Fonds F 47 - Simcoe family fonds

The Simcoe family were prominent in the administrative affairs and social life of early Upper Canada and in Devonshire, where the family was based.

Captain John Simcoe commanded a British vessel during the sieges of Louisbourg and Quebec, where he died in 1759. During his career he established connections with leading naval officers, including Admiral Samuel Graves.

John Simcoe and his wife, Katherine Stamford, had four sons, the two eldest of whom died in infancy. Their third son, John Graves Simcoe, was born in 1752. Their fourth son, Percy, died in 1764.

John Graves Simcoe was a British infantry officer during the American Revolution, where he was best known for having commanded the Queen's Rangers. After the war he returned to England, where he married Elizabeth Posthuma Gwillim, ward of his godfather, Admiral Samuel Graves. John Graves and Elizabeth Simcoe had eleven children: Eliza, Charlotte, Henrietta, Caroline, Sophia, Francis, Katherine (who died in infancy), John, Henry, Katherine and Anne.

Francis Gwillim Simcoe was the eldest son and sixth child of John Graves and Elizabeth Simcoe. He became a soldier, and was killed in 1812 while serving with Wellington during the Peninsular Campaign.

Henry Addington Simcoe was the second son and ninth child of John Graves and Elizabeth Simcoe. His son John K. Simcoe was an officer in the Royal Navy. It is through his daughter and granddaughter that the family line is traced to the 1990s through the Cole and Vowler families.

Eliza Simcoe was the eldest child of John Graves and Elizabeth Simcoe. She took an active interest in the careers of members of the family, especially that of her nephew, John K. Simcoe. She also was responsible for gathering and preserving the family's papers during her lifetime.

John Graves Simcoe was a soldier and administrator who became first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, and was instrumental in organizing the first civil government in what is now Ontario.

John Graves Simcoe was born at Cotterstock, England in 1752, the third of four sons of John and Katherine Simcoe. He spent one year at Merton College, Oxford, before entering the army as an Ensign in the 35th Foot in 1770. He was posted to Boston in 1775, and in 1777 was given command of the Queen's Rangers, a mixed (predominantly light infantry) corps made up of loyalists. He took part in several operations in New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia before being invalided home as a Lieutenant-Colonel in 1781.

In 1782, Simcoe married Elizabeth Posthuma Gwillim, the ward of his godfather, Admiral Samuel Graves and his wife Margaret. She provided a significant financial support for his career, enabling Simcoe to purchase an estate in Honiton, Devon, and build Wolford Lodge, which served as the Simcoe family home until 1923. He spent the years 1782-1791 as a half-pay officer, managing his estate, pursuing military promotion and appointments, and corresponding with members of his former command about land claims and problems faced by loyalists. He entered Parliament in 1790, but took little part in debates. In 1791 he was appointed the first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada. Simcoe, his wife, and two of their younger children arrived in the Canadas in 1792.

As Lieutenant-Governor, Simcoe was instrumental in organizing the first civil government in what is now Ontario. Following the instructions of the Home Secretary, he organized the legislative and executive bodies which were to govern the province for the next fifty years. Simcoe began the process of road construction and the survey of town and rural lots on which organized settlement were to be based, and actively promoted settlement. He took part in studying and recording the resources of Upper Canada, taking extensive inspection tours, ordering the survey and construction of roads, and the improvement of water communications. Part of Simcoe's duties in Upper Canada included the maintenance of good relations with aboriginal groups in the territory ceded to the United States in 1783.

In 1796, Simcoe returned to England on leave, and two years later resigned his appointment. His command was then changed from Upper Canada to Santa Domingo (Haiti), where he was to suppress a slave revolt being covertly supported by Spain and French republicans. He spent only eight months on the island before returning to England in 1797.

In 1799, Simcoe was promoted to the rank of Major- General and appointed commander of the garrison at Plymouth; his rank was increased again two years later to Lieutenant-General in command of coastal defence in Devonshire. His principal responsibility was organizing and planning defensive measures against an expected invasion from France. In 1806 Simcoe was appointed to the command of British forces in India, but during a diplomatic mission to Portugal he became ill and died shortly after his return to England.

Elizabeth Simcoe accompanied her husband, John Graves Simcoe, to Upper Canada during his tenure as Lieutenant-Governor. She managed the family estate and became prominent in the social and artistic life of both the province and in Devonshire, where the family was based.

Elizabeth Simcoe was born Elizabeth Posthuma Gwillim in 1762, the daughter of Thomas Gwillim and Elizabeth Spinkes. Thomas Gwillim died seven months before the birth of Elizabeth; her mother died in childbirth. Elizabeth was raised by her mother's sister, Margaret, and her husband, Admiral Samuel Graves. She met John Graves Simcoe through this connection; Simcoe was the godson of Admiral Graves, and stayed with the Graves family on his return to England from America in 1781. In 1782, Elizabeth and Simcoe married and with her inheritance purchased an estate in Honiton, Devonshire, where Simcoe built the family home, Wolford Lodge.

In 1792, she and their then two youngest children, Sophia and Francis, accompanied her husband to Upper Canada. Their four eldest children remained in England. The Simcoe's seventh child, the first they named Katherine, was born in Upper Canada, though she died in infancy.

During the time Elizabeth Simcoe was in the Canadas, she maintained an active social and artistic life. As wife of the Lieutenant-Governor, she was a leader in the social life of the province; she also served as an unofficial secretary and cartographer for her husband. She was an accomplished artist, and completed hundreds of drawings and watercolours during their travels, which ranged from Niagara Falls to Quebec. She was an avid diarist, recording many of her experiences in the province.

The family returned to England in 1796. She maintained her residence at Wolford Lodge for the remainder of her life. Between 1798 and 1804, another four children were born. She remained active as an artist and in her community's social life until her death in 1850.

Francis Gwillim Simcoe, eldest son of John Graves and Elizabeth Simcoe, became a soldier and was killed in 1812 while serving with Wellington's army on the Iberian Peninsula.

Francis Gwillim Simcoe was born in 1791 and the next year travelled with his parents to Upper Canada, where he spent his infancy and early childhood. At about age 17 he entered the British army as an Ensign. In 1809 his mother purchased a Lieutenancy for him and he was posted with Wellington's army to the Iberian Peninsula. He took an active part in the campaigns in Portugal and Spain until he was fatally wounded during the assault on the Portuguese town of Adajos in 1812.

Eliza Simcoe was the eldest child of John Graves and Elizabeth Posthuma Simcoe, and resided throughout her life at the family estate of Wolford Lodge in Honiton, Devonshire.

Eliza Simcoe was the eldest child of John Graves and Elizabeth Simcoe. She was born between 1783 and 1785. She lived her entire life until her death in 1865 at the family's home, Wolford Lodge. Miss Simcoe took an active part in the promotion of the careers of other members of the family, particularly her nephew, John K. Simcoe, an officer in the Royal Navy. She also worked to preserve the papers and memory of her parents. These were inherited by her brother, Henry Addington Simcoe, on her death in 1865.