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The map of Simcoe County circa 1951 from Archives of Ontario identifies the individual cities, towns and villages covered by the sketchmap. There is a facility to enlarge it at the bottom for the page. [edit] History
The eastern boundary of Bradford is the Holland River, named for Samuel Holland, first Surveyor General of British North America, who passed this way on an exploration from Toronto to Balsam Lake, by way of Lake Simcoe, in 1791. For several years the Holland River and Lake Simcoe provided the only means of transportation. Holland Landing was the northern terminus of Yonge Street. The military route to Georgian Bay during the War of 1812 crossed Lake Simcoe to Kempenfelt Bay, then by the Nine Mile Portage to Willow Creek and the Nottawasaga River. The Penetanguishene Road, built between 1814 and 1815 from Kempenfelt Bay, provided an alternate route to Georgian Bay. However, early settlers also used this route to get to the frontier of Simcoe County, bypassing the areas of West Gwillimbury and Essa townships. The first settlers to cross the Holland River, arriving in the fall of 1819, were three Irishmen: James Wallace, Lewis Algeo and Robert Armstrong. This was about the same time as the Auld Kirk Scotch Settlement was established. However, the pioneers of West Gwillimbury were mostly Protestants from Northern Ireland. The new settlers sent a petition to the province of Upper Canada early in 1824, stating they were separated from the settlements of Yonge Street, by an impassable swamp. On January 24 the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada made a grant for the first main road in West Gwillimbury (4 Geo. 1V., chap 29). The contract for the first corduroy road across the Holland Marsh was completed by Robert Armstrong and his sons in the fall of 1825. Connecting with other contactors sections and the previously constructed road from Kempenfelt Bay, the road became known as Penetanguishene Road. It later became part of Yonge Street, and is now Simcoe County Road 4. The original road (Bridge Street) did not curve onto Holland Street, but continued straight to what is now Scanlon Ave. near Colborne Street; from there the road continued north, while another road led southwest to the Scottish settlement. It was at this junction that the settlement was first established. William Milloy, formerly of Coulson's Corners, built a small log tavern there in the fall of 1829. Other businessmen included James Drury, merchant; James Campbell, shoemaker and Thomas Driffel, blacksmith. John Peacock, an old soldier from London, England, had settled as a merchant and became the first postmaster in 1835. [edit] NameInitially, the place was known as Milloy's Tavern and later was called Edmanson's Corners. In 1840, Joel Flesher Robinson named it after his home town in West Yorkshire, England. [edit] Bradford becomes a townBradford was incorporated as a village in 1857, with a population of about 1,000 people. Only a few years prior to this, the Northern Railway of Canada was built through the town. The train station was constructed by the Grand Trunk Railway and later used by the CNR. Bradford was incorporated as a town in 1960. The Downtown Core has survived two fires. The first, on May 23, 1871, destroyed upwards of one hundred homes including all of the business part of the village except two hotels being consumed. However, a new downtown area arose where most buildings were made of brick. Today many of the buildings still exist and make up the downtown core. The second fire was in the 1960s with damage only to the northwest corner of the intersection at Highway 11 and Highway 88. One of its famous historical landmarks that still operates to this day is the Village Inn Hotel. Its architect was E. J. Lennox, one of Toronto's foremost architects who also built Toronto's Old City Hall, the West Wing of the Ontario Legislative Building (known as Queen's Park), and the King Edward Hotel. The Village Inn is situated at the crossroads of Highway 88 and Highway 11, and is the landmark at the four corners of Bradford. Food, lodgings, and hospitality serve as its trademark. This history goes back to the 1900s, to horse and buggy days, when the Village Inn was a favourite meeting place for local residents and travellers en route for other parts of the country. The building survived a couple of fires including the great downtown fire of 1957. In 1980, it was hit by a crane that was trying to negotiate the intersection. It has since been extensively remodeled. [edit] Early industryThe village of Bradford was established to supply the agricultural interests of its surrounding area, and for a brief period in the mid-19th century, lumbering was a major industry, as trees had to be removed in order to commence farming. In 1824 entrepreneurs John Thorpe and Mark Scanlon obtained a government grant for the construction of a grist mill on a stream north of the settlement; although the partnership was dissolved about 1832, Scanlon built two sawmills in that vicinity. Water power being the only means of motive power at the time, as many as six mills were located on Scanlon Creek at one time. The family of Thomas Maconchy, one of the early settlers of Gilford, built a sawmill in Bradford at the bridge over the Holland River, in 1840. It was the first mill at that location. When the Ontario, Simcoe and Huron Railway was constructed, it was said to be through an almost continuous forest for most of the distance from Toronto to Barrie. Sometime after the line opened, Toronto lumber merchant Thompson Smith put up a large sawmill on the river near the Bradford station. First evidence of Smith in the village was 1862 when his partner James Durham cut the Holland River bridge in two, while driving logs to the mill. Thompson Smith's mill was the second largest in the area, next to the Sage mill at Bell Ewart. Smith added a second mill at Bradford, as well as contracting with Durham's mill in Barrie. Only a decade after the arrival of the railway at Lake Simcoe, pine for the mills was running low. In 1867 H. W. Sage persuaded Thompson Smith to join with him in the formation of the Rama Timber Transport Company, to supply Lake Simcoe mills with timber. With logs coming from as distant as Head Lake, Smith put up a third mill, south of the Holland River bridge in 1869. Following an example set by American lumberman Henry W. Sage, Thompson Smith established a number of mills at Cheboygan, Michigan.
[edit] Bradford becomes a town
[edit] Early industry
[edit] Research TipsThe primary source for basic documents (vital statistics, land records, wills) for people who lived in the Province of Ontario is the Archives of Ontario, 134 Ian Macdonald Blvd, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M7A 2C5. [edit] Early RecordsCivil registration did not begin in the province until 1869. Before then there may be church records of baptisms and burials. For the most part these are still held by the denomination who recorded them. Copies of marriage records made pre-1869 had to be sent by individual clergymen to the registrar of the county in which the marriage took place. These marriage records are available through Ontario Archives, on micorfilm through LDS libraries, and on paid and unpaid websites, but because they were copied at the registrars' offices, they cannot be considered a primary source. [edit] Vital Records after 1869Birth, marriage and death registrations are not open to the public until a specific number of years after the event occurred. Births to 1915 are now available [October 2014]; dates for marriages and deaths are later. Birth and death registration was not universally carried out in the early years after its adoption. Deaths were more apt to be reported than births for several years. The more rural the area, the less likely it would be that these happenings were reported to the authorities.
[edit] Land Records and WillsInformation on how to access land records and wills is best sought on the Archives of Ontario website. An ancestor's land holding might be found on Canadian County Atlas Digital Project if he was in occupancy circa 1878. Association for the Preservation of Ontario Land Registry Office Documents (APOLROD). A list of Land Registry Offices for all Counties of Ontario. [edit] CensusesThe original censuses are in the hands of Library and Archives Canada, known to Canadians as "LAC". Copies of original microfilms are online at the LAC website for all censuses up to 1921. Each census database is preceded with an explanation of the geographical area covered, the amount of material retained (some census division material has been lost), the questions on the census form, and whether there is a name index. Census divisions were redrawn as the population increased and more land was inhabited. [edit] Hard-to-Find Places
[edit] E-books, Books and Newspapers
[edit] Websites with more local information on Simcoe County
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