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wimo however, was running out, for Beasley when two broth- m;approaChed him with an offor lo purchase some land, The tw, robog Mennonites were prepared to,'pay cash, for their families In: come with them from Penn, My Vnia and wcre waiting at Tho Mm), (Jordan), tteaiiey knew the habits of these people and surmised that if _ asley was apparently not mat; one would call a "good" trtitiinessman and he Soon found himself in financial emharras merit The Indians kept bounding him for payments Which he could not meet. He also had many other creditors, one a Peter Hory mute whom he persuaded to take land in lieu of cash. Mr, Morning received a narrow strip of land ([000 aerest near the eenlre of the tract half of which he later disposed of (in IBM! to Elizahelh Heal She then diitided it into live parcels Of 100 acres each to Hanna Alma. Del, org. Hess. lsahell Hess, Eli7ahelh Rmal and Catherine Sharer. b biness, he surveyed it and stair dmdcd it into farm lots Also, he’ was soley responsible for an; payment of the mrtqarzo, which was substantial since only t690 had been paid on the [8.887 [airbase price. From time of pumhase. how- ere,tr. the tract of land was known atrfhe Beaslev tract and was so nained in all legal documents It m he who conducted all the Block 2, comprising of 94.012 acitrs was purchased bv "threo" persons. James Wilson. Jean Baptiste Rousseau, and Richard Belasley. This was the first lam] towe opened for colonization in the interior of Upper Canada He was a man of much per- sona! charm and he also had ex- myent family connections which unwed him to accu mvmulate large tracts of crown land. $19M}: of Waterloo: His deeds w supposed to he "good". but ly enough, this was not really th case. he property was originally purehased from Joseph Brant who was acting as agént for the Six Nations (and with the tron. seilt of the government). on Feb- wiry 5, 1798. his girl whoni he had once 'eitiyed from kidnapping Indians. Most of the land in this area wag purchased from Richard Mien who was supposed to be ttre owner of what is now the This came about because of connivery practiced by the tract owner, Colonel Riehard Beasley. Cot. Beasley came to Canada in31777 as a Loyalist refugee and settled first around the Niagara district, at age 16. He Trep Henrietta Springer, 3 father- He is buried in the churchyard of Christ Church Cathedral at the head of the lake, in Hamilton. The inscription on the stone erks him as the "first" white settler. not easy and for a time m'mv of the early settlers thought they might lose all that they had worked so harWto develop. Bridgeport was located in, and became part of, the first white settlement in Upper Canada (Ont. aria). Settlement of the area was line, which soon made It the new centre of activity. Bridgeport no longer attracted new families who preferred to locate where industry was situated, and in. dustry went where the railroad It was larger than other nearby Mania“ until the coming of tho railroad. I Berlin was chosen icy; and WIS one ot the pioneer ettemuttities of Waterloo County. VNOBtled along the banks of the Getbnd River, it In. once . very “Herons Hennouite commun- h visit to -atday Ridge- would can“; no: convince ' e that once, it was the Bridgeport Once Area C egtre, Now Dwarfed The first Life Assurance Com pany to be started in Waterloo was the Ontario Mutual Life As- surancc Company in 1870. The first Insurance Company to he started in Waterloo was the Waterloo Mutual Fire In. suranco Company. It commenced business in 1863, "MINT the mam agement of C M. Taylor, who was on? of its promoters H3 retain, ed this position until his dr;ih in 1899 The North Waterloo Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Company was $ourtded in 1874 tor insur aM‘o of farm prom-Hy only, Our Early Insurance; A replica of this historic docu- ment was in the registry obfiee Two of Sam's travelling com- panions were John and Jacob Erb, who. because of their hoaw investment were chosen to take the money to York and securo the transfer of the 60,000 acres to the German Co, of 25 stock- holders. For his services Sam received a farm and the historic wagon which unfortunately, was allowed to fall into disrepair at the farm in Chicopee. (the two front wheels are on display in the museum of the Waterloo Histori- cal Society). As soon as the roads were passable. Sam and companions packed the bags into the hold of a "leicht plaisir waegele" and returned to the settlement. He