SAWYER FAMILY HISTORY

AS REMEMBERED FOR HER FAMILY

BY

1978

GREAT GRANDFATHER CHARLES STOCKER

Charles Stocker, along with his three sons, worked as a barge builder on the Thames in England, where he owned his own business.  He heard through government advertising, stories of grants of free land in Canada to anyone who wished to go and settle in the new land.  There were glowing tales of hunting and fishing, things he liked to do best.  At that time, only the rich could engage in these activities in England; ordinary people were poachers.  Most of the land was in large estates and owned by the more well to do people.

So, with his sons, Tom Stocker and George Stocker he set out on a five-week journey to the free land.  They hoped to clear their land, build a home and send for their family in a short time.

They landed in Toronto in 1868.  They hitch-hiked (mostly walked) up to Muskoka, through Gravenhurst and stopped at Bracebridge to build a raft, which they loaded with lumber obtained from a sawmill at the foot of Bracebridge Falls, and supplies.  The lumber was intended to start the house.  They poled the raft down the Muskoka River to where it empties into Lake Muskoka.  There they raised a blanket for a sail, and after a journey of fourteen miles or so up the lake, they reached the home of the land agent.  He allotted them Lots 26 and 27 on the 11^th Concession of the Township of Monck.  They made a temporary shelter like a tepee, with the boards for the house.  It was three years before they were able to get things in shape for the family.  They had to work as loggers, and at other jobs, part of the time to earn money for things such as tea or sugar, or things they could not grow.  They got most of their living off the land, hunting, fishing and gathering wild berries.  Life in Muskoka was rough and rugged with severe winters, deep snow, no transportation, and traveling on foot fourteen miles to Bracebridge for mail.  At times they walked to Orillia with grain to be made into flour at the grist mill there and walked back.

In 1871, the rest of the family consisting of wife, Martha; three daughters, Martha, Charlotte and Polly (Mary), as well as Polly’s husband, Henry Sawyer, and their small children, Harry, Ellen and Mary came to settle in Muskoka.  Polly and Henry stopped at Orillia where Henry got a job working on constructing the railroad north of Barrie.  Henry got pneumonia there and died.  George Stocker, hearing of his brother-in-law’s sickness, walked to Orillia, arriving there after the death.  He took charge of his sister, Polly, and her children.  They went to Toronto for several years.  In the meantime, Charles’ daughter, Martha, was drowned while trying to adjust a barrel of sugar into a rowboat at Scarcliff.  In those days, supplies were brought by steamer, up the lake from Gravenhurst and unloaded at Scarcliff, where locals had to pick them up.  It was about two miles from their home.

Time went on and the settlers decided to erect a church.  Charles Stocker donated an acre of land at Church Point for a church building and a cemetery.  Two local men, Mr. Kaye and Mr. Arnold, donated logs, which were then taken to Port Carling and milled.   Shortly after this, Charles Stocker was accidentally shot when his dog ran against his gun, which he had leaned against a tree.  He was the second to be buried in the cemetery, his daughter Martha having been the first.  Later a three-year-old grandson died.  Sometime later, Charlotte, who had married Bill Skilleter, was buried there.  The burial plot of the Stockers can still be identified by the iron chains on rods sunk in cement near the back of the land.  The church they built has moved to Huntsville Pioneer Village, and is being preserved there.

After the two deaths, their mother Martha went back to England and was drowned shortly afterwards by falling from a pier on the Thames at a celebration of some kind.

Polly and her children lived in the log house on the hill, later called Cedar Wyld.  Tom Stocker and George Stocker went back to England and married but returned with their families about five or six years later.  Tom and his brother, Charles Stocker, went to Chicago where they settled and very little was heard from them.  George took his family to Toronto where he became a carpenter contractor for fifty years until his death at his home on Rawlinson Avenue.

