535-03 Page 6f,Yankee, First
1 Q 'i('_ _
Resented trail 5, from Burford at a cosy
� � of $55,000. From Zngersoll's to
V Allen's Township the road was
b ilt b Ellsha Putnam.
Eben-
ora-
ezer Allen took it In to built
viantown, and the Indians built
� it as far as McGregor's Lending.
,rnjts
In Beachville ®� n d
A military road had already been
built to Chatham from Fort Mal -
den and Sandwich,. so by1795 a
tne'� --moved military road existed. running
By Marjorie E. GroPP
La£er� ams- were
from Niagara to the Detroit Riv-
Beachville is situated at what
to the Harris street cemetery/
'Governor Simcoe, in his day,
near Ingersoll.(GIrBw++`�' er.
+ + +
those days were i
called the Upper Forks, or the
Obituaries in
At the same time the Queen's
Little Forks, of the Thames. Here
really biographies. John Carroll's Rangers had cut road through
two tumilling creekA, one from
obituary states that in 1789 there from the Head -of -the -Lake to
the north and the other from the
was "a considerable settlement" the Town Plot of Woodstock, and
south, which later turned their
in the Beachville district. This one account says, "on to the
borne out by the fact that two
quota of industrial wheels, emp-
is Forks" (Beachville). This last
tied themselves intothe river.
years later there were .enough stretch would be on the south
to Postal
Just here, too, the bed of the riv-
people here request
It side of the river, to intersect,
er itself .has a considerable fall,
service of the Government.
with a jog, the Ingersoll Road.
and several mills once stood up-
was. granted, and the name Down at Niagara, in 1793, were
on its banks.
chosen for the Post Office was awed some laws immediately
P
+ + •
The Upper Forks was the
Beachville, In honor of a Mr.
Beach who operated a mill. In affecting the colony. One for-
bade the further importation of
the Government Past Office rec- slaves into Canada. Those al-
1
ords is statement for the year ready here were to be given their
179r which reads:
+ + • freedom at the age of 25, and as cr
mow,,;
-
children were not to be separated. pC
00
" a man on horseback left
from their mothers.
every spring (from Quebec)
The other was the Marriage
x -
letters for Montreal, Kingston, .
York, Ancaster, Brant's Ford, Act. Settlers had been coming
Beachville, -Alien's Township, into Upper Canada ever since
1777 and many had set up homes
'
04
Grant's Landing, Sandwich and
i without benefit of clergy, for the
Malden." + • + simple reason that there were
n `
, Necessity could not wait upon (, no clergy. Their children being
by law illegitimate
convention. There was asettle- considered
could not. inherit their parents'
ment here, with a mill and a
property, nor receive the special
Post Office, two years before
the district was officially opened favors of the Government to -
up by the Government. For 31 wardchildren of the Royalists.
These marriages were now to be
years this was the only Post Of-
declared valid if the contracting
f
flee in the county.
exciting years parties appeared before a magis-
The 1790's were
trate and stated that they were
for the squatter settlement at
living as man and wife.
the Upper Forks of the Thaffies.
+ +
In February of 1Wis Governor s
Simcoe visited the '3istrict. How Escaped slaves were early lo-
delighted the settlers must have cated in this district. Fifty years
John Carroll, of New Jer-
been. Here was no arm -chair ago in Chatham there lived an-
sey, first white settler in
governor, but a man genuinely old Negro who told how- his
had escaped into
the County of Oxford, who
interested in the welfare of the grandfather
He fled
settled in the Beachville
colony. Surely, now, the district Canada from the States.
to the shore of lake Erie
district in the year 1784.
would be opened up and, progress north
and, taking a rowboat, crossed
n on Mr. Carroll's one hun-
begin to be made.
the lake. Again he pressed north
dredth birthday. He died
The next they heard, the very
he' came. to thee
- in 1-$5A-at the age of One
land on which they stood, 6,6000 ward until
acres comprising the whole dis. Thames. Both his son and his
hundred and two. (Photo
trict, had been given to a Yank- grandson were born in Beach -
courtesy of Carroll,
ee from the New England States ville.
it
Hamiltonn))
by the name of Thomas Inger- In the mid Y790's a different
soll. It was to be called the class of settler began to arrive.`
highest ,point of navigation for
Township of Oxford -on -the- Governor Simcoe was issuing in-
canoes in Indian days. Here was
y
vitations wholesale to Americans
r the western end of the ancient
Thames' _
who wanted to live under Brit -
c portage trail over .from the
One can imagine the indigna- ish rule to come and get free
h Grand River.
lion meetings, with certain hot- land. They came by the thou -
G + + +
heads prepared to shoot on sight sands, one and all swearing glib
The Little Forks probably. saw
If he so much -.as set foot In the allegiance to George the Third,
s first white man in 1815, when
- but many boasting. to their new
he French lad, Etienne Brute,
territory, and others reminding neighbors that it would not be
'..hn lived for 22 years among the
them that the man was appar- long until the States captured
g &
Hurons of the Georgian Bay dis-
ently rich. He had promised to (
Canada. Thus was sown much o4
trier, explored the Grand and the
build a road. How they needed
the woe. of suceeding years in
Thames. In 1669 the spot was al-
P
that road! Better wait until after
Upper Canada.
� most surely visited by La Salle,
he'd built It. .. + + •
who, with 40 Frenchman and an
So Agustus Jones arrived to.., In 1798 the Oxford Militia was
Iroquois guide, also explored the
survey the township, and in the organized, two companies be-
two.rivers.
summer of 1793 came Thomas ing formed from the Beachville
In. 1784 the first known white
Ingersoll himself. Like George '..district, with Thomas Ingersoll
man settled in Oxford. This was
Washington, he cut down his as captain. The name was
82-year-old John Carroll, of New
tree, but to much better pur. changed to the Oxford Rifles in ,
Jersey. He settled on the north
pose. We hear of no trouble over 1863.
[/ aide of the Thames within sight
> the land. We are told that he en- + + +
of the present village of Beach-
couraged all those already here In 1799 .Oxford settlers pro-
ville, on lots 23 and 24 of North
-to stay. duced more grain than they
Oxford. Part of this land has in
In the summer of 1793, also, needed for their own consump-
recent years been owned by El-
came Thomas Horner to claim tion. The chief buyer of surplus
gin Park.
his Township of Blenheim. It has corn and wheat, at this time,
+ + +
frequently been stated that the North West Fur Com-
John Carron': family eventual-
was
Thomas Horner was the first pany, of Montreal.. Grain was
ly consisted of. one daughter,
settler in Oxford. Obviously, he collected at Fort Detroit, and
Nancy, and nine sons. These men
was not. shipped up the lake in company
took a leading part in the devcl-
Thomas Ingersoll's contract boats to the Sault. From there
opment of Western Ontario.
stated he was to bring in 40 set- it was distributed by canoe and
John Carroll died in 1854 at the
tlers. Some of them he brought doe sled to posts further on._,�
age of 102 and was buried in the
at his own expense. He had the .!
bridge the sw �ryvwvq },�§qp,
family plot on the home place.
settlers widen and ,'RAt�
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