Dr. Baldwin, the projector of the Avenue, and the builder of Spadina, is
now a part of Upper Canadian history. It presents a curious instance of
that versatility which we have had occasion to notice in so many of the
men who have been eminent in this country. A medical graduate of
Edinburgh, and in that capacity, commencing life in Ireland--on settling
in Canada, he began the study of Law and became a leading member of the
Bar.
On his arrival at York, from the first Canadian home of his father on
Baldwin's Creek in the township of Clarke, Dr. Baldwin's purpose was to
turn to account for a time his own educational acquirements, by
undertaking the office of a teacher of youth. In several successive
numbers of the _Gazette and Oracle_ of 1802-3 we read the following
advertisement: "Dr. Baldwin understanding that some of the gentlemen of
this Town have expressed some anxiety for the establishment of a
Classical School, begs leave to inform them and the public that he
intends on Monday the first day of January next, to open a School in
which he will instruct Twelve Boys in Writing, Reading, and Classics and
Arithmetic. The terms are, for each boy, eight guineas per annum, to be
paid quarterly or half-yearly; one guinea entrance and one cord of wood
to be supplied by each of the boys on opening the School. _N.B._--Mr.
Baldwin will meet his pupils at Mr. Willcocks' house on Duke Street.
York, December 18th, 1802." Of the results of this enterprise we have
not at hand any record.
The Russell bequest augmented in no slight degree the previous
possessions of Dr. Baldwin. In the magnificent dimensions assigned to
the thoroughfare opened up by him in the neighbourhood of Petersfield,
we have probably a visible expression of the large-handed generosity
which a pleasant windfall is apt to inspire. Spadina Avenue is 160 feet
wide throughout its mile-and-a-half length; and the part of Queen Street
that bounds the front of the Petersfield park-lot, is made suddenly to
expand to the width of 90 feet. Maria Street also, a short street here,
is of extra width. The portion of York, now Toronto, laid out by Dr.
Baldwin on a fraction of the land opportunely inherited, will, when
solidly built over, rival Washington or St. Petersburg in grandeur of
ground-plan and design.
The career of Dr. Rolph, another of our early Upper Canadian
notabilities, resembles in some respects, that of Dr. Baldwin. Before
emigrating from Gloucestershire, he began life as a medical man. On
arriving in Canada he transferred himself to the Bar. In this case,
however, after the attainment of eminence in the newly adopted
profession, there was a return to the original pursuit, with the
acquisition in that also, of a splendid reputation. Both acquired the
local style of Honourable: Dr. Rolph by having been a member of the
Hincks-ministry from 1851 to 1854; Dr. Baldwin by being summoned, six
months before his decease, to the Legislative Council of United Canada,
while his son was Attorney-General.
Mr. William Willcocks, allied by marriage to Dr. Baldwin's family,
selected the park-lot at which we arrive after crossing Spadina Avenue.
A lake in the Oak Ridges (Lake Willcocks) has its name from the same
early inhabitant. In 1802 he was Judge of the Home District Court. He is
to be distinguished from the ultra-Reformer, Sheriff Willcocks, of Judge
Thorpe's day, whose name was Joseph; and from Charles Willcocks, who in
1818 was proposing, through the columns of the _Upper Canada Gazette_,
to publish, by subscription, a history of his own life. The
advertisement was as follows (what finally came of it, we are not able
to state):--"The subscriber proposes to publish, by subscription, a
History of his Life. The subscription to be One Dollar, to be paid by
each subscriber; one-half in advance; the other half on the delivery of
the Book. The money to be paid to his agent, Mr. Thomas Deary, who will
give receipts and deliver the Books. Charles Willcocks, late Lieutenant,
City of Cork Militia. York, March, 17th, 1818."
This Mr. Charles Willcocks once fancied he had grounds for challenging
his name-sake, Joseph, to mortal combat, according to the barbaric
notions of the time. But at the hour named for the meeting, Joseph did
not appear on the ground. Charles waited a reasonable time. He then
chipped off a square inch or so of the bark of a neighbouring tree, and,
stationing himself at duelling distance, discharged his pistol at the
mark which he had made. As the ball buried itself in the spot at which
aim had been taken, he loudly bewailed his old friend's reluctance to
face him. "Oh, Joe, Joe!" he passionately cried, "if you had only been
here!"
