PIONEER MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT
In the early days of the settlement the all-important question was how to facilitate the means of travel. The settlers were few and far between; and this “between” was an unbroken forest crossed by streams, sand ridges with almost perpendicular sides, and miry swales. They were not troubled with the scientific problems demanding a solution at the present time as, for instance, the proper proportions of a turnpike, the best approved methods of draining, or the most scientific way of preparing and applying a metal covering. It was a question of how to find a track through the woods wide enough for an ox-cart to pass through; of how to get over the streams and up the hills, and how to pass over the bogs without danger of sinking beneath the surface. The first roads were run where the natural obstructions offered the least resistance, and this accounts for the old cross-lots roads that everywhere abounded.
For more than a year after the new province was organized there was no system devised for the regulation of these matters. Sir John Graves Simcoe and the most of his subjects were U.E. Loyalists.[1] They had passed through the war of the Revolution, and had not forgotten what an effective means for the propagation of sedition of the old town-meetings in the colonies had proved to be, and they were averse to the adoption of the system in the new province. The magistrates and the omnipresent constable in Quarter Sessions assembled, were early imbued with power to deal out justice to the settlers and regulate and manage local affairs. The “squire” was a consequential personage in the early times.[2] The province was divided into districts, and from time to time sub-divisions into other and separate districts were made, and each district was governed by a Court of Quarter Sessions. The enabling Acts of the Legislature were ambiguous and vaguely defined, and a very great latitude was allowed the justices in the exercise of the powers delegated to them. From the opening of the first session of the Legislature down to the adoption of the municipal system there was no material change in the principle underlying the management of municipal affairs. The house-holders and freeholders subject to assessment were permitted to assemble themselves together once a year and elect certain township officers, but the officials thus elected and the town-meeting itself were subject, to a greater or less extent, to the supervising control of the almost autocratic Court of Sessions. The “Sessions” was the “Star Chamber” of pioneer times, not that it abused its powers, but by reason of the scope of the powers invested in it. Its function was not confined to “keeping the peace in the said district, and also to hear and determine divers felonies, trespasses and other misdemeanors,” it was a council for the administration of municipal affairs for the entire district.
In order to facilitate the manifold duties of the Justices in Session, it was early enacted that “any two or more justices, acting within the limits of their jurisdiction, may assemble, sit and hold a court, to be called a Court of Requests, on the first and third Saturdays of every month, at some fixed place within their divisions, said divisions to be determined by the Justices in Session.” These divisional courts were authorized to hear and determine all matters of debt where the value of the claim did not exceed a certain fixed sum. Thus was laid the foundation of our Division Court system.
In 1798 Walpole and Rainham were annexed to Norfolk County, and these two townships with Townsend and Woodhouse, formed one of these divisions after the district was organized in 1800, the presiding justices being Samuel Ryerse, John Beemer and Wynant Williams, and the court was held at the house of James Clendenning, in Woodhouse.
In 1801 Walsingham was given a Court of Requests under Samuel Ryerse and John Backhouse; and in 1804 we find the Courts of Requests constituted in London District as follows: Walsingham, under Elias Foster and William Hutchinson; Charlotteville, under Peter Teeple and N. B. Barnum; Woodhouse, Walpole and Rainham, under Wynant Williams and John Coltman; Townsend, Windham and Burford, under John Beemer and William Tyler; and Blenheim, Oxford and Delaware, under Thomas Horner, Daniel Springer and Thomas Ingersoll.
These Courts of Requests exercised authority over the overseers of highways, as evidenced by the following Road Order issued by the Charlotteville Court of Requests:
“Norfolk County, District of London.
“Charlotteville, Sept. 20th, 1804.
“Ordered by the Commissioners that Abraham Powell, overseer, perform the labour on the public roads from James Russell’s mill to William Culver’s mill, and through by Lot Tisdale’s, to the Front Road at Potter’s Creek.
“Nathan B. Barnum,
“Peter Teeple.”
Even members of Parliament were forced to rely upon the Court of Sessions for remuneration for their services, as the following entry in the old journal, dated March 12th, 1806, will show:
“It is ordered that a full rate of assessment be collected for the present year, and that one-fifth be added to pay Benijah Mallory, Esq., the representative in Parliament for the District of London, for his services as such for thirty-nine days in the second session of the fourth provincial parliament, at ten shillings per day, amounting to £19 10s. 0d.”
