All Aboard!

This image has nothing overtly to do with early settlement and Scottish culture, but it caught my attention enough that I thought it worth sharing. I love coming across images of home from different periods and perspectives. Galt at the start of the 20th century was absolutely bursting with potential and promise - all aboard!

Galt, Preston and Hespeler Street Railway, 1903

Sources
Waterloo Public Library, "Galt, Preston and Hespeler Street Railway"

Further Reading
Kitchener-Waterloo Street Railway 2007, "A History..."
TheRecord.com March 27, 2015 "Century-old streetcar line found under LRT construction"
The Globe and Mail 2010, "No desire for this Waterloo streetcar"
CBC February 25, 2015 "LRT construction set to close King Street in Kitchener in March"

Wool in the 19th Century - Part Three

Ontario’s early history of sheep and wool is less about any financial benefits and more about basic survival in harsh, isolated, and extreme environments.  Many newly arrived settlers in the 18^th and early 19^th centuries were unaware of the extremes in climate in this area. Autumns could bring unexpected frost during the night, freezing many livestock to death.  Settlers had to fear other predators attacking their sheep and livestock: foxes, minx, weasels, and wolves would find their way into animal barns and make a meal of the farmers’ livestock.  Winter brought even colder temperatures, and hungrier predators.

From the 18^th century to the first few decades of the 19^th century, many early settlers were working with wool solely to clothe themselves rather than for business purposes.  The entire wool production process was very time consuming, and a couple would be lucky to make enough socks to keep their feet warm during their first winter on their land, let alone make sweaters and cloaks.

As early settlers arrived on their properties, the task of creating a farm and home for their family took precedence over spinning an entire wardrobe’s worth of wool.  Time may not allow for much at all to be spun.  About 5 hours of spinning can produce enough yarn to make a pair of socks.  This does not include the shearing, cleaning, carding, and eventual knitting to make the socks.  After the first few years on their farm, a family would probably have produced enough wool to live on, and would be at a point where they can sell or trade any surplus of woollen goods with other neighbours in need.

By the 1830s, the image of the early settler woman sitting in her cabin and spinning wool on the spinning wheel becomes increasingly obsolete.  Early settlers moved up from their tiny cabins to established farm houses, and availability of goods made spinning their own wool less of a necessity for survival.  At this point, it becomes more of a hobby for those that could afford the leisure time.  Spinning thus becomes a nostalgic image of early settlers and their struggle to clothe themselves warmly for the harsh winters.  To this day, nothing can beat a nice home spun woollen toque, mitts, or scarf.

This three-part series "Wool in the 19th Century" was written by Caroline Bendiner, Culture Coordinator for the Township of King.  She has a BA in history from Queen's University and a post graduate certificate in Cultural Site Management from Centennial College. Caroline has a strong passion for history and sharing history with the public.

From Adze to Zouave Jackets

A brief A-Z glossary of words one might encounter when studying life in Upper Canada.  For more detail on each of the words, phrases, names, and titles, simply follow the source links provided.

A - Adze
Used with the hewing axe to make the log faces as smooth as possible. Any divots, chunks, or "juggle marks" in the logs made by the hewing axe allow water to penetrate the wood, creating rot. In winter, this moisture will form ice build-up, stress the wood and cause the building to shift. (The Dalziel Barn) See image 1.

1. An Adze at work
2. Neeps along with haggis and potatoes
3. Toulouse Geese (with a gentleman
for scale)
4. Example of a Zouave Jacket and dress
from 1862.

B - Bairn
Noun, Scot. and North England for a child; son or daughter. (Dictionary.com)

C - Ceilidh
A Scottish and Irish term for a party with music, dancing, and often storytelling. (Wikipedia) 

D - Dovetail Joint (Dovetailing)
A joint formed by one or more dovetails fitting tightly within corresponding mortises. (Visual Dictionary of Architecture)

E - Emigration
Emigration is the act of leaving one's native country with the intent to settle permanently or temporarily elsewhere. Conversely, immigration describes the movement of persons into one country from another. (Dictionary.com) Remember that one always emigrates from and immigrates to a place.
F - Fermentation
Fermentation is a metabolic process that converts sugar to acids, gases, and/or alcohol. Important particularly when discussing beer and its importance in pioneer life in Upper Canada. It was often safer to drink than water, had a number of medicinal uses, and contained a number of vitamins and minerals needed by hardworking homesteaders. By the 1860s there were 300 breweries across Upper Canada, not to mention the fact that beer was also brewed at home in the kitchen. (Virtual Museum of Canada)

