In the spring of 1789, a party of about fifty, reached the bay. They were all refugee loyalists, and most of them had been since the close of the war in the States, looking up their families, and arranging to take them “to Cataraqui.” This party settled in Sidney and Thurlow. Those who settled in Thurlow, finding no land available at the front, prepared to ascend the river. Among them were John Taylor, William Reed, with four sons, John, William, Samuel, and Solomon; Richard Smith, Cavelry, Robert Wright, John Longwell, Sherard, Zedie Thrasher, Asa Turner, Stephen and Laurence Badgley, Solomon Hazleton, Archibald McKenzie, McMichael, William Cook, and Russell Pitman. The party reached the mouth of the river late in the day, and pitched their tent among some cedar shrubs upon the east bank of the river, just by the site of the upper bridge. The following day, they followed the bank of the river, searching for indications of good land The surveyor had not yet laid out any but the front lots; but the pioneers had been assured that any land they should choose to occupy, would be granted them. When they reached the point where now is the fifth concession, they felt that they had reached their destination, and proceeded to take possession of such land as struck their fancy. William Reed, and his four sons, possessed themselves of 600 acres in a block, through which the river wound its way. The land here was unmistakably good; and four generations have now reaped the fruit of the soil, while two generations lie buried there. But the first years of pioneer life with those first settlers of the fifth concession, were years of great hardship and want (see First years of Upper Canada). They all went to Napanee at first to mill. Sometimes took articles to exchange for flour.
John Taylor settled in the fifth concession, where he remained a year, when he came down to the mouth of the river. A sketch of this old soldier is elsewhere given. Among the settlers who came in, a few years later, were Richard Canniff, and Robert Thompson.
In some respects, the settlers of these townships, at the western extremity of the bay, suffered in a peculiar manner. They were far removed from Kingston, and from the necessaries of life to be procured there. And they were settling after the period when Government allowed provisions.
The name of Captain Myers must ever stand identified with the early history of Thurlow. He cannot be regarded as the founder of Belleville; yet he was the first to give a name to the village at the mouth of the river. Captain Myers saw service during the revolutionary war (see Royal Combatants). At the close of hostilities, having tarried for a time at Lower Canada, he came to the bay, and squatted at first upon the front of Thurlow. He first became a settler upon the front of Sidney, a few miles east of the Trent River. Being a man of enterprise, and with forethought, he did not content himself with clearing a farm and cultivating its soil. He saw the wants of the settlers, that they required sawed lumber, and greater conveniences for grinding grain. Hence he is found, even before 1790, erecting a sawing mill upon a small stream on his land in Sidney. The waterpower was very inefficient, and he looked about for a more suitable place. The waters of the Moira presented the inducements he sought. A bargain was effected with John Taylor for the rear half of lot No. 5, which embraced a portion of the stream, affording the desired mill-site. It was, most probably, in the year 1790, that Captain Myers came to Thurlow, and built his log hut upon the banks of the river, a few rods above the present mill-dam. Within a year, the first dam erected upon the river was finished, and a log saw mill built upon the east bank.
The late Colonel Wilkins, of the Carrying Place, says, that when he came to the bay, in 1792, Myers had his mill built, the one farthest west, until they came to where is now Port Hope.
The following are the names of those who settled upon the front, as supplied by the late G. Bleeker, Esq. Commencing at lot No. 1, the first settler was John Chisholm; No. 2, Coon Frederick; No. 3, Crawford, the lot having been drawn by A. Chisholm. Coming to No. 7, it was settled upon by A. Thompson, who sold the right to Schofield; No. 8, by Arch. Chisholm; No. 9, by Samuel Sherwood, who was an Indian trader. Then Fairman, William Johnson, Edward Carscallion, J. Carscallion, Fairman, Biddell.
There is no record of the first municipal transaction. Most likely, no record was kept. The following, however, takes us back a long way:—
“At the annual town meeting, for the township of Thurlow, held the fifth day of March, 1798, whereat the following persons were chosen town officers, viz., John McIntosh, Town Clerk, John Chisholm and William Reid, Assessors; Joseph Walker, Collector; Samuel B. Gilbert, John Reed, William Johnson, Path-masters; John Cook and Daniel Lawrence, Town Wardens; John Taylor, Pound-keeper; John Fairman, Constable.”
John McIntosh, remembered as Capt. McIntosh, was Town Clerk for three years, and was succeeded by Jabez Davis. The following year, the occupant was Caleb Benedict. The year succeeding, Roswell Leavens was appointed, and continued to hold the office for three years, when John Frederick was chosen, who held the place two years, when John McIntosh was again selected; he held it two years. Then John Thompson was appointed, who held it one year. The next year it was Roswell Leavens; the next, John Frederick; the next, R. Leavens, who continued uninterruptedly in office for twelve years, up to the year 1826. During that time very many changes are observed in the names of those holding the other municipal offices in the Township. The Town Clerk, in the year 1826, was Daniel Canniff, who held it two years; the next was James McDonnell, who filled the post seven years. In 1835, D. B. Sole was appointed, who held it two years. The year ensuing, Dr. Hayden was appointed. It would seem that during the year following, Dr. H. escaped as a rebel, while his wife refused to hand over the township records.
Canifton.—Up to the year 1806, the way from Myers’ mill up the river to where stands Corby’s mill, a distance of four miles, was unbroken by a single clearing. There was but a poor waggon road, which had been cut by the two individuals who alone could afford the comfort of a waggon. But in that year another settler was added to Thurlow, and a third waggon to the community. John Canniff, having bought some 800 acres of land from one McDougall, and one Carle, in the third concession, commenced the work of clearing upon the present site of the village of Canifton. John Canniff was a U. E. Loyalist, and was born at Bedford, in the County of Westchester, in the present State of New York, in the year 1757. There is no reliable statement handed down as to the part he took in the war against the rebellion. That he took an active part is believed by those most capable of judging. The name of Lieut. Candiff appears among the officers of a New Jersey regiment, which is thought to have been one of the family. John Canniff was a refugee at the close of the war in New Brunswick, where he remained a few years. He then came to Canada, in 1788, and first settled in Adolphustown, where he lived until his removal to Thurlow. He had witnessed and experienced the suffering of the year of the famine. And it is known that he actually saved one family from death by starvation. Before bringing his family to Thurlow, in 1807, he had cleared a considerable piece of land, on the east side of the river, around the present site of the bridge; built a mill-dam, a saw-mill, and a frame house, which stood a short distance above the site of the Methodist Church. Although this took place near the end of the first decade of the present century, yet the settlement was attended by no little hardship. The necessaries of life were not always to be had, and it is authentically related, that for a time pea bread constituted the principle article of diet, while a fish, now and then caught, was a great luxury.