"When Jean Keffer asked me to sign her petition to keep Gwillimbury in the Town name, I did so with the following in mind...Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Gwillim was an aide-de-camp of General Wolfe. He was with Wolfe when the General died on the Plains of Abraham in 1759. His daughter Elizabeth married John Graves Simcoe; the rest is history. My own connection to the "Gwillburys" began in 1803, when my 5G-Grandfather, John Eves, a Quaker from Pennsylvania, built one of the first settler dwellings, after he was patented with Lot 108 in West Gwillimbury. He is credited with the first industry in the "Gwillimburys", when he built a sawmill on the Holland River soon after. I even found reference to North Gwillimbury in the 1881 census where my Great-Great grandparents Thomas Lamb and Rachel Eves briefly lived. When I wrote on the Millenium Clock Monument, with assistance from George Jackson, I tried to balance the story of the Town and Township, so that one can see the relationship that existed, where we were intertwined socially, economically and emotionally. My wife Julie and I both spent our formative years in West Gwillimbury, and our two sons are the 9th generation in Ontario as descended from those original settlers on Lot 108. The name Bradford West Gwillimbury may be long and unwieldy, but historically and emotionally it is ours alone."

Newspaper article on the History of the Scotch Settlement

In the early days of white settlement in the Innisfil area, Lake Simcoe provide the easiest access - by boat in the summer and by foot or sled in the winter. Inclement weather in either season and the annual freeze-up and ice break up simply meant no travel. John Graves Simcoe, commissioned the building of Yonge St. to Holland Landing in 1790, and in 1793 initiated the Military Establishments at Penetanguishene. This gave a land route to Lake Simcoe and another land route was needed on to Penetanguishene. Early records use the name "Main Street", but is soon became known as the Penetang Road, the name of its northern counterpart. In the early days of Penetang Road - later Hwy #11 and now County Road #4 or Yonge St. - travel was slow and difficult. Many hotels were established to provide lodging, stabling and food for travellers plus acting as a meeting place for local men.

Event Date : January 25, 1891
Event Type : Death

Synopsis:
Age: 73 years, 9 months, 26 days. Born at Old Castle, County Meath, Ireland in 1817. Emigrated to Canada in 1819, and settled on lot 24, concession 5, Tecumseth. Married Margaret Sutherland of West Gwillimbury, and they moved to lot 4, concession 6. Widowed, and married Miss Sharpe of King Township. He had a daughter who married Ingham N. Sharpe, and now lives in West Toronto Junction. Died of a paralytic stroke. Interred at St. John's Cemetery, Tecumseth.

From the back of the photograph:
"On Saturday, June 5, 1976, and historical plaque commemorating the "Dutch Settlement of Holland Marsh" was unveiled at the Old Schoolhouse in the village of Ansnorveldt. This plaque was erected by the Ontario Heritage Foundation, an agency within the Ministry of Culture and Recreation.
Shown from left to right following the unveiling ceremony are: Mr. Mat Valk, representative of the Ministry of Agriculture Muck Research Station, Bradford; Professor William Ormsby, representative of the Ontario Heritage Foundation; Mr. G.E. Wright, York region Municipality Chairman; Mr. Sinclair Stevens, M.P. (York-Simcoe); His Worship Tale Everhuis, Burgomaster of the Town of Nieuwe Pekela, the Netherlands; Mr. Charles T.S. Evans, long-time legal advisor to the Holland Marsh community; Mrs. Margaret Britnell, Head of the King Township Council; Mrs. and Mr. M. Van Dyken, two of the original Dutch settlers; Mr. William Hodgson, M.P.P. (York-North); the Reverend Max J. Lise; Mr. John Van Dyk, another original settler; Mr. Walter Horlings, a prominent resident of the Marsh; and Mr. John Boneschansker, President of the Senior Citizens' Club."

"The ties between "The Marsh" and the Netherlands seem to have been destined by fate's fickle finger. They stretch back to the earliest days of British settlement when in 1791 General Frederick Haldimand, Canada's Governor-in-Chief, assigned his Surveyor-General to do a survey of the Lake Simcoe area. Although a British army officer, the man was Dutch-born and by coincidence was named Samuel Johannes Holland." ...

Article about early settlement in Bradford and West Gwillimbury. It also touches on the early education systems in this area. Scanned from a donation of the Bradford Today supplement to the Bradford Witness.