Toronto of Old Part 1

Toronto of Old.

by Henry Scadding.

PREFACE.

It is singular that the elder Disraeli has not included in his "Curiosities of Literature" a chapter on Books originating in Accident.

It is exactly the kind of topic we might have expected him to discuss, in his usual pleasant manner. Of such productions there is doubtless somewhere a record. Whenever it shall be discovered, the volume here presented to the reader must be added to the list. A few years since, when preparing for a local periodical a paper of "Early Notices of Toronto," the writer little imagined what the sheets then under his hand would finally grow to. The expectation at the time simply was, that the article on which he was at work would a.s.sist as a minute scintilla in one of those monthly meteoric showers of miscellaneous light literature with which the age is so familiar; that it would engage, perhaps, the attention for a few moments of a chance gazer here and there, and then vanish in the usual way. But on a subsequent revision, the subject thus casually taken up seemed capable of being more fully handled. Two or three friends, moreover, had expressed a regret that to the memoranda given, gathered chiefly from early French doc.u.ments, there had not been added some of the more recent floating folklore of the community, some of the homely table-talk of the older people of the place; such of the mixed traditions, in short, of the local Past of Toronto as might seem of value as ill.u.s.trations of primitive colonial life and manners. It was urged, likewise, in several quarters, that if something in this direction were not speedily done, the men of the next generation would be left irremediably ignorant of a mult.i.tude of minute particulars relating to their immediate predecessors, and the peculiar conditions under which were so bravely executed the many labours whereby for posterity the path onward has been made smooth. For many years the writer had quietly concerned himself with such matters. Identified with Toronto from boyhood, to him the long, straight ways of the place nowhere presented barren, monotonous vistas. To him innumerable objects and sites on the right hand and on the left, in almost every quarter, called up reminiscences, the growth partly of his own experience and observation, and partly the residuum of discourse with others, all invested with a certain degree of rational, human interest, as it seemed to him. But still, that he was sometime to be the compiler of an elaborate volume on the subject never seriously entered his thoughts.

Having, however, as was narrated, once tapped the vein, he was led step by step to further explorations, until the result was reached which the reader has now placed before him.

By inspection it will be seen that the plan pursued was to proceed rather deliberately through the princ.i.p.al thoroughfares, noticing persons and incidents of former days, as suggested by buildings and situations in the order in which they were severally seen; relying in the first instance on personal recollections for the most part, and then attaching to every coigne of vantage such relevant information as could be additionally gathered from coevals and seniors, or gleaned from such literary relics, in print or ma.n.u.script of an early date, as could be secured. Here and there, brief digressions into adjacent streets were made, when a house or the scene of an incident chanced to draw the supposed pilgrim aside. The perambulation of Yonge Street was extended to the Holland Landing, and even to Penetanguishene, the whole line of that lengthy route presenting points more or less noteworthy at short intervals. Finally a chapter on the Marine of the Harbour was decided on, the boats and vessels of the place, their owners and commanders, entering, as is natural, so largely into the retrospect of the inhabitants of a Port.

Although the imposing bulk of the volume may look like evidence to the contrary, it has been our ambition all along not to incur the reproach of prolixity. We have endeavoured to express whatever we had to say as concisely as we could. Several narratives have been disregarded which probably, in some quarters, will be sought for here. But while anxious to present as varied and minute a picture as possible of the local Past, we considered it inexpedient to chronicle anything that was unduly trivial. Thus if we have not succeeded in being everywhere piquant, we trust we shall be found nowhere unpardonably dull: an achievement of some merit, surely, when our material, comprising nothing that was exceptionally romantic or very grandly heroic, is considered. And a first step has, as we conceive, been taken towards generating for Toronto, for many of its streets and byways, for many of its nooks and corners, and its neighbourhood generally, a certain modic.u.m of that charm which, springing from a.s.sociation and popular legend, so delightfully invests, to the prepared and sensitive mind, every square rood of the old lands beyond the sea.

