The
township on the Bay of Quinte, with the
exception of the
Indian township Tyendenaga, were first settled upon both its sides, by
United
Empire Loyalists, and were numbered in the order of their
settlement, Kingston
being first town, Earnestown, second town, and so on to the township of
Sidney,
which was called eighth town. Some of these numbered names are still
retained
by their inhabitants, especially in Prince
Edward County,
the township
of Ameliasburgh
being still called seventh town. The loyalty of the first settlers
caused these
to be changed from Kingston Township
upwards, to the names of the sons and daughters of King George III,
those on
the Peninsula
of Prince
Edward Co.,
being
named
after the females of that line. Those names being exhausted by the
earlier townships
on the Bay and a kindred settlement on the River
St. Lawrence
from Elizabethtown
downwards, Sidney
was
named after
Lord Sidney who, in the time of the revolutionary war, was Secretary
for the
Colonial Department, and was surveyed and laid out about the
year
1787, by
Louis Kotte, assisted by one McDonald. A map on file in the Crown Lands
Department has inscribed upon it, “Sidney
in the District of Meklenburg." It is bounded on the north by the
township
of Rawdon, on the east by Thurlow and the city of Belleville, on the
south by
the Bay of Quinte, and on the west by the river Trent and the township
of
Murray in the County of Northumberland, and is at present one
of
the best
settled and wealthiest townships in the County of Hastings.
The
settlement of Sidney
was permanently effected during and from the year 1787, by three
classes or
grades of settlers, 1st. United Empire Loyalists; 2nd. Sons and
daughters from
the Loyalists of older townships on the Bay, who had drawn land there,
and also
by persons of Loyalist origin who came from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick
and
elsewhere, where they had first settled; 3rd. by Americans who
subsequently
settled there after the war of 1812, and probably at an earlier period.
Thus,
its settlement was progressive in character. It would, however,
appear, that
the entire occupation of the first five concessions surveyed and laid
out by
Kotte, was not entirely completed, until after a lapse of several
years. The
northern section of the township, or the Oak Hill range, was
surveyed and
settled later still, and one of the first portions occupied there, if
not the
very first, was that of the Sine Settlement, on lots Nos. 23 and 24, in
the 6th
concession.
The
first concession of Sidney,
from the proximity of the waters of the Bay
of Qninte,
became of
necessity the
scene of the earliest settlement. Capt. John Walter Myers, noted during
the
revolutionary war for his bravery and enterprise, and whose career, in
connection with the same, is related with varying details in Stokes'
"American Border Wars," and Dr. Canniffs " History of the
Settlement of Canada," together with his family, appears to have been
the
actual pioneer settler. Capt. Myers was of Dutch descent, and came from
the
vicinity of Albany,
on the Hudson,
in the State
of New
York,
about the close of the war, and settled upon the front of Sidney,
where he drew a large grant of land, a short distance east of the
present village
of Trenton.
His enterprise was here
auspicious, not only in clearing land for cultivation, but in erecting
a grist
mill upon a small stream on his land in Sidney, and thus became a
pioneer in
mill building as well as trading and sailing Batteaux and other craft
on the
waters of the Bay of Quinte. Traces of this mill near the Bay shore can
still
be seen; and the position of the dam, the mill-race, the foundation of
the mill
and residence of the late owner still exist; and, what is more
especially
interesting, there is embedded in the surface soil, but still
exhibiting its
upper side, the lower mill stone, or bed-stone as it is usually
designated. The
stream proving, eventually, inadequate for the desired end, he
subsequently
erected another mill on the present river Moira, on a dam constituted
for that
purpose, and also a log saw-mill on the opposite or east bank
of
the river,
where Belleville
now
stands. At a
much earlier period, on leaving the revolted colonies as a U.
E.
Loyalist, he
sojourned for a short time at Adolphustown, or Fourth town, and also
for a time
on the front of Thurlow, then unsurveyed, from whence he removed, upon
the
representation of his eldest son George, to the front of Sidney, as a
more
eligible place for settlement. Capt. Myers had four sons,
George,
Tobias,
Leonard and Jacob, and at least two daughters, one of whom was married
to J. J.
Bleeker, the first settler at Trenton,
and the other to John Row, an early settler of Sidney.
