December, 2018:

Grimsby is a town on Lake Ontario in the Niagara Region. It is named after the English fishing town of Grimsby in North East Lincolnshire. The majority of residents reside in the area bounded by Lake Ontario and the Niagara Escarpment. Grimsby has experienced significant growth over the past decade as the midpoint between Hamilton and St. Catharines.

The town of Grimsby was founded in 1790 (originally named Township Number 6 and then ‘The Forty’), after a group of United Empire Loyalists settled at the mouth of 40 Mile Creek in 1787. A Loyalist from the Mohawk Valley, New York, Robert Nelles and his father and brothers were among the first to settle at The Forty following the American Revolution. Robert Nelles was a politician and later lieutenant-colonel in the War of 1812. In 1816 the village became known as Grimsby, the name of the surrounding township.

The town has gone through many changes, from being a small rural village; to a centre for the manufacture of farm machinery, hospital furniture, furnaces and other metal products; and later the hub of the Niagara Peninsula’s fruit-growing industry. Grimsby had a successful fishing industry which lasted until the 1960s. The Town of Grimsby and the Township of North Grimsby were amalgamated in 1970 with the formation of the Regional Municipality of Niagara. With a number of wineries and distilleries, Grimsby now serves as the starting point for touring the Niagara wine region.

Grimsby is the birthplace of Hollywood director, Del Lord who rose to acclaim as the director of most of the Three Stooges short vaudeville comedies. Later, under Columbia Pictures, he directed nearly two hundred feature films.

Grimsby Beach was once a major holiday resort. Grimsby Park started in 1846 as a park for the Hamilton district of the Methodist Church. In 1910, the park’s new owner, Harry Wylie, modernized the park with carousels, a motion picture theatre, and a “Figure 8” roller coaster. Operations continued until 1949, with attractions gradually closing and developers buying land to build houses.

Bisecting the town is the Queen Elizabeth Way. It has three exchanges in the town, with Casablanca Boulevard in the west, a central exchange for three roads (Christie Street, Ontario Street, and Maple Avenue), and Bartlett Avenue in the east.

Township of Brantford

Brantford Township was the largest and most central township of Brant County. The first area settled was along Fairchild’s Creek north west of Cainsville. The township was blessed with many creeks that were developed with mills. The first industrial operation in the township was a mill operated by James Percy in Mount Pleasant. The township also has fertile soil and land was quickly settled and within twenty-five years was well under cultivation and thriving. Within the township are the villages of Mount Pleasant, Burtch, Newport, Cainsville and Langford, as well as the homes of Alexander Graham Bell and George Brown, a father of confederation.

Within decades of its founding in 1799 by the Ellis and Sturgis families, Mount Pleasant was a prosperous and cultured settlement with flourishing farms, inns, mills, schools, a drill hall, and commercial establishments. Today Mount Pleasant’s long and lovely main street retains much of its rural charm and many of its old homes, churches, and farmsteads. Mount Pleasant Road is part of the Long Point Trail, an old Indian trail which went from the Grand River in Brantford south to Lake Erie.

Emily Stowe was the first woman to practice medicine in Canada and also the first woman school principal. After her marriage in 1856 to carriage-maker John Stowe, she taught at the renowned Nelles Academy at 667 Mount Pleasant Road. She studied medicine in the United States because she was refused admission to a Canadian medical school. She did a lot of campaigning for increased education opportunities for women, and her daughter, Augusta Stowe Gullen, born in Mount Pleasant in 1857, became the first woman to graduate in medicine from a Canadian university in 1883.

One of the earliest settlers in the area of Newport was Edee Burtch who purchased land from Joseph Brant around 1796. As more settlers arrived, the area became known as Burtch’s Landing and was later renamed Newport. Newport was laid out for settlement by Thaddeus Smith in l857. Newport was a thriving shipping port offering passenger service to Buffalo on the Red Jacket and Queen paddle wheel steamers that operated on the Grand River. There were also facilities for handling general freight. The village with several hundred people had two wagon and carriage shops, two blacksmith shops, brickyards, several general stores, a post office, two churches, a school, a tavern/ hotel, a sawmill, grain warehouses and a grist mill.

