entitled Dundurn was once projected by Mr. Allan McNab, afterwards the
famous Sir Allan, acting, we believe at the time as agent for Mr. H. J.
Boulton; but Dundurn never advanced beyond incipience. The name was
afterwards familiar as that of Sir Allan's chateau close by Hamilton.
A well-travelled road now soon turned off to the right leading to
certain, almost historic mills in Markham, known as the German Mills. In
the _Gazetteer_ of 1799 these mills are referred to. "Markham township
in the east riding of the County of York fronts Yonge Street," it is
stated in that early work, "and lies to the northward of York and
Scarborough. Here" it then adds "are good mills and a thriving
settlement of Germans."
The German Mills are situated on Lot No. 4 in the third concession, on a
portion of the Rouge or Nen--a river which the same _Gazetteer_ informs
its readers was "the back communication from the German settlement in
Markham to Lake Ontario. The expectation in 1799 was, as the _Gazetteer_
further shows, that this river, and not either the Humber or the Don,
would one day be connected with the Holland river by a canal." It was not
certainly known in 1794, where the river which passed the German Mills
had its outlet. In Iredell's plan of Markham of that date, the stream is
marked "Kitcheseepe or Great River," with a memorandum attached--"waters
supposed to empty into Lake Ontario to the eastward of the Highlands of
York." Information, doubtless, noted down, by Iredell, from the lips of
some stray native. Kitche-seepe, "Big River" is of course simply a
descriptive expression, taken as in so many instances, by the early
people, to be a proper name. (It does not appear that among the
aborigines there were any proper local names, in our sense of the
expression.)
The German Mills were founded by Mr. Berczy, either on his own account
or acting as agent for an association at New York for the promotion of
German emigration to Canada. When, after failing to induce the
Government to reconsider its decision in regard to the patents demanded
by him for his settlers, that gentleman retired to Montreal, the German
Mills with various parcels of land were advertised for sale in the
_Gazette_ of April 27, 1805, in the following strain: "Mills and land in
Markham. To be sold by the subscriber for payment of debts due to the
creditors of William Berczy, Esq., the mills called the German Mills,
being a grist mill and a saw mill. The grist mill has a pair of French
burs, and complete machinery for making and bolting superfine flour.
These mills are situated on lot No. 4 in the third concession of
Markham; with them will be given in, lots No. 3 and 4 in the third
concession, at the option of the purchaser. Also, 300 acres being the
west half of lot No. 31, and the whole of lot 32 in the second
concession of Markham. Half the purchase money to be paid in hand, and
half in one year with legal interest. W. Allan. N.B.--Francis Smith, who
lives on lot No. 14 in the third concession, will show the premises.
York, 11th March, 1805."
It appears from the same _Gazette_ that Mr. Berczy's vacant house in
York had been entered by burglars after his departure. A reward of
twenty dollars is offered for their discovery. "Whereas," the
advertisement runs, "the house of William Berczy, Esq., was broken open
sometime during the night of the 14th instant, and the same ransacked
from one end to the other; this is to give notice that whoever shall
lodge an information, so that the offender or offenders may be brought
to justice, shall upon conviction thereof receive Twenty Dollars. W.
Chewett. York, 18th April, 1805."
We have before referred to Mr. Berczy's embarrassments, from which he
never became disentangled; and to his death in New York, in 1813. His
decease was thus noticed in a Boston paper, quoted by Dr. Canniff, p.
364, "Died--In the early part of the year 1813, William Berczy, Esq.,
aged 68; a distinguished inhabitant of Upper Canada, and highly
respected for his literary acquirements. In the decease of this
gentleman society must sustain an irreparable loss, and the republic of
letters will have cause to mourn the death of a man eminent for genius
and talent."
The German Mills were purchased and kept in operation by Capt. Nolan, of
the 70th Regiment, at the time on duty in Canada; but the speculation
was not a success. We have heard it stated that this Captain Nolan was
the father of the officer of the same name and rank who fell in the
charge of the Light Brigade at the very first outset, when, at
Balaclava,
"Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred."
The _Gazette_ of March 19, 1818, contains the following curt
announcement: "Notice. The German Mills and Distillery are now in
operation. For the proprietors, Alexander Patterson, Clerk, 11th March,
1818." Ten years later they are offered for sale or to lease in the _U.