His grant of land consisted of 800 acres, and here descendants of his
sons,
sons and daughters, reside at the present time. Tobias W. Myers and
John G.
Myers, sons of his eldest son George, a Major, as he
subsequently
became, are
the present patriarchs of the settlement. Capt. Myers died in the year
1816,
and was interred in the old or original burial ground on the front of Sidney.
The
original U. E. Loyalists, as far as can
be ascertained,
settled on the front of first concession of Sidney,
in the following order, commencing at Trenton:—Gapt.
Marsh, Capt. Myers and his four sons, John Scott, George Smith, Abel
Gilbert,
Chrysdale and Ostrom. George Smith was the first person interred in the
old
front of Sidney
burial
ground. To
these were added offshoots of U. E. Loyalists from elsewhere, and
followed by
Americans, who emigrated from the United
States.
At this period we find the names of Zwick, Vandervoort, White,
Bonesteel,
Simmons, Kelly, Finkle, Graham, Jones, Laurence, Elijah Ketcheson, and
others,
in the first concession of the township. In the second
concession
the early
settlers were chiefly composed of the second class descendants of U. E.
Loyalists from other townships and provinces of the British Rule, with
a few of
the third class, and this was also the case with the remaining
concessions,
including those to the fifth. On the second concession we
have'
the names of
Hogle, John Row, .from Nova Scotia, Simmons, Gilbert, Ostrom,
Vandewater ;
James Farley, who is said to have come here in 1799, and others. On the
third
concession there occur the names of .John Smith, John Lott,
John
Stickle — three Johns —
hence the name, Johnstown to
the west end of the concession — Ira Billings, Bonesteel,
Perrey,
Aikens,
Crouter, McMullen, Vandervoort, Goldsmith, Ruliff, Purdey, Hagerman,
Roblin,
Caleb Gillbert, Fralick, and others. On the fourth concession came
William
Ketcheson with his sons, in 1800, being an U. E. Loyalist family from Nova
Scotia,
who purchased land and settled here.
Other settlers
came in about the same time, or it may be a little before this period.
The
settlement of this concession began towards the eastern
boundary,
where we
find the names of Longwell, Sherard, Hazelton, William Ketcheson sr.,
William
Ketcheson, jr, Youmans, John Ketcheson, Graham, Huffman, Henry Grass,
Ackers, Thomas
Ketcheson, and others.
The
settlement of the rest of the township,
as previously mentioned,
was still later; many changes have occurred since the days when Capt.
Myers
with his family took up his residence on the front of the township.
Lands have
changed hands, and in some cases the names of their owners, together
with the
original names, to whom the Crown patents were issued, have
disappeared from
the township records, but in a large majority of eases they still
remain. In
the old burial ground on lot No. 10, on the front of Sidney,
sloping
pleasantly down to the bay shore, where the forefathers of the township
sleep,
where the hardy and energetic pioneers of Sidney are laid in their last
resting
place, the names recorded are seen now, some without a record, whose
vigorous
arms felled the forest trees, cleared the land, and raised the first
humble
dwellings, which have almost entirely given way to more stately
edifices of
brick, stone and other materials. Around the remains of old John Walter
Myers,
are gathered his kindred neighbors, and associates; his loyal patriotic
friends
and opponents are sleeping quietly by his side. The primitive old woods
of
former times that covered the shore of the Bay
of Quinte,
have almost
entirely
disappeared, and the Indian hunter with his wigwam, who fished and
hunted, is
also gone, and a new order of things prevails. The smiling
fields
ripe with
cultivation, the comfortable homesteads, the beautiful and smiling
orchards,
the well-kept, and tastefully laid out gardens, the neat substantial
mansion,
with occasionally a rising town, or pleasantly located village, look
forth upon
the Bay water, and gather pleasure and profit from the situation upon
this
beautiful arm of Lake Ontario.
On
Lot No. 13, on the front of the township
and on the road
from Trenton to Belleville, there was formerly a tavern,
blacksmith shop,
store—probably Ferguson & Bell's—
and a group of
houses which was called
Rhinebeck, but the name, with the old features, as a village, have long
since
disappeared. Owing to some difficulty arising about the side lines
throughout the
township, and the general inaccuracy of the division lines, a re-survey
was
ordered at a later day, the surveyor being one Atkins, whose lines are
still
considered authority.