The early settlers in Upper Canada were, in the main, honest, peaceable and industrious. For many years they were wholly occupied in hewing out homes for themselves, and the principal demand on the Legislature, therefore, was for a provision of ways and means for the opening of public highways and the building of bridges. The continuous advance of settlement necessitated an annual “tinkering” with the assessment and statute labor laws, and the laws creating parish and township officials and defining their duties. Although the changes were numerous they were trifling in their nature, and did not materially lessen the authority of the justices or give the electorate more power in the management of their local affairs. Taxation was based on fixed or specific valuations. In other words, all taxable real and personal property was particularized, and a fixed value placed thereon by statutory enactment for purposes of taxation; and as property rapidly appreciated in value in the development of the new country, the laws were frequently altered. In 1819 a more general assessment law was enacted from which the following is quoted:
“Every acre of arable pasture or meadow land, twenty shillings; every acre of uncultivated land, four shillings; every house built with timber, squared or hewed on two sides, of one story in height, with not more than two fireplaces, twenty pounds, and for every additional fireplace, four pounds; every dwelling-house built of squared or flattened timber on two sides, of two stories in height, with not more than two fireplaces, thirty pounds, and every additional fireplace, five pounds; every brick or stone house of one storey in height, with not more than two fireplaces, forty pounds, and for every additional fireplace, ten pounds; every brick or stone house of two stories in height, with not more than two fireplaces, sixty pounds, and every additional fireplace, ten pounds; every grist-mill run by water, with one pair of stones, one hundred and fifty pounds, and every additional pair, fifty pounds; every saw mill, one hundred pounds; every merchant’s shop, two hundred pounds; every store-house, two hundred pounds; every horse of the age of three years and upwards, eight pounds; oxen of the age of four years and upwards, each four pounds; and milch cows, three pounds; horned cattle from the age of two to four years, twenty shillings; every close carriage with four wheels kept for pleasure, one hundred pounds; every open carriage with four wheels, kept for pleasure only, twenty-five pounds; every two-wheel vehicle, kept for pleasure, twenty pounds; and every wagon kept for pleasure, fifteen pounds.”
In 1815 the Legislature voted £2,000 for building a jail and court-house at Vittoria, and, in 1823, the justices were authorized to borrow £1,000 to complete it. In 1826 it was destroyed by fire, and the district town was established at London.
Charlotteville was the centre of population in the early years of the settlement. For some reason, in 1809, there was no town meeting held in the township; and the justices in session had to take the matter in hand, as shown by the following entry:
“There having been no town meeting held in and for the Township of Charlotteville according to law, on the 6th day of March, 1809, the Court do appoint the following town officers; Town clerk, John Kern; assessors, John Kern and Francis L. Walsh; collector, Silas Montross; pound-keepers, Robert Henderson and Robert Monroe; town wardens, John Stone and Titus Finch; overseers of roads, John Loder, Moses Rice, Silas Montross, Job Loder, Platt Wood, Daniel McCall, jun., Robert McCracken and Richard Lanning.”
To show how the township clerks earned their pay in pioneer times, the following entry, dated June 11th, 1806, will suffice:
“It is ordered (by the squires, of course) that the several town clerks within this London District, in future, and including the present year, to receive five shillings lawful money of this Province, for each hundred names which shall be contained in the population by them made out and to be made out, provided such population roll or rolls be made up carefully and in due time.”
In these primitive times it did not require a large box to hold the public cash. On June 13th, 1805, the following minute went on record:
“District treasurer’s account examined and approved—except one certificate for a wolf’s head, which he promised to account for. Cash in the treasury, £1 18s. 11d.”
In pioneer times bounties were paid for wolves’ heads, and when there was no cash in the treasury the bounties were paid with “certificates,” which were made a legal tender for the payment of all public dues. As late as 1836 the bounty paid for a wolf’s head with the ears on was £1 10s. 0d. It is no wonder that many settlers in the back townships paid for their lands with “wolf’s-head certificates.”
As the revenues of the Province increased legislative grants for the opening of roads and building of bridges became larger in amount and more wide-reaching in their application. Of the sum apportioned to London District, in the grant of 1807, the Justices in Session at Turkey Point ordered £50 thereof to be applied in the Township of Westminster, and £150 to be laid out on the north side of the River Thames, so as to meet the provincial road through the Western District. Joseph Ryerson was allowed five pounds for carrying this money up from York.
