The Silverthorns

Photo by the City of Toronto - Posted September, 2011

Photo and transcription by contributor Wayne Adam - Posted September, 2011

Attached to this eastbound St. Clair Avenue West transit shelter at Hounslow Heath Road is this City of Toronto plaque. Here's what it says:

Plaque coordinates: 43.674176 -79.460285

In 1700, Oliver Silverthorn left Yorkshire, England for New Jersey, then went to Niagara before settling in Etobicoke. He bought 200 ha on both sides of the Etobicoke River and ran a mill. His son Aaron, bought the property between St. Clair and Eglinton between the Rowntree Estate and Grand Trunk Railway.
William Perkins Bull described Aaron's son, Francis, as a "quaint amateur physician whose hobby was hygiene, who called the teapot a 'she-devil' and who would not eat cake or bread containing salt."
Francis was the Silverthorn for whom the district was named after. He planked the roads, raised cattle and an apiary, producing "Silverthorn's Honey and Hardtack" which was widely regarded for its healing properties.

Related Ontario plaque
William Perkins Bull, K.C., LL.D. 1870-1948

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Pioneers

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