G - Gaelic
Noun; any of the closely related languages of the Celts in Ireland, Scotland, or (formerly) the Isle of Man. Adjective; of, denoting, or relating to the Celtic people of Ireland, Scotland, or the Isle of Man or their language or customs.(Dictionary.com)

H - Hogmanay
It is believed that many of the traditional Hogmanay celebrations were originally brought to Scotland by the invading Vikings in the early 8th and 9th centuries. There are several traditions and superstitions that should be taken care of before midnight on the 31st December: these include cleaning the house and taking out the ashes from the fire, there is also the requirement to clear all your debts before "the bells" sound midnight, the underlying message being to clear out the remains of the old year, have a clean break and welcome in a young, New Year on a happy note. (Historic UK)

I - Indian
Indian people are one of three cultural groups, along with Inuit and Métis, recognized as Aboriginal people under section 35 of the Constitution Act. There are legal reasons for the continued use of the term "Indian." Such terminology is recognized in the Indian Act, and is used by the Government of Canada when making reference to this particular group of Aboriginal people. (Aboriginal Affairs)

J - James Young
The Honourable James Young was born in Galt on 24 May 1835. Raised in Galt, he worked as a journalist before spending 25 years in politics (12 years of which in the federal parliament). It was at this time that Mr Young wrote his history of early Galt, titled "Reminiscences of the Early History of Galt and the Settlement of Dumfries" and published in 1880. The book remains one of the major sources of information about the early development of our community. (City of Cambridge)

K - Kirk
Kirk is a Scottish word meaning a church, or more specifically, the Church of Scotland. (The Church of Scotland)

L - Land-Jobber
A man who makes a business of buying land on speculation, or of buying and selling for the profit of bargains, or who buys and sells for others.

M - Mortise and Tenon
A joint made between two pieces of wood where the projecting part of one piece fits into a corresponding cu-tout on another. (Architectural Terms)

N - Neeps
A popular (and delicious) side to a haggis dinner; made primarily of boiled and mashed turnips. See image 2.

O - Orkneymen
Immigrants from the Orkney Islands, off the north coast of Scotland, Orkneymen played a major and largely unrecognized part in the exploration and settlement of Canada's North-West in the 18th and 19th centuries. At the peak of their involvement with the HBC in 1800, Orkneymen comprised 80% of a labour force of almost 500. (Canadian Encyclopedia)

P - Parritch
Although it is by no means a dish confined to Scotland, parritch (an altered pronunciation of the earlier form “potage”) was until quite recently such a staple of the Scots diet that it became the foundation, not only for a day’s work, but also for wisdom. Parritch figures strongly in a number of Scottish proverbs. Today the term "porridge" has become more popular. (Scots Language Centre)

Q - Quoin
A quoin is an angle at the outside corner of a building. You can call the corner itself a quoin, or use the word for the special stones or bricks that reinforce corners of brick or stone buildings. Some quoins are decorative features, providing variety and pattern to the corner where two exterior walls meet. (Vocabulary.com)

R - Rebellion
The 1837 rebellion in Upper Canada [Ontario] was a less violent, more limited affair than the insurrection that same year in neighbouring Lower Canada [Quebec], although its leaders, including William Lyon Mackenzie, were no less serious in their demands for democratic reform, and an end to the rule of a privileged oligarchy. The rebellion itself failed, yet its very failure helped pave the way for more moderate and careful political change in British North America, including the union of Upper and Lower Canada, and the eventual arrival of responsible government. (Canadian Encyclopedia)

S - Saltire (St. Andrew's Cross)
The Saltire is the national flag of Scotland and, with a white diagonal cross on a blue background, it represents the crucifixion of the apostle St. Andrew Scotland’s patron saint. Believed to be the oldest flag in Europe, the origin of the flag comes from an old legend. Tradition has it that the flag originated in a battle fought near the East Lothian village of Athelstaneford in AD 832. (Visit Scotland)

T - Toulouse Goose
The name Toulouse is used for several types of gray geese descended from the European Greylag. People have selected Toulouse as general purpose farm birds, as producers of fois gras, and as show-birds. In the past, goose fat was a primary source for cooking fats and lubricants. Historically farmers often raised Dewlap Toulouse geese in cages to limit their movement, valuing their ability to put on large quantities of fat when fed plenty of food with no room to exercise. (The Livestock Conservancy) See image 3.

