A group of Oakville and Mississauga citizens have joined together to commemorate the hamlet of Sheridan, which stood at the intersection of the QEW and Winston Churchill Blvd.
A monument was dedicated at the site of the village, now vanished, on Sat., May 24.
The project was made possible through the co-operation of the Oakville Historical Society, provincial and municipal officials, local businesses and the donations of more than 300 descendants of families that lived in the area in the 19th century.
The monument was made of riverstone taken from the foundation of the Lawrence barn, one of the last buildings in Sheridan, demolished in 1977.
It was designed by Professor Thomas F. McIlwraith of the Erindale Campus, University of Toronto in Mississauga, and has three plaques mounted on it. One gives a brief history of the hamlet, another lists the names of sixty old Sheridan families, and the third is a detailed map of the hamlet as it was in 1936.
Sheridan was named for the Irish playwright and orator Richard B. Sheridan (1751-1816). The name was given to the hamlet by an ancestor of Mississauga businessman Wallace Oughtred, one of the organizers of the project.
Sheridan was first settled in the 1820s and its population reached a high of about 100 in the 1880's.
Businesses included a blacksmith, wagonmaker, storekeeper and agricultural implement dealer. The post office served farms between Clarkson Road and Oakville and from north of Dundas down the railway.
Decline began when the QEW was put through in 1937, and the last building - Sheridan United Church - was demolished in 1977 to make way for the Winston Churchill overpass.
Descendants of Sheridan or others who wish to support this project may send cheques, made out to "Sheridan Memorial Cairn Trust," care of Mr. William Savage, 157 Reynolds St., Oakville, Ontario, L6J 3K8.
A receipt for income taxes will be issued by the Oakville Historical Society.
The following names of families living at Sheridan before 1900 appear on the monument: Adamson, Allen, Antery, Bentley, Cavell, Clark, Conover, Cornwall, Cowie, Culham, Devlin, Falconer, Fenix, Freeman, Gable, Gilby, Greeniaus, Grove, Hall, Hammond, Handy, Hanham, Hardy, Jarker, Henriod, Hill, Irwin, Jinkins, Jull, Kelly, Lawrence, Leamon, Lewis, Long, Manley, McCleary, McDuffe, Mulholland, Munn, Odd, Oliphant, Oughtred, Pollard, Pratt, Savage, Shain, Shook, Shunk, Skinner, South, Speck, Staines, Stensson, Thomas, Tindell, Verner, Waterhouse, Williams, Wilson and Winters.
