HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1992-07-01, Page 37THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JULY 1 ,1992. PAGE A5.
East Wawanosh Township 125th Anniversary Commemorative Edition
“7° *
z rVPublished by North Huron Citizen ’X—y*
The council of East Wawanosh publicized their upcoming homecoming at
the 1991 Rutabaga Parade.
‘Best ‘Wishes from (fary, (Bob dr (Donna
Congratulations to our friends & neighbours
in East Wawanosh Township on their
125th Anniversary & Homecoming
*7
E. Wawanosh, once a wilderness
at
MANNING'S BUILDING SUPPLIES LTD
As the title of the new East Wawanosh
history book Wilderness to Wawanosh
suggests, the township was a veritable
wilderness at the time of the first settlers.
Have you ever wondered where the
township got its name, or how the people
coped in the "new land"? Wilderness to
Wawanosh is an excellent witness to our
ancestors' struggles in their new home, and
the history they created in making East
Wawanosh what it is today.
Wawanosh is the only name in Huron
County of Indian origin. The name comes
from a Chippewa chief who put his totem
(signature) on a document entitling King
George IV of England to take over
2,200,000 acres of his people's land. This
land included Perth, most of Lambton, and
Huron and parts of Middlesex, Waterloo,
Wellington, and Oxford counties. Chief
Wawanosh’s totem headed 17 lesser chiefs'
totems on the treaty signed on April 26,
1825 at Amherstburg.
King George IV agreed to give the Indians
and their descendants 1,100 pounds sterling
each year "as long as the grass grows or
water runs." A final treaty was signed July
10, 1827 after the exact boundaries had been
surveyed.
At first settlement was slow because
people didn't have the necessary amounts of
cash available to purchase holdings outright.
Speculators often bought up big chunks of
land and sold them to settlers at a profit.
In an effort to encourage new settlement,
the government established a 10 year
system. The prospective settler could make a
downpayment with the balance to be paid
within the next 10 years. The purchaser
received title to the Crown land as soon as
the first downpayment was made.
East Wawanosh and West Wawanosh
were not always two separate townships.
Until 1866, the Township would remain as
one.
Wawanosh was first surveyed and mapped
under the direction of Crown Surveyor
William Hawkins in 1836 and 1838. In his
field notes he wrote about dense stands of
good quality timber and fertile farmland,
which was well-drained by the Maitland
River and the streams running into it.
On a map of 1861, Hawkins' name appears
on eight 200-acre lots in East Wawanosh.
Either Hawkins had taken to speculating
during his surveys, or he received title to
land as part of his wages.
In 1847 Alexander Wilkinson surveyed
Morris Township. His notes from this
period read: "The lines between Wawanosh
and Morris were reopened and reblazed.
There are not any settlers east of the
Maitland River in the township of
Wawanosh, there being no bridge over the
river."
To give you an idea of the population of
Wawanosh, an 1851 census of the whole
township (85,640 acres) stated there were
722 people and 450 acres of land that was
cleared. An 1861 census gave the
population as 3,151 and over 12,000 acres
were cleared at that time. Settlement had
obviously started to improve.
Soon it was realized that Wawanosh was
too large to be administered properly as one
continued on page A6
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