well-known Deputy Provincial Surveyor, of Hanoverian origin. In an
address published in the _Weekly Register_ of July 15, 1824, on the
occasion of his retiring from a contest for a seat in the House as
representative for the counties of York and Simcoe, Mr. Goessmann
alluded as follows to his nationality: "I may properly say," he
observed, "that I was a born British subject before a great number of
you did even draw breath; and have certainly borne more oppressions
during the late French war than any child of this country, that never
peeped beyond the boundary even of this continent, where only a small
twig of that all-crushing war struck. Our sovereign has not always been
powerful enough to defend all his dominions. We, the Hanoverians, have
been left the greater part during that contest, to our own fate; we have
been crushed to yield our privileges to the subjection of Bonaparte, his
greatest antagonist," &c.
Eglinton, through which, at the present day, Yonge Street passes
hereabout, is a curious stray memorial of the Tournament in Ayrshire,
which made a noise in 1839. The passages of arms on the farther side of
the Atlantic that occasionally suggest names for Canadian villages, are
not always of so peaceful a character as that in the Earl of Eglinton's
grounds in 1839; although it is a matter of some interest now to
remember that even in that a Louis Napoleon figured, who at a later
period was engaged in jousts of a rather serious kind, promoted by
himself.
About Eglinton the name of Snider is notable as that of a United Empire
Loyalist family seated here, of German descent. Mr. Martin Snider,
father of Jacob and Elias Snider and other brothers and sisters,
emigrated hither at an early period from Nova Scotia, where he first
took up his abode for a time after the revolution.--Among the names of
those who volunteered to accompany General Brock to Detroit in 1813, we
observe that of Mr. Jacob Snider. In later years, a member of the same
family is sheriff for the County of Grey, and repeatedly a
representative in Parliament of the same county.
The Anglicised form of the German name Schneider, like the Anglicised
form of a number of other non-English names occurring among us,
illustrates and represents the working of our Canadian social system;
the practical effect of our institutions, educational and municipal. Our
mingled population, when permitted to develop itself fairly; when not
crushed, or sought to be crushed into narrow alien moulds invented by
non-Teutonic men in the pre-printing-press, feudal era, becomes
gradually--if not English--at all events Anglo-Canadian, a people of a
distinct type on this continent, acknowledged by the grand old mother of
nations,--Alma Britannia herself, as eminently of kin.
We have specially in mind a group from the neighbourhood of Eglinton,
genuine sons of our composite Canadian people, Sniders, Mitchells,
Jackeses, who, now some years ago, were to be seen twice every day at
all seasons, traversing the distance between Eglinton and Toronto,
rising early and late taking rest, in order to be punctually present
at, and carefully ready for, class-room or lecture room in town; and
this process persevered in for the lengthened period required for a
succession of curriculums; with results finally, in a conspicuous degree
illustrative of the blending, Anglicising power of our institutions when
cordially and loyally used. Similar happy effects springing from similar
causes have we seen, in numerous other instances and batches of
instances, among the youth of our Western Canada, drawn from widely
severed portions of the country.
Beyond Eglinton, in the descent to a rough irregular ravine, the home of
Mr. Jonathan Hale was passed on the east side of the street; one of the
Hales, who, as we have seen, were forward to undertake works of public
utility at a time when appliances for the execution of such works were
few. Mr. Hale's lot became afterwards a part of the estate of Jesse
Ketchum of whom we have spoken.
In 1808, the _Gazette_ (October 22) informs us, the sheriff, Miles
Macdonell, is about to sell "at Barrett's Inn, in the Town of York," the
goods and chattels of Henry Hale, at the suit of Elijah Ketchum.
Likewise, at the same time, the goods and chattels of Stillwell Wilson,
at the suit of James McCormack and others.
On the west side, opposite Mr. Ketchum's land, was a farm that had been
modernized and beautified by two families in succession, who migrated
hither from the West Indies, the Murrays and the Nantons. In particular,
a long avenue of evergreen trees, planted by them and leading up to the
house, was noticeable. While these families were the owners and
occupants of this property, it was named by them Pilgrims' Farm.
Subsequently Pilgrims' Farm passed into the hands of Mr. James Beaty,
one of the representatives of Toronto in the House of Commons in Canada,
who made it an occasional summer retreat, and called it Glen Grove.
