By 1793, 13 American colonies had revolted against British rule and many so called “British Empire Loyalists ” were beginning to move from the United States to Canada. The Governor of Upper Canada at that time, Lord Simcoe, wanted loyal pioneers and he offered 200-acre land grants on condition that “the grantee would clear five acres, build a house, and open the road across the front of his lot ”. Lord Simcoe had spent time in Philadelphia and he was impressed by the pioneering ability of the Pennsylvania Germans, therefore, he advertised the land grant opportunity in Philadelphia papers. To prepare for pioneers, Lord Simcoe had his British Surveyors divide the land in Markham into 10 north-south concessions at 1.25 mile spacing running from Yonge Street to the Pickering Town Line. Six side roads running east-west were created at 1.25 mile spacing running from the current Steeles Avenue to the Whitchurch Stouffville Line (Gormley side road). Each concession was divided into 200-acre lots. Word of the available land spread and pioneer families such as Berczy, Reesor and others began to move to Upper Canada and the Markham area of the Rouge Watershed in search of land. Russ Reesor recalled the following story about his forefather: Peter Reesor travelled from Pennsylvania to Upper Canada on horseback around 1798 to assess the opportunities. In Upper Canada, Peter met a German army officer Frederic Baron de Hoen. This army officer had received land in Whitchurch for serving with a German regiment that helped British Forces to quell the revolt of the 13 American colonies. Peter Reesor traded his horse and saddle to the army officer in exchange for 400 acres of land in Whitchurch. As Russ told it, Peter Reesor was a sharp businessman and he removed the horse s bridle before the final exchange. When challenged about this, Peter is said to have replied “we negotiated for the horse and saddle only, the bridle stays with me ”. With that, Peter Reesor walked back to Pennsylvania, gathered his extended family together, journeyed to Upper Canada in 1804 in four Conestoga wagons, and settled in the Rouge watershed. One of the first tasks of the settlers was to cut down trees to build a small log home, clear five acres of farmland, and open the road access, to meet the terms of their land grant. It must have been back-breaking work, felling thousands of three to four foot diameter maple and pine trees with only axes and hand saws and a team of horses. It was sometimes dangerous work, and Christian Reesor was killed by a falling tree in 1806, two years after his arrival in the Rouge area. Many early settlers suffered great hardship and many died during the particularly tough initial years. Despite the hardships, these pioneers persevered in the rapid clearing of the forest and the gradual removal of thousands of massive stumps in preparation for farming. Initially, wheat was grown amongst the stumps in rough clearings for the settlers own use. After a few years, enough land was cleared to grow surplus wheat and settlers would take their wheat to a grist mill to be ground into flour. At first they had to travel many miles to get their grain milled.
Friends of the Rouge Watershed is Scarborough-based company (Ontario, Canada) with a phone number 4162080252. Our data show that the company is located at the address: 2259 Meadowvale Rd. The company has a web site: www.frw.ca.
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