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Note: N15 GENESEE NEIGHBORS, WHO MOVED TO UPPER CANADA:
. 1790 Genesee District, Ontario Co., New York
. Nicholas Miller: Free White Persons - Males - 16 & over: 1; Free White Persons - Females: 1; Total: 2.
. Nathan Chapman - 1 male, 3 males under 16, 4 Females;
. Abner Miles 3 Males; 2 males under 16, 6 Females.
. Yonge Street Indian Trail
Balsar Munshaw had gone up the Indian trail some time before first settler Nicholas Miller arrived. Munshaw arrived with his family from Pennsylvania in a conestoga wagon pulled by a team of oxen & a team of horses, & accompanied by 3 cows & Christian Henricks. They had slashed & hacked their way up the trail, wade through the so-called Black Ash Swamp south of present day Richmond Hill. A passing Indian told Munshaw of a white Indian, a few miles south, so Munsahw investigated & was persuaded by Nicholas Miller, the 'white Indian' to settle beside him on Lot 35, Markham.
Ref: Markham, 1793-1900, Committee for History of Markham, Twp., 1979.
. UCLPetition 158, To Lieut. Gov. John Graves Simcoe, C2191, p15.
Petition of Nicholas Miller, Jacob Phillips*, Abram Devans, Isaac Devans [Devins] & Asa Johnson.
Your petitioners has a great desire to become settlers in this province & solicited leave to bring in their families & affects as early as possible & any other encouragement your Excellency thinks proper to restore upon them will be gratefully acknowledged by their becoming true & faithful subjects.
Jacob Philips, one of your petitioner was in the last war, servant to a Captain in Colonel Butlers Regiment,
Nicholas Miller lived in Pennsylvania all the war without taking up arms on either side but worked at his business building & repairing Mills all the time of the Disturbances; the remainder of your petitioners lived in the State of New York, one of them was too young to bear arms & the other 3 being old men stood by their property & wished to keep themselves neutral as much as possible.
Your petitioners most of them are poor men living by their industry & much afraid, if your Excellency should give them leave to become settlers, of getting their families & assets here without you would grant them the use of the Gun Board or Boards from the Governor.
Your petitioner prays your Excellency will think meet to grant this their joint petition & they as in duty bound will ever pray. [No signatures or date]
Envelope: Petitions of Nicholas Miller, Jacob Philips etc, for land, No date*
Ref: UCLP, M Bundle 1, Archives of Ontario C2191, p15,
(Note to researchers: the index says missing, but, in fact, the petition is actually there. - PJA 2017.)
Note1: Gun boat - they are requesting transportation from (Niagara on the Lake), there then being only forested ways to York-Toronto.
Note2: DATING THIS PETITION: Under the expressed orders of Governor JG Simcoe, John Willson & Richard Lawrence & 67 settlers, were transported on Simcoe's Gun Boat from Newark to York on 2 Nov 1793. They are the first group of settlers to arrive in York. The Queen's Rangers & some civil servants had arrived previously with Simcoe.
*. Jacob Phillips, farmer' born banks of the Sesquahannah R.' Rev War. 2nd Bat. Royal NY, journeyed to Quebec to NJ 1784 with is sister. In NS spoke c1795 with Mr Small & McGill about land UC. Sworn 8 Nov 1836, Pet 41 p447 of 1836.11.8
. Separate UCLP 17, from Asa Johnston, dated July 13, 1793, lately from US,
wants Town land near Toronto. Pet 8. Asa was the first settler on Yonge St., 13 miles from York, no roads 14 June 1797, Lot 29, Con1 ESYS.
Note3: This petition was written in an unusually fine, formal script, as by probably a notary.
. 1795 June 4th, To. Lt. Pilkngnton, Re: Government Mill. I received a verbal message by Sergeant Barr. - I then wrote him by Nicholas Miller for coarse saws, and with liberty to make some small improvements. He granted me liberty to make such as I thought was beneficial to the working the of Mill and he would pay the expense with pleasure. I never saw him till January 1795 & then making a new agreement from which I expected that the year commenced at that time, as it gave opportunity to whoever had the Mill to provide the logs in winter for the ensuring season.
