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"A Family Tradition for 126 Years" PORT PERRY STAR - Real Estate Section - Tuesday, October 27, 1992 - 9 by Paul Arculus This is the last of three arti- cles on the life and times of Pe- ter Perry, the founder of Port Perry. On Nov. 14 this year this community will celebrate the 200th anniversary of his birth. AREA SETTLEMENT When Peter Perry acquired his land on the south-western shore of Lake Scugog in 1844, he didn't move into a total wild- erness. Joseph Graxton had set- tled on Scugog Island in 1834, and by the time of Perry's arri- val the island had a population of at least four families. The Iroquois had lived in this area until the early 1700s but moved south and were replaced by the Mississaugas, a quiet, peaceful nomadic group of peo- ple who hunted, fished and gathered rice from the shores of the lake. Quite unlike the Iro- quois who tended to live in large villages sometimes numbering in the thousands, the Missis- saugas travelled in small groups of a few families and tended to stay in one location for shorter periods of time de- pending upon the supply of fish, game and rice. At the time of Perry's arrival the Native popu- lation of the island and the southwestern shore of Lake Scugog has been estimated to be about 100. The Farewell brothers trav- elled throughout the Scugog ba- sin in the early part of the 18th century setting up trading posts at various sites including one at Washburn Island at the north end of the lake, one at the mouth of the Nonquon River just south of what is now Robin- glade and another called Curt's Point, on the north side of High- way 7A across the road from the Port Perry Plaza. WILMOT'S SURVEY Reach Township was sur- veyed by Major Wilmot, from November 1809 to March 1810. He noted a well used Indian trail from Oshawa Creek to Curt's Point and another trail north to the Nonquon River at what 18 now Seagrave. Lake Scugog, as Perry saw it in 1844, much as we see it today, 1s quite different from that which Major Wilmot surveyed. Wilham Pur- dy had dammed up the Scugog River at Lindsay in 1837, rais- ing the level of the shallow lake and ts meandenng feeder streams to a level of four feet above what Major Wilmot had surveyed. This modest increase in height virtually doubled the sizeof the lake. REUBEN CRANDELL Reuben Crandell, Reach's first permanent white settler, came to build his log house on the present site of Fred Chns- tie's farm just east of Manches- ter in 1821. He had followed an- other Indian trail which ran from what is now Whitby, more or less following the route of Highway 12. Crandell devel- oped this more westerly trail so that he could travel to Whitby to collect food and supplies for his growing family thus laying the foundation for Peter Perry to build his Centre Line Road which permitted, in turn, the conveyance of food and supplies and later, heavier goods for Perry to use as his settlement grew. EARLY ROADS As early as 1827 the govern- ment allotted money toward the development of Reuben Cran- dell's road as it made its way north from Whitby through the villages of Winchester (now Brooklin), Well's Corners (now Myrtle), and Fitchett's Corners (now Manchester). By 1831, a reasonable plank road existed to facilitate the transportation of grain and flour as Manches- ter had become an important trading centre for farmers from the townships to the north, even from as far away as Rama, Mara and Thorah. A second road had been devel- oped to link the settlements at English Corners (Columbus), O'Boyles (Raglan), Dayton's Corners (Prince Albert) and Crandell's Corners (Boreha, 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 Qy the Seventh Concession (the arena road), down Simcoe Street (formerly [alla Street) to Highway 7A, along 7A to where it meets Queen Street and north from there back to the Seventh Con- cession PRINCE ALBERT Abner Hurd and Daniel Dray- ton had started their settle- ment at what is now Prince Al- bert in 1824 and by the time of Perry's arnval 20 years later, 1t had grown to a thriving village of two hundred people with five stores, two taverns, a black- smith shop and, no doubt to Perry's approval, a Methodist church. Prince Albert was pros- pering as a grain handling cen- tre for the settlers on Scugog Is- land and the areas to the south and east. Manchester and Prince Albert shared in the grain handling business sus- tained by the fact that, accord- ing to an 1840 survey, Reach Township had a population of 771 settlers who occupied over 12,000 acres and had 2,600 acres under cultivation. By 1850 Prince Albert handled more grain than anywhere else in Canada except Brampton! SCENE UN LAKE SCUGUG. PORT PERRY'S FIRST STORE Why no one had the foresight to settle on and develop the south western shore of Lake Scugog remains