The following is a re-print of a past column by former Advertiser columnist Stephen Thorning, who passed away on Feb. 23, 2015.
Some text has been updated to reflect changes since the original publication and any images used may not be the same as those that accompanied the original publication.
One of the fascinating aspects of writing this column is the way one subject can lead to another.
A couple of weeks ago I was chatting on the phone with Gord Flewelling about the stone crusher used at Gow’s quarry in Fergus. I casually asked if he was connected to the pioneering Flewelling family of Nichol Township. Indeed he was.
The Flewellings, led by the patriarch of the family, the appropriately named Abraham, came to Nichol Township in 1827, making it one of the senior families in the county.
Some years ago I had the opportunity to purchase a letter sent to Abraham’s son, James, written by Jasper Gilkison, himself the son of Capt. William Gilkison, the founder of Elora and owner of the half of Nichol Township adjoining it.
Before examining this letter, it is useful to look at the background of the family. Abraham Flewelling was born in New Brunswick, and later lived in Massachusetts before coming to Canada and Nichol Township. He was of Welsh descent, and the surname, in its various spellings, is an Anglicized version of Llewellyn.
With his wife and seven children, he moved onto vacant land in Nichol as a squatter in 1827. The Flewellings were one of at least a half dozen such families, and the only ones who stayed permanently and bought land. Six more children were born on the new homestead on Lot 9, Concession 8 of Nichol.
There were five sons, all of whom went into farming. Emery moved to West Garafraxa and started a branch of the family there. Abraham Jr., William and Edward remained on the homestead and two adjoining farms. James struck out on his own, moving to Lot 3 on Concession 5 of Nichol in the early 1840s.
James, it seems, made some sort of offer to buy this farm, which had passed to Daniel Gilkison when Capt. Gilkison’s estate was settled. Either he made no payments on it, or fell hopelessly in arrears. Impatient to realize on his inheritance, Daniel Gilkison, in late 1843, made a verbal agreement to sell this farm to someone else, a man named Brand.
The youngest of the Gilkison brothers, Jasper, looked after the business arrangements for his brother, from his base in Hamilton.
The gist of Jasper’s letter to James Flewelling, written on Jan. 9, 1844, is that either Flewelling pay for the farm immediately or vacate it so that Brand can take it over. He offers to pay James 25 pounds, or $100, for the clearing done so far and the buildings erected on the farm.
Though not yet 30, Jasper’s tone in the letter shows that his ruthlessness and condescending demeanor was fully mature at an early age. The outside of the letter contains instructions to the Guelph postmaster to have the mail courier deviate from his route to Elora to give Flewelling the letter personally. Jasper, it seems, expected to pay no surcharge for this special delivery service.
The letter reads:
Sir, In the absence of my brother Mr. Daniel, I beg to answer your letter of the 4th inst. Brand was here the other day, and is still anxious to close for the lot you occupy, and has given my brother a week to conclude arrangements with you, and if he does not hear from my brother shortly, he will purchase elsewhere. I would therefore advise your coming to terms, and take what is offered to you, otherwise, it is probable, if you do not pay soon, you will certainly lose the lot altogether, without receiving one farthing, this is my candid opinion!
Now, as you are not here to close the matter, Brand wishes an agreement in writing from you, that you will give up the lot on receiving the sum of twenty-five pounds, and I therefore hand you an agreement which you will perhaps sign and return to me without delay, as it does not in the least impose upon you any risk.
I remain your obt. Svt.
J. Gilkison
Jasper’s intimidation appears to have been successful. He and his brother Daniel sold the lot on Sept. 2, 1844. The buyer was not Brand, who seems to have gone elsewhere, but Robert Wilson. The farm remained in the Wilson family for several generations.
Or perhaps James Flewelling thought it easiest to take the money and avoid all future unpleasant encounters with Jasper.
In any case, he did not go far. On Feb. 19, 1845 James Flewelling purchased a 50-acre farm on part of Lot 6, Con. 7 of Nichol, closer to his brothers and father. He farmed this land successfully for seven years, and then moved again, this time to a 10-acre farm on Lot 3, Concession 9 of Nichol, a short distance down the road from his brothers.
His father, Abraham Sr., died in 1849. James and his wife farmed this property for some 15 years, then headed for the west and new opportunities.
And what of the Gilkison brothers? Daniel, who never cared for business, ran a large farm near Brantford until his death in 1861. Jasper’s vanity and ambition grew through the 1840s. He married into the Family Compact (a granddaughter of William Jarvis), and ingratiated himself into the business elite of Hamilton.
Jasper Gilkison served as the promoter of the first telegraph line into Canada, and later as secretary of the Great Western Railway. In the 1850s he helped organize the company that built the first suspension bridge across the Niagara gorge.
By 1857 he considered himself at the top of the elite, and certainly on a level far superior to the Flewellings.
With his greed and ambition he also became hopelessly overextended with real estate speculations, many in partnership with other businessmen in Hamilton, Toronto and Montreal.
When the crash came in 1859 Jasper lost everything.
All that was left for him were his social and political connections. Through those he gained an appointment as government superintendent of the Six Nations reserve near Brantford, a position that required few duties but which paid a modest salary.
Increasingly sour and bitter, Jasper retained this position until poor health forced his resignation in 1891. He died in 1906 at the age of 92.
After 156 years, this letter is now the basis of a morality tale.
Descendants of the Flewellings continue to be productive citizens of Wellington County.
For all his grasping and greed and snobbery, Jasper Gilkison fell on his face at 45, and never recovered. While his father is known as the founder of Elora, Jasper’s name is recognized today only by a few historians.
*This column was originally published in the Wellington Advertiser on Sept. 15, 2000.
