The Court Houses of a Century Part 1

The Court Houses of a Century.

by Kenneth W. McKay.

_"In any age it is a duty which every country owes to itself, to preserve the records of the past and to honor the men and women whose lives and deeds made possible its present, and to-day when the whole civilized world is throbbing to social and political impulses of the greatest significance for the future, we ought especially to call to mind such lives and deeds and catch, if we can, inspiration for acting well the part that falls to each of us."_

INTRODUCTION.

THE Pa.s.sING CENTURY.

The Wonderful Century is before the bar of history. Its record shows everywhere progress, consolidation, expansion, improvement. Civilization has spread, barbarism has given away. Labor has been restored to its honorable station, and idleness is accounted dishonor. Privilege has been curtailed, liberty has widened its borders. Slavery has almost disappeared from the earth. The beneficent forces are stronger. The comforts and conveniences of life are increased and more evenly distributed. Disease and pain have been brought under control.

Life has been made more interesting. Travel is easier and cheaper, and mankind has become acquainted with the world it inhabits. The stars have been discovered. They have been weighed and a.n.a.lysed. The human mind has expanded with wider knowledge.

The railway, electricity and the Postal Union have gone far to blend the nations into one. Every day, all round the globe, men read the same news, think the same thoughts, are thrilled with the same tidings of heroism or suffering. Human sympathy is broadened and deepened. Mankind is more h.o.m.ogeneous in spirit. Statecraft, literature, society, have become democratic and cosmopolitan.

The spirit of union dominates the century. The forces of disunion and disintegration are everywhere routed. Mutual benevolence is organized for greater effectiveness. Universal education, equality of rights and responsibilities, are principles of government. Religion, emphasizing points of agreement and ignoring points of difference, manifests itself in its works as never before.

The century spans the years from Copenhagen to Paardeburg, from Nelson and Napoleon to Roberts and Kruger. As the battle of Copenhagen established the naval supremacy of Britain, so Paardeburg welded the empire, one and inseparable. In 1800 the principle of a United Empire was represented by the Loyalists of Upper Canada standing almost alone.

In 1900, borne by their descendants to the distant plains of South Africa, it reached its full fruition in the final charge by the Canadians under Otter, on the banks of the Modder River. The principle includes the realization of all that the century stands for--union, equal rights, progress, justice, humanity.

It is my task to say a brief foreword on the progress of Canada and especially the county of Elgin. The beginning of the century found Ontario almost an unbroken wilderness. Rare and scanty were the clearings here and there along Lakes Erie and Ontario, and on the great rivers. The winter express from Detroit to York or Niagara, made its way along the lonely forest path. At long intervals only did he perceive the smoke rising in the crisp air, from the hospitable and welcome cabin.

The frightened deer bounded across his path into the deeper woods. The bear hybernated in the hollow tree. The long howling of the wolves broke on the midnight air. The lynx and panther crouched among the branches, ready to spring on the unwary traveller. The only sign of human life was the Indian hunter following the trail of the turkey or wild beast.

It was in the first year of the century that a young man of twenty-nine, giving up brilliant prospects in the army, and turning his back on society, found his way to the township of Yarmouth and began a clearing at or near Port Stanley. With royal dukes for his advocates, he applied to the Imperial authorities for a large grant of land to form a settlement. Two years later he succeeded. Yarmouth had been appropriated to others, and Colonel Thomas Talbot began his actual settlement in Dunwich. In the middle of the century, or more accurately in the year 1853, he died. In the same year the separation of Elgin from Middles.e.x was completed, and Colonel Talbot's "capital," St. Thomas, was made the County Town.

Nearly another half century has pa.s.sed since then, and it includes the history of the County of Elgin as a separate munic.i.p.ality.

The death of the eccentric founder of the settlement divides nearly equally the history of the county from the time when its only inhabitants were the bear, wolf and panther, to the end of the century, which finds the county well cleared and cultivated throughout its entire extent; intersected by splendid highways, including the lines of five railway companies; peopled with a numerous and enterprising community, G.o.d-fearing and law-abiding, industrious and prosperous. The thriving city of St. Thomas, the enterprising and flourishing town of Aylmer, and numerous promising villages, advancing with rapid strides in magnitude and importance, form centres of population, where a century ago the primeval silence was unbroken, save by the footfall of the Mississaga ranging the woods in pursuit of game.

