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The biography of a house: If these walls could speak

Today, the Ashbridge Estate is widely known in Toronto’s east end for its lush gardens. The Estate is owned and operated by the Ontario Heritage Trust. Its extensive collection of artifacts and archaeological discoveries celebrate the evolution of the Ashbridge family.

Photo: Today, the Ashbridge Estate is widely known in Toronto’s east end for its lush gardens. The Estate is owned and operated by the Ontario Heritage Trust. Its extensive collection of artifacts and archaeological discoveries celebrate the evolution of the Ashbridge family.

By

Erin Semande

Buildings and architecture, Community, Cultural objects

Published Date: Sep 07, 2006

Researching family history is a popular pastime for many who want to uncover their family’s unique past and discover how they contributed to Ontario’s growth, development and diversity.

Determining one’s lineage can come from a variety of sources, including: personal records (photographs, letters and diaries); government documents (census records, assessment roles and land grants); and oral interviews with family members.

The Ontario Heritage Trust holds such archival material in the collections that relate to Trust-owned properties. For example, the Jesse Ashbridge House – located at 1444 Queen Street East in Toronto – was home to one of the city’s earliest families. Five generations of Ashbridges lived on the property continuously from 1796 to 1997. A donation agreement was made between the Trust (then the Ontario Heritage Foundation) and Ashbridge descendants, Dorothy Bullen and Elizabeth Burton, in 1972.

Dorothy continued to live in the house until her death in 1997, at which time the house and over 6,000 archival records spanning the family’s 200-year history on the property were transferred to the Trust. Hundreds of hours have been spent cataloguing, preserving and researching these archival records – which include diaries, letters, account books and photographs. These items, along with oral interviews, tell the story of the five generations of Ashbridges who lived on the property.

Led by Sarah James Ashbridge, the family immigrated to York (now Toronto) in 1793 from Chester County, Pennsylvania. Sarah brought her two unmarried sons Jonathan and John, daughters Elizabeth Wilcot and Mary McClure and their husbands and children. The family spent the winter months at the French Fort Rouillé and staked a claim sometime in 1794 on land near what’s known today as Ashbridge’s Bay in the east end of the city.

Wellington and Mabel Ashbridge lived at the Toronto estate with their two daughters Dorothy and Betty. Dorothy continued to live in the house until her death in 1997.

After three years in Upper Canada, the Ashbridges became one of the first families awarded a land grant on lots east of the Don River by Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe. The area was sparsely settled, roads were poor and provisions in limited supply. Together, the family cleared land for farming, grew fruits and vegetables and built log homes for shelter. In 1809, Jonathan built a two-storey Georgian house to replace his log cabin. He married Hannah Bennett Barton the same year and they had seven children.

In 1854, Jonathan and Hannah’s son Jesse – a farmer with a sizable income – commissioned well-known architect Joseph Sheard to design a brick home that still stands at 1444 Queen Street East. Jesse continued to live with his mother until he married Harriet Trainer in 1860. Time spent together in their new home, however, was short-lived. In 1863, Harriet died, along with their newborn baby, shortly after the birth. The following year, Jesse married his second wife, Elizabeth Rooney, and later had three sons – Jesse Jr., Alfred and Wellington. Jesse died in 1874 of tuberculosis, leaving Elizabeth a widow at age 31. With the help of her cousin, Elizabeth raised her three boys and continued to live in the home built by her husband until her death in 1919.

After his mother’s death, Wellington moved his family, wife Mabel and daughters Dorothy and Betty, into the house. Wellington was a graduate from the University of Toronto and worked as a civil engineer, a job that took him out west for a number of years. The Trust holds hundreds of personal records documenting the lives of Wellington and Mabel, including love letters and family photographs, giving today’s researcher a glimpse into their personal lives. In the early 1900s, Wellington began tracing his family’s lineage. He travelled to Pennsylvania and photographed the homes of his ancestors and conducted research using archival material. In 1912, he published The Ashbridge Book, an invaluable resource documenting the family’s history.

The fifth and final generation to live on the property was Wellington’s two daughters, Betty and Dorothy. The sisters recounted their family history in a series of oral interviews in the summer of 1985, and provided significant information about their personal memories and stories of Ashbridges that came before them.

This collection celebrates the evolution of the Ashbridge family, from their struggles as early settlers to 20th-century urban dwellers. But it also shows how the Trust absorbs every element of a property it receives – from buildings and foundations to gardens and natural features to personal artifacts and collections. Using the Ashbridge collection, one can interpret a piece of Canada’s history through the eyes of a family who witnessed vast change over 200 years.

Photo: In 2000, descendants of the Ashbridge family – from as far away as Pennsylvania – converged on Toronto’s Ashbridge Estate for a family reunion.