Prince Edward Street - East Side Elizabeth Street to the Railway Tracks In this section, Around Town will address the properties on the east side of Prince Edward Street, between Elizabeth Street and the railway tracks. At a later date, another section will address Prince Edward Street south of the railway as well as its further extension to the east to meet Harbour Street.
Today, Elizabeth Street is the primary street out of Brighton to the east and it is Number 2 Highway. However, it is useful to step back in time and understand how the roads were established in very early settlement days. The first and most important road through this area was the Danforth Highway which was built in 1799 along the line between concessions 1 and 2. There were no more than a few scattered log cabins at that time, with the bulk of settlement well in the future. However, when the Danforth Road touched the border between Cramahe and Murray Townships, it swung a bit north and headed up what we call Dundas Street, following the high ground to Smithfield. Mr. Danforth’s orders were to build this road quickly and one way to do that was to keep to the ridges north of the shoreline of Lake Ontario. Besides, John Drummond Smith was already settled on the creek that would take his name, founding the village of Smithfield. It made sense to take the road directly to the place where people were already established. This situation changed after the War of 1812 was over, in the later 18-teens, when the government was intent on providing a better road along the north shore of Lake Ontario. This was partly to facilitate military operations but also to support settlers coming into the area. In many places, the old Danforth Road was in very poor shape, so it was refurbished and upgraded for easier travel. In other places, a new route was selected. Since 1800, many settlements had been established at the shore of Lake Ontario and it made sense for this important road to pass through the populated communities. For example, we can see the road dropping down to the lakeshore at the new settlements of both Cobourg and Port Hope.
At the border of Murray and Cramahe Townships, a similar change happened. The new route of the road to the east from here would dip south of the ridge and run directly east toward the growing settlement at the mouth of the Trent River. The Danforth Road had gone south from Smithfield to Asa Weller’s trading post at the Carrying Place, but the new road went straight east to Trent Port, which we now call Trenton. A ferry operated there, carrying travelers across the Trent River and into Hastings County. The covered bridge in 1834 would make this route even more convenient for travelers. In this context, the three-way intersection in the middle of today’s town of Brighton developed because of the change in the roads. Main Street came up to a duck pond and travelers jogged south and then east onto the new York Road, later called the Kingston Road, what we call Elizabeth Street. In the future, the businesses along Main Street would be primarily merchants and the businesses at the intersection of Elizabeth Street would support transportation. We can recall the many gas stations at this corner.
3 Elizabeth Street South – Village Lot 15 Prince Edward Street East Today, the gas station and Presqu’ile Café and Burger on the south-east corner of Elizabeth and Prince Edward Streets has the address of 3 Elizabeth Street. The Belden County Atlas of 1878 shows that Village Lot 15 occupied this corner, all the way east to Oliphant Street. It is a larger lot than most in this area and we need to be aware that more than one property was located on its western edge, along Prince Edward Street. We also must be aware that this is the far north-west corner of the larger township lot 35, concession B, Murray Township.
The land records for Village Lot 15 begin with three transactions that are similar to others in this larger township lot. The first item is dated May 22, 1798, and it is the Patent from the Crown for all 200 acres of lot 35, concession B, Murray Township which was obtained by Mathias Marsh (1761-1829). He was born in Amenia, Dutchess County, New York, a son of the famous loyalist, Col. William Marsh. His family fled their home in New York before the war began and the younger siblings of Mathias were born in Manchester, Bennington County, Vermont. After the war ended, Col. William Marsh travelled to Upper Canada with his older sons to look for land where the next generation of the family could be established. The oldest son, Mathias, obtained land grants in lot 5, concession 1, Sidney township and lot 35, concession B, Murray Township. His brother, Jeremiah, drew land in Murray Township but died in 1816. Brothers Benjamin and Samuel drew land in Hope Township, in the area where Port Hope is today. William Samuel Marsh inherited the family lands in Vermont and remained there. The youngest of the family, John Johnson Marsh was in Vermont as late as 1830, but then obtained land in Hope township. During the 1840s he moved to Vincent Township, Grey County, in the Collingwood area. A sister of Mathias Marsh was Hannah who married Asa Weller in Manchester Vermont. This family would become one of the leading settlers in the south-east corner of Northumberland County. Asa Weller took advantage of the need for travelers to have their boats and baggage carried across the narrow isthmus of land called the Carrying Place, between Wellers Bay and the Bay of Quinte. His trading post and batteaux portage service proved to be very lucrative at this very strategic location. Once his children were established in their new homes, old Col. Marsh went back to Vermont and died there in 1816, in his 78th year.
Mathias Marsh lived on a farm along the north shore of the Bay of Quinte near the location of Trenton today. He used the land he obtained in Murray Township to generate revenue. This was exactly the intent of the land grant system, to provide wealth for the loyalists and to build a privileged class that would run the new colony, just as if it was a county in England. In the initial stages, this system worked as intended. In 1803, Mathias Marsh sold all 200 acres of lot 35, concession B to William Lounsbury. This is not a familiar name in the area because they did not stay, and it is very difficult to find information as to exactly who they were. William Lounsbury was probably back in the United States in 1815 when a land transaction was completed, showing 100 acres in the north part of lot 35 acquired by John Singleton. The mother, of John Singleton, Ann McArthur, sometimes called Nancy, had been married to Captain George Singleton in 1788, soon after the war was over and settlers began to come to Upper Canada. George Singleton had been a soldier with the Royal Yorkers and was seriously wounded at the battle of Oriskany, near Fort Stanwix, New York State in 1777. He had come to the north shore of the Bay of Quinte along with his brother-in-law, Israel Ferguson and an army buddy, Alexander Chisholm, with the intent of trading with the Indigenous people to the north. Unfortunately, George Singleton died suddenly of fever on the annual trip to take furs to Montreal in 1789, leaving a widow with a newborn baby and a trading post in question. Alexander Chisholm would marry the widow Singleton in 1791 and, after many unsuccessful attempts to persuade the authorities to grant him land at the mouth of the Moira River, he moved to Murray Township and squatted on land north of Presqu’ile Bay. He was ambitious, establishing saw and grist mills as early as 1796 on what would later be called Butler Creek. Alexander Chisholm died in 1808 and his wife would take over management of the massive land grants obtained by these two loyalists. Ann Chisholm then married Cyrus Marsh around 1810. Cyrus and Ann Marsh lived on conc B, Lot 34, Murray Township until his passing around 1828 and she continued to be a primary force in real estate activity until she died in 1862, at the age of 90. We can truly call this lady the Matriarch of Brighton. Her son, John Singleton, married Margaret Canniff in 1811, a daughter of James Canniff and a member of the well-known family who founded Cannifton, on the Moira River north of Belleville. He carried on his mother’s habits of dividing the township lot properties they acquired and selling small village lots to folks who wanted a home in Brighton. In 1826, he sold a small half-acre piece of land to Richard Spencer. This was the far north-west corner of the 100 acres he had acquired in lot 35. This was Village Lot 15.
Richard Spencer (1797-1863) had been born in Kingston, a son of Hazelton Spencer and Margaret Richards. His father had been the commandant of the garrison at Kingston from 1797 to 1803, later combining the roles of sheriff and county crown attorney. It was said that he died in 1813 from over-exertion in carrying out his duties. His eldest son, Richard, had served in the war of 1812 and became the family leader on the death of his father. Richard Spencer is often called a farmer in the records, but we know that, by the 1850s, he was the editor and publisher of the Brighton Flag, the only newspaper printed in Brighton. His name was on the front page of the booklet that was published in the summer of 1859 to provide all the salacious details of the infamous murder story of Sarah Ann King by her husband, Dr. William Henry King. A copy of this document was provided by Rose Ellery during research that resulted in the book “Murder in the Family: The Dr. King Story” published in 2015. Richard Spencer held the ½ acre property on Prince Edward Street until 1835 when he sold it to Isaac C. Proctor. We have seen in Around Town, Main Street that Isaac Chamberlain Proctor (1790-1866) was deeply involved in land speculation all around Brighton. His father, Josiah Proctor (1757-1850) had established a sound basis of wealth for his family by the early acquisition of land that would later become part of the village of Brighton. Like the Singleton’s, the Proctors made a business out of selling small village lots out of their larger township lots. The source of their assets was not land grants since they were not loyalists. However, shrewd selection of land along with some good luck worked just as well.