It had been at one period known as the MacDougall farm, Mr. John
MacDougall, of York, having been its owner from 1801 to 1820. Mr.
MacDougall was the proprietor of the principal hotel of York. Among the
names of those elected to various local offices at the annual
Town-meeting held in 1799 at "the city of York," as the report in the
_Gazette and Oracle_ ambitiously speaks, that of Mr. MacDougall appears
under the head of "Overseers of Highways and Roads and Fence-viewers."
He and Mr. Clark were elected to act in this capacity for "the district
of the city of York." That they did good service we learn from the
applause which attended their labours. The leading editorial of the
_Gazette and Oracle_ of June 29, 1799, thus opens: "The public are much
indebted to Mr. John MacDougall, who was appointed one of the
pathmasters at the last Town-meeting, for his great assiduity and care
in getting the streets cleared of the many and dangerous (especially at
night) obstructions thereon; and we hope," the writer says, "by the same
good conduct in his successors in the like office, to see the streets of
this infant town vie with those of a maturer age, in cleanliness and
safety."
In the number of the same paper for July 20 (1799), Mr. MacDougall's
colleague is eulogized, and thanked in the following terms: "The
inhabitants of the west end of this Town return their most cordial
thanks to Mr. Clark, pathmaster, for his uncommon exertions and
assiduity in removing out of their street its many obstacles, so highly
dangerous to the weary traveller." Mr. MacDougall was the first grantee
of the farm immediately to the south of Glen Grove (lot number three).
On high land to the right, some way off the road, an English-looking
mansion of brick with circular ends, was another early innovation. A
young plantation of trees so placed as to shelter it from the north-east
winds, added to its English aspect. This was Kingsland, the home of Mr.
Huson, likewise an immigrant from the West Indies. It was afterwards the
abode of Mr. Vance, an Alderman of Toronto.
One or two old farm houses of an antique New Jersey style, of two
storeys, with steepish roofs and small windows, were then passed on the
left. Some way further on, but still in the low land of the irregular
ravine, another primitive rustic manufactory of that article of prime
necessity, leather, was reached. This was "Lawrence's Tannery." A bridge
over the stream here, which is a feeder to the Don, was sometimes spoken
of as Hawke's bridge, from the name of its builder. In the hollow on the
left, close to the Tannery, and overlooked from the road, was a
cream-coloured respectable frame-house, the domicile of Mr. Lawrence
himself. In his yard or garden, some hives of bees, when such things
were rarities, used always to be looked at with curiosity in passing.
The original patentees of lots six, seven, eight and nine, on the west
side of the street just here, were four brothers, Joseph, Duke, Hiram
and John, Kendrick, respectively. They all had nautical proclivities;
or, as one who knew them said, they were, all or them, "water-dogs;" and
we shall hear of them again in our chapter on the Early Marine of York
harbour.
In 1799, Duke Kendrick was about to establish a pot-ashery on number
seven. His advertisement appears in the _Gazette_, of December, 21,
1799. It is headed "Ashes! Ashes! Ashes!" The announcement then follows:
"The subscriber begs leave to inform the public that he is about to
erect a Pot-ashery upon lot No. 7, west side of Yonge Street, where he
will give a generous price for ashes; for house-ashes, ninepence per
bushel; for field-ashes, sixpence, delivered at the Pot-ash." It is then
added: "He conceives it his duty to inform those who may have ashes to
dispose of, that it will not be in his power to pay cash, but
merchandize at cash price. Duke W. Kendrick. York, Dec. 7, 1799." In the
year following, Mr. Allan advertises for ashes to be delivered at
pot-ash works in York. In the _Gazette_ for November 29, 1800, we have:
"Ashes wanted. Sevenpence Halifax currency per bushel for house-ashes
will be given, delivered at the Pot-ash works, opposite the Gaol; and
fivepence same currency, if taken from the houses; also, eightpence, New
York currency for field-ashes delivered at the works. W. Allan. York,
21st November, [1800]."
We now speedily arrived at the commencement of the difficult descent
into the valley of the great west branch of the Don. Yonge Street here
made a grand detour to the east, and failed to regain the direct
northerly course for some time. As usual, wherever long inclined planes
were cut in the steep sides of lofty clay banks, the condition of the
roadway hereabout was, after rain, indescribably bad. After reaching the
stream and crossing it on a rough timber bridge, known anciently
sometimes as Big Creek bridge and sometimes as Heron's bridge, the track
ascended the further bank, at first by means of a narrow hogsback, which
conveniently sloped down to the vale; afterwards it made a sweep to the
northward along the brow of some broken hills, and then finally turned
westward until the direct northern route of the street was again
touched.
