Historical Plaques of
Durham County

One hundred acres of land for the first Catholic Church and cemetery in Thorah township were granted in 1835 by the government of Upper Canada for the needs of the many Scottish and Irish settlers. But it was not until New Year's Day, 1858, that the first St. Joseph's church was opened on this site. The arrival of numerous families from Ireland after the potato famine there in the late 1840's necessitated this expansion of the Brock parish which was first established at the old St. Malachy's church in Vroomanton and included St. Anthony's church in Virginia.

On January 4, 1909, the pastor, Father James Hayes, moved his residence to Beaverton and during that same year he built the present brick church there to replace the original wood-frame structure here as the regular place of worship. The present rectory beside the church in Beaverton was built in 1910. Despite these more recent changes, elsewhere this site continued to serve as the cemetery for the catholic people of the surrounding area since the 1830's. As the main centre for the parish of Brock, St. Joseph's continues to serve the spiritual needs of a wide area covering the south-east shore of Lake Simcoe and its hinterland.

The plaque was blessed and dedicated on Sunday, June 23, 1991 by the most Rev. Robert B. Clune, D.D., J.C.D., Auxiliary Bishop of Toronto for the Eastern Region.

Built by the volunteer labour of the local congregation on land granted by the Crown in 1835, and designed in the Neo-Classic manner, St. Andrew's was started in 1840 and completed by 1853. This limestone and granite structure replaced an earlier log church which stood in the vicinity. Services in St. Andrew's, which were held even before its completion, were conducted in both English and Gaelic. The Reverend David Watson D.D. inducted in 1853 as the first regular minister, served until his retirement in 1898 but continued to be associated with St. Andrew's until his death in 1903. Although a new St. Andrew's was built in Beaverton in 1879, services have been continued in the "Old Stone Church" during the summer months.

To the glory of God and to the memory of John Gunn & John Morrison who helped in the building of this Presbyterian church in 1840.

This gate is erected by their grandson John Nisbet Gunn, D.S.O., M.D.

The settlement of this area was stimulated by the arrival about 1806 of approximately twelve Quaker families from Pennsylvania. About 1808 Joseph Collins completed the first saw and grist-mill around which a community developed. The mill was bought in 1832 by Joseph Gould. A post office named Uxbridge was opened in 1836 with Joseph Bascom as Postmaster. In 1844, Gould, industrialist, land owner and later first member of the Parliament of Canada for Ontario North, erected a large woollen mill. The completion in 1871 of the section of the Toronto and Nipissing Railway between Scarborough and Uxbridge fostered the growth of the community. Incorporated as a village with a population of 1,367 in 1872, Uxbridge became a town in 1885.

A good example of board and batten construction, this Meeting House was erected in 1820 to replace an earlier log structure. The building stands in the midst of the original Uxbridge Quaker Settlement, a venture begun in 1805 by some twelve familes from Pennsylvania. The unaffected design of the building reflects the Quaker philosophy of plainness and restraint. The Uxbridge Settlement prospered until the mid-nineteenth century when the Quaker population declined. Closed in 1925, the Meeting House has since been re-opened for annual interdenominational religious services. In the adjoining cemetery on "Quaker Hill" are buried some of the area's earliest settlers, including Joseph Gould, a noted local industrialist and parliamentarian.

One of Canada's leading cartoonists, Jimmy Frise was born near here about 1891 and educated Scugog, Saintfield and Port Perry. Wounded at Vimy Ridge in the First World War, he went to Toronto to resume his career in illustrations, a field in which he was entirely self-taught. For the Star Weekly Frise collaborated with the noted humorous writer Gregory Clark in a weekly series. In 1921 he created a half-page cartoon, first entitled "Life's Little Comedies" and later "Birdseye Center". It was featured for a quarter of a century in what was Canada's biggest weekend newspaper. The popularity of Birdseye Center arose from Frise's gentle and humorous interpretation of the relationship between rural and urban life. He died in 1948.

In this house the author of "Anne of Green Gables" lived for fifteen years, and here wrote eleven of her twenty-two novels, including "Anne of the Island" (1915) and "Annes House of Dreams" (1916). Born in 1874 at Clifton, Prince Edward Island, she was educated at Charlottetown and Halifax. From 1898 to 1911 she lived at Cavendish, P. E. I., and there began her career as a novelist. In 1911 she married the Rev. Ewan Macdonald, a Presbyterian minister, and came with him to Leaskdale. They moved in 1926 to Norval, and nine years later to Toronto, where she died in 1942. Mrs. Macdonald was awarded the O.B.E. by King George V in 1935.