Village Lot 15 would be in the hands of the Proctor family for a long time. Isaac granted it to his wife, Elizabeth in 1841 and it would be inherited at her passing in 1872 by her son, William Chamberlain Proctor. Records suggest that William C. Proctor died at his Prince Edward Street home in 1913. The Brighton Fire Map of 1911 shows one large brick house facing onto Prince Edward Street in the south part of Village Lot 15. It appears that this house was built by the Proctor family, probably in the 1860s, and specifically as the home of William C. Proctor.
This property was in the hands of the Proctor family until 1919, when the estate of John Edward Proctor, a son of Issac C. Proctor, sold it to George H. Craig. Born on Presqu’ile Point, George Henry Craig (1883-1923), normally called Harry, was a son of George Craig and Charlotte Lee. His grandfather was William Cragg (spelling evolved to Craig) (1814-1891), an Englishman who had come to Presqu’ile Point in the 1840s, and established his family on several sections of land on the point where they farmed as best they could. By the time of the 1869 survey of Presqu'ile Point, at least five different pieces of land they controlled totaled almost 44 acres. This was very small for a family farm, even in those days, and it would not be a surprise to see the family leave the point, dispersing to more productive land to the north.
George Craig had married Charlotte Lee in 1869 and they had two sons, Fred and Harry who were more interested in doing business in town than farming. In 1911 the two brothers set up a livery business at 3 Elizabeth Street. The Brighton Fire Map of 1926 clearly shows “Craig’s Livery Stable” fronting on Elizabeth Street and running well behind the big house. In this context, it made sense to purchase the big house near the livery barns. Harry provided a life lease for his second wife, Edith Plumton, so she had a place to live after he died in 1923.
A big change happened on this corner in 1933 when the estate of George Henry “Harry” Craig sold land close to the corner to Supertest Petroleum Corp. Ltd. so they could establish a gas station. Then, in 1939, the south part of lot 15 was granted to Edith, the widow of Harry Craig. This is the part where the big house was located. The widow Edith Craig married Frederick Slade in 1944 so it was Edith Viola Slade who, in 1945, provided a 10-year lease for the corner property to Supertest for a gas station, and later sold it outright. The next year, in 1946, she sold a piece of land down Elizabeth Street, at the east end of lot 15, to the Lehigh Coal Company. In 1948, the LeHigh Coal Company sold part of this land to Frank Pearsall and he established a gas station. This was the time when everyone had cars and there was a huge demand for gas and oil products as well as maintenance and repair for the family car as well as the buses and trucks that were on the road now. On 1958, Frank Pearsall sold to B.P.
As to the big house on Prince Edward Street in lot 15, Edith Slade sold this part of the lot to Ross and Mae Sherman in 1963. This was obviously a speculative step, because they sold the property to Howard R. Sharp in 1964, for a hefty profit. This made way for the construction of an IGA store. A newspaper article in October 1964 said “Construction is under way on the new supermarket. Last week the last debris from the razing of two houses on the east side of Prince Edward, one being the old Craig block, was cleaned up and foundations are being laid for the new structure which is estimated to cost $40,000. There will also be a good-sized parking lot in connection with the new supermarket. Howard Sharp, proprietor of the Brighton IGA Store on Main, is constructing the new supermarket and will be moving his business to the new site when the new building is completed late this fall. (41 Prince Edward Street)" Source: History of Brighton Businesses by Susan Brose, page 371. The IGA would later become the Bargain! Shop we see today at 41 Prince Edward Street just south of the gas station and Presqu’ile Café and Burgers. This property covers the south side of lot 15 and lot 16.
41 Prince Edward Street East – Village Lot 16 Village Lot 16 had a very different history, although ended up sharing lot 15 with the IGA store and parking lot. This image is a visual summary of the east side of Prince Edward Street south of Elizabeth. It shows the buildings that were on the street at one time, along with their modern street numbers and the succession of owners. The underlying map of the village lots is from the 1878 Belden County Atlas and the images of individual buildings are taken from the 1911 Brighton Fire Map which was created for fire insurance purposes.
The first three land transactions are the same for lots 15 and 16, with Mathias Marsh obtaining the Patent for the whole 200 acres in 1798, them selling to William Lounsbury, then the sale of the north 100 acres to John Singleton. Augustus Daniel Barnabus Spencer (1806-1872) had just been married to Ann Hurde and he would join his older brother in Brighton where he raised a family and worked as a carpenter. The house that was in lot 16 (today’s 41 Prince Edward Street) was probably build in the 1860s by the Spencer family. In 1859, lot 16 went to Margaret Ann Spencer, the oldest child of Augustus and Ann Spencer. She had recently married Corey Sherman Spencer, who was from a different branch of the huge Spencer family tree that comes out of Rhode Island. Corey and Margaret Spencer farmed near Hilton and, in 1868, they sold lot 16 to Margaret’s mother, Ann (Hurde) Spencer. Ann Spencer died in 1889 in South Fredericksburgh Township while living with her daughter Adelaid Victoria who had married Thomas Sloan. The property on lot 16 changed hands numerous times including in 1920 to Isaac Marshall Snider (1857-1940) who was a tinsmith in Brighton. He passed it to his two daughters, Mary Louise Snider who married Paul Sundberg and Ruth Berry Snider who married Clarence Harold Atkins. Isaac Snider died in 1940. His daughter, Ruth Berry (Snider) Atkins, would sell to Harold George Spencer, the fellow who was operating a dairy business at the corner of Elizabeth and Oliphant Streets. He quickly turned the property around to William H. Conn, who was very active in real estate speculation in the town.
The land records for lots 15 and 16 come together in 1964 when Howard Sharp acquired both lots and built his IGA store on the south part of lot 15 and the west end of lot 16. The newspaper article shown above re lot 15 mentions two houses that were razed in the process. The two houses would be the large brick house on the south side of lot 15, the old Proctor and Craig home, and the smaller, frame house at 41 Prince Edward Street, in lot 16, which had been the home of Augustus Spencer. This picture can be found on page 12 of "Pictorial Brighton". It shows Ralph Cheer with a team and buggy, in front of the house in village lot 16, the old Augustus Spencer home. The large brick house to the right side of the picture is the old high school which became the Cheer home, at 45 Prince Edward Street. The frame house with the veranda would be one of the two houses that were demolished to build Howard Sharp’s IGA in 1964.
45 Prince Edward Street East – Village Lot 17 The next address on Prince Edward Street is number 45, which is a small condo complex immediately south of the Bargain! Shop. Actually, the condos take up both lots 17 and 18. The first three land transaction for lot 17 are similar to those we see for the other lots in this area. Mathias Marsh obtained the Patent from the Crown in 1798 for all 200 acres of lot 35, concession B, Murray Township. He sold to William Lounsbury in 1803 and then 100 acres in the north half of lot 35 went to John Singleton. In 1831 there is a record showing that John and Margaret Singleton sold ½ acre in lot 35 to Richard Spencer. Another record, this one in 1832, shows that Isaac S. Platt sold land that is supposed to be in Village Lot 17 to Richard’s brother, Augustus Spencer. The next record is dated June 15, 1865 and presents a sheriff’s sale of land in lot 17 to John Edward Proctor. There is language here that may refer to “interest of A. Spencer”. It is hard say exactly what all this means. In any case, the next transaction is not until 1884 and it has John Edward Proctor and Ann Spencer, the widow of Augustus Spencer, granting lot 17 to the Board of Education of the Village of Brighton for $425. A quote from a Brighton history book says “In 1884 a new High School was built on Prince Edward Street on the property where the condominiums are located.” (Source: That’s Just The Way We Were; Brighton Memories, page 96).
