John Scarlett (Toronto)
Encyclopedia
John Scarlett was an merchant-miller who played a significant role in the development of the part of the historic York Township
that later became the Junction neighbourhood
of Toronto
.
, Staffordshire, England, the second of eleven children to Samuel Scarlett and Mary Bowker. His father was an upholder and agent to the Phoenix Fire Insurance Office and was presumably a man of considerable wealth. Beginning at age 15 John Scarlett apprenticed to his father for seven years as a mercer, draper
and upholster.
(now Toronto) from Antigua
and quickly established himself in York society. He was described by his contemporaries as handsome, intelligent and well connected. In 1809 he started work as chief clerk in the inspector generals office in York, a position he held for 20 years. The same year he started acquiring property along the Humber River. In 1810 he married Mary Thompson, a United Empire Loyalist and close friend of Elizabeth Russell sister of Peter Russell
who had been Administrator of Upper Canada
.
Upon his arrival in York he was in possession of a male slave whom he had bought in Antigua for £144. While slavery did persist in Upper Canada into the 1830s, by 1809 the abolition movement was well underway. In 1793 the Upper Canada legislature had passed the Act Against Slavery
which among other things outlawed the importation of slaves and, in 1807, Britain had enacted the Save Trade Act which abolished the slave trade in the British Empire
.
Scarlett's first house in the area was a large structure of hewn logs near the river but it was destroyed in a fire. He then lived about six miles west of York at Simcoe Grange, a house that stood near what is now the intersection of Keele Street
and Dundas Street
.
from Thomas Cooper including a mill site. He then applied for a lease of Clergy reserve
lands in 1810, leasing and eventually purchasing 400 acres. His wife also owned 200 acres which she had been granted for being a United Empire Loyalist. Scarlett later bought all the land fronting on both sides of Dundas Street from its junction with the Weston Plank Road to what is now Jane Street, a total of 644 acres.
By 1815 Scarlett owned over 1000 acres in the area west of Keele Street and north of Dundas Street. In 1820 he purchased a road built by Michael Miller some 15 years earlier which led from just south of the Village of Weston south to Dundas Street. This was rechristened Scarlett Road, a name it bears to this day.
Scarlett's mill complexes on the Humber river were at the heart of his business enterprises. Mills, particularly lumber, grist were essential to the economy of Upper Canada. One of the first priorities of Lt. Governor Simcoe upon his arrival in York was to find suitable mill sites and get a mill operating. By 1793 a crown owned lumber mill was up and running on the Humber River and a privately run grist mill was operating by 1797. Though surveyors were supposed to reserve mill sites for the crown in practice over 60 years almost all of them were privately owned on operated.
By 1815 Scarlett had a lumber and a grist mill on the east bank of the Humber River and a saw mill on the west. Like other mill owners along the Humber River such as Thomas Fisher
and William Gamble, Scarlett was not simply a miller who took money or a cut of produce for sawing wood or grinding grain, rather he ran a mill complex which operated as a general store, commercial hub and a grain exchange. Scarlett would buy customers' grain or lumber or exchange it for other goods and then transport it into town, a task which was difficult for a typical producer. In town the grain or lumber could be sold on the domestic market, exported or stored until prices were more favourable. Mill complexes such as Scarlett's attracted an assortment of tradesmen including coopers, blacksmiths, tanners etc. A mill complex almost invariably included a stable and inn. Scarlett's also included a distillery.
Scarlett had many other business interests in addition to the mills. He owed brickworks along Dundas Street east of the Humber River. For a long time Scarlett was the only employer in the area and has been called the "Father of the Junction". He was one of the incorporators of the Bank of Upper Canada
. He had a lumber yard in the town of York which he later converted to a steam powered sawing and planing mill. He also maintained and collected tolls on Scarlett Road and Runnymede Road which lead north to his home. In spite of his apprenticeship in the textile business he never owed a textile mill.
By 1828 Scarlett's many business interests were taking enough of his time that he resigned from his position at the inspector generals office. In 1833 he turned down a commission as Justice of the Peace due to business commitments. In 1836 he pulled his eldest son Edward Christopher form his studies at Upper Canada College
to teach him how to run a mill. In 1836-1837 he, Edward Christopher and son John Archibald took a trip to the United States midwest to study milling equipment.
In 1846 Scarlett sold his mills to William Pearce Howland, a move which proved to be well timed. Changes in colonial trade laws
, the decline of timber resources in the Humber Valley and continued destruction from flooding spelled a end to the prosperity of millers shortly thereafter. Howland closed the mills in 1848. After his retirement Scarlett's four sons continued to run many of the enterprises he had established with mixed success.
in York. Together they had six children before Mary's death on August 20 1827: Edward Christopher in 1811, Mary in 1815, John Archibald in 1819, St. George in 1820, Elizabeth Maria in 1823 and Samuel in 1826.
