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23. JOSEPH CAWTHRA’S HOME |
| The
one and a half storey frame house that stood on the northwest corner of
Frederick and Palace (now Front) was home to a succession of three of
the most dynamic personalities in the history of Toronto. First it was the home of William Warren Baldwin and his new bride Margaret Phoebe Willcocks. The Baldwins were married in 1803, and moved a year later into the home built for them by Margaret’s father, William Willcocks(1). It was then the Baldwin family home as well as a school, run by Baldwin, for a time. The Baldwins moved in 1807 and Willcocks rented out the house until his death in 1813, when his daughter Maria sold it for 500 pounds sterling(2). The next interesting occupant of Baldwin’s former home was William Lyon Mackenzie (1795-1861). The Mackenzies, all ten of them including in-laws and apprentices, took up residence in 1824(3). The family lived at the rear of the house, while the front was the printing office for Mackenzie’s The Colonial Advocate. Due in part to his outspokenness against the Tories, his shop was raided in 1826 and the press was destroyed(4). Mackenzie was on the verge of bankruptcy, but the profit he made in court over damages from the raid restored him financially. They moved that same year. In 1837 the house was owned by Joseph Cawthra (1759-1842). Natives of Gesley, Yorkshire, the Cawthras moved to York in 1806(5). Cawthra opened an Apothecary from which he made a fortune by supplying the British army during the War of 1812(6). He then expanded his store at King and Caroline into a retail and wholesale grocery store, specializing in tea and tobacco. Joseph Cawthra lived in the house at Frederick and Palace until his death in 1842(7). The house was later destroyed by fire leaving behind a vacant lot and some impressive ghosts. |
Notes
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| © Town of York Historical Society, 2006- All rights reserved. |