442 CANADIAN LOCAL HISTORY ; 



at the time as agent for Mr. H. J. Boulton ; but Dundurn never advanced beyond incipience. 

 The name was afterwards familiar as that of Sir Allan's chateau close by Hamilton. 



A well-travelled road now soon turned off to the right leading to certain, almost historic, 

 mills in Markham, Imown as the German Mills. In the Gasetteer of 1799 these mills are referred 

 to. "Markham township in the east riding of the County of York fronts Youge Street," it is 

 stated in that early work, " and lies to the northward of York and Scarborough. Here" it then 

 adds "are good mills and a thriving settlement of Germans." The German Mills were situated 

 on lot No. 4 in the third concession, on a portion of the Rouge or Nen — a river which the same 

 Ga«eiteer informed its readers was "the back communication from the German settlement in 

 Markham to Lake Ontario." The expectation in 1799 was, as the Gazetteer further shows, that 

 this river, and not either the Humber or the Don, would one day be connected with the Holland 

 river by a canal. It was not certainly known in 1794, where the river which passed the German 

 Mills had its outlet. In Iredell's plan of Markham of that date, the stream is marked " Kitche- 

 seepe or Great River," with a memorandum attached — "waters sujiposed to empty into Lake 

 Ontario to the eastward of the Highlands of York." Information, doubtless, noted down, by 

 Iredell, from the lips of some stray native. Kitche-seepe, "Big River" is of course simply a 

 descriptive expression, taken as in so many instances, by the early people, to be a j)roper 

 name. (It does not appear that among the aborigines there were any proper local names, in 

 our sense of the expression.) The German Mills were founded by Mr. Berczy, either on his 

 own account or acting as agent for an association at New York for the promotion of German 

 emigration to Canada. When, after failing to induce the Government to reconsider its decision 

 in regard to the patents demanded by him for his settlers, that gentleman retired to Montreal 

 the German Mills with various parcels of land were advertised for sale in the Gazette of April 

 27, 1805, in the following strain: "Mills and land in Marldiam. To be sold by the subscriber 

 for payment of debts due to the creditors of William Berczy, Esq., the mills called the German 

 Mills, being a grist mill and a saw miU. The grist miR has a pair of French burs, and complete 

 machinery for making and bolting superfine flour. These mills are situated on lot No. 4 in 

 the third concession of Markham ; with them will be given in, lots No. 3 and 4 in the third 

 concession, at the option of the purchaser. Also 300, acres being the west half of lot No. 31, 

 and the whole of lot 32 in the second concession of Markham. Half the purchase money to be 

 paid in hand, and half in one year with legal interest W. Allan. N.B. — Francis Smith, who 

 lives on lot No. 14 in the third concession, will show the premises. York, 11th March, 1805." It 

 appears from the same Gazette that Mr. Berczy's vacant house in York had been entered by 

 burglars after his departure. A reward of twenty dollars is offered for their discovery. 

 "Whereas," the advertisement runs, "the house of William Berczy, Esq., was broken open 

 sometime during the night of the 14th instant, and the same ransacked from one end to the 

 other ; this is to give notice that whoever shall lodge an information, so that the offender or 

 offenders may be brought to justice, shall upon conviction thereof, receive Twenty DoUars. 

 W. Chewett. York, 18th April, 1805." We have before referred to Mr. Berczy's embarras- 

 ments, from which he never became disentangled ; and to his death in New York in 1813. His 

 decease was thus noticed in a Boston paper, quoted by Dr. Canniff, p. 364, " Died— In the early 

 part of the year 1818, William Berczy, Esq., aged 68; a distinguished inhabitant of Upper 

 Canada, and highly respected for his literary acquirements. In the decease of this gentleman, 

 society must sustain an irreparable loss, and the republic of letters wiU have cause to mourn 

 the death of a man eminent for genius and talent." 



The German Mills were purchased and kept in operation by Capt. Nolan, of the 70th Regi 

 ment, at the time on duty in Canada ; but the speculation was not a success. We have heard 

 it stated that this Capt. Nolan was the father of the officer of the same name and rank who 

 fell in the charge of the Light Brigade at the very first outset, when, at Balaclava, 



"Into the valley of Death 

 Rode the six hundred." 



The Gazette of March 19, 1818, contains the foUowing curt announcement : " Notice. The 

 German MiUs and Distillery are now in operation. For the Proprietors. Alexander Patterson, 

 Clerk. 11th March, 1818." Ten years later they are offered for sale or to lease in the U. C. 

 Loyalist of April 5, 1828. (It will be observed that they once bore the designation of Nolan- 

 Ville.) "For sale or to be leased," thus runs the advertisement, "all or any part of the 



