This story of the Gunter Settlements in Ontario has been prepared for the 2009 Gunter Family Reunion in Coe Hill. 

Ever a family of pioneers, with each generation following the homestead call, the Gunter family has spread coast to coast.

In 1811, Abraham Gunter, along with his wife and small children, braved the war fronts and traveled from Nova Scotia (New Brunswick) to make their new home in Upper Canada. 

Children: Elizabeth(c1801), Abraham (1806), William (1808), and Samuel (1810), were born in Nova Scotia.  Children, Catherine (1814) and Henry B. (1821) were born in Upper Canada.

In 1816, Abraham purchased 100 acres, the north half of Lot 15, Concession 2 North of West Lake near Bloomfield in what is now Hallowell Township.  The Gunters were active members of the West Lake Quaker community.  Since literacy was considered a necessity among the Quakers, the Gunter children were extremely well written for the time and place in which they lived.

About 1831, the Gunter family moved to the Wooler area in Murray Township.  The older boys would have been adults by this time.  We think that, with this move, the family was perhaps following the lumber companies.  We know from Rev. Samuel T. Gunter's memoirs that son, Abraham, spent the winter of 1834 many miles north in the lumber camps.

In 1851, the four families of Abraham, William, Samuel, and Henry farmed quarters of the property at Concession 5 Lot 12.  Abraham Sr. was living with the youngest son, Henry B.  Catherine also lived nearby in Murray Township.

Abraham's children: Mary (1828), Hiram (1831), Elizabeth (1832), Ephraim (1834), Abraham (1836), Sarah Anne (1838), Rachel (1840), John Harvey (1843), Charlotte (1845), Samuel T. (1847), Lydia (1850)

William's children: Nancy (1830), John (1833), William Henry (1835), Andrew (1840), Daniel (1842), Charles (1845), Solomon (1846)

Samuel's children: Peter Maybee (1835), Delilah (1838), Caroline (1844), Nancy L (1846), Samuel Nelson (1849), Wellington (1854), Ella Jane (1856), George (1858), John (1859), Bertha (1864).

Abraham Sr. died in 1854 at the age of about 87.  His will left the east half of the Murray Township homestead (Concession 5 Lot 12) to sons, Henry B Gunter and Samuel Gunter, to be equally divided between them, and the west half of Lot 12 to son, Samuel Gunter, and grandson, William Henry Gunter, to be also equally divided between them.  His personal property was left to Henry B Gunter. 

Son, Samuel, stayed on the Murray homestead as did his son, Robert Samuel (R.S.).  The property is still in the Gunter family.

In 1856-57, there was a grand exodus of the third generation north to Tudor & Cashel Townships.  There is a story that the families had an opportunity to go west (to Norfolk County) but it was considered too wild and too far away from family.

Of the third generation Gunters, Mary and her husband Malk Maybee, Hiram, Elizabeth and her husband Smith Hazard, Ephraim, Abraham, Rachel and her husband William Casement, John Harvey, Charlotte and her husband Albert Embury, and Lydia and her husband William Faul all settled around Gunter in Cashel Township or nearby around St. Ola in Limerick Township.  This represents all of Abraham Jr.'s family except his youngest son, Samuel T., who stayed at the Gunter settlement in Murray Township.  P.M. Gunter, Samuel's oldest son, also settled in Cashel Township and was Township Reeve for a time.

From Samuel T. Gunter's memoirs: 

Father (Ephraim) built his first home in the new settlement, a two room cabin of logs and covered with basswood logs split in two, dug out and lapped over each other.  The house was warmly built, and in the centre there was a fireplace in which Mother did most of her cooking, placing bread and meat and other things in kettles to busy in the hot sand of the fireplace.  The settlers were a hardy race, and spent their time building homes, clearing land of timber, making potash, and during the winters, working in lumber camps.  Unregulated fishing, hunting and trapping provided sport and food; and the settlers sold furs to tradesmen.

