Ingersoll museum celebrates founder’s birth
The Ingersoll Cheese and Agricultural Museum will celebrate Thomas Ingersoll’s 270th birth Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m.
Article content
Ingersoll residents will have a chance to celebrate their town founder.
The Ingersoll Cheese and Agricultural Museum will be hosting a 270th “birhtday party” for Thomas Ingersoll this Sunday Sunday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
The celebration will include a short presentation by Ingersoll local George Emery, a professor emeritus at Western University who’s penned several books on Ingersoll’s history and, most recently, a book on the founding of the village and Ingersoll’s family. The party will also feature cake and a story time for children hosted by the Ingersoll library.
The museum’s curator, Scott Gillies, said the celebration provides an opportunity to remember the town’s founder and history.
“I think it’s of value. We don’t do much to commemorate Thomas. We don’t have a founder’s day or anything like that, but when you look back at the rich history, it’s valuable as residents of Oxford County to recognize an individual who went out of his way to encourage other families to come here and settle in the wilderness in the 1790s,” he said.
Thomas Ingersoll was born March 24, 1749, in Great Barrington, Mass. He came to Upper Canada as part of a land grant of 66,000 acres by then-lieutenant governor John Graves Simcoe. As part of the deal, Thomas Ingersoll had to bring 40 families from Massachusetts to the granted land.
Gillies said the settlers took what’s known as the Detroit trail, which wound from Ancaster to Windsor. The settlers arrived in the area in 1793.
Thomas Ingersoll spent the majority of his income to develop roads in the area, eventually asking the government for financial assistance but was denied, as Simcoe’s successors were wary to help American settlers during the heightened security awareness between the American Revolution and the War of 1812.
Gillies said Ingersoll relocated to Port Credit – and his sons also left – but they returned after the War of 1812 to further help the town set up commercial businesses. They also went on to establish Lakeside.
The settlement was originally known as Oxford-on-the-Thames until the town held a plebiscite in 1832 for a new name. Thomas Ingersoll’s sons, Charles and James, petitioned to have the town renamed in their father’s honour.
Gillies said the museum hosted a similar event for the 265th anniversary after discovering Thomas Ingersoll’s birth date.
The party will also give visitors a chance to see the new museum exhibit, Ingersoll Strikes a Chord, that looks at the musical heritage of the community. Gillies said that exhibit runs until July.
IF YOU GO
What: The 270th anniversary of Thomas Ingersoll’s birth
When: Sunday March 24 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Where: Ingersoll Cheese and Agricultural Museum, 290 Harris St., Ingersoll
How much: Free
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.