An ardent Canadian and founder of the Canadian Club movement, McCullough was born in Bowmanville amd moved to Hamilton in 1888. He and four companions in December, 1892, determined to found an organization which would encourage the study of Canada's history, literature, resources and native talents. The first Canadian Club was inaugurated in Hamilton in February, 1893, and W.S. Evans, one of the originators, served as president 1893-94, while McCullough held that position 1895-96. The Canadian Club movement spread throughout the Dominion and a central association was formed in 1909.

One of Canada's leading publishers, Joseph Atkinson was born here in Clarke Township and, at eighteen, began his journalistic career with the Port Hope Times. He subsequently moved to Toronto where he was employed first with the World and later the Globe. Following a period with the Montreal Herald, Atkinson in 1899 became editor and manager of the Toronto Evening Star. He changed the name to the Toronto Daily Star (1900) and published it until his death. In 1910 he founded the Star Weekly, established radio station CFCA in 1922 and built The Star into Canada's largest daily newspaper with a stated policy of supporting the "little man". He died in 1948 leaving most of his considerable wealth to The Atkinson Charitable Foundation.

One of the world's largest manufacturers of heavy farm machinery, Massey-Ferguson has its foundations in a modest family business developed in Newcastle. Established in Bond Head by Daniel Massey, the fledgling operation was moved to large quarters here in 1849. For 30 years the Newcastle Foundry and Machinery Manufactory prospered under the shrewd management of three generations of enterprising Masseys. Capitalizing on the expanding wheat market, Hart, Daniel's son, skilfully adapted American-designed implements to suit Canadian agrarian conditions. When sales were secured in Europe, marking Canada's first export of machinery overseas, continued expansion of the firm was ensured. By 1879 the operation had outgrown its Newcastle factories and the Massey Manufacturing Company, now managed by Hart's son Charles, moved to larger facilities in Toronto.

On this site in 1866 Samuel Wilmot began to experiment with the artificial breeding of salmon. His success led the federal government in 1868 to enlarge Wilmot's project into Ontario's first full scale fish hatchery, one of the earliest in North America. The station and rearing ponds, built to restore Ontario's declining salmon fisheries, reached its maximum production in 1876 when 1,500,000 eggs were hatched. By this time hatcheries were in operation in Quebec, Ontario and the Maritimes, under Wilmot's supervision. In 1876 he was appointed federal Superintendent of Fish Breeding Establishments. The Newcastle Hatchery, which had established a pattern for fish culture in many parts of the world, ceased operation in 1914.

A distinguished authority on tropical diseases, Stanton was born near here and educated at Trinity Medical College, Toronto. In 1907, after serving as house surgeon at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in London, England, he accepted a position at the Institute for Medical Research in present day Malaysia. There, working with Henry Fraser, the institutes's director, Stanton made the revolutionary discovery that beriberi, a debilitating and fatal disease, was caused by a dietary deficiency. He also advanced anti-malaria studies and found the cure for an infectious disease contracted by rubber workers. Appointed Chief Medical Adviser in the British Colonial Office in 1926, Stanton worked tirelessly to promote awareness of medical issues among government officials. For his outstanding contributions to medical science, he was knighted in 1934.

Robert McLaughlin, a pioneer of the Canadian vehicle industry, was born in the family homestead on this property. In 1867, despite lack of technical training he built two cutters in his driving-shed which stood near this site. His business prospered and in 1869 he established the McLaughlin Carriage Works at Enniskillen. This enterprise, which expanded rapidly, was moved in 1877 to Oshawa where it became the largest carriage-works in the British Empire. In 1907 the McLaughlin Motor Car Company was formed and the following year began to assemble some of the earliest autombiles produced in Canada. The combined companies became General Motors of Canada in 1918.

This farm was acquired about 1848 by John Miller, a Scottish immigrant who became a pioneer importer and breeder of pedigreed livestock in Canada. In 1852 the Millers began importing quality stock, notably shorthorn cattle, Clydesdale horses and later Shropshire sheep from the United Kingdom. Miller's example, as well as the animals bred at Thistle Ha', played an important role in improving stockbreeding throughout North and South America in the 19th century. Succeeding generations of Millers have maintained the farm's reputation for raising fine blooded stock.

In 1847 this plot of land was conveyed to Wesleyan Methodist Church as the site of a chapel and burying ground. Here rest many of the early pioneers of this district. This memorial was erected in 1949 by Simcoe Street United Church, Oshawa, in memory of those whose names are inscribed here on and of others not so recorded who also sleep here.

---

"I am the resurrection and the life" saith the Lord, "He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." St. John II 25:26

Ontario's twelfth prime minister was born in Oshawa and educated at the University of Toronto and Osgoode Hall. A practising lawyer, he was a leader in civic affairs and in 1916-17 served as mayor of Oshawa. During the following years he held various municipal offices, and in 1937 was elected to the provincial legislature as Liberal member for the riding of Ontario. He was appointed attorney general that year for the administration of the Hon. Michael F. Hepburn and, on the latter's resignation in 1942, succeeded him as prime minister. Mr. Conant resigned in 1943 and became Master of the Supreme Court of Ontario.

