheat ground. Hugh
Mowbray, of Kinsale, then
a little boy with his father,
remembers well the hard and
trying times the early settlers
had in those days.
NOTES:
1 In 1791 and 1792, Augustus Jones surveyed the
lakeshore of townships east from York to the
Trent River. In 1795 and again in 1797, Jones
continued his survey of Pickering, along with
other lands. See “Augustus Jones” in the Annual
Proceedings of the Association of Ontario Land
Surveyors, 115 (1923).
2 Beers (1877) says 74, 600.
3 The only bit of Range I of the Broken Front that
was in Pickering Township is, as of 1974, no
longer a part of Pickering.
4 The only place we have been able to find this
record is in the Oshawa Vindicator for 20 April
– 8 June 1864, which reprinted the early Minutes
of the Townships of Pickering and Whitby. One
Pickering resident, Salmon Fuller, had his “Animal
Marks” described on 4 September 1801, as “A
half peney out of the upper side of the left Ear”.
Fuller was recorded as leasing Lot 15, Con 1, a
Clergy Reserve, in 1802. Sources: Fraser (1933);
Oshawa Vindicator (1864); McKay (1961).
5 The earliest municipal record of the township
is actually the Minutes of the Court of General
Quarter Sessions of the Peace for the Home
District, covering the dates 13th March 1800 to
28th December 1811. This has been published by
Alexander Fraser as the Twenty-first Report of the
Department of Public Records and Archives of
Toronto 1932 (Toronto: Herbert H. Ball, 1933).
The first reference to Pickering comes under the
date 17 January 1801 (p. 15). Here it is recorded
that
“The Court having taken into Consideration the
Expediency of all the Townships in the District,
holding their respective Town Meetings, in the
Month of March next; do hereby nominate
and appoint the undermentioned persons, to be
Constables, in said District, preparatory to, and
in order that the said Meetings may be duly held
vizt.”
[Vizt is a shortened form of the Latin word
videlicet, which itself is a contraction of the
Latin phrase videre licet, which means “it is
permitted to see”. It is used as a synonym for
“namely”, or “that is to say”. Wikipedia. One
more often encounters this as simply viz. The
addition of the superscript “t” is a holdover
from Medieval usage. The more usual expression
now, however, is i.e., short for “id est”, meaning
“that is”.
Peter Tuttle was chosen to represent Pickering.
At the next meeting of the Court, Thursday, 16
April (p. 19) Tuttle’s appointment for the year
1801 was renewed. Tuttle purchased Lot 4,
Concession 1 from D.W. Smith in 1801. However,
Tuttle’s name does not appear again in any official
documents, and when Lot 4 was sold again it
was by Smith to Elizabeth Hulet, suggesting that
either Tuttle never took it up, or subsequently
abandoned it.
At a meeting of the Court held on Tuesday, the
14th of July 1801, part of the proceedings was
the appointment of a Petty Jury (p. 21). Several
Pickering names are recognizable as being sworn,
viz, Samuel Munger, Salmon Fuller, William Peek,
Joshua Sly and Anthony Rummerfield. They dealt
with a case of petty larceny (no details being
given) involving Roger, Eliphalet and Jeremiah
Coonat. The defendants were found not guilty.
Samuel Munger (1767-1826) leased two
Reserves—a Clergy Reserve, Lot 25, Con. 1; and
a Crown Reserve, Lot 16, Co. 2. He served as
Constable in 1802 and Pathmaster in 1803 and
1806. The first recorded town meeting (joint
between Pickering and Whitby) was held at his
house in Pickering, 7 March 1803. Sources:
Fraser (1933); Beers (1877); Blake (1956); McKay
(1961); Todd; Robertson.
Munger’s wife, Ruth Ray, featured in an article
published in the York Gazette on the 10th of
August 1805:
“Heroic action of an Upper Canada woman,
Mrs. Munger, of Duffin’s Creek, in the township
of Pitcairn [sic], 23 miles from York, hearing her
neighbour, Mrs. Woodruff, holler out for help,
immediately took down her husband’s gun and
ran to her assistance; when she arrived ther she
was informed that a very large bear had taken off
a sow into the bush. His route being shown her
this heroine immediately pursued and found the
destroyer in the act of devouring the sow; upon
which she rested her gun on a stump and shot
Bruin through the head. On weighing the bear it
proved to be the largest that had been killed in
that township.”
William Peek = William Peak, Sr. (1746-1842)
leased Lot 15, BF, a Clergy Reserve, in 1806;
purchased Lots 13 and 14, BF from Timothy
Rogers in 1807. He settled on the west side of the
mouth of Duffin’s Creek about 1799/1800. He
was a Pathmaster in 1803 and 1827, Constable in
1806. Sources: Fraser (1933); Oshawa Vindicator
(1864); Walton (1837); Beers (1877); Farewell
(1907); Wood (1911); McKay (1961).
Joshua Sly (b c1773) is only known through 2
sources: Fraser (1933) and Oaths of Allegiance.
According to his oath, sworn 21 March 1801,
he was a “farmer, born in the State of New York
but now in the Township of Pickering in this
Province, brown Hair Hazil Eyes about five feet
seven Inches high, Twenty Eight years Old …”
There was a Solomon Sly who was a Pathmaster
in 1822, and a founder of the Brougham Christian
Church in 1824 (Wood, 1911), but it is not
known what, if any, his relation to Joshua may
have been. His Oath of Allegiance is found in the
York Pioneer (1961), p. 23.
Anthony Rummerfield purchased Lot 7, BF in
1800 from D.W. Smith and sold the lot in 1815
to William McCausland. In 1807, he leased Lot
8, BF, a Clergy Reserve. In 1803, he served as
Town Warden. Sources: Fraser (1933); Oshawa
Vindicator (1864); Pickering Township Papers;
Beers (1877). A descendant, Jim Rummerfield has
been working on a family history.