It will be proper, after all, however, perhaps to observe, that the reader who expects to find in this book a formal history of even Toronto of Old, will be disappointed. It was no part of the writer's design to furnish a narrative of every local event occurring in the periods referred to, with chronological digests, statistical tables, and catalogues exhibiting in full the Christian names and surnames of all the first occupants of lots. For such information recourse must be had to the offices of the several public functionaries, munic.i.p.al and provincial, where whole volumes in folio, filled with the desired particulars, will be found.

We have next gratefully to record our obligations to those who during the composition of the following pages encouraged the undertaking in various ways. Especial thanks are due to the a.s.sociation of Pioneers, whose names are given in detail in the Appendix, and who did the writer the honour of appointing him their Historiographer. Before a.s.semblages more or less numerous, of this body, large abstracts of the Collections and Recollections here permanently garnered, were read and discussed.

Several of the members of this society, moreover, gave special _seances_ at their respective homes for the purpose of listening to portions of the same. Those who were so kind as to be at the trouble of doing this were the Hon. W. P. Howland, C. B., Lieutenant-Governor; the Rev. Dr.

Richardson; Mr. J. G. Worts (twice); Mr. R. H. Oates; Mr. James St.i.tt; Mr. J. T. Smith; Mr. W. B. Phipps (twice).--The Canadian Inst.i.tute, by permitting the publication in its Journal of successive instalments of these papers, contributed materially to the furtherance of the work, as without the preparation for the press from time to time which was thus necessitated, it is possible the volume itself, as a completed whole, would never have appeared. To the following gentlemen we are indebted for the use of papers or books, for obliging replies to queries, and for items of information otherwise communicated:--Mr. W. H. Lee of Ottawa; Judge Jarvis of Cornwall; Mr. T. J. Preston of Yorkville; Mr. W.

h.e.l.liwell of the Highland Creek; the late Col. G. T. Denison of Rusholme, Toronto; Mr. M. F. Whitehead of Port Hope; Mr. Devine of the Crown Lands Department; Mr. H. J. Jones of the same Department; Mr.

Russel Inglis of Toronto; Mr. J. G. Howard of Toronto; the Rev. J. Carry of Holland Landing; Major McLeod of Drynoch; the Rev. George Hallen of Penetanguishene; the Ven. Archdeacon Fuller of Toronto; Mr. G. A. Barber of Toronto; Mr. J. T. Kerby of Niagara; the Rev. Saltern Givins of Yorkville; the Rev. A. Sanson of Toronto; the Rev. Dr. McMurray of Niagara; the Rev. Adam Elliott of Tuscarora; Mr. H. J. Morse of Toronto; Mr. W. Kirby of Niagara; Mr. Morgan Baldwin of Toronto; Mr. J. McEwan of Sandwich; Mr. W. D. Campbell of Quebec; Mr. T. Cottrill Clarke of Philadelphia.--Mrs. Ca.s.sidy of Toronto kindly allowed the use of two (now rare) volumes, published in 1765, by her near kinsman, Major Robert Rogers. Through Mr. Homer Dixon of the Homewood, Toronto, a long loan of the earliest edition of the first _Gazetteer_ of Upper Canada was procured from the library of the Young Men's Christian a.s.sociation of Toronto.--The Rev. Dr. Ryerson, Chief Superintendent of Education, and Dr. Hodgins, Deputy Superintendent, courteously permitted an unrestricted access to the Departmental Library, rich in works of special value to any one prosecuting researches in early Canadian history. To Mr. G. Mercer Adam we are much beholden for a careful, friendly interest taken in the typographical execution and fair appearance generally of the volume.

The two portraits which, in no mere conventional sense, enrich the work, were engraved from miniatures very artistically drawn for the purpose, from original paintings never before copied, in the possession of Capt.

J. K. Simcoe, R. N., of Wolford, in the County of Devon.

The circulation to be expected for a book like the present must be chiefly local. Nevertheless, it is to be presumed that there are persons scattered up and down in various parts of Canada and the United States, who, having been at some period of their lives familiar with Toronto, and retaining still a kindly regard for the place, will like to possess such a memorial of it in the olden time as is here offered. And even in the old home-countries across the Atlantic--England, Scotland and Ireland--there are probably members of military and other families once resident at Toronto, to whom such a reminder of pleasant hours, as it is hoped, pa.s.sed there, will not be unacceptable. For similar reasons the book, were its existence known, would be welcome here and there in Australia and New Zealand, and other colonies and settlements of England.