Although Joseph escaped this time, he was not so fortunate afterwards.
He fell, as we have already noted in connexion with the Early Press,
"foremost fighting" in the ranks of the invaders of Upper Canada in
1814. The incident is briefly mentioned in the Montreal _Herald_ of the
15th of October, in that year, in the following terms: "It is officially
announced by General Ripley (on the American side, that is), that the
traitor Willcocks was killed in the sortie from Fort Erie on the 4th
ult., greatly lamented by his general and the army." Undertaking with
impetuosity a crusade against the governmental ideas which were locally
in the ascendant, and encountering the resistance customary in such
cases, he cut the knot of his discontent by joining the Republican force
when it made its appearance.
The Willcocks park-lot, or a portion of it, was afterwards possessed by
Mr. Billings, a well-remembered Commissariat officer, long stationed at
York. He built the house subsequently known as Englefield, which, later,
was the home of Colonel Loring, who, at the time of the taking of York,
in 1813, had his horse killed under him; and here he died. Mr. Billings
and Colonel Loring both had sons, of whom we make brief mention as
having been in the olden times among our own school-boy associates, but
who now, like so many more personal contemporaries, already noted, are,
after brief careers, deceased. An announcement in the Montreal _Herald_
of February 4th, 1815, admits us to a domestic scene in the household of
Colonel, at the time Captain, Loring. (The Treaty of Peace with the
United States was signed at Ghent, on the 24th of December, 1814. Its
effect was being pleasantly realized in Canada, in January, 1815). "At
Prescott," the _Herald_ reports, "on Thursday, 26th January, the lady of
Capt. Loring, Aide-de-Camp and Private Secretary to His Honor
Lieut.-Gen. Drummond, was safely delivered of a daughter." The _Herald_
then adds: "The happy father had returned from a state of captivity with
the enemy, but a few hours previous to the joyful event." Capt. Loring
had been taken prisoner in the battle of Lundy's Lane, in the preceding
July.
The first occupant of the next lot (No. 16) westward, was Mr. Baby, of
whom we have spoken in former sections. Opposite was the house of
Bernard Turquand, an Englishman of note, for many years first clerk in
the Receiver-General's department. He was an early promoter of amateur
boating among us, a recreation with which possibly he had become
familiar at Malta, where he was long a resident. Just beyond on the same
side, was the dwelling-place of Major Winniett,--a long, low, one-storey
bungalow, of a neutral tint in colour, its roof spreading out,
verandah-wise, on both sides.
After the name of Mr. Baby, on the early plan of the park-lots, comes
the name of Mr. Grant--"the Hon. Alexander Grant." During the
interregnum between the death of Governor Hunter and the arrival of
Governor Gore, Mr. Grant, as senior member of the Executive Council, was
President of Upper Canada. The Parliament that sat during his brief
administration, appropriated L800 to the purchase of instruments for
illustrating the principles of Natural Philosophy, "to be deposited in
the hands of a person employed in the Education of Youth;" from the
debris of which collection, preserved in a mutilated condition in one of
the rooms of the Home District School building, we ourselves, like
others probably of our contemporaries, obtained our very earliest
inkling of the existence and significance of scientific apparatus.
In his speech at the close of the session of 1806, President Grant
alluded to this action of Parliament in the following terms: "The
encouragement which you have given for procuring the means necessary for
communicating useful and ornamental knowledge to the rising generation,
meets with my approbation, and, I have no doubt, will produce the most
salutary effects." Mr. Grant was also known as Commodore Grant, having
had, at one time, command of the Naval Force on the Lakes.
