Yorkregion.com - Georgina - Founders battled it out
Founders battled it out
Georgina
Apr 30, 2008 09:07 PM
By: Phil Rose-Donahoe and Melissa Matt
The 1837 Rebellion of Upper Canada was an important episode of Canadian history that contributed to widespread reform of our political institutions.
At the time of the rebellion, Ontario (then known as Upper Canada) was ruled by a small number of public servants known as the Family Compact, which controlled the political system.
While members of the Family Compact opposed any kind of reform that might have diminished their influence, a growing number of individuals leading up to 1837 clamoured for change.
They wanted a political system in which elected officials were more accountable to constituents and free of interference from the Family Compact.
William Lyon Mackenzie was the most outspoken critic of Upper Canada’s political elite.
Although he initially promoted peaceful reform, he increasingly endorsed more violent tactics as frustrations escalated.
Although many of his supporters were based in Toronto, his network of sympathizers spread north of the city.
Samuel Lount, for example, was from Mount Albert.
A blacksmith by trade, Mr. Lount was one of the Rebellion’s most daring leaders.
William Johnson of Georgina was another of Mackenzie’s sympathizers.
In 1837, Georgina and North Gwillimbury were governed by Tories who defended the Family Compact.
These men served as justices of the peace, magistrates, and commissioners at the Court of Requests and largely distrusted reform.
Mr. Johnson was the only Georgina magistrate who supported Mr. Mackenzie’s calls for change.
As one of Georgina’s leading men and the founder of Johnson’s Mills, which later became Pefferlaw, his diaries from 1832 to 1850 shed light on the political tensions of the day.
Although no diary exists for 1831, it is possible he attended the Reform Party meeting held by Mr. Mackenzie in July of that year.
It was during his travels north of Toronto that Mr. Mackenzie disseminated his appeals for revolt.
Sharing aspirations for reform, Mr. Mackenzie and Mr. Johnson corresponded for years, even during Mr. Mackenzie’s exile to the United States after the rebellion failed.
In the years following 1837, Johnson’s farm, known as Old Castle, part of which is now occupied by the Sutton-by-the-Lake community on Park Road, served as Georgina’s centre for Reform politicians and supporters.
His strong desire for change is evident in the list of visitors he received during these years.
Robert Baldwin, who would become co-premier of the Canadas, visited in 1847 and 1848.
In 1849, Mr. Johnson also received a visit from the recently pardoned Mr. Mackenzie.
Although most of Georgina’s and North Gwillimbury’s residents did not take part in the 1837 Rebellion, it is clear the community witnessed the events with great interest.
They were acutely aware of the issues involved in the debate over responsible government and keenly interested in how the confrontation at Montgomery’s Tavern unfolded.
Although Mr. Mackenzie’s efforts to dispose the government with a single act of rebellion failed, his actions contributed to long-term transformations of the political landscape.
There is no complete list of rebels or sympathizers from the Georgina area, which makes it impossible to know which families supported Mr. Mackenzie and his rebellion.
In Keswick, we know the Smalleys were loyal to the Family Compact, the Bennetts were reformers and Merritts were rebels.
Godfrey Wheeler is another local man whose sympathies we know about.
Before the rebellion, Mr. Wheeler was not the most law-abiding citizen in Georgina, having been charged with assault and fined for making threats.
In the days following the rebellion, Mr. Wheeler was one of the rebels that made it to the United States, which claimed neutrality. He was a rebel leader who many considered to be a crony of Mr. Johnson.
Although the attempt to overthrow the government in Upper Canada failed, many rebels remained at large after 1837.
For example, on Christmas Day, 1837, Mr. Johnson was arrested and detained on the charge of high treason. He was brought to Toronto Dec. 27 to answer questions from the special commission and returned Dec. 29, completely exonerated.
In the first days of 1838 as well, a party of Georgina’s leading men rode on horseback through our township toward Thora Township, on the east side of Lake Simcoe.
The purpose was to round up any rebels or rebel sympathizers and arrest them.
Prisoners were taken to the home of Sutton’s town founder, James O’Brien Bourchier.
It is unknown who these first prisoners taken to The Manor were, but imagine being arrested by a neighbour for your political sympathies?
Mr. Johnson never forgot this experience. In fact, he remembered it in his diary on the anniversary of the occasion, Dec. 25:
1839: Dined on a roast turkey and during the time we were discussing it, we well remembered with the most indignant feeling, the illegal visit we had two years ago from a banditti of vile Orangemen, seconded by a not less vile magistrate who encouraged them in their improper proceedings.
1840: Dined on roast goose and apple sauce, plum pudding. Drank confusion to the Orange Tories for the visit they made us in 1837.
After the Rebellion of 1837, everyday life remained relatively unchanged in Georgina and North Gwillimbury Townships, even though some friendships were lost.