The banks of the Don are here on every side very bold, divided in some
places into two stages by an intervening plateau. On a secondary flat
thus formed, in the midst of a grass-grown clearing, to the left, as the
traveller journeyed from York, there was erected at an early date the
shell of a place of worship appertaining to the old Scottish Kirk, put
up here through the zeal of Mr. James Hogg, a member of that communion,
and the owner, for a time at least, of the flour mills in the valley,
near the bridge. From him this locality was popularly known as Hogg's
Hollow, despite the postal name of the place, York Mills.
Mr. Hogg was of Scottish descent and a man of spirit. He sent a cartel
in due form in 1832 to Mr. Gurnett, editor of the _Courier_. An article
in that paper had spoken in offensive terms of supposed attempts on the
part of a committee in York to swell the bulk of a local public meeting,
by inviting into town persons from the rural parts. "Every wheel of
their well-organized political machine was set in motion," the _Courier_
asserted, "to transmute country farmers into citizens of York.
Accordingly about nine in the morning, groups of tall, broad-shouldered,
hulking fellows were seen arriving from Whitby, Pickering and
Scarborough, some crowded in waggons, and others on horseback; and Hogg,
the miller, headed a herd of the swine of Yonge Street, who made just as
good votes at the meeting as the best shopkeepers in York." No hostile
encounter, however, took place, although a burlesque account of an
"affair of honour" was published, in which it was pretended that Mr.
Hogg was saved from a mortal wound by a fortunate accumulation, under
the lappel of his coat, of flour, in which his antagonist's bullet
buried itself.
Mr. Hogg died in 1839. Here is an extract from the sermon preached by
the Rev. Mr. Leach on the occasion of his funeral: "He was faithful to
his word and promise," the preacher said,--"and when surrounded with
danger and strongly instigated, and tempted to a departure from public
faith by the enemies of his country his determination expressed in his
own words, was 'I will die a Briton.' Few men had all the veins of
nature more clearly and strongly developed; and few men had a better
sense of what is due to God."
The circuit of the hills overhanging the mills below was always tedious;
but several good bits of scenery were caught sight of. On the upland,
after escaping the chief difficulties, on the left hand a long low
wooden building was seen, with gable and door towards the road. This was
an early place of worship of the Church of England, an out-post of the
mission at York. The long line of its roof was slightly curved downwards
by the weight of a short chimney built at its middle point for the
accommodation of an iron stove within. Just before arriving at the gate
of the burying-ground attached to this building, there were interesting
glimpses to the left down into deep woody glens, all of them converging
southward on the Don. In some of them were little patches of pleasant
grass land. But along here, for the most part, the forest long remained
undisturbed.
The church or chapel referred to was often served by divinity students
sent out from town; and frequently, no doubt, had its walls echoed with
prentice-attempts at pulpit oratory. Gourlay says that this chapel and
the Friends' Meeting House near Newmarket were the only two places of
public worship on Yonge Street in 1817, "a distance of nearly forty
miles." A notice of it is inserted in "A visit to the Province of Upper
Canada in 1819, by James Strachan," (the Bishop's brother)--a work
published at Aberdeen in 1820.
"My brother," Mr. Strachan says, p. 141, "had, by his exertions and
encouragement among the people, caused a chapel to be built about eight
miles from York, where he officiates once a month, one of the young
students under his care reading the service and a sermon on the
intermediate Sundays. On his day of doing duty," Mr. S. continues, "I
went with him and was highly gratified. The chapel is built in a thick
wood. . . . . . . . . . . The dimensions are 60 by 30 feet; the pews are
very decent, and what was much better, they were filled with an
attentive congregation. As you see very few inhabitants on your way out,
I could not conceive where all the people came from." A public baptism
of five adults is then described.
Some six and twenty years later (in 1843), the foundation stone of a
durable brick church was laid near the site of the old frame chapel. On
that occasion Dr. Strachan, now Bishop Strachan, named as especial
promoters of the original place of worship, Mr. Seneca Ketchum and Mr.
