TINY #17

          Copelands' Hill Protestant Con 2, Lot 118
          Lafontaine "Sainte Croix" Roman Catholic
          Penetanguishene Presbyterian
          Perkinsfield St Patrice Roman Catholic
          St Anne's R.C. Penetanguishene
          St Croix R.C. - Lafontaine Con 15, Lot 17
          St James On The Line Anglican, Penetanguishene
          St Patrick's R.C. Perkinsfield Con 9, Lot 14
          Waverly St John's Anglican
          William Wilson Pioneer Con 1, Lot 101
          Wyebridge "Good Shepherd" Anglican
          Wyebridge St Andrew's Presbyterian Con 1 Lot 96
          Wyevale Union

"WYEBRIDGE. . . A NOSTALGIC LOOK AT YESTERDAY, by Bonnie R. Reynolds, 1985. 69 p. illus. maps. A comprehensive history and record of the people who lived there."

The following history is verbatim from the book "The History of Simcoe County" by Andrew F. Hunter. First published in 1909 and reproduced in 1948 by the Simcoe County Historical Society.

This settlement began soon after the migration from Drummond Island in 1828, when the contingent of French-Canadians who had ben connected with the post at that place was transferred to the vicinity of Penetanguishene, and each one given a small grant of land. About the time to which the skectches of the pioneers in this history mostly refer, viz., 1836, when the French-Canadian settlers just referred to were living chiefly in Penetanguishene, some of them began to take up larger farms in the fertile valley in concessions 15 and 16 of Tiny, in what is now known as the Lafontaine settlement. This contingent of French-Canadians, who settled at Penetanguishene, and some of them afterward around Lafontaine, have left their impress upon the localities and their surroundings.

Louis DesCheneaux settled about the year 1830 and built the first house near Lafontaine, on lot 16, con. 16. He was born in 1789, and had come to this country about the same time as the migration mentioned. This was the beginning of the settlement, and others soon followed, four of whom settled on other parts of the same lot, viz., Chas. Cote, John LaCroix, Cyril Pombert, and Joseph Thibault. Before the year 1836, we find that the following had also settled in the vicinity of Louis DesCheneaux:

Colbert Amyot (Cuthbert Amiotte), south halves lots 16 and 17, con. 15.
Louis Desaulnier, lot 13, con. 15.
Louis George Labatte. south half lot 16, con. 17.

These three settlers received the patents for the lands named in the year 1836. The second settler in the list just given, (Desaulnier), had been a government interpreter to the Indians. And L. G. Labatte's location was at the extreme north end of Tiny beside what is known as Thunder Bay.

Others who went to the settlement about the same time as the first settlers mentioned above, or a short time later, were:

J.B. Boucher, lot 15, con. 16.
Louis Chevrette, lot 13, con. 17.
Edward Doucette, lot 13, con. 17.
Antoine and Oliver LaFreniere, lot 18, con. 15.
Chas. LaMoreau, lot 15, con. 15.
Joseph Messier, lot 17, con. 15.
Augustin Precourt, lot 16, con. 15.

The fine stream which flows through this "Happy Valley," and is the only stream of any considerable size wholly within the township, has been known by various names, including Boucher's River, Marchildon's Creek, etc. The name of Messier's Lake was attached to one of the small lakes in the north part of Tiny, from the above named early settler.

Numerous facts about some of the above mentioned settlers and others are preserved in a monograph by A.C. Osborne on the Drummond Island migration in the third volume of papers and records issued by the Ontario Historical Society, 1901.

This settlement of French-Canadians is the only one of any extent in this county in which the English language is not spoken. Formerly, in Oro and in Nottawasaga, Gaelic was spoken by the first settlers, but Gaelic is now practically obsolete in those townships. Surrounded, as the settlement in Tiny has been, by English speaking settlements, the French speaking settlers there have inevitably acquired English gradually. This is especially true of the men, who have been further afield that the women; so that at the present time there is scarcely a man who cannot express himself in both languages.

In regard to the facility of acquiring English, Jas. C. Morgan, Public School Inspector, replying to questions submitted to him by the County Council, in November, 1893, stated that the French language was then taught in two schools of Tiny, Nos. 13 and 19, and was used to a slight extent, for purposes of communication in two more, Nos. 17 and 18. He stated further that the French population in Tiny had always been most anxious to have English taught thoroughly.

"THE KING'S MILLS

A trail or portage lead across from the head of Penetanguishene Bay to the Nottawasaga Bay from the earliest times. At the westerly end of this Indian path on Nottawasaga Bay, at what has been known as "Tiny Beach," a sawmill was erected in the first years of this county's settlement, about 1832, and was known as the "King's Mills." When Sir Richard Bonnycastle visited the locality soon afterward, he passed this way, and speaks of the place in his "Travels in Canada."

At a later time about (1858), the mill, or its successor, passed into the hands of a company of shareholders, consisting of John McWatt, - Sutherland, John Dewe, and H.P. Savigny, the surveyor, the firm being known as John McWatt & Co. Subsequently, as it is said, Mr. Dewe acquired all the shares of these partners and conducted the sawmill for a short time with Riley Randolph as manager, but a depression in the lumber market resulted in the failure of the undertaking. Mr. Dewe subsequently became Chief Post Office Inspector for the Dominion, and held the office for several years. Members of the Randolph family afterward were mill owners in the Township of Nottawasaga at the Batteau River and Stayner.

The sawmill in Tiny was about half a mile from Nottawasaga Bay. An early occupant of the north half of lot 18, con. 12, near the mill, was Hypolite Brissette, whose son, John Brissette, became well known as a voyageur.

John Vent & Co., of a neighbouring lot, were also mill owners at a later time.