Our grandfathers looked upon old-fashioned legal phraseology with a sort of superstitious awe, and hence we find their old contracts and business papers encumbered with a jargon of superfluous words and phrases. The following is a sample:
“Received of Joseph Tisdale in full of all Dues, Debts and Demands, from the beginning of the world, down to this date, as witnessing my hand. “Jas. Chittendon.
“Amherstburg, 18th November, 1804.”
The oldest town minutes of the township of Charlotteville, which have been preserved, are those of 1836, the last year of Norfolk’s history as a part of London District. At this town meeting, which was held at Lamport’s tavern, Vittoria, Daniel McCall was chosen chairman, and the assembled freeholders elected the following parish or township officers: John Bell, town clerk; Walter Anderson, Joseph Kitchen and Joseph Anderson, town commissioners; Ephraim Tisdale, assessor and collector; Ephraim Tisdale and Murdock McLennan, pound-keepers; and Ephraim Tisdale, Benjamin Palmerston and Christopher Kern, fence viewers. Of the twenty-five pathmasters elected, not one survives—the late Thomas Hart being the last one. The electors determined a lawful fine for the ensuing year, as follows: Height, four feet and six inches, to be staked or locked. The sunning at large of domestic animals was voted as follows: Boars, rams and entire horses over two years of age prohibited; “all horned cattle not prohibited.” Pound-keepers’ fees and duties were defined as follows: For impounding horses and horned cattle, one shilling per head, each to be fed thirty pounds of hay per day, and watered twice each day; fee for feeding, per head, sixpence; and for delivery, per head, one shilling. The assessor’s roll at this meeting gave the population of the township as 856 males and 722 females.
In 1838 a general law was enacted regulating the appointment and duties of township officers, but the old-time powers of the Justices in Session were retained. Indeed, under this “modern” Act a town meeting could not even be held without the clerk having first obtained a warrant from the Justices of the Peace. The only thing in the Act pointing to the coming municipal system was the provision made for three additional township officers, termed “Town Wardens.” The Act provided that these wardens “and their successors duly appointed, shall be a corporation to represent the whole inhabitants of the township for which they are town wardens, and as such, may have and hold the property of, or belonging to, the township, and shall and may sue, prosecute or defend, in all presentments, indictments or actions for and on behalf of the said township.” They were also constituted a sort of court of appeal for persons who felt aggrieved on account of statute labor exactions on the part of the overseers of highways. With this exception of the authority of the Justices in Session was not materially lessened by the act. In this same year the Justices of Talbot District were authorized to levy an additional assessment to liquidate the cost of the new jail and courthouse at Simcoe, which the creation of the new district in 1837 made necessary. In 1826 the townships of Walpole and Rainham were annexed to the County of Haldimand, and Norfolk became Talbot District, with the same territory it has at present.
The first Talbot District Council, under the District Council Act, convened at Simcoe, February 8th, 1842, and consisted of nine members: Israel Wood Powell (warden), Walter Anderson, Thomas Backhouse, John B. Crouse, Nelson Eagles, James L. Green, Lawrence H. Hunt, Jesse Millard and Peter O’Carr. Mr. Powell was not elected warden by his fellow councillors; he received the wardenship by letters patent under the great seal of the Province, signed by Sir Richard Downes Jackson, K.C.B., administrator of the Government. The document was dated at Kingston, December 23rd, 1841.
These first District Councillors were not only loyal, but they felt the dignity of their position, as evidenced by the wording of one of the forty rules drafted at this first session. In effect it provided that no councillor should speak disrespectfully of the Queen, the Royal family, or those in authority; nor should they use “unmannerly or indecent language against the proceedings of the council or against particular councillors.” Dr. Crouse championed the cause of education, and before the session ended the townships were divided into school sections as follows: Townsend, nineteen; Windham, ten; Middleton, four; Charlottesville, eleven; Woodhouse and Gore, including Simcoe, eleven; Walsingham, six; and Houghton, three sections. Many requests were made for roads and bridges, and numerous applications made for the position of clerk. Three names were presented to the Governor for choice, with the understanding that whoever was chosen must be a resident of Simcoe on or before the first of May following.
