Farmhouse History

My dear friends, thank you so much for your condolences. 

To add insult to injury, I've been down for the count with the flu.

All week. 

I've been putting the lime in the coconut,

swallowing a spoonful of sugar,

and munching on an apple a day,

 but this nasty little bug just won't go away.

To soothe my idle mind while my body rests, rests and rests some more, 

the Artist brought home a little light reading for me from the library.

And it is light; it just happens to be in a big package.

 This is an illustrated atlas of our county, as surveyed in 1875, 

 about 10-15 years after the old farmhouse was built.

In the late 1800's, there were approximately 40 atlases published from different areas of Canada.

This borrowed copy, as were many, was reprinted in the 70's

but they are becoming as rare as the originals 

and all atlases have been reproduced digitally through McGill University.

We were quite surprised at some of the detail included in this atlas. 

We assumed, correctly, that detailed drawings such as this farm 

and portraits of prominent citizens of the county were provided at an extra cost. 

Our road, as outlined below in red, is one of only a few non-straight roads in our township.

The others are due to their proximity to winding rivers, but our road was once an Indian trail.

Neighbours have found arrowheads and evidence of longhouses on their property. 

I'm still looking.

But what inquiring minds really want to know is,

who built the old farmhouse?

 Ever since we purchased this property,

we've been curious to know who built and first lived in the old farmhouse.

Our plan was to name our humble little home after them.

It seems, we may have to figure out a plan B.

And the answer to that burning question? The original owners were a P & P Vansickle. 

There are still Vansickles living on our road

and it could cause some confusion if we named the old farmhouse 'Vansickle House'. 

Not only that but in our township alone, there must be over 100 properties owned by a Vansickle. 

One in every 10 exisiting farmhouses could likely be called 'Vansickle House', if so desired.

We've always known that the farmland and woods behind us 

and beside us were all part of the original old farmhouse homestead. 

What we didn't know however that at one time, 

the land across the road from the old farmhouse also belonged to this property. 

(The area labeled P&P Vansickle.) 

And, if you look real close, there are little circles beside the square that represents the house, 

that's an orchard. Time to replant!

It looks like we have more investigating ahead of us, 

but we've made excellent progress for our first attempt 

at retracing the life of the old farmhouse

and those who lived here.

 Now on to Plan B.

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 It's that time of week again, I'm linking up with Verde Farm!

 ~Happy Friday Friends~