Samuel Bois Smith (27 December 1756 – 20 October 1826) was a Loyalist British Army officer and politician. He was appointed to the Executive Council of Upper Canada and appointed Administrator of Upper Canada.
Smith was born in Hempstead,New York,the son of Scottish immigrants (James Smith). In 1777,he joined the Queen's Rangers during the American Revolutionary War. He surrendered to the Americans after the Battle of Yorktown. Smith moved with the Rangers to Queensbury Parish [1] in the newly created colony of New Brunswick where the Rangers were disbanded. Smith likely met his wife (a native of nearby Maugerville Parish) during this period and then moved to England in 1784 to continue his service in the British Army. He rose to the rank of captain and was sent to Niagara in 1791. He was promoted to the position of lieutenant-colonel of his old regiment (which was recreated in Upper Canada) in 1801 before retiring to 1,000 acres (4 km2) of land he had bought in Etobicoke and also in what is now in Lakeview,Mississauga. Later some of this land was sold to John Strachan for the original Trinity College campus,now Trinity Bellwoods Park. Smith was appointed 30 November 1813 to the Executive Council of Upper Canada for the town of Etobicoke.
In 1817 he was sworn in as Administrator of Upper Canada in the absence of Lieutenant Governor Francis Gore and served until 1818. He acted again as Administrator in the absence of Lieutenant Governor Sir Peregrine Maitland for three months in 1820.
As Administrator,Smith was advised not grant land to American immigrants until they had taken the oath of allegiance and resided in Upper Canada for seven years. He decided to follow the advice of his Executive Council and not to remove title to the land from those who did not qualify.
Smith was considered a weak official and was the target of complaints by both the reformer Robert Gourlay and the Family Compact member John Strachan,who thought him feeble,inept,and talentless. However,in April 1818,Smith ordered Gourlay arrested when he called an illegal assembly at York (now Toronto).
Smith retired from the Executive Council in October 1825. He died 20 October 1826 in York and left his wife and nine children. His son (Samuel B. Smith Jr.) was Clerk in the Executive Council of the Province of Canada and died in Toronto in 1882. [2]
The City of Toronto's Colonel Samuel Smith Park in Etobicoke was created in the 1970s and opened in 1996 along Lake Ontario is named in his honour. The park lands was part of his property (known as Colonel Smith Tract). [3] The Tract in Mississauga was inherited by his son Samuel and sold off by 1872 in what is now Lakeview,Mississauga. [4]
Following his death,his estate (on Lake Shore Boulevard between 40th and 41st Streets across from Long Branch GO Station) was occupied by his son and later sold. The last owner of the home was James Eastwood and the home was demolished in 1952. [5] It is now a residential community consisting of townhouses,detached homes and apartments.
John Graves Simcoe was a British Army general and the first lieutenant governor of Upper Canada from 1791 until 1796 in southern Ontario and the watersheds of Georgian Bay and Lake Superior. He founded York,which is now known as Toronto,and was instrumental in introducing institutions such as courts of law,trial by jury,English common law,freehold land tenure,and also in the abolition of slavery in Upper Canada.
The Province of Upper Canada was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain,to govern the central third of the lands in British North America,formerly part of the Province of Quebec since 1763. Upper Canada included all of modern-day Southern Ontario and all those areas of Northern Ontario in the Pays d'en Haut which had formed part of New France,essentially the watersheds of the Ottawa River or Lakes Huron and Superior,excluding any lands within the watershed of Hudson Bay. The "upper" prefix in the name reflects its geographic position along the Great Lakes,mostly above the headwaters of the Saint Lawrence River,contrasted with Lower Canada to the northeast.
Etobicoke is an administrative district and former city within Toronto,Ontario,Canada. Comprising the city's west end,Etobicoke is bordered on the south by Lake Ontario,on the east by the Humber River,on the west by Etobicoke Creek,the cities of Brampton,and Mississauga,the Toronto Pearson International Airport,and on the north by the city of Vaughan at Steeles Avenue West.
The Family Compact was a small closed group of men who exercised most of the political,economic and judicial power in Upper Canada from the 1810s to the 1840s. It was the Upper Canadian equivalent of the Château Clique in Lower Canada. It was noted for its conservatism and opposition to democracy.
Etobicoke Creek is a river in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario,Canada. It is a tributary of Lake Ontario and runs from Caledon to southern Etobicoke,part of the City of Toronto. The creek is within the jurisdiction of the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority.
