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
On sunny mornings in winter he was often to be seen pacing the sidewalk
in front of his premises for exercise, arrayed in a long blue over-coat,
with his right hand thrust for warmth into the cuff of his left sleeve,
and his left hand into that of his right. He afterwards returned to
Scotland, where, at Stonehaven, not far from Aberdeen, he had family
estates known as Woodcot and Woodburnden. He died without executing a
will; and it was some time before the rightful heir to his property in
Scotland and here was determined. It had been his intention, we believe,
to return to Canada.--The streets which run eastward from Yonge Street,
north of Carleton Street, named respectively "Wood" and "Alexander,"
pass across land that belonged to Mr. Wood.
Many are the shadowy forms that rise before us, as we proceed on our
way; phantom-revisitings from the misty Past; the shapes and faces of
enterprising and painstaking men, of whose fortunes King Street
hereabout was the cradle. But it is not necessary in these reminiscences
to enumerate all who, on the right hand and on the left, along the now
comparatively deserted portions of the great thoroughfare, amassed
wealth in the olden time by commerce and other honourable
pursuits,--laying the foundation, in several instances, of opulent
families.
Quetton St. George, however, must not be omitted, builder of the solid
and enduring house on the corner opposite to Mr. Wood's; a structure
that, for its size and air of respectability; for its material, brick,
when as yet all the surrounding habitations were of wood; for its tinned
roof, its graceful porch, its careful and neat finish generally, was,
for a long time, one of the York lions.
Mr. Quetton St. George was a French royalist officer, and a chevalier of
the order of St. Louis. With many other French gentlemen, he emigrated
to Canada at the era of the Revolution. He was of the class of the
noblesse, as all officers were required to be; which class, just before
the Revolution, included, it is said, 90,000 persons, all exempt from
the ordinary taxes of the country.
The surname of St. George was assumed by M. Quetton to commemorate the
fact that he had first set foot on English ground on St. George's day.
On proceeding to Canada, he, in conjunction with Jean Louis, Vicomte de
Chalûs, and other distinguished _émigrés_, acquired a large estate in
wild lands in the rough region north of York, known as the "Oak Ridges."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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