The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

wd Peter Perry: His 200th birthday this week [from page 28 | developed to link the settlements at English Corners (Columbus), O'Boyles (Raglan), Dayton's Corners (Prince Albert) and Crandell's Corners (Borelia, now western portion of Port Perry focussed at the corner of Queen and Old Simcoe Streets). Reuben Crandell had, in 1831, moved from his log cabin at Manchester to purchase the area bounded by the seventh concession (the Arena Road), down Simcoe Street (formerly Lilla Street) to Highway 7A, along 7A to where it meets Queen Street and north from there back to the seventh concession. Abner Hurd and Daniel Drayton had started their settlement at what is now Prince Albert in 1824 and by the time of Perry's arrival twenty years later, it had grown into a thriving village of two hundred people with five stores, two taverns, a blacksmith shop and, no doubt Perry's approval, a Methodist church. Prince Albert was prospering as a grain handling centre for the settlers on Scugog Island and the areas to the south and east. Manchester and Prince Albert shared in the grain handling business sustained by the fact that, according to an 1840 survey, Reach Township had a' population of 771 settlers who occupied over 12,000 acres and had" 2600 acres under cultivation. By 1850 Prince Albert handled more grain than anywhere else in Canada except Brampton! Why no one had the foresight to settle on and develop the south western shore of Lake Scugog remains obscure. Perhaps it was because no one had considered the potential of the timber trade and nor did anyone have Perry's foresight to lure the timber trade to the south end of the lake away from the Trent system. Nevertheless in 1844 Peter Perry arrived at this location to find it devoid of settlement. Perry set about having his store built on what is now the south-west corner of Queen and Water Street, where Remax Real Estate now stands. He did not stay here but put Chester Draper in charge of the store with living quarters at the back. Peter Perry was not hesitant in selling his idea of developing the timber trade. He drew up a street plan in 1845 which consisted of Water Street, Queen Street, Perry Street, Mary Street (named after his wife), John Street (named after his first child), this is now Casimir Street, named after Sir Casimir Gsowski the railroad designer and builder. With this plan, which he called Scugog Village, Perry had no difficulty in getting potential investors to see his practical approach to establishing an +41 + and, in 1848, the settlement had its first hotel, built right next door to Perry's store at the waterfront. By 1850 Perry's dream of a small settlement was well on its way to exceed his initial concept. The lumber business was 80 successful that Hugh Chisolm of Whitby built a steamship, which he appropriately named the "Woodman" to tow the logs from the north end of the lake to Scugog Village where they were milled and eventually taken down to the Oshawa and Whitby harbours and loaded onto shipe bound for Upper New York State. .There are many homes in the Rochester and Oswego area which were management and in 1848 began the movement to sever the eastern townships of the Home District and establish a new district with Whitby as its capital or county tawn. He campaigned actively for this issue travelling widely throughout the region trying to rally support for his idea. One of the main inducements for his idea was a promise, that upon separation, Perry and his business associates would build a railroad from Whitby to Lake Scugog. In addition to his commercial ventures, he b Ived in educati and obtained a charter which established the first Grammar School (Secondary School) in the region, Whitby Grammar built from the timber milled at School in 1846. Perry's Scugog Village. Perry has actively While this growth has taken campaigned for every Reform place, Perry had pe ded the Party didate in the riding government to pay for the further improvement of the two southbound roads, In order to. consolidate? his businesses in Whitby and Scugog Village, in 1850 he managed to buy the Centre Line road and the. Whitby harbour from the government and incorporated them into the "Port Whitby, Lake Scugog, Simcoe and Huron Road Company." It should be expanding This plan for Scugog Village was not officially registered until four years after his death. Perry approached Thomas Sexton, William Paxton and Daniel Way encouraging them to build a saw mill on the site of the present Birdseye Park, just north of the library. This they did in the spring of 1846. The next year another mill was built by Samuel Hill of Whitby, pointed out that Perry's road and the rival Nonquon road were toll roads generating a small income for their owners who in turn provided jobs for the tollbooth operators along their routes. Perry had not lost his addiction to politics. He was a councillor on the Home District Council. In this capacity he saw that the Home District was too unwieldly for efficient M port parry pri 201 NORTH STREET ting RUBBER STAMPS % MAGNETIC SIGNS * INSTANT PRINTING WEDDING INVITATIONS % . CREATIVE DESIGN and LAYOUT % QUALITY PROCESS and COLOUR PRINTING %* COMPUTER and CUSTOM BUSINESS FORMS 3% | limited 985-9755 since his arrival here in 1836. The latest of these, William Hume Blake, resigned his seat late 1849 in order to accept an appointment as Chancellor. Perry was persuaded to accept the nomination as pl and seek electi in 1850. He did,and he won decisively. Unfortunately, by the time spring had arrived Perry had become seriously ill with a kidney disorder. He recovered sufficiently to take his seat by July and argued effectively for the issue of creating the new Ontario County. The following spring he decided to visit his old friend Marshall Spring Bidwell, now a successful and highly respected lawyer in New York. On the same journey he visited the fashionable health resort at Saratoga Springs in New York State. It was there that he passed away on the morning of August 24, 1851. His body was brought back to Whitby for a huge funeral and burial. He was eulogized in all the major newspapers in the country. The Perrys' had eight children, Cindrella born in 1815, followed by Jane, Hannah, Mary, Jemima, Robert, Sarah, James and finally in 1829, John Ham Perry. Their youngest son lived his entire adult life in Whitby where he followed in his father's footsteps as a highly respected politician at the municipal level; Councillor, Reeve, mayor, and Warden. In April 1863 Parliament granted a charter to the Port Whitby and Lake Huron Railroad Company with John Ham Perry, Peter's son, as its y-tr CO > y it wasn't until 1871 that the first train ran to link Peter Perry's two settlements, Whitby and Port Perry. In the year of his death, another of his goals was achieved; by an act of ParliamentYork County was divided into three counties: York, Peel and Ontario. But the goal for which Peter Perry had struggled for many years, that of Responsible Government, was clearly in sight. In the year of his death, the elected Assembly was given control of the purse strings of the province. In 18563 most people were given the vote, and finally, in 1863, the Legislative Council, was made elective, completing Perry's dream. ' Immediately after his death in 1851, in honour of Peter Perry's vision for a thriving settlement on the south western shore of Lake Scugog, Scugog Village was renamed Port Perry. Businessman, politician and visionary, a man of humble but proud origins, Peter Perry gave much of his life to build our nation. On November 14 this year we celebrate the two hundredth anniversary of his birth. Let us take pride in the legacy which Peter Perry left in our community and in our province, and the part it played in the fabric of our national heritage. : News from the Christian School One of the more exciting events at Scugog Christian School this month was the performance of the grade 7 and I crain | MARKET REPORT 8 stud at the recent soccer tournament in Bowmanville. For the first time ever our team placed first in our division and came home with a trophy. Our students also got plenty of exercise at the school walk-a- thon held recently at Long Sault Conservation Area. Children and parents had a day of fun and exercise, and the event was also an excellent fund raiser, as we made over $6,000. Includes basis price Our thanks go to the many local - basi and individuals who Bute! $ {Metric sponsored various students. New Com 232 9133 Last week our students took 631 23186 part in the Canadian Test of Now Soys Basic Skills. This is a New Canola 266.20 standardized academic test which is administered in both Prices supplied courtesy of public schools and Christian W.G. THOMPSON schools. The results a used SONS LIMITED chart the progress of schools & and of individual students. RR. 1, Bethany, When we took part in the test Hwy. 7A & 35 two years ago we were very pleased with the results. .