C. Loyalist_ of April 5, 1828. (It will be observed that they once bore
the designation of Nolanville.) "For sale or to be leased," thus runs
the advertisement, "all or any part of the property known and described
as Nolanville or German Mills, in the third concession of the township
of Markham, consisting of four hundred acres of land, upwards of fifty
under good fences and improvements, with a good dwelling-house, barn,
stable, saw-mill, grist-mill, distillery, brew-house, malt-house, and
several other out-buildings. The above premises will be disposed of,
either the whole or in part, by application to the subscriber, William
Allan, York, January 26, 1828. The premises can be viewed at any time by
applying to Mr. John Duggan, residing there."
In the absence of striking architectural objects in the country at the
time, we remember, about the year 1828, thinking the extensive cluster
of buildings constituting the German Mills a rather impressive sight,
coming upon them suddenly, in the midst of the woods, in a deserted
condition, with all their windows boarded up.
One of our own associations with the German Mills is the memory of Mr.
Charles Stewart Murray, afterwards well-known in York as connected with
the Bank of Upper Canada. He had been thrown out of employment by Capt.
Nolan's relinquishment of the mills. He was then patronized by Mr.
Thorne of Thornhill.
In our boyish fancy, a romantic interest attached to Mr. Murray from his
being a personal friend of Sir Walter Scott's, and from his being
intimately associated with him in the excursion to the Orkneys, while
the Pirate and the Lord of the Isles were simmering in the Novelist's
brain. "Not a bad Re-past," playfully said Sir Walter after partaking
one day of homely meat-pie at the little inn of one Rae. Lo! from Mr.
Murray's talk, a minute grain to be added to Sir Walter's already huge
cairn of _ana_. Mr. M., too, was imagined by us, quite absurdly
doubtless, to be an hereditary devotee of the Pretender, if not closely
allied to him by blood. (His grandfather, or other near relative, had,
we believe, really been for a time secretary to Prince Charles Edward
Stuart)
A mile or two beyond where the track to the German Mills turned off,
Yonge Street once more encountered a branch of the Don, flowing, as
usual, through a wide and difficult ravine. At the point where the
stream was crossed, mills and manufactories made their appearance at an
early date. The ascent of the bank towards the north was accomplished,
in this instance, in no round-about way. The road went straight up.
Horse-power and the strength of leather were here often severely tested.
On the rise above, began the village of Thornhill, an attractive and
noticeable place from the first moment of its existence. Hereabout
several English families had settled, giving a special tone to the
neighbourhood. In the very heart of the village was the home,
unfailingly genial and hospitable, of Mr. Parsons, one of the chief
founders of the settlement; emigrating hither from Sherborne in
Dorsetshire in 1820. Nearer the brow of the hill overlooking the Don,
was the house of Mr. Thorne, from whom the place took its name: an
English gentleman also from Dorsetshire, and associated with Mr. Parsons
in the numerous business enterprises which made Thornhill for a long
period a centre of great activity and prosperity. Beyond, a little
further northward, lived the Gappers, another family initiating here the
amenities and ways of good old west-of-England households. Dr. Paget was
likewise an element of happy influence in the little world of this
region, a man of high culture; formerly a medical practitioner of great
repute in Torquay.
Another character of mark associated with Thornhill in its palmy days
was the Rev. George Mortimer, for a series of years the pastor of the
English congregation there. Had his lot been cast in the scenes of an
Oberlin's labours or a Lavater's, or a Felix Neff's, his name would
probably have been conspicuously classed with theirs in religious
annals. He was eminently of their type. Constitutionally of a spiritual
temperament, he still did not take theology to be a bar to a scientific
and accurate examination of things visible. He deemed it "sad, if not
actually censurable, to pass blind-folded through the works of God, to
live in a world of flowers, and stars, and sunsets, and a thousand
glorious objects of Nature, and never to have a passing interest
awakened by any one of them." Before his emigration to Canada he had
been curate of Madeley in Shropshire, the parish of the celebrated
Fletcher of Madeley, whose singularly beautiful character that of Mr.
Mortimer resembled. Though of feeble frame his ministerial labours were
without intermission; and his lot, as Fletcher's also, was to die almost
in the act of officiating in his profession.