In
order to show how marriages were
perfomed in those early
days, we reproduce a certificate, issued by one of the Sidney
Magistrates, in
1819. We withhold the names of the parties directly interested, they
belonging
to two of the oldest and wealthiest families in the township.
“Sidney
Township:
Whereas, and
both
being of the Township of Sidney, are
desirous
of intermarrying with each other, and have presented a written licence
for that
purpose. Now, these are to certify that I, Solomon Hazleton, one of His
Majesty's Justices of the Peace, have this day married the said and
together
in marriage, and they are
become contracted to each other in marriage.
Solomon
Hazleton, J.P.
Sidney, May 19th, 1819."
Through
the kindness of F.
B. Prior, clerk, we were
permitted to make the following excerpts from the Record of the
township, which
date back to 1790:
''
Names of persons who subscribed seven
pence halfpenny to
purchase this book for a Township Record |
The
above subscriptions being
paid, the book was purchased,
upon whose second page appears the following record of the first town
meeting
ever held in the township of Sidney:
1790
UPPER
CANADA.
May 15th”
"Pursuant
to an Act of the
Legislature of the Province
of Upper Canada, in such case made and provided, the first annual
meeting of
the inhabitants of the Township of Sidney, was held at the dwelling
house of
Aaron Rose, in Sidney aforesaid, on May the 15th, 1790, and from thence
adjourned to the dwelling house of Stephen Gilbert, Esq., and to be
held on the
first Tuesday of May ensuing.”
“May
15th.—The inhabitants of Sidney
being assembled as aforesaid, to act upon town business, have nominated
and
appointed for town” officers the following persons, viz:
—
moderator — John W. Myers; town clerk — Leonard
Soper;
constable
— David Simmons; pathmasters to lay out road - George Myers,
Caleb Gillbert;
fence viewers — Nathaniel Marsh, William Lounsbury."
"By-Law
— It was
ordered, the town clerk be entitled to
a fee of seven pence half-penny for entering the ear marks of the
inhabitants
of Sidney
“in the
town book."
It
appears that three years
later, or in 1794, the townships
of Sidney and Thurlow were united for municipal purposes, for on
Tuesday, the
3rd day of May of that year, at a meeting held in the dwelling house of
Caleb
Gilbert —
"It was ordered by a majority of votes, that
fences be
4 feet 6 inches "high, in the Township
of Sidney,
and not to
exceed 5
inches between” the rails, Thurlow
Township
not to exceed 6 inches."
At
this meeting Archibald
Chisholm and George Myers were
appointed assessors, the first in these townships.
In
the year 1798 "Rams were
ordered confined from 1st
of Sept. to 10th” of December, under a penalty of 20
shillings;
hogs to be free
commons "until they done damage."
During
the month of May, 1798, the townships
of Sidney and
Thurlow separated, and the former elected its own officers as follows:
William
Lounsburry, Town Clerk, Paul Gruber and Joseph Rosebush, Town Wardens.
In 1799,
Henry Smith was elected Town Clerk, and in 1800 John Hagerman, followed
by
James Farley, James W. Sharrard, Reuben White, Abel Gilbert, Elijah
Ketcheson,
Jacob W. Myers, Joseph M. Lockwood, Gideon Turner, Jolin S. Huffman.
The town
meetings were held respectively in the Inn of Ketcheson, 5th
Concession,
Ketcheson's store, 4th Concession, and Ketcheson's school-house. In
1848-9 John
Ketcheson was District Councillor, and Gillbert Bleeker,
Township
Clerk.
On
the erection of the Township
of Sidney,
in the year
1850, to an
independent Municipality, the following persons were elected
by a
popular vote
of its inhabitants to the several positions required by the Ace of
Parliament
made and provided, the returns being made at the dwelling house of
Gilbert Bleeker:
Gideon
Turner, Reeve; Caleb Gillbert, Deputy
Reeve; Robert
Bird, and Gillbert Bleeker, Councillors; Thos. D. Farley was appointed
Clerk of
the first Council.
The
chief executive offices of the Council
since the above
date have been filled respectively by the following named gentlemen:
Thomas D.
Farley, George Zuick, Ballis Rosa, — 13 years Reeve
— Caleb
Gillbert, Ketchem
Graham, Gideon Turner, — many years Clerk — and
James A.