New settlers who came about the time the Stockers did were the Kayes, some of whose descendents still live in Milford Bay and Bracebridge; Levi Arnold who didn’t stay long and sold out to Abel Kaye; Jessie Scarit; George Kaye; Corny Butler; George Terry, a remittance man from England; and a man named Spenser who had a sawmill where Golden Gate Lodge now stands.  John Hutton bought the mill and built a summer resort called Hutton House.  The Glasses came and lived on what is now called Tiffin’s farm, which has changed hands several times.  The Strouds and Skilleters came later.  The Strouds built and ran Milford Bay House, where the post office and a store were situated until the hotel burned in 1930 or 1931.  The business was moved to the dance hall until the death of Bob Stroud.  It was sold again and the name changed to “Inn on the Bay.”

GRANDMOTHER POLLY ANN (MARY) STOCKER SAWYER MEARS

Polly Sawyer and her husband Henry came to Canada in 1871with her mother and three sisters, three years after her father and brothers settled in Muskoka.  They had three small children, Harry who was about six, Ellen, four and Mary, who was younger.  They came from Lewes in Sussex, England.  They had heard about the abundance of fish and game and lots of jobs in the new land.   They also had hopes of obtaining a farm from the free land grants offered to eager settlers, and so decided to try their luck.

After a journey of about five weeks, they arrived in Toronto.  Soon, Henry Sawyer took his family to Orillia where he was employed for sometime on the construction of the railroad being build north of Barrie.  However, he took cold, developed pneumonia, and died.  He is buried in the big cemetery just outside Orillia.  Somehow hearing about his brother-in-law’s illness, George Stocker walked down from Muskoka to Orillia, but arrived there just after Henry had passed on.  George took care of his sister and her children and escorted them to Toronto to friends there.  Four months later, her son, Thomas, was born.  Sometime later, Polly came back to Muskoka to keep house for her father and brothers, as her mother Martha had gone back to England after the death of her daughter Martha.  They lived in the log house build by Charles Stocker on the place later called Cedar Wyld, overlooking Lake Muskoka.  Sometime during the next few years Charles Stocker was accidentally shot and her brothers returned to England, where their mother had accidentally drowned by falling from a pier during a celebration.  Polly worked as a maid, cook, etc. at Beaumaris Hotel to support herself and her children.  She met and married Dick Mears.  They had six children, including a small boy who died at about six years old.  Then they moved back to Toronto where Dick Mears worked as a floor walker in Eaton’s store, a job he held until retirement.  Five girls were born to them in Toronto.

Polly’s children, four by the first marriage and six by the second marriage included my Aunts:

Mary Sawyer -She was a nurse during her youth in Toronto.  She moved along with her sisters Rosa and Susan, to Saskatoon.  They each met returned veterans of the first Great War at the Saskatoon hospital (patients) and on recovery, each married his nurse.  Mary married Billy Belcher, Englishman.  They had no children and moved to London, Ontario where he went into insurance.  They had a cottage at Grand Bend, Ontario.  He died in 1957 and she died in 1963.  She had been a Christian Scientist for several years.

Susan Mears-We called her Aunt Susie.  She also married a Billy, Billy Stepney, a war veteran who became a real estate salesman.  They moved to British Columbia and lived in a house overlooking the Juan de Fuca Strait.  They traveled a great deal, including sea trips to Europe, England, and Panama Canal.  Billy died in 1968 and Susan in 1971.  They had no children.

Rosa Mears-She also married a Billy, Mr. Hurley, who became a storekeeper after his recovery and return to civilian life.  They had four girls:  Wilma, Norma, Maxine and Ruth.  After their father’s death in Saskatchewan’s dry dusty years, they returned to Ontario and their mother lived with one daughter in Detroit.  Wilma lives in Willowdale.

Emily Mears-She married Elsworth Lush, a Toronto salesman, and they spent their married life at 69 Wheeler Avenue.   They had two boys, Elvin and Richard, who both died in their thirties of heart attacks.  Aunt Susie had built a little cottage on the hill by Cedar Wyld and the Lushes and many other friends came there on their vacations.  Elsworth died there and is buried in Wesley Untied Church Cemetery in Milford Bay.  They were all good singers and were known as the Wheeler Quartette.

