535-03 Page 195occupied by Charles VanDyke Corless, noted min-
is mansion, known as Coniston Place, was built Tillsop's founder. From 1929 until ]954 it was
nburg
Tillson. Avwenue and Hyman Street in Tillsonburg engineer. (Sinden Photo Studio)
the 1880s or 1890s by Edwin D. Tillson, son of ing g
great VicOldt
By W 1- ELL1
A great old Vcorzan house,%,
,r,et in spacious grounds at Till
sen A v e n u e and Hyman
f Street, Tillsonburg, was in
turn->e home for many years
o outstanding men. Ed-
wiit D. Tillson, for whom it
was built, was youngest son of
the towr,'s founder, George
Tillson, and the civic and in-
�trial development of Till
&burg became his lifework.
replaced if ea-iTer home of
more modest size and, ini-
dentally, more architectural
approbation today "
"The basic influence of the
style of the house," he states,
"is Gothic ratheritched gables,
Renais-
sance. Steeply p
pointed arched window heads,
ornate porches, towers and
dormers reflect the design,
fashionable in the 1880s, and
which persisted all during the
1890s in this country
,. t f this style
e
Bells tolled and flags were.
to half-staff when he
The c arac ex o
is the result of the lectures,
lowered
died on January 3, 1902. "He
writings and romantic trend of
time by Violiet-
loved the town," it was writ-
"it was. his
the produced
le-duc in France and Burges
ten at the time;
joy and delight, and every-
in England, both ardent Goth-
is revivalists, and more achi
thing pertaining to its im-"
interested him
tecturally concerned than the
provement
7,000 population, the
thoughts of Ruskin and his fol-
Now with
Tillson town is growing steadi-
lowers, who had only superfi-
ideas of the substance of
ly, though its industrial pat-
`ern has greatly altered.
cial
architecture.
"However, the result of the
liar cs VanDyke Corless, a
revivalists, whether Gothic or
native of Oxford county, won
different field.
Classic, produced nothing bet -
distinction in a
lie became recognized
ter than sham copies of cas-
ties on the Rhine or Loire cha-
throughout the contment an I
abroad as the foremost Cana-
dian mining engineer of his
day and an accepted authority
n mining and metallurgy
Coniston Mine in the Nickel
elt is in a way a memorial to
and the great house he
ght from the Tillson Estate
in 1929 and occupied until his
death in 1954, at the age of 84,
bears the name, "Coniston
Place." It is occupied now by
Dr. Corless' younger daughter
and her husband, Mr and
Mrs. B. D. Burn. Mrs, Corless
died in 1950.
"Coniston Place" is not the
original Tillson homestead,
which is a frame house still in
existence, on Oxford street.
The brick house at Tillson
and Hyman is a Victorian vil-
la built in the 1880s or 1890s.
Arthur W Wallace, noted
Hamilton architect,. surmises
(accurately) that ,it probably
""o-N `; a cross -hall opens on
the large dining -room, with its
fine china and silver. In the
living room are fine Italian
and Dresden vases, walnut
chairs with beautiful needle
point, and a large fireplace.
The lighting throughout is gen-
erous. The second -floor rooms
contain some fine old bedroom
furniture. The third floor is
also complete. Even the base-
ment is plastered, and all par-
titions are of solid brick.
F
d now this type a
the appor American manhe late 19th century,
miliar to us as such,
rather than something with a
European derivation."
Dr. Corless, who
sretired at
in which
60, had many Y
to seek out the art treasures
in which he delighted, and the
beautiful furniture now in
"Coniston Place." The hall
floor is a fine example of par-
quetry, and the wide hall
opens on the right to the large
living room, on the left to Dr
Corless' vast library Over the
desk here is a painting attrib-
uted to Rembrandt, and else
where are works by Morland,
Corregio and Crenauit. The
hallway continues past a mag-
nificent grandfather's clock,
next to which a beautiful stair
rises. --
had ended a connection with
the Normandale Forge and
built a log house on the hill in
what was to be Tillsonburg,
near the intersection of the
present Vienna and Courtland
roads.
He built a, sawmill and a
forge, manufactured lumber,
laid out roads, and for many
years was county roads com-
The house is not far from
the hollow where the Court -
land and Vienna roads inter-
sect, and where Tillsonburg
began as a hamlet on the Ot-
ter, in Dereham township.
Earliest recorded land trans-
action in the area took place
in 1800, when the Crown grant-
ed to Peter Russell (for some
years administrator of the
province) the territory includ-
ed later in the VanNorman
and Tillson holdings. When
George Tillson, with Benjamin
VanNorman and a nephew,
Harvey Tillson, purchased lots
3, 4 and 5 in the 12th of Dere-
ham, ` the vendor was Dr
Baldwin, father of Hon. Rob-
ert Baldwin (joint premier of
United Canada in the 1840s.)