In summary, official records list the following
6 inhabitants of Pickering Township in the year
1801: Salmon Fuller, Samuel Munger, William
Peak, Anthony Rummerfield, Joshua Sly, and Peter
Tuttle. Other individuals, like Thomas Matthews,
are said to have arrived by or before 1800, but
there are no official records to support those
claims.
In the following year, at a meeting of the Court
on Wednesday, 14th April 1802, it was recorded
(p. 31): “That the Collector chosen this Year for
the Townships Whitby & Pickering, be directed
to collect and receive the Assessment of those
Townships, for the last year, as they have not been
collected, owing to the absence of the collector.”
At the same meeting Samuel Munger was chosen
to replace Tuttle as Constable for 1802.
In 1803, Jacob Crawford was Constable for
12
Pickering and “David Crawford, overseer of the
Highway in the Township of Pickering, applied
for leave to open a road from Dundas Street to the
Settlements in the rear of the Concessions of that
Township.” (p. 44)
Jacob Crawford (b c1783) served as Constable
in 1803 and 1809; Pathmaster in 1810, Pound
Keeper in 1816, and Town Warden in 1818. He
was listed as a founder of the Brougham Christian
Church in 1824. Sources: Fraser (1933); Walton
(1837); Brown (1846); Beers (1877).
David Crawford obtained the patent for Lot
17, Con 5 in 1807, part of which he sold to
Henry Crawford in 1834. He also leased Lot 17,
Con. 4, a Crown Reserve, in 1807. He served as
Pathmaster in 1803 and 1806, and as Assessor
in 1811. He was a founder of the Brougham
Christian Church in 1824. Sources: Fraser (1933);
Pickering Township Papers; Oshawa Vindicator
(1864); Walton (1837); Beers (1877); Wood
(1911); McKay (1961).
The next municipal record comes from the
Minutes of the Pickering Town Council as
reported in the Pickering News. The Townships
of Whitby and Pickering held a joint Town
Meeting, probably not their first, on 7 March
1804. It was held in the home of Samuel Munger.
Some confusion has arisen over the location of
the meeting. At the time the meeting was held,
Munger was living on Lot 16, Concession 2, just
to the west of what became Pickering Village.
The Woodruff’s were their next-door neighbours.
A few years later Munger moved north to the
vicinity of Kinsale, which has led some writers to
believe that the Town Hall meeting was held in
that location. The Minutes of the Pickering Town
Council, 1811-1876 are at the Ontario Archives:
MS 281 (1).
Fourteen citizens of Pickering were chosen
to fill the township’s offices: Town Clerk,
2 Assessors, 2 Town Wardens, a Collector,
5 Pathmasters, and 2 Fenceviewers, and a
Poundkeeper.
The Town Clerk was Ebenezer Ransom. In
his Oath of Allegiance, sworn 26 July 1802, he
declared that he was “late of the State of New
York, but now of Pickering, Farmer, Grey eyes,
light hair, five feet ten inches high, forty-one
years old ….” Sources: Fraser (1933); Oshawa
Vindicator (1864); The York Pioneer (1961);
Beers (1877).
John Majors = John Major (Assessor) did not
receive the patent for his land until 1828, but he
had long lived there before that date—on Lot 18,
Concession 5 (this would put him in the vicinity of
Brock Road and Whitevale Road). He later moved
to the edge of the hamlet of Whitevale. He served
as Assessor (1803), Collector (1807, 1810, 1815),
Constable (1810), Pathmaster (1817, 1821), and
Poundkeeper (1820). Sources: Fraser (1933);
Oshawa Vindicator (1864); Brown (1846); Beers
(1877); Wood (1911).
Eleazir Lockwood (Assessor), Adam and
David Stephens (Town Warden and Collector),
Matthew Dewileger and John McGahen
(Pathmasters), David Lloyd (Fenceviewer), and
Silas Marvin (Poundkeeper) were residents of
Whitby Township.
Abraham Townsend (Fenceviewer) was
granted Lot 20, Concession 9 in 1802. He
served as Fenceviewer (1804), Assessor (1807),
Collector (1811), and Pathmaster (1811).
Sources: Fraser (1933); Oshawa Vindicator
(1864); Beers (1877).
On Wednesday, 11 April 1804, at the
General Quarter Sessions (p. 57), Daniel Spicer
was appointed Constable. This is the only
mention of Spicer in official documents.
The Minutes of the Court of General
Quarter Sessions of the Peace contain further
Pickering records between 1804 and 1811.
There was jury duty in 1805 (pp. 65 & 66),
1807 (p. 110 & 112), 1808 (p. 129), 1809
(p. 145), 1811 (pp. 188-190, 192, 194);
Constable appointments (David Thatcher for
1805, p. 71, Noadiah Woodruff for 1807, p.
104, John Hartshorne for 1808, p. 120, John
Hart for 1809, p. 136, Lawrence Woodruff
and John Major for 1810, p. 159, Richard Ray
and Joshua Wixon for 1811; Tavern licences
(Hawkins Woodruff in 1805 & 1811, pp. 79,
204); witness declaration (Joshua Wixon, p.
81); fines levied (1811—John Matthews &
Samuel Eves).
New names:
Samuel Eves, a Quaker, leased Lot 25,
Concession 1 in 1817, although he must have
already been in occupation for some years. He
was a Pathmaster in 1822 and a Poundkeeper
in 1827. Sources: Fraser (1933); Pickering
Township Papers, Timothy Rogers Journal,
Beers (1877).
Isaac Gero = Isaac Gerow (or Jerow) (1761-
1861), a Quaker, was Town Warden in 1810.
In 1813, he moved to Adolphustown. Sources:
Fraser (1933); Timothy Rogers Journal, Beers
(1877).
Benjamin Jerow, a Quaker, was born in
Westchester County, New York, lived in New
Brunswick from 1783 to 1804, when he
moved to Pickering. He was Poundkeeper in
1810, then, in 1813, moved to Adolphustown.
Sources: Fraser (1933); Timothy Rogers
Journal; Beers (1877).