Ida Mears-She married Harry Smith, also a salesman who traveled a lot.  She died in 1974, several years after her husband.  Their children are Eleanor and Donald.

Violet Mears-Aunt Vie married Alf Shepherd, a Toronto accountant.  They had a cottage on Lake Muskoka, near Walker’s Point.  Their children are Dorothy, Bruce and Bob.  At present, Aunt Vie is living in a nursing home in Toronto.

There are some stories of my Grandfathers’ brothers who went to Australia but they didn’t keep in touch with the family.  They were John Sawyer and Tom Sawyer.  Another brother went to the United States but there was no news from him either.  

When Aunt Mary was young, she tried to trace these parts of the family with very little result.  However, she did get a letter from a cousin of hers, Jane Davis, in Malvern, Bondi, Australia.  She informed Auntie that the other brothers had not been heard from.  Some pictures of cousins were enclosed.  As far as I know, no more correspondence was carried on.  Pictures and letters are in Aunt Vera’s possession.

Polly’s son, Harry Sawyer, became the owner of the Muskoka property when the family moved to Toronto.  He named his tourist resort Cedar Wyld.

Polly died in 1926 at her home at 33 Hambly Avenue in Toronto at age 72.  She was brought for burial to Wesley Church Cemetery in Milford Bay.

BIRTHS, MARRIAGES AND DEATHS

Stocker, Charles and Martha (my great grandparents)

            Their children were:

                        George-died Toronto

                        Charles-went to Chicago, USA

                        Thomas-went to Chicago, USA

                        Martha-died at 17 years of age

                        Charlotte-Mrs. Skilleter, died about 1880

                        Polly Ann-Mrs. Henry Sawyer, later Mrs. Mears (my grandmother)

Polly Ann and Henry Sawyer (my grandparents)

            Their children were:

                        Mary-Mrs. Belcher, no children, died 1964

                        Ellen-Mrs. Raynor, 5 children, died 1929

                        Henry (Harry)-1 boy and 3 adopted girls

                        Thomas-8 children, died 1963 (my father)

Polly Ann and Dick Mears (2^nd marriage)

            Their children were:

                        Susan-Mrs. Stepney, no children

                        Rosa-Mrs. Hurley, 4 girls

                        Emily-Mrs. E. Lush, 2 boys

                        Ida-Mrs. H. Smith, 2 girls and 1 boy

                        Violet-Mrs. A.B. Shepherd, 1 girl and 2 boys

                        Charles-a son who died very young

HENRY (HARRY) SAWYER (My Father’s Brother)

Muskoka, at the time our ancestors arrived, was like a giant wild life park.  There were tall lovely pines, huge oaks and maples.  Big lumbering companies soon disposed of the largest of the trees in a very wasteful manner.  In the deep virgin bush was plenty of game – deer, rabbits, wild fowl, and the unpolluted lakes and rivers teemed with fish of all sorts including salmon, trout, pickerel, white fish and bass.   Wild fruits, cherries and berries were very plentiful.  With a small garden from which they cleared the trees from hand, the pioneers were able to survive in a land where transportation was almost nil.  Later, some had oxen to move heavier loads and barges to float freight down the waterways and float lumber to the mills and bring home supplies of tea, sugar and salt from the towns further south.  They took garden produce, maple syrup, chickens and eggs to barter for the things they could not grow.  Indians from Port Carling and other places came to sell their wares to the settlers, mostly dried fish, clever artifacts and baskets made from sweet grass. 

The two boys, Harry and Tom Sawyer grew up and in winter they felled trees, clearing their land and using the trees for wood.  They filled “ice houses” for the summer residents.  Harry who was handy at carpenter work, with Tom’s help, built many of the cottages and houses around the lakes, many of which are still in use.  For himself, he built a good sized home close to the sight of the old log cabin.  Later, he added a large annex and began taking summer holiday visitors.  The hotel, which he called Cedar Wyld, did well.  With Aunt Margaret, his wife’s help, they accommodated over 100 guests each summer.  These visitors came by train from Toronto and other points, to Gravenhurst and thence by steamer to the large dock Harry had built.  Some years later (maybe 25 or so), the steamboats were replaced by cars and the tourist business declined.  Cars started coming around 1910.