Township of Onondaga

The township was named for the Onondagas, a nation within the Six Nations. They settled on land granted to the Six Nations under the Haldimand Proclamation of 1784. The Grand River, which forms the southern boundary of the county of Brant, was the main artery for transportation, communication, and economic sustenance. Today this river is mainly used for recreation. In the 1830s settlers began moving into this rich agricultural area.

This Village of Onondaga was first known as Smith’s Corners for David Smith who operated a grocery store and a saloon. The name was later changed to Onondaga. The village became a thriving community in the mid-19^th century because of the Buffalo, Brantford, and Goderich Railway station located here. Schools, churches, hotels and taverns, grist and sawmills, blacksmith shops, stores and small manufacturing shops developed.

The Grand River Navigation Company played an important role in the establishment of the Village of Middleport. On November 7, 1848 navigation was opened on the Grand River from Brantford to Dunnville through a series of locks and dams. Middleport, founded by John Solomon Hager, was midway between the locks at Brantford and the Village of Caledonia making it an important port.

Burford is in the County of Brant and is located eight kilometers west of the City of Brantford along Highway 53, and seventy kilometers east of London.

 In 1793 Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe granted to Abraham Dayton the entire Township of Burford. Dayton was a native of Milford, Connecticut. The township was to become the “new Jerusalem” for a religious sect with which he was affiliated. Dayton broke his ties with the sect and settled just west of the present village of Burford. He was responsible for bringing several families into the township and by the spring of 1797 the new settlement consisted of twenty-one families. Abraham Dayton died March 1, 1797 after a prolonged illness. Abigail Dayton, Abraham’s widow, later married Colonel Joel Stone and moved to Gananoque where she lived until her death in 1843 at the age of 93.The Dayton’s only child, Abiah, was the wife of Benajah Mallory and she and her husband followed her parents into this township. Benajah Mallory became a man of considerable influence and by 1805 was elected Member of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada representing Norfolk, Oxford, and Middlesex. In June 1812, war was declared against Upper Canada by the United States. During the course of the war, Mallory accepted a commission in the U.S. forces and was considered a traitor back home. Benajah Mallory became outlawed and his land was forfeited to the Crown.

John Yeigh, his wife Mary and their children Jacob, John Junior, Adam,Henry and Eva arrived in Burford from Pennsylvania by covered wagon in June1800. The family cleared land, farmed and established the first pottery in the Burford area. Jacob and Adam distinguished themselves in the War of 1812 and were also active participants in the 1837 Rebellion.

Mount Vernon was originally named Springfield and subsequently Chequered Sheds because the posts were painted in black and white checkerboard fashion to mark several parking spots for rigs at the hotel across from Kenny’s Store. The present name, according to oral history, was given by a railway company in honor of the home of George Washington, the first president of the United States.

Thomas Perrin laid out the village. He established the first store in 1835, built the first sawmill in 1840 and the first gristmill in 1845.

Bishopsgate is located on Highway 53 between Mount Vernon and Burford.

Langford is located on Highway 2/53 east of Fairchild’s Creek about three kilometers east of Cainsville. The village was named for Jacob Lang, an early settler who came from Pennsylvania to this area bout 1807. United Empire Loyalists settled here in the late 1700s. Several streams flowing south gave power to saw and grist mills in the area. A brickyard and a blacksmith shop were established here. The first post office was called Lang’s Ford as all of the travelers had to ford the swampy stream in the hollow just east of Jacob Lang’s farm. Later the name was changed to Langford.

Burford, Ontario in Colour Photos – My Top 9 Picks

Burford is in the County of Brant and is located eight kilometers west of the City of Brantford along Highway 53, and seventy kilometers east of London.