U - United Empire Loyalists
The United Empire Loyalists were generally those who had been settled in the thirteen colonies at the outbreak of the American Revolution, who remained loyal to and took up the Royal Standard, and who settled in what is now Canada at the end of the war. (United Empire Loyalists Association of Canada)

V - Venison
Noun, the flesh of a deer or similar animal as used for food. (Dictionary.com)

W - Wattle and Daub
Wattle and daub is a composite building material used for making walls, in which a woven lattice of wooden strips [or branches, etc.] called wattle is daubed with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, animal dung and straw. (Wikipedia)

Y - Yoke
Wooden shoulder yokes [for people] were used to carry two buckets of milk from the cow to the dairy in the days when cows were milked in the fields. They were also heavily used to collect water for household use.  The yoke was made from a beam of wood, usually willow for lightness, but ash and sycamore were also used. It is concave at the centre to fit comfortably around the shoulders, with a recess to fit around the neck of the wearer. The ends of the yoke tapered to terminate just beyond the wearer's shoulders. Chains were then hung from the ends with hooks to fix onto the buckets. (Object Lessons)

Z - Zouave Jacket
A woman’s short embroidered jacket or bodice, with or without sleeves, resembling the jacket of the Zouave uniform. (Oxford English Dictionary) See image 4.

Shopping in Shade's Mills

For the early settlers arriving and establishing themselves in Shade's Mills/Galt, there were but a few options when it came to purchasing the goods they needed and/or wanted.


Excerpt from James Young's Reminiscences of Galt, Page 54

The first option was to visit the combined home/general store of Absalom Shade and his second wife, Isabella. This two-storey log home was the first to be built in the new settlement (c.1816), and was located near the corner of Main and Water streets. (Young, 31) By the following year a blacksmith's shop had opened, thus providing the necessary materials and equipment for life on a farm. Mr. Shade was able to secure for himself a bit of a monopoly for his general store, and later increased his trade in 1824 with the opening of a second and larger shop, known as the Red store. (Young, 48) With a promise from William Dickson that no land would be sold to anyone else wishing to construct or operate a shop, Shade was able to comfortably grow his personal fortune.

Nearly a decade later, Mr. Shade added the 'White store' to his holdings (c.1832). Different from the Red store which conducted business in credit or barter, the White store worked in cash. (Young, 109) There was also now a hatter in the village, as well as a tavern, and a hotel. As the population of Dumfries township and surrounding areas grew, so to did competition. In neighbouring Preston, and in Waterloo, shops were able to offer goods at lower prices. The construction of roads, relative ease of transport (as compared to the previous decades), growing industry in other larger towns, and increased demand for "luxury" items encouraged businessmen to open up new enterprises.* By 1838 a former pedlar had opened a shop in the heart of Galt, and Shade's monopoly was effectively broken.

Sources

Black Sheet Iron Money Box, c.1830-1850

Dictionary of Canadian Biography 2014, "Shade, Absalom"James Young's 1880, Reminiscences of the early history of Galt
McCalla, Douglas. “Retailing in the Countryside: Upper Canadian General Stores in the Mid-Nineteenth Century”. In Business and Economic History, Winter 1997; 26, 2. Pages 393-403.

Further Reading
For more information on the credit and barter systems, you can check out a previous blog post here.
W. Hamish Fraser's 1981 The Coming of the Mass Market,1850-1914. 

Michael Gonder Scherck's 1905 Early Pioneer Life in Upper Canada.

* It has been shown that villages/towns with populations over 500 tend to see the growth of specialised shops. For example, rather than visiting a general store for items you might need, you can visit the shoemaker, the harness shop, the carpenter, or the grocer's separately. Ideally, these specialised shops would be able to offer you more selection, and possibly better prices. (McCalla)

Huron County Museum

Central School, constructed in 1856

A few weeks ago I happily seized upon an opportunity to visit the Huron County Museum and Historic Gaol in Goderich, Ontario. This was my first visit to the museum, though once inside I felt right at home. The permanent exhibits focus on development - development of the Huron Tract from forests to farms to thriving modern communities; development of agricultural technology and methods over the past two hundred-plus years; and the development of the people from settlers to soldiers, and from farmers to Victorian and Edwardian fashionistas.