A statute labour bill was passed, which became law on February 12th, 1842; and the preparation of an address of welcome to the new Governor-General, Sir Charles Bagot, G.C.B., closed this first session of the Talbot District Council.
At the second session Frederick Thomas Wilkes received the appointment of clerk, and Axford Bowlby took a seat in the council as representative from Woodhouse, in place of John Decew, deceased. These district councils came to an end in 1849, when Norfolk became once more the County of Norfolk, and the County and Township Municipal system came into operation.
The first Municipal Council of the County of Norfolk, convened on Monday, January 28th, 1850, being composed of nine members—John Becker Crouse, reeve of Woodhouse, warden; Israel Wood Powell, deputy-reeve of Woodhouse; Thomas W. Clark, reeve of Townsend; Oliver Blake, deputy-reeve of Townsend; Lawrence H. Hunt, reeve of Windham; Simpson McCall, reeve of Charlotteville; Roger Crysler, reeve of Middleton; Titus Williams, reeve of Walsingham, and Peter Coughell, reeve of Houghton. Stephen J. Fuller was the first county clerk.
The warden was sworn into office by the district judge, William Salmon.
In 1851 Simcoe was represented in the council by N. C. Ford, the first reeve. At this second council Lawrence H. Hunt was elected warden, an honor which was conferred upon him for five consecutive years. He was elected the sixth year but declined in favor of Walker Powell. Mr. Fuller died during this term, and James Ermatinger became the second clerk. In 1857 Aquila Walsh was returned reeve of Simcoe, and Simpson McCall was elected warden.
Since 1857 the warden’s chair has been occupied as follows: 1858, Daniel Matthews, Windham; 1859-60, Simpson McCall, Charlotteville; 1861, Peter Young, Charlotteville; 1862-63-64, Wm. M. Wilson, Simcoe; 1865-66-67-68-69-70, D. Matthews, Windham; 1871, Jacob Sovereign, Middleton; 1872-73, Dr. John Wilson, Simcoe; 1874-75, Jacob Sovereign, Middleton; 1876-77, Dr. John Wilson, Simcoe; 1878-79, Wm. Wilson, Simcoe; 1880-81, Thomas W. Walsh, Simcoe; 1882, John Ostrander, Middleton; 1883, D. A. McCall, Charlottelville; 1884, Wm. Dawson, Charlotteville; 1885, Charles Dickison, Houghton; 1886, Ozias Ansley, Woodhouse; 1887, Dr. Tweedale, Walsingham; 1888, Roger Crysler, Middleton; 1889-90, L. L. Sovereign, Waterford; 1891, R. M. Wilson, Windham; 1892, H. W. Ansley, Port Dover; 1893, J. G. Wyckoff, Townsend; 1894, J. Cope, Walsingham; 1895, J. D. Clement, Windham; 1896, O. Hendry, Simcoe.
The year 1896 was the last year under the old Municipal Act system. The present council (1897) came into existence by virtue of an Act which divides the county into five divisions numbered and styled “County Council Divisions,” each being entitled to two representatives elected by the people. The old council had increased to twenty-five members, while in the new there are only ten. The new members and the divisions they represent, are as follows:
Dr. T. Snider and Wm. Shearer, for Division No. 1, including Townsend and Waterford.
James Leask and Geo. Brown, for Division No. 2, including Windham and Delhi.
Dr. J. M. Tweedale and W. Kelley, for Division No. 3, including Middleton, North Walsingham and Houghton.
Wm. Dawson and W. H. Anderson, for Division No. 4, including South Walsingham and Charlotteville.
Oliver Austin and H. W. Ansley, for Division No. 5, including Woodhouse and Simcoe.
Geo. Brown, of Division No. 2, died before the new council convened.
Dr. Tweedale became the first warden under the present system.
[1] It is noted that the first Governor of Upper Canada, John Graves Simcoe was never knighted, so the title of “Sir” does not apply. It might be more appropriate to say that many of the pioneers of that day were United Empire Loyalists, but certainly not most. Some were young men and women in the 1790’s who took advantage of Simcoe’s offer of free land. Others came directly from England and Germany. Someeven served in the Patriot forces during the American Revolution.
[2] The title of “Esquire”, shortened to “Squire” was given to Justices of the Peace who presided over the District Courts.