The best picture we have of this school is shown here. It was obviously purpose-built as a high-school building in 1884, as we can see the symmetry of identical doors on either side and the typical high-ceilinged, two-storied structure with a bell tower on top. This building would function as the high school until 1916 when a new and larger school was built on Elizabeth Street to house both public and high schools. The Brighton Board of Education sold the old high-school building to Samuel C. Cheer in 1916 for $1,005 and the school was transformed into a family home. Samuel Charles Cheer (1863-1944) was a son of Henry Cheer and Lucinda Victoria Davidson. Their farm was north of Sanford Street, off Kingsley Avenue, an area which later became housing on the north side of Brighton Village.
Sam Cheer was a handsome fellow, able to wear fine clothes with ease. As a teenager, he followed his dream of being a stage actor by hiring onto a travelling dramatic troop that originated in Hamilton but toured around Ontario and New York State. They staged dramatic performances at town halls and opera houses and were a big hit at the Opera House upstairs in the Brighton Town Hall on numerous occasions. As a bonus, Sam became enamored of the daughter of the troop leader and would marry Alice Towersey in Hamilton in 1890. Once the pair were married, they endeavored to settle down to raise a family, which they did in Brighton. Maurice was born in 1891, Ralph in 1893 and Ruby in 1904. The musical and dramatic talents of the parents were shared by the children, and enjoyed by appreciative Brighton audiences for many years.
When Ruby was married to Wilmer Rudd in 1926, it was a major event at the Cheer home. A report said “It was the wedding of the year with a grand array of potted plants adorning the sweeping verandah and great steps.” In 1944, the estate of Alice Cheer sold lot 17 to James and Annis Dillman who sold it in 1950 to William H. Conn. Mr. Conn sold the lot in 1960 to George and Myrtle Seaman. George Seaman was an Englishman who had immigrated to Canada as a young man, working as a laborer in Cramahe and Percy Townships. He married Myrtle Agnes Ketchum in 1937 and by 1949 this childless couple were in Brighton where George found it easier to find work. George and Myrtle Seaman sold lot 17 in 1968 to Hannah J. Rae who appears to have been living in the house as the owner and renting apartments as well. The 1972 Canada Voters Lists show two couples as tenants at 45 Prince Edward Street, along with one retired gentleman. This property would change hands several times the next few years, but the situation changed dramatically in 1983 when Don Henderson Properties Ltd. acquired the property and by the early 1990s, the old school building was gone and Brighton had a condo complex.
47 Prince Edward Street East – Village Lot 18 Next on Prince Edward Street was number 47, which does not exist any more, as it became part of the condo complex immediately south of the Bargain! Shop. The condos take up both lots 17 and 18. The first three land transaction for lot 18 are similar to those we see for the other lots in this area. Mathias Marsh obtained the Patent from the Crown in 1798 for all 200 acres of lot 35, concession B, Murray Township. He sold to William Lounsbury in 1803 and then 100 acres in the north half of lot 35 went to John Singleton.
The next transaction for lot 18 sees John Singleton sell ¼ acre to Isaiah Thayer, one of two brothers who had come to Upper Canada from Waymouth, Norfolk Co., Massachusetts about five years before. His brother, Nathaniel Thayer, was 7 years older and had come to Murray Township around 1822, according the census records. In 1826, he married Fanny Drewry, a daughter of George Drewry and Elizabeth Pepper. This was an English family that had come to Prince Edward County in 1817 and would soon gravitate to the south end of Murray Township. Isaiah and Nathaniel Thayer both acquired land in lot 35, concession B, Murray Township, on the east side of Prince Edward Street, more or less across from the Methodist church, later Trinity St. Andrew’s United Church. Nathaniel raised a family and was engaged in farming and Isaiah remained single, often described in records as a harness maker. However, the Thayer family also developed a thriving nursey business here, which would support the beginnings of the apple industry in Brighton and area. Isaiah Thayer died in 1876 and his will granted Village Lot 18 to “Eliza Cornwall after the death of Eliza Thayer.” Eliza B. Cornwall was a daughter of Nathaniel Thayer, married to Isaac Bell Cornwall. Eliza Thayer was Isaiah’s unmarried sister.
In 1878, lot 18 was sold by Isaac and Eliza Cornwall to Samuel Bennett (1835-1919) who sold it in 1882 to Mary Catherine Rose, a daughter of Samuel E. Rose and Margaret Catherine Maybee. This lady would be married twice, first to William Latimer and later to James Jessop. The Jessop’s moved to Belleville and in 1932, Mary Catherine Jessop sold lot 18 to Benjamin Forester Maybee, a nephew who in turn provided his aunt Jessop with a life lease on the property. Benjamin F. Maybee and his wife, Blanche Luella Rogers, lived at 47 Prince Edward Street until his death in 1956 and Blanche’s in 1961. In 1962, Benjamin’s unmarried sister, Margaret E. Maybee sold lot 18 to Ernest and Ellen Lord. The property was sold again in 1971, this time to Frank and Margaret Richardson. The 1972 Canada Voters List shows that this couple was living at 47 Prince Edward Street and he was an “airman”. Then, in 1988, Frank and Margaret Richardson sold Village Lot 18 to Don Henderson Property Ltd. and, the same as with lot 17, the condo facility was created.
51 Prince Edward Street – Village Lot 19 Immediately south of the condos there is a lovely frame house which is 51 Prince Edward Street. This occupies village lot 19. The first three transactions are the same as the previous lots, then, in 1826, John Singleton sold ¼ acre in lot 19 to Sarah Nix. This was Sarah (Compton) Nix (1781-1828) who was the wife of Hermanus Nix, a brother of John Nix Sr. who built the first wharf at the east end of Price Street in Gosport.
The next record is in 1833, but seems unrelated to the previous one. This shows Archibald Marsh and Sarah Marsh granting ¼ acre of lot 19 to Mary L. Richardson. Archibald and Sarah are probably siblings, children of Mathias Marsh who obtained the Patent from the Crown for lot 35, concession B, Murray Township. Mary L. Richardson acquired the property and she would be Mary Louisa McDonnell, the second wife of Captain James Richardson, the famous sailor who obtained the Patent from the Crown for lot 1, concession 1, Cramahe Township, across on the west side of Prince Edward Street. Mary owned this property until 1859 when her estate sold it to Julia A. Smith. This was Julia Ann Wright (1829-1897), a daughter of James Wright and Mary Perry. She married Edward Henry Smith in 1847 and then Rev. Lewis Warner in 1860. Rev. Warner was sent to various locations around Ontario and the couple would grant lot 19 to their daughter, Julia L. Smith who sold it in 1878 to Mary Garrison. No information is forthcoming about Mary Garrison although she owned lot 19 until 1907 when she sold to Jay R. Chapin. The Chapin family is well known in Brighton Township, hailing from Cramahe Township. Jay Raglin Chapin (1867-1944) grew up on his parent's farm east of Brighton, along the north shore of Presqu’ile Bay. He married Annie Mabel Peterson in 1894. It appears as if the purchase of lot 19 was speculative as they only owned the lot until 1911.
The next owner was Thomas H. Seward who was a farmer at Stoney Point, married to Mary Ann Budway in 1880. The estate of Thomas H. Seward sold what was now called 51 Prince Edward Street in 1935 to Rev. Charles W. Barrett and after he died in 1948, his estate would finally sell lot 19 in 1962 to William & Gladys Forbes. The Canada Voters Lists for 1965 and 1968 show William Forbes was with the R.C.A.F. and his wife Gladys worked as a cashier in Brighton. In 1972, lot 19 was sold to Albert Plumb who is listed as a manager in 1972 voters lists. They had a son, Victor who was a student at that time. The next record is two decades later when the estate of Albert Plumb passed the property to Reta Leona Plumb. The last transaction available for Village Lot 19 was the estate of Rete Leona Plumb selling to Mary Jane Milburn Lawrie in 2006.
