Local Superintendents of Schools, Ashburnham.—The Rev. J. S. Douglas for five years, from 1858 to the close of 1864, and the Rev. J. W. R. Beck, for 1865 and 1866,

1

THE TOWNSHIPS

OF THE

COUNTY OF PETERBOROUGH.

CHAPTER XXI.

THE TOWNSHIP OF SMITH.

The survey of the township of Smith was just completed in 1818, when a number of colonists who had sailed that year from Cumberland, in England, found their way to that township for the purpose of forming a settlement. There was as yet no semblance of a road through the almost unbroken forest from Port Hope, and they accordingly chose the route by way of Rice Lake and the Otonabee river. On arriving at Smith, the first thing done was to erect a temporary log house on the first lot west of the communication road, which is a small triangular piece of ground, just outside of the present limits of the Town of Peterborough. Here they lived in common, until by mutual assistance, small houses, or shanties, were erected on their several lots, to which they then removed.

The names of those first settlers who comprised this group, were William Dixon and his family of five sons, Joseph Lee and his sons John and George; Robert Millburn, Robert Walton, John Walton, (not the late Reeve and no relative) Walton Wilson, Thomas W. Millburn, John Smith and his son Joseph Smith. These were commonly spoken of collectively, as "the colony" settlers, to distinguish them from others of an early period.

The following were also among the early pioneers, having settled in the township during the same season, (1818) and but a little while later than those already named:-John Harvey, Ralph Bickerton, Alexander Morrison, Jacob Bromwell, Robert Nicholson, James Mann and his son James,

Thos. Lockhart, and John Yates. Among those from one to three years later, were Walter McKibbon, Samuel McKibbon, William Tully, Thomas Robinson, Isaac Nicholson, Silas Pearson, Joseph Walton and sons, the eldest of which was the late Reeve of Smith; Matthew and Richard Bell, John Edmison, Ephraim Jackson and sons, and Thomas Millburn.

These names constitute the roll of honor among the early settlers of Smith,-men who by their courage in penetrating the forest, and their example in enduring and finally overcoming its difficulties and hardships, laid the foundation of a fine settlement, in connection with which it is but fitting that their names should be remembered, as those of practical patriots, whose deeds remain, and the fruit of whose earnestness and industry it is to be hoped their children will long enjoy.

The first requisite to procure land in those days was to take the oath of allegiance, on which a certificate was issued as evidence of the fact. A location ticket for the lot sought was then granted, for which a small fee was charged. Owing to the wild and unsettled state of the township when the first of these were issued, "the colony," or first settlers, were not required to make any other payment then this mere nominal one; but in later years, a fee of $25 was charged to others on the issuing of their deed. Before a full title to the land was procured, an affidavit, made by two persons, setting forth that the settlement duties were performed, and a house at least 18 by 20 feet in size erected, had to be presented at the land office, which for some years rendered a second journey to Toronto a matter of necessity. The performance of the settlement duties was not so rigidly exacted in this township as in Otonabee, in connection with which they will be more clearly described.

The first settlers in Smith encountered difficulties and privations of which we, in after times, can have but a faint conception. Unaccustomed as many of them were to the new scenes in which they found themselves. placed; with scant provisions, and separated by long wastes of wood and water from their fellow-kind, their situation, with their wives and little ones, must have been at times appalling; and by less indomitable spirits, would have been relinquished in despair. Looking back upon it now, in the light of their present prosperity, what have they not achieved! Such brave men are the true patriots, whose names deserve to be handed down in the annals of our history to future generations.

During the first few years, great difficulties were often felt in procuring the necessary provisions with which to support life. These had to be brought all the way from Port Hope or Cobourg, in the most laborious manner, and in the total absence of even the most ordinary roads; the only guide being the "blaze" upon the trees through the interminable forest, in which they seemed entombed. Under these circumstances, it is not to be wondered at that whole families were often for weeks without tasting bread, and that the herbs and succulent roots of the rich woods were often called into requisition to lengthen out their scanty fare.

Late in the autumn, during one of these critical junctures, a number of the younger men of the settlement started in company for Port Hope, to bring in a supply of provisions, of which their families began to be sorely in need. The journey was made by way of the Otonabee river and Rice Lake, and on their way back to their expectant households, they encamped on an island in Rice Lake. The season was already advanced, and a keen frost setting in, what was their surprise and mortification to find themselves next morning hemmed in by an icy barrier which stretched away in the distance, and blocked up the mouth of the river through which their course lay. Imagine their impatience at being thus delayed, well knowing that during their absence their loved ones were living on short allowance, and their children vainly stretching out their hands for bread. On the next day the ice had become sufficiently firm to support them, and they proceeded on their way over its glassy surface, dragging their canoe, with their provisions behind them. This is but a sample of the difficulties of which those early years furnish many examples.

Not even after their first small clearings were made, and they began to sow and reap their tiny harvests, was their condition greatly improved. How they watched the wheat as it grew, and tasted of the pulpy grain as it hardened and matured in the kernel! But there was no mill, and their utmost ingenuity could not convert it into the bread for which they longed with all the force of early relish. In this dilemma, the stumps of trees, or some of the larger logs, were hollowed out into pot-shaped cavities, in which a huge mallet was made to fall, to crush the grain; the process being aided by the spring of a sapling bent over for that purpose, or the unwieldy lever still used for raising the bucket in farm wells. Wheat was boiled, roasted, and as a food for children, was even chewed by their parents, besides being thus pounded, in order to convert it into food.

The more robust and vigorous, indeed, not unfrequently shouldered a bag of wheat, and carried it through the woods of Monaghan, Cavan and Hope to Smith's creek, as Port Hope was then called, returning with it ground, to the great joy of the household. On such journeys it was usual to take along a supply of potatoes to be eaten on the way, a sufficiency being concealed beneath some friendly root, or convenient wind-fall at about midway of the distance to be used on the way home.

A little later, an apology for a mill was erected on Galloway's Creek, in Cavan, and a now leading and wealthy farmer in Smith, informs us, that after the family were two weeks without flour, he, then a young man, took the oxen and the sleigh, and wended his way through the woods to Galloway's. Winter was setting in, and he found the mill silent and the water wheel frozen and immovable, Determined to have the flour, he set to work with a will, but after chopping away the ice, and spending nearly all night in clearing obstructions, a few rounds was the utmost the machine could be urged to go, and he had to trudge back weary and disappointed.

About the year 1821, the little mill crected by Mr. Adam Scott, on the bank of the Otonabee, at Peterborough, and which has been already described, was set in motion, and imperfect though it was, it must nevertheless have been a great boon to settlers so situated.

A small grist mill was erected by Jacob Bromwell, one of the early settlers in Smith, which came into operation just before the mill erected by the Government in 1827. Bromwell's mill was a frame structure, erected at the mouth of a small creek which enters the Otonabee river just below Mr. Snyder's saw mill. In point of size and usefulness, it was about on a par with Adam Scott's; and was but a brief time in use, the erection of the larger mill referred to, having superseded the necessity for both of these lesser structures.

A deputation from the early settlers in Smith waited upon His Excellency, Sir Peregrine Maitland, to express the disadvantages under which they labored; but as reference has already been made to the incidents of that occasion, they need not be repeated here. With the erection of the grist mill at Peterborough by the Government, a new era dawned upon the settlers in this as well as the adjacent townships, and thenceforward their prosperity and success were fully assured.