LEFT BOOT PULL TAB - Millitary Land Grant, Lot 17 / Concession 4, Farmland, Tionontaté Territory
“Captain John was educated as a lawyer. I wonder if he had any interest in learning to farm.”
Today the land in former Collingwood Township, up behind the Blue Mountain Ski Resort is primarily farmland. From what I can see there is a lot of corn being grown as well as a variety of local cider. Settlers were not the first to farm in this area. The Tionontaté (Petun) Nation farmed corn on a massive scale, apparently eating about 1lb of corn per person per day.
The Government negotiated the Lake Simcoe-Nottawasaga Treaty 18 with the Chippewa Nation in 1818 to open up land for Settlers. You can see the name John G Murphy on this Collingwood survey map. On the second map from 1851 you can just barely see the name William G Murphy. William was the eldest Goodmurphy son. He didn’t come to Canada with the rest of the family, but later immigrated to Toronto. When Captain John died, William (as eldest son) inherited this land. I don’t think he ever visited before selling it.
I know the Europeans left land only to their sons. I wonder how the Anishinaabe left land to their offspring.
