Simon
Ebeneezer Washburn (1793?-1837) was warmly regarded by the people of
York for his devotion to ice skating, despite his portly figure, and
for his eccentricity in wearing York’s first monocle(1).
Washburn was born into a prominent loyalist family in Upper Canada(2). He studied law under William W. Baldwin [site 23], passed the bar in 1820 and shortly after went into partnership with Baldwin. In 1825 he established his own practice(3). Three years later, he was appointed the Clerk of the Peace for the Home District, a position he held until his death in 1837.
As Clerk, Washburn administered the Court of the Quarter Sessions, kept court records and performed oaths(4).
With his new prosperity Washburn bought a home on the northwest corner
of George and Duke (now Adelaide) Street. The brick structure was his
only home in York.
Washburn
also entered politics, but was unsuccessful and lost twice to the
powerful Reformer William Lyon Mackenzie. However he made Alderman of
St. Davis’s Ward in 1837, the same year he married the lovely
Margaret Fitzgibbon(5). |