Thomas Talbot was an Irish-born Canadian soldier and colonial administrator. He founded the community of Port Talbot,Ontario,which was at one time the most prosperous town in the region due to his insistence on building quality roads,and was responsible for enticing 50,000 people to settle in the Thames River area.
Christopher Alexander Hagerman,was a Canadian militia officer,lawyer,administrator,politician and judge.
William Allan,JP,was a Scottish Canadian banker,businessman and politician.
Peter Robinson was a Canadian politician who served as Commissioner of Crown Lands as well as on the Legislative Assembly,Legislative Council,and Executive Council of Upper Canada. He is known for his work in organizing the migration and settlement of what is now Peterborough,Ontario.
Lakeview is a neighbourhood in Mississauga in the Region of Peel,centred on Lakeshore Road in the extreme southeastern corner of the city,along the shore of Lake Ontario,between the larger neighbourhood of Port Credit to the west and the Long Branch neighbourhood of Toronto to the east.
Robert Fleming Gourlay was a Scottish-Canadian writer,political reform activist,and agriculturalist.
Peter Jones was an Ojibwe Methodist minister,translator,chief and author from Burlington Heights,Upper Canada. His Ojibwa name was Kahkewāquonāby,which means "[Sacred] Waving Feathers". In Mohawk,he was called Desagondensta,meaning "he stands people on their feet". In his youth his band of Mississaugas had been on the verge of destruction. As a preacher and a chieftain,as a role model and as a liaison to governments,his leadership helped his people survive contact with Europeans.
The Toronto Purchase was the sale of lands in the Toronto area from the Mississaugas of New Credit to the British crown. An initial,disputed,agreement was made in 1787,in exchange for various items. The agreement was revisited in 1805,intended to clarify the area purchased. The agreement remained in dispute for over 200 years until 2010,when a settlement for the land was made between the Government of Canada and the Mississaugas for the land and other lands in the area.
William Dunlop also known as Tiger Dunlop,was an army officer,surgeon,Canada Company official,author,justice of the peace,militia officer,politician,and office holder. He is notable for his contributions to the War of 1812 in Canada and his work in the Canada Company,helping to develop and populate a large part of Southern Ontario. He was later elected as a Member of Parliament for the Huron riding in the 1st Parliament of the Province of Canada,Canada West.
Colonel Sir James Buchanan Macaulay,CB was a lawyer and judge in colonial Canada.
Augustus Jones was a North American-born Upper Canadian farmer,land speculator,magistrate,militia captain and surveyor. Jones trained as a surveyor in New York City,and fled as a United Empire Loyalist to Upper Canada. In Upper Canada,he worked as a crown surveyor in the Nassau District,where he quickly rose to the position of Deputy Surveyor General,the highest position in a district of Upper Canada. He occupied that position from 1789 informally,and 1791 formally,until his retirement in 1799. During that time he laid down many of the township boundaries in the Niagara Peninsula and on the north shore of Lake Ontario. He led various teams that cut many of the first sideroads and concession roads into these areas,facilitating their settlement by European and American immigrants. Jones also surveyed the routes for Dundas Street and Yonge Street,and supervised their construction. After his retirement,Jones farmed first in Saltfleet Township,later moving to Brantford and finally an estate outside Paris named Cold Springs,where he died in 1836.
Colonel James Givins was a British Army officer and militiaman who fought in the American Revolution and the War of 1812. He was also a senior officer in the Indian Department of Upper Canada,serving as Chief Superintendent from 1830 to 1837. He is the namesake of Givins Street in Toronto.
Long Branch is a neighbourhood and former municipality in the south-west of Toronto,Ontario,Canada. It is located in the south-western corner of the former Township of Etobicoke on the shore of Lake Ontario. The Village of Long Branch was a partially independent municipality from 1930 to 1967. Long Branch is located within a land grant from the government to Colonel Samuel Smith in the late 18th century. After Smith's death,a small portion of it was developed as a summer resort in the late 1800s.
Samuel Peters Jarvis was a Canadian government official in the nineteenth century. He was the Chief Superintendent for the Indian Department in Upper Canada (1837–1845),and he was a member of the Family Compact.
Marie Curtis Park is a public park in Toronto,Ontario,Canada. It is located at the mouth of the Etobicoke Creek on Lake Ontario in the Long Branch neighbourhood. Marie Curtis Park was built after the devastating floods of Hurricane Hazel in 1954 destroyed 56 homes and cottages on the site,leaving 1,868 persons homeless and 81 dead. It is named after Marie Curtis,the reeve of Long Branch at the time of its construction. Long Branch at the time was a separate village;it's now amalgamated into the City of Toronto government.