In an attempt to narrate so many particulars of time, place, person and circ.u.mstance, it can scarcely be hoped that errors have been wholly avoided. It is earnestly desired that any that may be detected will be adverted to with kindness and charity, and not in a carping tone.

Unfairly, sometimes, a slip discovered, however trivial, is emphatically dwelt on, to the ignoring of almost all the points in respect of which complete accuracy has been secured, at the cost of much painstaking.

Conscious that our aim throughout has been to be as minutely correct as possible, we ask for consideration in this regard. A certain slight variety which will perhaps be noticed in the orthography of a few Indian and other names is to be attributed to a like absence of uniformity in the doc.u.ments consulted. While the forms which we ourselves prefer will be readily discerned, it was not judged advisable everywhere to insist on them.

10 Trinity Square, Toronto, June 4th, 1873.

INTRODUCTORY.

In French colonial doc.u.ments of a very respectable antiquity, we meet with the name Toronto again and again. It is given as an appellation that is well-known, and its form in the greater number of instances is exactly that which it has now permanently a.s.sumed, but here and there its orthography varies by a letter or two, as is usually the case with strange terms when taken down by ear. In a Memoir on the state of affairs in Canada, transmitted to France in 1686, by the Governor in Chief of the day, the Marquis de Denonville, the familiar word appears.

Addressing the Minister de Seignelay, the Marquis says: "The letters I wrote to Sieurs du Lhu and de la Durantaye, of which I sent you copies, will inform you of my orders to them to fortify the two pa.s.sages leading to Michilimaquina. Sieur du Lhu is at that of the Detroit of Lake Erie, and Sieur de la Durantaye at that of the portage of Toronto. These two posts" the marquis observes, "will block the pa.s.sage against the English, if they undertake to go again to Michilimaquina, and will serve as retreats to the savages our allies either while hunting or marching against the Iroquois."

Again, further on in the same Despatch, Denonville says: "I have heard that Sieur du Lhu is arrived at the post of the Detroit of Lake Erie, with fifty good men well-armed, with munitions of war and provisions and all other necessaries sufficient to guarantee them against the severe cold, and to render them comfortable during the whole winter on the spot where they will entrench themselves. M. de la Durantaye is collecting people to entrench himself at Michilimaquina and to occupy the other pa.s.s which the English may take by Toronto, the other entrance to lake Huron. In this way" the marquis a.s.sures de Seignelay, "our Englishmen will have somebody to speak to. All this, however," he reminds the minister, "cannot be accomplished without considerable expense, but still" he adds, "we must maintain our honour and our prosperity."

Du Lhu and de la Durantaye here named were the French agents or superintendents in what was then the Far West. Du Lhu is the same person whose name, under the form of Duluth, has become in recent times so well known, as appertaining to a town near the head of Lake Superior, destined in the future to be one of the great Railway Junctions of the continent, like Buffalo or Chicago.

The Englishmen for whom M. de Denonville desired an instructive reception to be prepared were some of the people of Governor Dongan of the province of New York. Governor Dongan either could not or would not restrain his people from poaching for furs on the French King's domain.

When Denonville wrote his despatch in 1686 some of these illicit traders had been recently seen in the direction of Michilimackinac, having pa.s.sed up by the way of Lake Erie. To intercept them on their return, the Marquis reports that he has stationed "a bark, some canoes and twenty good men" at the river communicating from Lake Erie with that of Ontario near Niagara, by which place the English who ascended Lake Erie must of necessity pa.s.s on their return home with their peltries. "I regard, Monseigneur," continues Denonville to the minister, "as of primary importance the prohibition of this trade to the English, who, without doubt, would entirely ruin ours both by the cheaper bargains they could give the Indians, and by attracting to them the Frenchmen of our colony who are accustomed to go into the woods." Governor Dongan was also always holding communications with the Iroquois and spiriting them on to resist French encroachments. He even audaciously a.s.serted that his own sovereign--it soon became doubtful who that was, whether James II.

or William of Orange--was the rightful supreme lord of the Iroquois territory.

