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Pioneer - STIRTON, David
Biographical Sketches of
Early Settlers of Wellington County
Information from: Historical Atlas of the County of Wellington, Ontario.
Toronto: Historical Atlas Publishing Co., 1906
|
STIRTON, David
. The subject of this sketch is a son of James and Janet (Crichton)
Stirton, and was b. in Forfarshire, Scot., June 13th, 1816. His parents were
both natives of that country. In 1825 James Stirton and his family with a large
number of others, sailed from the port of Cromarty, Scot., in the sailing
vessel "Planet" for La Guayra, South America, where they went on the promise of
land and other concessions that were never realized, and in consequence they
left that country and came to Canada in 1827, and were allotted land in Guelph
Tp. on the Elora road ("Scotch Block") mentioned elsewhere in this work. Mr.
James Stirton and his family left South America for New York City early in
1827. He readily found employment in that city, and David Stirton, who was then
a boy of eleven years, obtained a position with a coffee merchant, and
remembers seeing the cows pasturing on Seventeenth Street. While the Stirton
family were doing well in New York, they concluded to join their friends, who
had gone from South America to Canada some months before, and in August they
started for Canada, arriving in Guelph, Sept. 8th, 1827. They set. on lot 23
and 24, con. 2, Guelph Tp., and lived there for some years, when they removed
to Puslinch. David Stirton had received an elementary education in Scot., but
aside from this he educated himself, and is practically a self-made man. He
followed farming in Guelph and Puslinch Tp. for forty-five years, including his
boyhood labors; chopping, logging and clearing farms, being an important part
of the work done by him. In his farm life he was very successful. But it was
not as an agriculturalist alone that David Stirton was to take a prominent
place. He was early officially connected with the educational and municipal
affairs of Puslinch Tp., being Reeve of the township for some years, and a
Magistrate for over thirty years. He represented South Wellington in Parliament
under the old Union of Upper and Lower Canada, from 1857 to 1876. In May of the
latter year he was appointed Postmaster of Guelph, which position he held until
his resignation in 1904.
Mr. Stirton may be regarded as the father of the settlement. He is probably the only living witness whose memory recalls incidents that occurred when the first break in the forest was made. Though removed for some years from life's activities, Mr. Stirton retains his interest in public affairs, and nothing can he more delightful than an hour's chat with the old man in which he recalls some of the events that constitute the mighty changes that are covered by the span of his long, busy and well-spent life. From: Historical Atlas of the County of Wellington, Ontario. Toronto: Historical Atlas Publishing Co., 1906 |
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