About 1900, Harry married Margaret McKittrick of Bracebridge.  They had only one birth son, Clive Sawyer, who married Dorothy Hanna, of Port Carling.  Clive and Dorothy’s family consisted of one boy, Fred Sawyer, who stayed on the place long after his grandparents were gone, in a little house of his own.  He never married and drowned in the lake when his motorboat somehow got away from him in 1971.

Clive and Dorothy died while quite young.  Harry and Margaret also raised three adopted daughters, Daisy, Gwen, and Dorothy, who are all dead.

All his life, Harry and Margaret carried on in the tourist trade in summer and carpenter work in winter, finding time in early spring to make maple syrup in their growing sugar bush.  We children had many happy times at taffy pulls to which Aunt Margaret invited us many times.  We also loved to drink the new syrup from the evaporator.  We were always invited to Uncle Harry’s house for New Year’s dinner, where Aunt Margaret put on a spread fit for a king.  She was a superb cook.  Many years, the school Christmas tree trimming and concert were held in the large dining room of the hotel.  Aunt Margaret had a parrot, which was of great interest to all the children of the neighbourhood. 

A dance hall and large boathouse were built at the water’s edge.  In summer, many boats were seen flocking to Cedar Wyld.  The steamers came once or twice a day to the large pier.  During this period, several cottages were added to the property, and business was very good.  Supply boats came bringing fresh garden produce from the several market gardens around the lake.

In later life, Harry took up painting, and painted many lovely scenes from around the lakes.  Harry died about 1939 when his business was still booming.  From that time on, things declined and after a few years, the hotel was sold and became “Milford Manor.”

Margaret and Grandson Fred lived on in their house until Margaret’s death.

TOM SAWYER (My Father)

Tom Sawyer was born in Davisville, a suburb of Toronto in 1875, four months after his father’s death in Orillia.  His mother, Polly Ann, again moved to Muskoka to keep house for her father and brothers after her mother Martha’s return to England.

They lived in the log house at Cedar Wyld, as it was later named by Harry Sawyer, for several years.  Polly Ann worked at Beaumaris Hotel in the summers.  Here she met and married Dick Mears, a retired English sailor.  They went back to Toronto.

While they lived in Muskoka, Tom attended a little log school near Riley’s farm.  Also attending that small school was a boy who later became the famous millionaire, Bill McConnell.  He used to tell the boys at school that he was going to make BARRELS of money, and he did.  Tom later attended Davisville School in Toronto, which marked its 100^th anniversary in 1960.  He then returned to Milford Bay, Muskoka.

As young men, Tom and Harry worked with Fred Mills on his large farm where he grew produce and peddled it around the lake on his steamer.  They made syrup in spring and generally helped the Mills’ grow business.  It was while Tom was still working for Mills that Tom bought the little red schoolhouse near the church.  It was one of the #8 Monck schools and had not been used for a while.

Tom married my mother, Sarah Nichols, in 1896, at Falkenburg and brought her to the little red school.  I was born at Falkenburg in 1897 and lived in the red schoolhouse until I was nine years old.  During this time, Teresa, Vera, James and Harvey were all born.

During this time, my father wished that he could join the gold rush in the Yukon, but with so much family responsibility, it was impossible.  He settled down to cutting and selling wood, selling ice, clearing more land and doing some building on homes around the lake for about ten years.  By this time, he had five children and the little red schoolhouse was too small.  He began building a nine-room brick house on part of the land bought from Harry, who owned the original Land Grant.  Dad bought the “Huckleberry Rocks” and surroundings, two small lakes further inland, and also lakeshore from Church Point to the little creek separating the two properties.  In the new house, three more children were born, Florence, Richard and Stanley, making eight children in all.

