Col. Smith did something, in his day, to improve the breed of horses in Upper Canada. He expended considerable sums of money in the importation of choice animals of that species from the United States.
The house which led us to this notice of President Smith is, as we have said, situated on Richmond Street. On Adelaide Street, immediately south of this house, and also a little west of the Macdonell block, was a residence of mark, erected at an early period by Mr. Hugh Heward, and memorable as having been the abode for a time of the Naval Commissioner or Commodore, Joseph Bouchette, who first took the soundings and constructed a map of the harbour of York. His portrait is to be seen prefixed to his well-known "British Dominions in North America." The same house was also once occupied by Dr. Stuart, afterwards Archdeacon of Kingston; and at a later period by Mrs. Caldwell, widow of Dr.
Caldwell, connected with the Naval establishment at Penetanguishene. Her sons John and Leslie, two tall, sociable youths, now both deceased, were our cla.s.smates at school. We observe in the _Oracle_ of Sat.u.r.day, May 28, 1803, a notice of Mr. Hugh Heward"s death in the following terms: "Died lately at Niagara, on his way to Detroit, after a lingering illness, Mr. Hugh Heward, formerly clerk in the Lieutenant-Governor"s office, and a respectable inhabitant of this town (York)."
Just beyond was the abode of Lieut. Col. Foster, long Adjutant General of Militia; an officer of the antique Wellington school, of a fine type, portly in figure, authoritative in air and voice; in spirit and heart warm and frank. His son Colley, also, we here name as a congenial and attached schoolboy friend, likewise now deceased, after a brief but not undistinguished career at the Bar.
A few yards further on was the home of Mr. John Ross, whose almost prescriptive right it gradually became, whenever a death occurred in one of the old families, to undertake the funeral obsequies. Few were there of the ancient inhabitants who had not found themselves at one time or another, wending their way, on a sad errand, to Mr. Ross"s doorstep. On his sombre and very unpretending premises were put together the perishable sh.e.l.ls in which the mortal remains of a large proportion of the primitive householders of York and their families are now reverting to their original dust. Almost up to the moment of his own summons to depart hence, he continued to ply his customary business, being favoured with an old age unusually green and vigorous, like "the ferryman austere and stern," Charon; to whom also the "inculta canities" of a plentiful supply of hair and beard, along with a certain staidness, taciturnity and rural homeliness of manner and attire, further suggested a resemblance. Many things thus combine to render Mr. John Ross not the least notable of our local dramatis personae. He was led, as we have understood, to the particular business which was his usual avocation, by the accident of having been desired, whilst out on active service as a militiaman in 1812, to take charge of the body of Gen. Brock, when that officer was killed on Queenston Heights.
While in this quarter we should pause too for a moment before the former abode of Mr. Robert Stanton, sometime King"s Printer for Upper Canada, as noted already; afterwards editor of the _Loyalist_; and subsequently Collector of Customs at York:--a structure of the secondary brick period, and situated on Peter Street, but commanding the view eastward along the whole length of Richmond Street. Mr. Stanton"s father was an officer in the Navy, who between the years 1771 and 1786 saw much active service in the East and West Indies, in the Mediterranean, at the siege of Gibraltar under General Elliott, and on the American coast during the Revolutionary war. From 1786 to 1828 he was in the public service in several military and civil capacities in Lower and Upper Canada. In 1806 he was for one thing, we find, issuer of Marriage Licences at York. From memoranda of his while acting in this capacity we make some extracts.
The unceremoniousness of the record in the majority of cases, is refreshing. The names are all familiar ones in Toronto. The parties set down as about to pledge their troth, either to other, had not in every instance, in 1872, pa.s.sed off the scene.
1806, Nov. 26, Stephen Heward to Mary Robinson. Same date, Ely Playter to Sophia Beaman. Dec. 11, same year, Geo. T. Denison to C. B.
Lippincott. 1807, Feb. 3, Jordan Post to M. Woodruffe. July 13, Hiram Kendrick to Hester Vanderburg. Dec. 28, Jarvis Ashley to Dorothy McDougal. 1808, Jan. 13, D"Arcy Boulton, Jun., to Sally Ann Robinson.
March 17, James Finch to M. Reynolds. April 9, David Wilson to Susannah Stone. May 2, John Langstaff to Lucy Miles. May 30, John Murchison to Frances Hunt. August 8, John Powell, Esq., to Miss Isabella Shaw. Sept.