An earlier incumbent of the English Church at Thornhill was the Rev.
Isaac Fidler. This gentleman rendered famous the scene of his Canadian
ministry, as well as his experiences in the United States, by a book
which in its day was a good deal read. It was entitled "Observations on
Professions, Literature, Manners, and Emigration in the United States
and Canada." Although he indulged in some sharp strictures on the
citizens of the United States, in relation to the matters indicated, and
followed speedily after by the never-to-be-forgotten Mrs. Trollope, his
work was reprinted by the Harpers. Mr. Fidler was a remarkable
person,--of a tall Westmoreland mould, resembling the common pictures of
Wordsworth. He was somewhat peculiar in his dress, wearing always an
extremely high shirt-collar, very conspicuous round the whole of his
neck, forming a kind of spreading white socket in which rested and
revolved a head, bald, egg-shaped and spectacled. Besides being
scholarly in the modern sense, Mr. Fidler possessed the more uncommon
accomplishment of a familiarity with the oriental languages.
The notices in his book, of early colonial life have now to us an
archaic sound. We give his narrative of the overturn of a family party
on their way home from church. "The difficulty of descending a steep
hill in wet weather may be imagined," he says, "The heavy rains had made
it (the descent south of Thornhill) a complete puddle which afforded no
sure footing to man or beast. In returning from church, the ladies and
gentlemen I speak of," he continues, "had this steep hill to descend.
The jaunting car being filled with people was too heavy to be kept back,
and pressed heavy upon the horses. The intended youthful bridegroom (of
one of the ladies) was, I was told, the charioteer. His utmost skill was
ineffectually tried to prevent a general overturn. The horses became
less manageable every moment. But yet the ladies and gentlemen in the
vehicle were inapprehensive of danger, and their mirth and jocularity
betrayed the inward pleasure they derived from his increasing straggles.
At last the horses, impatient of control, and finding themselves their
own masters, jerked the carriage against the parapet of the road and
disengaged themselves from it. The carriage instantly turned over on its
side; and as instantly all the ladies and gentlemen trundled out of it
like rolling pins. Nobody was hurt in the least, for the mire was so
deep that they fell very soft and were quite imbedded in it. What
apologies the gentleman made I am unable to tell, but the mirth was
perfectly suspended. I overtook the party at the bottom of the hill, the
ladies walking homewards from the church and making no very elegant
appearance."
As an example of the previously undreamt of incidents that may happen to
a missionary in a backwoods settlement, we mention what occurred to
ourselves when taking the duty one fine bright summer morn, many years
ago, in the Thornhill Church, yet in its primitive unenlarged state. A
farmer's horse that had been mooning leisurely about an adjoining field,
suddenly took a fancy to the shady interior disclosed by the wide-open
doors of the sacred building. Before the churchwardens or any one else
could make out what the clatter meant, the creature was well up the
central passage of the nave. There becoming affrighted, its ejection was
an awkward affair, calling for tact and manoeuvring.
The English Church at Thornhill has had another incumbent not
undistinguished in literature, the Rev. E. H. Dewar, author of a work
published at Oxford in 1844, on the Theology of Modern Germany. It is in
the form of letters to a friend, written from the standpoint of the
Jeremy Taylor school. It is entitled "German Protestantism and the Right
of Private Judgment in the Interpretation of Holy Scripture." The
author's former position as chaplain to the British residents at Hamburg
gave him facilities for becoming acquainted with the state of German
theology. Mr. Dewar, to superior natural talents, added a refined
scholarship and a wide range of accurate knowledge. He died at Thornhill
in 1862.
The incumbent who preceded Mr. Dewar was the Rev. Dominic E. Blake,
brother of Mr. Chancellor Blake; a clergyman also of superior talents.
Previous to his emigration to Canada in 1832, he had been a curate in
the county of Mayo. He died suddenly in 1859. It is remarked of him in a
contemporary obituary that "his productions indicated that while
intellect was in exercise his heart felt the importance of the subjects
before him." These productions were numerous, in the form of valuable
papers and reports, read or presented to the local Diocesan Society.
