Toronto of Old: Collections and recollections illustrative of the early settlement and social life of the capital of OntarioScadding, Henry
History
Toronto of Old: Collections and recollections illustrative of the early settlement and social life of the capital of Ontario
Scadding, Henry
Toronto (Ont.) -- Description and travel; Toronto (Ont.) -- History
Advancing on Duke Street eastward a little way, we came, on the left, to
the abode of Chief Justice Sir William Campbell, of whom before Sir
William erected here in 1822 a mansion of brick, in good style. It was
subsequently, for many years, the hospitable home of the Hon. James
Gordon, formerly of Amherstburgh.
Then on the right, one square beyond, at the south-easterly corner where
Caroline Street intersects, we reached the house of Mr. Secretary
Jarvis, a man of great note in his day, whose name is familiar to all
who have occasion to examine the archives of Upper Canada in the
administrations of Governors Simcoe, Hunter and Gore. A fine portrait of
him exists, but, as we have been informed, it has been transmitted to
relatives in England. Mr. Stephen Jarvis, above named, was long the
Registrar of Upper Canada. His hand-writing is well-known to all holders
of early deeds. He and the Secretary were first cousins; of the same
stock as the well-known Bishop Jarvis of Connecticut, and the Church
Historian, Dr. Samuel Farmer Jarvis. Both were officers in incorporated
Colonial regiments before the independence of the United States; and
both came to Canada as United Empire Loyalists. Mr. Stephen Jarvis was
the founder of the leading Canadian family to which the first Sheriff
Jarvis belonged. Mr. Samuel Peters Jarvis, from whom "Jarvis Street" has
its name, was the son of Mr. Secretary Jarvis.
On the left, one square beyond the abode of Mr. Secretary Jarvis, came
the premises and home of Mr. Surveyor General Ridout, the latter a
structure still to be seen in its primitive outlines, a good specimen of
the old type of early Upper Canadian family residence of a superior
class; combining the qualities of solidity and durability with those of
snugness and comfort in the rigours of winter and the heats of summer.
In the rear of Mr. Ridout's house was for some time a family
burial-plot; but, like several similar private enclosures in the
neighbourhood of the town, it became disused after the establishment of
regular cemeteries.
Nearly opposite Mr. Ridout's, in one of the usual long, low Upper
Canadian one-storey dwellings, shaded by lofty Lombardy poplars, was the
home of the McIntoshes, who are to be commemorated hereafter in
connection with the Marine of York: and here, at a later period, lived
for a long time Mr. Andrew Warffe and his brother John. Mr. Andrew
Warffe was a well-known employé in the office of the Inspector General,
Mr. Baby, and a lieutenant in the Incorporated Militia.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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