As to the particular spot intended when Denonville says M. de la Durantaye is about to occupy "the pa.s.s which the English may take by Toronto," there may seem at first to be some ambiguity.

In 1686 the vicinage of Lake Simcoe, especially the district between Lake Simcoe and Lake Huron, appears to have been commonly known as the Toronto region. We deduce this from the old contemporary maps, on one or other of which Matchedash bay is the Bay of Toronto; the river Severn is the Toronto river; Lake Simcoe itself is Toronto Lake; the chain of Lakes pa.s.sing south-eastward from the neighbourhood of Lake Simcoe and issuing by the Trent in the Bay of Quinte is also the Toronto river or lake-chain, and again, the Humber, running southwesterly from the vicinity of Lake Simcoe into Lake Ontario, is likewise occasionally the Toronto river; the explanation of all which phraseology is to be found in the supposition that the Severn, the Trent chain of lakes, and the Humber, were, each of them, a commonly-frequented line of water-communication with a Toronto region--a well-peopled district--"a place of meeting," the haunt of numerous allied families and friendly bands. (That such is the most probable interpretation of the term Toronto, we shall hereafter see at large.)

The spot to be occupied by de la Durantaye for the purpose of defending "the Pa.s.s at Toronto" might therefore be either in the Toronto region itself at the Lake Huron end of the trail leading from Lake Ontario, or at the Lake Ontario end of the same trail, at the point where English trespa.s.sers coming from the direction of the Iroquois territory would disembark, when intending to penetrate to Michilimackinac by this route.

At the first-mentioned point, viz, the Lake Huron end of the trail, it was early recommended that a fort should be established, as we learn from letter twenty-three of Lahontan, but we do not hear that such a structure was ever erected there. The remains of solid buildings that have been found in that quarter are those of Jesuit mission-houses, and not of a formal fort established by the French government. At the last-mentioned spot, on the contrary, viz, the Lake Ontario end of the trail, it is certain that a fortified trading-post was early erected; the official designation of which, as we shall presently learn, was Fort Rouille, but the name by which it came in the course of time to be popularly known was Fort Toronto, as being the object which marked and guarded the southern terminus of the trail or portage leading to the district in the interior commonly called the Toronto region.

It was here then, near the embouchure of the modern Canadian Humber, that "our Englishmen," as Denonville expressed himself, crossing over on illicit errands from Governor Dongan's domain to that of the King of France, were to find "somebody to speak to."

[Sidenote: 1687.]

The order sent to Durantaye was indeed not immediately executed. In 1687 Denonville reports as follows to the authorities at Paris: "I have altered" he says, "the orders I had originally given last year to M. de la Durantaye to pa.s.s by Toronto and to enter Lake Ontario at Gandatsi-tiagon to form a junction with M. du Lhu at Niagara. I have sent him word," he continues, "by Sieur Juchereau, who took back the two Hurons and Outaouas chiefs this winter, to join Sieur du Lhu at the Detroit of Lake Erie, so that they may be stronger, and in a condition to resist the enemy, should he go to meet them at Niagara."

In 1687 the business in contemplation was something more serious than the mere repression of trespa.s.s on the part of a few stray traders from Governor Dongan's province. The confederated Iroquois were, if possible, to be humbled once for all. From the period of Montmagny's arrival in 1637 the French settlements to the eastward had suffered from the fierce inroads of the Iroquois. The predecessor of Denonville, de la Barre, had made a peace with them on terms that caused them to despise the French; and their boldness had since increased to such a degree that the existence of the settlements was imperilled. In a Report to the minister at Paris on this subject M. de Denonville again names Toronto; and he clearly considers it a post of sufficient note to be cla.s.sed, for the moment, with Fort Frontenac, Niagara and Michilimackinac. To achieve success against the Iroquois, he informed the minister, 3000 men would be required. Of such a force, he observes, he has at the time only one half; but he boasts of more, he says, for reputation's sake: "for the rest of the militia are necessary to protect and cultivate the farms of the country; and a part of the force," he then adds, "must be employed in guarding the posts of Fort Frontenac, Niagara, Toronto, and Michilimackinac, so as to secure the aid which he expects from Illinois and from the other Indians, on whom however he cannot rely," he says, "unless he shall be able alone to defeat the five Iroquois nations."