12, Hugh Heward to Eliza Muir. 1809, April 14, Nicholas Hagarman to Polly Fletcher. May 18, William Cornwall to Rhoda Terry. June 19, John Ashbridge to Sarah Mercer. June 21, Jonathan Ashbridge to Hannah Barton.
July 15, Orin Hale to Hannah Barrett. Aug. 5, Henry Drean to Jane Brooke. Dec. 14, John Thompson to Ann Smith. 1810, March 8, Andrew Thomson to Sarah Smith. March 30, Isaac Pilkington to Sarah McBride.
June 2, Thomas Bright to Jane Hunter. July 3, John Scarlett to Mary Thomson. Sept. 10, William Smith to Eleanor Thomson. June 22, William B.
Sheldon to Jane Johnson. July 30, Robert Hamilton, gent., to Miss Maria Lavinia Jarvis. 1811, Sept. 20, George Duggan to Mary Jackson.
In one or two instances we are enabled to give the formal announcement in the _Gazette and Oracle_ of the marriage for which the licence issued by Mr. Stanton was so curtly recorded. In the paper of Jan. 27, 1808, we have: "Married, on the 13th instant, by the Rev. G. O. Stuart, D"Arcy Boulton, jun., Esq., barrister, to Miss Sarah Robinson, second daughter of the late C. Robinson, Esq., of York."
And in the number for August 13, in the same year we read: "Married by the Rev. G. O. Stuart, on Monday the 8th instant, John Powell, Esq., to Miss Shaw, daughter of the Hon. aeneas Shaw, of this place (York)." To this announcement the editor, as we suppose, volunteers the observation: "This matrimonial connexion of the amiable parties we think replete with, and we wish it productive of, the most perfect human happiness."
A complimentary epithet to the bride is not unusual in early Canadian marriage notices. In the _Gazette and Oracle_ of Dec. 29, 1798, we have a wedding in the Playter family recorded thus: "Married last Monday, Mr.
James Playter to the agreeable Miss Hannah Miles, daughter of Mr. Abner Miles of this town." In the same paper for Feb. 24, 1798, is the announcement: "Married in this town (Niagara), by the Rev. Mr. Burke, Captain Miles Macdonell of the Royal Canadian Volunteers, to the amiable Miss Katey Macdonell." (This union was of brief duration. In the _Constellation_ of Sept 6, 1799, we observe: "Died lately at Kingston, Mrs. Macdonell, of this town (Niagara), the amiable consort of Captain Miles Macdonell of the Canadian Volunteers.")
Again: in the _Gazette and Oracle_ for Sat.u.r.day Oct, 26, 1799: "Married, last Monday, by the Rev. Mr. Addison, Colonel Smith, of the Queen"s Rangers, to the most agreeable and accomplished Miss Mary Clarke." (This was the Col. Smith who subsequently was for a time President of Upper Canada.)
In the _Constellation_ of Nov. 23, 1799, in addition to the complimentary epithet, a poetical stanza is subjoined: thus: "Married at the seat of the Hon. Mr. Hamilton, at Queenston, on Sunday last, Mr.
Thomas d.i.c.kson, merchant, to the amiable Mrs. Taylor, daughter of Captain Wilkinson, commanding, Fort Erie.
For thee, best treasure of a husband"s heart; Whose bliss it is that thou for life art so; That thy fond bosom bears a faithful part In every casual change his breast may know."
But occasionally the announcement is almost as terse as one of Mr.
Stanton"s entries. Thus in the _Constellation_ of Dec. 28, 1799, Mr.
Hatt"s marriage to Miss Cooly appears with great brevity: "Married at Ancaster, Mr. Richard Hatt to Miss Polly Cooly."
A magistrate officiates sometimes, and his name is given accordingly. In the _Gazette and Oracle_ of March 2, 1799, we have: "Married on Tuesday last, by William Willc.o.c.ks, Esq., Sergeant Mealy, of the Queen"s Rangers, to Miss M. Wright, of this town."
(Somewhat in the strain of the complimentary marriage notices are the following: "We announce with much pleasure an acquisition to society in this place by the arrival of Prideaux Selby, Esq., and Miss Selby.--_Gazette_, Dec. 9, 1807. The York a.s.sembly which commenced on Thursday the 17th instant, was honoured by the attendance of His Excellency and Mrs. Gore. It was not numerous. We understand that Mrs.
Firth, the amiable Lady of the Attorney General, lately arrived, was a distinguished figure."--_Gazette_, Dec. 23, 1807.)