It was during the first decades of the century that the pioneers came.

From them the present population is largely sprung. Dunwich was the first to be settled. A few immigrants from the Eastern States settled near Port Talbot. Then the overflow of settlement from Long Point made itself felt in Southwold, Yarmouth, Malahide and Bayham. Before 1820 the Highland settlements began in Aldborough and Dunwich. The wanderings of the Kildonan settlers from Hudson's Bay to Red River, and thence eastward to Upper Canada and southward, to the settlements on Lake Erie, add a tragic episode to the story of the pioneers of West Elgin. Their hardships, sufferings and heroism can never be forgotten. Much later came the settlement of South Dorchester.

These were the men who felled the forest, let the sunlight into the wilderness, drained the swamps, cleared and fenced the bush, made the roads and bridged the fords, "drave out the beasts," and established schools and churches. They were the sifted grain of Canadian immigration. For the Colonel was determined to have none but the loyal, industrious and enterprising, and was discriminating in the choice of settlers for this County, among the numerous applicants for land.

Such were the pioneers of Elgin. We inherit the fruits of their strenuous toil and struggle. It was they who, with dauntless courage and unfaltering determination, braved all hardships, the loneliness, the privations, the sufferings of pioneer life, that we might enjoy the harvest of their labors. They slept on the bare ground in the forest shanty, and hewed with mighty toil the log huts, that their sons might live in framed houses, and their grandchildren in houses of brick furnished with the appliances of modern civilization. They sowed and we reap.

In the old churchyards at Tyrconnel, New Glasgow, St. Thomas, and elsewhere near the lake sh.o.r.e, they rest well after their labors. The mouldered headboards have given way to the marble slab or stately monument, that records their brief history--that they lived and died.

Their true and imperishable monument is the manhood and womanhood of Elgin, the beautiful farms and homes, the n.o.ble inst.i.tutions of religion and education. Their names will be forever honored among the founders of the Canadian nation, and after a thousand years men will be proud to count their descent from the pioneers of Elgin.

The public buildings of a community are a fair index of the character of the people. In this view, the completion of the new Court House is an event, and its evolution, as recorded in this volume, is a study of historical and sociological value.

The new building is admirably adapted to the purposes for which it is intended. It is up-to-date in every particular. Visitors from other parts p.r.o.nounce it, as its predecessor was p.r.o.nounced when first erected, one of the handsomest and most commodious public buildings in the Province. The architect and contractors have done their part well; but the credit is mainly and beyond all due to the public spirit of the people of Elgin, who were resolved that nothing short of best would satisfy them, and who were willing to be taxed to a reasonable extent upon the sole condition that the building should be well and honestly built, be a credit to the county and answer its purpose.

Doubtless before another century rolls round, the increase of population and wealth may call for an enlarged building, but it is certain that no changes in architectural science will produce one that will better reflect the intelligence and enterprise, the wealth and the culture of the people, than the beautiful and commodious structure, which is to-day the pride and the boast of the citizens of this county.

JAMES H. COYNE.

The Court Houses of a Century.

The History of the Court Houses of Ontario is closely a.s.sociated with the development of the Province. The first recognition of population in South Western Ontario was the formation in 1788, of the District of Hesse and the appointment of Justices of the Court of Common Pleas, and other officials.

The only inhabitants were in the French settlements around Detroit, where the barracks and Government House were located. In 1792 Upper Canada, now Ontario, was divided into nineteen Counties, Norfolk, Suffolk, Ess.e.x and Kent occupying nearly the same territory as the District of Hesse. Representatives to the Provincial Parliament were elected and, at the first session convened at Niagara in September, 1792, an Act was pa.s.sed for building a Gaol and Court House in every district, and for altering the names of the districts. Hesse was hereafter called the Western District, and the Court House and Gaol was ordered to be built at Detroit. The Courts were held there until the evacuation of Detroit by the British in 1795, after which they were held in the Parish of a.s.sumption, now Sandwich. D. W. Smith, in his Gazetteer of 1799, states: "That there is a good Gaol and Court House," in Sandwich, "situated a little below the fort of Detroit, on the east side of the river."