It is curious to observe that in 1798, salmon ascended the waters of the
Don to this point on Yonge Street. Among the recommendations of a farm
about to be offered for sale, the existence thereon of "an excellent
salmon fishery" is named. Thus runs the advertisement (_Gazette_, May
16, 1798): "To be sold by public auction, on Monday, the 2nd of July
next, at John McDougall's hotel, in the town of York, a valuable Farm,
situated on Yonge Street, about twelve miles from York, on which are a
good log-house, and seven or eight acres well improved. The advantages
of the above farm, from the richness of its soil and its being well
watered, are not equalled by many farms in the Province; and above all,
it affords an excellent salmon fishery, large enough to support a number
of families, which must be conceived a great advantage in this infant
country. The terms will be made known on the day of sale."
As we move on from Thornhill with Vaughan on the left and Markham on the
right, the name of another rather memorable early missionary recurs,
whose memory is associated with both these townships--Vincent Philip
Mayerhoffer.
Notwithstanding its drawbacks, early Canadian life, like early American
life generally, became, in a little while, invested with a curious
interest and charm; by means, for one thing, of the variety of character
encountered. A man might vegetate long in an obscure village or country
town of the old mother country before he rubbed against a person of V.
P. Mayerhoffer's singular experience, and having his wits set in motion
by a sympathetic realization of such a career as his.
He was a Hungarian; born at Raab in 1784; and had been ordained a
presbyter in the National Church of Austria. On emigrating to the United
States, he, being himself a Franciscan, fell into some disputes with the
Jesuits at Philadelphia, and withdrew from the Latin communion and
attached himself, in company with a fellow presbyter named Huber, to the
Lutheran Reformed. As a recognized minister of that body he came on to
Buffalo, where he officiated for four years to three congregations,
visiting at the same time, occasionally, a congregation on the Canada
side of the river, at Limeridge. He here, for the first time, began the
study of the English language. Coming now into contact with the clergy
of the Anglican communion, he finally resolved to conform to the
Anglican Church, and was sent by Bishop Stewart, of Quebec, to the
German settlement in Markham and Vaughan. Here he officiated for twenty
years, building in that interval St. Stephen's Church in Vaughan, St.
Philip's in the 3rd concession of Markham, and the Church in Markham
village, and establishing a permanent congregation at each.
He was a vigorous, stirring preacher in his acquired English tongue, as
well as in his vernacular German. He possessed also a colloquial
knowledge of Latin, which is still a spoken language in part of Hungary.
He was a man of energy to the last: ever cheerful in spirit, and
abounding in anecdotes, personal or otherwise. It was from him, as we
remember, we first heard the afterwards more familiarized names of
Magyar and Sclave.
His brother clergy of the region where his duty lay were indebted to him
for many curious glimpses at men and things in the great outer world of
the continent of Europe. During the Napoleonic wars he was "Field
Chaplain of the Imperial Infantry Regiment, No. 60 of the Line," and
accompanied the Austrian contingent of 40,000 men furnished to Napoleon
by the Emperor of Austria.--He was afterwards, when the Austrian Emperor
broke away from Napoleon, taken prisoner with five regiments of the
line, and sent to Dresden and Mayence. He was at the latter place when
the battle of Leipsic was fought (Oct. 16, 17, 18, 19, 1813.) He now
left Mayence without leave, the plague breaking out there, and got to
Oppenheim, where a German presbyter named Muller concealed him, till the
departure of the French out of the town. After several adventures he
found his way back to the quarters of his regiment now acting in the
anti-French interest at Manheim, where he duly reported himself, and was
well received. After the war, from the year 1816, he had for three years
the pastoral charge of Klingenmunster in the diocese of Strasbourg. He
died in Whitby, in 1859.
A memoir of Mr. Meyerhoffer has been printed, and it bears the following
title: "Twelve years a Roman Catholic Priest; or, the Autobiography of
the Rev. V. P. Meyerhoffer, M.A., late Military Chaplain to the Austrian
Army and Grand Chaplain of the Orders of Free Masons and Orangemen of
Canada, B.N.A., containing an account of his career as Military
Chaplain, Monk of the Order of St. Francis, and Clergyman of the Church
of England in Vaughan, Markham and Whitby, C.W."
He had a musical voice which had been properly cultivated--This, he used
to say, was a source of revenue to him in the early part of his public
career, those clergy being in request and receiving a higher
remuneration, who were able to sing the service in a superior manner.