After Mr. Grant's name appears that of "E. B. Littlehales." This is the
Major Littlehales with whom those who familiarize themselves with the
earliest records of Upper Canada become so well acquainted. He was the
writer, for example, of the interesting journal of an Exploring
Excursion from Niagara to Detroit in 1793, to be seen in print in the
_Canadian Literary Magazine_ of May, 1834; an expedition undertaken, as
the document itself sets forth, by the Lieut.-Governor, accompanied by
Captain Fitzgerald, Lieutenant Smith of the 5th Regiment, and
Lieutenants Talbot, Grey and Givins, and Major Littlehales, starting
from Niagara on the 4th of February, arriving at Detroit on the 18th, by
a route which was 270 miles in length. The return began on the 23rd, and
was completed on the 10th of the following month.
It was in this expedition that the site of London, on the Thames, was
first examined, and judged to be "a situation eminently calculated for
the metropolis of all Canada." "Among other essentials," says Major
Littlehales, "it possesses the following advantages: command of
territory--internal situation--central position, facility of water
communication up and down the Thames into Lakes St. Clair, Erie, Huron,
and Superior,--navigable for boats to near its source, and for small
craft probably to the Moravian settlement,--to the southward by a
small portage to the waters flowing into Lake Huron--to the south-east
by a carrying-place into Lake Ontario and the River St. Lawrence; the
soil luxuriantly fertile,--the land rich and capable of being easily
cleared, and soon put into a state of agriculture,--a pinery upon an
adjacent high knoll, and other timber on the heights, well calculated
for the erection of public buildings,--a climate not inferior to any
part of Canada."
The intention of the Governor, at one time, was that the future capital
should be named Georgina, in compliment to George III. Had that
intention been adhered to, posterity would have been saved some
confusion. To this hour, the name of our Canadian London gives trouble
in the post-office and elsewhere. Georgina was a name not inaptly
conceived, suggested doubtless by the title "Augusta," borne by so many
places of old, as, for example, by London itself, the Veritable, in
honour of the Augustus, the Emperor of the day. We might perhaps have
rather expected Georgiana, on the analogy of Aureliana (Orleans), from
Aurelius, or Georgia, after Julia, a frequent local appellation from the
imperial Julius.--Already, had Georgius, temp. Geo. II., yielded Georgia
as the name of a province, and later, temp. Geo. III., the same royal
name had been associated with the style and title of a new planet, the
Georgium Sidus, suggested probably by the Julium Sidus of Horace. We
presume, also, that the large subdivision of Lake Huron, known as the
Georgian Bay, had for its name a like loyal origin. (The name Georgina,
is preserved in that of a now flourishing township on Lake Simcoe.)
An incident not recorded in Major Littlehales' Journal was the order of
a grand parade (of ten men), and a formal discharge of musketry, issued
in jocose mood by the Governor to Lieut. Givins; which was duly executed
as a ceremony of inauguration for the new capital.
The capture of a porcupine, however, somewhere near the site of the
proposed metropolis is noted by the Major. In the narrative the name of
Lieut. Givins comes up. "The young Indians who had chased a herd of deer
in company with Lieut. Givins," he says, "returned unsuccessful, but
brought with them a large porcupine: which was very seasonable," he
remarks, "as our provisions were nearly exhausted. This animal," he
observes, "afforded us a good repast, and tasted like a pig." The
Newfoundland dog, he adds, attempted to bite the porcupine, but soon got
his mouth filled with the barbed quills, which gave him exquisite pain.
An Indian undertook to extract them, he then says, and with much
perseverance plucked them out, one by one, and carefully applied a root
or decoction, which speedily healed the wound.
From Major Littlehales' Journal it appears that it was the practice of
the party to wind up each day's proceedings by singing "God save the
King." Thus on the 28th Feb., before arriving at the site of London, we
have it recorded: "At six we stopped at an old Mississagua hut, upon the
south side of the Thames. After taking some refreshment of salt pork and
venison, well-cooked by Lieutenant Smith, who superintended that
department, we, as usual, sang God save the King, and went to rest."
The Duke de Liancourt, in his _Travels in North America_, speaks of
Major Littlehales in the following pleasant terms: "Before I close the
article of Niagara," he says, "I must make particular mention of the
civility shewn us by Major Littlehales, adjutant and first secretary to
the Governor, a well-bred, mild and amiable man, who has the charge of
the whole correspondence of government, and acquits himself with
peculiar ability and application. Major Littlehales," the Duke says,
"appeared to possess the confidence of the country. This is not
unfrequently the case with men in place and power; but his worth,
politeness, prudence, and judgment, give this officer peculiar claims to
the confidence and respect which he universally enjoys."