The family of Mr. Stanton, senior, was large. It was augmented by twins on five several occasions. Not far from Mr. Stanton"s house, a lesser edifice of brick of comparatively late date on the north side of Richmond Street, immediately opposite the premises a.s.sociated just now with the memory of President Smith, may be noted as having been built and occupied by the distinguished Admiral Vansittart, and the first example in this region of a cottage furnished with light, tasteful verandahs in the modern style.
We now return from our digression into Richmond and Adelaide Streets, and again proceed on our way westward.
The grantee of the park-lot which followed Solicitor-General Gray"s, was the famous Hon. Peter Russell, of whom we have had occasion again and again to speak. A portion of the property was brought under cultivation at an early period, and a substantial farm-house put up thereon--a building which in 1872 was still in existence. The name attached to this house and clearing was Petersfield.
Human depredators prowled about a solitary place like this. At their hands in 1803, Mr. Russell suffered a serious loss, as we learn from an advertis.e.m.e.nt which about midsummer in that year appeared in several successive numbers of the _Oracle_. It ran as follows: "Five Guineas Reward. Stolen on the 12th or 13th instant from Mr. Russell"s farm, near this town, a Turkey Hen, with her brood of six half-grown young ones.
Whoever will give such information and evidence as may lead to the discovery of the Thieves shall receive from the subscriber the above reward upon conviction of any of the delinquents. Peter Russell, York, Aug. 15th, 1803." Another advertis.e.m.e.nt has been mentioned to us, issuing from the same sufferer, announcing the theft of a Plough from the same farm.
Similar larcenies were elsewhere committed. In the _Gazette_ of June 12, 1802, we read: "Forty dollars reward.--Mr. Justice Allc.o.c.k offers a reward of forty dollars to any one who will give information of the person or persons who stole and carried away from his farm near the Garrison a number of iron teeth from two harrows. The same reward will also be given to any one who will give such information as will convict any person or persons of having bought such iron teeth, or any part of them, knowing the same to be stolen. If more than one was concerned, the same reward will be given to any accomplice upon his giving such information as will convict the other party or parties concerned with him, and every endeavour used to obtain a pardon. Note. It has been ascertained that two blacksmiths in the town did, about the time these teeth were stolen, purchase harrow-teeth from a soldier, since deserted, and that another soldier was in company when such teeth were offered for sale. 28th May, 1802."
Again, in the same paper we have:--"Twenty dollars reward will be paid by the subscriber to any person who will discover the man who is so depraved and lost to every sense of social duty, as to cut with an axe or knife, the withes which bound some of the fence round the late Chief Justice"s Farm on Yonge Street, and to throw down the said Fence.
Independent of the above inducement, it is the duty of every good member of society to endeavour to find out who the character is that can be guilty of such an infamous act, in order that he may be brought to justice. Robert J. D. Gray, York, June 28th, 1803."
Occasionally notices of a reverse order appear. A homely article picked up on the Common was judged to be of sufficient importance to its owner to induce the finder to advertise as follows in the _Oracle_ of Sat.u.r.day, Aug. 14th, 1802:--"Found lately near the Garrison, a Cow-bell.
Whoever has lost the same, may have it again by applying to the Printer hereof, on paying the expense of this advertis.e.m.e.nt, and proving property. York, Aug. 7, 1802."
Again, in the _Oracle_ of Feb. 25, 1804:--"Found on Sat.u.r.day last, the 11th instant, a Bar of Iron. The owner may have it again, by applying to the Printer hereof. York, Feb. 8th." And again: "Found on Friday, the 5th instant, two silk handkerchiefs. The owner can have them again by applying to the Printer, and paying the expense of this advertis.e.m.e.nt.
York, Oct. 12th, 1804." In October, 1806, an iron pot was picked up: "Found, on Sunday last, the 12th instant, on the beach opposite Messrs.
Ashbridge"s, an Iron Pot capable of containing about two pails full.
Whoever may own the above-mentioned Pot, may have it again by proving property, and paying charges, on application to Samuel Lewis or to the Printer hereof. York, Oct. 16th, 1806."
A barrel of flour was found on the beach near the Garrison in 1802, and was thus advertised: "The Public are hereby informed that there has been a barrel of flour left on the beach near the Garrison by persons unknown. Whoever will produce a just claim to the same may have it, by applying to the Garrison Sergeant-Major, and paying the expense of the present advertis.e.m.e.nt. J. Petto, G. S. Major, York, March 22, 1802."
