(from “Early Settlements of
King Township, Ontario”, by Elizabeth McClure Gillham. Published by the author, 1975).
The first permanent
settlement in King Township was established at the beginning of the nineteenth
century at Armitage, on the west side of Yonge Street, southwest of the town of
Newmarket, whose boundaries have now been expanded to include it.
At this time, settlers from
the United States were moving into Ontario in large numbers, taking advantage
of the new good land which could be purchased there at little cost. One of them, Timothy Rogers, an
intrepid colonizer and ardent Quaker from the state of Vermont, in 1801 made
his way overland, on horseback and on foot, to York (now Toronto) in Upper
Canada, and thence proceeded about thirty miles northward, following Yonge
Street as laid out by Governor Simcoe’s men in 1794. Having looked at the land along Yonge Street, and found it
excellent, Rogers applied for and received a grant of forty farms of two
hundred acres each in what is now King Township.
It was no light undertaking
in those days to bring forty families a distance of five hundred miles through
the wilderness from Vermont to Upper Canada, and Rogers returned to his home
Vermont to make careful preparations for the great venture. In February of 1802, he and the first group
of home-seekers set out; later in the same month a second party consisting of
seven sleighs followed.
…Months later when the
immigrants arrived at little York, they still had more than thirty miles over
forest trails with unbridged streams to cross. Snow and ice had now given way to spring rains and mud…. Not a
stick of timber had been cut in the dense surrounding forests. But these newcomers were experienced
frontiersmen and hunters. Very soon,
fur traders passing by on their way from Lake Ontario to northern and western
fur posts, saw log houses springing up, and smoke rising from timber burning in
the clearings. Trails were quickly
blazed from homestead to homestead and thus community life began on Yonge
Street in a Quaker Settlement.
More settlers poured in from
Pennsylvania, New York and other areas of the United States. In all this activity, Timothy Rogers
continued to be recognized as the leader.
He possessed experience, vision, and boundless energy. He had visited every place from which the
Quaker settlers had came, and he had studied thoroughly the area to which he
led them. For himself and his family,
he chose lots 92, 93, 94, and 95,
opposite Newmarket on the west side of Yonge Street, immediately south
of the present Highway 9.
Among the first group of
Quakers brought to York County by Timothy Rogers was the Armitage
family, whose name was eventually given
to the community. Amos Armitage as born
in England, but crossed the Atlantic to join the colony which had been
established in Pennsylvania by William Penn in the seventeenth century. Armitage was settled in 1804 on the east
side of Yonge Street, in what is now Whitchurch Township, one mile from
Newmarket, having made the long journey from Pennsylvania to York accompanied
by his wife and children. He and his
wife spent the remaining years of their life in the cabin they built, and the
ashes of both rest in the burying ground of the Society of Friends’ Meeting
House on the west side of Yonge Street, south of Eagle Street (lot 92). Armitage was one of the founders of this
religious group and was always active in promoting its interests.
Another early settler of
note was Nathaniel Gamble, who kept an inn on Mulock Road, the sideroad
south of the present Mulock estate (also known as Gamble Road). The inn was on the south side of the road, a
short distance from Yonge Street. The
first public meeting in the Township of King was held in this inn on March 6,
1809; it is not recorded how many attended, but, as already noted, there were
only 160 inhabitants in the whole township at that time. However, the most famous local legend about
the inn, relates how William Lyon Mackenzie once rode on horseback
through the back door and came out of the front door, when escaping his
pursuers following the unsuccessful rebellion he led in 1837.
Armitage acquired its name
officially in 1904, when Armitage post office was opened on lot 89, on the west
side of Yonge Street. For many years,
Mrs. M.J. McMain was postmistress.
Following her death in 1947, the post office was moved to the Shell
Service Station on the east side of Yonge Street, and this move placed it in
Whitchurch Township. The Armitage post
office closed in 1971.
Undoubtedly, Armitage’s most famous citizen has been Sir
William Mulock. He was born in
Newmarket, and later made his home on his beautiful estate on the northwest
corner or Yonge Street and Mulock Sideroad.
Sir William, a Liberal in politics, represented York North for many years
in the Canadian House of Commons, and held many important posts. When Postmaster-General of Canada, he
achieved great fame by securing the introduction of “Penny Postage” throughout
the British Empire in 1898.
Subsequently he became Minister of Labour, then Chief Justice of
Ontario, and finally, Chancellor of the University of Toronto. He was long known as the Grand Old Man of
Ontario, and died at the age of 103.