Jun 13 2019

BWG Proceeds With Effort to Protect Historic Earl Rowe Farm

Photo courtesy on Ontario Historical Plaques

When Solfela Investments Ltd., the current owner of the Earl Rowe Farm in Newton Robinson, applied for a demolition permit, it prompted quick action by the Bradford West Gwillimbury Community Planning Office and by Town Council.

Archeological Research Associates Ltd. (ARA) was hired to investigate the design and physical value, the historic and associative value, and the contectual value of the property and its famous owner as specified in the Heritage Act. The consultants concluded that out of the nine possible criteria for designation under the Act Earl Rowe Farm meets six. The Act only requires one be met to justify designation.

The property includes a complete example of an agricultural complex, including a Gothic revival house built by well known local builders, the Merrick Brothers, who were responsible for many houses and farm buildings in the area, including Newton Robinson United Church. Multiple drive sheds, silo, and various smaller outbuildings join the U-shaped, uniquely designed triple barns to support the farm’s longtime purpose, the breeding and training of standardbred horses for harness racing.

The Honourable Earl Rowe was associated with the property as owner and resident from 1917 until his death in 1984. For 40 of those years his political career spanned the municipal, provincial, and federal arenas. At 25 he was the youngest Reeve of West Gwillimbury Township. He was a leader of the Ontario Conservative Party, served both as a Member of the Ontario legislature and a federal Member of Parliament, and was the 20^th Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario. Guests at his funeral included Lieutenant Governor John Black Aird, Premier William Davis, New Brunswick Premier Richard Hatfield, Solicitor General George Taylor, former Governor General Roland Michener, Hon. Ellen Fairclough, and York-Peel MP Sinclair Stevens.

Along with his other business interests, Earl Rowe was a pioneer of the Canadian harness racing industry, breeding, training, and driving winners throughout his life. He served three terms as President of the Canadian Standardbred Horse Society and was an Honourary Director of the Ontario Harness Horse Association. Along with his son and grandson he founded the Raceway tracks in Windsor and Barrie. Earl Rowe’s many accomplishments were honoured by an Ontario historic plaque which still stands at the 100 acre farm site. The ceremony was organized by the Tecumseth and West Gwillimbury Historical Society, of which the Hon. Earl Rowe was a Founding Director.

What is the current designation status of Earl Rowe Farm? Like the other 100 acre farms around it, the property is zoned Agricultural in the Bradford West Gwillimbury (BWG) Official Plan. In the Town’s Zoning By-law 2010-050, ‘Agricultural’ provides limited opportunity for redevelopment for uses other than those few identified. This does not include housing, commercial, or industrial development.

Based on the evaluation by ARA the Town’s Planning Staff recommended to Council “that the Town proceed with the heritage designation process for 4304-4306 Line 10”. In early March Council directed Staff to give notice of intention to designate the property. As of June 7, 2019 the Town is expecting to receive within a few weeks a heritage assessment report prepared on behalf of the owner. Once this second assessment is submitted Staff will be able to review it against ARA’s report and can then begin to formulate a notice. Staff would like to work with the owner to determine the designation’s attribute description.

Photo Courtesy of Ontario Historical Plaques

Letters of support for designation have been sent to BWG Council by Tecumseth and West Gwillimbury Historical Society, BWG Local History Association, Simcoe County Historical Association and various concerned citizens. In view of the proposed changes to the Heritage Act it is better done sooner than later. This is especially true if the OMB successor, the Ontario Local Planning Appeal Tribunal, is accorded final say in appeals to LPAT by the owners of any local heritage properties that municipalities wish to protect through designation.

Article and resources provided by Janine Harris-Wheatley
Tecumseth & West Gwillimbury Historical Society

Resources:

From the Town Staff report and ARA heritage assessment: In accordance with the Heritage Act, for a property to be eligible for designation it must meet one or more of the nine (9) evaluation criterion that fall in three ‘attribute’ umbrellas including: (1) ‘Design or Physical Value,’ (2) ‘Historical or Associative Value,’ and (3) ‘Contextual Value.’