Joseph Sheppard, "the former devoting much time and money in the
furtherance of the work, and the latter giving three acres of land as a
site, together with a handsome donation in cash." A silver medal which
had been deposited under the old building was now transferred to a
cavity in the foundation stone of its proposed successor. It bore on the
obverse, "Francis Gore, Esq., Lieutenant-Governor, 1816," and on the
reverse--"Fifty-sixth of George Third." To it were now added a couple
of other medals of silver: one bore on the obverse, "John Strachan,
D.D., Bishop of Toronto; Alexander Sanson, Minister, 1843;" and on the
reverse, "Sixth of Victoria." The other had inscribed on it the name of
the architect, Mr. J. G. Howard, with a list of other churches erected
in Upper Canada under his direction.
Among the persons present during the ceremony were Chief-Justice
Robinson, Vice-Chancellor Jameson, the Hon. and Rev. A. Cavendish, and
the Rev. G. Mortimer, of Thornhill. Prior to the out-door proceedings a
remarkable scene had been witnessed within the walls of the old
building. Four gentlemen received the rite of confirmation at the hands
of the Bishop, all of them up to a recent date, non-conformists; three
of them non-conformist ministers of mark, Mr Townley, Mr. Leach (whom we
heard just now pronouncing an eulogy on Mr. Hogg,) and Mr. Ritchie; the
fourth, Mr. Sanson, not previously a minister, but now in Holy Orders of
the Church of England, and the minister appointed to officiate in the
new church.
At the present day Yonge Street crosses Hogg's Hollow in a direct line
on a raised embankment which the ancient Roman road-makers would have
deemed respectable--a work accomplished about the year 1835, before the
aid of steam power was procurable in these parts for such purposes. Mr.
Lynn was the engineer in charge here, at that time. The picturesque
character of the valley has been considerably interfered with.
Nevertheless a winding road over the hills to the right leading up to
the church (St. John's) has still some sylvan surroundings. In truth,
were a building or two of the chalet type visible, the passer-by might
fancy himself for a moment in an upland of the High Alps, so Swiss-like
is the general aspect.
It may be added that the destruction of the beautiful hereabout has to
some extent a set-off in the fine geological studies displayed to the
eye in the sides of the deep cuts at both ends of the great causeway.
Lake Ontario's ancient floor here lifted up high and dry in the air,
exhibits, stratum super stratum, the deposits of successive periods long
ago. (The action of the weather, however, has at the present time
greatly blurred the interesting pictures of the past formerly displayed
on the surface of the artificial escarpments at Hogg's Hollow.)
[Illustration]
XXVI.
YONGE STREET, FROM HOGG'S HOLLOW TO BOND'S LAKE.
Beyond the hollow, Mr. Humberstone's was passed on the west side,
another manufacturer of useful pottery ware. A curious incident used to
be narrated as having occurred in this house. The barrel of an old
Indian fowling-piece turned up by the plough in one of the fields, and
made to do duty in the management of unwieldy back logs in the great
fire-place, suddenly proved itself to have been charged all the while,
by exploding one day in the hands of Mr. Humberstone's daughter while
being put to its customary use, and killing her on the spot. Somewhat
similarly, at Fort Erie, we have been told, in the fire which destroyed
the wharf at the landing, a condemned cannon which had long been planted
in the pier as a post, went off, happily straight upwards, without doing
any damage.
Mr. Humberstone saw active service as a lieutenant in the incorporated
militia in 1812. He was put in charge of some of the prisoners captured
by Colonel Fitzgibbon, at the Beaver Dams, and when now nearing his
destination, Kingston, with his prisoners in a large batteau, he, like
the famous Dragoon who caught the Tartar, was made a prisoner of himself
by the men whom he had in custody, and was adroitly rowed over by them
to the United States shore, where being landed he was swiftly locked up
in jail, and thence only delivered when peace was restored.
The next memorable object, also on the left, was Shephard's inn, a noted
resting-place for wayfarers and their animals, flanked on the north by
large driving sheds, on the south by stables and barns: over the porch,
at an early period, was the effigy of a lion gardant, attempted in wood
on the premises. Constructiveness was one of the predominant faculties
in the first landlord of the Golden Lion. He was noted also for skilful
execution on several instruments of music: on the bassoon for one. In
the rear of the hotel, a little to the south, on a fine eminence, he put
up for himself after the lapse of some years, a private residence,
remarkable for the originality of its design, the outline of its many
projecting roofs presenting a multitude of concave curves in the Chinese
pagoda style.
