[82] 



CANADIAN LOCAL HISTORY. 



TORONTO OF OLD: 



A SERIES OF COLLECTIONS AND RECOLLECTIONS. 

 CContinued from Vol. XII., p. b32.) 



BY THE REV. DR. SCADDING. 



XXXI.— QUEEN STREET FROM GEORGE STREET TO YONGB STREET. 



When we pass George Street we are in front of the park-lot originally selected by Mr. Secre- 

 tary Jarvis. It is now divided from south to north by Jarvis Street, a thoroughfare opened up 

 through the property in the time of Mr. Samuel Peters Jarvis, the Secretary's son. Among the 

 pleasant villas that now line this street on both sides, there is one which still is the home of a 

 Jarvis, the Sheriff of the County. Besides filling the conspicuous post indicated by his title, 

 Mr. Secretary Jarvis was also the first Grand Master of the Masons in Upper Canada. The 

 archives of the first Masonic Lodges of Tork possess much interest. Through the permission 

 of Mr. Alfio de Grassi who has now the custody of them, we are enabled to give the following 

 extracts from a letter of Mr. Secretary Jarvis, bearing the early date of March 28th, 1792 : — " I 

 am in possession of my sign manual from his Majesty," Mr. Jarvis writes on the day just named, 

 from Pimlieo, to his relative Munson Jarvis, at St. John, New Brunswick, " constituting me 

 Secretary and Registrar of the Province of Upper Canada, with power of appointing my Deputies, 

 and in every other respect a very fuU warrant. I am also " he continues " very much flattered 

 to be enabled to inform you that the Grand Lodge of England have within these very few days 

 appointed Prince Edward, who is now in Canada, Grand Master of Ancient Masons in Lower 

 Canada ; and William Jarvis, Secretary and Registrar of Upper Canada, Grand Master of Ancient 

 Masons in that Province. However trivial it may appear to you who are not a Mason, yet I 

 assure you that it is one of the most honourable appointments that they could have conferred. 

 The Duke of Athol is the Grand Master of Ancient Masons in England. Lord Dorchester with 

 Ms private Secretary, and the Secretary of the Province, called on us yesterday " Mr. Jarvis 

 proceeds to say "and found us in the utmost confusion, with half a dozen porters in the house 

 packing up. However his Lordship would come in, and sat down in a small room which was 

 reserved from the general bustle. He then took Mr. Peters home with him to dine : hence we 

 conclude a favourable omen in regard to his consecration, which we hope is not far distant. Mrs. 

 Jarvis," the Secretary informs his relative, " leaves England in great spirits. I am ordered my 

 passage on board the transports with the Regiment, and to do duty without pay for the passage 

 only. This letter," he adds, "gets to Halifax by favour of an intimate friend of Mr. Peters, 

 Governor Wentworth, who goes out to take possession of his Government. The ship that I ani 

 alloted to is the Henneker, Captain Winter, a transport with the Queen's Rangers on board." 



The Prince Edward spoken of was afterwards Duke of Kent and father of the present Queen. 

 Lord Dorchester was the Governor-General of the Province of Quebec before its division into 

 Upper and Lower Canada. Mr. Peters was in posse the Bishop of the new Province about to be 

 organized. It was a part of the original scheme, as shewn by the papers of the first Governor 

 of Upper Canada, that there should be an episcopal see in Upper Canada, as there already was 

 at Quebec in the lower province. But this was not carried into effect until 1839, nearly half a 

 century later. When Jarvis Street was opened up through the Secretary's park-lot, the family 

 residence of his son Mr. Samuel Peters Jarvis, a handsome structure of -the early brick era of 

 York, in the line of the proposed thoroughfare, was taken down. Its interior fittings of solid 

 black walnut were bought by Capt. Carthew and transferred by him without much alteration to 

 a house which he put up on part of the Deer-park property on Yonge Street, (now the R. C. 

 cemetery). A large fragment of the offices attached to Mr. Jarvis's house was utilized and 

 absorbed in a private residence on the west side of Jarvis Street, and the gravel drive to the 

 door is yet in some places to be traced in the less luxuriant vegetation of certain portions of the 