1913 Steam Locomotive

The settlement of Goderich is a product of the Canada Company (at that time headed by John Galt), and it's Warden of the Woods and Forests, William "Tiger" Dunlop. Founded in 1827, and linked by a "muddy sleigh track" to Guelph by the following year, it became a popular destination for early British settlers. By its incorporation date in 1850, it had amassed a population of about 800 people. Today, the town of Goderich is home to 7,500.

The Huron County Museum is located near the radial core of Goderich, and is housed within a former schoolhouse (c.1856) and a large, modern addition (c.1989). The layout of the museum is such that it keeps you guessing what might be around the next corner. As I zigzagged through each space, I was constantly surprised and delighted at what I found. Particular exhibits of interest were the replica settlers' cabin (displaying the conditions in which early settlers lived), and of course the Huron County Main Street (for a little 19th century window shopping).

Two-Headed Calf

Finding Goderich and the museum is easy. When I give friends directions I always like to say that if you've driven into Lake Huron, you've gone too far. The museum itself has incredibly friendly staff, and the low admission includes your own audio guide. On your way out you can visit their gift shop and take home some very unique items - like the two-headed calf toy pictured here (they have a taxidermy specimen in the reception area that has become popular with adults and children alike). I would recommend the Huron County Museum to anyone, at any time of year. In the summer you can head out to the beach after your visit, or in the winter you can enjoy a snowy drive and Christmas shopping in the "prettiest town in Canada".

Sources
Huron County Museum and Historic Gaol Online
Hilary Stead 2002, Guelph: A People's Heritage 1827-2002
You can get a head-start by taking a look at the museum's floor plan, here.
Huron County Museum Blog, 2014

Further Reading
Ontario's West Coast 2010, "Huron History"
Immigrants to Canada, "Letters Collected by the Canada Company, to Encourage Emigration 1842" Many of these letters reference the road between Guelph and Goderich; its condition, construction, and uses.

Lands in Upper Canada

Clicking on the image below with enable you to zoom in on this advertisement for settlement, printed in 1835 in London, England.

Some excerpts from the advertisement include:

"The ordinary baggage of Emigrants consists of their wearing apparel, with such bedding, and utensils for cooking, as may be required on the voyage, and any articles of clothing, not intended to be used at sea, ought to be packed in water-tight cases or trunks, not exceeding eighty or ninety pounds in weight."

"The class of persons chiefly required in Upper Canada, and who, of course, will find it best suited to their purposes, are small Capitalists, Farmers, Mechanics, and Labourers."

Sources
Toronto Public Library Digital Archive 2014, "Lands in Upper Canada"

The Credit, Barter, and Three-Way Systems of Payment

Let's pretend you're living with your family in Upper Canada in the first half of the nineteenth century. You own a productive farm, and keep sheep and chickens in addition to various crops such as apples, wheat, and barley. Life is good - you have everything you need. One day while in the village, you pass by the General Store and lo and behold there's a window full of things you want: Fabrics for making new clothes for the family, spices to make just about everything taste better, and tools that will make farm work easier. Remember, life is good, and you decide to head in to the store. After a few of your items have been wrapped in paper, the shopkeeper gives you the total. How are you going to pay for these luxuries? 

Responding to the needs of their customers, and accepting of the fact that currency was scarce in most rural communities, shopkeepers offered many of their goods on credit. (Fraser, 86) The prices of purchased goods were noted in an account book (ledger) or on a bill.  From time to time, most customers paid all or part of that bill by service, cash or trade.  In order for the credit-based system to work, not only did the customers have to be honest, trustworthy and able to pay off their debts in a timely fashion, but the shop owner had to be equally as honest, trustworthy, and able to bear the various debts of often an entire village.  In many cases, the shop owner was a man in good circumstances and was able to wait until sales of crops or livestock enabled farmers to pay for items purchased throughout the year.