The Munro House, 1800-1802.

The U. E. Loyalists settlement of Norfolk commenced in 1793, and in 1798 the rapid increase in population was recognized by a division of the Western District and the formation of three Counties, Norfolk, Oxford and Middles.e.x to be known as the London District. This was organized by the appointment of a general commission of the peace and the necessary officials. The first meeting of the resident Magistrates was held in the house of Lieutenant James Munro, of Charlotteville, on 1st April, 1800, for the purpose of carrying the Commission into execution, and the first General Quarter Sessions of the Peace for the District was ordered to be holden at the same place on Tuesday, the 8th day of April, 1800.

The Munro House above referred to, was built in 1796, on lot 14 in the 5th concession of Charlotteville. It was the best house which had been erected up to that time, and stands to-day as an old land mark, about a half mile back from the road running straight west from Vittoria. It is a two story frame house of considerable size. The frame was made of hewn timber, with bents four feet apart, strengthened by tie girths, morticed and tendoned--a marvel of axeman's skill. The planks for the floor and sheeting were cut out by the whip saw. The original roof is on the building at the present time. The shingles are of cedar, rudely whittled by the draw knife, and show in places an original thickness of over an inch.

A temporary jail was erected near the house, a log building fourteen feet by twenty-five feet, divided into two rooms--one for the debtors and the other for those charged with criminal offences. This building was erected during the winter of 1800 by day labor, and was used for nearly a year. The courts were held here until 1802, when they were removed to Turkey Point or Fort Norfolk under the authority of an Act pa.s.sed in the year 1801.

Turkey Point, 1802-1812.

The Courts at Turkey Point were first held in the public house of Job Loder. In 1803 the contract for a court house was awarded. It was to be a frame building forty feet in length by twenty-six feet in width, to be two stories high, the first or lower story to be ten feet between floor and ceiling, and the second or upper story to be eight feet high. The original specifications were as follows: "The building to be erected on a foundation of white oak timber squared, the same to be sound and of sufficient thickness, the building to be shingled and to have two sufficient floors, an entry eight feet wide to be made from the front door across one end of the lower story, from which winding stairs are to be erected to ascend to the second story; two rooms are to be part.i.tioned off in the second or upper story for juries. Nine windows are to be made in front and ten in rear, of twenty-four lights each, seven by three. The front door to be made of inch and a half plank, six panel, and to have a good sufficient lock and key. Two windows are to be finished in the first story opposite each other, so as to afford sufficient light to the bar, besides two windows of fifteen lights each behind the Judge or Chairman's seat. The rest of the windows are to be cased and nailed up for the present. The Bar, table, Justices' seat, benches for the bar and a table for each jury room, and benches for the same are to be finished; the three inside doors to be temporary; a seat and writing table for Clerk, to be made between the bench and the bar.

Note--The house to be raised, shingled, weather-boarded and floored, and the bench for the Judge and Justices, Judge or Chairman's writing desk, Clerk's seat and table, the bar and table and benches therefor, the four windows below and two above to be finished, the rest of the windows cased and nailed up. The front door to be finished, and the other three temporary doors to be made and hung. Comprehends the present contract proposed by the court to be performed by the next a.s.sizes for this district."

Courts were held in this building commencing in the year 1804 until it was appropriated for the use of prisoners during the war of 1812.

The Vittoria Court House, 1815-1826.

In 1815 an act was pa.s.sed which provided that the courts of general quarter sessions for the district of London should be held at Charlotteville. The Magistrates were ordered to make a choice of the most convenient place, and a meeting was accordingly held at the house of Thomas Finch on the 13th June, 1815. John Backhouse, Thomas Talbot and Robert Finch were appointed Commissioners to superintend the building, and a brick court house and gaol was erected at Vittoria at an expense of 9,000. During the erection of the building, courts were held in the houses of Thomas Finch, Francis Beaupre and Mathias Steel. The first meeting of the sessions was held in the new court house on 8th April, 1817, and it was used until 1826, when it was partially destroyed by fire.

The London Court Houses, 1826-1853.