According to the Oshawa Vindicator
(1864), James Hannah (or Hannahs) settled in
Pickering Township in 1803 or 1804. Sources:
Fraser (1933); Oshawa Vindicator (1864).
John Hart = John Allan Haight (1781-1865),
a Quaker. Of him there is a rather peculiar
entry in the Court Minutes (p. 138): “John
Hart otherwise John Hait who was appointed
Constable for Pickering appeared in Person,
and said that his Name is John Hait and that
he was Constable for Gwillimbury the last
Year under the name of John Heath, but whose
real name is John Allan Haight, and therefore
prayed to be discharged from his present
appointment; and he is discharged accordingly.
Jacob Crawford appointed Constable for the
Township of Pickering in place of the said John
A. Haight.” Haight played a not insignificant
role in the early history of Pickering Township.
He was Constable for a time in 1809,
Pathmaster in 1810 and 1818, Assessor in 1811
and 1815, Town Warden in 1816, 1822, and
1830, Collector in 1817, Poundkeeper in 1821,
and Commissioner in 1836. He is associated
with the following lands: Lots 10 and 11,
Concession 2 (purchased in 1810 from Wing
Rogers), Lot 14, Concession 2, and Lot 15 in
Concessions 2 and 3. Sources: Fraser (1933);
Walton (1837); Beers (1877); Wood (1911).
Of John Hartshorne (or John Heartshorn)
there is nothing more known about him.
Thomas Hubbard, UEL (1760-1853)
purchased Lot 19, Concession 5 from Henry
Smith, who had patented it in 1799. He was
Town Clerk from 1811 to 1822, Assessor in
1818, 1822, and 1824, Pathmaster in 1822 and
1823, Collector in 1823, and Town Warden in
1825 and 1828. Sources: Fraser (1933); Walton
(1837); Beers (1877); Wood (1911); McKay
(1961); Gauslin (1974).
According to Walton (1837), John Lawrence
occupied Lot 19, Concession 7. He was
Pathmaster in 1811 and 1815. He converted to
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
in the 1830s. Sources: Fraser (1933), Walton
(1837), Beers (1877).
Andrew Lawson’s name appears on the
Ridout map (1823) on Lot 24, Concession 4,
a Crown Reserve. He was Assessor in 1810,
Poundkeeper in 1818, and Town Warden
in 1821. Sources: Fraser (1933), Pickering
Township Papers,
Beers (1877).
John Matthews (c1785-1869) lived on Lot
12, Concession 2, a Clergy Reserve. He was
Poundkeeper in 1815 and 1820, Pathmaster in
1821 and 1824, and Town Warden in 1828.
Sources: Fraser (1933); Walton (1837); Brown
(1846); Rowsell (1851).
Thomas E[lmes] Matthews, UEL (1767-
1819) patented 350 acres of Lots 17 and 18,
Concession 6, in 1799. He served as Pathmaster
in 1811. Sources: Fraser (1933); Beers (1877);
McKay (1961).
Mathias McKay leased Lot 2, Broken Front
in 1812. He was an Assessor in 1806. Sources:
12
13
Fraser (1933); Pickering Township Papers;
Oshawa Vindicator (1864).
John Ray lived on half Lot 16, Concession
2. He served on juries in 1811. Sources: Fraser
(1933); Marriage Registers of Upper Canada.
Richard Ray was associated with a number
of lots in Pickering: Lot 28, Broken Front,
a Crown Reserve (leased in 1818); Lot 18,
Concession 1 (purchased in 1817); Lot 28,
Concession 1; and Lot 18, Concession 2
(purchased in 1810). He was a Constable in
1811, Poundkeeper in 1816, and Pathmaster
in 1817, 1818, 1821 and 1833. Sources: Fraser
(1933); Beers (1877).
Justis E. Seely = Justus Azel Seelye (1779-
1859) occupied the north half of Lot 23,
Concession 6, which he purchased in 1810. He
was a settler in Pickering c1809, served on the
Grand Jury in 1811, and was a founder of the
Brougham Christian Church in 1824. In the
1830s, however, Seelye was converted to the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and
eventually moved to Utah where he built the
first coopers shop in Salt Lake City, and also
served as a high priest until his death. Sources:
Fraser (1933); Pickering Township Papers;
Oshawa Vindicator (1864); Wood (1911);
Justus Azel Seelye Family Organization.
David Thatcher purchased Lot 23,
Concession 6 from the patentee Caleb Palmer in
1806, and himself patented Lot 19, Concession
9 in 1812. According to the Oshawa Vindicator
(1864), he was a settler in Pickering Township
by 1803-1804. He served as Constable in 1805.
Sources: Pickering Township Papers; Fraser
(1933); Oshawa Vindicator (1864).
Joseph Thornton is recorded as leasing Lot
28, Concession 5, a Crown Reserve, in 1817,
and purchasing part of Lot 14, Concession 9
in 1830. He did jury duty in 1807. In 1824,
he was listed as one of the founders of the
Brougham Christian Church. Sources: Fraser
(1933); Pickering Township Papers; Walton
(1837); Wood (1911).
Joseph Wixon (or Wixson, b c1779)
purchased Lot 17, Concession 9 from patentee
Janet Elliott in 1813, and himself patented
Lot 18, Concession 9 in 1816. He was living
in Pickering Township by 1804. He served as
Pound Keeper in 1811 and 1827, Assessor in
1815 and 1829, Pathmaster in 1816, 1817,
1820-1824, and 1828, and as Town Warden
in 1817. Sources: Fraser (1933); Pickering
Township Papers; Oshawa Vindicator (1864);
Walton (1837); Brown (1846); Beers (1877);
Wood (1911); McKay (1961); Wixom Family
History (1963).
