CONTENTS I. Leaves from an Unpublished Volume. (President's Address, 1919.) GEO. R. II The Retreat of Proctor and Tecumseh. JUDGE C. O. ERMATINGER III. History of Presbyterianism in the County of Oxford. REV. W. T. MCMULLEN, V. The Six Nations Indians. MISS A. I. G. Gilkison VI. Old Stage Coach Days in Oxford County. MR. W. B. HOBSON VII. The Former Names of the Thames River. MR. JAMES SINCLAIR 22 X. Williamstown, an Historic Village. MISS JANET CARNOCHAN XI. Some Unusual Sources of Information in the Toronto Reference Library on the I. LEAVES FROM AN UNPUBLISHED VOLUME. BY GEO. R. PATTULLO. The President's Address, June 16th, 1919. Settlement first began in the County of Oxford during the last five years of the eighteenth century. Lots were sold in the township of Blenheim, and in one or two other sections of the county, as early as 1797. Naturally settlement was slow and straggling for a number of years. It followed pretty closely the centre line of the county, since known as the Governor's Road or Dundas Street, and along the River Thames between Woodstock and Ingersoll. It was not until between 1820 and 1840 that there was any considerable settlement even in what have since become the City of Woodstock and the Town of Ingersoll. There were then practically no transportation facilities whatever. Communication between isolated settlers and settlements was by trail and in many cases the distances covered were great. The usual routine common to pioneer life in Canada followed, though slowly, on foot, by oxen or horseback, by waggon, next buggy, next by stage coach, next by steam cars, now by auto, and lastly by aeroplane. The latter is not yet in general use, but the writer is still young enough to hope to see it. Of the topographical features of the county it may be said that the land is generally undulating and rolling. There are no very high hills, although the ridge running north and south from Woodstock is part of the watershed in Western Ontario. The Thames flows westward from here to Lake St. Clair, while the River Nith joins the Grand River and flows eastward. These are our only rivers. The County of Oxford has been usually described as the "Garden of Canada," a name first applied to it by the Hon. George Brown on an election tour. But this description, since generally appropriated, may perhaps be due to local pride. The truth is that there are many counties in the Province of Ontario, whose fertile fields, fruitful orchards, sleek and lowing herds, great and varied manufacturing establishments, prosperous and progressive business men, and, above all, the numerous school houses that dot the landscape, entitle them to that description equally with the County of Oxford. We owe much to the early settlers of the county and of the Province for the place names that they have brought with them from the old land. These names link the old world with the new. The surrounding counties of Norfolk, Middlesex, Perth and Waterloo suggest Old Country counties and memories. Oxford itself reveals Britain's famous university, while the County of Brant very appropriately stands as a monument to the great Canadian Indian Chief. The names of Norwich, Woodstock, Tavistock, Blandford, Blenheim, remind us of England and of England's great duke; Embro, Braemar, Golspie, Strathallan and Peebles recall Scotland, from which so many Oxford pioneers came. Milldale reminds us that the English Quakers were also early and most worthy residents in Oxford County; Cassel in the township of East Zorra denotes the presence of a large and highly respected German element-the Amishman about whom our friend, Judge Smith, has recently written a volume. Zorra, oddly enough, though the home of the large Highland settlement in the County, is of Spanish origin. Early Canadian pioneers are represented by Ingersoll, Tillsonburg, Brownsville, Plattsville, Oliver, Gobles, Wolverton and others. Eastwood recalls especially the large settlement of gentlefolk, representatives of the army, navy and official life of England, who followed Governor Simcoe to Canada, and whose wealth, education and culture and withal Old Country characteristics and habits, have left a refining impress on the life of the community. The village of Eastwood was named after Mrs. East, a sister of Admiral Vansittart. Such are some of the material and general characteristics of Oxford County. They are important, but, after all, not the most important essentials, however generously bestowed. Things material do not make a community or a country. It is the people, the good, honest, high-minded, God-fearing men and women. In this respect, too, Oxford County is fortunate. Her population is typical of many other Canadian communities: Numbering about fifty thousand of the several chief English-speaking nations, the Scotch-both Lowland and Highland-were probably the most numerous. The Lowlanders are more scattered, but in the aggregate probably outnumber the Highlanders, the latter being located in an almost solid block in parts of East and West Zorra. Next come the English, followed by the Germans, Irish, United Empire Loyalists, and a considerable element from the United States and the Maritime Provinces, particularly New Brunswick. These are the sources whence came the early pioneers of Oxford and their children. The present population are the human amalgam which represent them, and which constitute the brain and brawn of our citizenship to-day. The early achievements of the men and women of Oxford are chiefly those common to pioneer life in Canada. Though in a measure commonplace, they were nevertheless heroic. Unlike some frontier communities, they could boast but little of martial glory. Their victories were rather those of peace, than of war. Hard work and high purposes and an abiding faith were their weapons of victory; by them they felled the forests, made the wilderness to disappear and caused the fields to "bloom and blossom as the rose." By them municipal institutions were founded. courts of law established, churches and school houses built, and the blessings of law and order and of the gospel and of education were thereby secured for their children. Those are high achievements the highest attainable in the history of the County or the Province during the last century. Few counties have contributed more of their sons to the church-four moderators of the Presbyterian Church: Dr. McMullen, Dr. Robertson, Dr. J. L. McKay (Formosa) and Dr. R. P. MacKay; four bishops of the Anglican Church: Sweatman of Toronto, Fauquier of Algoma, Farthing of Montreal and Mills of Ontario; and there is still much first class material for one or more additional bishops in this fruitful field of ecclesiastical and episcopal promotion. Another of her sons has indeed already had a very narrow escape |