George Tillson bequeathed
to Joseph S. Tillson, his wife,
Nancy, and others 13 acres,
being parts of dots 3 and 11,
south of Simcoe street and
east of Vienna street, reserv-
ing part of the Benjamin
VanNorman burial ground.
"Part of lot 3" passed in
1946 from J D. Tillson and the
Tillson Co., Limited, to Thom-
as and Elizabeth Ronson. The
Ronson name has been asso-
ciated with the area from
earliest years. Courtland was
first known as Ronson's Cor-
ners.
Edwin D. Tillson, son of the
town's founder, was born in
Massachusetts and, according
to the account in Hamlet On
the Otter, by Ellen H. Eff, had
attended school there for a
year when his father brought
his wife and family of six to
Canada in 1831, George Tillson
missioner. In 1835, he laid out
Tillsonburg and, with oxen,
graded the main street to a
width admirably adapted to
the motor age but criticized
by many at the time.
EDWIN TILLSON
- built mansion
trade in flour The old Tillson
Company Limited, which man-
ufactured oatmeal, flour, peas,
etc., sold out around 1908 or
1909 to the Canadian Cereal
Company Limited. That com-
pany bought many other mills
in Ontario, but eventually
went out of business.
Edwin, George's youngest
son, had grown to manhood by
1847 and started in business
with two partners and capital
of $36, earned by teaching
school in Bayham. His new
enterprise was a small saw-
mill, on the site where 20
years later he built a large
oatmeal mill. In 1851 he
bought his father's mill and
water "privileges" on the Ot-
ter, pulled down the old mill
and built a double one on the
site.
He bought a flour mill,
erected many buildings, (four
in 1865) and was first mayor
when Tillsonburg was incorpo-
rated in 1872. When the water-
works system was inaugurat-
ed in 1874, he contributed $7,-
000 toward its capital cost.
Erection in 1873 of the oat,
meal mill led to a carriage
and stave factory.
With other citizens, he
raised $41,000 in 1885 for Bel
Telephone construction. lr
1890 he added a planing mill
sash and door factory, flowi
barley, pea and oatmeal mills
also a large brickyard.
Tillson Pan -Dried Oats wer
famous in their time, and th
company built up an expos
Jllr Coxless' career mig
well have continued success
fully in the field of education.
Even he could not have fore-
seen the long climb to emin-
ence in metallurgy In her ex-
cellent biographical article on
Dr Corless, Miss Stella Mott
of Norwich relates that while
he was at public school and,
later at Norwich, he received „
inspiration f r o in Inspector
William Carlyle, of Wood-
stock, a nephew of the famous
literary philosopher and who
was father of two eminent en-
gineers, W R. and E. J Car-
lyle.
Corless at this time was
considering studying natural:
science, particularly biology, ,
intending .either to enter a
course in medicine or prepar-
ing for a professorship in a
university There were practi-
cal difficulties in either case, r
and, in the autumn of 1898, he ;
entered McGill University for
a course in mining and metal-
lurgy.
Mr. Tillson was magistrate -
for Tillsonburg during about
20 years. He married on July
4, 1850, Mary Ann Van Nor-
man, and they had six chil-
dren. He was survived by his
wife, two sons, George W. and,
E. V., two daughters, Mrs. L.
C. Sinclair and Mrs. H. Harri-
son, The son, F. V., was the
father of Victor H. Tillson,
Q.C., Tillsonburg whose law
partner is his son, Edwin V
Tillson.
Charles VanDyke Corless_
`as born on North Norwich
township in 1868, son of Moses
Corless, who came to Canada
from. Liverpool as a boy in
1846. He attended New Dur-
ham public school, model
school in Stratford, and Toron-
to Normal, where he won the
Prince of Wales gold medal in
a class of 130. He taught
school .at Cathcart and spent a
year at Brantford collegiate
preparing for his first-class
certificate. Upon graduation
from Normal School he was
appointed principal of Nor-
wich public school. He taught
there for seven and a half
years, teaching every subject
in the curriculum, and pre-
pared large classes for the
universities.
(Continued next week)
Wallace of The Free
be con9plete without taking in Storyb
the grounds Monday, Lori took piett
le on the Thames and also enjoyed
He married Lillie Stephen-
son of Cathcart, whom he met `
while teaching. Their eldest ` f Div
daughter who later became
Mrs. Langer, of Tunbridge✓
Wells, England, was born in
Norwich. The other daughter ,
is Mrs. B. D. Burn, Tillson- j, (�y 1 ld