Toronto op old. 445 



jLI.— tONGE STREET -FROM THORNHILL TO RICHMOND HILL. 



As we move on from Thornliill with Vaughan on the left and Markham on the right, the name 

 t>f another rather memorable early missionary recurs, whose memory is associated with both 

 these townships^Viucent Philip Mayerhoffer. Notwithstanding its drawbacks, early Canadian, 

 ilfe, like early American life generally, became, in a little while, invested with a curious 

 interest and charm ; by means, for one thing, of the variety of character encountered. A man. 

 might vegetate long in an obscure village or country town of the old mother country before he 

 rubbed against a person of V. P. MayerhoflFer's singular experience, and having his wits set in 

 motion by a sympathetic realization of such a career as his. He was a Hungarian ; born at 

 Raab in 17S4 ; and had been ordained a presbyter in the National Church of Austria. On 

 emigrating to the United States, he being himself a Franciscan, fell into some disputes with the 

 Jesuits at Philadelphia, and Withdrew from the Latin communion and attached himself, in 

 company with a fellow-presbyter named Huber, to the Lutheran Reformed. As a recognized 

 minister of that body he came on to Buffalo, where he ofQciated for four years to three congre- 

 gations, visiting at the same time, occasionally, a congregation on the Canada side of the river, 

 at Limeridge. He here, for the first time, began the study of the English language. Coming 

 now into contact With the clergy of the Anglican communion, he finally resolved to conform to 

 the Anglican Church, and was sent by bisliop Stewart, of Quebec, to the German settlement in 

 Markham and Vaughan. Here he officiated for twenty years, building in that interval S. 

 Stephen's Church in Vaughan, S. Philip's in the 3rd concessi6n of Markham, and the Church 

 in Marltham village, and establishing a permanent congregation at each. He was a vigorous, 

 stirring preacher in his acquired English tongue, as well as in his vernacular German. He 

 possessed also a colloquial knowledge of Latin, which is still a spoken language in part of 

 Hungary. He was a man of energy to the last : ever cheerful in spirit, and abounding in anec- 

 dotes, personal or otherwise, the scenes of which the generality of persons about him were little 

 acquainted with. It was from him, as we remember, we first heard the afterwards more 

 familiarized names of Magyar and Sclave. His brother-clergy of the region where his duty lay 

 were indebted to him for many curious glimpses at men and things in the great outer world of 

 the continent of Europe. During the Napoleonic wars he was " Field Chaplain of the Imperial 

 Infantry Regiment, No. 60 of the Line," and accompanied the Austrian contingent of 40,000 

 men furnished to Napoleon by the Emperor of Austria. He was afterwards, when the Austrian 

 Emperor broke away from Napoleon, taken prisoner with five regiments of the line, and 

 Bent to Dresden and Mayence. He was at the latter place when the battle of Leipsic was 

 fought (Oct. 16, 17, 18, 19, 1813.) He now left Mayence without leave, the plague breaking out 

 there, and got to Oppenheim, where a German presbyter called MuUer concealed him, tOl the 

 departure of the French out of the town. After several adventures he found his way back to 

 the quarters of his regiment now acting in the anti-French interest at Manheim, where he duly 

 reported himself and was well received. After t!ie war, from the year 1816, he had for three 

 .years the pastoral cliarge of Klingenmitnster in the diocese of Strasbourg. He died in Whitby 

 in 1859. A memoir of Mr. Mayerhoffer has been printed, and it bears the following title : 

 "Twelve years a Roman Catholic Priest ; or, The Autobiography of the Rev. V. P. Mayerhoffer, 

 M.A., late Military Chaplain to the Austrian Army and Grand Chaplain of the Orders of Free 

 Masons and Orangemen of Canada, B. N. A., containing an account of his career as Military 

 Chaplain, Slonk of the Order of St. Francis, and Clergyman of the Church of England in 

 Vaughan, Markham and Whitby, C. W." He had a musical voice which had been properly 

 cultivated. This, he used to say, was a source of revenue to him in the early part of liis public 

 career, those clergy being in request and receiving a higher remuneration, who were able to 

 sing the service in a superior manner. His features were strongly marked and peculiar, 

 perhaps Mongolian in type ; they were not German, English or Italian. Were the concavity of 

 the nose and the projection of the mouth a little more pronounced in " Elias Howe," the 

 medallions of that personage would give a general idea of Mr. MayerhofTer's profile and head. 

 In his younger days he had acquired some medical knowledge, which stood him in good stead 

 for a time at Philadelphia, when he and Huber first renounced the Latin dogmas. His taste for 

 the healing art was slightly indulged even after the removal to Canada, as will be seen from an 

 advertisement which appears in the Courier of February 29, 1832. (From its wording it will be 

 observed that Mayerhoffer had not yet become familiarized with the English language.) It is 