The Gunter settlement at Gunter Lake was well established when surveyor, Henry A. Macleod, reached the area in 1860.

John Harvey Gunter was the first post master (1883-1901) in Gunter.  Abraham, son of Hiram Gunter, was responsible for the Free Methodist Church being erected in Gunter in 1894.

Peter Maybe (P.M.) Gunter was walking boss for Gilmour Lumber Company for many years.  He was Reeve of Tudor, Cashel and Limerick Townships around and including the years 1881-1884.

In the 1857 exodus from Murray Township, William and his family settled farther south near Millbridge in Tudor Township. Now called the Stoney Settlement, family lore calls it Stoney Lonesome. 

John, William's eldest, moved with his wife and sons to Granville, N.Y. shortly after 1864 where John "built houses".  Many of their descendents still live in that area.  The family name is spelled Gunther.

Daniel's first wife, Margaret, who died in 1871, was buried in the Stoney Lonesome cemetery.  The cemetery was vandalized a few years ago and hers is one of the few remaining stones in the cemetery.

Henry B. moved to Tudor Township at the same time as (and perhaps with) his nephew, William Henry.  Henry settled in Millbridge.  His son, David, homesteaded south west of Millbridge, on a lake still named Gunter Lake.  I visited the homestead there in 1989.  The original log house is still standing and has been restored by its present owner.

The township assessment rolls show the land holdings of each of the families, although these would have been homestead improvements for some of the properties and perhaps timber rights for others; land patents were not granted until the early 1880's.

 

1864 Tudor Township Assessment Roll

 

John Gunter    Conc 7 Lot 13 N1/2    Tudor    50 acres      

John H. Gunter    Conc 7 Lot 13 S1/2    Tudor    50       

Henry Gunter    Conc 17 Lot 6    Tudor    100       

Wm. Henry Gunter    Conc 5 Lot 10, pt 11    Tudor    140       

Andrew Gunter    Conc 5 pt Lot 11    Tudor    60       

Daniel Gunter    Block A Lot 23    Tudor    50       

William Gunter    Block A Lot 24    Tudor

            

1871 Assessment Roll - Tudor, Cashel, Limerick & Wollaston Townships

Hazard, Smith    Conc 1 Lot 2 S1/2    Limerick    50 acres    6 cleared   

    Conc 19 Lot 2    Tudor    66    15   

    Conc 19 Lot 3    Tudor    34    8   

    Conc 1 Lot 1     Limerick    80    10   

Maybee, Malcolm    Conc 1 Lot 31    Cashel    100    15   

    Conc 2 Lot 1    Limerick    100    12   

    Conc 1 Lot 1    Limerick    25    4   

Gunter, John H    Conc 3 Lot 25    Cashel    95    75   

Gunter, Abraham    Conc 3 Lot 24    Cashel    100    45   

Gunter, Ephraim    Conc 4 Lot 21    Cashel    100    15   

Gunter, Peter Maybee    Conc 3 Lot 23    Cashel    100    2   

    Conc 4 Lot 25    Cashel    57    12   

    Conc 4 Pt lot 23, 24    Cashel    67    30   

Gunter, Hiram    Conc 2 Lot 25    Cashel    100    18

   

1872 Assessment Roll - Tudor, Cashel, Limerick & Wollaston Townships

          

Gunter, Henry B    Conc GE Lot 16    Tudor    50 acres    20 cleared   4 in family

