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| Name |
James Wallace [1] |
| Gender |
Male |
| Person ID |
I05830 |
All |
| Last Modified |
10 Dec 2006 |
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| Notes |
- http://www.waynecook.com/zbradford.html#historya located on November 8, 2005
The following history is verbatim from the book "The History of Simcoe County" by Andrew F. Hunter. First published in 1909 and reproduced in 1948 by the Simcoe County Historical Society.
WEST GWILLIMBURY
BRADFORD AND ITS NEIGHBORHOOD
The settlers who first crossed the Holland River arrived in the fall of 1819, and were three Irishmen - James Wallace, Lewis Algeo and Robert Armstrong. Armstrong came from the County of Leitrim, with a family, and settled on lot 13, con. 6, within two miles of the present site of Bradford. He had a large family, chiefly boys, Christopher Thomas, John, Robert, William, Simon, James and Allan, from whom have come a numerous lineage. Christopher, the eldest, did not take up with bush life, but studied law, and afterwards became a judge in Carleton County.
James Wallace, was a native of King's County, Ireland, and on arriving in West Gwillimbury he settled on the S. half, lot 14, con. 6. Near his place was the "Old Wharf," or "Wallace's Wharf," as many called it - the first crossing on the Holland River, used by the earliest settlers, until 1824, when the corduroy and floating bridge came into use. There was a ferry here, and a rope strung across the river, by which all the early settlers crossed in a boat. After Mr. Wallace arrived he married Martha Walker, whose family (Walker) became pioneers in Tecumseth. The first beef killed in the Township of West Gwillimbury was in Wallace's log barn. During the night following, a wolf crawled into the barn through a hole and ate so much beef that he could not get back through the hole, so they shot him in the barn next morning. Mr. Wallace died in March, 1848, aged 48 years. His family consisted of five sons and seven daughters, most of whom reached manhood and womanhood.
Lewis Algeo, the pioneer of lot 13, con. 7, wore with him to the backwoods a belt or girdle containing seven hundred sovereigns, according to a custom of the time to carry one's coins in a belt. As it was easy to get rid of money fast in such a place and at such a time of hardship, his little pile of gold soon grew less. He was of Italian extraction, but immediately from Ireland, his wife being a daughter of Robert Armstrong, his pioneer neighbor. It is said she was the first white woman to cross the Holland River. Their children were partly grown when they came in 1819. The Algeo family made some clearing on the land mentioned, then sold it to Hugh Scobie, and afterwards had a small store in Bradford in its early days. Mr. Algeo's death occured in or about the year 1839, and his family mostly became permanent settlers in this county.
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