Joshua Wixon (c1776-1850) purchased
Lot 20, Concession 7 in 1811 and Lot 22,
Concession 6 in 1818. He also held the
patent for Lot 25, Concession 7, and Lot 20,
Concession 8. He served as Pathmaster in 1810,
Constable in 1811, Town Warden in 1815,
Pathmaster in 1816 and 1823, and Assessor
in 1821. Sources: Fraser (1933); Pickering
Township Papers; Walton (1837); Beers (1877);
Wood (1911); Wixom Family History (1963).
Hawkins Woodruff (1750-1813) leased Lot
12, Concession 2, a Clergy Reserve, in 1810,
and Lot 21, Broken Front, a Crown Reserve,
in 1812. He had settled in Pickering by 1804,
served as Collector in 1806, Assessor in 1806,
and Pathmaster in 1807, and ran a tavern
at his home from 1806 to his death in 1813.
Hawkins took the Oath of Allegiance on 233
April 1805: “Hawkins Woodruff late of New
York State, a Presbyterian hazel eyes Dark hair,
five feet Seven inches high, a Joiner by Trade,
Fifty five Years old.” Sources: Fraser (1933);
The York Pioneer (1963), p. 21; Oshawa
Vindicator (1864); Beers (1877); McKay
(1961); Stirling (1998).
Lawrence Woodruff (1788-1874) was the
son of Hawkins Woodruff. He was Constable
in 1810. Sources: Fraser (1933); Stirling (1998).
Noadiah Woodruff (1778-1862) was the son
of Hawkins Woodruff. He purchased Lot 17,
Concession 2 in 1813, and Lot 18, Concession
2 in 1815. He was Constable in 1807,
Pathmaster in 1811, 1815, 1816, and 1824,
Town Warden in 1820, Collector in 1821,
1825, and 1828, and Assessor in 1826,
1827, and 1829. He operated a tavern from
1813 to 1818, in succession to his father.
Sources: Fraser (1933); Walton (1837); Census
of 1851; Beers (1877); Wood (1911); McKay
(1961); Stirling (1998).
In addition, we have some municipal
appointments made by the court—in 1806,
1807, and 1810. At a meeting on Saturday,
3 May 1806: “The following persons were
appointed in pursuance of an Act, passed in
the last Sessions of Parliament, to be Town and
Parish [officers] for the Townships of Pickering
& Whitby for the present year. (p. 91)
Ebenezer Ransom, Town Clerk, Sworn.
William Hale of Whitby,
Matthias McKay of Pickering, Assessors
Hawkins Woodruff, Collector.
Moodey Farewell of Whitby,
William Peek of Pickering, Constables.”
With further appointments made on Saturday,
17 May (p. 92):
David Crawford,
Samuel Munger,
Timothy Nightingale,
Jabez Lyons [Lynde],
Elezar Lockwood, Path Masters.
In 1807, the Court of General Quarter
Sessions of the Peace (Fraser, 1933, p. 104)
recorded the “Town officers appointed for
Pickering & Whitby”. They were:
Ebenezer Ransom, Town Clerk.
Timothy Nightingale, of Whitby, [and]
Abraham Townsend, of Pickering, Assessors.
John Major, of Pickering, Collector.
Haukins Woodruffe Picg., [and]
Jabez Lyons [Lynde], Whitby, Path Masters.
There was no entry for the years 1808 and
1809, but for 1810 it was reported: “There being
no Town Meetings held in the Townships of
Pickering and Whitby for the purpose of choosing
Town and Parish Officers for the present year,
the following persons were appointed as Town
and Parish officers for the said Townships, viz,
and ordered to be summoned.” As an indication
that the two townships were growing large
and strong enough to operate on their own,
the appointments for each township was listed
separately. For the Township of Pickering the
following were appointed:
Andrew Lawson, Assessor.
John Hait [Haight],
Jacob Crawford,
Joshua Wixon, Pathmasters
Benjamin Jerow [Gerow], Pound Keeper
Isaac Jerow [Gerow], Town Warden
John Major, Collector
6 The Pickering News has the first joint Town
Meeting as dated 7 March 1804; Beers (1877)
has the date 7 March 1803. It would appear
that 1804 is correct, as the record included the
Treasurer’s report of April 1803.
7 There is an item in Oshawa’s Pedlar Papers
that states: “Captain Wilson [the first settler in
Oshawa] still continued to write to his friends in
the States to come to Canada. In this respect, he
well earned his free grant of land in playing the
part of an Emigrant Agent without fee. In 1795
his letters were the direct cause of a number of
his friends settling near him. Amongst those who
came to this part of Canada in 1795 may be
mentioned Samuel Munger, Silas Marvin, John
McGahan, Anthony Rummerfield and others.”
Munger and Rummerfield eventually settled in
Pickering Township, Marvin and McGahan in
Whitby.
8 Beers (1877) says “the rails not to be more than
4 inches”, which makes more sense.
9 William Allan (1770-1853) was appointed
Treasurer of the Home District in 1800, serving
until 1829. McKay (1961), p 199, referred to
“the overbearing attitude of William Allan, the
lakefront absentee who assessed the settlers’
farms carved out with so much blood, sweat
and tears; who collected the taxes and made up
the voters’ lists for York East, and who in 1835,
imported Orangemen tenants on his farm, Lot 18
and 19, Range 3.”
10 The Pickering News history mentions that the
14
name “Peak” occurs in records previous to 1800.
I have always interpreted this to mean previous
Pickering records, but if so I haven’t found them.
In a letter to Sir Francis Bond Head, written on
12 April 1837, Peak told his own story:
“That your petitioner is a native of
Schenectady, joined the British Standard in the
Revolutionary War, came into this Province
immediately after the Peace of 1783 and now
at the advanced age of 86 has a wife and eleven
children all living within the limits of the province.