In 1816 John Scarlett had asked for and received a lot in town at the corner of Hospital St. (now Richmond) and Peter St however he did not build a house in town right away. York assessment rolls for 1834 list only a lot in town with no buildings or other property.
About two and a half years after the death of his first wife Scarlett married Elizabeth Dennison on January 11, 1830. In 1837, at the age of 14 his daughter Elizabeth died.
The following year the Scarlett family moved from Simcoe Grange to a new larger house at what is now the north side of the intersection of Dundas Street and Runnymede Rd. Scarlett named this new rough-cast wooden home Runnymede. Later, as the in the area was developed the name Runnymede
came to be used for local schools, churches, a hospital, theater etc.
Samuel Scarlett returned to live at Simcoe Grange in 1847 the same year John Scarlett's second wife died. In July of 1849 he married his third wife, Sophia Porteous.
After 1854 Scarlett spent most of his time in town, by then renamed Toronto, where he died July 31 1865. He lies buried at St James' Cemetery, Toronto
. By the time of his death Scarlett had 17 grandchildren.
Scarlett was described as dynamic and well read. He was a man of strong prejudices and shrewd observer with a stern manner abroad. At the same time he was capable of deep affection and had very kind heart under his somewhat rough manner. At home he was adored and even something of a wag.
so in 1835 a race course was laid out on the Garrison Common. A few years later however that land was subdivided and sold. At this point, John Scarlett established the Simcoe Chase Course on a flat section of his property near the present boundary of Lambton Golf Course
north of St. Clair Avenue
.
Scarlett loved horses and was a hard rider even up to an advanced age but never owned a racehorse and probably never placed a bet. The course on his property was managed by the City of Toronto and Home District Turf Club and was in operation until 1842 at which point Toronto had more accessible race courses.
York, Ontario
York is a dissolved municipality in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Geographically, it is located northwest of Old Toronto, southwest of North York and east of Etobicoke, where it is bounded by the Humber River. Formerly a separate city, it was one of six municipalities that amalgamated in 1998 to form...
that later became the Junction neighbourhood
The Junction
The Junction is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that is near the junction of four railway lines in the area known as the West Toronto Diamond. The neighbourhood was previously an independent city called West Toronto, that was also its own federal electoral district until amalgamating...
of Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
.
Early Life
John Scarlett was born July 30, 1777 in Newcastle-under-LymeNewcastle-under-Lyme
Newcastle-under-Lyme is a market town in Staffordshire, England, and is the principal town of the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme. It is part of The Potteries Urban Area and North Staffordshire. In the 2001 census the town had a population of 73,944...
, Staffordshire, England, the second of eleven children to Samuel Scarlett and Mary Bowker. His father was an upholder and agent to the Phoenix Fire Insurance Office and was presumably a man of considerable wealth. Beginning at age 15 John Scarlett apprenticed to his father for seven years as a mercer, draper
Draper
Draper is the now largely obsolete term for a wholesaler, or especially retailer, of cloth, mainly for clothing, or one who works in a draper's shop. A draper may additionally operate as a cloth merchant or a haberdasher. The drapers were an important trade guild...
and upholster.
Arrival in York
In 1809, at the age of 32, John Scarlett arrived in YorkYork, Upper Canada
York was the name of Old Toronto between 1793 and 1834. It was the second capital of Upper Canada.- History :The town was established in 1793 by Governor John Graves Simcoe, with a new 'Fort York' on the site of the last French 'Fort Toronto'...
(now Toronto) from Antigua
Antigua
Antigua , also known as Waladli, is an island in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region, the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua means "ancient" in Spanish and was named by Christopher Columbus after an icon in Seville Cathedral, Santa Maria de la...
and quickly established himself in York society. He was described by his contemporaries as handsome, intelligent and well connected. In 1809 he started work as chief clerk in the inspector generals office in York, a position he held for 20 years. The same year he started acquiring property along the Humber River. In 1810 he married Mary Thompson, a United Empire Loyalist and close friend of Elizabeth Russell sister of Peter Russell
Peter Russell (politician)
Peter Russell was a gambler, government official, politician and judge in Upper Canada.-Early life:...
who had been Administrator of Upper Canada
Upper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...
.
Upon his arrival in York he was in possession of a male slave whom he had bought in Antigua for £144. While slavery did persist in Upper Canada into the 1830s, by 1809 the abolition movement was well underway. In 1793 the Upper Canada legislature had passed the Act Against Slavery
Act Against Slavery
The Act Against Slavery was an anti-slavery law passed on July 9, 1793, in the first legislative session of Upper Canada, the colonial division of British North America that would eventually become Ontario....
which among other things outlawed the importation of slaves and, in 1807, Britain had enacted the Save Trade Act which abolished the slave trade in the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
.
