Egmondville and Van Egmond House
The story of Col. Anthony Van Egmond is the story of a man who cared too much. It begins in a large war and ends in a rebellion that no military historian could take very seriously. Between and after these two events, the Colonel and his family built the Huron Road, cared for and encourage the pioneers of the Huron Tract, grew and harvested the first wheat in Huron County and established a village that still bears their name.
Van Egmond was born in Holland in March 1778, and was christened Anthonius Jacobus Wilhelmus Gisbert Lamoral according to his birth certificate. Although his early life is not well documented, he was apparently conscripted into Napoleon's army and would serve there until 1813.
He next appears with the Dutch contingent of the British-led forces opposing Napoleon and eventually participated in the Battle of Waterloo. It was during this time that he is said to have met and befriended Sir John Colborne who, as Governor of Upper Canada, would figure in his later activities in Canada.
In 1808, Van Egmond married Maria Susanna Elizabeth Deitz, the daughter of a magistrate, and it is believed that his first son Constant was born in the same year. By the time he left Europe, he was the father of three.
In 1819, the Colonel and his family left Holland and settled in Pennsylvania. They remained there for eight years before making their final move to Upper Canada. In terms of the day, Van Egmond arrived relatively well-to-do. The next decade would see him acquire an immense amount more and then lose it all, along with his life, for one rash act.
After his arrival, the colonel stayed in Waterloo County while looking for suitable land to purchase. Here, he met and became friends with John Galt, the originator of the Canada Company. Galt had persuaded a group of British investors to purchase vast tracts of land in Upper Canada. One of those tracts was a pie-shaped piece that stretched from Guelph to Goderich, thereafter known as the Huron Tract.
 |
|
Click here to download a printer friendly version of this web page, "Egmondville and Van Egmond House - Part 1 " in Adobe PDF format. The PDF file size is: (43 kb)
Adobe Acrobat Reader 6.0 (or higher) is required to open and view any Adobe PDF files. Please visit the link to obtain your free copy of this software.
