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Bicentennial Timeline During the next three years the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 will be a matchless opportunity to get to know better the history of our province and country. Doubtless the major events in the conflict will get wide attention, but smaller things by which individual lives were measured may well pass unnoticed because they lie buried within surviving newspapers, handwritten letters, and diaries. The editors of Fife & Drum, therefore, propose to offer from now ‘til 2015 glimpses into the passing quarters 200 years ago. We start with January to March, 1812: Jan. 1 In the Gazette: “The regular Post, which has York now commenced, from Lower Canada through to this place and Niagara once a fortnight, will be continued all the Year (and to Sandwich for six months.)” Jan. 10 The annual meeting of subscribers to the Toronto Library was held at 12:00 noon in the Library’s room in Elmsley House, York. Annual subscription $4. (York Gazette) “For our part, not as individuals inhabiting the probable Jan. 16 scite of war, but as subjects of the British Empire, as wishing to perpetuate the connexion between this country and Great Britain, we wish for war now.” (Quebec Gazette/La Gazette de Quebec) colleague in Quebec to Brock: “Fortunate you, that Jan. 23 A are in a milder climate, for we are suffering dreadfully from excessive cold. By your description of your pastime in shooting wild pigeons, you certainly possess a very great advantage over us in these respects.” For the past two weeks more snow has fallen in the Jan. 24 neighbourhood of York than anyone has seen before. “The Snow is considered as a rich coat of manure by our Farmers generally.” (York Gazette) Letter to editor of regretting town does Jan. 29 York Gazette not support yet a hairdresser or a barber. Feb. 3 Major General Isaac Brock in addressing the opening of the Parliament for Upper Canada: “We wish and hope for peace, but it is nevertheless our duty to be prepared for War.” Anne Powell to her brother in New York City: Feb. 22 “Amusements . . . have been unusually frequent this Winter, Pic Nics & assemblys employ alternate Thursdays; the former I always join, the latter sometimes; the Genl. [Brock] kindly attends whenever I go that I may have a good Rubber; he gives a Ball on Monday.” (Powell Papers, TPL) Feb. 24 Brock to the Chief Justice: “I rejoice that Doctor Strachan has consented to come to the Capital. . . every possible indulgence will be extended to enable him to repair to York in the most convenient manner.” Mar. 2 York’s population was exactly seven hundred: 417 were males, 284 females, and 305 under 16 years of age. Another 745 people lived nearby in York Township. (List of Inhabitants) Mar. 17 The editor of the remarked that with Kingston Gazette passage by both houses of the Militia Act “all from the age of 18 to 45, will have to turn out six days in each month to drill.”
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