For the sake of this numerous family more than
for any personal consideration he troubles your
excellency on this occasion. He was the first settler
below this town on the Don (River). After clearing
up five acres he was told he could not have the
land although Colonel Butler had promised it
to him. Your petitioner then became the first
settlor at Port Hope; and afterwards induced
by the then surveyor general of this country, the
Honorable D.W. Smith, he became the first settlor
in Pickering wherein he has resided between
thirty and forty years. Your petitioner has met
with many losses, his mills built in Pickering at
great expense were burnt. Some years afterwards
his dwelling house and all within it was also
consumed by fire and (in) that fire he lost a lease
from Timothy Rogers for land he has been now
in possession (of) for upwards of thirty years and
therein has layd improvements being the Broken
Front of the Lot No. 15 in the Second and Third
Ranges in Pickering.” Source: Ontario Archives:
Upper Canada Land Petitions, Reel # C-2732.
Peak settled on the Don River in the 1790s.
Later in the same decade he moved to what
is now Port Hope. See Harold Reeve, History
of the Town of Hope (1967), re Elias Smith’s
report: “Return of Persons actually residing in
the Township of Hope”, compiled in 1799.
Colonel John Butler (1728-1796), created
Butler’s Rangers in 1777 and commanded it
throughout the American Revolutionary War.
The fact that Peak claimed that Butler had
promised him this land in what became York
gives credence to the belief that he served as a
Ranger under Butler.
Actually, the first settler in Port Hope was
Peter Smith who gave to the settlement its first
name, Smith’s Creek.
There is also the question of whether the
Peaks were, indeed, the first settlers in Pickering
Township. That honour probably goes to the
Fisher family. Neither when nor where John and
Catherine Fisher settled in Pickering Township
is known. All that we do know is that they were
here in September 1799, and that information
is based on a petition filed by Catherine and her
father-in-law Jacob Fisher asking for the right to
administer the estate of John who had “departed
this life on or about the seventeenth day of this
present month of September”. The Fishers had
immigrated to Upper Canada in 1795 with a
party of some 22 persons headed by John’s
father Jacob. Most of the family settled in
Vaughan, but John and Catherine chose to settle
in Pickering, but whether that was immediately
upon arriving in Upper Canada or at some later
date is now not know. Source: Memorial of
Jacob Fisher Senr and Catherine Fisher, 24 Septr
1799, Court of Probate, Archives of Ontario,
RG 22, MS 638, Reel 48. For a fuller account
of the Fisher family see Pathmaster 4: 1&2
(Autumn/Winter 2001), p. 14.
11 Returning to the Minutes of the Pickering Town
Council for 1811, we find three new names:
Timothy Rogers and John Richard (Pound
Keepers), and James Powell (Town Warden).
Timothy Rogers (1756-1834), a Quaker,
purchased Lots 13 and 14, of the 1st and 2nd
Concessions from David William Smith in 1807.
He served as Pound Keeper in 1811 and 1822,
and as Town Warden in 1824. Sources: Timothy
Rogers Journal; Beers (1877); Wood (1911);
McKay (1961).
According to the Oshawa Vindicator
(1864), John Richard had settled in Pickering
Township in 1804. He was Town Warden in
1811 and 1815. Sources: Oshawa Vindicator
(1864); Beers (1877).
James Powell (1756-before 1825) purchased Lot
6, Broken Front in 1808. He was Town Warden
in 1811. Sources: Timothy Rogers Journal;
Walton (1837); Brown (1846); Beers (1877);
Wood (1911); McKay (1961).
12 Nicholas Brown (1785-1868) was one of 7
Quaker brothers who emigrated from Vermont
in the second decade of the 19th century (the
others being: Abraham, Ira, James, Joseph,
Rowland, and Sylvanus). He purchased Lot
5, Concession 2, in 1812, from Asa Rogers.
He later purchased part of Lots 6 and 7 in
Concession 1, and Lot 9, in Concession 3.
He was Collector in 1816; Assessor in 1812,
1817, and 1825; Town Warden in 1818, 1823,
and 1831; Pathmaster in 1821; and Pound
Keeper in 1830 and 1834. Sources: Walton
(1837); Brown (1846); Beers (1877); Wood
(1911); McKay (1961).
13 Beers (1877) expresses this as: “very brief and
explicit memorandum.”
14 The population in 1813 was reported to
be 180. To summarize to date (1813), 38
individuals of 31 families have been mentioned
in the official records. The families are: Brown,
Crawford, Eves, Fuller, Gerow, Haight, Hannah,
Hartshorne, Hubbard, Lawrence, Lawson,
Major, Matthews, McKay, Munger, Peak, Powell,
Ransom, Ray, Richard, Rogers, Rummerfield,
Seelye, Sly, Spicer, Thatcher, Thornton,
Townsend, Tuttle, Wixson, and Woodruff. Of
these, 15 of the families are still resident in
Pickering Township in 1837 (Walton): Crawford,
Eves, Haight, Hannah, Hubbard, Lawrence,
Major, Matthews, Peak, Powell, Rogers, Seelye,
Thornton, Wixson, and Woodruff.
15 Beers (1877) says here: “If the grammar be bad
….”, not naming Murray. Lindley Murray was the
author of English Grammar (York: Wilson, Spence
& Mawman, 1795). The Dictionary of American
Biography says that “for half a century ... he was to
grammar what [Edmond] Hoyle was to whist.”
16 The last two sentences are not in Beers; in the
Pickering News there are gaps in the print.
17 With the year 1825, we find the first major
departure of the Pickering News’s history from
that of Beers.
18 Francis Leys, according to Beers (1877), p. ix,
along with a Mr. Dow of Whitby, imported the
first bull.
19 The area settle by Howell was known as
Howell’s Hollow and is a ghost town today. It
was located just west of the present hamlet of
Greenwood, on the south side of Highway 7.
Howell purchased the property, complete with
saw mill and gristmill, in 1832. and added a
distillery and mercantile business. Henry’s son,
Nicholas, took over the business and built 12
cottages for the hired men who worked the mill
and the other enterprises.
Competition from the thriving mills operated
by the Green family in Greenwood, and the
growing importance of Brougham at a major
crossroads of Pickering Township —Brock Road
and the Sixth Concession Road—in the very
centre of Pickering, led to the slow decline of
Howell’s Hollow until it disappeared completely.
