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| William Berczy brought settlers |
| Berczy |
About Ryan Taylor Dave Obee's tribute to Ryan Ryan's Columns Ryan's Books Devonians in Ontario newsletter Back to CanGenealogy.com | By Ryan Taylor The 1790s saw people moving from Pennsylvania and New York to Ontario. Why? The official reason is that there was a shortage of land. Expanding families needed a place to homestead, and new arrivals were coming from Europe. There was an empty country just across the Niagara River. People could also go to the Far West. In 1795, that meant Ohio. I was once told that some of the 1790s migrants came because they resented the new tax on whiskey in Pennsylvania. Whatever the reason, one group who came were led by William Berczy. They were Germans who first settled in the Genessee Valley in New York. Less than a year later they crossed to York (now Toronto), which rumour says had only two houses. The migrants built a third house for Berczy, who had dreams of being a land development entrepreneur. They claimed lots in what would become Markham Township and the Berczy Settlers became a recognized force in the settlement of Ontario. The Markham Berczy Settlers Association have recently published a history of this group, A Story of the Markham Berczy Settlers: 210 Years in Markham, 1794-2004, a Story of Bravery and Perseverance. Markham is also significant as one of the three early Mennonite settlements in Ontario. There have always been links between Markham and Waterloo County. The Berczy Germans had connections here, too. The Hungarian-sounding William Berczy was actually born Albrecht Moll in Bavaria. He had an adventurous early life during which he acquired his nickname. Although the 64 families he brought to Markham eventually spread across North America, the new settlement had a precarious start because of crop failures in 1795. Berczy travelled to Quebec and London to try to obtain funding to help them. He returned to Markham in 1802, when his management style alienated the now-established settlers. He died in New York City in 1813. The Mennonite settlers in Markham arrived from Pennsylvania in 1804, making 2004 their bicentenary as well as 210 years since the Berczy Settlers came. The Settlers Association book lists the heads of each of the Berczy families, with biographical notes on each. There was a census taken in 1804 which is the source of much of this information. Many of these men worked on building Yonge Street, the first road which went north from Toronto into the wilderness. Later settlers would drive wagons, filled with all their worldly possessions, along the rough road to settle around Lake Simcoe and then push even farther, to Georgian Bay. The later sections of the book recount the voyage of the Catharine, which brought the immigrants from Germany to Philadelphia in 1793, the year in New York State and the decision to move to British Canada. Their first idea was to live in Niagara, where the capital (now Niagara on the Lake) was located. The British government's decision to move the capital away from the American border meant that the Germans moved too. They were in tents beside the barracks, so it was easy to up stakes. The Lieutenant Governor, John Graves Simcoe, chose where they ended up. The biographical entries may be of limited interest to the general public, but the story of how the Berczy settlers reached Markham is interesting. One question we should all ask is: why did our ancestors choose to settle here instead of there? The book finishes with a transcription of John Henry Sommerfeldt's own story of the voyage. A Story of the Markham Berczy Settlers can be purchased for $10 (plus $3 postage) from the Markham Berczy Settlers Association, 10292 McCowan Road, Markham ON L3P 3J3. Column copyright © 2005 Ryan Taylor |