This presentation is based on a talk by historian Larry Doble as he explores the origins and early settlement of Brock Township in this presentation to the Durham Region Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society.

The post The History of Brock Township appeared first on The Sunderland & District Historical Society.

Right Handle and Markings

Right Markings

Right Tip

Left Whole Sword

Left with Handle and Markings

Left Markings

Left Tip

Jim Bagshaw did on-line research on the www.vikingsword.com website. Experts in the Ethnographic Arms & Armour forum identified the following characteristics of this sword:
It is a classic Dutch style naval boarding or “scheepshouwer” cutlass.

It has a clamshell hilt with an open guard.

Dutch East India Company Flag

The East India House by Reinier Vinkeles, 1768

VOC-Amsterdam

The sword was produced for The Dutch East India Company (De Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie) as evidenced by their symbol. This company was established in 1602 with the aim of sending ships to Asia to buy pepper and spices. It later supplied weapons to various countries.

The A, represents the kamer of Amsterdam, one of the chambers in the VOC hierarchy representing key ports.

The 1787 stamping indicates the year of manufacture. It is interesting to note that the other side of the sword is stamped 787. According to the experts, the missing digit on one side is fairly

Dimensions

• blade length – 24.25”
• blade width at the ricasso – 3.15 cm
• overall length – 28.75 “
• curvature – 1.8 cm
• thickness of blade – .7 cm at ricasso (Guard)

The post William Bagshaw’s Sword appeared first on The Sunderland & District Historical Society.

William Bagshaw was born on February 13, 1783 in Alstonefield, England. He entered the British Army in 1804, and eleven years later found himself standing in the ranks of the 33rd Regiment of Foot on the field at Waterloo as Napoleon’s last great gamble broke against the allied line. For that service, in 1819, the Crown entitled him to two hundred acres in Upper Canada, a standard form of compensation extended to veterans of the period.

The entitlement was formalized in a Crown Patent dated April 10, 1833, when Bagshaw, by then recorded as a Yeoman of the Township of Brock, received title to Lot Number Four in the Ninth Concession, County of York, Home District. The patent carried the usual Crown reservations of gold and silver mines, white pine timber, and survey roads, along with a handwritten clause requiring him to erect a dwelling and take up residence within three years. Bagshaw remained in Brock Township for the rest of his life, where he died on May 12, 1861.

The grant is to William Bagshaw of the Township of Brock in the County of York in the Home District, Yeoman (Yeoman means a farmer or landowner.) Containing Two Hundred Acres being Lot Number Four in the Ninth Concession of the said Township of Brock

Several standard Crown reservations appear:

• Gold and Silver mines reserved to the Crown
• White Pine trees reserved to the Crown
• Survey roads reserved
• Conditions regarding settlement

Settlement Conditions
One important handwritten section states that within three years the grantee must erect and build a good and sufficient dwelling house and become resident. These were normal settlement requirements.

Chronology :

• 1804 – William Bagshaw enters the British Army.
• 18 June 1815 – Fights at the Battle of Waterloo (33rd Regiment of Foot).
• 20 October 1819 – Receives entitlement to 200 acres in Upper Canada for military service.
• 10 Apr 1833 – Crown Patent signed.
• 21 Apr 1833 – Entered by the Auditor.
• 24 Apr 1833 – Recorded and indexed in the land records.
  Book 46, folio 575
• 1833 – Crown Patent issued for Lot 4, Concession 9, Brock Township.
• Later becomes established in Brock Township, where the family remains.

William Bagshaw
200 acres
Brock Township
Recorded April 24, 1833
Book 46, Folio 575

The post Upper Canada Crown Patent (Land Grant) issued under King William IV appeared first on The Sunderland & District Historical Society.

For four generations, the most cherished possession of the Bagshaw family of Brock Township was a small six-barreled pistol, handed down, like the name William itself, from father to son. By family tradition it had ridden at Waterloo in the hand of a British cavalryman, fortunate to come away alive from the great contest against Napoleon. It is a splendid story, and almost certainly an impossible one. The pistol itself says so.

The man at the head of the line was William Bagshaw, born in Staffordshire, England, on February 13, 1783. In the spring of 1817 he left for Upper Canada and took up two hundred acres of bush in Brock Township, in what was then the County of Ontario. He prospered there in the manner of the useful pioneer: “Squire” Bagshaw, justice of the peace and the township’s first postmaster, a man who married couples, buried the dead, surveyed his neighbors’ farms, and settled their disputes.

His wife, Sarah (Bolton) Bagshaw, born in 1786, was left behind in England while William broke ground on the homestead, and for two years his letters failed to reach her. Believing herself a widow, she went into mourning, until at last a letter arrived to report that her husband was alive and landholding in Canada. On Easter Sunday, April 18, 1819, she boarded a sailing vessel with eight children. The crossing took eleven weeks and three days. A broken leg kept William from meeting them at York (now Toronto), so Sarah set out on foot with the children and walked some forty-five miles to Quaker Hill, near Uxbridge. Reunited at last, the family was raising the walls of its log shanty, on Lot 5 of Concession 9, on Christmas Day, 1819. From that one-windowed cabin, its chinks packed with lime mortar and its roof laid up of basswood troughs, came seventeen children and a homestead that descended through the generations: a hewn-log house in 1830, and a fine stone residence in 1890 that was still standing when this story was first set down.

The heirloom that anchors the family’s memory is a percussion pepperbox revolver, roughly ten inches in length, its six barrels turned from bright steel and its engraved frame dressed with silver. Each barrel was charged from the muzzle with powder, wad, and ball, and fired by a percussion cap seated at the breech, so that six shots stood ready without reloading. Stamped into the metal are the words that settle the question of its age: “J. R. Cooper’s Patent.”

