A Scottish enclave in Woolwich Township
Mention Woolwich Township — immediately visions of buggies, trotting horses and black-clothed Old Order Mennonites come to mind.
But digging into Woolwich’s past reveals surprising little corners that historically don’t fit the stereotype; for example, that small Scotch enclave which began as Cox’s Creek. It now has an idealsounding Scottish name — Winterbourne — bestowed by an Englishman!
Block 3, part of which was formalized as Woolwich Township in 1816, had been within the Haldimand Tract given to the Six Nations of New York state following the American Revolution. The Iroquois had supported the (losing) British side and many moved to Upper Canada after the war. In 1797, Block 3 of that tract was sold by Mohawk chief Joseph Brant to William Wallace of Niagara. Fifteen years later, Wallace supported the Americans in the War of 1812 so the British seized his remaining property, some 7,000 acres in Block 3 on the east side of the Grand River. In 1821, James Crooks assumed ownership and over the next two decades, dozens of immigrant families, mostly English and Scottish, moved into Crooks’ Tract.
There had been previous white settlers along the east banks of the Grand including a blacksmith named Cox. His first name has been lost but the surname survives today in Cox’s Creek which rises near Highway 6 between Guelph and Elora then enters the Grand at today’s Winterbourne.
Captain Thomas Smith was an American who settled in Crooks’ Tract long before fighting for the British in the War of 1812. Wounded at Lundy’s Lane, Smith returned and by the mid-1830s was operating the earliest stage coach mail route in Woolwich, connecting Cox’s Creek to Preston.
Just north of Cox’s Creek in the early 1830s, eight families totalling about 35 people created Colbornesburg. This small settlement of free blacks from Ohio preceded the better-known pioneering attempt in the Queen’s Bush of Wellesley Township.
Scotch immigrants began settling around Cox’s Creek in 1834, led by John Davidson who built a house and opened the first township post office that year under the name East (or Lower) Woolwich. Among the many Scots arriving over the next decades appears a pair of English brothers, Thomas and W. Henry Lanphier. Royal Navy veteran Thomas arrived first, purchasing 300 acres in 1835 and building an estate he called Sunny Bank. His brother, Captain Henry Lanphier, came in 1854 and in just two years put a whole new face on the community. He dammed Cox’s Creek, built a sawmill and flour mill, had the village site surveyed into lots and convinced people to replace the old village names with Winterbourne. That done, Henry returned to England.
Just as there is some historical confusion with the family name, Lanphier versus Lamphier, there is some question about the name Winterbourne. Many writers say the community was named for the family’s hometown in England but in that case, it should be called Sunbury-on-Thames since that is where the Lanphiers came from.
Not surprisingly, the Scots were quick to establish a Presbyterian congregation, under the name St. Andrew’s, in 1837. Seven years later, one of those schisms which dot Presbyterian history caused an offshoot group to build a wooden church soon called Chalmers Presbyterian. It was replaced in 1870 by a brick structure that still stands. The St. Andrew’s branch, a.k.a. Auld Kirk, carried on until 1876 when the two congregations reunited. Chalmers closed in 2012 and is now a residence but Winterbourne Presbyterian Cemetery confirms the once-dominant Scots presence. Wesley an Methodists had worshipped in the vicinity since the 1820s but had no church building until 1844. The congregation closed in 1915 and what remains of the Methodist experience in Winterbourne is a small cemetery with an historical plaque.
In Confederation year, Winterbourne could boast, in addition to 160 people, three churches, a school, post office, Joseph Fromm’s general store, two mills, two hotels, two blacksmiths, a tailor, shoemaker and Dr. W.F. Savage.
Ideally, my own percentage of blood from Scotland indulges my playing with the Scots/Scottish/ Scotch forms of nouns and adjectives. Ferocious online arguments and dictionary disputes have been going on for decades with little agreement.
For more on Colbornesburg, see Linda Brown-Kubisch’s “Queen’s Bush Settlement: Black Pioneers 1839-1865.”