His features were strongly marked and peculiar, perhaps Mongolian in
type; they were not German, English, or Italian. Were the concavity of
the nose and the projection of the mouth a little more pronounced in
"Elias Howe," the medallions of that personage would give a general idea
of Mr. Mayerhoffer's profile and head.
In his younger days he had acquired some medical knowledge, which stood
him in good stead for a time at Philadelphia, when he and Huber first
renounced the Latin dogmas. His taste for the healing art was slightly
indulged even after the removal to Canada, as will be seen from an
advertisement which appears in the _Courier_ of February 29, 1832. (From
its wording it will be observed that Mayerhoffer had not yet become
familiarized with the English language.) It is headed thus: "The use and
direction of the new-invented and never-failing Wonder Salve, by D. V.
P. Mayerhoffer, of Markham, U.C., H.D., 5th concession."
It then proceeds: "Amongst all in the medicine-invented unguents his
salve takes the first place for remedy, whereby it not in vain obtains
the name of Wonder Salve for experience taught in many cases to deserve
this name; and being urged to communicate it to the public, I endeavour
to satisfy to the common good of the public. It is acknowledged by all
who know the virtue of it, and experienced its worth, it ought to be
kept in every house, first for its inestimable goodness, and, second,
because the medicine the older it gets the better it is: money spent for
such will shew its effect from its beginning for twenty years, if kept
in a dry place, well covered. In all instances of burns, old wounds,
called running sores, for the tetter-worm or ring, &c., as the
discussions and use will declare, wrapped round the box or the medicine.
"It is unnecessary to recommend by words this inestimable medicine, as
its value has received the approbation of many inhabitants of this
country already, who sign their names below for the surety of its virtue
and the reality of its worth, declaring that they never wish to be
without it in their houses by their lifetimes. In Markham, Mr. Philip
Eckhardt, jun., do. do., sen., Godlieb Eckhardt, Abraham Eckhardt, John
Pingel, jun., Mr. Lang, Mr. Large, John Perkins, John Schall, Charles
Peterson, Luke Stantenkough, Peter March. In Vaughan, Jacob Fritcher,
Daniel Stang. Recommended by Dr. Baldwin, of York. The medicine is to be
had in the eighth concession of Markham, called Riarstown, by Sinclair
Holden; in the fifth concession by Christopher Hevelin and T. Amos; in
the town of York, in J. Baldwin's and S. Barnham's stores; on Yonge
Street, by Parsons and Thorne. Price of a box, two shillings and
sixpence, currency. January 11, 1832."
Military associations hang about the lands to the right and left of
Richmond Hill. The original possessor of Lot No. 22 on the west side,
was Captain Daniel Cozens, a gentleman who took a very active part in
opposition to the revolutionary movement which resulted in the
independence of the United States. He raised, at his own expense, a
company of native soldiers in the royalist interest, and suffered the
confiscation of a considerable estate in New Jersey. Three thousand
acres in Upper Canada were subsequently granted him by the British
Crown. His sons, Daniel and Shivers, also received grants. The name of
Shivers Cozens is to be seen in the early plans of Markham on lots 2, 4
and 5 in the 6th concession.
Samuel died of a fit at York in 1808; but Shivers returned to New Jersey
and died there, where family connexions of Captain Cozens still survive.
There runs amongst them a tradition that Captain Cozens built the first
house in our Canadian York. Of this we are informed by Mr. T. Cottrill
Clarke, of Philadelphia. We observe in an early plan of York the name of
Shivers Cozens on No. 23 in Block E, on the south side of King Street:
the name of Benjamin Cozens on No. 5 on Market Street: and the name of
Captain Daniel Cozens on No. 4 King Street, (new town), north side, with
the date of the grant, July 20, 1799. It is thus quite likely that
Captain Cozens, or a member of his family, put up buildings in York at a
very early period.
We read in the Niagara _Herald_, of October 31, 1801, the following:
"Died on the 6th ult., near Philadelphia, Captain Daniel Cozens." In the
_Gazette & Oracle_, of January 27, 1808, we have a memorandum of the
decease of Samuel Cozens: "Departed this life, on the 29th ult., Mr.
Samuel D. Cozens, one of the first inhabitants of this town [York]. His
remains were interred with Masonic honours on the 31st."