Signed, [Kings Mill /Humber River], Saw Mill, John Willson,
Note: John Willson, Esq., was given the first person give the License to run the Kings Mill. Later he & sons operated mills on Yonge Street: Jolly Miller, York Mill & Yonge St, & mill at Yonge & Steele Ave. Located at Lot 30 Yonge Street East Side, John Willson was thus a neighborugh of Nicholas Miller. - PJ Ahlberg
. UCLPetition 29, M Bundle 3, 1797, Yonge St., C2192, p286
To his Honor Peter Russell, Esquire, administering the Government & President of the Province of Upper Canada, In Council,
Petition of Nicholas Miller of Yonge Street,
That your petitioner was the second person who settled in the wilderness of said Yonge Street. That he with his father & family have been suffering Loyalists. Your petitioner's wife is tho daughter of a Loyalist & they have received only 190 acres of land which your petitioner humbly prays your Honor to take in your wise consideration & grant him an addition of 400 acres & he in duty bound shall ever pray.
Signed, York 10 June, 1797, Nicholas Miller.
Envelope: Nicholas Miller, Yonge Street, Received 14 June 1797. Read 14 June '97. Recommended for 200 Acres in addition of being an early settler on Yonge Street. Initial JS. [Governor John G Simcoe].
19 Jan 1797 confirmed, Signed, Peter Russell, 21 Jun '97.
Note1: It was somewhat unusual for Governor Simcoe to sign off himself for a land grant, although he would have been present as part of the Land Committee. - PJA
. 1796 Feb 8 - Nicholas Miller, Delivered: 1 lb tobaco, 2 shillings 6 pence.
. 1796 Jul 2 - Nicholas Miller, Credit, by 11 butter.
. 1796 July 19 - Nicholas Miller, Delivered, 14s cash by Miss Johnson, 6 shillings.
Ref: Abner Miles Day Book at his Tavern-Store on King Street, Toronto.
. 1796 YORK REPORT - To Gov. John Graves Simcoe, summary report of settlers on Yonge Street:
. Nichl. Miller under assessment, a house & improvement, Lot 34 East Side Yonge
. John Barbour under assessment for Lot 35 East Side. But it appears from Testimony of Nicholas. Miller that he never made any improvement oaths lot since the date of there Order in council on 21st June, 1794, & that Balsar Munshaw has built a house & made a considerable improvement on the lot. The Committee humbly submits the propriety of descending the assessment to Barbour & granting a patent for Lot 35 Ease Side Yonge St. to Munshaw, he paying fees [for surveying].
Ref: UCLP 11, Y Bundle 1, p184.
Abner Miles Day Book, [Tavern & Sales records, King Street, Toronto]:
. 1795 Oct 5 - Buy Quart rum, buy pint rum, Nicholas Miller
. 1796 Feb 8 - 1 lb. tobacco, 2 shillings 6 pence., Nicholas Miller
. 1796 Jul 19 - Lodging, 2 shillings, Nicholas Miller
YORK UPPER CANADA, MINUTES OF TOWN MEETINGS 1793, 1823, C MOSSER:
. 1797 Jul 17- 1799 - Inhabitants of Yonge St: Nicholas Miller - 3 males & 2 females
. 1798 Mar 5 - Persons elected at the Town Meeting held at Miles Tavern: Nicholas Miller for Yonge St., Fence Viewer & Overseer for Highway for Yonge St.
. Records of Abner Miles in 17xx show Asa Johnson buying first one & then another cream can to set milk from his cows, & Nicholas Miller bringing in eggs in trade.
Ontario Land Registry Office,
Abstract Book 91, Markham, p565
Lot 34, Con 1 East Yonge Street,
. 1796 Aug 24, Patent, Crown, to Nicholas Miller, All 190 Acres
. 1838 Feb 28, Bargain&Sale, David Lick, to Nathan Miller, North Half 95A.
