Sent in by David;
In 1793 Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe of Upper Canada ordered Dimdas Street to be built along Lake Ontario, but "several miles inland beyond cannon shot from the shore, to the head of hiiltemix navigation at Coote's Paradise, and from the latter to the Forks of the Thames (London), A town plot was reserved at Coote's Paradise.
The town of Dundas nestles In a valley cut in the Niagara Escarpment. One of the earliest white visitors, Captain Coote, spent all of his spare moments hunting in the marshlands near Ihe mouth of this valley. The marsh acquired the name Coote's Paradise, a name also given to the first settlement in Ihe valley. Its earliest settlers came in 1787.
Between 1786 and 1790 the first settlers in Ancaster Township in Wentworth County as are the other townships in this article, located west of Fifty Mile Creek, between the mountain and the Jake, In 1791 Richard Rtnsley, the original settler in what was to become west end Hamilton, and James Wilson built a saw and grist mill, the beginning of Ancaster village. St. Jean Baptiste Rousseau moved to Ancaster in 1796 ami bought out Beasley's interest in the mill. Richard and Samuel Halt built more mills there in 1798.
By 1803, the mills of Ancaster, just named after a parish in Lincolnshire, England, and a general store then began, were attracting farmers and lumbermen from miles around.
The town of Dundas, in the southeast corner of West Flamborough Township, was laid out in 1801. Captain John Hall was its first permanent settler. About 1797 the Mordens, United Empire Loyalists, had settled in its vicinity, and along Crook's Hollow. Between 1801 and 1S08 Richard Hatt bought 1,0000 acres in the valley, becoming the owner of all the waler power on Morden's Creek. He began the usual pioneer industries, and Dundns began to grow,
In 1814 the government organized weekly mail trips from Montreal to Niagara, and selected Dundas as a distributing point for mail to the country farther west. The fortnightly excursions lo Amherstburg were effected by sleighs or on foot, depending on the season, For the first two years the post master at Dundas was J. Second. From 1816 to 1819 the head of industry himself, Richard Hatl, was postmaster.
W. H. Coulson was Dundas postmaster to 1825, when E. Leslie and Sons took over. The future rebel leader William Lyon Mackenzie had been a partner with Edward Leslie in his store from 1820 to 1S22.
In 1813 James Crooks built a grist mill with four run of stone on Morden's Creek between the future Greensville and West Flamborough Village. In the next five years Crook's Hollow received a sawmill, general store, cooperage, and blacksmith shop. In 1826 Crooks established the first paper mill in Upper Canada there. The year before, on April 29, he sent a letter, now in the Ontario Archives, to Surveyor - General Thomas Ridout, York. It was postmarked Dundas UC, AP 29, in two straight lines, using very small type.
A letter from E. Leslie & Sons to A. M. Chisholm, Burlington (Smith - Chisholm Papers, Ontario Archives), written February 3, 1835, is postmarked with a small double circle broken by DUNDAS, with "4 Feb." written in. When Crooks wrole to Samuel Slree!, Niagara Falls, on March 25, 1840, his letter was postmarked by a large double circle broken by DUNDAS. U.C., with the Jute set in typo.
The first white man to sellle on Ihe site of Hamilton was Robert Land, early in 1778, having fled the American colonies for taking sides with the Rritish. He took up land in Barton Township from the bay to the mountain, cunt of what was lo bceome the centre of Hamilton.
Olher immigrants shunned the swampy margin of Burlington Bay, preferring the higher land in Ancaster ;md Barton. Some went east lo Sfiltfleet Township, where they built up Stoney Creek. The creek itself, after falling over the mountain, dashes over rocky ledges, hence the name. A crooked road ran below the mountain from Queens-ton through this village, and around Ihe lake to York. In 1913, when the Battle of Sioney Creek was fought, there were already two taverns on this road, on the creek bank a sawmill.