Scarlett's first house in the area was a large structure of hewn logs near the river but it was destroyed in a fire. He then lived about six miles west of York at Simcoe Grange, a house that stood near what is now the intersection of Keele Street
Keele Street
Keele Street is a north-south road in Toronto and York Region in Ontario, Canada. It stretches 47km, running from Bloor Street in Toronto to the Holland Marsh. South of Bloor Street, the roadway is today known as Parkside Drive, but was originally part of Keele Street...
and Dundas Street
Dundas Street
Dundas Street, also known as Highway 5 west of Toronto, is a major arterial road connecting the centre of that city with its western suburbs and southwestern Ontario beyond...
.
Property and Business Interests
John Scarlett is most notable as a land owner and entrepreneur who made a significant contribution to the early economy of Toronto and York Township. He began acquiring property in York Township shortly after his arrival beginning in 1809 when he purchased 33 acres along the Humber RiverHumber River (Ontario)
The Humber River is one of two major rivers on either side of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the other being the Don River to the east. It was designated a Canadian Heritage River on September 24, 1999....
from Thomas Cooper including a mill site. He then applied for a lease of Clergy reserve
Clergy reserve
Clergy Reserves were tracts of land in Upper Canada reserved for the support of "Protestant clergy" by the Constitutional Act of 1791 which also established Upper and Lower Canada as distinct regions each with an elected assembly. One-seventh of all Crown lands were set aside...
lands in 1810, leasing and eventually purchasing 400 acres. His wife also owned 200 acres which she had been granted for being a United Empire Loyalist. Scarlett later bought all the land fronting on both sides of Dundas Street from its junction with the Weston Plank Road to what is now Jane Street, a total of 644 acres.
By 1815 Scarlett owned over 1000 acres in the area west of Keele Street and north of Dundas Street. In 1820 he purchased a road built by Michael Miller some 15 years earlier which led from just south of the Village of Weston south to Dundas Street. This was rechristened Scarlett Road, a name it bears to this day.
Scarlett's mill complexes on the Humber river were at the heart of his business enterprises. Mills, particularly lumber, grist were essential to the economy of Upper Canada. One of the first priorities of Lt. Governor Simcoe upon his arrival in York was to find suitable mill sites and get a mill operating. By 1793 a crown owned lumber mill was up and running on the Humber River and a privately run grist mill was operating by 1797. Though surveyors were supposed to reserve mill sites for the crown in practice over 60 years almost all of them were privately owned on operated.
By 1815 Scarlett had a lumber and a grist mill on the east bank of the Humber River and a saw mill on the west. Like other mill owners along the Humber River such as Thomas Fisher
Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library
The Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library is a library in the University of Toronto, constituting the largest repository of publicly accessible rare books and manuscripts in Canada. The library is also home to the university archives which, in addition to institutional records, also contains the papers...
and William Gamble, Scarlett was not simply a miller who took money or a cut of produce for sawing wood or grinding grain, rather he ran a mill complex which operated as a general store, commercial hub and a grain exchange. Scarlett would buy customers' grain or lumber or exchange it for other goods and then transport it into town, a task which was difficult for a typical producer. In town the grain or lumber could be sold on the domestic market, exported or stored until prices were more favourable. Mill complexes such as Scarlett's attracted an assortment of tradesmen including coopers, blacksmiths, tanners etc. A mill complex almost invariably included a stable and inn. Scarlett's also included a distillery.
Scarlett had many other business interests in addition to the mills. He owed brickworks along Dundas Street east of the Humber River. For a long time Scarlett was the only employer in the area and has been called the "Father of the Junction". He was one of the incorporators of the Bank of Upper Canada
Bank of Upper Canada
The Bank of Upper Canada was a Canadian bank established in 1821 under a Charter granted by the colony of Upper Canada in 1819. The incorporators were William Allan, Robert C. Horne, John Scarlett, Francis Jackson, William W. Baldwin, Alexander Legge, Thomas Ridout, his son Samuel Ridout, D’Arcy...
. He had a lumber yard in the town of York which he later converted to a steam powered sawing and planing mill. He also maintained and collected tolls on Scarlett Road and Runnymede Road which lead north to his home. In spite of his apprenticeship in the textile business he never owed a textile mill.