There is now little to show that a thriving
community once existed on the site. A plaque
was erected to commemorate Brougham’s first
post office. The information on the plaque,
however, is in error. Brougham’s first post office
was located in the Hamlet of Brougham, and
George Barclay was the first postmaster, in
1836. Nicholas Howell succeeded Barclay in
December 1837, and the post office was removed
to Howell’s Hollow. Howell continued as
postmaster until 1850, when the office returned
to the hamlet of Brougham in the person of
Richard Taun.
20 From about 1850 to after the First World War,
the Millers, the Davidsons, the Birrells, and a few
other farmers in Pickering Township were world
leaders in the importation and breeding of pure
bred stock—horses, cattle, sheep and pigs.
21 Beers (1877) gives the name as Andrew
Thompson. Township meetings continued to be
held at Thompson’s tavern until the 1860s.
22 Beers (1877) is more correct here with James
Sharrard, and below with Joseph Wilson, rather
than “Jno” [John].
15
23 Beers (1877) adds a final paragraph regarding
Hector Beaton, Truman White, James
McCreight, Squire Green, and a few others.
24 In fact, there were fence viewers appointed from
the beginning (1803). See above.
SOURCES:
Annual Proceedings of the Association of Ontario
Land Surveyors, 115 (1923).
Beers, J.H. 1877. Illustrated Historical Atlas of
Ontario County (Toronto: Beers).
Blake, V.B. 1956. History Section of the Rouge,
Duffin, Highland, Petticoat Valley Conservation
Report. Ed. A.H. Richardson and A.S.L. Barnes
(Toronto: Ontario Department of Planning and
Development).
Brown, George. 1846. Brown’s Toronto City
and Home District Directory, 1846-1847 (Toronto:
George Brown).
Census (1851)
Farewell, J.E. 1907. County of Ontario: Short
Notes as to the Early Settlement and Progress of
the County (Whitby: Gazette-Chronicle Press).
Reprinted: Belleville: Mika Publishing, 1973).
Fraser, Alexander. 1933. Twenty-first Report of
the Department of Public Records and Archives of
Toronto 1932 (Toronto: Herbert H. Ball).
Johnson, Leo A. 1973. History of the County of
Ontario 1615-1875 (Whitby: The Corporation of
the County of Ontario).
Justus Azel Seelye Family Organization.
McKay, William A. 1961. The Pickering Story
(Pickering: Township of Pickering Historical
Society). Reprinted: Pickering Public Library, 1995.
Marriage Registers of Upper Canada.
Memorial of Jacob Fisher Senr and Catherine
Fisher, 24 Septr 1799, Court of Probate, Ontario
Archives, RG 22, MS 638, Reel 48.
Minutes of the Pickering Town Council, 1811-
1876. Ontario Archives: MS 281.
Oshawa Vindicator (1864).
Pedlar Papers
Pickering News
Pickering Township Papers. (Ontario Archives: MS
658, Reels 394 and 395).
Reeve, Harold. 1967. History of the Town of Hope.
Robertson, John Ross, Landmarks of Toronto, 6
vols. Toronto, 1894-1914.
Rogers, Timothy, Journal. The Best Man for
Settling New Country. Ed by Christopher Densmore
and Albert Schrauwers (Toronto: Canadian Friends
Historical Association, 2000).
Rowsell, Henry. 1850. Rowsell’s City of Toronto
and County of York Directory for 1850 (Toronto).
Stirling, Sybil C. Lynde. 1998. To a House in Whitby:
The Lynde Family Story, 1600 to 1900 (Oshawa).
Todd, Eleanor. 1980. Burrs and Blackberries from
Goodwood (Goodwood).
Upper Canada Land Petitions, Ontario Archives,
Reel # C-2732.
Walton, George. 1837. The City of Toronto
and the Home District Commercial Directory and
Register, with Almanack and Calendar for 1837
(Toronto: T. Dalton and W.J. Coates).
Wixom Family History (1963).
Wood, William R. 1911. Past Years in Pickering
(Toronto: William Briggs).
York Gazette (10 August 1805).
York Pioneer (1961, 1963).
Pickering News,
19 July 1912, p. 7.Pickering News, 4 April 1913, p. 2.
16
BACK TO THE COUNTRY
titleD anD Wealthy toronto
Men buying Pickering FarMs
For resiDences.
The Canadian Statesman
[Bowmanville], 16 November
1911, p. 1.
Following example of Mr.
W.F. McLean, M.P., of The
Toronto World, and several
wealthy Americans who have
bought some of the best farms
east and west of Cobourg and
converted them into extensive
estates, some of Toronto’s first
citizens are buying large tracts
of farm lands in Pickering and
converting them into big farms
on which palatial residences will
be erected after the manner of
gentlemen’s estates in the Old
Countries. Toronto World of
Nov. 1st says:
Pickering is to become the
post office address of quite a
group of gentlemen farmers,
according to the developments
that have quietly taken place
there in the last three months.
The district around Pickering
village has been practically all
taken up by wealthy people, and
will establish large estates and
make of them high-class farms.
Lord Somers, who has
been in Toronto for about a
month now, has purchased
considerable acreage on the
north side of the Kingston-
road, Pickering Township,
halfway between Pickering and
Dunbarton.1 Associated with
him is a relative, Mr. Somers
Cocks, and these two gentlemen
will build an imposing mansion
on their property in the spring.
They will then be joined by
their families, and will make
Pickering, Canada their
permanent residence.
A near neighbour of Lord
Somers will be Sir Henry Pellatt,
who has bought 560 acres
by Kingston-road, just east
of Pickering village, and will
thereon establish his country
residence.2 He will convert his
purchase into a most up-to-date
farm, and will use all the newest
Gentlemen Farmers in Pickering along the Kingston Road on the brink of the First World War
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Lord Hyde preparing an apple packing crate
Clarendon Wood, the home of Lords Hyde and Somers.