Once more: in the _Gazette_ of Dec. 3, 1803: "On the 26th ult. the subscriber found one-half of a fat Hog on the Humber Plains, which he supposes to be fraudulently killed, and the other half taken away. The part which he found he carried home and dressed, and requests the owner to call, pay expenses, and take it away. John Clark, Humber Mills, Dec.
2, 1803."
Peter Russell"s name became locally a household synonym for a _h.e.l.luo agrorum_, and not without some show of reason, as the following list in successive numbers of the _Gazette and Oracle_ of 1803 would seem to indicate. Of the lands enumerated he styles himself, at the close of the advertis.e.m.e.nt, the proprietor. We have no desire, however, to perpetuate the popular impression, that all the said properties had been patented by himself to himself. This, of course, could not have been done. He simply chose, as he was at liberty to do, after acquiring what he and his family were ent.i.tled to legally, in the shape of grants, to invest his means in lands, which in every direction were to be had for a mere song.
The doc.u.ment spoken of reads thus: "To be sold.--The Front Town Lot, with an excellent dwelling-house and a kitchen recently built thereon, in which Mr. John Denison now lives, in the Town of York, with a very commodious water-lot adjoining, and possession given to the purchaser immediately. The Lots Nos. 5, 6, and 7 in the 2nd, and lots No. 6 and 7 in the 3d concession of West Flamboro" township, containing 1,000 acres, on which there are some very good mill seats; the lots No. 4 and 5, in the 1st concession of East Flamboro" with their broken fronts, containing, according to the Patent, 600 acres more or less; the lots No. 1, 3 and 4 in the 2nd, and lots No. 2 and 3 in the 3rd concession of Beverley, containing 1,000 acres; the lots No. 16 in the 2nd and and 3rd concession of the township of York containing 400 acres; the lots 32 and 33 with their broken fronts, in the 1st, and lots No. 31 and 32 in the 2nd concession of Whitby, containing 800 acres; the lots 22 and 24 in the 11th, lot 23 in the 12th, and No. 24 in the 13th and 14th concessions of Townsend, containing a 1,000 acres; the lots No. 12, 13 and 14 in the 1st and 2nd concession of Charlotteville, immediately behind the Town plot, containing 1,200 acres; the lots Nos. 16 and 17 in the 1st concession of Delaware township, on the river Thames (La Tranche) containing 800 acres; the lots Nos. 1, 3, 4, 5, and 7 in the 10th; No. 1, 2, 4, 6, and 7 in the 11th, and Nos. 3, 4, 5, and 7 in the 12th concession of Dereham, containing 3,000 acres, with mill-seats thereon; and also the lots Nos. 22, 24, 25, 26, and 28 in the 1st, Nos.
22, 23, 25, 27 and 28 in the 3rd, Nos. 22, 24, 25, 26 and 28 in the 11th, and Nos. 22, 24, 25, 26 and 28 in the 12th concession of Norwich, containing 600 acres, with mill-seats thereon. The terms are either cash, or good bills of exchange on London, Montreal and Quebec, for the whole of such purchase, in which case a proportionably less price will be expected, or the same for one moiety of each purchase, and bonds properly secured for princ.i.p.al and interest, until paid, for the other.
The prices may be known by application to the proprietor at York. Peter Russell."
Clearly, an idea of the prospective value of property in Canada had dawned upon the mind of Mr. Russell in the year 1803; and he aimed to create for himself speedily a handsome fortune. His plans, however, in the long run, came to little, as in another connexion, we have heard already.
Survivors of the primitive era in Upper Canada have been heard sometimes to express, (like Lord Clive, after his dealings with the rajahs,) their surprise that they did not provide for themselves more largely than they did, when the broad acres of their adopted country were to be had to any extent, almost for the asking. But this reflection should console them; in few instances are the descendants of the early very large land-holders much better off at the present hour than probably they would have been, had their fathers continued landless.
Mr. Russell died at York on the 30th of September, 1808. His obituary appears in the _Gazette and Oracle_ of the following day. "Departed this life on Friday, the 30th ultimo, the Hon. Peter Russell, Esquire, formerly President of the Government of the Province, late Receiver General, and Member of the Executive and Legislative Councils: a gentleman who whilst living was honoured, and sincerely esteemed; and of whose regular and amiable conduct, the Public will long retain a favoured and grateful remembrance."
Of the funeral, which took place on the 4th of October, we have a brief account in the paper of Oct. 8, 1808. It says: "The remains of the late Hon. Peter Russell were interred on Wednesday the 4th instant with the greatest decorum and respect. The obsequies of this accomplished gentleman were followed to the grave by His Excellency the Lieut.
