By an act passed in 1851, portions of Cramahe and Murray were constituted a new township under the name of Brighton. It is bounded on the north by Seymour, on the west by Cramahe, on the east by Murray, and on the south by Lake Ontario. Area: 46, 719 acres; population: 3734; valuation: $1,333,024. The names of the early settlers of Cramahe and Murray, of course belong also to Brighton, which was formed out of parts of each. (Prior to 1851 the township of Murray abutted Hastings County on its east boundary and Cramahe township on its west, so the change was to take about 1/3 off the west of Murray and 1/3 off the east of Cramahe and create this new township. The village of Brighton, although not yet incorporated, previously existed in the southeast corner of Cramahe township prior to the border changes.)

The village of Brighton, 1875

The village, in the Township of the same name, was incorporated in 1860. It is a port of entry and is situated about 1 and 1/2 miles north of Presque-isle harbour. It is an important station on the Grand Trunk Railway; daily mails and telegraph offices, 22 miles from Cobourg, 92 miles from Toronto, and 241 miles from Montreal. Population about 1,700. In 1852, the population was only 500. There are two grist mills, a plaster mill and tannery in the place, and a large amount of commerce carried on. Presque-isle harbour, to which reference has already been made, is a mile and a half distant; it is a splendid sheet of water, some fifteen miles in circumference, with sufficient depth of water to guarantee the safety of vessels entering. There is a printing office and newspaper--the Brighton Ensign. The churches are four in number, vis: Church of England, Weslayan Methodist, Episcopal Methodist, and Presbyterian. There is a fine brick school building. The Singletons, Thayers, Proctors, Butlers, Lockwoods, Wills, Dr. Gross, Sandfords and Ketchums were early settlers. James Carl kemp, J.P., born in Ameliasburg in 1802, married in 1822, and brought up a family of eleven children in the township of Cramahe, and is perhaps now the oldest living native of the place. He has a distinct recollection of the early settlers in the old township. They correspond with those already given under the head of Cramahe. The old gentleman's reminiscences are very interesting.

John E. Proctor, farmer, merchant, and millower, was born in the place. His father, Isaac, who came in from Vermont, took up land in the old township of Cramahe, many years ago.

John Lockwood was the first postmaster. he is succeeded by his son, T. C. Lockwood, in the office. Milton K. Lockwood, another son, is the collector of customs.

There is a printing office. The ENSIGN Newspaper was originally established by Peter Begg, and afterwards by J.B. Benson, who purchased the plant. Richard Spencer, son of Hazelton Spencer, an old grantee of lands in Murray, formerly published the Brighton FLAG.

Brighton harbour was originally known as Freeman Point, and Gosport. The Government sold lots to private parties, who have built wharves. Wharves are owned by J.D. McKenzie, Colin McKenzie, A. McCallum, and Captain Wm. Quick. The Government expended $30,000 in 1875, in dredging a new channel. The harbour is free.

The post office villages in Brighton Township are: Smithfield, Hilton, Newcomb's Mills, and Codrington.

Historical Information on Brighton Village--submitted by Judy Houston (24 July 2000 email)

Homesteads: Early Buildings and families from Kingston to Toronto (Chapter 8 - Brighton-Presqu'ile)


"Brighton's main street follows fairly closely the route of the old York-Kingston Road. After it's completion in 1817, stage coaches rumbled along it's rutted surface at weekly or semi-weekly intervals, and inns were built to meet the needs of the weary passengers. Travel by stagecoach was not for the faint-hearted. In her poem, "The Corduroy Road", Carrie M. Hoople described a typical journey over the corduroy roads:

Half a log, half a log
Half a log onward,
Shaken and out of breath,
Rode we and wondered.
Ours not to reason why
Ours but to clutch and cry
While onward we thundered.

In Brighton two inns near the corner of main and Ontario Street supplied travellers with different kinds of accommodation, food and drink. The first was Hodge's Tavern, a two storey frame building at 156 Main Street. It was completed shortly after the road went through. Ira Hodges was not its first owner, but he was there by 1835 - his name appears in a list of innkeepers granted licences in that year. He was still in Brighton a quarter-century later; the 1861 census lists him as sixty years old, a bailiff, living with his wife Sarah Spafford and four children, and owning three horses, a cow, twelve sheep, seven pigs and seven carriages for hire. By that time the inn was called Turkington's Hotel; it was run by a forty-three year old Irishman of that name. Today the inn has been changed completely inside, but the exterior appears much as it did when it first welcomed travellers along the Danforth. Across the road, stands the former Temperance Hotel, an inn that provided travellers with alternate accommodation. Many of the hostelries of the day were rowdy and boisterous, the result of low-cost wiskey, and some of the passengers on the coach lines doubtlessly preferred a less stimulating environment."

Remarks by Bill Pettingill, mayor of Brighton Village, at Sharpe's Restaurant, Main St. Brighton at breakfast, July 28, 2000 on the occasion of the Van Wicklin 2000 Adventure to locate VW ancestors and relatives (trip led by Marg Graham Trottman, Malcolm Montgomery, Jack Verge Montgomery, and John Van Wicklin with several other family members in attendance).

The mayor had breakfast with us and then spoke briefly. He indicated that Brighton, Ontario was named for Brighton, England and is famous for its apple industry and for shipping from Gosport on the Great Lakes and for its large fishing community. However there was also money to be made shipping rum ("rum runners") across the Great Lakes to U.S. consumers. Bill also mentioned the Proctor House...built by William Proctor, who owned a lot of Brighton. The house is on Main St. just outside the busy section of village. From the upper rear windows one can see Lake Ontario and Mr. Proctor used to keep an eye on his shipping interests from there. The mayor referred to Mr. Proctor as "a miserable old bugger" and he told the story of a man who died owing Mr. Proctor some money. Mr. Proctor held the body until the family paid the debt. This lend to legends of Mr. Proctor's ghost and every Tuesday night in Brighton Village there is a "ghost walk." (This story by the mayor revived a memory from over 80 years ago in my father, Floyd Sherman Van Wicklin, age 89, who remembered his mother, Alvira Sabin, telling him Proctor ghost stories as a young boy of about 8 or 9 years old.)

Presquile Park is the 3rd or 4th largest recreational park in Ontario with about 270,000 visitors annually.

A 1973 tornado created much destruction in Brighton and even demolished the town hall (Officials had been deliberating over what to do with it--demolish or renovate?). In 1995 there was a huge train wreck in Brighton, resulting from the antics of two boys who put a steel bar on the tracks. Quite a disaster but the quick response of Brighton's emergency rescue team saved a lot of lives and suffering.

Source:

Historical Atlas of Northumberland County, 1875. (Information supplied in an email from Malcolm Montgomery, 12 May 2000; text within parentheses above are commentary of Mr. Montgomery.)

Homesteads: Early buildings and families from Kingston to Toronto (submitted in 24 July 2000 by Judy Houston)