. 1838 Feb 28, B&S, David Lick, to Henry Miller, South Hald 95A.
. Grant & Release, 1868 Jan 2, James Miller etux teal, to Jos James $7,000 N half 95A.
. 1879 Jan 13, WILL, Henry Miler, to Andrew Miller, S Half
. 1889 Feb 28, Release Lease, Marg L Langstaff, & James Langstaff, to Henry E Carr, parts in al.
Abstract Book 170, Richmond Hill, Vaughan.
Lot 45, Con 1, West Yonge Street, Richmond Hill
. 1804 Apr 25, Bargain & Sale, Jam Perrigo, Thomas Stoyell & Nicholas Miller, to Abner Miles, 210 Acres.
. Milne Mills, also known as Markham Mills, Lot 9, Con 7, was originally a Crown Grant (1806) to Daniel Cozens. Soon in 1809 Nicholas Miller had constructed a saw & grist mill, which passed into serval hands before being sold in 1824 to Peter Milne, a man with no milling experience. He turned over the operations his brother Alexander, who set up his own mills at the corner of what is now Lawrence Avenue & Leslie Street, (Edwards Gardens).
Ref: Markham, 1793-1900, Committee for History of Markham, Twp., 1979.
. 1816 Sep 6, York. - Survey General Report on Lots in Markham
To Edward McMahon, Esq., Secretary of the Lieutenant Governor:
I have the honor to state to you for the information of His Excellency Lieut. Gov, in answer to your letter of the 4th Instant, that Lot 9 in the 1st Concession* of Markham, otherwise known by Lot 34 on the East Side of Yonge Street, was granted in the year 1794 to Nicholas Miller & the same has been described to him accordingly.
Ref: Land Petitions in Upper Canada Sundries, C4547, p948.
Notes4 on Locations:
* Handwriting misinterpretation, should be Lot 9, Con 7,
. Lot 34,1st Concession is Yonge Street, East Side is Markham Twp. (The West side of Yonge St. is Vaughan Twp.)
. Lot 1 began at at Eglinton Ave. in York Township.
. Lot 25 (Richard Lawrence, U.E.) in York Twp. ends at Steeles Ave., York Co., Toronto,
. Lot 26 (Wm. L. Willson, U.E.) is in Markham Twp., York Co., & is now Thornhill, Ont.
. Now Scarboro Twp. ought also to have ended at Steele Ave., but likely the boundaries were less well defined as to where Scarborough Twp. ended & Markham Twp. began.
. Lot 34, Con 4 (Wm. & Leslie Miller,) would today be Kennedy Rd. in the village of Milliken, Markham Twp., York Co., Ontario. - PJ Ahlberg. 2017.
. Paul Woolcott & John Willson, Jr. (the 2nd), (Isaac Devins, Levi Devins, Nicholas Millar worked at times for William Berczy (who had a Town of York lot & the Berczy Settlement on Markham road north.
1810 May 16 - WILL of Nicholas Miller, In Witness where of I have her under, I set my hand & seal, Signed sealed & delivery the Nicholas Miller to be the last will & testament. In the present of us (seal obscures writing) … have here unto subscribed A Hollingshead, Balsar Munshaw, Nocholas Lobin?, Nicholas Miller.
. 1950 Aug 31, EARLY DAYS IN THORNHILL
Crown Grantees. The earlier settlers in the Thornull are came to their Crown Grants by way of the rough trail cut trough the bush by Berczy's men. First to arriver were Nicholas Miller, his stepfather-in-law Asa Johnson & a friend John Lyons.
. 1954 Apr 8 - PIONEER WILL GIVES GLIMES OF EARLY DAYS IN THORNHILL
Not long ago we had the privilege of reading a Will made in 1810 by Nicholas Miller, who settled on Lot 34, Yonge Street, Markham Township in 1793. This old document is of interest today because of the glimpse it yields online in pioneer times & because of the meticulous consideration given by Miller to the future welfare of his wife Sarah, mother of 7 young children.