53 & 55 Prince Edward Street – Village Lot 20 Village Lot 20 is a double-wide lot which is directly across the street from the United Church. Today it contains two houses, #53 on the north side and #55 on the south. The first three transactions for lot 20 are the same as the others we have seen, but then in 1826 John Singleton sold part of lot 20 to Nathaniel Thayer for $20. Then there is a large gap in the records, as the next one is not until 1873 when the Will of Isaiah Thayer granted lot 20 to Nathaniel Thayer.
Soon after that, Nathaniel Thayer sold lot 20 to his son, Ira B. Thayer for $500. Ira Blanchard Thayer (1843-1926) married Alice Maud Potter in 1874 and would be engaged in many different business enterprises around Brighton. Early on he was involved with his father in harness making and saddlery, then he was involved in the trade in grain and the management of the Brighton Harbor. He would also be a long-serving insurance agent. In addition, the nursery business was operated by several generations of the Thayer family. It is interesting to note that the Brighton Fire Map for 1911 shows no buildings on Village Lot 20 on the east side of Prince Edward Street. Then, in the 1926 Fire Map, there are two houses facing Prince Edward Street in lot 20. This means that any buildings that the Thayer family had in lot 20 were removed before 1911.
53 Prince Edward Street In 1920, Village Lot 20 was sold to Agnes E. Stoneburg for $500. She was the daughter of Samuel Breeze and Elizabeth Huycke, married to Herbert Stoneburg. In 1921, Agnes Stoneburg sold the north part of lot 20 to Wesley Bellamy. This would be 53 Prince Edward Street. Wesley Bellamy (1859-1939) was born in Cramahe Township, a son of Chauncey Bellamy and Almira Silver. He married Estella F. Purdy in Colborne in 1893. Mr. Bellamy was a very much appreciated high school teacher in Colborne. In 1921 he became principal of the high school in Brighton and acquired the property at 53 Prince Edward Street. Of course, the high school was over on Elizabeth Street at this time. Wesley Bellamy married his second wife, Margaret Jane Hinds, in 1932, while he was teaching school in Port Rowan. He sold the property on Prince Edward Street in 1933 to Eva Tougas and retired. He was living in Whitby when he died in 1939.
Evangeline Abigail “Eva” Morrow (1896-1945) had grown up at Hilton, a daughter of Robert Orloff Morrow and Alice Evangeline Burton. In 1920, she married Frank Tougas who came from Peterborough and was involved in “Brighton White Wear Company”. He worked with Harry Frise, and his Frise Millinery Shop, to manufacture high quality apparel upstairs at 47 Main Street in Brighton. For about two decades, this company supplied product to wholesalers and merchants in the region and around Ontario, with a reputation for good quality. Sadly, both Eva and Frank Tougas died at relatively young ages, Eva in 1945 and Frank in 1947. In 1948 their estate sold 53 Prince Edward Street to George and Ruth Coling and they sold the next year to Albert F. Taylor. Albert Francis Taylor (1905-1955) lived on a farm near Hilton and married Bessie Carr in 1928. He died in 1955 and the property passed to Bessie. The Canada Voters Lists for 1965, 1968 and 1972 show Bessie Taylor living at 53 Prince Edward Street. Her estate would sell it to Thomas C. Towers in 1978. The last transaction in the land records for this property shows that Thomas Clifford Towers sold 53 Prince Edward Street in 2002 to Stephen Kelly and Tania Margaret O’Reilly.
55 Prince Edward Street In 1924, Agnes Stoneburg sold the south part of lot 20 to Arthur G. Thompson. In a few months, he sold the south part to Andrew P. German. This was 55 Prince Edward Street. Andrew Palmerston German (1862-1931) was a son of Jonathan S. German and Sarah Eliza MacDonald. He married Alice W. Fiddick in 1889 and farmed near Hilton. Alice died in 1895 and Andrew married Victoria Caroline Maybee who died in 1914. Andrew German’s third wife was Etta Maud Evans, who he married in 1916. It was her second marriage. Andrew German died in 1931 and his wife, Etta Maud German, would obtain 55 Prince Edward Street from the estate. Etta died in 1945 and the estate sold the property to Hubert M. and Marie Webster. This would be Hubert “Morely” Webster (1907-1989) who married Marie Kathleen McKinnon in Picton in 1927. Morely Webster was born in Wellington, a son of Hubert M. Webster and Orra Ada Hawkins. In his early 20s, he came to Brighton to work in the Agricultural Office. Many records describe him as an “agriculturalist”. By 1945, he was the manager of the office. For many years, Morley Webster dispensed knowledge to the farmers in the area, in particular regarding apples. He was well respected and appreciated in the community. In 1953, Morley and Marie Webster sold 55 Prince Edward Street to Hedley and Hettie Ireland. The Websters would build a new house at 10 Dorman Street and lived in Brighton until Morley’s death in 1989. Hedley Vicars Ireland (1899-1974) was a well-known farmer in the Hilton area, a son of Walter Ireland and Estella Lowe. He married Hettie Marie German in 1924 and by 1953 they were ready to retire in town. Number 55 Prince Edward Street was the perfect place for that. Hedley and Hettie Ireland are shown living at 55 Prince Edward Street in the Canada Voters Lists for 1965, 1968 and 1972. He died in 1974 and the property went to Hettie. In 1976, she sold it to Sonya J. Tafford who sold it in 1981 to Donald and June Kennedy. In 1984, it went to Andrew and Patricia Leeder, in 1986 to Donald and Jennifer Kovanen, then in 2004 to Mary Angela Young.
59 Prince Edward Street – Village Lot 21 The next lot to the south on the east side of Prince Edward Street is Village Lot 21. It is a larger lot that goes south to lot 22, which is a narrow lot along Gross Street. The snip to the right shows the lots and their orientation with each other and the streets. Below is an image with the background of the aerial photograph of Brighton in the late 1960s. It shows the buildings related to the street addresses and the boundaries of the lots along Prince Edward Street. Here we can see how important the creek is in the landscape of this area. The creek went under the road and came out south of the United Church. Village Lot 21 would eventually host three separate properties, indicated here as #59 at the north side of the lot, #65, the larger brick house well back from the road, and #69, one of two identical brick houses (along with #71 which is in lot 22).
The first three land records for lot 21 are the same as the other lots in this area, but then, in 1828, John Singleton sold three quarters of an acre in lot 21 to Samuel Hallet. There is no information available about this fellow and no subsequent land records mention his name. However, the next transaction for lot 21, in 1858, shows that Isaac C. Proctor registered a Quit Claim to Margaret Singleton on land described as “Hallet lot, north half, would appear to cover lot 21”. This probably means that Samuel Hallet did not live here and had not met his responsibilities of ownership, so Isaac C. Proctor was there to claim the land in what amounts to a sheriff’s sale. Documents are missing to support this fully, but at times we have to make an educated guess. In any case, the outcome was that Margaret Singleton took possession of lot 21. Margaret Canniff (1794-1886) was born in Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County, New York, but here parents, James Canniff and Elizabeth McBride headed to Upper Canada with the whole family a few weeks later, with baby Margaret in the wagon. The family first stopped in Adolphustown Township, and later moved to Marysburgh Township, Prince Edward County. James Canniff’s brother, John, would move into Thurlow Township and found the village of Cannifton.