That mark belongs to Joseph Rock Cooper, a Birmingham gunmaker active from the late 1830s into the 1860s, and remembered above all for his pepperbox pistols. The design the Bagshaw gun carries rests on Cooper’s English patents of 1840 and 1843. The pistol was therefore made in the early-to-middle 1840s, a full generation after Waterloo, which was fought in June of 1815.

Here the cherished tradition meets two facts it cannot survive. The first is mechanical: the percussion cap that fires this gun was a technology of the 1820s and after, unknown on the field at Waterloo, and the multi-barreled pepperbox was a creature of the 1830s and 1840s entirely. The second is the family’s own chronicle. William Bagshaw was settled in Brock Township by 1819, fully two decades before this pistol was so much as filed and engraved on a Birmingham bench. Whatever a Bagshaw may have carried against Napoleon, it was not this gun, for this gun did not yet exist.

How, then, did it come to a pioneer farmhouse in the Ontario bush? The honest answer is that no document yet located will say, but the likeliest paths are not hard to imagine. A pepperbox of the 1840s might have been sent out from England to relations already established in Canada; it might have been purchased outright in York or Whitby, where British goods moved freely; or it might have come west in the hands of a later Bagshaw and, in time, drifted backward through the family’s memory until it attached itself to the founding patriarch and his Waterloo. Heirlooms gather such legends the way a barrel gathers patina. The wonder is not that the story grew, but that the gun beneath it is the more interesting object once the legend is lifted away.

For what the Bagshaw pistol truly belongs to is one of the briefest and most colorful moments in the history of the handgun: the crowded heyday of the multi-barreled pepperbox, a compact and affordable repeater that put six shots at an ordinary person’s fingertips in the years just before Samuel Colt’s single-barreled revolver swept the whole type into obsolescence. It is a creditable piece of English gunmaking at its mid-century best, and almost certainly it reached the Bagshaws in Canada, the prized possession of a prospering settler family rather than a souvenir of a European battlefield.

The gun never saw Waterloo. It saw something rarer: the long, ordinary endurance of a family that crossed an ocean, walked to its own front door, and kept one small thing safe for a hundred years.

The family narrative follows a 1950 account of the Bagshaws of Sunderland and Brock Township, corroborated against Ontario genealogical records. The firearm’s date rests on the “J. R. Cooper’s Patent” marking and the documented dates of Joseph Rock Cooper’s English patents of 1840 and 1843.

The post A Gun That Never Saw Waterloo appeared first on The Sunderland & District Historical Society.

Explore artifacts connected to the Bagshaw family, among the first settlers of Brock Township. Housed at the Sunderland Museum, these items provide a window into the region’s early history.

The Bagshaw Collection

The Sunderland & District Historical Society has archived a wealth of artifacts that reflect the community’s rich history.

Here is a glimpse of some of the treasures that can be found in our museum.

The museum has an image of the Bagshaw family crest on display.

The name Bagshaw is of Anglo-Saxon origin and is a habitational surname, from a place in Derbyshire, England.

The placename is derived from the Olde English, pre 7th century personal name “Bacga” and the Olde English word “sceaga” meaning wood or copse; hence Bacga’s Wood.

The family crest consists of three roses encompassing a hunter’s horn. The crest depicts a portion of the arm holding a hunter’s horn.

William Bagshaw was one of Brock Township’s earliest settlers.

Having fought for Britain in the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, as compensation, William was granted a parcel of land in Brock Township which had been surveyed in 1817. William selected a lot on the gth Concession and travelled alone to Canada to clear the land and establish a farm operation.

After her husband, William Bagshaw departed for Canada, his wife Sarah Bolton waited for nearly two years fearing that he may have perished. Finally, a letter arrived reporting that her husband was well and had established a farm in Brock Township.

Sarah left immediately for Canada. Her ocean crossing lasted 11 weeks. She was to meet William in York (Toronto) but a broken leg prevented him from leaving the farm.

She and her eight children then walked from York to Quaker Hill near Uxbridge where she remained an additional two months before joining William on the farm.

The original copy of William Bagshaw’s land grant certificate is on file at the museum.

William Bagshaw’s survival at the Battle of Waterloo was significant. He served with the First Regiment of Foot Guards depicted to the left. During the battle, this unit suffered 1035 casualties out of a total of 1997 soldiers and officers.

You will find William Bagshaw’s military sword from the Battle of Waterloo on display at the museum. This naval cutlass had a clam shell hilt. It was made in 1787 by the Dutch East India Company.

The museum has William Bagshaw’s Cooper Pepperbox Pistol in its archives. The gun fired six shots and the barrel rotated. It was muzzle loaded and made after 1830.

One of the treasures of our museum is the Bagshaw Clock built in 1824 in Plymouth, Connecticut. This is a 30 hour clock which was run by two descending weights. All the gears are made of wood.

While difficult to confirm, it has been said that William Bagshaw traded 100 acres of land for this mantle clock.

The clock has been restored to working order by Maurice Blanchard.

To learn more about the rich history of the Bagshaw family, plan a visit to the Bagshaw Cemetery. It is located on part of one of the Bagshaw farm properties on the south side of Concession 9 Brock Township, just east of the Brock Road.

Your visit may spark an interest in other members of the Bagshaw family who have had a significant on impact on their community.

As an example, Dr. Elizabeth Bagshaw was a famous pioneer in the fight for women’s rights during the depression. Concerned about women being unable to support large families she became a leading advocate for birth control support.

Dr. Bagshaw started the first birth control clinic in Hamilton and lived to be 101 years old.

As with Dr. Bagshaw, you could then find that your local historical society houses material that may inform your newfound interest.

The post The Bagshaw Collection appeared first on The Sunderland & District Historical Society.

