Settlement of Wellesley Township
Wellesley
Township was an area of land contained within Clergy Reserves
known as the Queen’s Bush. It was the last township to
be settled in Waterloo County. In 1837, there were only
63 residents in the area; and by 1841 - 254.
When
the first settlers arrived, they helped themselves to
the land and took up clearing the land and farming. Called
squatters, they came from a variety of racial and religious
backgrounds. The first squatters included a large number
of freed or escaped black slaves from the United States.
Other squatters who settled in the township were of German
heritage.
When
Wellesley Township was surveyed in 1843, it was divided
into two blocks to accomodate what little development
the squatters had already undertaken. Squatters who could
afford to buy the land outright and make substantial improvements
to it, did so immediately when approved by the government.
Other settlers who could not afford to buy the land outright
but who were willing to improve it, were allowed to make
a series of payments for the land instead.
Many
Black and white squatters of the Queen’s Bush were denied
grants. Some Black squatters moved from township lands
to relocate elsewhere. By 1850, the population of the
township reached 3,396, but one year later it included
only 46 Black settlers. The majority of settlers in the
township were German, English, Irish, and Scottish.
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