In 1811, Margaret Canniff married John Singleton, who had been born in Thurlow Township in 1789, although the place was called Singleton’s Creek at that time, after his father, George Singleton. Tragically, George Singleton died in 1789, leaving the baby John and his mother, Ann McCarthur, without support. An army buddy of George’s, Alexander Chisholm, married the widow and, in the late 1790s, moved the family west to the north shore of Presqu’ile Bay where he built a grist and saw mill at the mouth of what would later be called Butler Creek. By 1811, when John Singleton and Margaret Canniff were married, John’s mother had married a third time, to Cyrus Marsh, so she would be known as Ann Marsh until her death in 1862. John and his mother enjoyed the enviable situation of having many land grants to manage. The primary Singleton home would be in lot 35, concession A, Murray Township, but they would engage in constant real estate speculation, using their larger township land grants to acquire more tactically important land which could be sold to settlers at a good price sometime in the future. As time went by and Brighton Village was created in 1831, demand began to grow for small lots in the village. Tradesmen and merchants and various professionals wanted good homes near their place of work where they could raise a family. The Singletons were on the positive side of the demand/supply curve which resulted in a wealth-generating process, just as the authors of the land grant system had intended.
John and Margaret Singleton were deeply involved in real estate transactions all their lives. Their names are repeated many times in the land registry records. The transaction regarding lot 21 in 1858 with Isaac C. Proctor was just one example. Five years later, in 1862, Margaret sold what was described as “7/8 acre” of Village Lot 21 to Leonora Singleton, her unmarried daughter. This investment would simmer until 1874 when Leonora sold the land in lot 21 to Alexander Martin. Alexander Martin (1811-1874) was a very interesting fellow. He had been born in the USA, had married Eliza Ann Brown in 1831 and four children were born before they decided to move to Upper Canada around 1840. Seven more children were born in the Brighton area. There are several items in The Tobey Book related to Alexander Martin which show that he was a very active participant in the local community. On page 154 we see this: “Mrs. Duncan, born in 1844, who lived with her grandmother, Mrs. John Singleton, said: "a paper, the Montreal Witness, came once a week to Brighton, just two men being subscribers - A.C. Singleton and Alex. Martin - and when the paper arrived by the Stage, you can hardly imagine how everybody was anxious to know of what was going on in the world. In the evening after the paper arrived, the men assembled in A.C. Singleton's store, where the counter served as a platform. Mr. Alex. Martin perched upon the counter with a man on either side of him holding a candle that he might see to read. The war was talked over and there were great discussions before they parted for the night.”
Records show that Alexander Martin was first a lumber dealer, then a merchant and, in the 1870s, a “sheriff’s officer”. He and Eliza raised a family of eleven children in Brighton before he was able to afford to purchase property on the east side of Prince Edward Street, just north of the railway tracks. In 1857 he purchased a bit more than one acre of land in Village Lot 25 which was on the east side of Prince Edward Street. It was also immediately north of the brand new Grand Trunk Railway tracks, south of Richardson Street. This is the location of Tri-County Plastics today. This would have been a great place to have a store, but a terrible place to have the family home. In any case, Alexander Martin was getting older and he had done well. In 1873, he sold lot 25 to his son William Martin, and then, on March 25, 1874, he purchased almost an acre in lot 21 from Leonora Singleton. The next day, he purchased a smaller bit of land in lot 22 from James and Lydia Van Horn. This would give the Martin family a significant frontage on Prince Edward Street, near the railway tracks.
Alexander Martin was nearing the end of his life, so he established a Will which passed the land to his children. The north half of lot 21 was passed to his daughter, Clarinda, who was married to Grimmon McDonald in 1869 and then to William Thomas Fitzgerald in 1900. Clarinda Fitzgerald sold the north part of lot 21 in 1921 to William W. Porte, a gentleman we have seen active in real estate in other parts of Brighton. The records suggest that this purchase may have been an investment undertaken with the intent of building a small house north of the creek which would become 59 Prince Edward Street. He owned the property for eight years, selling to Smith Hendricks in 1929. Mr. Porte had purchased the north side of lot 21 for $800 in 1921 and sold it for $2,600 in 1929, which strongly supports the idea that a house was added to the property. Smith Albert Hendricks (1862-1955) was a member of a large loyalist family that settled early in the south end of Murray Township. He married Sarah Wiggins in 1889 and they had a family of eight on the farm. He purchased 59 Prince Edward Street in 1929, when he was 66, likely as a retirement home. He sold it in 1944 and purchased 165 Main Street, where he lived until his death in 1955.
The property at 59 Prince Edward Street changed hands several times in the next years. Smith Hendricks sold it to Herbert Allard in 1944, then Mr. Allard sold to Elizabeth B. Chisholm in 1945. She sold to Nathan Martyn in 1947 who sold to Herbert Goodrich in 1947. Herbert Bales Goodrich (1886-1968) was a farmer in Percy Township but, in the late 1940s, he came to Brighton and operated a very popular grocery store called “The Sunshine Store” at 10 Young Street. He also became involved in businesses on the west side of Prince Edward Street, where Northumberland Plaza is today. In 1963 he purchased the gas station at Spring Valley and operated it for a few years. No. 59 was sold ten years later, in 1957, to John and Carlee Summers. They sold in 1960 to Kenneth Edwards who only held it until 1964. Ken had lived in this area because his father, Frank Edwards, was the cooper who worked at the Snelgrove cooperage on Oliphant Street and had purchased the property south of the United Church on the west side of Prince Edward Street. In 1964, the property at 59 Prince Edward Street was purchased by George and Agnes Tilling. Their land holdings were largely north of Brighton in the Cankerville area, but they were active in town as well. The house was rented to couples or individuals which we see clearly in the 1965, 1968 and 1972 Canada Voters Lists. Stan Broniek, a mechanic, along with his wife Ann, were there in both 1968 and 1972. George and Agnes Tilling sold #59 in 1981 to Wallace and Lorraine Brooks., then they sold it in 1988 to Rita Sweet.
65 Prince Edward Street East – Village Lot 21 The next property is 65 Prince Edward Street which is the largest part of lot 21, and hosts a traditional two-story brick farm house set well back from the street. The house is a few yards south of the creek that runs at an angle through village lot 21. It goes under the street where we see the railing by the sidewalk, coming out south of Brookside Apartments on the west side of the street. Number 65 displays a style of house that was typical in rural communities in the 1860s and 1870s. There are many of them up and down the streets of Brighton, many built by Cornelius Valleau, who built one of them for himself at 120 Main Street. These large brick structures also reflected the prosperity of the owner and the community at large.
The 1911 Fire Map shows very clearly that the three brick houses on Prince Edward north of Gross Street were long-established at that time. Alexander Martin has already been introduced in the previous item for 59 Prince Edward Street. He had acquired lot 21 in 1874 and his Will later that year passed the south part to his daughter Clarinda. His son William received the main part of lot 21, including the house that would be #65. William Martin (1848-1915) had married Olive Crandell in 1871 and they raised a family of six. Records show that William took on the position of Deputy Sheriff, after his father died and was a Bailiff in 1891. Then, in 1896, William Martin moved to Rochester. He found work at the Kodak plant and is described as a “film maker” and later a “book keeper at Kodak Works”. Rochester was a very popular place for folks around Brighton to find work in the last few decades of the 1800s and early 1900s. The industrial complex in and around Rochester was expanding out from Kodak and jobs were plentiful. Even better, the jobs were good-paying jobs in industry which resulted in families being able to educate their kids so the next generation did better. For example, one of William Martin’s children, Frederick Alexander, became a solicitor and died in Belleville in 1948, retired from the job of manager of an insurance company.
