Part 16 (1/2)
(The last named was for a long time the Stultz of York, supplying all those of its citizens, young and old, who desired to make an attractive or intensely respectable appearance, with vestments in fine broadcloth.)
A little to the north, on the left side of George Street, was the famous Ladies' School of Mrs. Goodman, presided over subsequently by Miss Purcell and Miss Rose. This had been previously the homestead of Mr.
Stephen Jarvis, of whom again immediately.--Two or three of these familiar names appear in an advertis.e.m.e.nt relating to land in this neighbourhood, in the _Gazette_ of March 23rd, 1826.--”For Sale: Three lots or parcels of land in the town of York, the property of Mrs.
Goodman, being part of the premises on which Miss Purcell now resides, and formerly owned by Col. Jarvis. The lots are each fifty feet in width and one hundred and thirty in depth, and front on the street running from King Street to Mr. Jarvis's Park lot. If not disposed of by private sale, they will be put up at auction on the first day of May next.
Application to be made to Miss Purcell, or at the Office of the _U. C.
Gazette_. York, March 10, 1826.”
Advancing on Duke Street eastward a little way, we came, on the left, to the abode of Chief Justice Sir William Campbell, of whom before Sir William erected here in 1822 a mansion of brick, in good style. It was subsequently, for many years, the hospitable home of the Hon. James Gordon, formerly of Amherstburgh.
Then on the right, one square beyond, at the south-easterly corner where Caroline Street intersects, we reached the house of Mr. Secretary Jarvis, a man of great note in his day, whose name is familiar to all who have occasion to examine the archives of Upper Canada in the administrations of Governors Simcoe, Hunter and Gore. A fine portrait of him exists, but, as we have been informed, it has been transmitted to relatives in England. Mr. Stephen Jarvis, above named, was long the Registrar of Upper Canada. His hand-writing is well-known to all holders of early deeds. He and the Secretary were first cousins; of the same stock as the well-known Bishop Jarvis of Connecticut, and the Church Historian, Dr. Samuel Farmer Jarvis. Both were officers in incorporated Colonial regiments before the independence of the United States; and both came to Canada as United Empire Loyalists. Mr. Stephen Jarvis was the founder of the leading Canadian family to which the first Sheriff Jarvis belonged. Mr. Samuel Peters Jarvis, from whom ”Jarvis Street” has its name, was the son of Mr. Secretary Jarvis.
On the left, one square beyond the abode of Mr. Secretary Jarvis, came the premises and home of Mr. Surveyor General Ridout, the latter a structure still to be seen in its primitive outlines, a good specimen of the old type of early Upper Canadian family residence of a superior cla.s.s; combining the qualities of solidity and durability with those of snugness and comfort in the rigours of winter and the heats of summer.
In the rear of Mr. Ridout's house was for some time a family burial-plot; but, like several similar private enclosures in the neighbourhood of the town, it became disused after the establishment of regular cemeteries.
Nearly opposite Mr. Ridout's, in one of the usual long, low Upper Canadian one-storey dwellings, shaded by lofty Lombardy poplars, was the home of the McIntoshes, who are to be commemorated hereafter in connection with the Marine of York: and here, at a later period, lived for a long time Mr. Andrew Warffe and his brother John. Mr. Andrew Warffe was a well-known employe in the office of the Inspector General, Mr. Baby, and a lieutenant in the Incorporated Militia.
By one of the vicissitudes common in the history of family residences everywhere, Mr. Secretary Jarvis's house, which we just now pa.s.sed, became afterwards the place of business of a memorable cutler and gunsmith, named Isaac Columbus. During the war of 1812, Mr. Columbus was employed as armourer to the Militia, and had a forge near the garrison.
Many of the swords used by the Militia officers were actually manufactured by him. He was a native of France; a liberal-hearted man, ever ready to contribute to charitable objects; and a clever artizan.
Whether required to ”jump” the worn and battered axe of a backwoodsman, to manufacture the skate-irons and rudder of an ice-boat, to put in order a surveyor's theodolite, or to replace for the young geometrician or draughtsman an instrument lost out of his case, he was equally _au fait_. On occasion he could even supply an elderly lady or gentleman with a set of false teeth, and insert them.
