The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

I BROCK TOWNSHIP Called after the famous Canadian General, and hero sys o of Queenston Heights, The township was laid out and e 2 surveyed in 1817, and was early settled by way of i/ 4100 e Newmarket. According to the last revised assessment k â€"% % : roll, the township contains 64,040 acres; number of acres 1 \~% V §§§ "' cleared, 39,932; value of real property, $2,769,669.00; [R D ie _ _ 05 population about 5.000. EZ f\’ "u ;’. A large portion of the township contains excellent [ ; land â€" a heavy clay loam; there is, however, considerâ€" ‘ ® W able broken and marshy land along the Beaver River. 4 %;: $ \, Old Philip St. John, an Irishman from the county 3 Limerick, the genial "King of Brik" as he delighted to $ © stt i > be called. settled in the township in 1821, and reared a Iy in .M { Jarge familly. Several of his descendents are still promâ€" h. PC . . P inent men in the townshtp. James Vrooman. better s 5 s3 x‘-f) 4C known as "Colonel" Vrooman and after whom the villâ€" 8. â€" i e e age of Vroomanton is named, was a still earlier settler. f w es s ’“ The Shiers, James Ruddy, George Smith, John O‘Leary, * cmp > ~ s e the Kennans, Daniel King, Ewart, Speiran, Fordiff, Amey °. .. enpae enc ols Camphbell, Bagshaw, Carmichaels Brethours, Brabazc;m: x ,Eany xjecqms H': ?:Lf:u:d Other early settlers were Colonel Thompsons, Sproules, Harts, McPhadens, Bollsters, Cowâ€" mJts possess“fi;' : named James and George Vrooman, who ans were all settlers of the following twenty years. :f,::r ?;::rafg-!;ikpanvdvaiws s;ur- settled west and north of Sunderâ€" _ By hewn down the giant trees of waykcy‘i; X:;goether‘s hy way of Lake 6, Con. 7, by* James Ruddy. The The Rev. Dr. M. J. RobeMtS) _ ime gark forest that then gar :e * first of the large Shier family was M.A., PhD. covered Sunderland, to culâ€" u;fle }irst white male child born John Shier, a Limerick man who Brock Township _ was of _ tivate the rich loam into in the Township was Robert Steâ€" took up Lots 1, 2 and 3 in the 5t course named after the victor _ fields and pastures. phenson, . while the . first white Concession, 2 of Queenstown Heights, Sir female child born was Rachael The first store. in the Tov&l'nshi.p Isaac Brock. Among many How the settlers toiled in Bagshaw, daughter of the original was opened by his brother, Richard f * 3 4 i h and Shier, at Lob 4, Concession 5. monuments raised to comâ€" _ the clearings! The essential pioneer, . William . Bagshaw, oimes smy ies Ob mroos memorate _ the General‘s _ implement was the mattack, Sarah Bolton, R + s 8 j > ilip St. John, comâ€" were George Smith, John O‘.eary. \‘ prowess is that in Westâ€" _ which had an axe at one end 3n A5t1, Philis SL_ ‘Brock, the Keenans, Dobles, Shipmans; minster Abbey so we have _ and a hoe at the other. They monly nson m e Cns °§£§an oia ks ds Campbells, the this link with the Heart of the _ would cut the urtderbrush z. fmr:hilre{::: 1?::5 Stfrick reâ€" Ameys, _ Carmichaels, â€" Brethour Commonwealth. The Townâ€" _ down, pile it in small heaps $e;2w2f l\I/’[r and Mrs. Stanley George Brabazon, Doyles, Malones, ship was laid_out and _ then cut down the oak and Jewell on the Brock Road, was Taylors, Francis Acton, Vallenty‘ne?, surveyed in 1817 and was _ other large trees. Next the built by Philip St. John. John Hall Thompson, the Harts, settled by way of Newmarket. _ trunks were cut into logs. ‘The first settler was Jones Reekâ€" McPhaden‘s, Mclean‘s, Wm. MCf The tops were chopped up ie, who came in 1818, on October Dopald, Thomas and John, Jol.j‘ One of the first settlers in _ and stacked in separate 10th, ,on the night of which he Bairds, Bolsters, s:owir'l)]s, Corpzl'-' Brock was Philip St. John _ heaps. The brush was then set slept under a pine tree. Wélliam McCully, Slsroulf!& andomlslsaloollm from Limerick, Ireland. Born _ alight. In this way it would Bagshaw, settled on Concession 9 H?;;“Y .eGle“ enning 7 in 1793 he died here in 1874. _ take a good hand from eight in the year 1821, Cisple! f He and his wife, who died in _ to ten days to chop an acre. _ Daniel King, the Ewarts, . steps, and will be gathered to 1880, were known as "the _ The actual clearing then beâ€" â€" Speirans, Fordiff‘s, Campâ€" â€" their fathers. They had their King and Queen of Brock." _ gan: it would take five men bells, the Ameys, the Bagâ€" . trials, their hours of innocent He was the first settler to sell _ and a yoke of oxen a day to shaw‘s, Carmichaels, Breâ€"â€" pleasure. They found the a load of wheat from the â€" clear from onehalfan acre to _ thours, Brabazons, Thompâ€" country a wilderness, they Township. Their family of _ an acre; it would take a man sons, Sprowles, Harts, Mcâ€" left behind them smiling six sons and five daughters _ a day or two to pick up the Phadens, Bolsters and the _ fields. They toiled for others, have left many descendants _ chunks of wood and do the â€" Cowans. Many of these famiâ€" and laid down to sleep, to in the district. burning of the logs. lies are still represented in the wake in a better country The Township slowly deâ€" Among other early arrivals f:listrict but Ru hav? ol whi.ther the ecodiare ha§- seloped Cime. Y § 8 Y 5 lshe_d away into the mists of tening. Let us not waste their ped around five villages: . was James Vrooman, bettET â€" anriquiy, All these had settâ€" inheritance."" Sunderland (formerly known â€" known as "Colonel"" Vrooâ€" fediin Brock by 1845 as ‘Jones‘ Corners‘), Vrooâ€" man after whom the village â€" § manton, Valentine, Wick and _ of Vroomanton is named. He Very true are the famous Cannington. _ The _ early â€" seems to havearrived here raâ€" words of the Hon. David glrowth of Brock was impresâ€" _ ther earlier than "the King of Mils, a former Minister of . sive: in 1842 it had 1541 _ Brock." Justice at the turn of the u:\habita.nts, in 1850 this had century: ‘"They toiled and risen to 3,174 and by 1877 to Also among the early Setâ€" _ rested until they laid down _5,000. This is a real testâ€" tlers were the Shier family, _ for the last time, and soon imony to the fertility of our _ James Ruddy, George Smith, _ the second generation will local farms and the energy of _ John O‘Leary, the Keenans, _ have followed in their footâ€" *