By 1828 Scarlett's many business interests were taking enough of his time that he resigned from his position at the inspector generals office. In 1833 he turned down a commission as Justice of the Peace due to business commitments. In 1836 he pulled his eldest son Edward Christopher form his studies at Upper Canada College
Upper Canada College
Upper Canada College , located in midtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is an independent elementary and secondary school for boys between Senior Kindergarten and Grade Twelve, operating under the International Baccalaureate program. The secondary school segment is divided into ten houses; eight are...
to teach him how to run a mill. In 1836-1837 he, Edward Christopher and son John Archibald took a trip to the United States midwest to study milling equipment.
In 1846 Scarlett sold his mills to William Pearce Howland, a move which proved to be well timed. Changes in colonial trade laws
Corn Laws
The Corn Laws were trade barriers designed to protect cereal producers in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland against competition from less expensive foreign imports between 1815 and 1846. The barriers were introduced by the Importation Act 1815 and repealed by the Importation Act 1846...
, the decline of timber resources in the Humber Valley and continued destruction from flooding spelled a end to the prosperity of millers shortly thereafter. Howland closed the mills in 1848. After his retirement Scarlett's four sons continued to run many of the enterprises he had established with mixed success.
Family Life
On July 5, 1810 John Scarlett married Mary Thomson at St James' ChurchCathedral Church of St. James (Toronto)
Cathedral Church of St. James in Toronto, Canada is the home of the oldest congregation in the city. The parish was established in 1797. The Cathedral was begun in 1850 and completed in 1853, was at the time one of the largest buildings in the city...
in York. Together they had six children before Mary's death on August 20 1827: Edward Christopher in 1811, Mary in 1815, John Archibald in 1819, St. George in 1820, Elizabeth Maria in 1823 and Samuel in 1826.
In 1816 John Scarlett had asked for and received a lot in town at the corner of Hospital St. (now Richmond) and Peter St however he did not build a house in town right away. York assessment rolls for 1834 list only a lot in town with no buildings or other property.
About two and a half years after the death of his first wife Scarlett married Elizabeth Dennison on January 11, 1830. In 1837, at the age of 14 his daughter Elizabeth died.
The following year the Scarlett family moved from Simcoe Grange to a new larger house at what is now the north side of the intersection of Dundas Street and Runnymede Rd. Scarlett named this new rough-cast wooden home Runnymede. Later, as the in the area was developed the name Runnymede
Runnymede (disambiguation)
Runnymede may refer to:* Runnymede, a meadow alongside the River Thames in England, associated with the signing of the Magna Carta* Runnymede , Surrey, England* Runnemede, New Jersey* Runnymede Park, a park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada...
came to be used for local schools, churches, a hospital, theater etc.
Samuel Scarlett returned to live at Simcoe Grange in 1847 the same year John Scarlett's second wife died. In July of 1849 he married his third wife, Sophia Porteous.
After 1854 Scarlett spent most of his time in town, by then renamed Toronto, where he died July 31 1865. He lies buried at St James' Cemetery, Toronto
St. James Cemetery (Toronto)
The Anglican St. James Cemetery is the oldest cemetery in Toronto still in operation. Opened in 1844 as the burial ground for St. James Cathedral. To date over 89,000 interments and 75,000 cremations have taken place at the cemetery. Recognizing the growing trend towards cremation throughout the...
. By the time of his death Scarlett had 17 grandchildren.
Scarlett was described as dynamic and well read. He was a man of strong prejudices and shrewd observer with a stern manner abroad. At the same time he was capable of deep affection and had very kind heart under his somewhat rough manner. At home he was adored and even something of a wag.
Simcoe Chase Course
In the first part of the 19th century Toronto Island was the favoured place for horse races around York but the bridge to the island was washed out as often as not and many of the best horses were owned by officers at Fort YorkFort York
Fort York is a historic site of military fortifications and related buildings on the west side of downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The fort was built by the British Army and Canadian militia troops in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, to defend the settlement and the new capital of the...
so in 1835 a race course was laid out on the Garrison Common. A few years later however that land was subdivided and sold. At this point, John Scarlett established the Simcoe Chase Course on a flat section of his property near the present boundary of Lambton Golf Course
Lambton Golf Club
Lambton Golf and Country Club is a private golf and tennis club in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Club is located in the eastern banks of the Humber River, west of Jane Street. It was established in 1902, designed by George Cumming, with input from George Lyon, who became its best-known member...
north of St. Clair Avenue
St. Clair Avenue
St. Clair Avenue is a major east-west street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was laid out in the late 18th century by the British as a concession road , north of Bloor Street and north of Queen Street....
.
Scarlett loved horses and was a hard rider even up to an advanced age but never owned a racehorse and probably never placed a bet. The course on his property was managed by the City of Toronto and Home District Turf Club and was in operation until 1842 at which point Toronto had more accessible race courses.