obscure. Per- haps it was because no one had considered the potential of the timber trade and nor did any- one 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 Re/Max Real Estate now stands. He did not stay here but put Chester Draper in charge of the store with living quarters at the back. FIRSTSTREET PLAN Peter Perry was not hesitant in selling his idea of developing the timber trade. He drew up a street plan in 1845 which con- sisted of Water Street, Queen Street, Perry Street, Mary Street (named after his wife), John Street (named after his youngest son) and Cinderella Street (after his first child), this 1s 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 in- vestors to see his practical ap- proach to establishing an ex- panding settlement. This plan for Scugog Village was not offi- cally 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. And, in 1848 the settlement had its first hotel, built right next door to Perry's store at the water- front TIMBER TRADE By 1850 Perry's dream of a small settlement was well on its way to exceed his initial con- cept. The lumber business was so successful that Hugh Chi- solm of Whitby built a steam- ship, 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 harbors and loaded onto ships bound for Upper New York State. There are many homes in the Roches- ter and Oswego area which were build from the timber milled at Perry's Scugog Vil- lage. While this growth had taken place, Perry had pursuaded the government to pay for the fur- ther 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 Whit- by harbor from the government and incorporated them into the "Port Whitby, Lakes Scugog, Simcoe and Huron Road Com- pany." It should be pointed out that Perry's road and the rival Nonquon road were toll roads generating a small income for their owners who in turn pro- vided jobs for the toll booth op- erators along their routes. BACK TO POLITICS Perry had not lost his addic- tion to politics. He was a coun- cillor on the Home District Council. In this capacity he saw that the Home district was too unwieldy for efficient manage- ment 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 town. He campaigned actively for this issue travelling widely throughout the region trying to rally support for his idea. One of the main induce- ments for his idea was a prom- ise, that upon separation, Perry and his business associates would build a railroad from Whitby to Lake Scugog. In addi- tion to his commercial ventures, he became involved in educa- tion, and obtained a charter which established the first Grammar School (Secondary school) in the region, Whitby GTammar School in 1846. Port Perry Perry had actively cam- paigned for every Reform Party candidate in the riding since his arrival here in 1836. The latest of these, William Hume Blake, resigned his seat in late 1849 in order to accept an appointment as Chancellor. Perry was pursu- aded to accept the nomination as replacement and seek elec- tion 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 re- covered sufficiently to take his seat by July and argued effec- tively for the issue of creating the new Ontario County. DEATH The following spring he decid- ed to visit his old friend Mar- shall Spring Bidwell, now a suc- cessful 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 Aug. 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 coun- try. PERRY'S HERITAGE The Perrys had eight chil- dren, Cinderella 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 re- spected politician at the munici- pal level, councillor, reeve, may- or, and warden. In Apnl 1853, Parliament granted a charter to the Port Whitby and Lake Huron Rail- road Company with John Ham Perry, Peter's son, as its secre- tary-treasurer. However, it wasn't until 1871 that the first train ran to ink Peter Perry's two settlements, Whitby and Port Perry. In the year of his death, an- other of his goals was achieved, by an act of parliament, York County was divided into three counties: York, Peel and Onta- rio. But the goal for which Peter Perry had struggled for many years, that of Responsible Gov- ernment, was clearly in sight. In the year of his death, the elected Assembly was given control of the purse strings of the province. In 1853 most peo- ple were given the vote, and fi- nally, in 1863, the Legislative Council, was made elective, completing Peter Perry's dream. Immediately after his death in 1851, in honor of Peter Perry's vision for a thriving set- tlement on the south western shore of Lake Scugog, Scugog Village was renamed Port Perry. 5 Businessman, politician and visionary, a man of humble but proud origins, Peter Perry gave much of his life to build our na- tion. On Nov. 14 this year we celebrate the 200th anniver- sary 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 na- tional heritage.