In 1793 Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe granted to Abraham Dayton the entire Township of Burford. Dayton was a native of Milford, Connecticut. The township was to become the “new Jerusalem” for a religious sect with which he was affiliated. Dayton broke his ties with the sect and settled just west of the present village of Burford. He was responsible for bringing several families into the township and by the spring of 1797 the new settlement consisted of twenty-one families. Abraham Dayton died March 1, 1797 after a prolonged illness. Abigail Dayton, Abraham’s widow, later married Colonel Joel Stone and moved to Gananoque where she lived until her death in 1843 at the age of 93. The Dayton’s only child, Abiah, was the wife of Benajah Mallory and she and her husband followed her parents into this township. Benajah Mallory became a man of considerable influence and by 1805 was elected Member of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada representing Norfolk, Oxford, and Middlesex. In June 1812, war was declared against Upper Canada by the United States. During the course of the war, Mallory accepted a commission in the U.S. forces and was considered a traitor back home. Benajah Mallory became outlawed and his land was forfeited to the Crown.

John Yeigh, his wife Mary and their children Jacob, John Junior, Adam, Henry and Eva arrived in Burford from Pennsylvania by covered wagon in June 1800. The family cleared land, farmed and established the first pottery in the Burford area. Jacob and Adam distinguished themselves in the War of 1812 and were also active participants in the 1837 Rebellion.

St. George, Ontario – Book 2 in Colour Photos – My Top 15 Picks

The County of Brant is located at the mid-point of the Grand River as it flows south from Luther Marsh to Lake Erie.

In 1852 the City of Brantford, the Village of Paris, and the Townships of Brantford, Oakland, Onondaga, South Dumfries, and Burford became Brant County.

Two hundred years ago, Obed Wilson ventured forth seeking an area in Upper Canada in which to settle. He discovered a place with fertile land, sparkling water and natural beauty which enticed him to stay and build a log cabin. Eventually the vision grew into the Village of St. George.

St. George, located to the north of the City of Brantford, is in the Township of South Dumfries. It was founded in 1814. John and Peter Bauslaugh were early settlers in St. George, and the early name of the village was “Bauslaugh Mills” in honor of John Bauslaugh who owned a sawmill near Highway 99. Main Street began to develop in the 1820s when Henry Moe began selling fish and dry goods from the first log building. By 1832, the village had three churches and several businesses. Today Main Street continues to thrive with many of the original buildings from the 1800s attracting people to the antique shops, cafes and restaurants.

The community around Bethel Road with Rest Acres Road to the east and Bishopsgate Road to the west was settled in the 1830s. The major industry in this area was farming. Some of its first settlers were the Gurneys, McAllisters (wagon maker), Aulsebrooks, Lovetts and Major Arnold Burrowes whose 1,000 acre estate was known as Strathmore. On his estate Major Burrowes constructed a mill dam, stock pens, hop mill, a distillery, a grist mill and a plaster mill.

The Township of Oakland includes the towns of Scotland and Oakland. It has a rich history.

Scotland is located on the Burford/Oakland township line. The village was surveyed and laid out by Eliakim Malcolm. The first hotel opened in 1830, the first story in 1837 and the first post office in 1855. Malcolm’s Creek had enough waterpower to sustain several industries such as a woolen mill, gristmill, tannery and foundry. Other early industries were a cooperage, a wagon and carriage works, carriage and buggy works and a starch factory. Two doctors and a lawyer practiced in Scotland in the mid-1800s.

The Village of Oakland is located three kilometers east of Scotland on the Oakland Road. Oakland was named for a ridge of oak trees that ran through it. In 1850, the first municipal office was at the Oakland Post Office. A town hall was built in 1854 and Council met there until the early 1900s. Oakland had a grist mill in 1806, saw mill in 1807, a cheese factory, cider mill, three general stores, a shoemaker, harness maker, and a hotel.

Oakland is the site of the Battle of Malcolm Mills which was the last land battle of the War of 1812 on Canadian soil against an official foreign power. The battle took place at the stream that runs through Lion’s Park. In October 1814, an invading American force of about seven hundred men under Brigadier-General Duncan McArthur advanced rapidly up the Thames Valley. He intended to devastate the Grand River settlements and the region around the head of Lake Ontario, which supplied British forces on the Niagara Frontier. McArthur reached the Grand, and after an unsuccessful attempt to force a crossing, attacked a body of about one hundred and fifty militia at Malcom’s Mills (Oakland) on November 6^th. Canadian forces put up a spirited resistance but were overwhelmed.