Crysler's Store, Upper Canada Village
Morriston Ontario

A shop could quite easily fail due to bad debts, or the inability of the store owner to collect in a timely manner.  Collection of debts could be tricky for the shop owner.  If he came on too strong, he would lose the customer (and the money). If he was too lenient, he might end up out of business, unable to pay his own debts. Opening a store where family and neighbourly ties are stronger was an effective way to stay in business.  By knowing his customers on a more intimate level, the credit system had a better chance of succeeding. (Fleming, 141) The shop owner could appeal to his friends (who presumably wished him to succeed) to pay off their debts, and could visit them with a kindly reminder when they did not.  Knowing your customers had another advantage, for it allowed the shop owner to “avoid sales to those who would not pay, and to increase sales, especially of goods that carried the highest mark-up, to those most likely to pay”. (McCalla, 401)

There were a number of ways in which a family or individual could repay the store owner for items purchased on credit.  The three most popular methods include payment through service or labour; delayed payment using cash, or payment through trade.  Payment through service or labour included for example, splitting and piling wood for the shop owner, lending the shop owner a horse or ox for a project, or lending skills such as blacksmithing, etc. (Fleming, 127-129) Payment using cash occurred whenever the family or individual had some to spare – usually in the fall of each year, after the “threshing” or the “killing”. (Sherck) It was also not uncommon for the shop owner to institute a monthly collection whereby accounts were required to be settled by the end of each calendar month.

Some debts could be repaid by trading in chickens, eggs, or butter.  In October 1861, James Watson, a shop owner in Lindsay advertised through the local newspaper that he would accept “all kinds of country produce” as payment. (Fleming, 26) A Manilla shop owner, Adam Gordon, also advertised that he would purchase “Wheat, Pork, and other farm produce, at the Highest Market Prices”. (Fleming, 26) Payment through trade was extremely common, but must not be confused with pure bartering.  Each object (usually by weight) had a dollar amount attached to it, and customers did not, for example, simply trade eggs for tea.  Every transaction was entered into the ledgers, and one dollar’s worth of tea must be offset by at least one dollar’s worth of eggs.

There were also many instances where arrangements were made between businesses which allowed for labourers to be paid in credit to the local general store or to a trade, eliminating the need for workers to handle cash:  “Every builder or contractor made an arrangement with the various trades and stores for a line of credit, by which they could pay their workman as much of their wages as possible with the smallest amount of cash.” (Guillet, 240) Worker’s wives would then go and pick up items from the store as needed without the requirement for currency to exchange hands.  The items purchased would simply be deducted from the credit provided by the employer. Likewise, the Three-Way System involved little to no exchange of money.  For example “In Glencarin, Ontario (west of Barrie), millworkers paid for their laundry indirectly. Storekeeper and mill owner M.N. Stephens would deduct a dollar or two from wages and enter that amount as a credit on the laundry woman’s account”. (Fleming, 138)

General Store Interior, Black Creek Pioneer Village
Toronto, Ontario

As communities grew, and the connections between shop owner and neighbour became more distant, the need for payment upfront and in cash increased.  Additionally, the amount of individuals travelling through the province and purchasing goods was also rising.  Itinerant purchasers could little be expected to be tracked down if they did not live in the area, and so they too were expected to pay in cash.  As the cost of some goods also increased, so too did the debts of the shop owners. (Fraser, 90) Eventually, the general store moved away from the credit, trade, and Three-Way systems and adopted the more streamlined cash system.

Sources

W. Hamish Fraser's 1981 The Coming of the Mass Market,1850-1914. 

Michael Gonder Scherck's 1905 Early Pioneer Life in Upper Canada. 

R.B. Fleming's 2002 General Stores of Canada:Merchants and Memories. 

Edwin C. Guillet's 1934 Toronto, from Trading Post to Great City. 

McCalla, Douglas. “Retailing in the Countryside: Upper Canadian General Stores in the Mid-Nineteenth Century”. In Business and Economic History, Winter 1997; 26, 2. Pages 393-403.

Mill Creek

The confluence of Mill Creek and the Grand River is where William Dickson and Absalom Shade first decided to begin the settlement that would eventually become Galt, and later Cambridge. For some reason Mill Creek is plainly visible in Google Maps... but disappears once it hits Main Street in the Satellite view. Is it there or isn't it?

It turns out that Mill Creek was in fact there in a very big way, and still is. It has simply been altered over time to suit the needs of those developing the area since the early nineteenth century. Today, the creek has simply been diverted underground to accommodate a more modern way of living - one that's not as dependant on the productivity of mills and water-powered factories, etc. The following two images are part of a series of six completed by PLANT Architect Inc. in Toronto, Ontario. I encourage you to visit their site to see all of the maps in sequence.

In an upcoming blog I'll be detailing the importance and inner working of various mills in the Galt area; so stay tuned! In the meantime, feel free to browse the Further Reading links provided.