Unfortunately, the land records are not clear on what happened to #65 after William left. There is no specific record that shows William Martin selling that part of lot 21. We might speculate that it remained in the Martin family, a home for one or more of his brothers and their families. His sister, Clarinda was married to Grimmon McDonald and they lived in Brighton, so ownership could have reverted to her after William left. Clarinda was married a second time in 1900, to William Thomas Fitzgerald of Cobourg. The land record that may apply to #65 is in 1921 when Clarinda Fitzgerald sold the “north part” of lot 21 to William W. Porte. This has been applied to the small wedge north of the creek because the price was $800. One would think the larger house would garner a higher price than that. In any case we can work backward from several Canada Voters Lists in the 1960s to document the stream of owners for 65 Prince Edward Street. From William W. Porte, it goes to Smith A. Hendricks in 1929, then Bertha McQuoid in 1931 who takes a mortgage from Smith Hendricks and a decade later Smith Hendrick sells to Herbert and Phyllis Allard. Herbert and Phillys Allard sold in 1945 to Elizabeth B. Chisholm. She turned it around quickly, selling in 1947 to Nathan and Dorothy Martyn. Herbert and Clara Goodrich purchased #65 from Nathan Martyn later in 1947 with the idea that they would live in the smaller house on the north side of the creek, #59, and rent apartments in the larger house. The 1965 Canada Voters List shows that Florence Ruddy was living at #65, along the Andrew and Valeria Carr as well as Ron and Mildred Plue. Ron Plue was a well-known mechanic north of Brighton for many years. In 1966, Herbert and Clara Goodrich sold #65 to Norman and Hazel Switzer and we can see that they are the occupants of 65 Prince Edward Street according to the 1968 Canada Voters List.
69 Prince Edward Street East – Village Lot 21 The brick house at 69 Prince Edward Street is in the south part of village lot 21. The house is the northern-most of two identical buildings, #69 and #71. The early records are the same for #69 and #71. Mathias Marsh had the Patent in 1798 for the entire lot 35, and he sold the whole 200 acres to William Lounsbury in 1803. He sold the north 100 acres to John Singleton in 1815, who sold what may more closely resemble Village Lot 21 to Samuel Hallet in 1828. This went nowhere and Isaac C. Proctor sold it in 1838 to Margaret Singleton, the wife of John Singleton. She passed it to her daughter, Leonora in 1862. Alexander Martin purchased lots 21 and 22 in 1874 and his Will passed the land to his children. It specifically mentions that Clarinda J. McDonald would get the south part of lot 21 and her brother William would get “all the residue of his real estate and personal estate etc.“ The practical outcome of this appears to be that William Martin sold the south part of lot 21 to Frederick W. Auston in 1877. Clarinda is not mentioned again. Frederick W. Auston was one of the proprietors of the laces factory at the west side of Brighton and was extremely active in real estate at this time. The next transaction shows that he sold the south part of lot 21 to William H. and John J. Thompson in 1891. He bought it for $400 and sold it for $3,000. In those days that can mean that he built a house on the property. When we compare the houses at 69 and 71 Prince Edward Street, several things are apparent. First, these houses are identical in their original design. The front porches are different but the basic structures are the same. Second, they are newer than the larger brick house at #65, which has the look of an 1860 farm house. These two at 69 and 71 appear to be intended as urban homes, a relatively modern brick home but fitting into the streetscape as well as the budgets of regular working folks. Nothing fancy here. Another piece of evidence that suggests Frederick W. Auston had these two houses build during the 1880s is that the land transactions for both lot 22 and the south side of lot 21 are identical. Auston purchased both properties from William Martin in 1877 and sold them in 1891 to William H. and John J. Thompson. In each case, the dollar value reflects the same kind of increase. It is likely that this was a deliberate real estate development project and that the people mentioned in these transactions did not live in these houses.
The next transactions for both properties, in 1892, show that William H. and John J. Thompson sold #69 and #71 to William Henry Stapleton and his wife Lola Lavella Chapman. He was from Hillier Township and came to Brighton as a young man to find work. The couple remained childless and they did well enough to invest in #69, and probably lived there until selling in 1904 to Jason S. Tice who quickly sold to Margaret Tice, the wife of his brother, George. In 1907, Margaret J. Tice sold #69 to Esther Thorne. This was Esther Smith (1825-1919), daughter of Robert McDowell Smith and Clarissa White, married to George Charles Thorne in 1859. George Thorne died in 1908 and, in 1921, the estate of Esther Thorne sold #69 to Lewis R. Vanwicklin. He died in 1964 and his estate granted #69 to Berneda Sturmey. The occupant of #69 is shown to be Lewis Van Wicklin in 1965 and Miss B. Sturmey in 1968. The estate of Berneda Sturmey sold #69 in 1970 to Russell and Florence Baker who sold it the next year to Murray Fulton who is shown to be a mechanic in the 1972 voters list at 69 Prince Edward Street. It went to Gregory Bull in 1985, to Andrew Leeder in 1986, to Daphne Lyn Simms in 1989, to Gary Stephen Miller in 1991, then to Ron and Sarah Ford in 1992. The last transaction is a transfer back to Gary Stephen Miller.
71 Prince Edward Street East – Village Lot 22 The house at the corner of Prince Edward and Gross Streets is No. 71. It is in village lot 22, a narrow lot fronting on Prince Edward Street but going down Gross Street for parking and the garage to the east end of the house. As mentioned above, this house is identical to #69, so likely built at the same time by the same people. The early records are the same for #69 and #71. Mathias Marsh had the Patent in 1798 for the entire lot 35, and he sold the whole 200 acres to William Lounsbury in 1803. He sold the north 100 acres to John Singleton in 1815, who sold what may more closely resemble Village Lot 22 to Samuel Hallet in 1828. This went nowhere and Isaac C. Proctor sold it in 1838 to Margaret Singleton, the wife of John Singleton. She passed it to her daughter, Leonora in 1862. Oddly, Leonora Singleton is not mentioned again, but instead we see that Isaac C. Proctor issued a Quit Claim in 1865 regarding ¼ acre in lot 22 to Paul C. Van Horn. Paul Clapp Van Horn (1830-1899) was a farmer in Hillier Township who made investments in real estate in Brighton. He was also involved in Village Lot 18 on the west side of Prince Edward Street. In 1873 he was ready to realize his investment in lot 22 and Alexander Martin was ready too.
We have seen that Alexander Martin acquired lot 21 and lot 22 in March 1874, and by November he was preparing his Will which passed most of his assets to his son, William Martin. Lot 22 was then sold to Frederick W. Auston in 1877 and records show that he held it until 1891. Here is where we might speculate on the building of these two houses, #69 and #71. Frederick W. Auston may not have done the building himself but he had assets to invest in such an enterprise. His name is all over the land records in Brighton, often taking land that needed to be upgraded or modernize and generating a profit when it was sold. This is to a large degree how the town grew. Auston acquired both lot 22 and the south part of lot 21 at the same time and sold them to William H. Thompson and John J. Thompson in 1891. These names are not identified in Brighton and this transaction looks like a business deal. These Thompson men then sold both properties the next year to William Henry Stapleton who had come to Brighton as a young man and was engaged in livery stable operation. His investment was short-lived as he sold both properties in 1904 for Jason S. Tice. This is where ownership of lot 22 and the house at 71 Prince Edward Street branches off from lot 21. In 1907, Jason S. Tice sold only the property in lot 22 to Walter E. Lear. Walter Edwin Lear (1879-1944) was born in Illinois when his father went there for a few years before coming back to Brighton. A relative of Walter’s, John Lear, was living at 144 Main Street around this time.
Walter Lear turned the property around quickly when he sold to Harry W. Snelgrove in 1908. This fellow was a son of Abel Snelgrove and Eliza Vincent who were very active with Village Lot 23, Prince Edward Street East, as we shall see. Harry was on his way to Saskatchewan and sold the property quickly to Margaret H. Snelgrove, the second wife of his father. She sold in 1913 to Frank R. Whitton who was a son of Robert Whitton, a butcher and cattle buyer who operated the slaughter house on the west side of Cedar Street. It appears as if Frank Whitton and his wife Mabel Ann Vanalstine lived in #71 from 1913 to 1938 when they sold to Ronald McKenzie who turned it around the next year to John Usher. This would be John B. Usher (1864-1943) from Haldimand Township, in the Grafton area. He married Jessie Almira Wait in 1893 and may have been looking for a retirement home in Brighton when he acquired #71 in 1939. John Usher died in 1943 and his estate sold the property to Harold and Gladys Eales who sold it on to Charles and Alice Rogers in 1948.