Highlights from ARA consultants report

DESIGN OR PHYSICAL VALUE

Representative example of an agricultural complex that includes a good example of a Gothic Revival farmhouse.
Was built by the Merrick Brothers who were well-known local builders. They built numerous mills, churches and houses and were integral to the development of Newton Robinson.j’

HISTORICAL OR ASSOCIATIVE

Associated with William Earl Rowe who owned the property from 1917 to 1984.
Had a provincial political career that spanned four decades and included serving as the 20th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario from 1963–1968.
His contributions to Ontario are commemorated with an Ontario HeritageTrust Plaque (on the property).
Was a prominent member of the community in Newton Robinson and the Township of West Gwillimbury.
Served as the youngest Reeve of the Township of West Gwillimbury in 1919.
Ran a successful horse breeding and harness racing business. He served as president of the Canadian Standardbred Horse Society twice and was the honourary director of the Ontario Harness Horsemen’s Association.
Earl and his son Bill Rowe were founders of harness race tracks: the Windsor Raceway and with grandson, the Barrie Raceway.

CONTECTUAL VALUE

Maintains the agricultural character of the outskirts of Newton Robinson, the property remains on an approximately 100-acre farm and is surrounded to the west, south and north by other 100-acre farms. It maintains the parcel fabric and bucolic nature of the landscape.
Historically linked to its surroundings through the widespread construction in Newton Robinson initiated and undertaken by the Merrick Brothers.
Landmark due to the Ontario Heritage Trust plaque located in front of the property.

Based on ARA’s evaluation the property meets six (6) of the nine (9) criterions. Most notable is that this was the home of William Earl Rowe who contributed to the community Newton Robinson, Township of West Gwillimbury and the Province as whole in a number of facets. Based on the evaluation Staff recommend that the Town proceed with the heritage designation process for 4304-4306 Line 10.

For more information on Ear Rowe’s political career see SCHA News and Views article by John Merritt, The life of William Earl Rowe, 1894-1984

BWG Staff Report and Consultant Heritage Assessment as well as communications with Planning Staff.

Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library Archives William Earl Rowe Obituary.

Beeton Record Sentinel and Tottenham Times, July 29 1987 on the occasion of the Ontario Historic Plaque installation.

Bradford Today: Bradford council OKs start of heritage designation for Earl Rowe house. Mar 6, 2019 by: Jenni Dunning

*Record Sentinel Tottenham Times July 29 1987 on occasion of plaque installment

Horses first Canadian to drive a Canadian bred and trained horse Van Riddell in the Hambletonian Kentucky Derby of harness racing.

Won worlds record for a pair of mares driven double at Thornecliffe track in Toronto. Bred and trained horses at Rowlands. Windsor raceway with Bill in 65. Barrie raceway in 73 with his grandson. Served as president of the con standardbred horse society three terms and president of Great Lakes Paper Co Ltd and other business interests

The Honourable William Earl Rowe 1894-1984 Plaque. Location: The County of Simcoe The Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury In Newton Robinson, on Line 10 Road .3 km east of Road 27, street number 4306 Coordinates: N 44 07.637 W 79 40.919. Plaque Text: A veteran parliamentarian who subsequently served as Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario, Rowe was born in Hull, Iowa and raised in Simcoe County. He early exhibited an interest in politics and in 1923 was elected to the provincial legislature as the Conservative member for Simcoe South. Two years later Rowe contested and won the federal seat for Dufferin-Simcoe, embarking upon a career in the House of Commons which, with the exception of one interruption during the late 1930’s, spanned almost four decades. For his lengthy and dedicated service, he was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario in 1963. Upon leaving public life five years later, Rowe retired here to his farm where he had long operated a successful horse breeding and harness racing business.

Event Date : Thursday, February 09, 1984 Event Type : Death BWGPL ARCHIVES

They came to this small village, located just south of Cookstown, to pay their last respects to a political legend. Gathered in the Newton Robinson United Church, with the rain falling softly outside, they listened as Rev. Henry Dahlin performed the service. It was a final tribute to a man whose political career spanned almost 65 years. William Earl Rowe, former lieutenant governor of Ontario and political veteran died last Thursday at his Newton Robinson home after suffering a heart attack. He was 89.

Born in Iowa, Mr. Rowe grew up in Simcoe County, where his political career began in 1919 when he became reeve of West Gwillimbury Township. He spent 35 years as a Conservative legislator at both the provincial and federal levels before he was named lieutenant governor in 1963. A former leader of the Ontario Conservative Party, Mr. Rowe was also the youngest member in the R. B. Bennett cabinet, where he served as minister without portfolio. In 1958, his daughter Jean Casselman Wadds was elected to parliament, making the Rowes the first father-daughter team in Canada’s history. She now serves on the MacDonald Commission on the economy. In addition to his long and distinguished political career, Mr. Rowe was also actively involved in harness racing throughout his life. Together with his son, Bill, he founded both the Barrie and Windsor Raceway.