Sources

PLANT Architect Inc. 2012, "Mill Creek Galt"

Google Maps, 2014, "Cambridge"

Further Reading

Grand River Conservation Authority, 2014, "Low Water Response: Mill Creek"

April Souwand and Derek Coleman, A Natural History of Cambridge, Ontario

The Township of North Dumfries, 2014, "History"

The Canada Company

Canada Company Coat of Arms
The country does not alter the race

The Canada Company, founded in 1825, was established to promote and assist in the colonization of Upper Canada. As a private firm however, its main goal was the sale of land (primarily in south-western Ontario) to new immigrants. The company had purchased about 2.5 million acres from the government in 1826 for this purpose, and in so doing ushered in a new era of development; private firms in charge of land administration rather than the crown.

Many Scottish immigrants took advantage of the new organization and had nothing but praise for the company (and land) after having been settled: "The land here [North Easthope Township, now the Township of Perth East in Perth County] is good and well-watered, the terms of the Upper Canada Land Company are liberal, requiring the settler only pay a fifth of the purchase money when the land is applied for, and the remainder in five yearly instalments with interest at six per cent. The Company at present [1836] sell their land at 12s. 6d. currency per acre being equal to 10s. 8d. British, and the only stipulation is to clear off each year about three and a half acres for every 100 acres owned by a settler... There are grist mills and saw mills within a few miles of us east and west, also a store where goods of all kinds are sold. This settlement is mostly Scotch, almost wholly so where we are settled, and the utmost goodwill and unanimity prevails. We enjoy, though obtained at present by hard labour and perseverance, all the necessary worldly comforts and with the prospect, if we and our families are spared, of seeing them and us all independent and comfortable farmers, farming our own land." (Campey, 131) 

Canada Company Poster

While a great many immigrants benefited from the company as settlers, the company was not without its controversies. One Reverend Patrick Bell, a Presbyterian minister from Angus referred to the men working for the Canada Company as "cruel seducers" who would lead poor Scots out into the wilderness to starve (Campey, 130). Some settlers in later years would complain that the price per acre had become too high. Still others considered the professional relationship between the Canada Company and the Family Compact to be a little too close for comfort. In fact, many considered them to be one and the same; An exclusive club of elites who only work for and with each other. Political animosity towards the ruling Family Compact resulted in open rebellion in 1837 and 1838. After that period and the sharp decline of those ruling elites, the Canada Company streamlined its operations, became far more inclusive, and continued to operate until all of its lands were finally sold off in 1951.

John Galt (the Scottish novelist and founder of Guelph and of Goderich in 1827, and the namesake of the former Shade's Mills) was the first Secretary and Superintendent of the Canada Company. His tenure was cut short however, by company directors who considered him a little too interested in the actual welfare of settlers over profit margins. Galt spent only three years in the province before heading back to Scotland; dying in 1839. A further discussion of Galt and his achievements will be forthcoming in another post. In the meantime, please check out the further reading links below to some of the original documents related to the creation of the Canada Company.

Sources
Wikipedia, 2014 "Canada Company" (not a bad place to start for some good overview and a list of members/positions)
Canadian Encyclopedia, 2013 "Canada Company"
Canada in the Making, "Post-Loyalist Settlement (1814-1830)"
Canadian Dictionary of Biography, 1988, "John Galt"
Lucille H. Campey's 2005, The Scottish Pioneers of Upper Canada, 1784-1855

Further Reading
'A Bill to enable His Majesty to grant to a Company, to be incorporated by charter, to be called "The Canada Company," certain lands in the province of Upper Canada, and to invest the said company with certain powers and privileges relating thereto' (London, House of Commons, 1825).
National Archives of Canada, Map of the Lands of the Huron Tract Belonging to the Canada Company by Samuel Oliver Tazewell.

You Were Here

It is only natural that when presented with a map - any map - one will always look for a familiar place name or feature. Being able to place oneself somewhere within the map's borders makes it more relevant. It also makes it more exciting. I recently came across this map of Galt, produced in 1861, in which I can clearly see the property lines for my childhood home.

Tremaine's Map of the County of Waterloo, Canada West. Compiled & Drawn from
 Actual & Original Surveys by the Publishers. Geo. R. & G.M. Tremaine, Toronto, 1861.
 (City of Cambridge Archives)

Davidson Street!