Governor (Gore) as Chief Mourner; with the princ.i.p.al gentlemen of the town and neighbourhood; and they were feelingly accompanied by all ranks, evincing a reverential awe for the Divine dispensation. An appropriate funeral sermon was preached by the Rev. Okill Stuart. The Garrison, commanded by Major Fuller, performed with becoming dignity the military honours of this respected veteran, who was a Captain in the Army on half-pay." The editor then adds: "deeply impressed with an ardent esteem for his manly character, and the irreparable loss occasioned by his death, we were not among those who felt the least at this last tribute of respect to his memory and remains." (The Major Fuller, above named, was the father of the Rev. Thomas Brock Fuller, in 1873 Archdeacon of Niagara.)
As we have elsewhere said, Mr. Russell"s estate pa.s.sed to his unmarried sister, Miss Elizabeth Russell, who, at her own decease, devised the whole of it to Dr. W. W. Baldwin and his family. The Irish family to which Mr. Russell belonged was originally a transplanted branch of the Aston-Abbotts subdivision of the great English family of the same name; and a connexion, through intermarriages, had long subsisted between these Russells and the Baldwins of the County of Cork. Russell Hill in the neighbourhood of Toronto, is so called from a Russell Hill in Ireland, which has its name from the Russells of the County of Cork.--During the Revolutionary war, Mr. Russell had been Secretary to Sir Henry Clinton, Commander-in-chief of the Army in North America from 1778 to 1782.
At the beginning of Peter Russell"s advertis.e.m.e.nt of properties, it will have been observed that he offered for sale "an excellent dwelling-house in the town of York," described as being in the occupation of Mr. John Denison. The building referred to, situate, as it is further mentioned, on a "front town lot, with a very convenient water-lot adjoining," was the "ornamental cottage" noted in our journey along Front Street, as having been once inhabited by Major Hillier, of the 74th. On its site was afterwards built Dr. Baldwin"s town residence, which subsequently became first a Military Hospital, and then the head office of the Toronto and Nip.i.s.sing Railroad.
But Petersfield was also a.s.sociated with the history of Mr. Denison, who was the progenitor of the now numerous Canadian family of that name.
Through an intimacy with Mr. Russell, springing out of several years"
campaigning together in the American Revolutionary war, Mr. Denison was induced by that gentleman, when about to leave England in an official capacity in company with General Simcoe, to emigrate with his family to Upper Canada in 1792. He first settled at Kingston, but, in 1796, removed to York, where, by the authority of Mr. Russell, he temporarily occupied Castle Frank on the Don. He then, as we have seen, occupied "the excellent dwelling-house" put up "on a front lot" in the town of York by Mr. Russell himself; and afterwards, he was again accommodated by his friend with quarters in the newly-erected homestead of Petersfield.
We have evidence that in 1805 a portion of Petersfield was under cultivation, and that under Mr. Denison"s care it produced fine crops of a valuable vegetable. Under date of York, 20th December, 1805, in a contemporary _Oracle_, we have the following advertis.e.m.e.nt: "Potatoes: To be sold at Mr. Russell"s Farm at Petersfield, by Mr. John Denison, in any quant.i.ties not less than ten bushels, at Four Shillings, York Currency, the bushel, if delivered at the purchaser"s house, or Three Shillings the bushel, if taken by them from the Farm."
And again, in the _Gazette_ of March 4, 1807: "Blue Nose Potatoes. To be sold at Mr. Russell"s Farm near York. The price three shillings, York currency, the bushel, if taken away by the purchasers, or they will be delivered anywhere within the precincts of the Town, at Four Shillings, in any quant.i.ty not less than ten bushels. Application to be made to Mr.
John Denison, on the premises, to whom the above prices are to be paid on delivery. Feb. 14, 1807."
Our own personal recollection of Mr. Denison is a.s.sociated with Petersfield, the homely cosiness of whose interior, often seen during its occupancy by him, lighted up by a rousing hospitable fire of great logs, piled high in one of the usual capacious and lofty fire-places of the time, made an indelible impression on the boyish fancy. The venerable Mrs. Sophia Denison, too, Mr. Denison"s better half, was in like manner a.s.sociated in our memory with the cheery interior of the ancient Petersfield farm-house--a fine old English matron and mother, of the antique, strongly-marked, vigorous, sterling type. She was one of the Taylors, of Ess.e.x; among whom, at home and abroad, ability and talent, and traits of a higher and more sacred character, are curiously hereditary. We shall have occasion, further on, to speak of the immediate descendants of these early occupants of Petersfield.