Among those attending the funeral service held Monday afternoon at Newton Robinson United Church were Lieutenant Governor John Black Aird, Premier William Davis, New Brunswick Premier Richard Hatfield, Solicitor General George Taylor, former lieutenant governor Roland Michener, and York-Peel MP Sinclair Stevens. Premier Davis described Mr. Rowe as a great Canadian who will be remembered as a man who excelled as parliamentarian Queen’s representative in Ontario as a breeder and racer of standard-bred horses a farmer and most importantly in raising a fine family.”

Mr. Rowe’s wife Treva died five weeks ago after suffering a series of strokes. They are predeceased by a son Lennox. Mr. Rowe leaves a sister Mary Lennox and a daughter Jean Casselman Wadds. In addition he leaves to mourn grandchildren Mrs. Jane Hutchins, Nancy Casselman of Toronto, Earl Rowe of Shanty Bay, Clare Casselman of Toronto, Scott Rowe of Cookstown, Cindy Rowe of London, Patti Rowe of Cookstown, and great-grandchildren Jennifer Hutchins, Katherine and Crystal Rowe. Mr. Rowe was buried at Newton Robinson Cemetery. Honourary pallbearers were Roland Michener, William Davis, Art Evans, Bill Hodgson, Louis Levesque, and Ellen Fairclough. Pallbearers were Earl Rowe, Scott Rowe, Lorne Lennox, Jim MacDonald, Dave Hutchins, and Clare Casselman.”

TWGHS EXEC MINUTES MAY

Letter to BWG Council about Earl Rowe farm. David contacted Janine about news that BWG had received a request from the owner to demolish the house and outbuildings on the farm. Janine contacted BWGLHA through Jan Blommaert who had not heard the news so she investigated with the Town. Council is reportedly not happy about the demolition. Janine had suggested to Jan that at the very least comprehensive photographs be taken of the structures and building details. David drafted a letter and read it at the meeting. The Board supported the letter without modification and David and Janine will sign and mail the letter to BWG Clerk and Council. Discussion ensued about other organizations and individuals being encouraged to write letters to Clerk and Council. [Secretarial Note: BradfordToday.ca reported on March 6, 2019, that “Bradford council OKs start of heritage designation for Earl Rowe house”.

Email: On Jun 4, 2019, at 16:38, Brandon Slopack wrote:

Hi Janine,

The previous email I sent to Cael remains true. The only update is that we anticipate the owner’s representatives to send a heritage assessment report over the next couple weeks. Once this is submitted Staff will review against ARA’s report and begin formulating a notice.

Thank you,

Brandon Slopack, MES Planner, Office of Community Planning Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury

To Cael from Brandon Slopack, Planner, BWG Office of Community Planning regarding Earl Rowe Farm designation, quoted below:

On March 5, 2019, I brought forward a Staff Report recommending designation based on evidence outlined by the consultant. Council has directed Staff to give notice of intention to designate the property. Staff wants to work with the owner in determining the designation’s attribute description. Currently we are awaiting the owner to provide their own Heritage Assessment. Once this is received we will be in a position to collaborate and bring forward a notice. Below are key documents for your reference.

March 5, 2019 Agenda

March 5, 2019 Minutes

Staff Report and Consultant Heritage Assessment

May 16 2019

The life of Thomas Roberts Ferguson, 1818-1879

Thomas Roberts Ferguson was born in a rural part of County Cavan, Ireland, in December 1818. He and his family were just some of the hundreds of thousands of Irish immigrants who crossed the Atlantic Ocean to Canada in the 1830s. Thomas’ father, Andrew, died during the journey.

After a brief stay in Montreal, in 1842 the Ferguson family joined the large Irish-Canadian community around Cookstown, and Ferguson became a farmer. Later, after buying up some additional land in the area, Ferguson established each of his brothers on their own farm and moved into Cookstown, where he became a merchant.

Ferguson joined the Orange Order in 1847, at age 29. In 1852, he became master of his local Orange Lodge and later a deputy grand master of the order.

In 1856, Ferguson married Frances Jane Gowan, daughter of Orange leader Ogle Robert Gowan. The couple eventually had three sons and six daughters.