    Conc GE Lot 19,20    Tudor    165    15   

Gunter, William H    Conc 4 Lot 11    Tudor    100    6    6

    Conc 5 Lot 10, 11    Tudor    200    35   

Gunter, Andrew    Conc B Lot 19, 20, 21    Tudor    150    40    4

    Conc B Lot 15,16,17,18    Tudor    200    60   

Gunter, Daniel    Conc A Lot 13,14    Tudor    100    15    4

Gunter, William    Conc A Lot 23,24    Tudor    100    40    2

    Conc 4, Lot 12    Tudor    100    18   

    Conc 4, Lot 6,7    Tudor    200    11   

    Conc B Lot 28    Tudor    50    20   

    Conc 7 Lot 13 W1/2    Tudor    50    6   

Gunter, Hiram    Conc 2 Lot 25    Cashel    100    18    8

Gunter, John H    Conc 3 Lot 25    Cashel    95    75    4

Gunter, Abraham    Conc 3 Lot 24    Cashel    100    45    6

Gunter, Peter    Conc 3&4 Lot 23,23    Cashel    157    14    8

    Conc 4 Lot 24    Cashel    67    30   

Gunter Ephraim    Conc 4 Lot 21    Cashel    100    21    9

Casement, William    Conc 1 Lot 12,13    Limerick    200    18   

Embury, Albert    Conc 1 Lot 14    Limerick    100    30    3

Maybee, Malcolm    Conc 1 Lot 1    Cashel    25    4   

    Conc 1 Lot 31    Limerick    100    10   

The William Gunter family, with the exception of Andrew, moved to Wollaston Twp in 1875.

The note attached to William Henry Gunter's 1881 application for patent on Wollaston Conc 9 lot 20 & 21 includes the following information.

William Henry's children: Thomas (c1858), Frank (1860), Nancy (1863), Elizabeth (1868), Charlotte (1871), Henry (1873), John (1982), Laura (1887), Charles (1888), Ella May (1890), Richard (1893).

Daniel's children who survived childhood (4 of 10): David (1871), William Hawley (1876), Margarett (1878), Robert Edgar (1887).

Charles' children: Robert (1880), George (1882), Goldie (1884), Lillian Gertrude (1886), Herbert (1888), Annie Marie (1893).

Wollaston Township formed its own local government in 1881.  The first council meeting was held at William Henry Gunter's house, under Reeve James MacGregor, with councilors Thomas Nugent, William Henry Gunter, Peter Conlin, and Jim Clarke.

From the Index to Crown Patents 1880-92:

                                                                                    Acres    Date of Patent    Remarks

Gunter, William Henry    Conc 9 Lot 20 & 21    Wollaston    200    16 May 1882    Free grant

Gunter, John H.    Conc 3 Lot 25    Cashel    98    9 Jan 1883    Free grant

Gunter, Abraham    Conc 3 Lot 24    Cashel    100    9 Jan 1883    Free grant

Gunter, Charles W.    Conc 10 Lot 20    Wollaston    100    4 May 1883    Free grant

Gunter, Daniel    Conc 8 Lot 21 & 22    Wollaston     198    3 Oct 1884    Crown sale

Gunter, Andrew    Conc A Lot 23 & 24    Tudor    100    22 Jun 1885    Crown sale

Gunter, Abraham    Conc 4 Lot 23 & 24    Cashel    67    24 Nov 1887    Crown sale

Gunter, Solomon    Conc 9 Lot 12    Wollaston    94    12 Oct 1988    Free grant

Gunter, Abraham M.    Conc 1 Lot E½ 31     Cashel    56    11 Jun 1889    Free grant

Gunter, Josiah    Conc 5 Lot 18 & 19    Cashel    183    10 Jan 1890    Free grant

Gunter, Ephraim    Conc 4 Lot 20 & 21    Cashel    200    23 May 1890    Free grant

Gunter, Thomas    Conc 8 Lot 29 & E½ 30    Wollaston    149    2 Oct 1890    Free grant

Gunter, Joseph    Conc 8 Lot 19 & 20    Cashel    200    23 Nov 1891    Free grant

Two brothers and a sister, Mose, Seth and Sophia Welsh, came from Massechusetts about 1873.  They bought land in Sophia's name and built a big house on it (opposite Doc Hardinge's place).  Mose and Seth built a store in Welsh's Corners in 1882. 

