Part 30 (1/2)

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 refres.h.i.+ng. 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.