Ferguson was elected to the township council of Innisfil in 1852 and served for 21 years, 18 of them as reeve. Ferguson also served as warden of Simcoe County in 1858 and again from 1862 to 1867.

During the 1858 election, Ferguson ran against fellow Conservative William Benjamin Robinson, defeating him to become representative for Simcoe South. He kept his seat through two subsequent elections, in 1861 and 1863.

At that time, what are now Ontario and Quebec were joined together in one province, and both had equal representation in the legislature, even though Ontario’s population was larger and growing faster than Quebec’s. Throughout his time in the legislature, Ferguson was a strong advocate for instituting representation by population, which would give Ontario more seats than Quebec. The issue, however, remained unsettled until Confederation in 1867.

Ferguson had served as an officer in the Cookstown company of the provincial Sedentary Militia since 1847. In 1862 he was promoted to captain and placed in command of the company.

In 1866, during the Fenian Raids, Ferguson and his men were called out along with tens of thousands of other Canadian militiamen to defend the province against Irish Catholic veterans of the US Civil War who hoped to occupy Canada and trade it with Britain for Irish independence.

Ferguson’s company was stationed at Toronto during the crisis. After a successful raid into Canada in June, many Fenians were arrested by US authorities as they were re-crossing the border. Once the threat to the province had largely passed, Ferguson and his men, like other Canadian militiamen, returned home to a grand reception.

Following the crisis, the Cookstown company was joined together with the other Simcoe County militia companies to form the 35^th Battalion (Simcoe Foresters). Ferguson was appointed temporary second-in-command of the unit in 1869.

Upon Confederation in 1867, Ferguson was elected by acclamation to represent Simcoe South in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, at the same time that he was elected a Conservative member for Cardwell (an early federal riding comprising parts of what are now Peel Region and Simcoe and Dufferin Counties) in the new federal House of Commons.

During his career in the Ontario legislature, Ferguson served on various committees, including the standing committees for railways and for privileges and elections. Ferguson also served on the board of the Northern Railway.

In 1872 Ferguson did not run again for a seat in the House of Commons but was re-elected by acclamation to his seat in the provincial legislature. That same year, however, Ferguson was attending a political meeting in Bradford when a fight broke out between supporters and opponents of the government. In the process of allegedly attempting to stop the fight, Ferguson suffered a severe blow to the head that left him with permanent physical and mental injuries. As a result, he resigned from the Simcoe Foresters, the Northern Railway board, and the provincial legislature in 1873.

After his retirement from politics, Ferguson’s government connections helped ensure his appointment to a civil service position as a customs collector at Collingwood. He was dismissed from that position two years after the Liberal government of Alexander Mackenzie took power in 1874.

Ferguson spent his remaining years at his home in Cookstown, where he died on September 15, 1879, from paralysis. He was 60 years old.

Written by John Merritt, Simcoe County Historical Association

Photo: Thomas Roberts Ferguson.

Apr 12 2019

The life of William Earl Rowe, 1894-1984

William Earl Rowe was born on May 13, 1894, in Hull, Iowa, to Canadian parents. He moved to Ontario with his family when he was two years old.

Rowe grew up to become a farmer and cattle breeder in the township of West Gwillimbury, with what proved to be a lifelong passion for horses and harness racing. In 1917, at age 23, he married Treva Alda Lillian Lennox. Together they had four children, one of whom sadly died at birth.

It was around this time that Rowe first entered politics, beginning at the local level. In 1919, at age 25, he was elected reeve of West Gwillimbury. In 1923, when his term as township reeve ended, Rowe’s political career began to eclipse his agricultural one when he was elected as a Conservative Member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for the riding of Simcoe South. In 1925 he graduated from provincial to federal politics when he was elected a Conservative Member of Parliament for Dufferin-Simcoe. Rowe remained in the House of Commons for ten years until the disastrous election of 1935, when he, like many Conservative MPs, lost his seat to the Liberals of William Lyon Mackenzie King over the Conservatives’ perceived bungling of the federal response to the Great Depression.

In 1936, Rowe returned to provincial politics when he became leader of the Conservative Party of Ontario. However, because Rowe did not then hold a seat in the provincial legislature, the former Conservative premier George S. Henry served as official leader of the opposition in the provincial parliament.

During the 1937 Ontario election, Rowe took a pro-labour stance that today seems uncommon for conservative politicians to have. Rowe opposed Liberal premier Mitchell Hepburn’s condemnation of labour unions and the attempted unionization of the General Motors plant in Oshawa, arguing that the issue was not about “law and order but the right of free association.” Rowe’s stance on the issue led George A. Drew, Rowe’s former rival for the leadership of the Progressive Conservatives, to break with the party in order to run as an “independent conservative” opposed to the mainstream party leader’s stance on organized labour.

Rowe failed to win a seat in the election and subsequently resigned as leader of the provincial Progressive Conservatives. George Drew later returned to the party to replace Rowe as leader. Drew went on to become premier of Ontario from 1943 to 1948.

Shortly after his defeat at the provincial level, Earl Rowe returned to federal politics when he was acclaimed in a by-election for the House of Commons seat he had vacated in order to run in the Ontario election.

Rowe kept his seat in the House of Commons for another 25 years. In 1948 Rowe’s former rival George Drew became leader of the federal Conservatives, and in 1954 and 1956 Rowe served as interim leader of the opposition when Drew was too ill to perform his duties. From 1958 until the end of his federal career in 1962, Rowe was joined in Parliament by his daughter and fellow Progressive Conservative MP, Jean Casselman Wadds. They were the only father and daughter to ever sit together in the House of Commons.

In 1963, Rowe left Parliamentary politics to become the 20^th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. Over the next five years, he proved himself to be a staunch supporter of agricultural and rural affairs in the province.

Rowe retired from political life in 1968, at age 74. He died on February 9, 1984, at Newton Robinson. A public school in Bradford and a provincial park near Alliston are named in his honour.

Written by John Merritt of the Simcoe County Historical Association.

Photo: William Earl Rowe was born in 1894 in Iowa to Canadian parents. He moved to Ontario with his family when he was two years old. He grew up to become a farmer and cattle breeder in the township of West Gwillimbury.

Mar 25 2019

Order in council begins settlement of the Penetanguishene Road, April 1819

By John Merritt for the SCHA

On April 26, 1819, the Executive Council of Upper Canada issued an order in council promising free land to any citizens willing and able to settle along the strategic road linking the military outpost at Penetanguishene with the capital at York via Lake Simcoe. The order created one of the first pioneer settlements in Simcoe County.

The origins of the Penetanguishene Road began in 1793, when John Graves Simcoe, Upper Canada’s first lieutenant-governor, visited southern Georgian Bay and chose Penetanguishene as an ideal military harbour on the upper Great Lakes. The harbour was acquired by the province from the Ojibwa in 1798.

In March 1808, government surveyor Samuel Wilmot was sent to explore the land between Penetanguishene and Kempenfeldt Bay. In 1811, he returned to the area to survey the route of a road connecting Kempenfeldt Bay with Penetanguishene Harbour, as well as one concession of 200-acre lots on each side of the road and the outlines of a town plot at either end. The northern town site would eventually become the town of Penetanguishene. The southern one would become the village of Kempenfeldt, now a part of Barrie.

In the fall of 1814, after the Americans had almost severed British supply lines across Lake Huron, Lieutenant-Governor Sir Gordon Drummond and Sir George Prevost, commander in chief of British North America, ordered that an outpost be established at Penetanguishene. That December a party of Canadian soldiers and militiamen was dispatched to the area to begin constructing the outpost and the road surveyed by Wilmot in 1811. By February, when British soldiers arrived to help, only a few huts had been constructed at the outpost and the Penetanguishene Road was little more than an uneven trail pocked by stumps and made impassable when spring rain and melting snow turned it into a river of mud.

That March, news arrived that the war with the United States had ended. Construction of the outpost at Penetanguishene was halted and the site was quickly abandoned in favour of a fort on the Nottawasaga River. In 1818, the government relocated its upper Great Lakes post back to Penetanguishene and both the fort and the road came back in to use, although it can be imagined that after several years of disuse the already poor condition of the Penetanguishene Road had become even worse.

The order in council of April 1819 was meant to help improve the poor condition of the road and to develop the surrounding area. Settlers were offered grants of 200 acres along the road on condition that they quickly build a house, clear ten acres next to the road, and improve one half of the road fronting on their lots.

Notice of the settlement order was published in the York Gazette and within a few years about twenty families had settled along the road, mostly in its southern half.