In several buildings in this neighbourhood an effort was at one time
made, chiefly, we believe, through the influence of Mr. Shephard, to
reproduce what in the west of England are called cob-walls; but either
from an error in compounding the material, or from the peculiar
character of the local climate, they proved unsatisfactory.--The
Sheppards, early proprietors of land a little farther on, were a
different family, and spelt their name differently. It was some members
of this family that were momentarily concerned in the movement of 1837.
In Willowdale, a hamlet just beyond Shephard's, was the residence of Mr.
David Gibson, destroyed in 1837 by the Government forces. We observe in
the _Gazette_ of January 6th, 1826, the announcement, "Government House,
York, 29th December, 1825. His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor has
been pleased to appoint David Gibson, gentleman, to be a surveyor of
land in the Province." In the practice of the profession indicated he
was prosperous, and also as a practical farmer. He likewise represented
North York in the Provincial Parliament. When the calm came after the
tumult of 1837, he was appointed one of the Superintendents of
Colonization Roads. He died at Quebec in 1864.
A road turning off at right angles to the eastward out of Willowdale led
to a celebrated camp-meeting ground, on the property of Mr. Jacob
Cummer, one of the early German settlers. It was in a grand maple
forest--a fine specimen of such trysting places. It was here that we
were for the first time present at one of the peculiar assemblies
referred to, which, over the whole of this northern continent, in a
primitive condition of society at its several points, have fulfilled,
and still fulfil, an important, and we doubt not, beneficent function.
This, as we suppose, was the scene of the camp-meeting described in
Peter Jones' Autobiography. "About noon," he writes on Tuesday, the
10th of June, 1828, "started for the camp ground. When we arrived we
found about three hundred Indians collected from Lake Simcoe and Scugog
Lake. Most of those from Lake Simcoe have just come in from the back
lakes to join with their converted brethren in the service of the
Almighty God. They came in company with brother Law, and all seemed very
glad to see us, giving us a hearty shake of the hand. The camp ground
enclosed about two acres, which was surrounded with board tents, having
one large gate for teams to go in and out, and three smaller ones.
"The Indians occupied one large tent, which was 220 feet long and 15
feet broad. It was covered overhead with boards, and the sides were made
tight with laths to make it secure from any encroachments. It had four
doors fronting the camp ground. In this long house the Indians arranged
themselves in families, as is their custom in their wigwams. Divine
service commenced towards evening. Elder Case first gave directions as
to the order to be observed on the camp ground during the meetings.
Brother James Richardson then preached from Acts ii. 21; after which I
gave the substance in Indian, when the brethren appeared much affected
and interested. Prayer-meeting in the evening. The watch kept the place
illuminated during the night." The meeting continued for four days.
Where the dividing line occurs between York and Markham, at the angle on
the right was the first site of the sign of the Green Bush, removed
afterwards, as we have noted, to the immediate outskirts of York; and to
the left, somewhere near by, was a sign that used to interest from its
peculiarity, the Durweston Gate: a small white five-barred gate, hung by
its topmost bar to a projection from a lofty post, and having painted on
its lower bars "Durweston Gate," and the landlord's name. It was
probably a reproduction by a Dorsetshire immigrant of a familiar object
in his native village.
Not excluding from our notes, as will be observed, those places where
Shenstone sighed to think a man often "found the warmest welcome" we
must not forget Finch's--a great hostelry on the right, which we soon
reached as we advanced northward, of high repute about 1836, and
subsequently among excursion parties from town, and among the half-pay
settlers of the Lake Simcoe region, for the contents of its larder and
the quality of its cooking. Another place of similar renown was Crew's,
six or eight miles further on.
When for long years, men, especially Englishmen, called by their
occasions away from their homes, had been almost everywhere doomed to
partake of fare too literally hard, and perilous to the health, it is
not to be wondered at, when, here and there, at last a house for the
accommodation of the public did spring up where, with cleanly quarters,
digestible viands were to be had, that its fame should speedily spread;
for is it not Dr. Samuel Johnson himself who has, perhaps rather
sweepingly said, "there is nothing which has yet been contrived by man
by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn."