J. T. Pollock, Esq., Reeve of Darlington, who is about to retire from the township municipal arena, gave an oyster supper Saturday night to his colleagues in the council and the township officers at Beer’s Hotel, Hampton. This house has for many years justly had the name of being one of the best kept houses in Ontario and the spread on this occasion did not detract anything from the reputation it has borne. The viands were served in the most tempting style and everyone present seemed to do them justice.
After supper all retired to the spacious sitting-room, where each one present was called on for a speech. All cheerfully responded and some two hours were very pleasantly spent. The entire company expressed regret at Mr. Wm. Creeper’s absence, he being taken suddenly ill immediately after supper and had to retire.
Some time previous to this meeting R. Windatt, Esq., and the respected Clerk of the Municipality, had prepared a paper giving the municipal history of Darlington Township since the first white settler set foot on our shores. Mr. Windatt was unable to be present and the paper was very ably read by his daughter, Miss Windatt. Everyone present was delighted with it, and all were unanimous in their expressions of esteem and respect for the venerable writer. D. B. Simpson, Esq., and Dr. J. C. Mitchell, were the last to speak, and both gentlemen highly interested and amused their hearers.
Before the meeting broke up Mr. I. L. Brown moved that a vote of thanks be tendered Mr. Windatt for the interesting paper he had so ably prepared for the occasion, and that he be requested to have it published in the local paper. The motion was seconded by Mr. H. Elliot, jr., and unanimously carried amid great enthusiasm, after which all retired well pleased with the evening’s entertainment.
The paper read by Miss Windatt is the following: The first white settlers of the Township of Darlington are said to have been John Burk, John W. Trull, and Roger Conant and their families, who landed near the mouth of Barber’s Creek, Port Darlington, from the United States in the year 1794, with a stock of two cows and a horse which after crossing the Niagara River had with great difficulty been driven around the head of Lake Ontario and so far down its northern shore.
Their difficulties did not end with their toilsome journey, the country was one primeval forest, the only human inhabitants being the savage Indian who looked with jealous eyes upon this encroachment upon their territory. Their first care was to erect shanties to protect themselves from the approaching winter. The lack of mill accommodation was also a great inconvenience as soon as they had any grain to grind, the nearest mill being sixty miles distant requiring a two weeks’ toilsome journey in a canoe.
The increase in population was necessarily very slow. It is said that a census taken of the township in 1829, 35 years after the first settlement, showed the population to only have increased to 118, with but one house north of the main road. The earliest official record that I can find of and Municipal organization is for the year 1837. A town meeting was held on the second day of January of that year in a school house where the Bennett House now stands. At this meeting Ichabod H. Farlie, John Jardine and Bartholomew B. Mitchell were appointed Commissioners, Armon B. Soyer, Township Clerk, Michael Cryderman, Assessor and Collector, Hewson Wilson and thirty-two others, Pathmasters, among which appears the name Christopher Courtice, the father of our respected second Deputy-Reeve, Charles Teffeny, Rufus Baker and sixteen others, Fence viewers, and H. S, Reid, Esq., and seven others, Poundkeepers. The receipts for said year were said to be eight pounds, nineteen shillings and four pence. So the custodians of the township funds in those early days kept their expenditure well within their income, an example which their successors have been careful to follow.
The business of the township was carried on much the same way, till the year 1850, at which time it was organized under the present Municipal Law. The first council was composed of Messrs. H. S. Reid, John Simpson, Michael Cryderman, John Rusk, and John C. Trull. The council met in the Court House, in what is now the town of Bowmanville, and appointed Mr. Reid, Reeve, and Mr. Cryderman, Deputy-Reeve, John Scott, Clerk, and Jas. McClellan, John McLaughlin and Benjamin F. Perry, Assessors. For 16 years the reeves were appointed by the Council from their own number. In 1987 the township was first titled to a second deputy reeve. From 1856 to 1866 the council was elected by wards. Forty-five different persons have been members of the council during the forty-seven years of its existence, less than an average of one each day. The following are the names in the order in which they came into the council, the time, and the capacity in which they served respectively:
1850. H. S. Reid, one year as reeve. Michael Cryderman, one year as Deputy Reeve. John Simpson, one year as Councillor. John Rusk, three years as Councillor. John G. Trull, one year as Councillor.
