001Thowas Ingersoll l t'Ire
For First. Log Hour �oruf �� 4
By STELLA MOTT —
In 1799,'when William Humbly',
of Woodhouse township-wassur-
veyingj WARNED CANADIANS
•the lines and concessions
and lots of the townships of Dere Laura Second, Canadian herrn
1 .. _ _... _.
ham and Norwich, he frequentlyme of %he -war- of 1812, was born
4 visited the Can Fields in East Ox- in ARassachusetts in 1775.
f ford and Fowler's in Burford and. —
' on occasion, consulterilhomas Hor. " -
ner of Blenheim, but he made his '{
]neadouarters. mainly, at 'Thomas l
¢ersolis ,in .the Oxford.., to
/ �iiE se dr,,,inz week' ibs
-sort, washed clothiik^
ly, ground axes for.
- t'time Thomas Ingersoll
14 "nOxford county for
fde and his wife, the
FhWhiting, were both
%Berksbire, Massachus-
-'evidently, had moved to
eiv,rork State before coming to
Janada. Their son, Jame9. Inger-I
+ nll,for 45 years registrar of Ox-
ford county, wrote,an article in
the SentinelReviewin 1879 in
[_which he told something of the
i early Oxford settlement. . His fa-
ther, he said, had heard of Gov -
error Sinicoll's offer of certain
tracts of land to parties who
would come to Canada and settle.
'�7 -lie had also talked with Joseph
.r/I Brant, chief of the Six Nations,
whom Mr. Ingersoll had Piet about
the same time, while the chief was
on a visit to New York. The
re -cult was that Mr. Ingersoll and a
t1he?/� e UWnF Ins. a nt ea evrSlrvr.-:.
y to prevent speculation, and
'do which discrimination .could
the made.
"'his :taking place for a while
;Iced the rapid growth of popu.
in in the province by hardy
well disposed husbandmen
had just learned the value of
country. Me, Ingersoll in par-
lar, being already in the court.
(with a mrmerous family had
sneci his plan of' -improving the
t ,whip by removing thither
'day other families at his own ex-
pse� and persuading others to
lain who had entered it. They
to all, confirmed by the govern -
sit 'in the small tracts they had
gun on as wall as the actual'set-
rs in the other townships."
+C vious to the escheating of
P_4? t h]ps an extensive road.
' stpre in,what is now the
Of Ingersoll: He traded for
'ears commencing on a very
rate scale, havinv, a variety
4 'tieles 'including, of course,
b`a
';alaraniltocco, popular articles
swap. in -a 'frontier settlement."
ga the Rebellion of 1837.38
Mr. James Ingersoll ,was major of
Colonel ,. William Ha_lcroft'sregi-'
ment, serving to the close of that
"ill-conceived contest." In. 1879 he'
was Lieut. Colonel of the `Reg.
Division of the. South Riding of
Oxford.
'In 1.834 he L•ecame registrar ol+
Oxford County and in 1848 moved
to Woodstock. It) that year he
married Catherine MacNab. Their
four children -were -Mary. Blanch.
!rd, wife of W,,A. Campbell of
Fens, James Beverley ,-John -Mac-
lFab all& (,eorge. "They belonged
7 the Anglican church,
�Mr. James Ingersoll was, Un-
Nbtedly,. one of the fir.At children`
xn in Oxford County and his'Ya-
r Wasoneof its most.enternrvk
a
was
-"Inese settler< be ng:. aware Or
the importance of roadafn raising '
the value of property, early set
about to'open and•extend them,,
and notwithstanding the numerous
discouragements and the immedi-
ate -necessities of their families
they, mane year, at the expense
of Mf-Ingrsoll cut and bridged a
road from Burford to La Tranche'
'through a wilderncas, twe.uty-five
or thirty miles. -
"Mr. Elisha_Putnam of Oxford
township by subscription has since
continued the road front thence 30
mile^ to Allein's. Delaware town-
ship
'Plans were already made to
Vextend tHg road t9Detroit, with-
out government aid. - '"
e,' Returning to Mr. James Inger
goll's story we find his version of
ii he escheating of the townships,
"Some evil' -minded person re -
aborted to the. home government
that Covernor Simcoe was like] t Y
'.to injure: the country byencour
iaging Americans to settle here, as
they might hold the land in' bulk
and thus Prevent discharged Loy -
list ldiernd their ofti alapa
y Irfrier?ds from procuring grants."
The result was that an order from
Englandcancelled several grants,
the �ownship grant of Mr. Inger
�lsoll"'among the number, The Ili-
Agersolls remained in possession of
�.� their original farm.
Moves' to'Toruuto ---•
In 1806, a few years after the
.1''According to , �escho,,ating'of the township, Thom -
he Public Archives, Ottawa, one : as Ingersoll moved to Toronto
inn read a letter from Thomas In township on the Credit .River,
;ersoll, Oxford, dated in 1797,. that where he died in 1812, leaving• a
Thomas Ingersoll petitioned' the
Txecutive Council, then in session
it Newark (Niagara), for a grant
If land upon behalf of Rev. Bost-
vick, and others. The Council con-
:urred and each was given a lot.
tor. Ingersoll was granted Lot 20
1f the first concession of West Ox-
ord township. Lot 20 is now known
is the southeast corner of King
and Thames streets, Inger;solli In
�I
V other maae application for
a township, Mr. Ingersoll being.se.