Chisholm. C. Armstrong
is the present Reeve, Frank B. Prior, Clerk.
The
town hall is situated about the centre
of the township,
at the post village
of Wallbridge,
distance from Belleville,
9 miles. It
is a good, substantial, commodious building, with ample shed
room
for the
teams of the ratepayers. The township contains about 68,400 acres of
excellent
land; its surface is somewhat rolling, well watered with several
streams, the
principal of which is the Trent.
Sidney
has about 1,295 ratepayers, with a population of 6,475; assessed value,
1878,
$2,588,755, which is one of the best
evidences of its prosperity. There is a large cheese manufacturing
interest in
the township
of Sidney,
its lands being well adapted for dairy purposes. There are scattered
throughout
the municipality several large cheese factories, which
annually
turn out
thousands of pounds of a superior quality of cheese, paying their
several
patrons well for their investments. The River Trent flows through the
western part
of the township and empties into the Bay
of Trenton,
it is spanned
by two
substantial covered bridges,
one at Trenton
and the
other at Frankford,
affording to the farmers on either side an excellent means of passage.
The Trent River
was one of the original routes
of Indian and French traders,
and is of interest from the fact that Champlain is reported to have
entered the Bay
of Qninte
by this means, and discovered Lake
Ontario.
Its Indian name was Ganaraske,
and was
sometimes called Quintio; millions of feet of squared timber and saw
logs have
been rafted over its turbulent waters on their way to the great markets
of the
old world.
Frankford,
once a post village, is situated
on the river
Trent, in the township of Sidney, distance from Trenton about eight
miles,
Belleville fourteen miles, and Stirling seven miles. This
village
has made
little progress of late years, its population and business being about
the same
as m 1870. It is thought that Abel Scott was the original settler and
founder
of this village. About the year 1837 he built a mill, and the place was
known
for many years as Scott's Mill, sometimes called Cole
Creek,
after the creek
of that
name, a tributary of the Trent,
and
upon whose water privileges these mids were located. At this date there
was no
bridge across the Trent,
and the
inhabitants were compelled to ford the stream, which often was full to
its
banks, and impassable. During Sir Francis Bond Head's
administration he
visited Scott's Mills, and named the place Frankford, which name it has
retained ever since. We have no date as to the precise time the bridge
was
built, but it was not until after several years had passed from the
visit of
the Lieut. Governor. The gravel road between Treuton and Frankford was
completed about 1852. The village has flouring and saw-mills, a
woollen
factory, tannery, pump factory, and several stores, taverns, etc,, good
stone
Public School building, and three churches — Canada
Methodist,
Episcopal
Methodist, and Roman Catholic. Sill's paper-mill is also located at
this point;
and in 1871 Roblins erected at considerable expense a dam across the Trent
River, with an immense
head of water, making it one of the
finest
mill privileges in the county, suitable for any description of
manufacturing
purposes. Population about 500.
The
incorporated village of Stirling, seven
miles from
Frankford, in the township of Rawdon, and northern boundary of Sidney,
has
portions of lots 18, 19, 20, 21, and 22 of this township within its
limits.—See
Rawdon.
The Belleville
and Stirling,
and Belleville,
Frankford, and Stirling
macadamized road
runs through
the township. The farmers seem to be in a well-to-do and prosperous
condition,
as is evidenced by the character of their several buildings, the
well-cultivated fields, now covered with promising crops of grain, and
the many
acres of thriving fruit orchards everywhere to be met with throughout
the
municipality. School-houses and churches are located at various points,
whose
teachings are free as the air we breathe. Oak
Lake
is situated upon
the Oak Hill
range, in the north of the township, is triangular in form,
having
an area of
about 100 acres, and is something of a natural curiosity. The
water of the
lake is pure and limpid, and abounds with rock bass and other species
of fresh
water fish. It has no apparent outlet, neither has any visible means of
supply
ever been discovered.
The
Sine family, United Empire Loyalists,
came to Sidney
at an early date and located upon lots 23 and 24 in the 6th concession,
on what
is known as the Oak Hill range, and were the pioneer settlers in this
section
of the township. They are a numerous family, of much intelligence,
owning a
large quantity of valuable land and occupying respectable social
positions in
society.
Timothy
Soper, son of Leonard Soper, was the
first white
child born in the Township
of Sidney. |