In 1910 the Toronto and Eastern Railway was created to build and operate a railway from Toronto to Cobourg passing through
all the lake shore towns on the way. The railway was to be electric and the line would be laid out just to the north of Kingston Road
through Pickering and Whitby. A number of Toronto businessmen saw an investment opportunity and began buying up the land
along the proposed route hoping to make a profit from expected increases in land values. In the end, the railway was abandoned
before it was completed through Pickering. But in the meanwhile, The Canadian Statesman, taking up a feature originating
with the Toronto World, chronicled the establishment of a number of wealthy estates.
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17
agricultural inventions known
to till the soil for him.
R.J. Fleming has also just
lately purchased a big estate
nearby.3 Altogether he has got
400 acres. He, like Sir Henry,
his near neighbour, will become
an ideal farmer, altho Mr.
Fleming’s rural predilections
will most likely run to Jersey
cows.
Then another electric
railway man, W.H. Moore,
has 240 acres nearby, his
property being on the lakefront
adjoining Rosebank to the east.4
His property is possibly the
most valuable of all the recent
purchases, in that it is on the
shore.
Then E.L. Ruddy has a
couple of hundred acres near
Pickering.5 His farm includes
the site of the old Pickering
College, which was burned
down some years ago.
Noel Marshall is another
Toronto business man who will
become a summertime farmer.
He will work 200 acres of his
own land near Pickering.6
Rev. D.C. Hossack has also
agricultural aspirations. He has
got a place of 150 acres near
Pickering. Several other Toronto
men have purchased property
in this district and will become
gentlemen farmers.7
Most of the purchases were
made at farm values, around
$80 and $100 an acre.
There is very little property
for miles around Toronto that
has not changed hands lately.
Pickering, which is the same
distance from Toronto as is
Oakville, is enjoying the same
land activity as did property in
the vicinity of the latter town
three years ago.
Undoubtedly the
expectation that the Toronto
and Eastern Electric road to
Bowmanville would soon
be started has led to much of
the purchases to the east of the
city and along the shore. The
right of way for this line has
not yet been bought, but the
survey runs just north of the
Kingston road.
The stretch of excellent
farms in Durham County lying
along the north shore of Lake
Ontario are admirably adapted
for gentlemen’s estates of the
character outlined above.
They have the advantage over
most of the Pickering farms
mentioned that they front
right on the lake shore. The
shore is mostly clear of marsh
and the land lies sufficiently
high to be healthy. No better
soil can be found in Ontario
for agricultural purposes
whether for mixed farming
or specializing in agriculture.
The adaptability of all this
northshore tract to apple
culture, dairying and stock
raising, the most profitable
lines of farming in these
days, give the Darlington
and Clarke township farms a
prestige that no other north
shore tract can surpass.
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Stonehaven, the home of R.J. Fleming Moorlands, the home of W.H. Moore
The Hermitage, the home of E.L. Ruddy
18
NOTES:
1 Lord Hyde, not Lord Somers, was
the purchaser. George Herbert Hyde
Villiers, 6th Earl of Clarendon (1877-
1955) was a British Conservative
politician. He came to Canada to
escape some new taxes introduced
by British Prime Minister Lloyd
George. With the purchase of a
200-acre farm—Lots 21 & 22 in
Concession 2—it was his intention
to create an English-style estate in
Pickering where he would become a
fruit farmer. He was accompanied by
Arthur Herbert Tennyson Somers-
Cocks, 6th Baron Somers (1877-
1944), his brother-in-law.
A fuller account of this story is
told in Pathmaster 9:1&2
(Winter/Spring 2008), 16.
2 Sir Henry Mill Pellatt (1859-1939),
a Canadian financier, is best known
as the builder of Casa Loma, which
Wikipedia describes as “the biggest
private residence ever constructed
in Canada.” Much of his fortune
was made through investments
in the railway and hydro-electric
industries in Canada, including the
Toronto Electric Light Company.
He is credited with bringing hydro-
electricity to Toronto.
3 Robert John Fleming (1854-1925)
was twice mayor of Toronto (1892-
1893; 1896-1897). He bought up
several lots in Pickering Township,
but Lot 1 of the Second Concession
appears to have been the centre of
his estate where he made immediate
plans to lay out a 100-acre orchard.
For his story see Pathmaster 19:3&4
(Summer 2016), 17-21.
4 William Henry Moore (1872-1960),
trained as a lawyer. In 1903, he was
appointed assistant to the President
of the Toronto Railway Company.
In 1912, he purchased a 175-acre
property just east of the mouth
of the Rouge River. In a biographical
sketch, he proudly described
himself as a farmer in Pickering,
Ontario. See Pathmaster 26:1&2
(Summer 2020), 6-7.
5 E.L. Ruddy, an American newspaper
advertising salesman, founded an
outdoor advertising company in
Toronto in 1904. It was originally
known as Connor-Ruddy, then
renamed E.L. Ruddy Co. Limited.
He purchased the former Pickering
College property, Lot 13, Concession
2, in 1911, and converted the
gymnasium, built in 1899, into
a mansion, which the family used
as a summer home until 1960.
The property was known as
Hermitage Farms.
6 Noel Marshall (1852-1926), along
with William Mackenzie, was
the founder of The Standard Fuel
Company in 1888. His farm was in
the vicinity of Dunbarton.
7 Rev. Donald Calvin Hossack (1862-
1937) was a Presbyterian minister
and lawyer.
PT
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Guidal Map (1917)
19
It is surprising how
rapidly ones family
increases on the farm.
Every other morning
now, it jumps by
ten or eight or twelve. It
is appalling. Nor do we
believe in any modern
new-fangled methods
of incubation. There are
factories for producing tens
of thousands of new lives
daily; many farms have
installed the latest devices
for turning out batches by
the hundred till the country-
side is over-populated. Birth
control has become an issue
of the first magnitude. We
therefore adhere to the
old-fashioned method of
raising our chicks with
the old-fashioned hen, in
moderation. True, there are
quite a number of flapper
pullets who refuse to
assume the responsibilities
of motherhood; but under
the circumstances, resulting
from recent unregulated
production en masse, it
is just as well that it is so.