Peter Matthews farmed the lands immediately northeast of here in the early nineteenth century. On December 2, 1837, neighbours asked him to lead men from the area to join an uprising against the government in Toronto planned by William Lyon Mackenzie. Matthews supported democratic reforms was popular in his community and had served in the War of 1812. He agreed to the request and played a leading role in the confused events of the Rebellion of 1837. When the rebellion failed, Matthews was captured by government militia. Authorities decided to make an example of Matthews and another prominent rebel, Samuel Lount. Convicted of treason and publicly hanged they became martyrs of the rebellion whose memory would be invoked by reformers for generations to come.

In 1941 the Canadian Government established here a shell-filling plant operated by Defence Industries Limited. At peak production over 9,000 persons from across Canada lived and worked on this site. The community was named for H.M.S. Ajax, the British cruiser which, with H.M.S. Exeter and H.M.S Achilles, defeated the German pocket battleship "Graf Spee" in December, 1939, at the Battle of the River Plate. After the Second World War, Ajax became a temporary campus of the University of Toronto for thousands of returning veterans. Under the administration of Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the community grew and new industries were attracted. It became an Improvement District in 1950 and an incorporated town in 1954.

Between 1801 and 1807 a settlement developed here in Pickering Township where the Danforth Road crossed Duffin's Creek. Among the early settlers was Timothy Rogers, a prominent Quaker and colinzer who built a saw and grist-mill in 1809. A post-office was established in 1829 but the hamlet of Duffin's Creek developed slowly. The construction of the Grand Trunk Railway, completed in 1856, and growing agricultural prosperity stimulated the community's development as an important grist-milling and local commercial centre. Known as Pickering from the late 1870's, it became a police village in 1900 with about 1000 inhabitants. In 1953 it was made an incorporated Village and in 1974 amalgamated with the Town of Ajax.

Opened in 1874 by the Governor-General, Lord Dufferin, the Ontario Ladies' College was established in "Trafalgar Castle", former residence of Nelson Gilbert Reynolds, Sheriff of Ontario County. Built in 1859, "Trafalgar Castle" was visited in 1869 by Prince Arthur and Sir John A. Macdonald. The college, under the jurisdiction of the Methodist Church, offered a diploma, and matriculation for university entrance. Additions to the school were named in honour of Dr. Egerton Ryerson in 1877 and Lillian Frances Massey Treble in 1895. The Rev. J.J. Hare served the college as principal from its opening until 1915. Guest lecturers at the school included Lucy Maude Montgomery and Bliss Carman. Since 1925 the college has been associated with the United Church of Canada.

Perhaps the most fervent of the Methodist sects, the Bible Christian Church was formed in southwestern England in 1815 and established in Upper Canada during the 1830s. Served by itinerant preachers, its small but loyal membership increased gradually, largely among British emigrants from Devon and Cornwall who had settled in rural areas in Northumberland, Durham and Huron Counties. In 1855 the Canadian mission, noted, as was the parent English body, for its emphasis upon lay-ministerial co-operation in church government, became an independent conference and by 1870 numerous chapels, including this structure, had been built. However, inability to gain support in emerging urban centres and mounting financial difficulties arrested the sects growth. In 1884 the Bible Christian Church entered into a union with other Methodist bodies.

Born in nearby Enniskillen, McLaughlin apprenticed in his father’s Oshawa carriage-works when he was sixteen. Convinced of the potential for growth of the automobile industry, he established in 1907 the McLaughlin Motor Car Company, the first major automobile manufacturer in Canada. This company became part of General Motors in 1918 with McLaughlin as president of the Canadian company and a vice-president of the American corporation. A noted philanthropist, he provided funds to build the McLaughlin Planetarium at Toronto, erect buildings at Queen’s University, Kingston, and endow a medical foundation. His mansion, “Parkwood”, begun in 1916, was designed by the Toronto architectural firm of Darling and Pearson. This notable house and distinguished gardens were bequeathed to the Oshawa General Hospital in 1972.

An outstanding humanitarian and churchman, Brent was born near Newcastle and ordained in Toronto in 1887. Following parochial service in Buffalo and Boston, he was elected first Episcopal Bishop of the Philippine Islands in 1901. Confronted by the devastating moral and physical effects of opium addiction, Brent became an uncompromising advocate of drug control. He urged international co-operation in eradicating drug abuse and served as president of the Opium Commission at Shanghai (1909) and the Opium Conference at The Hague (1911-12). Elected Bishop of Western New York in 1917, Brent vigorously promoted Christian unity and, in 1927, presided over the World Conference on Faith and Order. This ecumenical gathering at Lausanne, Switzerland, helped to lay the foundation of the World Council of Churches.