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Description : It was a magnificent effort: for 4 years, volunteers with the Bradford West Gwillimbury Local History Association and the community at large worked together as the "WEGWHIST" team, putting together a History of West Gwillimbury. The result was a 2-volume set, Governor Simcoe Slept Here: The Legacy of West Gwillimbury, containing the stories, records and photographs of the families that settled the Township. MP Peter Van Loan flew in to attend, and praised the book as a "remarkable and strong community project - a gift from older generations to younger generations. I commend you all, and I congratulate you all." The book was published by Friesens Corporation of Altona, Manitoba, thanks to seed money provided by the Municipal council, an Ontario Trillium Foundation grant, and contributions from Patrons. George Jackson, who chaired, co-ordinated and drove the process from the beginning thanked a long list of those involved.

Demonstrating a horsepower unit for a threshing machine at a fair in Dashwood. For a heavy load, four teams of horses could be harnessed to it.

Horsepower driving a drag saw cutting the log. A tankershaft drives the pulley.

Description : It was the realization of a 4-year dream... Back in 2001, George Jackson, founder and chair of the Bradford West Gwillimbury Local History Association, broached the idea of a comprehensive history of the Twp. of West Gwillimbury. The book would focus on the founders and settlers of the Township, the farming families, the businesses, and the flavour and character of life in a rural Township. Jackson quickly drew together a team of enthusiastic volunteers, many of them members of the Local History group, but also others, eager to participate and explore their own genealogy and heritage. In all, 115 volunteers spanning 5 generations took part in the "WEGWHIST" Project. They collected family histories and stories, tracked down archival records, collated photographs that spanned the decades, and worked with staff at Friessens Publishing in Altoona, Manitoba, to put together "Governor Simcoe Slept Here - The Legacy of West Gwillimbury Township." The original idea was to print 750 copies of a 500 page book. The book is now 825 pages, in 2 volumes - with scores of photographs, and a CD that contains a 100-plus page index with over 10,000 entries, and 140 color plates of the Twp. One thousand copies have been printed; 750 were pre-sold, before the launch. The book was formally launched on December 15 at St. John's Presbyterian Church in Bradford. Over 100 people turned out to watch as the volunteers were thanked, and a presentation copy, piped into the room, was presented to the Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury by Jackson and Association Secretary, Barbara Verney. Deputy Mayor Dennis Roughley accepted the copy on behalf of the municipality.

Description : Following four years of volunteer work by a team of members of the Bradford West Gwillimbury Local History Association, Governor Simcoe Slept Here - The Legacy of West Gwillimbury was launched on December 15th. In October, 2001 over forty people responded to the initial invitation to meet and discuss the possibility of writing a history of West Gwillimbury and they choose to call themselves WEGWHIST - West Gwillimbury History. The book was written by a team of 15 Bradford West Gwillimbury residents. Governor Simcoe Slept Here tells the story of the two waves of pioneer settlers to West Gwillimbury - the Scottish, Irish and English, who settled on the highlands during the 1820 - 1830 period and the European settlers who arrived a century later to the Holland Marsh. Churches, schools and hamlets are documented in the two volumes, along a CD which includes "The Many Faces of West Gwillimbury" as photographed by Franz Aschwanden, a listing of the Marsh Land Owners in 1949 and a Genealogical Index of the Families.

"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."

Description : The reprint of the magnificent 2-volume local history book, Governor Simcoe Slept Here: The Legacy of West Gwillimbury is now available. Those who wish to mail out a copy as a Christmas gift should call Bill Marks or George Jackson.