But there are always a few
hens with a strong maternal
instinct who insist upon
going broody. They sit on
the nest all day scolding
and pecking when you take
the eggs from under them,
and with bristling feathers
and protesting clucks, settle
down again when the hand
has been withdrawn. They
are the most obstinate of
females, even going on a
hunger strike, and eggs
or no eggs will sit there
brooding over their troubles,
past and present, and the
many little ones that are to
be. The only thing to do is
either to take them at night
and place them on a setting
of an unlucky number of
carefully selected fertile eggs,
or else break them off by
shutting them in the coop
as vagrant hussies, without
visible means of support.
Our first experience,
raising chickens, a number
of years ago, is often
hilariously recalled. We
got some settings of eggs
from the Agricultural
College, together with
much literature. A dark
loose-box was carefully
cleaned out and some nests
prepared, all according to
specifications regarding
dimensions, shape, fillings,
complete with trial eggs
on the upturned sod in the
bottom as per instructions.
Then at night we visited the
hen-house and selected the
most motherly looking old
hen we could find, took her
to the dark room and put
her on one of the nests. But
she would have none of it.
Every time we put her on
she fussed off and strutted
about in the light of the
lantern. We tried her with a
china egg, a real egg, then
two, and finally with three
golf balls. But she wouldn’t
play the game.
“It’s the light,” I
suggested. “Let’s leave her
in the dark and see if she
will settle.” We placed her
on again, hastily retired
with the lantern and waited.
When we went back she
was standing on the edge
of the box wondering who
on earth laid those golf
balls. So we tried another
hen; then another, all with
the same result. This was
strange, for the book said
90 per cent of the hens
would sit if put on at night.
So we told our troubles to a
neighbor who happened in.
“Were the hens clucky?” he
asked. We thought all hens
clucked.
“Had any gone broody?” he
persisted.
“We’re trying to get them a
brood,” we informed him.
“Well, I don’t quite hardly
think you can make them
broody that way. I never
heard tell of it. However,
you can try,” he said turning
to go, and I imagined I saw
a glint of humor in his eye
as he went down the drive.
In time we learnt what
was a broody hen, and
soon the loose box was
lined with silent sitters,
solemnly hatching plots
to swell the feathered
population. As the first one
neared her objective she
sat more closely than ever
and acquired an anxious
manner as she felt the life
stirring beneath her. On the
twentieth day distinct little
“cheep, cheeps” were heard
and next morning some of
the eggs were pipped. The
little beaks inside were
pecking at the shells fighting
their way through the brittle
Musings on Rural Life
in Pickering Township in the 1930s:
Part 10 “Concerning Chickens”
From the Toronto Star, 2 June 1932, #19.
Andrew Glen’s
When we went back
she was standing
on the edge of the box
wondering
who on earth laid
those golf balls.
20
The directors of the
Pickering Township Historical Society
thank the Binns family
for a generous donation that will support
the society’s publications.
The directors of the
Pickering Township Historical Society
thank Elexicon Energy and
City of Pickering for their generous support.
Board of Directors:
Honourary Presidents: Lilian M. Gauslin
Tom Mohr
Past President John Sabean
President:
Vice President: Alarna McKie
Recording & Corresponding Secretary: Carol Sabean
Membership Secretary: John Earley
Acting Treasurer: John Earley
Editor: John Sabean
Design: John Cormier
Hands On Art & Design
Pathmaster is the newsletter of
the Pickering Township Historical
Society and is issued occasionally. Address
correspondence to PTHS, c/o 928 Reytan
Blvd., Pickering, Ontario, L1W 1Y7.
E-mail: johnsabean88@gmail.com.
For general enquiries address
correspondence to PTHS, P.O. Box 66053,
Town Centre, Pickering, ON, LIV 6P7.
Website: pickeringhistorical.ca.
barriers that hid them from
this world of warmth and
wonder and worms. At last
a head thrust out, then the
shell split in twain and there
emerged another life setting
out on its great adventure.
The hen was moved to a
place apart from the others
to complete her effort, in
peace. I was admonished
not to disturb her. The book
was emphatic about that
and I was chased away with
a broom.
So I went back to
my work in the stable
pondering on the marvels
of nature. The instinct
of the hen, the patience,
three weeks of faithful
undivided attention, the
gradual evolution of the tiny
fertile germ within the egg
mysteriously absorbing the
ingredients of the yoke and
the proteins of the white, to
form bone and tissue and
blood and feathers, cell on
cell. And that thing called
life, engendered by the
momentary contact with the
male and carried forward by
incomprehensible processes,
embodied in the egg during
its formation, then changing,
expanding, developing, by
the interplay of chemical
action set in motion by the
steady application of heat,
till finally, the thin hard
casing can no longer contain
the growing organism; its
protection is no longer
required, and it is burst
asunder and discarded.
My interest in the drama
became irresistible. I felt I
had to have another peep
at what was still going on
beneath that hen.
Tip-toeing into the barn,
I furtively made my way
to the granary where she
had been left in quietness. I
wouldn’t disturb her. I just
wanted to see how many
chicks she had now. Gently
I opened the door and
found a figure bending
over the box.
“What are you doing?”
I demanded. “Don’t you
know the book says the hen
should not be disturbed at
this critical period.”
“I’m not disturbing her.
I’m just looking to see if
everything is all right.” Oh,
it’s no use arguing with
a woman. So together we
removed the broken shells,
examined the two eggs that
still held fast their captives;
tested two which showed no
sign of life and counted the
nine little wondering pieces
of fluffy down. Cluck, cluck,
cluck, repeated the old hen,
and as we put her chicks
back under her feathers,
came the answering call
of her brood – Peep, peep,
peep, peep.
Locust Hill, Ont.
I felt I had to have
another peep at what
was still going on
beneath that hen.