COMMUNITY Sep 09, 2010 by Scott Howard Peterborough This Week

Sunderland and District Historical Society president Larry Doble shows off the
clock once owned by William Bagshaw, one of the early settlers of old Brock
Township. – Scott Howard

An artifact from Brock Township’s early days has returned home.
The Sunderland and District Historical Society has received the ‘Bagshaw Clock’
on loan from the Sharon Temple, a national historic site and museum in East
Gwillimbury.

“The clock has come home after 186 years,” said Larry Doble, president of the
historical society.

The clock was named after its previous owner, William Bagshaw, who was one of
the first settlers in old Brock Township — which covered from Concession 14
south to Concession 1, with Regional Road 23 and Simcoe Street serving as the
borders to the west and east, respectively.

Mr. Bagshaw set sail for Canada in 1817 and was eventually joined by his wife
and seven children.

They family settled on Concession 9, moving into their first home — made of
materials cut from their property — on Christmas Day, 1819.

In the following years, eight more children were welcomed to the family, including
daughter Rachel who was the first white girl born in the township.

Mr. Bagshaw would later become Brock Township’s first postmaster. ‘Green
Pastures of Old Brock,’ a book published by the historical society on the
township’s beginnings, said Mr. Bagshaw was “renowned for his wisdom and
good judgement.” He later became a Justice of the Peace, marrying and burying
area residents, surveying farms and settling disputes.

Shortly after the family arrived in Canada, Mr. Bagshaw had acquired another
farm in the Wilfrid area and began clearing trees.

Although his motivation still isn’t clear, he traded the 100-acre parcel for a mantle
clock.

While the clock was donated to the Sharon Temple many years ago, it has not
been on display for some time. It was loaned to the Sunderland and District
Historical Society at the request of Jim Bagshaw, a descendant of William
Bagshaw.

The original land patent for William Bagshaw’s initial property — complete with an
Ontario seal made of beeswax — will also be available for viewing.

The post Bagshaw clock back in Sunderland after 186 years appeared first on The Sunderland & District Historical Society.

The Sunderland Telephone Company. – 63 River St

This company started about 1912 and pictures showing the telephone poles help one estimate the date of payment picture. The shares issued are also dated. For 1912, the telephone office was on the south side of river street to the east of the McDermott Block. It is now private residence.

In 1912, the President of the phone company was John Glendenning, and the secretary treasurer was Dr. N. Norman Blanchard. Shares were sold in 1912 for $50, mostly to local owners. In 1929, Harry MacGregor, a man with banking experience, took over as the secretary treasurer. At one point William Nassau Doble gain control of the phone company and bought up many of the shares when they were as low as $20. Mr. Doble hired Percy Flagler to look after the lines, a task he performed with dedication from 1930 to 1945.

After the Second World War, some of the repairmen were George Bagshaw, Wayne Kelly, Paul Brandon and Bob Fries. The lines were made compatible with Bell about this time. After World War II, Clarence Young returned from overseas and took over as the new repairman in 1957. James Milton Doble was the president, and Herb Wilson was the secretary treasurer. Bruce Toker was also involved in managing this company. About 1945 Cora Doble Moore and her husband Cecil Moore ran the telephone office until 1947. There was an office in the front, and they lived at the rear of the house. As time passed, various companies bought the Sunderland Telephone Company until it was finally purchased by Bell Canada. Three of the last technicians to work for the phone company were Leslie Brether, Jim St. John and Peter Baker.

In 1980 when Bell took over, they had to leave Sunderland to keep their jobs. The switchboard operators were replaced in 1968 when the dial up system was introduced. At this time thousands of old phones were just taken to the dump when the changeover to the new style was complete. Some of the former switchboard operators were Minnie Wilson, Annie Fair, Yvonne Sheldon, Irene Shier, Hazel Robertson, Hazel Gorell and Edith Bagshaw.

Gone are the days when you would crank two longs and a short to reach the operator and get connected. Also gone were the phone calls where everyone on your line could listen in and hear your conversation. Many telephone systems are started up by doctors wishing to have a better method of communicating with their patients.

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Visit Historical Sites Around Sunderland

Like a treasure hunt? Try Geocaching! It’s fun, gets you outdoors and leads you to interesting places. The S&DHS is placing and promoting geocaches intended to offer a glimpse of our community’s history. How many can you find?

Sunderland Village Tour

GC9DNYM Village Stroll (Traditional Cache) in Ontario, Canada created by Oldgeojoe (geocaching.com)

The land for the village of Sunderland was granted in the early 1820s to United Empire Loyalists. Sunderland slowly grew around the Brock Hotel – a popular overnight stop for travelers that was owned by Lorenzo Jones.

Sunderland was originally called Jones Corners, as both Arch and Lorenzo Jones owned considerable property in the downtown area. The Jones brothers produced a village plan that was renamed Sunderland by 1871 when the Toronto – Lindsay Line of the Toronto and Nipissing Railway was built. This railway sparked the village’s growth.

Many area families had ancestors of German Palatine origin who had emigrated from Ireland after having fought for Britain in the 1776, American War of Independence and in the War of 1812. After the wars, these soldiers were rewarded with free land in what was to become Brock Township. These early Palatine settlers included surnames like: Shier, Baker, Bagshaw, Switzer, Lowe, St. John, Lodwick, Brethour and Doble.

Hurricane Hazel struck Sunderland in 1954 damaging the skating arena and several businesses. Although the railway ceased operations through Sunderland in the 1980s, the town has remained vibrant, due in no small part to its close proximity to the GTA..

Manilla Community Hall

GC9WWAX Fiddler’s Heaven (Traditional Cache) in Ontario, Canada created by Oldgeojoe (geocaching.com)

The Manilla Community Hall has held many family celebrations throughout its more than 50 years in the community. Activities have included dances, Sunday afternoon jam sessions, field days, tournament level baseball, dog training classes, seniors’ exercises, even weddings and anniversaries. In 2013, when prompted by rising costs, Brock Township adopted a policy of “leasing” such community buildings to community groups. The Manilla community rose to the challenge. Forming a “Hall Board”, members have worked hard to maintain the hall as a valuable and useful community resource. The Board is planning is planning additional uses for the facility while still keeping it as a community meeting place.

