HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1977-06-30, Page 108Page be
•
ich:
Officer
in Grenadier
Guards.....
•from page 67
from the Lieutenant -
Governor of Upper Canada
(Sir Francis Bond Head) who
was from Kent, but "my
means are incompetent to the
journey and a decent rigout,'"
Rich's letters to his
brother, through 28 years, up
to the time of Robert's death.
in 1861. have been brought to
Tight recently in England, and
,ore to lit made available for
publication here. They
provide an educated man's
comment upon persons,
events and conditions in the
Goderich area during years
of great settlement.
Rich was an early investor
in real estate, and became
secretary -treasurer of Huron
Building Society, In 1833, 'the
year of hisarrival, he pur-
chased from the Canada
Company Lot 102. at the
corner of Lighthouse street
and the then -unnamed
Wellesley. Having named his
house for the Iron Duke's
family, Rich probably had
something to do with naming
the street, but the Canada
Company already was
bestowing names associated
with Waterloo throughout a
considerable area, especially
St. George's ward: '
Wellington, Waterloo, Arthur,
Picton, farther south, and
appropriate naval titles such
as Nelson. Trafalgar and St.
Vincent.
Transferred from the gay
social life of England to the
crude living conditions of
Upper Canada. the former
Guards officer and his at-
tractive Sarah must have
experienced real hardship, of
which we may learn in Rich's
letters.
Presumably he built .at
once a house of some kind,
hut the date of the brick house
at Lighthouse and Wellesley
remains uncertain. It has
always been believed to have
been erected "in the '40s,"
and certainly was in
exjstence when Charles
Widder assured his bride,
Rich's daughter Lucy, that he
would' build her a house
bigger than her father's. The
house Charles built dates
from 1853.
In a letter dated Dec, 24,
1856, Rich wrote: "When I
o" 1141C It
came here and settled upon.
the lots where' I am now
writing, it was all trees and
close underwood; Now, after
building five houses of green
wood they fell to pieces, so
was necessitated to put up
this brink one, and my wife
put in new furniture, so you
may fancy- we are going
ahead: 34 by 34 and back of it
conjoined back kitchen, wood
and coal hooses, etc."
That hack kitchen, a brick
'building "conjoined" to the
house. is still in existence,
also the frame building which
contained an outside toilet
and laundry, but the coal and
wood houses are gone.
t3OlIGHT COLBORNE LAND
Six years after arrival
here, Rich purchased for 30
pounds (about $150) 80 acres
in the north end of Block "A",
Colborne. According to the
descriptionin the deed, the
boundary started at the
northeast angle of Lot 1,
continued south by 21 chains,
then west to the lake and
north "along the water's
edge," so it appears to have
comprised part of the present
airfield.
This was the first
registered transaction in the
block granted to the Baron
van Tuyll of Holland, who at
this time held no title to his
2,532 acres along the shore.
The -log--House -built-for--the
baron is said to have been
erected in the 1830s, but a
gentlemen's agreement with
the Canada Company, or
perhaps a memorandum
evidently sufficed until
documents were drawn in
1841.
Rich's deed to the 8Q acres
is inscribed: "Registered by
.1ohn 'Galt, ' Registrar of
Huron," Rich probably did
not need to find the 30 pounds
purchase price, for he im-
mediately mortgaged the lot
to the Huron Building Society.
Five years later he sold the 80
acres to Galt, taking a -
mortgage back.
When Rich died in Goderich
in September, 1864, the Huron
Signal published a sur-
prisingly brief notice:
"DIED - In this town on the
5th inst., at his residence,
Turn to page 690
Wellesley House, at the corner of Lighthouse and 'Wellesley streets, was named by
William Bennett Rich, a former Guards officer, in honor of the Duke of Wellington's
family. When Rich came to Goderich in 1833, the land at this corner was "all trees and
close underwood," he wrote to a brother in England. The house is believed to have been
built in the late 1840s. It was learned only recently that William Bennett Rich served as
postmaster here until 18.40.
BORON HISTORIC
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