Still, the site of Hamilton seems to have been a kind of center for these places. A lodge of Freemasons from Ancaster, Barton and Saltfleet, organized in 1795, held their meetings at Smith's Tavern, the first on the site of the future city.
James Durand purchased 100 acres in Barton Township, the heart of present day Hamilton.
In 1813 a fugitive from the war along the Niagara frontier, George Hamilton, fled to the head of the lake and bought Durand's farm. He laid it out in lots for a village. Some of the inhabitants wished it to be named Burlington, but the majority determined that it should be called Hamilton, after the man with the greatest interest in it. In 1816 the government chose it as the county town of the new Gore district.
The next impulse which the progress of Hamilton received was the beginning of work, in 1823 on a canal between Burlington Bay and Lake Ontario. Its construction required a large number of men and horses, who made their headquarters at Hamilton. A large number of houses were built, and warehouses and wharves for the lake trade. A post office was opened at Hamilton in 1825, with W. B. Sheldon as the first postmaster.
Richard Halt's main clerk was Pierre Desjardins. In 1826 he organized the Desjardins Canal Company, to build a ship channel from Dundas through Coote's Paradise to Burlington Bay, completed in 1837. As the canal neared completion Dundas grew rapidly, but, since the other canal across the Burlington sandbar had been completed in 1832, Hamilton had become the head of navigation, and, while Dundas reached over 700 population in 1835, its rival Hamilton was already over1 2,000 that year.
Hamilton changed postmasters quickly at first, A. R. Smith taking over in 1827, and J. McA. Cameron in 1828, but in 1831 Edmund Ritchie took over for what was to be a long regime. A letter from Ritchie on mercantile business to Messrs. Smith & Chisholm, Wellington Square (Burlington), written in 1833, is postmarked with a small double circle broken by HAMILTON, in red, with "Sep 25" written in. When Gunn & Brown, Port Hamilton, wrote to Smith & Chisholm on January 24, 1843, their letter was postmarked by a large single circle HAMILTON U.C., JAN 24, large type being used, in red. This kind of postmark was only used in the largest centers.
To be continued
In 1793 Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe of Upper Canada ordered Dimdas Street to be built along Lake Ontario, but "several miles inland beyond cannon shot from the shore, to the head of hiiltemix navigation at Coote's Paradise, and from the latter to the Forks of the Thames (London), A town plot was reserved at Coote's Paradise.
The town of Dundas nestles In a valley cut in the Niagara Escarpment. One of the earliest white visitors, Captain Coote, spent all of his spare moments hunting in the marshlands near Ihe mouth of this valley. The marsh acquired the name Coote's Paradise, a name also given to the first settlement in Ihe valley. Its earliest settlers came in 1787.
Between 1786 and 1790 the first settlers in Ancaster Township in Wentworth County as are the other townships in this article, located west of Fifty Mile Creek, between the mountain and the Jake, In 1791 Richard Rtnsley, the original settler in what was to become west end Hamilton, and James Wilson built a saw and grist mill, the beginning of Ancaster village. St. Jean Baptiste Rousseau moved to Ancaster in 1796 ami bought out Beasley's interest in the mill. Richard and Samuel Halt built more mills there in 1798.
By 1803, the mills of Ancaster, just named after a parish in Lincolnshire, England, and a general store then began, were attracting farmers and lumbermen from miles around.
The town of Dundas, in the southeast corner of West Flamborough Township, was laid out in 1801. Captain John Hall was its first permanent settler. About 1797 the Mordens, United Empire Loyalists, had settled in its vicinity, and along Crook's Hollow. Between 1801 and 1S08 Richard Hatt bought 1,0000 acres in the valley, becoming the owner of all the waler power on Morden's Creek. He began the usual pioneer industries, and Dundns began to grow,
In 1814 the government organized weekly mail trips from Montreal to Niagara, and selected Dundas as a distributing point for mail to the country farther west. The fortnightly excursions lo Amherstburg were effected by sleighs or on foot, depending on the season, For the first two years the post master at Dundas was J. Second. From 1816 to 1819 the head of industry himself, Richard Hatl, was postmaster.
