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  History of Rockwood

Although aboriginal Canadians had resided in the woods and river valleys for thousands of years, it wasn’t until 1819 when Deputy-surveyor Samuel Ryckman pushed through the uncharted landscape to set out an area of 45,127 acres for Eramosa Township.

Accounts vary from source to source, but it appears that the first settlers in the area were actually three Ramsey brothers – Robert, Henry and John – who arrived in 1819 from the United States. The three pioneers drew 100 acres each just outside of what became the village of Rockwood.

In the spring of 1820 the men packed axes and other supplies, and walked 20 miles to their properties. The surveyor had left a version of “wigwam” on John’s land that provided them with a suitable shelter over the summer until they erected log shanties. The first small patch of ground cleared was used for planting potatoes, which had been carried up to Eramosa on their backs.

Shortly afterward three Quakers, the William Smiths (senior and junior) and John Harris, arrived. John Harris settled on the west halves of Lots 3 and 4 in the 5th Concession, (what is now Rockwood) and erected his first log shanty. A few years later his unmarried half-sisters arrived to commence the first school in Wellington, even though attendance was a scant half-dozen pupils who could only attend for a short time in summer because winter snows made the journeys impossible. One of the sisters, Deborah Harris, eventually married William Smith Jr., settled on Lot 3, 4th Concession, and continued to teach. Because the area was filling with Quaker families, it became known as Brotherstown.

John Gamble had built the first sawmill in Wellington County, locating it in Rockwood. Early flour milling, however, had to be done about 16 miles through the bush at Georgetown.

Downtown Rockwood, looking north up Main Street South, circa 1910

 

Written and compiled by Deb Quaile of Wordbird Press.
Reproduced with permission of the author.

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