offered them a bargain, 60.000 acres for E20.000. This was more money than the settlers ever hoped to possess in their lifetime. but it was a bargain. They discussed it for weeks, then sent the two brothers back to Pennsylvania to present their problem. They did not do ave" at first but Sam did not give up. He then went to his cousin John Eby in Hammer Creek commun- ity. He was interested. John's father, Christian, made the im itiat contribution of $2,500. Our. ing the winter months the women of the community sewed up 200 canvas bags. placing 100 silver dollars imeaeh. The settlers first thought Sam insane. but he soon convinced them otherwise. While in York he had been approached by a stranger who inquired about the tract and the number of settlers located there. He then told Sam that Richard Beasley was not the "sole" owner. of the tract. Bricker soon obtainied a copy of the original deed and had then gone to the head of the lake to confront Beasley. Beasley confessed and offered to make ammends. However. he wanted the settlers to purchase the en- tire tract and he would then nay off the mortgage and give them clear title. The deeds they had received from Beasley were absolutely worthless. One day, he "walked" over to little Muddy York (now Toronto). in distance of 60 miles as the crow flies, and returned a few days later with startling news for the other settlers. His problem, so he thought, were now fioished. Fate proved otherwise, and he was soon brought face-to-face with a far greater problem. Sam Bricker was destined to May a leading role in the dramatic events that Followed. Joseph Sherk tad Samuel Beta, ner returned for their families. This, as Beasley had surmised, became the vanguard of a con- siderable migration ot Mennon- ites. they were to settle on his land, others would soon follow suit. ompanies The community of Bridgeport however, was not actually started until 1829, when Jacob s. Shoe- maker built the dam on the The first settler in Bridgeport area was Peter Erb who arrived in 1807. He and his wife settled on the west side of the Grand River which .is now known as Klie Farm. Ephram Eby, who came with the group was really the first settler in Bridgeport proper. in Kitchener, it bore the date June 20. 1005. _ The land was then surveyed and divided into 128 farms of 448 acres each. The remainder was parcelled into properties of vari- ous SIZES. The finished survey plans were sent to Pennsylvania shame. holders who east lots for their holdings, according to long-estab- lished from the pages of Holy Writ. THIS PICTURE, found in our files is captioned "Waterloo Council, 1889". How- ever, it hardly seems likely that the then village of Waterloo would have so large a council membership. m could be of the county council. The Chronicle would appreciate receiving information concerning the picture and who those shown may be. ' I I Ill _")':""),.?]);,;":,"-""'!!],-'-,-,; CUSTOM BOOKBINDERS Rebinding of Bibles-Journals Library Books Waterloo, Ontario 745-9042 TEN DUPONT STREET EAST In 1840 he built the large house across from the mitt (on the hill). The financial depres- sion of 1851 caused him to move to Preston with his son-in-law Joel Clemens. from there to Blenheim Township, Oxford m 1829 Jacob built the dam and erected the sawmill, in 1830 he rebuilt the large roller mills now in the possession of the Waterloo County Supply Cooper- ative. He also became, at a later date, the proprietor of a store, woollen mills and distillery. He married Elizabeth Schnei- der on July 2, 1822. Elizabeth was born in Lancaster County. Pennsylvania, January 2, 1802. She (Hod in Preston, November 26, 1876. stream flowing from Waterloo to the Grand. Mr. Shoemaker was not only the founder, but almost the entire builder of Bridgeport on the west side ot the Grand. mwmcumuuwm.wn m1 Ij Then esme a province-wide de- pression, which. combined with the railroad locating in Kitchen- er. suppressed the communities growth. To avoid any confusion be- tween the two it was decided that they would merger under the name of Bridgeport. From then until 1871. the village of Bridgeport thrived. Another settlement had been founded on the opposite side of the Grand. The founder, John Tyson had named it Bridgeport. The community which grew up around the mill was first called Shoemakers Mills which was later changed to Lancaster and then to Glasgow. children. Both he and his wife are buried in the Mennonite burial grounds at Baden. They had ll County, where he erected a saw. mill. 9