WALSINGHAM

In November, 1863, Stephen Decatur Brown purchased a tract of land, part of Lots thirteen in Concessions Five and Six, Walsingham, He had a plan of building lots on part of his property made and called the place Brownstown. This name persisted for a time and then gave way to Pleasant Hill. This name remained for a number of years to be succeeded by Walsingham Centre. This proved to be too long for our rapidly moving age and a number of years since the word Centre was dropped� a decided change for the better in my opinion.

Daniel Hazen was one of the first settlers in Walsingham, in fact he surveyed this town- ship. He chose for his home an attractive spot a few miles to the south-west of Walsingham Centre, and for many years he lived there. Spring Arbor was the name given to the post office, evidently from the beauty of the spot.

PORT ROYAL

Port Royal is located where the Front Road crosses the River Rowan (Big Creek) in Lot 10, Con. B, South Walsingham. I have been unable to find whence it derived its name, but it may have come from Port Royal in Nova Scotia.

MESSIAH'S CORNERS

Messiah's Corners is at the intersection of the West quarter town line of South Walsingham with the allowance for road between Con. A and No. 1, just north of where the Erie View post office stood. Its name was derived from the Church of the Messiah denomination of Christians which erected a church there in the spring of 1883.

WYECOMBE

Wyecombe, once known as Cattle's Corners, is derived from Buckinghamshire, England. Likely it was one of the many places named by the post office department at Ottawa.

GLEN MEYER

Glen Meyer is perhaps a cross between a Scottish word and a German one. In 1854, George Edward Meyer bought fifty acres, part of Lot One in the 14th Concession of Walsingham, and when the post office came, it was quite easy to get the name Glen Meyer.

CRANBROOK

Cranbrook is a neighbourhood between Lynedoch and Wyecombe. It gets its namc from Cranberry Creek, a small stream emptying into Big Creek.

MABEE'S CORNERS

One of the oldest families in Norfolk bears the name of Mabee. In fact the Mabees came only a year or two after Dr. John Troyer, our first permanent settler. And the pioneer head of the family, Frederick Mabee, died only a few years after their arrival and was buried on the bank overlooking Lake Erie on Lot 10, Con. A, of Charlotteville, close to Turkey Point hill. One of his descendants, John Mabee, kept a store in Middleton.

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RHINELAND

Rhineland, in Middleton, carries a tribute to the loyalty of German settlers in that neighbourhood to their Fatherland. It was a fine body of people who came to our county from Germany many years ago and they managed to commemorate the name of their much-loved river, Rhine, when a post office was opened.

TALBOT ROAD

Talbot Street, or as often called, Talbot Road East, was laid out by Colonel Thomas Talbot, who was a lieutenant in the 24th Foot at Quebec when General John Graves Simcoe arrived m Canada. He became the Governor�s secretary.

This road was surveyed by Col. Mahlon Burwell in 1811. It enters the county on the west side of Houghton and continues on to the east end of Middleton. It may well be called the backbone of Middleton, as all concessions are either north or south of Talbot Road.

After entering Middleton, it swings decidedly to the northeast until Courtland is reached,

when it turns towards the south. This meant a considerable increase in the distance from east to west, so early in the l9th century the Bostwick Road was constructed, being named for the Bostwick family, prominent in the county at that time. This was much more direct and saved many a weary mile to the travellers in those days. Later a considerable part of this road was closed.

COURTLAND

All of our townships excepting Woodhouse at one time had a hamlet with the word 'Centre� attached to it. Only two remain. Of course the village m the centre of Middleton was called Middleton Centre for years. But in 1864, the Court was removed from Fredericksburg (afterwards, Delhi) to that place and so the village was rechristened Courtland.

GUYSBORO

Guysboro used to be located at the north end of Houghton township. I am informed that it got its name through the Harvey family formerly residents there, who came from Guysboro in Nova Scotia.

WINDHAM and TOWNSEND CENTRES

Windham Centre and Townsend Centre were so called because each was the middle of its respective township. Townsend Centre was formerly the Five Bridges (often shortened to "The Bridges"). In the old days, there were five bridges over the Nanticoke at this place. Now it is served by two. In April 1844, James Wilson became the owner of the greater part of Lot 7 Concession 3, Townsend. He was a local preacher in the Methodist Church and a very prominent man of his day. He was elected to the Provincial Parliament in 1867 and sat for four years as member. It was from him that Wilsonville acquired its name.

CHERRY VALLEY

Cherry Valley is located a few miles south of Waterford. How it received this name is a bit of an enigma as there is no valley there, nor really any cherry trees. However this name is applied to the road which is bordered on each side by rich farmlands which may have had many cherry orchards.

BOSTON

The neighbourhood of the village of Boston was one of the earliest settled parts of the county, and there is a doubt as to whether it obtained its name from Boston, in Massachusetts, or from Boston (Bo's town) in Lincoln, England. One of the old streets in the American city is Boylston, and a number of years ago the department at Ottawa, for some obscure reason tried to give the name Boylston to our Boston. There was trouble immediately, and eventually the name of Boston was restored.

Between Wilsonville and Boston years ago William Lutes had shops for the manufacture of wagons and carriages and the place was called Lutesville, although it never had a post office. William Lutes has been dead for many years, the shops have long been gone, and now the place is but a memory.

Nober is or was a village near St. John, New Brunswick, and the former office and station the Michigan Central, or rather the Canada Southern Railway, received its appellation therefrom.

HARTFORD

Hartford, like so many other places, has now no post office. It commemorates Hartford, the capital of the State of Connecticut; which in turn was named for one of the British Hartfords. It is said that the reason for our Hartford being named was that when the office was opened an American school teacher suggested that it be so called.

It was over a hundred years ago that Levant and Peter Porter purchased Lot 18 in Concession 3, Townsend, and it is not a matter for conjecture that their name lives today in the village called Bealton for them.

Rockford acquired its name from the small falls in the Nanticoke River at this place.

Hopeville was the name of a spot in Townsend on the middle town line about two miles north of Renton. There was a Methodist Church about two miles east bearing the same name, but whether Hopeville received its name from the church or the church from the village, I cannot say. Somehow the old name was discarded and Tyrrell took its place. Its derivation seems to be unknown.

On the 19th of February 1857, Jonathan B. Smith sold the south quarter of Lot 12, Concession 14, Townsend to James Renton. The latter had a part of this land surveyed into village lots and gave his name to the place. For many years this village was called the Grindstone from the tavern sign which hung there at one time.

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