During these years, much of the land was cleared and turned into gardens and pasture.  Dad kept several cows, always a team of horses and did a little mixed farming with pigs, chickens, etc.  He provided for us by carpentry work, wharf building and many jobs for the cottagers.  He took contracts for these various jobs like wharf building, building boathouses and stone walks which the cottagers fancied.  He often transported materials such as earth and stone by scow towed by a motorboat across the lake.  He built boat houses for their launches, tennis courts, flower beds, rustic chairs and tables for their patios, and planted trees for them.

When the cars began to succeed the boats, much temporary tourist business began to wane.  So, he went into business for himself and worked up a good boat livery business.  He rented out boats also.  His first boat house and supply shop was near Roseneath on the road to Beaumaris, near the bridge.  Later, he built a boathouse on the lakefront of his new home.  From here he ran his boat livery, running boatloads of people around the lakes and up the rivers.  Sometimes, he took parties of twenty or more on picnics.  Some of the names of the boats he owned since the small D.P. with an inboard motor were: the “D.P”, the “PUTT PUTT”, the “WHITE ROSE” (an old and slow boat, formerly owned by Uncle George), the ‘TRES MOUTARD” (built by him), the “RED DIAMOND” (also built by him), the “JOSEPHINE”, “ANNIE GLYDE”, “CRUSADER”, and the ‘EAGLET”, a beautiful launch which he sold to someone at Larder Lake.  There were also a sailboat, canoes and rowboats for hire.

When the family began to drift way to homes of their own, he built five cabins near the house for summer visitors and tourists.  He called it “Valley Green.”  Finally, as the family was gone, he sold Valley Green in 1940 and moved to a cottage near by which had been built by Charles Welch, who had come from Bernardo Homes in England.  As a boy, Charlie had come to help Dad with the work and lived with us until the first Great War.  Charlie went overseas and saw three years of trench warfare, was wounded at Lens, and arrived home a few months before the war’s end.  He married and lived in Gravenhurst until his death in 1974.

Tom and Sarah (aka Sadie) settled down to retired life at the cottage, but Sadie died in 1947.  Tom continued to live there until his death in 1963.

The highway rockcut now divides the land and Valley Green has changed hands several times, becoming a bit more run down each down.  The cottage was sold to Rev. Hawks after Tom’s death. 

The Sawyer children all attended Milford Bay Continuation School.  Their father was for many years a trustee of the school.  George Freemantle was secretary of the school board for years and he and my father worked together to have the first small school enlarged and a new part added for continuation classes.  Now the school is closed and the children are taken to Bracebridge by bus.

TOM AND SARAH’S CHILDREN

Irene Sadie (Aunt Rene) married Harris Tugwell of Veteran, Alberta and their children were Bernice, Fae and Stirling.

Teresa Laurine (Aunt Tess) married George Roberts and their children were Alberta June, Milton, Beverly and Richard.  She died in 1948.

Vera Kathleen (Aunt Vud) married Robert Croucher and had two daughters, Geraldine, who died in infancy, and Ivy.

James Henry (Uncle Buzz) married Katherine (Katie) Mitchell and had three sons, Elton, Irwin and Eric John (Jack).  James died in 1974.

Harvey Thomas (Uncle Harve) married Edith Beasley and had seven children, Lynn, Lorne, Reta, Ruth (died in her early twenties), Shirley, Sally and Lorilyn.

Florence Marie (Aunt Flo) married Angus Cameron and had Owen, Vernon (who died in his twenties), Charles, Marlene and Barbara Anne.

Richard Eric (Uncle Rich) married Ruby Everitt (who died in 1954), and their children were Harris (Ruby’s son), Joan, Gaye, Tommy and Karen.  Rich died in 1961.

Stanley George (Uncle Stan) married Eleanor Hood and they had William and Robert.