Jetted to present the petition. To
these, the grant of a township was
made by the government of Up-
per Canada in March, 1793, at Ni-
agara. The. laud 'selected was on
the Thames liver '(La Tranche)
where the town of Ingersoll now
stands.
-in' the War of 1812-14, raising at
•the start with William H. Merritt �,j
a troop of Light Dragoons 61 ,'-
-which Mr. Merritt was captain and,`?
he ai lieutenant. The company
.server the British through the
war, i
. - In 1817 Charles came into pas
session of the :original Oxford t
Vann and the nextyearJames, his _t
16-year-old brother,' was sent
-there 'to take charge of it, He. 9'9
:wrote later: "On arriving at the; r4
old place which I left when only 1
five: years: old, I had no reoollec-?l
tion-of it. During the war all the i
fences were destroyed and till
boards on the old barn removed
but the log house in which I wm
born was standing and occupivc -
Conditions of Grant by an old`man named El�enezc
Conditions of the grant were Case. The first improvement u 5
that Mr. Ingersoll and lies associ- dertnken was the building of ,•�};
aces should furnish 40 settlers saw mill which was put into opel'-i
who were each to have a farm of
ation oil the 14ttr' prl , 1810
on to two hundred acres of land after which we commenced to saw
on paying the overnrnent A fee our own lumber: In 1820 we be
of sixpence, sterling, per acre. can to erects small grist mil] will
In 1793 the Hngersolla arrived one pair of stones, and building; ,i
for a store, a distillery; end a
:and Thomas Ingersoll cut the first yashere
tree, which went into the first IogC Charles moved his family to Ofi
house, or white man's building of !ford in 182 Soon after this he
any kind in the three Oxford Was appointed a magistrate
townships. master, and a commfsstons of
zet,tIn 1799 The Upper Canada GO the Court of Request in which he,
grey had this to say of the ,O.x acted with the late Peter Tcepk
cress of the settlement. Ox- Ea Soon after, he wasappofntsd `
Ford has this year one thou,.and ,Li Each
Colonel of the Second Oe-
bushels of grain more than will be
c9nsilmcd within itself. The set. Iford Militia, was returned to Pat-
tlement in theso townships were filament ]n 1.824 and again in 182�
u,nunre cied at period .when the 30 and was a member at the tin'
❑:nim•takers and their followers of his death in 1832.
were unc.",r every possible dnscour- Opens First Store
ugement common to a new coup- In 1822• James.. Ingersoll, at thr
i,:.,��_________ Iage 'of' twenty-one, opened the
5 "Among these were Thomas I\
� gersoll, An enterprising man of
r onsntleeable Property, and who
s hold the minutes of the Oxford
b-'s oLive.Council as his own; but
a •�,t until most or all of his
proper-ty +cos expended did he discover
+' ,t-ith others that the business they
were engaged in was, in fact,. that
�. which was to' end m-neatly yr
r'!
-•—--:`�
�Lr k to build a railway depot"`
tfbryfmlght
1'
p♦,1� e
~Found I ♦i� Air
;St, the Suspensrou yi.
iBridge lra: ;sively Pi a t ^-�
"the btuldrr,4 will be 3,00,, feel ,
CIF
Prosperity
.long and will cost the G. W Rarl '
way between $30,000 and $40oo0"
At Ingersoll
.Proceeding 'up Thames street 0
the Exchange Hotel was "on the %.4
.
- right." On the other side
! a �
of the road were_ a munber '
J
IgI T
, of "huge commercial establish-
'
meets, amongst them being East -
Woods, Pooles, etc." Samuel ".
Poole was erecting a three -store
1N 1855 a writer ur the llttuna-
ti,nel Journal, Paul Pry, Jr.,
brick building. Cl.... by was the ' a
medical disPensarY of J. D. Cot -
passed through' this part of the
tin ham, a practical
. county and recorded III his
Y
-
from London. tofile H
to the
Notes by the Way" impressions
Cottin la
advertisements Cottingham was bC
If the western part of the pro,-
listed as a surgical dentist and
ince. Anissue of the Ingersoll
he sold out to Dr. Weir in No. 1
Chronicle for October-12, 1855,
vember, 1856.
printer] excerpts from the article
Opposite was the office of Dr. (j
- relating to the Village. of Inger-
James F.,McCarthy. Mr. Me -
loll,
Cartby was reeve of the village
The traveler fomrd it "a. place-
In 1855 and continued to prat.
of marked enterprise and pros-
tice in Ingersoll until his death
of about 3,000 inhabitants.
If.:.parity
in duly, 1803. Beside his office
lie came by rail from Woodstock
was a large drygoods store own -
and found two omnibusses at
ed by G. A_ Cameron,
t the train one
the station to meet
-
On the cor er ofThames And I
Patterson's Royal Exchange
King streets, S 4 Pom,oy, r.