The campaign which ensued, though nominally a success, was attended with disastrous consequences. The blows struck, not having been followed up with sufficient vigour, simply further exasperated "the five Iroquois nations," and entailed a frightful retaliation. In 1689 took place the famous ma.s.sacre of Lachine and devastation of the island of Montreal.

Denonville was superseded as his predecessor de la Barre had been. The Count de Frontenac was appointed his successor, sent out for the second time, Governor General of New France.

[Sidenote: 1749.]

Some years now elapse before we light on another notice of Toronto. But at length we again observe the familiar word in one of the Reports or Memoirs annually despatched from Canada to France. In 1749 M. de la Galissoniere, administrator in the absence of the Governor in Chief, de la Jonquiere, informs the King's minister in Paris that he has given orders for erecting a stockade and establishing a royal trading post at Toronto.

This was expected to be a counterpoise to the trading-post of Choueguen on the southern side of the Lake, newly erected by the English at the mouth of the Oswego river, on the site of the present town of Oswego.

Choueguen itself had been established as a set-off to the fort at the mouth of the Niagara river, which had been built there by the French in spite of remonstrances on the part of the authorities at New York.

Choueguen at first was simply a so-called "beaver trap" or trading-post, established by permission, nominally obtained, of the Iroquois; but it speedily developed into a strong stone-fort, and became, in fact, a standing menace to Fort Frontenac, on the northern sh.o.r.e of the Lake.

Choueguen likewise drew to itself a large share of the valuable peltries of the north sh.o.r.e, which used before to find their way down the St.

Lawrence to Montreal and Quebec. The goods offered at the English trading-post of Choueguen were found to be superior to the French goods, and the price given for furs was greater there than on the French side of the water. The storekeeper at Niagara told the Abbe Picquet, of whom we shall hear again presently, that the Indians compared the silver-trinkets which were procured at Choueguen with those which were procured at the French Stores; and they found that the Choueguen articles were as heavy as the others, of purer silver and better workmanship, but did not cost them quite two beavers, whilst for those offered for sale at the French King's post, ten beavers were demanded.

"Thus we are discredited" the Abbe complained, "and this silver-ware remains a pure loss in the King's stores. French brandy indeed," the Abbe adds, "was preferred to the English: nevertheless that did not prevent the Indians going to Choueguen. To destroy the trade there," he affirms, "the King's posts ought to have been supplied with the same goods as Choueguen and at the same price. The French ought also," he says, "to have been forbidden to send the domiciliated Indians thither: but that" he confesses, "would have been very difficult."

Choueguen had thus, in the eyes of the French authorities, come to be a little Carthage that must be put down, or, at all events, crippled to the greatest possible extent.

Accordingly, as a counterpoise in point of commercial influence, Toronto, as we have seen, was to be made a fortified trading post. "On being informed" says M. de la Galissoniere, in the doc.u.ment referred to, bearing date 1749, "that the northern Indians ordinarily went to Choueguen with their peltries by way of Toronto on the northwest side of Lake Ontario, twenty-five leagues from Niagara, and seventy-five from Fort Frontenac, it was thought advisable to establish a post at that place and to send thither an officer, fifteen soldiers, and some workmen, to construct a small stockade-fort there. Its expense will not be great," M. de la Galissoniere a.s.sures the minister, "the timber is transported there, and the remainder will be conveyed by the barques belonging to Fort Frontenac. Too much care cannot be taken," remarks the Administrator, "to prevent these Indians continuing their trade with the English, and to furnish them at this post with all their necessaries, even as cheap as at Choueguen. Messrs. de la Jonquiere and Bigot will permit some canoes to go there on license and will apply the funds as a gratuity to the officer in command there. But it will be necessary to order the commandants at Detroit, Niagara, and Fort Frontenac, to be careful that the traders and store-keepers of these posts furnish goods for two or three years to come, at the same rates as the English. By these means the Indians will disaccustom themselves from going to Choueguen, and the English will be obliged to abandon that place."