Some of the upcoming fundraising events at the Manilla Hall include a Bar-B-Que with a Yard/Bake sale and Children’s Activities and a weekend Pie Sale. .Manilla Community Hall is located on Simcoe St. south of Hwy 7 in Manilla, Ontario. It is available to rent for meetings, parties, community events, after school clubs, sports teams and more. For bookings call 705-4322355, ext. 221, or for more information go to Facebook www.facebook.com/manillahall

St. Malachy Catholic Church

GC9WGJE Doyle’Donation (Traditional Cache) in Ontario, Canada created by Oldgeojoe (geocaching.com)

When the original St. Malachy’s Church in Vroomanton was burned in 1942, mass was held in the homes of local parishioners. Most of this congregation could trace their roots to Ireland with surnames like Keenan, McNinly, Malone, Doyle, Kelly,Curtin and O’Donnel . The church was part of the Brock Mission. In 1949, Bill Doyle donated this site, a 4 acre parcel of land to the church. On it, a new frame church clad with board and batten siding was built.  The church served the community until the turn of the century when it was dismantled.  The congregation now travels to Beaverton for service.
The property has now been assumed by the Wil-Lor Farm, the standardbred race horse operation you will see to the northeast. The Wil-Lor operation has been prominent in the Ontario Sires Stakes racing program for many years. It’s operator, Murray Brethour, is remembered for his winning drive, representing Canada in Sweden’s prominent Elitloppet, where he steered famed Billyjoejimbob to victory.

Piggyland

GC9ECFB Oink Oink (Traditional Cache) in Ontario, Canada created by Oldgeojoe (geocaching.com)

Looking across the street to the southwest from this cache is the site of Piggyland (officially named the Associated Livestock Growers of Ontario – ALGO). Created in 1962 by John Laun who claimed to be a German immigrant, investors were invited to become armchair farmers. For $100 and $40 for feed, an investor could buy a pig. While most of the 1.8 million dollars invested came from small investors, there were a few high-rollers like Gordon Sinclair, a famed journalist with the Toronto Star.

Sunderland Co-Op

GC9ECCZ A Socialist Notion (Traditional Cache) in Ontario, Canada created by Oldgeojoe (geocaching.com)

In the early 1900’s the Sunderland gristmill once known as Welsh’s Mill was owned and operated by the Welsh family. Grains brought from the farmers were elevated into the storage bins and later loaded into railroad cars for shipping. Serving in World Wars I and II, Mr. Arthur Welsh rented his mill and business to Hog and Lytle of Mariposa Station who hired Cecil Real to operate the mill. After his discharge from the military, Welsh was elected to the Ontario legislature and later appointed to the provincial cabinet as Secretary for the Interior.

The farmers of Brock Township were invited to a meeting on May 14, 1946 to discuss organizing a farmers’ cooperative and buying Welsh’s Mill. A deal with struck by which the Sunderland Cooperative was operated as a branch of the Peterborough District Cooperative and operated under their charter.

On the evening of July 21, 1947 fire completely destroyed the mill elevators and warehouses. Fortunately, the loss was covered by insurance. The following day, a decision was made to rebuild the mill at once. The current mill is the product of that rebuild.

At a meeting on February 13, 1950, a decision was made to break away from the arrangement with Peterborough. Local members had to raise $60,000 to take over independent operation of the Sunderland plant. Farmers took out loans and raised the money needed to qualify for an independent charter for the Sunderland Cooperative. The deal was signed July 20, 1950. Signing for the Sunderland Cooperative were Merrill Bagshaw, Charles Hadden, John Miller, Bill Suggett and William Heron. Cecil Real was the first manager of the Sunderland Cooperative and in 1970 Royce Saint John became a manager.

In May 2 1994, the Sunderland Cooperative opened a new retail store with a plan to offer everything farmers needed from seed to harvest.

When you are leaving the site, you will note a white brick building with a large chimney on the northeast corner of the 6^th concession road and the highway. This building was originally built to house the generator for the village’s original electrical grid (circa 1900). The building was later used as the Sunderland Cooperative’s retail store.

Sunderland Fair Ground

GC9ECGZ A Centennial Project (Traditional Cache) in Ontario, Canada created by Oldgeojoe (geocaching.com)

Originally willed to the town fathers in exchange for a promise that a feeble child would be assured care for life, this beautiful park has been a source of community pride and activity for decades.

Men’s baseball was played in the park for years and attracted many spectators. In the 1950’s, it would not be uncommon to see most of the village out to a Sunday afternoon game. In 1935, the Sunderland Tigers baseball team won the Ontario Intermediate C Championship.

The park has been the venue for the Sunderland Fall Fair for many of its 167 years. In 1967, the grandstand was constructed as a Centennial project of the Sunderland Agricultural Society. On that occasion, Roland Mitchener. the Governor General of Canada officiated the celebratory opening ceremonies.

Harness racing has been a popular sport in the community. For many years, local horsemen used the track to train their racehorses. Prominent among these was Wil-Lor Stables, still a prominent standardbred operation, now located just north of the village. Standardbred races were long a feature of the fall fair. As well, for many years (‘60’s & 70’s), the Lions Club held a harness racing meet in the park each July 1^st. The unfortunate death of an elderly gentleman struck by a horse while crossing the track, brought an end to the event and racing at the park.

In June 2017, the walking trail, a Lions Club project was officially opened. This trail was constructed on the footprint of the old racetrack and has proven a popular feature used by many throughout the four seasons.

