Mr. Boyd, who emigrated hither from the county of Kent, was one of the first, in these parts, to import from England improved breeds of cattle. In his house was to be seen a collection of really fine paintings, amongst them a Holbein, a Teniers, a Dominichino, a Smirke, a Wilkie, and two Horace Vernets. The families of Mr. Boyd and Mr. Smith were related by marriage. Mr. Boyd died in Toronto in 1861.
Beyond Mr. Boyd's, a solitary house, on the same side of Yonge Street, lying back near the woods, used to be eyed askance in passing:—its occupant and proprietor, Mr. Kinnear, had in 1843 been murdered therein by his man-servant, assisted by a female domestic. It was imagined by them that a considerable sum of money had just been brought to the house by Mr. Kinnear. Both criminals would probably have escaped justice had not Mr. F. C. Capreol, of Toronto, on the spur of the moment, and purely from a sense of duty to the public, undertaken their capture, which he cleverly effected at Lewiston in the United States.
The land now began to be somewhat broken as we ascended the rough and long-uncultivated region known as the Oak Ridges. The predominant tree in the primitive forest here was the pine, which attained a gigantic size; but specimens of the black oak were intermingled.
Down in one of the numerous clefts and chasms which were to be seen in this locality, in a woody dell on the right, was Bond's Lake, a pretty crescent-shaped sheet of water. We have the surrounding property offered for sale in a Gazette of 1805, in the following terms; "For Sale, Lots No. 62 and 63, in the first concession of the township of Whitchurch, on the east side of Yonge Street, containing 380 acres of land: a deed in fee simple will be given by the subscriber to any person inclined to purchase. Johnson Butler. N.B. The above lots include the whole of the Pond commonly called Bond's Lake, the house and clearing round the same. For particulars enquire of Mr. R. Ferguson and Mr. T. B. Gough at York, and the subscriber at Niagara. March 23, 1805."
Bond's farm and lake had their name from Mr. William Bond, who so early as 1800 had established in York a Nursery Garden, and introduced there most of the useful fruits. In 1801 Mr. Bond was devising to sell his York property, as appears from a quaint advertisement in a Gazette of that year. He therein professes to offer his lot in York as a free gift; the recipient however being at the same time required to do certain things.
"To be given away," he says, "that beautifully situated lot No. one, fronting on Ontario and Duchess Streets: the buildings thereon are—a small two-and-a-half storey house, with a gallery in front, which commands a view of the lake and the bay: in the cellar a never failing spring of fine water; and a stream of fine water running through one corner of the lot; there is a good kitchen in the rear of the house, and a stable sufficient for two cows and two horses, and the lot is in good fence.
"The conditions are, with the person or persons who accept of the above present, that he, she or they purchase not less than two thousand apple-trees at three shillings, New York currency, each; after which will be added, as a further present, about one hundred apple, thirty peach, and fourteen cherry trees, besides wild plums, wild cherries, English gooseberries, white and red currants, &c. There are forty of the above apple trees, as also the peach and cherry trees, planted regular, as an orchard, much of which appeared in blossom last spring, and must be considered very valuable: also as a kitchen garden, will sufficiently recommend itself to those who may please to view it.—The above are well calculated for a professional or independent gentleman; being somewhat retired—about half-way from the Lake to the late Attorney General's and opposite the town-farm of the Hon. D. W. Smith [afterwards Mr. Allan's property.] Payment will be made easy; a good deed; and possession given at any time from the first of November to the first of May next. For further particulars enquire of the subscriber on the premises. William Bond. York, Sep. 4, 1801."—The price expected was, as will be made out, 750 dollars. The property was evidently the northern portion of what became afterwards the homestead-plot of Mr. Surveyor General Ridout.
It would appear that Mr. Bond's property did not find a purchaser on this occasion. In 1804 he is advertising it again, but now to be sold by auction, with his right and title to the lot on Yonge Street. In the Gazette of August 4, 1804, we read as follows:—"To be sold by auction, at Cooper's tavern, in York, on Monday, the twentieth day of August next, at eleven o'clock in the forenoon (if not previously disposed of by private contract), that highly cultivated lot opposite the Printing Office [Bennett's] containing one acre, together with a nursery thereon of about ten thousand apple, three hundred peach, and twenty pear trees, and an orchard containing forty-one apple trees fit for bearing, twenty-seven of which are full of fruit; thirty peach and nine cherry trees full of fruit; besides black and red plums, red and white currants, English gooseberries, lilacs, rose bushes, &c., &c., also a very rich kitchen garden.
"The buildings are a two-and-a-half storey house, a good cellar, stable and smokehouse. On the lot is a never-failing spring of excellent water, and fine creek running through one corner most part of the year. The above premises might be made very commodious for a gentleman at a small expense; or for a tanner, brewer, or distiller, must be allowed the most convenient place in York. A view of the premises (by any person or persons desirous of purchasing the same) will be sufficient recommendation. The nursery is in such a state of forwardness that if sold in from two to three years (at which time the apple trees will be fit to transplant) at the moderate price of one shilling each, would repay a sum double of that asked for the whole, and leave a further gain to the purchasers of the lot, buildings, and flourishing orchard thereon. A good title to the above, and possession given at any time after the first of October next.