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: by William Brock Who was Peter Perry? G. HM. Armstrongs 'The Origin and Meaning of Place Names in Canada' states This information had been proferred by Thomas H. Follick, Principal of Port Perry High School at time of printing in the 1920. Most of his information seems to have come from Beer's Atias of Ontario County (1887). This has been about the full extent of information we have had about the name Port Perry. Many people have recently been asking -- ls it true? Who was Peter Perry'? Members of the Scugog Shores Museum on a recent visit to the Ontario Archives im Toronto were delighted to come upon the answer to the Peter Perry mystery. Although the information has been there for the asking for some years, it is approp- raite that it comes to light in Port Perry in this Centennial year. Local citizens will be proud to learn that our home-town bears the name of one of the unsung heroes of Upper Canada; A leading member of the Reform party from 1824 to 1836 and member of the Legislative Assembly in Toronto for those years; a speaker dreaded by the ruling Family Compact and the subject of a vitriolic pamphiet by the influent Did You Know? Years ago Thomas Crapper "CRAPPERS" Valveless Water Waste Preventor Page 20 -- WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 1971 'by the influential Tory, Egerton Ryer- son; a prime mover in the development of Whitby Harbour; an officer of the Windsor Road Company (Whitby was at one time Windsor Bay) which established the toll read opening the back of the county to the 'Front'; a leader in the 'Clear Grit' party in 1849 under Robert Baldwin, and one of our early M.L.A.'s; a power behind the move to separate Ontario County from York (the so-called Home District) in 1851. This was Peter Perry. PORT PERRY STAR ye CENTENNIAL EDITION PETER PERRY 1793-1851 that he was considered for the leadership of the reform movement. In 1836, how- ever, at a time when the Reformers actually held a majority in the Assembly but were being frustrated at every turn by the entrenched oligarchy, the famous desperate and abortive Rebellion in 1837. Perry, although an extreme radical him- self, took no part in the rebellion -- possibly because he had not yet estabi- ished himself politically in his new riding, or because he was perhaps just too busy with his new business plans. In addition, he was known to istrust William Lyon Mackenzie and may have wanted no part im the rebellion for that reason. At any rate, had he joined in the rebellion, his fame might have lived on in Ontario County. Perry's dealings in all the produce of the hinterland interested him in the de- velopment of Windsor Harbour and in communication with the north. Around 1840 he established the store at Scugog plan of the village drawn by John Shier, Provincial Land Surveyor, was registered on January 2, 1855, four years after his death. Although 'Port Perry' would not rise to prominence until the coming of the railroad in 1872, its location and basic outline had been established. EGE. ztg : teed See Hig ihe in Ff 4 ; the American, the Ridea u Canal, and the fight for responsible government which went on and was won without Perry. The registration of his plan in the Registry Office in 1855 was probably one of the earliest official uses of the new name, "Who was Peter Perry?" if asked at all locally in 1872 would have received only vague answers from a few old-timers, and by 1900 no answers at all. %& If one were still disposed to ask, "Who 1880 might provide a fitting epitaph. -- "In private, as well as in public, Mr. Perry lived an eminently useful life, being kind to the poor and a friend to everybody. His generosity was sometimes imposed upon but he preferred to 'err on vitue's side' rather than stop to short, his life was spent for the bene- fit of his neighbours, his constituents and his country, and he knew what it was to tire in such noble work." Perhaps the time has come this year, 120 years after Perry's death for us in ey ey ee es -- + ae ee oe St my comet pan enateanen - ee came ow 2a oe eee | Se ee ee mtg te eee oe ee ieteeecteneatitieenestiiiediianl on Seg Gore ee Thee ee ge see em ee ee ee ee ----m + me cates ten ot ees ee ---- tm ee et ee come em etme tog es tee eae aaa ey teem a meet me 2 ¢ ee & 68 eee _-- ee ae ee ee mo Torta He guts ab oe oe ------ ee tees ee ee ee es ere ee a ee te me re ee + Fae Ree, ee em ---- <M re ee [2 ------ < o a ene ee eee ee ne net ee -- eee Ne cee Segeret se oem om the ine em iatenemnme ewes! ' sagethesrenl emai cen L ee Murray Burntield PLUMBING - HEATING - ELECTRIC SUPPLIES The Ontario Bank in which Miss Christie made her deposit of $100, mentioned in her diary on page three, It stood directly across Queen Street from the present Bank of Com- merce.