| Notes |
From: St. Williams - The History
by R. Robert Mutrie
Published 1988, Page 95
WILLIAM COPE AND WILLIAM CRONK
....But the Cope family heard the tales of the rich, unsettled lands and boundless wildlife population on the shores of Lake Erie at Long Point to the west, and sent three representatives to explore this seeming paradise. In the spring of 1793, William's brother Conrad, accompanied by two brothers-in-law Tunis Cronk and John Darby, rounded Turkey Point and entered Long Point Bay to lay their eyes on the fertile lands at the foot of the steep Bay Hill embankment and determined that this was to be their settlement.
At this time there was only the two Troyer brothers established about two miles to the west and the Mabee family had just arrived on the beach at Turkey Point to the east. The Cope party began without delay to clear a patch of land and build their log cabin. On April 5, 1793, they dispatched a petition to their former commander, John Graves Simcoe, noting the improvements and reqesting title to their new-found property.
The request fell upon unreceptive ears, however, for Simcoe was more concerned with the military potential of the district first and with the establishment of civilian settlements for his old Queen's Rangers Company along the Governor's Road north of Dundas. It was there that he gave land grants to Conrad Cope and John Darby, as well as to other family members and they abandoned their Long Point claim. That settlement would become the present Copetown.
But two family members were not swerved from their original goal, Tunis Cronk was joined by William Cope, taking the place of his brother, Conrad, in 1794. Tunis died prematurely in 1795, never to hold title to the land he had pioneered. The Cronk family claim would later be taken up by his son, William.
Both William Pope and William Cronk made a petition to Lieutenant Francis Gore in 1796, but the survey was not yet through and they again were turned away. When the survey was completed, William Cope found himself on Lot 24, Concession I (Broken Front), Walsingham Township. His nephew, William Cronk, although next door, found himself on the other side of the town line on Lot 1, Concession B (Broken Front), Charlotteville Township, but still they had no title.
The impass was finally broken with the turning of the new century. Eight years after the original Cope settlement, William Cope was granted the whole of his Lot 24.
William Cronk made yet another petition in 1808 appending copies of earlier petitions, and at long last received his title on June 19, 1809, sixteen years after his father had first settled there. His period of ownership was a brief one as he sold off most of his lands to Simon Montross, William Drake, and Jeremiah Becker, retaining only the northwest corner where he resided with his mother and step-father, Reverend Major George Neal. The home, built in 1820, appropriate to the times they called, "Wilderness House." It still stands on Queen Street East beside the present Community Centre, the oldest house in the village limits. William Cronk's date of passing and burial place is unknown....
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Rainham Builders
- Abt 1795