Charles and Alice Rogers remained at 71 Prince Edward Street until 1972, one of the longest periods for this property. We see Charles Rogers listed as a “Gentleman” in the 1965 voters lists and as “retired” in 1968. There is no occupant of #71 in the 1972 voter lists but we see that Charles and Alice sold the property on May 5, 1972 to Robert L. Lockwood. This transaction is one of very few that include a detailed description. It says “Part commencing on east side of Prince Edward St., 50 feet northly from south west angle, easterly 165 feet, southerly 44 feet 6 in., westerly 165 feet, northerly 50 feet to place of commencement”. This shows that the property in lot 22 was 50 feet along Prince Edward Street, north from Gross Street, and 165 feet long, to the east. Robert Lockwood sold #71 within a few months to Constantine Ponomaroff who sold in two years to Bert and Else Thomson. This couple had it until 1985 when they sold to Kevin Papineau, who sold in 1988 to Robert and Elain Gurney.
73 Prince Edward Street East – Village Lot 23 Continuing south on the east side of Prince Edward Street, we find Gross Street and then village lots 23 and 24. There has been confusion about this street name. Notice that the snip from the 1878 Belden County Atlas Map at right has it as “Cross” but Google maps, below, shows “Gross”. The Fire Maps of 1911 and 1926 appear to use “Cross” although when the print is foggy, it can be hard to tell the difference. Several references in the Tobey Book always use Gross.
A list of street names with their likely sources in the Tobey Book suggests that this street might be named after Samuel Pitkin Gross who was a very active merchant in Brighton in the 1860s to the 1880s. However, a more likely person to be commemorated with a street name was Samuel’s father, Dr. Pitkin Gross, who was thought to be the first physician in Brighton. He was born in Vermont, obtained a medical degree at age 19 and served as a regimental surgeon for the army in New York State. After the war he moved to the south end of Murray Township where he operated an extensive medical practice until moving to Brighton about 1845. He acquired 82 Main Street and built a substantial home for his family. But Dr. Gross was also active in other areas. The Tobey Book tells us that, in 1854, he entered into an agreement whereby he would build sidewalks in the town. He was to supply material, workmen and tools and the village would pay him “9s 6d for every rod”. This was before Brighton village had a budget for this kind of improvement, so a citizen had to step up. It may be interesting to note that Dr. Pitkin Gross was the old, established physician who became the enemy of Dr. William Henry King when he set up practice in Brighton in the spring of 1858. It was Dr. Gross who Sarah’s parents asked to provide a second opinion on her condition, but Dr. King ranted that he would not have that man in his house. There must have been professional disagreements between these very different generations of medical practitioners. In any case, it is clear that Gross Street was probably named for Dr. Pitkin Gross. Or should be.
We are dealing with the land bounded on the west by Prince Edward Street, on the east by Oliphant Street, on the north by Gross Street and on the south by what was an extension of Richardson Street from the west, but is now a continuation of Oliphant Street from the north. This area hosts village lots 23 and 24. Today, there are three separate properties along Prince Edward Street in lots 23 and 24, addresses #73, #75 and #77. If we look closely at the houses, it is not hard to see that the house at #73 is older than the houses at #75 and #77. The most important thing to remember about this area is that the Canadian Northern Railway tracks ran along the north side of Richardson Street, right across most of lot 24. This is why the two houses at #75 and #77 are relatively new. The Canadian Northern only existed for a little over a decade, from 1911 to 1922, and after the tracks were removed, the property could be sold for housing, resulting in newer houses. The land transaction records reflect this process.
Another view of the situation is available on the Brighton Fire Map of 1911. A snip from that map at left shows that there is only one building on the entire space of lots 23 and 24 in 1911, after the Canadian Northern Railway tracks had been built along the north side of Richardson Street. The one house at #73 remained throughout the railway changes.
The first few land transactions for lot 23 are the same as the others in this area. Mathias Marsh obtained the Patent in 1798 for the full 200 acres of lot 35, concession B, Murray Township. In 1803, he sold the same land to William Lounsbury who, in 1815, sold 100 acres of the north part of lot 35 to John Singleton. In 1828 John Singleton sold part of the lot to Samuel Hallet. Then ….. nothing … until 1881. What? Yes, the land records for lot 23 have a huge gap from 1828 to 1896. Remember that the Grand Trunk Railway was built south of Brighton in the 1850s, with the Canadian Pacific built on the south side of those tracks in the 1880s. All that time, this area north of the tracks and east of Prince Edward Street was not legally owned by anyone. Might we assume nobody bought or sold lot 23 in that time period? It is hard to imagine, but maybe so. Obviously, Mr. Hallet was out of the picture, and the land was in legal limbo. Then, at a much later time than the other pieces of land impacted by this situation, in 1896, we see a transaction where the Warden and Treasurer granted the lot to Isaac Oscar Proctor for $550. Isaac Oscar Proctor (1836-1916) was a son of Isaac Chamberlain Proctor and a brother of John Edward Proctor. He remained single and participated with his brothers, father and uncles in land speculation and development around Brighton. In 1899, Isaac O. Proctor sold village lot 23 to Cynthia D. Freeman, the wife of Sylvanus Freeman who we have seen involved with land issues in the area. There are a significant number of mortgages and discharges in subsequent lines of the records, but in 1907, the Freemans sold lot 23 to Abel Snelgrove for $1,200. Abel Snelgrove (1854-1925) married Eliza Vincent in 1875 and they raised a family of six at 35 Perry Avenue in Brighton. Eliza died in 1902 and soon after, Abel and his sons succumbed to the call of the west, obtaining homestead grants in Saskatchewan. Abel’s second wife, Margaret, appears to have stayed behind in Brighton to handle the land transactions. Through 1907, 1908 and into 1909, there were several mortgages that came and went, and lots of buying and selling. In 1907, one transaction has Abel selling part of lot 23 to Margaret, his second wife. Another transaction has Abel and Margaret selling part of the lot to Margaret McKenzie, probably the wife of John McKenzie, a farmer in the Codrington area. The records are not clear on this, but the two Margaret’s may be related. In April 1909, part of lot 23 was sold to Birdie Snelgrove, the wife of Finley Snelgrove, a son of Abel.
This dismembering of lot 23 may represent homes along Gross Street which were very temporary. We can see today that one house remained on the corner which is 73 Prince Edward Street. As well, some of these transactions seem to indicate people exchanging small bits of land for investment purposes. There is only so much we can glean from the land records, and then we must speculate to some degree. Then, in 1910, Birdie B. Snelgrove and Finley F. Snelgrove sold part of lot 23 to the Canadian Northern Railway. A month later, Margaret McKenzie did a very similar transaction. This means that the south part of lot 23 was needed for the railway, along with the whole south side of lot 24. Early in 1914, Plan 107 was registered to support the development of the land contained in village lots 23, 24 and 25. This was the area north of the railway tracks, south of Gross Street and over to Oliphant. With the demise of the Canadian Northern Railway, the tracks through lot 24 and all the way through the south side of Brighton were torn up, leaving more space for residential growth. In 1923, The Canadian Northern Railway sold part of lot 23 to Guy Taylor for $600. Ernest “Guy” Taylor was born in North Gwillimbury Township, York County and married Eliza Sommerville in Toronto in 1904. He came to Brighton to work as a “section man” on the new railway, then, after taking the opportunity to purchase lot 23 in 1923, he worked as a garage mechanic until his death in 1957.
Unfortunately, this marks the end of the land records for lot 23. They are not to be found in the OnLand.ca system. This is very curious and quite annoying, but it is a limitation we will have to accept and live with. The Canada Voters Lists tell us that John and Florence Martin lived at 73 Prince Edward Street according to the 1965 Canada Voters Lists. He is shown to be an O.P.P. Officer, but it does not say if they were owners or tenants. There are no entries for #73 in the 1968 lists, but the 1972 record shows Frederick Phelan, an insurance agent, and his wife Gloria at 73 Prince Edward Street.