1851. David Fisher, two years as Reeve. Anthony Washington, five years as Deputy-Reeve, and two as Councillor. Matthew Jones, five years as Reeve and two as Deputy-Reeve.
1852. John Washington, one year as Deputy Reeve and two as Councillor. B. F. Perry, one year as Deputy Reeve and three as Councillor.
1853. Peter Coleman, one year a Councillor. W. H. Rogers, one year as Deputy-Reeve and three as Councillor. (This year Bowmanville separated from the township and henceforth the township meetings were held in Hampton.) 1854. Robert Beith, one year as Councillor.
1855. Edward G. Power, nine years as Reeve, one as Deputy-Reeve, and four as Councillor. John Gray, one year as Councillor.
1856. Walter Scott, four years as first Deputy-Reeve, one year second Deputy-Reeve and eight years as Councillor. Chas. S. Bates, one year as Councillor.
1857. Samuel Vanstone, five years as Reeve, two as first Deputy-Reeve, three years as second Deputy-Reeve and four as Councillor.
1858. Richard Allin, three years as Councillor.
1859. No change.
1860. No change.
1861. William Cornish, three years as Councillor.
1862. Thos. Cann, two years as Reeve, one as first Deputy-Reeve, one as second Deputy-Reeve and four as Councillor.
1863. William Brown, one year as Reeve, five as first Deputy-Reeve and six as Councillor.
1864. William Windatt, four years as Reeve, four as first Deputy-Reeve, one as second Deputy-Reeve and eight as Councillor.
1865. No change.
1866. No change.
1867. No change.
1868. No change.
1869. Harvey W. Burk, two years as Reeve, two as second Deputy-Reeve and one year as Councillor.
1870. Charles W. Smith, three years as Reeve, two years as first Deputy-Reeve, three years as second Deputy-Reeve and three as Councillor.
1871. No change.
1872. No change.
1873. No change.
1874. James Smith, one year as first Deputy-Reeve, and one as Councillor.
1875. William Clemens, one year as first Deputy-Reeve, and one as Councillor.
James Rundle, two years as Reeve, two years as first Deputy-Reeve, one year as second Deputy-Reeve and five as Councillor.
1876. William Bingham, one year as second Deputy-Reeve and three as Councillor.
1877. No change.
1878. No change.
1879. William H. Langmaid, two years as Reeve, one year as first Deputy-Reeve, two years as second Deputy-Reeve and two as Councillor.
1880. Levi VanCamp, one year as Reeve, five as first Deputy-Reeve, two years as second Deputy-Reeve and two years as Councillor.
1881. Daniel Dyer, three years as Councillor.
1882. Thos. H. Hancock, two years as Reeve, two years as first Deputy-Reeve, one year as second Deputy-Reeve and one year as Councillor.
1883. No change.
1884. No change.
1885. William Cryderman, one year as Councillor. Thos. Smale, four years as Reeve, two years as first Deputy-Reeve, two years as second Deputy-Reeve and one year as Councillor.
1886. James B. Worden, two years as second Deputy-Reeve and four years as Councillor. Geo. Awde, two years as first Deputy-Reeve, two years as second Deputy-Reeve and years as Councillor.
1887. No change.
1888. William Brent, two years as first Deputy-Reeve, one year as second Deputy-Reeve and years as Councillor.
1889. No change.
1890. James T. Pollock, two years as Reeve, one year as first Deputy-Reeve, two years as second Deputy-Reeve and two years as Councillor.
1891. William Trewin, one year as Councillor.
1892. Thomas Pascoe, two years first Deputy-Reeve, one year as second Deputy-Reeve and years as Councillor. L. M. Courtice, two years as second Deputy-Reeve, years as Councillor.
1893. No change.
1894. Albert E. Clemens, three years as Councillor.
1895. Richard Foster, two years as Councillor.
1896. No change. In some cases where I have…. change a transfer of officers to….. while the personal of the whole remained the same. R. Windatt, Township Clerk, from 1853 to date, 44 years.
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