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BE a I Su-- a a B6 - PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, June 6, 1995 "Scugog's Community Newspaper of Choice" Sketches of Scugog is a historical column written by local resident and historian Paul Arculus and published in the Port Perry Star the first issue of each month. LJ [ ] ® PORT PERRY, THE PLACE TO LIVE - Part 1 In 1970, my wife and I started to look for a place to settle down and raise our three young children. We visited Port Perry and immediately liked it for all the usual reasons; closeness to Toronto yet far enough from it to avoid the big city problems, good schools, good stores, gor- geous countryside and a lovely lake. It didn't take long for us to realize that this indeed was an ideal place to settle and to raise our children. A convincing factor in our decision was the friendli- ness of the local residents. Reference Books As we became immersed in the com- munity, we came to realize that it was rich in history, yet most of its history was somewhat obscure and much had not been recorded. The only major works were: "On the Shores of Scugog," written by Samuel Farmer and first published in 1913, and F.G. Weir's "Scugog and its Environs," published in 1927. There were other books which contained chapt- ers on the Lake Scugog area such as J.E. Farewell's Ontario County, published in 1907, and numerous papers and pamph- lets produced by a variety of local groups. Problems The major problem in all of these works was that they were written at a time when major sources of research material had not been gathered together and much of it was hard to find. Samuel Farmer was the publisher of the Port Perry Star. This factor provided him with one of the best sources of the time; the newspapers. Because of the period in which these early works were written, there are some details which are not too accurate, and there are many anecdotal records, par- ticularly in Farmer's work, which today do not stand up to careful scrutiny. Nevertheless, they are all excellent ref- erence works. Samuel Farmer's book is Sketche by Paul Arculus HISTORICAL still the best available source of informa- tion, and is absolutely essential to the student of the history of the Lake Scugog area. Help for Researchers Since that time, particularly in the last 60 years or so, Archives have been estab- lished, records of births and death, assessment and census records and land registry records have been collected and centralized and made more readily avail- able to the public. For the serious students, Leo Johnson produced his epic work, "History of the County of Ontario" in 1973. Johnson's book is certainly the most scholarly and accurate. Its references to the Lake Scugog area are well researched but, the emphasis here is on the whole of Ontario County not just the Lake Scugog area. Greenbank In 1988, Bill Graham released his stu- dy entitled "Greenbank." This work is an outstanding example of a community study. It is a work largely based on prim- ary sources such as the correspondence of its subjects, the early families of that community; the Craggs, Beares, lansons, Lees and others. | Resources In order to prepare these current arti- cles for today's Port Perry Star, I have spent many pleasant hours in various research centres; The Archives of Ontario, the Toronto Reference Library, The Scugog Memorial Library and in our own Scugog Shores Museum Archives, where we have assessment, census, cemetery and birth and death records dating back to 1837 and a growing map and photograph collection. Recently, I joined Dan Robert, our museum Curator/Director and Jane-Anne McGill, one of our conscientious museum work- ers, in a research session in the Land Registry Office in Whitby. We were trying to find information regarding a number of properties in the Lake Scugog area, one of which was the Daniel David Palmer House in Port Perry. The museum is interested in acquiring this building. One of the most gratifying outcomes of this session was that, particularly with Jane Anne's assistance, I was able to of Scugog clarify a number of details which have been unresolved since I first began my study of the Lake Scugog area. Checking through the records in the Land Registry Office has enabled me to the community, and then Peter Perry coming along to establish his trading post on the waterfront. The next person we hear of is Joseph Bigelow establish- ing the first post office and a department store. The dates and the details of all these events had been quite vague. At the Land Registry Office in Whitby, I was able to find spe- cific dates of land purchases and fill in many other details of the beginnings of many of the other communi- ties in the Lake Scugog area. Lot 19 in the 6th Concession Lot 19 in the 6th Concession is the property which is the main part of today's Port Perry. It is the land bounded by Highway 7A on the south, Lake Scugog on the east, the 7th concession on the north and Simcoe Street on the west. This 200 acre parcel was patented in March, 1812 and the patent was ee Uv C EN STR £€7T ] SU I MARY ST RECT, . WA Z. CINDERELA STRELT NEA, | PERRY SHANLY STREET acquired by Part of a "plan of Water Lots on Lake Scugog lying between Queen and Shanly Samuel Streets." This is a map registered in 1872 and shows the lots under water east of Dulmage. There the present Palmer Park. It also shows the boundary between lots 19 and 20. is no record of Notice that Casimir Street is shown as Cinderella Street. Cinderella was the name Dulmage ever which Peter Perry and his wife gave to their first daughter. visiting this pro- determine exactly when our predecessors perty. He sold the land to Richard Scott first took control of the Port Perry area. in June of 1830. Most of the exciting books on the his- Next Week - Elias Williams, Williams being the first to buy and settle UXBRIDGE MEMORIAL MEMORIALS OF DISTINCTION GRANITE MARBLE BRONZE CEMETERY LETTERING & RENOVATIONS CUSTOM DESIGNING & LETTERING Quality & Satisfaction assured by our own Written Guarantee 45 YEARS OF PERSONAL SERVICE "852-3472 somone FOR PERSONAL SERVICE 108 BROCK ST. 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