WILLOUGHBY, CHARLES

Charles Willoughby was born 1811 Wiltshire, England,

In 1831 he took up 99 acres of land from the 1800 acres chosen by John Arkell, built the General Store in 1862.

A strong Methodist, according to his great grandaughter Annie Gibson of Puslinch, Charles donated the land from the corner of his farm for the first log Methodist Church built in 1838.

Mrs. Gibson also recalls that Charles returned to England to marry his childhood sweetheart, Mary Wilkins. Mary's father had been killed in a runaway horse and buggy accident and Rowland Hill had brought Mary up at his Hill Top School. Charles had attended the private school and this is where the couple met. Mary's guardian and family were not too keen about her plans to go to Upper Canada so Mary and Charles eloped and were married on the boat during the voyage here in 1839,

Records show that the Crown transferred 99 acres of land to Willoughby on September 3, 1845. On May 16, 1863, Willoughby officially granted the one-quarter acre lot, which is part of Lot 6, Con. 9, to the Trustees of Plaines Congregation of Wesleyan Methodist Church in Canada in connection with the English Conference. The size of the lot was 2 chains and a half going westerly and 1 chain, 2-1/2 links going southerly, which is 165 ft. by 67 ft. 7.8 inches, and he not only donated the land from the corner of his farm, where the first log Methodist Church was built in 1838, but he also left a legacy for the care and upkeep of the little cemetery behind the church where he and his wife Mary and their children are buried.

1871 farmer living in Puslinch Con 9 Lot 7,

He died June 10, 1891 and was buried in the Arkell Church cemetery,