De la Galissoniere returned to France in 1749. He was a naval officer and fond of scientific pursuits. It was he who in 1756, commanded the expedition against Minorca, which led to the execution of Admiral Byng.

[Sidenote: 1752.]

From a despatch written by M. de Longueil in 1752, we gather that the post of the Toronto portage, in its improved, strengthened state, is known as Fort Rouille, so named, doubtless from Antoine Louis Rouille, Count de Jouy, Colonial Minister from 1749 to 1754. M. de Longueil says that "M. de Celeron had addressed certain despatches to M. de Lavalterie, the commandant at Niagara, who detached a soldier to convey them to Fort Rouille, with orders to the store-keeper at that post to transmit them promptly to Montreal. It is not known," he remarks, "what became of that soldier." About the same time, a Mississague from Toronto arrived at Niagara, who informed M. de Lavalterie that he had not seen that soldier at the Fort, nor met him on the way. "It is to be feared that he has been killed by Indians," he adds, "and the despatches carried to the English."

An uncomfortable Anglophobia was reigning at Fort Rouille, as generally along the whole of the north sh.o.r.e of Lake Ontario in 1752. We learn this also from another pa.s.sage in the same despatch. "The store-keeper at Toronto, says," M. de Longueil writes to M. de Vercheres, commandant at Fort Frontenac, "that some trustworthy Indians have a.s.sured him that the Saulteux (Otchipways,) who killed our Frenchman some years ago, have dispersed themselves along the head of Lake Ontario; and seeing himself surrounded by them, he doubts not but they have some evil design on his Fort. There is no doubt," he continues, "but 'tis the English who are inducing the Indians to destroy the French, and that they would give a good deal to get the Savages to destroy Fort Toronto, on account of the essential injury it does their trade at Choueguen."

Such observations help us to imagine the anxious life which the lonely occupants of Fort Rouille must have been leading at the period referred to. From an abstract of a journal or memoir of the Abbe Picquet given in the Doc.u.mentary History of the State of New York (i. 283), we obtain a glimpse of the state of things at the same place, about the same period, from the point of view, however, of an interested ecclesiastic. The Abbe Picquet was a doctor of the Sorbonne, and bore the t.i.tles of King's Missionary and Prefect Apostolic of Canada. He established a mission at Oswegatchie (Ogdensburg) which was known as _La Presentation_, and which became virtually a military outpost of Fort Frontenac. He was very useful to the authorities at Quebec in advocating French interests on the south side of the St. Lawrence. The Marquis du Quesne used to say that the Abbe Picquet was worth ten regiments to New France. His activity was so great, especially among the Six Nations, that even during his lifetime he was complimented with the t.i.tle of "Apostle of the Iroquois." When at length the French power fell he retired to France, where he died in 1781. In 1751 the Abbe made a tour of exploration round Lake Ontario. He was conveyed in a King's canoe, and was accompanied by one of bark containing five trusty natives. He visited Fort Frontenac and the Bay of Quinte; especially the site there of an ancient mission which M. Dollieres de Kleus and Abbe d'Urfe, priests of the St. Sulpice Seminary had established. "The quarter is beautiful," the Abbe remarks, "but the land is not good." He then visited Fort Toronto, the journal goes on to say, seventy leagues from Fort Frontenac, at the west end of Lake Ontario. He found good bread and good wine there, it is stated, and everything requisite for the trade, whilst they were in want of these things at all the other posts. He found Mississagues there, we are told, who flocked around him; they spoke first of the happiness their young people, the women and children, would feel if the King would be as good to them as to the Iroquois, for whom he procured missionaries. They complained that instead of building a church, they had constructed only a canteen for them. The Abbe Picquet, we are told, did not allow them to finish; and answered them that they had been treated according to their fancy; that they had never evinced the least zeal for religion; that their conduct was much opposed to it; that the Iroquois on the contrary had manifested their love for Christianity. But as he had no order, it is subjoined, to attract them, viz., the Mississagues, to his mission at _La Presentation_--he avoided a more lengthened explanation.

The poor fellows were somewhat unfairly lectured by the Abbe, for, according to his own showing, they expressed a desire for a church amongst them.