In our boyhood we had occasion to get many little matters attended to at Mr. Columbus's. Once on leaving word that a certain article must be ready by a particular hour, we remember being informed that ”must” was only for the King of France. His political absolutism would have satisfied Louis XIV. himself. He positively refused to have anything to do with the ”liberals” of York, expressly on the ground that, in his opinion, the modern ideas of government ”hindered the King from acting as a good father to the people.”
An expression of his, ”first quality, blue!” used on a particular occasion in reference to an extra finish to be given to some steel-work for an extra price, pa.s.sed into a proverb among us boys at school, and was extensively applied by us to persons and things of which we desired to predicate a high degree of excellence.
Over Columbus's workshop, at the corner of Caroline Street, we are pretty sure his name appeared as here given; and so it was always called. But we observe in some lists of early names in York, that it is given as ”Isaac Collumbes.” It is curious to note that the great discoverer's name is a latinization of Colon, Coulon, Colombe, descendant each of _columba_, dove, of which _columbus_ is the masculine form.
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XIV.
KING STREET--FROM GEORGE STREET TO CAROLINE STREET.
We now retrace our steps to King Street, at its intersection with George Street; and here our eye immediately lights on an object connected with the early history of Education in York.
Attached to the east side of the house at the south-east angle of the intersection is a low building, wholly of stone, resembling a small root-house. Its structure is concealed from view now by a coating of clapboards. This was the first school-house possessing a public character in York.
It was where Dr. Stuart taught, afterwards Archdeacon of Kingston. The building was on his property, which became afterwards that of Mr. George Duggan, once before referred to. (In connection with St. James' Church, it should have been recorded that Mr. Duggan was the donor and planter of the row of Lombardy poplars which formerly stood in front of that edifice, and which figured conspicuously in the old engravings of King Street. He was an Irishman of strong opinions. He once stood for the town against Mr. Attorney-General Robinson, but without success. When the exigencies of later times required the uprooting of the poplar trees, now become overgrown, he warmly resented the removal and it was at the risk of grievous bodily harm that the Church-warden of the day, Mr. T. D. Harris, carried into effect the resolution of the Vestry.)
Dr. Stuart's was the Home District School. From a contemporary record, now before us, we learn that it opened on June the first, 1807, and that the first names entered on its books were those of John Ridout, William A. Hamilton, Thomas G. Hamilton, George H. Detlor, George S. Boulton, Robert Stanton, William Stanton, Angus McDonell, Alexander Hamilton, Wilson Hamilton, Robert Ross, Allan McNab. To this list, from time to time, were added many other old Toronto or Upper Canadian names: as, for example, the following: John Moore, Charles Ruggles, Edward Hartney, Charles Boulton, Alexander Chewett, Donald McDonell, James Edward Small, Charles Small, John Hayes, George and William Jarvis, William Bowkett, Peter McDonell, Philemon Squires, James McIntosh, Bernard, Henry and Marshall Glennon, Richard Brooke, Daniel Brooke, Charles Reade, William Robinson, Gilbert Hamilton, Henry Ernst, John Gray, Robert Gray, William Cawthra, William Smith, Harvey Woodruff, Robert Anderson, Benjamin Anderson, James Givins, Thomas Playter, William Pilkington. The French names Belcour, Hammeil and Marian occur. (There were bakers or confectioners of these names in York at an early period.)
From the same record it appears that female pupils were not excluded from the primitive Home District School. On the roll are names which surviving contemporaries would recognize as belonging to the _beau monde_ of Upper Canada, distinguished and admired in later years.
A building-lot, eighty-six feet in front and one hundred and seventeen in depth, next to the site of the school, is offered for sale in the _Gazette_ of the 18th of March, 1822; and in the advertis.e.m.e.nt it is stated to be ”one of the most eligible lots in the Town of York, and situated in King Street, in the centre of the Town.”
To the left, just across from this choice position, was, in 1833, Wragg & Co.'s establishment, where such matter-of-fact articles as the following could be procured: ”Bending and unbending nails, as usual; wrought nails and spikes of all sizes [a change since 1810]: ox-traces and cable chains; tin; double and single sheet iron: sheet bra.s.s and copper; bar, hoop, bolt and rod iron of all sizes; shear, blister and cast steel; with every other article in the heavy line, together with a very complete a.s.sortment of shelf goods, cordage, oak.u.m, tar, pitch, and rosin: also a few patent machines for sh.e.l.ling corn.” (A much earlier resort for such merchandize was Mr. Peter Paterson's, on the west side of the Market Square.)