Hotel on Thames street and; the -
London had ertore a large toree. °
other from Ca_rroll's Hotel on
It was a three -storey brick broad -
King street.
' There were three stores on
. Crossing the river, the Thames,
theground floor. J B_ cy
the has came a Thames street.
P
had hardware and groceries m -
ies in
Here "an air of prosperity" was
the corner store Mr, Williams
noticeable, several new buildings
;
sold drygoods in the second, and
r- had been erected and others
the third was a !—
gr,rary nwnr--e
w ere partially constructed, . Ar. ..
-tr-Sl r. tL'Cblinalt The '
.dfi,to an notice in
�g
storey of the kntYding wav
The Chronicle much of this con-
Used
used _
for storage and living quarters
i. struction was done in the fall of
and on the third floor was Jec-
�. 1854 when brick buildings wero-
�erected
ture room, another- rown for-'^
inn almost every street
public meorings and a balim!•rn,'-,
.- of the. village.
A few yards .west of this was �,4
f. One of the first buildings to be
the market, "a neat building" 1.
seen e.73er crossing the bridge.
In the early days of the Villa", 5r.
. was thefoundry and machine
.King street,. from Mill to
shop at W. A. Rumse who has
roll streets, was the main busi-
7 'been.-18 years 7. a !shed.;' The'Yt�ess ccti,,n. of I ersoll. ilere
.industry
y �� employed 20 men and
nulner ous large drygoods sad '
,.
used a ten -horse -engine in the-...
grocery stores were to be fo ad. "
• 6 rnanufariure of reapers, mowers,
Amongst them wero Daniel
' J threshing milts, straw cutters,
Phelan, W-. H. Larnphier, ,Janie]
I and stoves. In March,
$hell, Joseph Rr ow eCt and hope
' 1856, IV, Eastwood inserted a
McNive n. Bros efts bui_ldir of
,., notice to .the effect that he had
brick construct!,,'as erected '-
purchased tire extensive iron -'
the year previous and theft it
,foundry and machine shop of
had been -Planned to move the-_;
\V, RunrsrY.
Post office 'ad also ale +in
The steam pogine works of
agency of the .Rank of Tipper I
William Dunn S -Co. were "a
Canada. There were two 1cw'el-
little to the rear and age this .'
r;p stores under the management -
b. on Charles street" This business
of C. P Hall air(] J_.Barnett and -
p. consisted of a foundry, a ma-
a comfiination drug and� book
( chine ^drop mid a wood shop for
.store .owner] by Q. B. Caldwell. i
the mnaufacture rof steam en-
___
W:.;d-Breit had openeri aslieet �
gines, mill gearing and plows.
iron And brass works and near j
t They also used a ten -horse en-
it was the business of J. Bit -
gins, had 20 men in their employ;
chanan. t,n-
and were planning to enlarge
Besides the store,'there were .
`
the premises.
'several carriage factories. on King
Between these two plants was
1
street. "Mr. William Smith has '
a, steam planning mill operated by
a large establishnieut with a , on- `
by McKenzie and Ashwells. The
venient showroom facing
ll))
upper .part was occupied by A.
street." Another factory, sit., -
Oliver, who had a wood and "
ated opposite Carroll- TWA,
joiner's shop. Mr. Oliver was
was owned by. James McIntyre,
builderand he with Mr. 'Patter-
"tile poet laureate of Oxford 1
son of the Exchange havwa`coil-
County. Aciort ing to an •,t- .--
r,1tr SIN.
- a
Rrwitf
tulna
bG'
v\erefeI" t, w
hers ur
t
-- _-
an Gonnt
it
gtted Gonda. Ontlee,
5 an
trsement McIntyre begnu
the,'
�1i ., arrival the price pair'
business in March, 1855.
60 per bushel, cash, b:
On the earlier of Thames
street
, e.�,;,ph from New Yo,9l
was a cabinet and upholstery':
n ]lowing month• : caused r
-business managed by Charles_W.
,cline of 25 etnts." Alt]
p eathel.stone, He also was an
farmers came in with their
undertaker. Another large
bus!-
_'
upon hosring the news of Ih
uess on Thames street was that
in price, some decided to
or Mr. Galliford. This industry
l
their grain in the hope of a
had a complete set of American -'
He stated that it is €en
machines for cutting', cramping
thought that the price IN;,
,aid sewing and 20 men at
war),,,
down to .$1, but the fanmr.
TLe_ town supported one
ner.--
-. still hopeful of a higher!-',
paper, The Chronicle, whir,h
be-
'II Is' belief thry brtaer
A i gar, publication in 1953
The
--fact that the Gel tssee I�
- writer said that Mr. Gurned,
the
inferior, r. al
odifoq was formerly associated
-
,thak�ea
Vw4e lookht e I,ks )
. 3.. 3
wilThe Morning Prat of,Bos-
"°`
,l -
.-._ i Inn. .__.-
1,.,:c.