St. James’ / West Brock Cemetery  (placed by oldgeojoe)

https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC921NH_privy-close

This property, now known as St. James West Brock Anglican Cemetery was granted to James Doble about 1824. The oldest stone in the cemetery is for his brother Robert Doble who died in 1834. In 1859 the land was donated to the church by another brother Luke Doble, as a burial ground. John Doble who settled here in 1824 is related to over 106 of the stones in the cemetery.

In 1864 the church was built and has 5 layers of bricks in the walls. This church was part of a 4 point charge with other Anglican Churches in Brock in Beaverton, Cannington, and Sunderland. The original windows were Romanesque style with round tops and the roof was made of cedar. A large shed for the horse and buggy was located at the north east side of the church. Churches were built based on the abundance of local materials. As an example, the bricks were made in the meadow of the farm of William Umphrey, located at lot 6, concession 5, Brock Twp. (just northeast of cemetery) . Major repairs and  renovations began in 1964 by a group of local volunteers who helped to restore the church and cemetery. Indoor decoration days have been held each June since 1979.

St. John’s Cemetery  (placed by TeamRaisin)

https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC5GWWF_rock-of-ages

The site was donated by the family of Phillip St. John as a burial grounds in 1839. Phillip St. John came to Canada West about 1818 and was very influential in the development of the township. He is often referred to as the “King of Brock”. Many of the families buried here are Protestant German Palatines (Miller, Baker, Brethour,Shier) who were brought and settled in  southern Ireland in 1709 by Queen Anne  and received land in Canada after 1815 for military service in the British Army. These families were very loyal to the crown and conservative government and sent a militia to Toronto in 1837 to stop the rebellion of William Lyon MacKenzie.

Thompson Cemetery (placed by Ricky6969)

https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC36RH1_thompson-chest

A total of 517 graves are within the cemetery. The first grave was for G. Shier in 1834. Many of the immigrants settling within this area of the Township were Anglican. They were visited by travelling missionaries until a church was constructed on this site in 1843.

The church was built in 1842 – 1843. It consisted of a 30′ x 40′ frame building without a stone foundation. The interior was not plastered. Regular services commenced on February 12, 1843; by 1850 the church supported an enrolment of 150 and averaged 70 persons for the weekly service. Church members included many, now long-established, families including Doble, Ruddy, Fair, and St. John. The church was used until 1865 when a more centrally-located church (St. James, West Brock) was built two miles to the south. The church building no longer exists; however, a number of tombstones exist within the associated cemetery.

In 1971 the Township of Brock took over as the owner of the cemetery.

Vroomanton Cemetery (placed by Sunmill)

https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC4FY1N Vroom Vroom

The Vroomanton Methodist Church, as part of the Brock Mission charge was first noted in 1833. At the time, congregants were visited by the circuit rider or ‘saddlebag preacher’ as they became known. Services were typically held in barns. In 1854 a church was built on this site. This building was renovated in 1885, however the building fell into serious disrepair and replaced by the existing building in 1910. Foundational stones from the original church can be found on the south driveway.

The graves of Colonel James Vrooman and his brother Solomon are in the church cemetery. Colonel Vrooman had a distinguished military career fighting with the Glengarry Light Infantry Fencibles in the War of 1812. For their service, the Vroomans were granted tracts of land on the 7^th Concession of Brock. In 1820, Colonel Vrooman established residence on this land and contributed considerable leadership to the development of commercial enterprise in the area. One of James Vrooman’s wives, Rhoda Johnston, lived an amazing 101 years (1818-1919.

Vroomanton itself, located to the northeast of the church became a thriving village in the early half of the 19^th century with several enterprises including a grist and saw mill, a carriage works, two blacksmiths, a post office and a brewery, with a wooden boardwalk providing access to the storefronts.  In the 1870’s after being bypassed by the railroad, village commerce fell into decline.

St. Malachy Cemetery (placed by Oldgejoe)

https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC92VJ7 An Irish Saint

St. Malachy’s Roman Catholic Cemetery and Church served many Catholic pioneers in Brock Township  who settled on an west /east area of farmland that extended from Vroomanton  east towards Manilla and north of Sunderland. In 1846 land was obtained from Sterling Pangman and Patrick Keenan for the church and cemetery. Vroomanton was a prosperous expanding settlement until the Toronto Nipissing Railroad by passed it in 1868 and instead went through Sunderland. The brick church and church records were destroyed in a fire in 1942 when the building caught fire from the burning of leaves.  The Irish Saint Malachy was a monk and bishop from the twelfth century. In 1949 a new St. Malachy church building was constructed just north east of Sunderland at Highway #12 and the 7th concession of Brock and it was in use until the year 2000.

Bagshaw Cemetery (placed by Oldgeojoe)

https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC92V8F Fecundity

The Bagshaw Cemetery is a family cemetery filled with the descendants of William Bagshaw who arrived in Brock Township about 1818 . He was a military man and a veteran of the Battle of Waterloo. Like many settlers he received free land in Canada West for his service in the British Army. William had three wives and 17 children during his life and the Bagshaws have been in Brock Township for over 7 generations. Many of the Bagshaw relatives buried here have biblical names such as Lot, Obediah, Abraham, Moses, Joseph, and Joshua. Rachel Bagshaw , their daughter born in 1820 was the first white child born in Brock Township. William Bagshaw at one point owned 700 acres of crown land at once traded 100 acres of land for a mantel clock built in 1824 . He was the first postmaster in Brock, a justice of the peace, and helped raise a loyal militia in 1837 to go to Toronto to help fight William Lyon Mackenzie and his rebel band.

Scotch Cemetery (placed by mckaycachers1 )

https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC6ET03 HopScotch

This burying ground was originally acquired in 1853. The Trustees of the Burying Ground (Neil D. McPhadden, Neil A. McLean, and Hector A. McDonald) purchased 1.5 acres of land from Neil McDonald for a sum of 20 Pounds. The original deed of land was made on January 8th, 1853, and subsequently registered at the County of Ontario on July 1, 1869.

