The following description of Willoughby Township and its villages is quoted from the Illustrated Historical Atlas of the Counties of Lincoln and Welland, Ont. Toronto: H.R. Page & Co., 1876.
This township is bounded on the north by the township of Stamford, on the east by the Niagara River, on the south by the township of Bertie, and on the west by the township of Crowland. This township was first settled in 1784, the year that most of the townships bordering on Niagara River and the lake commenced to receive their pioneers. It was surveyed in 1787, and the land, which consists of clay in some parts, but a rich loam elsewhere could in that early day be bought for one shilling per acre.
In the year 1817, the township contained nearly four hundred and fifty inhabitants, and land which was only worth one shilling per acre in 1787 had increased in value to twenty-five shillings per acre, and in 1850 the inhabitants had increased in number to nine hundred and seventy. The township contains eighteen thousand six hundred and ninety-six acres, and in passing through it an observer notices fine farms and residences on every side. During the war of 1812, the inhabitants of this township lost much from the causes which usually follow war.
Willoughby township, containing but little over eighteen thousand acres, is small compared with other townships in Ontario, still it may be said to be a very progressive township considering the great disadvantages which it has labored under. A swamp running through the center from the south east corner to the south west corner, and generally called the Tamarack Swamp, for many years was looked upon as an almost insurmountable obstacle to this township ever becoming much settled; and until the year 1830, there was but little land cleared back of the first and second concessions, that is from the river front and the bush, which was nearly two hundred acres in breadth, and at one point reached to the river.
Whilst most of the land was owned by actual residents, still a great deal was owned by non-residents who paid but a light tax, throwing the burden on the settlers, who were striving through all the troubles incident to the opening of a new country to make homes for themselves and those who should live after them.
In the north west part of the township a settlement had commenced and a single road wound its way along the banks of Lyon’s creek to the village of Chippawa. The roads in the vicinity, aside from the one leading to Chippawa, were commonly called winter roads. In 1852 there was but one road leading through the tamarack swamp from east to west, now there are several, and the roads leading north and south on the east side of th swamp are mostly in good state of travel.
About the year 1830, many of the townships along the river received many Germans as settlers, and in the township of Willoughby many bought small lots of bush land, seldom over fifty acres, and paid for them chiefly by chopping the wood into cord wood and drawing it to Chippawa, where they only received from seventy-five cents per one dollar a cord for it; in this way they would pay for their land and enlarge their borders, and some of them are now the owners of two hundred acres of good farm land. Wheat, barley, oats, and hay are the principal crops.
Navy Island in the Niagara River is counted as part of this township of Willoughby and consists of about three hundred acres; and until lately has been government land, the occupants holding licenses from the government. In the year 1837, during the Rebellion, many of those who took part in it made Navy Island their head quarters until obliged to disperse by the Canadian troops. Navy Island has lately been purchased by a party of gentlemen who are now laying it off into pleasure grounds and hope to make an attractive summer resort of it.
Among the oldest families who settled in this vicinity may be mentioned the following persons;—the Warrens, Gilmore’s, Benjamin, Abraham and Peter Wintermute, John Ashbaugh, Henry Hershey, Christopher Riselay, Gilman, Wilson, J. Grove, Andrew Miller, J. Miller, Lewis Maybee, John Palmer, H. Haverland, George House, J. Morningstar, Abraham Beam, Martin Beam, Parshall Terry (who was a member of the first parliament in Upper Canada); Robert McKindley, M. & J. Gonder, James Smith, Calvin Thomas, C. Richardson, C. Uineke, Dr. Hersley, B. Bowman, C. Hersley, Peter Coldrake, Joseph Price, Judge Street (who was the promoter of the grove opposite Navy Island); Thomas Cummings, and the late James Cummings, Esq.
The various disturbances which have taken place along the Niagara River, viz;—the war of 1812—the Rebellion of 1837—and the Fenian raid of 1867, have been a great reason why many settlers along the line have not built as many fine residences, and as many improvements as in some of the interior townships, for during all of these occurrences troops have been quartered among the citizens, and it may be mentioned that during the Campaign of Navy Island in 1837-38 every house from Chippawa to Black Rock, a distance of 7 miles, was then occupied by troops.
A few years since the inhabitants all along the line commenced to make improvements, and at the present time a few residences and well tilled farms cannot be surpassed in any part of the Dominion of Canada.
Village of Black Creek, a small place, is situated upon a creek by that name which joins the Niagara River in the south eastern part of the township of Willoughby. It has a common school, a church or two, and two or three general stores, and has railway communication by means of the Canada Southern Railway.
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Chippawa, an incorporated town, part of which is in the township of Willoughby, in the northeastern part, is a place of about fourteen hundred people, and does a good local business. An extensive distillery and two tanneries, situated here, give employment to a large number of persons. Chippawa is situated at the confluence of the Niagara and Welland Rivers, and is a port of entry.
The first settlement dates back to 1784, when a family or two made homes here. The settlement of all the townships and hamlets was first made along the water courses on account of travelling by boats and canoes, being much easier and more expeditious than through the almost trackless forests. For this reason we find the townships along the lakes and Niagara River commenced to receive settlers, some years before the interior townships, and Chippawa was for many years a sort of half-way station for those who brought goods by teams from Niagara to be re-shipped again on Lake Erie from different stations on the upper lakes.