GREAT UNCLE GEORGE STOCKER (My Grandmother’s Brother)

Great Uncle George Stocker often came to Muskoka on holidays when I was young.  They had a tent camp on a small lot of the original property, part of the original free holdings.  Sitting on our front verandah, he told us many stories of his pioneering days:  of how the Indians came from Port Carling Indian Village to barter, of how he had to get up and go fishing for breakfast.  One time he and his father, Charles Stocker, built a barge to go to Bracebridge for winter supplies.  On the return trip, the lake froze, so they spent a bitterly cold night on a small island.  In the morning, they had to break the ice to get home. 

The nearest post office was at Bracebridge, fourteen miles away.  Uncle walked it many times for the mail—no wonder he lived to be eighty-three!  He helped to build the first locks at Port Carling and some of the houses still around the lakes.

This is part of a letter he wrote on September 17, 1935, in reply to a government inquiry as to the lake levels of former years:

“This is to certify that my Father, Charles Stocker, received from the government a free grant of land, in the Township of Monck, Muskoka in 1868.  Part of this land has been in the possession of Tom Sawyer for many years.  As regards the natural level of Lake Muskoka at that time, before the building of the dam at Bala, it was from six to eight feet lower than the present level, and the whole of the bay at the Sawyer’s place was beaver meadow grass.  I cut grass here for many years.  Surrounding the boathouse and wharf was dry land.  As another proof of this lake level, you could jump across the little creek at the bridge leading to Beaumaris.”

George Stocker married Hanna Stocker (no relation), at Battersea, in Surrey, England in 1878.  They had 4 or 5 children, the only surviving one being Annie O’Connor, who lives in Toronto.  (Editor’s note:  Mrs. O’Connor died in July of 1978.)

JAMES AND MARY JANE NICHOLS (My Mother’s Parents)

My mother’s father, James Nichols, was born at Falkenburg.  His parents had taken up free grant land near Falkenburg, and it was part of this land that James inherited when his parents died.  He married Mary Jane Huston from Toronto.  They lived quietly, farming, logging and otherwise living on the products of their little farm. 

The huge pines, some nearly four feet in diameter, were being taken out at that time.  Bob Dollar’s outfit was doing a great deal of this work.  Mr. Dollar had contracts for taking out timber all over Muskoka.  The huge logs were cut down with cross-cut saws and hauled by horses and oxen to the rivers and floated to the mills in large booms.  At one time, Mr. Dollar, whose home was in Falkenburg when he was very young, had a lumber camp on part of what would later become Tom Sawyer’s land, where Richard Sawyer’s house (now owned by E. Bissonette) now stands.  Mr. Dollar was a successful manager who made a fortune out of timber.  He rose quickly until he became the head of the Dollar Steamship Line.

As the Nichols cleared and worked their farm, they sold and bartered their produce, pork, beef, eggs, and milk to the stores in Bracebridge.  Grandfather traveled to Bracebridge on horseback for mail or any goods they needed.  Their main entertainment was country dances, bees, barn raisings and the Saturday night jaunt to town.

They had six children:

Sarah- The oldest, became my Mother, Mrs. Tom Sawyer

William-Never married and lived at home.  He died in 1948.

Emily-Married Bill Lucky.  They lived on a small farm near Raymond, Ontario.  They had three children.  Emily died in 1961.

Albert-Married Nellie Mathews of Huntsville. They also were farmers and had one son.

Jane-Married Bill Smith.  They had five children who are all living in Huntsville except a son who drowned in Skeleton Lake and a daughter Hazel who is also deceased.  Aunt Jane, aged 85, still lives in Huntsville and is the lone remaining relative of that generation.

Grandmother had four sisters, Mrs. Bigham, Mrs. Piper and Mrs. Hale, all of Toronto and Mrs. Hewitt of Bracebridge.

Grandfather Jim had a brother, Andrew Nichols, who lived all his life in Falkenburg and had two sons, Fred and Andy, and a daughter Belle, who worked for some time as a cook on the “Islander” and the “Ahmic.”

My mother grew up on the farm.  For a few years she worked in Bracebridge.  After she married Tom Sawyer they lived for a short time at her parent’s home and I was born there.  Then they moved to Milford Bay.