In the _Oracle_ of Feb. 24, 1798, a report of the death of this officer
is contradicted. "We have the pleasure of declaring the account received
in December last of the death of Col. Littlehales premature. Letters
have been recently received from him dated in England." He had probably
returned home with Gen. Simcoe. In the same paper a flying rumour is
noticed, to the effect "that His Excellency Governor Simcoe is appointed
Governor General of the Canadas."
Major Littlehales afterwards attained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel,
and was created a baronet in 1802. In 1801 he was appointed
under-Secretary for Ireland; and he held this office for nineteen years.
Major Littlehales' park-lot became subsequently the property of Capt.
John Denison, and from him descended to his heir Col. George Taylor
Denison, from whom the street now passing from south to north has its
name, Denison Avenue. This thoroughfare was, in the first instance, the
drive up to the homestead of the estate, Bellevue, a large white
cheery-looking abode, lying far back but pleasantly visible from Lot
Street through a long vista of overhanging trees.--From the old Bellevue
have spread populous colonies at Dovercourt, Rusholme and elsewhere,
marked, like their progenitor, with vigour of character, and evincing in
a succession of instances strong aptitude for military affairs. Col.
Denison's grandson, G. T. Denison _tertius_, is the author of a work on
"Modern Cavalry, its Organisation, Armament and Employment in War,"
which has taken a recognized place in English strategetical literature.
In accordance with an early Canadian practice, Capt. John Dennison set
apart on his property a plot of ground as a receptacle for the mortal
remains of himself and his descendants. He selected for this purpose a
picturesque spot on land possessed by him on the Humber river, entailing
at the same time the surrounding estate. In 1853,--although at that date
an Act of Parliament had cancelled entails,--his heir, Col. G. T.
Denison, _primus_, perpetually connected the land referred to, together
with the burial plot, with his family and descendants, by converting it
into an endowment for an ecclesiastical living, to be always in the gift
of the legal representative of his name. This is the projected rectory
of St. John's on the Humber. In 1857, a son of Col. Denison's, Robert
Britton Denison, erected at his own cost, in immediate proximity to the
old Bellevue homestead, the church of St. Stephen, and took steps to
make it in perpetuity a recognized ecclesiastical benefice.
The boundary of Major Littlehales' lot westward was near what is now
Bathurst Street. In front of this lot, on the south side of Lot street,
and stretching far to the west, was the Government Common, of which we
have previously spoken, on which was traced out, at first ideally, and
at length in reality, the arc of a circle of 1,000 yards radius, having
the Garrison as its centre. Southward of the concave side of this arc no
buildings were for a long time permitted to be erected. This gave rise
to a curiously-shaped enclosure, northward of St. Andrew's Market-house,
wide towards the east, but vanishing off to nothing on the west, at the
point where Lot Street formed a tangent with the military circle.
Of Portland Street and Bathurst Street we have already spoken in our
survey of Front Street. Immediately opposite Portland Street was the
abode, at the latter period of his life, of Dr. Lee, to whom we have
referred in our accounts of Front and George Streets. Glancing northward
as we pass Bathurst Street, which, by the way, north of Lot Street, was
long known as Crookshank's Lane, we are reminded again of Mr. Murchison,
whom we have likewise briefly commemorated elsewhere. The substantial
abode to which he retired after acquiring a good competency, and where
in 1870 he died, is to be seen on the east side of Bathurst Street.
The names which appear in the early plans of York and its suburbs, as
the first possessors of the park lots westward of Major Littlehales',
are, in order of succession, respectively, Col. David Shank, Capt.
Macdonell, Capt. S. Smith, Capt. AE. Shaw, Capt. Bouchette. We then
arrive at the line of the present Dundas road, where it passes at right
angles north from the line of Queen Street. This thoroughfare is not
laid down in the plans. Then follow the names of David Burns, William
Chewitt and Alexander MacNab (conjointly), Thomas Ridout and William
Allan (conjointly), and Angus Macdonell. We then reach a road duly
marked, leading straight down to the French Fort, Fort Rouille, commonly
known as Fort Toronto. Across this road westward, only one lot is laid
off, and on it is the name of Benjamin Hallowell.