Coulthard’s Corner (Manilla), located east of the Scotch Cemetery was settled in the early 1800’s by the English, Welsh, Irish, Dutch, and Scottish and, at the time, had a population of approximately 700 persons.

A board of trustees to oversee the burying ground was elected to oversee the maintenance of the burying ground. Five members, and later three, met on a regular basis either in each others’ homes or at the Congregational Church or Baptist Church in Manilla. In addition, the board hosted a number of public meetings for the benefit of the plot holders. Minutes of the board of trustees reveal that they dealt with such matters as fencing the cemetery, fund raising for the cemetery upkeep, and establishment of prices for plots.

Plots within the cemetery were sold for $5.00 per square rod in 1892. By 1956, the cost of a plot was $89.60 per square rod with a stipulation that the plot holders were responsible for the stones. Requests for tree planting and shrubs required the approval of the cemetery board. By 1995, there were only two members on the board. The cemetery needed attention and little funds were available to undertake grounds maintenance. Accordingly. the Scotch Cemetery board of trustees was dissolved in favour of the Township of Brock.

Sunderland Union Cemetery (placed by Oldgeojoe)

https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC92QGQ_near-mars

The history of the Sunderland Cemetery dates to 1846 when William & Isobella Patterson donated ½ acre of land on which the First Presbyterian Church of Brock was built and an adjacent ½ acre parcel was donated by Peter & Ann Fallowdown for a burial ground. To the north was the hamlet of Mars Corners and to the south that of Jones Corners. Throughout the surrounding countryside were an assortment of pioneer families with such surnames as Charter, Miller, Tocher, Purvis and Rennie, each struggling to gain free title to their farms by satisfying rigorous regulations set down by the government of Upper Canada. These regulations included the need to clear 5 acres of land per year and to keep adjacent roads clear. Indeed, protest over the arbitrary management of these regulations and the frequent forced forfeiture of land by “non-compliant” farmers contributed to the Rebellion of 1837. Memorials to participants in this rebellion can be found within the cemetery.

With the arrival of the railroad (looking to the east, you can see its old roadbed , now a walking trail maintained by the Lake Simcoe Conservation Authority) in 1868, the community to the south, renamed as Sunderland, thrived. The wooden church at the cemetery had burned and the Presbyterian congregation constructed a new red brick church in the village. This building still stands at 4 Albert Street. With the Methodist and Presbyterian union in 1924, the vacated Presbyterian church and was sold to King Edward Masonic Lodge.

In 1923, Letters Patent were filed and the Sunderland Cemetery Company was established. In 1961, through generous community donation like the $10,000 gift from George & Alice Brabozan, the cemetery chapel was constructed by two local masons, Mac & Earl Thompson. It serves as a valuable enhancement to the property.

Pinedale Cemetery (placed by Oldgeojoe)

https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC92MEZ Pinedale

Looking across the countryside around this old church you observe expanses of some of the best farmland in Brock Township. Patents for these farms can be traced as far back as 1825 when settlers arrived from Germany, Holland, England and Ireland often by way of New York city to undertake the chore of clearing land and planting crops. In support of these families, a little community known as Barker’s Settlement offered a blacksmith’s shop, a store, a post-office and a school. Today, only the school remains, now a private home on the fifth concession to the north and east of the existing church.

While the church is a remaining link to Pinedale’s past, it was not part of the earliest history. Early Methodists in the area attended services officiated by ‘saddlebag preachers’ hosted in barns about the community. One such preacher describes travel as a great challenge made particularly difficult by the presence of great swamps over which cedar logs were laid forming ‘corduroy roads’.

In 1859 Edward Rundle donated a ½ acre to the Methodist Church as the site for the existing church and cemetery. The existing building appears to have been originally built as a white frame building in 1873. Since the building has undergone extensive renovation. Many former members of the church are buried in the cemetery and include the family names Hoskin, Rundle, Sonley and Gorrell.

McNeil / Wick Cemetery (placed by Oldgeojoe)

https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC92YN7 Wick to You

The McNeil Cemetery .This cemetery is sometimes called the Wick Cemetery as it is linked to the Wick Presbyterian Church which is located about  one mile east of the church building . The cemetery is registered to the McNeil Cemetery Company Limited . The term Wick is an old English-Saxon term which means dwelling place or town. Many of the families buried here are of Scottish origin. The names on the stones of those buried here have been recorded and are available through the Ontario Genealogical Society and the cemetery record booklets  have been divided into 3 sections, South, South East and North.

North Brock Shier Cemetery (placed by Oldgeojoe)

https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC9WXX1 No Rebels!

The Shier family were one of the Protestant German Palatine families who lived near the border of France and Germany. About 1709 they settled in England and then  County Limerick in Ireland at the invitation of Queen Anne of England. About 1818 many immigrated to Brock Township. The Palatines were industrious artisans and had a variety of  crops which helped them survive the terrible potato blights in Ireland. Canada offered them ownership of their farmland and religious freedom. The Shiers had large families and became an important factor in the growth and prosperity of the township. Because of the kindness of the British Royalty by providing land and supplies to help them settle, the Palatines were very loyal to the government in Canada and came to Toronto in 1837 to fight the rebels in the Mackenzie Rebellion. This cemetery has many of the earliest settlers in the Township of Brock.

One Room Schools – Wick (placed by Oldgeojoe)

https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC9WXYF The House Made of Brick

Like so many one room school houses, the building was a place of learning for the children during the day and a community meeting place during the evening. Community affairs were often the focus of heated discussions around the central wood burning stove. The hamlet built three schools between 1840 and the turn of the century. One was a log structure, the second a frame building and finally the brick building that remains just up the road.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      The community of Wick once included a blacksmith shop, a hotel, a post office  a wagon maker’s shop and even a railroad station.  Wick was settled primarily with settlers from Scottish descent. Names such as Leask, Ferguson, Rennie, Hadden, McCully, Stone and Young were common in the community.
Because both the church and the school are now private residences, the cache was not placed on these properties. However, travel a few hundred yards to the east and you can observe each of these buildings, both tributes to  what was an industrious and thriving community.