75 & 77 Prince Edward Street East – Village Lot 24 Now we come to village lot 24, or at least the area where 75 and 77 Prince Edward Street are located, across parts of both lots 23 and 24, but mostly in 24. Lot 24 was included in the strange situation with John Singleton and Samuel Hallet in 1828, but a resolution was quickly at hand when John Singleton sold “supposed to be part of this lot”, referring to lot 24, to Simeon Kellogg. Lot 25 to the south was also included in this. Remember, there was no railway at the south end of lot 25 at that time.
Here we see another example of the activities of Simeon Kellogg (1800-1867) who had come to the area a year or so before Brighton Village was created in 1831. He immediately built a hotel at the south side of Main Street, west side of the Prince Edward and Young Street intersection. It was in the meeting room of the Kellogg Inn that town folks gathered to establish the village and give it the name Brighton. Simeon Kellogg lived on the north side of Main Street, just west of Platt Street, and we can see that he invested in other properties around town during the 1830s. He left Brighton in the late 1840s and would sell off all his properties, making a good profit in the process. In the case of lot 24 and 25, Kellogg sold to Isaac C. Proctor in 1836. In 1837, Josiah H. Proctor, Isaac’s son, sold the property in lot 24 to John Purdy. John Purdy (1803-1863) had been born in Ernestown Township and was a son of David Purdy and Abigail Ostrum. While he was a farmer in Sidney Township most of his life, he invested in property in the village of Brighton. His sons, David and Samuel Purdy, benefited from this investment when they sold the property in lot 24 to Charles Firman in 1864. Charles Firman (1828-1904) was born in England and came to Brighton with his family in the 1840s, becoming a long-time carpenter with a wood turning and carpentry shop on Division Street. He was also the grantee for a Bond registered by David and Samuel Purdy on part of lot 24 in 1871. He married Phoebe Freeman and a family of 5 children followed. It appears as if lot 24 was their home. This land was passed to Charles Firman’s son, William, who had married Annie Jackson and worked as a farmer, also called an “orchardist” which means apples. He had a farm at concession 1, lot 34. The land in lot 24 was sold by William Firman in 1905, to Mary Letitia Wallace for $300. This was Mary Letitia “Lettie” McCullough (1837-1919) from Hillier Township who was married to John George Augustus Wallace, a very active businessman in Brighton. From 1871 when he is first recorded in Brighton, until his death in 1916, he is said to have been a fish dealer, a trader, a cage oil dealer and a grocery dealer. For a time, he had a store at 5 Main Street. John and Mary Letitia Wallace would take out a mortgage at the time of purchase and it was discharged just before they sold in July 1910 to the Canadian Northern Railway Company for $400. In April 1910, Birde B. Snelgrove and Finley F. Snelgrove sold “all except part owned by Letitia Wallace” to the Canadian Northern Railway Company. Unfortunately, the situation regarding land records is worse for lot 24. There are no land transaction records available after the item in 1914 showing Plan 107. We are left to cobble together what we can.
It is obvious that both #75 and #77 are relatively new houses that were built after the railway tracks were removed in the 1920s. However, there is no information available from the regular land registry records about who built them or lived in them. The exceptions are the 1965 voters list which shows G.J. Rondeau, of the R.C.A.F. and his wife living there, and then, in the 1972 list, two retired ladies are there, Eva McKitterick and Bertha Rickey. There is no mention of any occupants of #77 in any of the three voters lists for 1965, 1968 and 1972. A plan document ordered from OnLand.ca shows that the land was transferred to Barbara Ann Voigt in 1997.
87 Prince Edward Street East – Village Lot 25 Village Lot 25 must be considered in the context of the Grant Trunk Railway. Before 1853, when they surveyed and acquired the land for the tracks, lot 25 went all the way south to the north edge of lot 26. In the snip from the 1878 Belden County Atlas at right, lot 26 is immediately south of the tracks. But remember, this is before the Canadian Pacific Railway tracks were run south of the Grand Trunk tracks in the 1880s, taking away the north side of lot 26.
More importantly, how people thought of land that ended up along the tracks would change with the railway running there every day. It would be less desirable for homes because of the noise and smoke from those early belching wood-burning engines. Business was another matter. Any business that located along the tracks could expect people traffic, if the train might be expected to stop in that area. The Grand Trunk Railway station was built in 1857, farther to the west, just a little east of what we now call Ontario Street. This was quite a distance from Prince Edward Street, but a store or harness shop or some such enterprise would benefit from being at the train tracks. We can only imagine, but it is not hard to see the logic of this in the situation of the day. We have seen the early transactions that included both lot 24 and 25, going to Isaac C. Proctor and his son Josiah H. Proctor. However, the transactions are different at this point for lot 25. Josiah H. Proctor sold village lot 25 to Alexander Martin in 1857. This is where the Martin family established a home and probably some kind of business enterprise. Alexander Martin was said to be a lumber dealer, so maybe that is the business that was located in lot 25 in the 1860s and 1870s. The situation changed in 1868 when Alexander sold the east part of lot 25 to his son, William. There would be a second transaction in 1873 to grant the rest of lot 25 to William Martin. Alexander died in 1874, but, just before that, he had acquired land in lot 23, to the north. William Martin would make his home in lot 23, and he is probably the one who built the brick home, back away from the street, that we see today as 73 Prince Edward Street.
In 1884 a couple of transactions granted the land in lot 25 first to his mother Eliza Ann Martin, and then to both Eliza Ann and William’s wife, Olive. A mortgage for $1,500 was taken out in 1890 with William W. Webb, an active speculator in town. By 1895, William Martin and his family were preparing to move to Rochester when William and Olive Martin granted all their interest in lot 25 Albert E. Webb, a son of William W. Webb. The last mortgage was discharged in 1899 and the Martin family was finished with lot 25. At the same time, Albert E. Webb granted part of lot 25 “In Trust” for his sister Carrie, to Jerome B. Chapin. Carrie married Arthur Simeon Chapin in 1911 in New Jersey, and they would live in Toronto. Jerome Bainbridge Chapin (1841-1909) was an uncle of Arthur Chapin and he lived in Brighton his entire life. Just a few days before he died in June of 1909, he granted part of lot 25 to his son, Jay Raglan Chapin who quickly provided a life lease for his parents on the property. We can expect that these folks either lived in the original Martin home or had a house built for themselves along Prince Edward Street, north of the tracks. Then the railway came along and Jay R. Chapin, along with his mother, Colista Chapin, sold the property in lot 25 to the Canadian Northern Railway. Any buildings existing on the lot would have been quickly removed in preparation for running the tracks through Brighton.
Sadly, there are no records in the OnLand.ca system for village lot 25 past Plan 107, dated October 24, 1914. From other sources we can determine that, in 1951, Dysons Limited acquired lot 25 and established the Dyson’s Limited Pickle Processing Plant. This was to be “A single story factory of concrete block with 15,000 square feet of floor space lies north of the railroad tracks and east.” The address was 87 Prince Edward Street. In May of 1960, this was in the local paper: ““The Catelli Foods of Montreal will take over the Dyson Plant operations. The local company located in Brighton in 1951. The first sod for the new factory on Prince Edward immediately north of the rail tracks was turned on May 14, 1951. The single-story $200,000 plant of concrete blocks with 15,000 square feet of floor space was opened for product in the late summer of that year.
From 1961 to 1981, Brighton Valve Company Ltd. operated at 87 Prince Edward Street. For the next five years it was ITT Grinnell Brighton Valve and then for 2 years, ITT Brighton Valve. From 1989 to 1990 it was Dorcan Valve. Tri-County Plastics was established here in 1994 and is still operating, with receiving down Oliphant Street. For a few years in the 1990s, Hair & Body Concepts operated out of the front door on Prince Edward Street.