Most of the names first enumerated are very familiar to those whose
recollections embrace the period to which our attention is now being
directed. Many of them have occurred again and again in these papers.
In regard to Col. David Shank, the first occupant of the park lot
westward of Major Littlehales', we must content ourselves with some
brief "Collections." In the Simcoe correspondence, preserved at Ottawa,
there is an interesting mention of him, associated, as it appropriately
happens, with his neighbour-locatees to the east and west here on Lot
Street. In a private letter to the "Secretary at War," Sir George Yonge,
from Governor Simcoe, dated Jan. 17th, 1792, announcing his arrival at
Montreal, _en route_ for his new Government, still far up "the most
august of rivers," Capt. Shank is spoken of as being on his way to the
same destination in command of a portion of the Queen's Rangers, in
company with Capt. Smith.
There is noted in the same document, it will be observed, a gallant
achievement of Capt. Shaw's, who, the Governor reports, had just
successfully marched with his division of the same regiment all the way
from New Brunswick to Montreal, in the depth of winter, on snow-shoes.
"It is with infinite pleasure," writes Governor Simcoe to Sir George
Yonge, "that I received your letter of the 1st of April by Capt.
Littlehales. On the 13th of June," he continues, "that officer overtook
me on the St. Lawrence, as I was on my passage in batteaux up the most
august of rivers. It has given me great satisfaction," the Governor
says, "that the Queen's Rangers have arrived so early. Capt. Shaw, who
crossed in the depth of winter on snow-shoes from New Brunswick, is now
at Kingston with the troops of the two first ships; and Captains Shank
and Smith, with the remainder, are, I trust, at no great distance from
this place,--as the wind has served for the last 36 hours, and I hope
with sufficient force to enable them to pass the Rapids of the
Richelieu, where they have been detained some days." Governor Simcoe
himself, as we learn from this correspondence, had landed at Quebec on
the 11th of November preceding (1791), in the "Triton," Capt. Murray,
"after a blustering passage."
In addition to the lot immediately after Major Littlehales', Col. Shank
also possessed another in this range, just beyond, viz., No. 21.
The Capt. Macdonell, whose name appears on the lot that follows Col.
Shank's first lot, was the aide-de-camp of Gen. Brock, who fell, with
that General, at Queenston Heights. Capt. Macdonell's lot was afterwards
the property of Mr. Crookshank, from whom what is now Bathurst Street
North had, as we have remarked, for a time the name of Crookshank's
Lane.
Capt. S. Smith, whose name follows those of Capt. Macdonell and Col.
Shank, was afterwards President Smith, of whom already. The park lot
selected by him was subsequently the property of Mr. Duncan Cameron, a
member of the Legislative Council, freshly remembered. At an early
period, the whole was known by the graceful appellation of Gore Vale.
Gore was in honour of the Governor of that name. Vale denoted the ravine
which indented a portion of the lot through whose meadow-land meandered
a pleasant little stream. The southern half of this lot now forms the
site and grounds of the University of Trinity College. Its brooklet will
hereafter be famous in scholastic song. It will be regarded as the
Cephissus of a Canadian Academus, the Cherwell of an infant Christ
Church. The elmy dale which gives such agreeable variety to the park of
Trinity College, and which renders so charming the views from the
Provost's Lodge, is irrigated by it. (The cupola and tower of the
principal entrance to Trinity College will pleasantly, in however humble
a degree, recall to the minds of Oxford-men, the Tom Gate of Christ
Church.)--After the decease of Mr. Cameron, Gore Vale was long occupied
by his excellent and benevolent sister, Miss Janet Cameron.
On the steep mound which overhangs the Gore Vale brook, on its eastern
side, just where it is crossed by Queen Street, was, at an early period,
a Blockhouse commanding the western approach to York. On the old plans
this military work is shown, as also a path leading to it across the
Common from the Garrison, trodden often probably by the relief party of
the guard that would be stationed there in anxious times.