Pinedale (placed by Oldgeojoe)

https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC9WWDG Principal Residence

Pinedale was once a thriving rural community with a store, post office school, church, and blacksmith shop.

The frame one room schoolhouse was built about 1889 with board and batton walls. Miss Patterson had 46 students and 8 grades. Later on the school was bricked and ran until 1966 when it was closed and sold as a private home.

At one point the town of Pinedale was known as Barker’s Settlement. The church was Wesleyan Methodist and at one point was linked with Sunderland in a 2 point charge. Some of the common local family names are Hoskin, Marshall, Patterson, Sonley , Snoddon and Thomas.

Antioch (placed by ricky6969)

https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC46NG9 Antyoc Hill

The Antioch School – S.S. No.5 was built in 1834. It was of frame construction and measured 30 ft. X 40 ft.. Average attendance was 15 pupils. Familiar names in the area were Keeler, Wright, Philip, Purvis Blanchard, Thompson, McLean and Cameron.

Visitors comment on the beautiful view that the site offers.

Harrison (placed by Oldgeojoe)

https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC9WYW9 The Lodge

This school was named after the farmer William Harrison, who lived at lot 10 concession 12 Brock Township and owned 100 acres of land . The original schoolhouse was made of logs and in the late 1800’s a white brick building was completed. A pail and dipper of water sat on the shelf at the entry door for drinking water. The teacher boarded at a nearby farm . The school was S.S # 7 and closed in 1958 and was bought by the Masonic Lodge Brock # 354. Most of the building remains unchanged except for the entrance doors.

Reekies (placed by The Shady Lady)

https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC23Y29 A Home-stager’s Worst Nightmare

Designated SS#6,the former one-room Reekie schoolhouse just north of Vallentyne, was named after James Reekie, one of the earliest pioneers to come to Brock. This early settler arrived on October 10, 1818, and slept that night under a pine tree on his farm in the 9th concession. The artifacts of the old school still remain but now the home and surrounding three-acre grounds are adorned with the artwork of owners Judith and Viktor Tinkle. Tinkle creates assemblages, sculptures and kinetic works made from things he finds in his home, studio or on his property, His art is created from cans, wood, ribbons, fur and more. When you find the cache, have a look for Tinkle’s creations along the fence row.

Vallentyne  (placed by Oldgeojoe)

https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC9WYWZ Not Vallentine!

This site invites finders to cast their minds back 100 years when the area around the cache looked very different. Before the age of motor car, the road on the treacherous hill on which this geocache is hidden used corduroy construction to cross the swamp at the base of the hill. At the top of the hill in the southeast corner lot stood the school house, a one-room frame construction erected in 1881. Pupils with such surnames as St. John, Thompson, Vallentyne, Shier, Rynard, Jewell, Bagshaw and Glendinning attended the school. After the school was closed it was moved to the farm across the road now owned by the Downs where it still serves as a drive shed,

The hamlet of Vallentyne, a mile north, featured a thriving general store that provisioned the community. In 1860, Vallentyne was also the home of the Conboy Carriage Company which produced carriage roof tops. This operation expanded and in 1870 moved to Uxbridge where it eventually produced bodies for the McLauglin-Buick.

Layton – Ghost Towns (placed by Oldgeojoe)

https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC9W71 Strike Up the Band

Once a busy hamlet to the east of Wick, Layton had a Methodist church, a post office and a blacksmith shop. The post office was located in the home that can be seen on the south side of the road, just east of the intersection.

Layton’s main claim to fame was its band which became very popular in the early 1900’s. Made up of local talent, the band had some twenty players including Garnet Mead, Wesley & Josiah Thomas, and Oliver Hardy. Band practice was held at the Methodist church. This church was later moved to a farm further west where it served to house livestock.

Derryville (placed by Oldgeojoe)

https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC9WYW0 Hilltop

This cache will leave the geocacher with a sense of the natural elevation of the area that was once the hamlet of Derryville. Until the midpoint of the last century, a thriving general store and White Rose service station operated on the southeast corner of this intersection of Highway 12 and the 11th concession. Across the road was a large frame building that had once been a hotel. A decision to “level” the highway literally erased these buildings that marked the hamlet. Taking advantage of the elevation, it is said that hotel boasted to have Brock’s only two storey outhouse.

Greenbank – Scugog – A Neighbouring Community

GC9D8TD Once a Methodist (Traditional Cache) in Ontario, Canada created by Oldgeojoe

At one time Greenbank had Baptist, Presbyterian, Primitive Methodist, Westleyan Methodists and Anglican churches. This brick church north of this cache site was Methodist built in 1896 on the site of the local tavern. Greenbank had one of the largest Temperance Society branches in Ontario and the only way they could get rid of that offensive tavern was to buy it and tear it down. About 1924, with the unification of the Presbyterian and Methodist congregations the church became United. The windows are Romanesque with rounded tops and at the front of the church are circular glass stain windows. At one time, this church was part of a 3 point charge that included Pinedale and Seagrave.  A few years ago the Pinedale Church was closed. The Greenbank Church is closely linked to the Bethel Cemetery which is west of here along Cragg Road. The original wooden Methodist Church was built in that cemetery and after it was replaced with a stone chapel used for storage. Recently all of the stain glass windows have been restored and an elevator added to the building.

