Old Walton Manor-house, Early in Port Britain: Schooner Days CCCCIII (403)

By C. H. J. SNIDER

THERE is something about Port Britain, that little hamlet three miles west of Port Hope, where Marsh’s Creek prattles into the lake, which keeps one coming back to it, even if all that anyone can say has been said. Or has it?

It was a cluster of sturdy lilac trees, a hundred years old, that marked the site of the old mansion Lieutenant Samuel Marsh, pioneer of Port Britain, built before fever and ague carried him off in 1813. This was Samuel’s second dwelling, his first one being of logs, down on the point by the lake.

On the opposite hill, west of Marsh’s Creek, there is another equally venerable clump of gfilacs. These, too, mark an ancient homestead, that of one of Samuel Marsh’s early neighbors, who was either already on the ground when he came up from the Bay of Quinte, or who hewed out his wilderness home in the same year as Samuel.

This homestead was also a second edition, its humbler predecessor having been a log cabin like the first abode of Samuel Marsh and his pioner bride, Jane Ostrom.

WHEN Simcoe was in Philadelphia he was entertained by the Waltons in their stone house. Simcoe, whom we always think of as Governor, was not born that way. He was a fighting commander of the Queen’s Rangers in the American revolution; and his visit to Philadelphia was not as pacific as King George’s to Washington a hundred and fifty years later. Simcoe and the Queen’s Rangers were quartered at Germantown, near Philadelphia, in an effort to suppress the rebellion, and it was then that he made the acquaintance of the Waltons, who were “rank Tories” and proud of it. They suffered for their loyalty when the rebels won, but were not without compensations.

In 1783, when the war was over, the elder of the Walton sons, Capt. Jonathan Walton, was sent with a government vessel, possibly the schooner Onondaga, to locate settlers in the present township of Hope, and was given 3,000 acres of land for himself.

His brother Nathan came to the new country in 1794, but went back to Philadelphia for his bride, returning with her in 1796.

Travelling to York by stage and horseback, he embarked here in Toronto harbor on a schooner bound for the eastward, intending to call at Smith’s Creek, the present Port Hope. He had two hunting dogs. One ran ashore at the last moment and, finding he was being left behind, leapt from the wharf into a small boat putting off for the schooner, which had hauled out to an anchor in preparation for departure. He missed the boat but scrambled in, wetting a gorgeous gentleman who was being taken out to the vessel. His master was profound in his apologies.

“And who,” asked Governor Simcoe, for it was he, “is the owner of these fine animals?”

“This gentleman, sir,” said the captain, “is Mr. Nathan Walton, who hopes to establish himself at Smith’s Creek.”

“One of the Waltons of Philadelphia who entertained me?” said Simcoe. “Sir, I am delighted to renew your acquaintance.” And learning his intention he wrote out a memorandum recommending a grant of 1,200 acres of land to be confirmed by his successor.

At Smith's Creek, three miles east of Port Britain, Nathan Walton, with his bride and his hunting dogs and his household goods, landed and staked out his sudden inheritance. It lay three miles to the westward, beyond the stream where Leonard Soper had established himself and Samuel Marsh was building a cabin. Nathan first built a house of logs. The hunting dogs proved invaluable that first winter, when game was scarce and even the Indians were starving. They would drive the deer through the woods to the lake, and in the water they fell a prey to ' Nathan’s long-barrelled rifle.

Soon Nathan Walton built his second house, on the ridge to the west of Port Britain looking down into the harbor. It was a plank house, its walls formed of solid pine planks laid face to face. Simcoe had recommended that he establish a manor, and the house, with its railed roof and wings, was as manorial as the resources of the infant province permitted, with the exterior cut and painted to look like stone, with two fireplaces and two wings, containing bedrooms, heated from these fireplaces.

It stood for many years on the ridge, until accidentally destroyed by fire. Now, like the second Marsh home, it is marked by its grove of lilac trees, surviving all these years.

In the fall of 1813, when Sir Gordon Drummond, newly arrived in Quebec as Governor, was pressing on to York, at the fork of the road above Port Hope he took what he thought was the wrong turning and so proceeded along the old Danforth lake shore road through Port Britain. Darkness overtook him as he crossed Marsh’s Creek and he inquired the way at the next house he came to, on the crest of the western hill. Nathan Walton took him in, and insisted on his staying the night, although Mrs. Walton was abed with a young son. The cavalry escort was accommodated in the Walton barn, the officers being given beds in the house.

In the morning the governor proceeded, after paying for the accommodation in gold and bestowing his name upon the baby. Gordon Drummond Walton, who is buried in Wesleyville, not far from the family seat, was that child, as the tombstone of the grown man attests.

Nathan Walton, died in 1857 and is buried in St. Mark’s Churchyard, Port Hope. His tombstone says “He was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, while it was yet a British possession,” a concise tribute to his United Empire Loyalist convictions. The bell in St. Mark’s Church, Port Hope, is inscribed: “J. WALTON, ALBANY AND ASPINWALL, 1826." These are possibly names of Jonathan’s estates. He was unable to tear up his roots in Pennsylvania and made his peace with the successful rebels and returned to his ancestral acres. Possibly the bell was a gift to his brother, Nathan, and from him to the church. Walton street in Port Hope commemorates the family.

Among the lovers of old Port Britain and the Walton manor count Dr. W. H. Walton-Ball of 344 Palmerston boulevard, Toronto, a well-known Toronto dentist. Partly from sentimental attachment to the vicinity, partly because of the charm of the surroundings, he maintains Harris Lodge a hundred-year-old cottage near Newcastle as a summer residence. Nathan Walton was his great grandfather. Dr. Walton-Ball is also descended from the Harrises of Digby, N.S., who came to Hope Township in 1793 and through them with the Marsh family, Joseph Harris having married Emily Marsh, one of the daughters of the pioneer Lieutenant Samuel Marsh.

Dr Walton-Ball has had painted an excellent likeness of Nathan Walton’s plank-built manor from original descriptions and data. He delights in preserving the records and information regarding the wide-spread families of Waltons, Harrises, Balls and Marshes, and has many interesting possessions of preceding generations—Currier and Ives prints of the period, a sofa, mirror and beautiful little table of Emily Marsh’s—she was his great aunt—Nathan Walton’s short sword, a fine oak chest of Myndert Harris’, and china which the Waltons brought from Philadelphia, and so on. It is a delight to see these things, so dear to the hearts of generations gone before, lovingly preserved by their children’s children.

Captions

CAPTAIN NATHAN WALTON’S manor-house, from a painting secured by his descendant, Hr. W. H. Walton-Ball, Toronto.