W. H. Coulson was Dundas postmaster to 1825, when E. Leslie and Sons took over. The future rebel leader William Lyon Mackenzie had been a partner with Edward Leslie in his store from 1820 to 1S22.
In 1813 James Crooks built a grist mill with four run of stone on Morden's Creek between the future Greensville and West Flamborough Village. In the next five years Crook's Hollow received a sawmill, general store, cooperage, and blacksmith shop. In 1826 Crooks established the first paper mill in Upper Canada there. The year before, on April 29, he sent a letter, now in the Ontario Archives, to Surveyor - General Thomas Ridout, York. It was postmarked Dundas UC, AP 29, in two straight lines, using very small type.
A letter from E. Leslie & Sons to A. M. Chisholm, Burlington (Smith - Chisholm Papers, Ontario Archives), written February 3, 1835, is postmarked with a small double circle broken by DUNDAS, with "4 Feb." written in. When Crooks wrole to Samuel Slree!, Niagara Falls, on March 25, 1840, his letter was postmarked by a large double circle broken by DUNDAS. U.C., with the Jute set in typo.
The first white man to sellle on Ihe site of Hamilton was Robert Land, early in 1778, having fled the American colonies for taking sides with the Rritish. He took up land in Barton Township from the bay to the mountain, cunt of what was lo bceome the centre of Hamilton.
Olher immigrants shunned the swampy margin of Burlington Bay, preferring the higher land in Ancaster ;md Barton. Some went east lo Sfiltfleet Township, where they built up Stoney Creek. The creek itself, after falling over the mountain, dashes over rocky ledges, hence the name. A crooked road ran below the mountain from Queens-ton through this village, and around Ihe lake to York. In 1913, when the Battle of Sioney Creek was fought, there were already two taverns on this road, on the creek bank a sawmill.
Still, the site of Hamilton seems to have been a kind of center for these places. A lodge of Freemasons from Ancaster, Barton and Saltfleet, organized in 1795, held their meetings at Smith's Tavern, the first on the site of the future city.
James Durand purchased 100 acres in Barton Township, the heart of present day Hamilton.
In 1813 a fugitive from the war along the Niagara frontier, George Hamilton, fled to the head of the lake and bought Durand's farm. He laid it out in lots for a village. Some of the inhabitants wished it to be named Burlington, but the majority determined that it should be called Hamilton, after the man with the greatest interest in it. In 1816 the government chose it as the county town of the new Gore district.
The next impulse which the progress of Hamilton received was the beginning of work, in 1823 on a canal between Burlington Bay and Lake Ontario. Its construction required a large number of men and horses, who made their headquarters at Hamilton. A large number of houses were built, and warehouses and wharves for the lake trade. A post office was opened at Hamilton in 1825, with W. B. Sheldon as the first postmaster.
Richard Halt's main clerk was Pierre Desjardins. In 1826 he organized the Desjardins Canal Company, to build a ship channel from Dundas through Coote's Paradise to Burlington Bay, completed in 1837. As the canal neared completion Dundas grew rapidly, but, since the other canal across the Burlington sandbar had been completed in 1832, Hamilton had become the head of navigation, and, while Dundas reached over 700 population in 1835, its rival Hamilton was already over1 2,000 that year.
Hamilton changed postmasters quickly at first, A. R. Smith taking over in 1827, and J. McA. Cameron in 1828, but in 1831 Edmund Ritchie took over for what was to be a long regime. A letter from Ritchie on mercantile business to Messrs. Smith & Chisholm, Wellington Square (Burlington), written in 1833, is postmarked with a small double circle broken by HAMILTON, in red, with "Sep 25" written in. When Gunn & Brown, Port Hamilton, wrote to Smith & Chisholm on January 24, 1843, their letter was postmarked by a large single circle HAMILTON U.C., JAN 24, large type being used, in red. This kind of postmark was only used in the largest centers.
To be continued