The Greenbank Centennial Hall just southwest of this cache was built in 1868 as the St. Agnus Anglican Church.  The windows are lancet with pointed tops and the east stain glass window has the colors of French Gothic design with dark purple and red colors and fleur-de- lis .  The church has an entrance that is 90 degrees to the main building intended as a buffer zone between the house of God and the world of man. A new metal roof was built over parts of the old cedar shakes. In 1920 the church was purchased for $ 250 to be used as a community hall. The church belfry and bell were moved to the Anglican church in Port Perry. Local carpenters donated their time to create a tongue and groove pine sub ceiling below the plaster ceiling. In 1935 electricity was added . As a centennial project in 1967 a basement was added with a kitchen and washrooms. In 2005 an Ontario Trillium Grant allowed the installation of an elevator and wheelchair access washroom.  In 2018 as part of the 150 anniversary funding was obtained through a Legacy grant to replace the board and batten exterior with new wood and   a Canada Farm Credit grant was used to install a new kitchen with two outdoor patios on top.

Scugog Shores Museum (placed by Oldgeojoe)

https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC9MWYF One Room

This cache was set up as a gateway to discovering the Scugog Shores Museum. Located on the south end of beautiful Scugog Island, the Village features eleven restored buildings including Head Church and Cemetery, Head School, the blacksmith, print shop, woodwright and harness shop and heritage vegetable and herb gardens. Thousands of original artifacts, donated by the community, are on display throughout the village.

Kendall Cemetery (placed by Oldgeojoe)

https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC9W5WA 2 LS

The Kendall Cemetery is located on the map of Reach Township in 1877. The cemetery is on the very south east corner of the 70 acres of land owned by W Kendall. There are only seven documented  Kendall stones here and the earliest one is for Elizabeth Barrett Kendall who was born in 1791 and died in 1857. There are a total of 338 records on line here with many descriptions of the family connections.  Over the year many of the early limestone monuments have been dissolved by acid rain.

Generally the cemetery served the Methodist Church and later became United after 1924. The Methodist Church was quite popular for the early pioneers as the ministers rode by horseback to many communities and preached in homes and barns before the churches were built. Local family names here include Ashton, Barrett, Crosier, Howsam, Orchard, Prentice and Sandison. For many years now the cemetery has been cared for by the Wilbur family.

Hillman Cemetery (placed by Frazuky)

https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC9T5T1

The Hillman Cemetery is shown on the 1877 map of Reach Township. The nearby property of 36 acres was owned by T.W Forman in 1877. Often pioneers would donate a corner of their land as a burial ground and later a church was built next to the cemetery

This is one of three cemeteries in the small hamlet of Utica with the others being the Kendall (Methodist) and Breadalbane (Presbyterian). This is a Wesleyan Methodist Cemetery as the Methodists at one point split to Primitive and Wesleyan Chapters. Common names here are Akney, Bentley, Claughton, Crosier, Gibson, and Harper.
The cache on this site make reference to First Nations’ belief. When a Native American is visited by a dragonfly soon after the death of a loved one, it is taken as a good omen their loved one’s soul lives on. It’s also believed that a visit from a dragonfly after a loved one has passed away is the sign of their guardian angel saying they are OK!

Well what ever you believe this is a fun cache for you in this cemetery. Please respect all dragonflies and the grounds!

Gregg Cemetery (placed by The Shady Lady)

https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC1R5CR

This was a burial grounds for the Gregg Family relatives and neighbours who lived near this site at lot 2 concession 13 of Reach Township (now Scugog). James Gregg owned 120 acres of this 200 acre lot on the east side of Lakeridge Road on the map of 1877. Victoria Corners Public School was just north of the cemetery. In the school pictures with the students standing against the south fence, you could see some of the monuments in the background above the fence. Twenty one of the 36 stones bear the name Gregg. The Gregg family came from Antrim County Ireland.

The post Geocaching Project – Historical Sites About the Village appeared first on The Sunderland & District Historical Society.

1. December 30, 2010 Original fire hall evolved from creamery
2. January 06, 2011 Sunderland’s Town Hall
3. March 02, 2011 Brock House’s storied history
4. September 09, 2011 The Bagshaw clock
5. November 13, 2014 War of 1812 veteran honoured
6. March 23, 2018 How our ancestors ended up where they did
7. March 30, 2018 Whiskey & the railroad change close knit towns in Brock
8. May 04, 2018 The day Sunderland went up in smoke
9. May 30, 2018 Brock’s Palatine families
10. September 29,2018 Sunderland’s Museum, a treasure trove
11. October 16, 2018 The day the Vrooman family helped save Canada
12. October 29, 2018 Sunderland group pay tribute to veterans

(click a title to access article)

The post Brock Citizen Articles appeared first on The Sunderland & District Historical Society.

In 1818, leaving his wife and nine children in England, Bagshaw travelled to Canada where he had been given an initial land grant of 200 acres in Brock Township. As one of the area’s first settlers, he laboured single-handedly on lot 5 on the 9th concession to clear a portion of land and build a cabin. When finished, he sent for his wife who arrived December 1819 with the children. Subsequently, Bagshaw’s holdings grew to 700 acres and the log cabin was replaced by larger homes to house the couple’s large family which grew to 17 children.

William became Brock Township’s first postmaster and was also appointed a Justice of the Peace empowering him to officiate marriages, conduct funerals, and settle legal disputes.

A keen British loyalist, during the Rebellion of 1837, Bagshaw organized a committee to support the government and maintain peace. In this capacity, he was placed in charge of a jail holding rebels awaiting trial back in Toronto.

Land from William’s original farm was allocated for the Bagshaw Cemetery.

• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/135993734/william-bagshaw: accessed June 27, 2026), memorial page for William Bagshaw (23 Dec 1808–29 Jul 1877), Find a Grave Memorial ID 135993734, citing Bagshaw Cemetery, Sunderland, Durham Regional Municipality, Ontario, Canada; Maintained by HeatherMcKibbon (contributor 48167567).

The post William Bagshaw appeared first on The Sunderland & District Historical Society.