Travellers from York to Penetanguishene in the early years of settlement would first see the log barracks and warehouse of the government station at Kempenfeldt as they neared the southern end of the Penetanguishene Road from across Lake Simcoe.

As they stepped onto the shore and began their journey up the road, travellers would pass by small groups of three or four or even six farms, each separated by a mile or two of wilderness.

Twelve miles or so up the road, about a day’s journey by wagon, travellers would come to the farm of Black Canadian settler William Davenport, the last farm they would see for another eleven miles.

Eventually travellers would pass a couple of solitary homesteads, separated by another mile of wilderness, before re-entering the forest. After another three or four miles, the travellers would finally see the village of Penetanguishene, where a few families had settled along the shores of the harbour in the year or two since the military post was revived.

The outpost itself lay behind a palisade another mile or so further along the shore, toward the mouth of the harbour. Like the nearby village, it remained a pretty modest affair until 1828, when the outpost at Drummond Island was shut down and its residents were relocated to Penetanguishene.

During the early years of settlement, most of the Penetanguishene Road settlers were preoccupied with clearing the land, establishing their farms, and completing their settlement duties in order to obtain full title to their property. For the most part, the only other people they saw were those travelling up or down the road: First Nations people, fur traders, soldiers, merchants, and the occasional missionary.

The settlements along the Penetanguishene Road were among the first in Simcoe County. Over the following years, the efforts of the Penetanguishene Road settlers would improve the road, clear the surrounding land, and establish the first stores, villages, churches and township councils, opening the area up for further settlement and beginning the transformation of the land to the way it looks today.

Photo: George Russell Dartnell, view of Penetanguishene Harbour from his farm, ca. 1836.

Mar 06 2019

Rev. George Hallen, a pioneer priest

George Hallen was an Anglican priest who served as the first pastor of not one but two new Anglican churches built in Simcoe County in the mid-1800s, both of which are still in use today.

Rev. Hallen was born in England in February 1794. As a young man, he studied at Oxford University before joining the clergy of the Church of England.

In 1833, at age 39, Rev. Hallen immigrated to Canada with his wife and five children, settling in the Township of Medonte two years later. There the Hallen family settled on a farm they purchased from the Bywater family at Lot 11, Concession 13, and moved into the house that had already been built there by the farm’s previous owners.

For five years Rev. Hallen served the local Anglican congregation out of his family’s home. Later, on a return to trip to England, he solicited members of his old parish for funds to help build a proper church for the area, on lands donated by his neighbours, the Hamilton and Steele families. Construction of the church had begun by 1838, using bricks trucked in from Orillia. The church was consecrated in 1842 as St. George’s Church of Fair Valley.

By this time the Rev. Hallen had relocated permanently with his family to the Penetanguishene area, where he became the first pastor of a second new Anglican church, a wood-framed clapboard building which had already been under construction for several years. The new church was named St. James on-the-Lines, referring to its position at the edge of the “lines”, or rows of barracks, of the nearby military establishment.

Located halfway between the military establishment and the town of Penetanguishene, initially St. James on-the-Lines served the soldiers garrisoned at the base and retired soldiers located on two-acre grants along the Penetanguishene Road, as well as local farmers and residents of the fledgling town of Penetanguishene. The church also served residents of Wyebridge, Midland and the surrounding townships until they established Anglican churches of their own.

When the military establishment closed in 1856 and was converted to a boys’ reformatory, the Rev. Hallen became its chaplain. In 19^th-century Canada (indeed, until our correctional system was reorganized in 1972), a boys’ reformatory was essentially a detention center for male young offenders, the idea being that removing them from the city, educating them and teaching them vocational skills would help divert them from ending up in a life of crime.

The Rev. Hallen left St. James on-the-Lines around 1876, after 36 years of service. He died in Toronto in 1882, at age 88, and was buried alongside some of his family members and many of his former parishioners in the cemetery of St. James’ Church in Penetanguishene.

According to Andrew Hunter, himself a pioneer of Simcoe County history, in addition to his significant contributions to the Anglican community, the Rev. Hallen was one of the first residents of Simcoe County to take an interest in local history and heritage preservation, commissioning some of the earliest maps of the remains of Ste. Marie Among the Hurons.

Author: John Merritt, Simcoe County Historical Association.

Photo: St. James On-the-Lines Anglican Church, Penetanguishene.

Simcoe County Historical Association Land Acknowledgement