Nicholas Miller devised that Lot 9, Con 7 Markham Twp. with the mills be sold and that his wife & family continue to live on Lot 34 Yonge St. He directed that his wife be given a choice of any room in the house in which which to live during her natural lifetime & bequeathed her £400 to be levied out of his moveable property besides her lawful aim to one third of the remainder. He also left her his double stove, which was to fall to the children after her death. He stipulated that her firewood should be cut in lengths as she might think proper & brought to the door & that one cow should be kept for her, without infringing other third. Miller also directed that the barn room be provided for her to keep one riding east, 2 cows, 6 sheep & shelter for 4 hogs & that she should have cellar room for meat, milk, etc.
Nicholas Miller, a U.E.L. & builder of mills from near Philadelphia is believed to have come to Canada at the instigation of Governor Simcoe. Simcoe made a survey of the harbor & mouth of the river at York in 1792 & deciding, among other things, that a mill should be built on the Humber for the benefit of the new settlement, He committed Nicholas Miller to do the work. The mill was in operation by 1793 & Miller having been promised some grants of land, brought his family across the border. An old document treasured by his descendants dated at NAVY HALL, APRIL 29, 1793, addressed to the Officer commanding Fort Niagara, authored him to permit Nicholas Miller, Asa Johnson, Jacob Phillips, Abraham & Isaac Devins & Jacob Schooner to bring, free of duty, from the US such goods & effects as household furniture, chairs, tables, chest of clothing, etc.
Build Log House. Some interesting details doubt the early days of the Millers on Lot 34 are to be found in Part I of the Historical Sketch of Markham Twp. 1793-1930 Alex D Bruce, RR Unionville, recounts a story told him by his grandmother, Mrs Dickson of Dickson's Mills, who as a girl in her teens, became acquainted with Mrs Miller. The later claimed that she was the first white woman to live on north Yonge St. & that she & her husband began life on the land in the spring of 1793. They commenced housekeeping in a wigwam & potatoes were the first crop planted in their clearing. As they had no neighbors, Mrs. Miller expected to help her husband build a long house & so they were forced to select smaller trees which would not be too heavy for her to handle. One day the Millers had a visit from Governor Simcoe & his company who were returning from an exploratory trip to Penetanguishene & Lake Simone, prior to making the survey of Yonge St. They were hungry, having been on short rations. Mrs. Miller did not have much on hand for such a large party but cooked some of the abundant potato crop for them. Governor Simcoe inquired how they were getting on, & learning that they had enough logs prepared to build a house, order his men to raise it for them. Mrs. Miller told Mrs. Dickson that if they had only known that they were to have such a strong force to help at their house raising they could have set side better timbers & have had a better house.
According to a story current in the family, Nicholas & Sarah Miller dined well the very first day they arrived at their new holdings. When Mrs. Miler went to the pretty steam to get water she found large salmon floundering in the shallows & these fish were regularly caught at that spot for some time. There were of course no grist mills within reach for the first few years, so the Miller ground their flour in a small coffee mill which they had brought with them the the States.
Nicholas Miller died in 1810 & was buried in Richmond Hill, One of his sons, Henry , born in 1797, was reeve of Markham township in 1853-4-5. Mrs. J Teeson, Miss E Francis & Mr. W. Francis, Thornhill & Mrs. R W Scott, Richvale, are great grandchildren of Nicholas Miller, their mother, Mrs. S Francis, having been a daughter of Simon Miller of Milliken's Corners.
Ref: The Liberal Newspaper, Richmond Hill, written by Doris M FitzGearld.
. Transcripts by PJ Ahlberg, Thank you.
Simon Miller, grandson, says Nicholas was buried Richmond Hill Cemetery & died on his 50th Birthday. (No tombstone is now found). - - -
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