Welch's corners or Salem, at the corner of Rose Island Road and Salem Road, was a thriving village in 1884.  The church and cemetery were on the north east corner on Charlie Gunter's homestead.  Welch's store and the blacksmith shop were on the south east corner on William Henry's homestead. 

The year 1885 was devastating for the Wollaston residents, and Salem residents in particular.  The rail-line north to Wollaston Township in 1884 stopped in Coe Hill, not in Salem.  In 1885, Coe Hill's iron ore was found to be useless, containing sulphur, putting 150 miners out of work.  That same year, in 1885, a diptheria epidemic claimed large numbers, including William Henry's wife and youngest son, three of Daniel Gunter's five children, newly wed Libby Gunter, and Seth and Nan's baby, Pearl. 

Saul Gunter was killed in a mine accident in Pennsylvania in 1891. 

In 1899, Daniel Gunter's farm (on the south side of the Hwy 620 at Salem Road) was sold to R.S. Tivy (likely to clear up accumulated extended family debts).  Daniel moved to Charles Gunter's farm on the north east corner in the village of Salem. Charles took Saul Gunter's farm at Conc 9 Lot 12 east of Coe Hill; he moved into town in Coe Hill either at this time or later.

Also in 1899, Frank took over Thomas Gunter's farm at Conc 8 Lot 29 & E½30 and added onto Thomas' cabin to build a fine house.  Frank's house is still there today.  Thomas moved to a house that was on William Henry's homestead, at the north east corner of Hwy 620 and the Salem Road.  Henry bought Frank's property at Conc 6 Lot 24.

In 1911, William Henry, now the patriarch of the Gunter family in Wollaston, died at age 75.  "Dick, who was 18 and still at home, didn't want to farm; Charlie was in Massachusetts with Nan.  Grandma didn't want to stay with Aunt Lottie on the farm so Grandma, Dick & Charlie went to Toronto in the fall.  Grandma took in boarders, Charlie got a job barbering and Dick got a job driving delivery wagon for Eaton's.  Laura & Bill Crosby moved into the farmhouse which soon after burned to the ground" (Shirley Turner).

In 1912, most of the North Hastings Gunters made the trip west on the harvest excursion train and took up homesteads in Saskatchewan in 1913. 

Elsie Orr tells the story:

In 1912 Guy (who was married in 1909) decided to make a trip west on the harvest excursion train, and Roy who was working in Toronto came home as Dad thought maybe he would go too, but at the last it turned out that Roy went instead.  I can remember Mother who was afraid they'd take up land and have to pioneer away off so far that we might seldom hear from them but might never see them again and she shed quite a few tears when, and after, her two oldest boys left, on what we younger kids all thought was a fine adventure.  It turned out they spent their first winter in Swift Current.  I believe Guy may have returned east as he & his wife moved their settlers effects west to their homestead N.E. of what is now called Val Marie spring 1913.  The next fall Father decided he would go west for the harvest (1913).  Art was all through "Nugent" school for over a year, so could manage the horses & milk route. Then came the day Mother got word from Dad that he had taken up a 160 acre homestead also a 160 acre pre-emption that one could get by paying around $500 extra after doing the required homesteading duties for three years.

Uncle Tom Gunter had homesteaded in 1912, and they all moved to the prairie spring of 1913.  Seth had married (Mary Wells) and Aubrey was born in 1913 late in fall I believe, and they had a piece (320 acres) of land south of Pontiex in the Quimper district.  Our place and Uncle Tom's were about four miles apart but we could see their shack up on the horizon to the N.E. of us.

Of the William Henry Gunters, only Henry and Dick stayed in Wollaston.  Dick owned the William Henry homestead, although he never lived there after 1911.  His eldest son, Ivan Gunter, still owns the homestead property.

Prepared by

Lorrie Minshall

June, 2009.

This story of the Gunter Settlements in Ontario has been prepared for the 2009 Gunter Family Reunion in Coe Hill.  It is based on the information at hand and begs a lot of research. So please don't reference this paper in another document.

If you have information to add or correct, please contact the author.