Anthony Van Egmond (born Antonij Jacobi Willem Gijben, 10 March 17785 January 1838) was purportedly a
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
Napoleonic War
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
veteran. He became one of the first settlers and business people in the
Huron Tract
The Huron Tract Purchase also known as the Huron Block, registered as Crown Treaty Number 29, is a large area of land in southwestern Ontario bordering on Lake Huron to the west and Lake Erie to the east. The area spans the counties of Huron, Pert ...
in present-day
southwestern Ontario
Southwestern Ontario is a secondary region of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. It occupies most of the Ontario Peninsula bounded by Lake Huron, including Georgian Bay, to the north and northwest; the St. Clair River, Lake St. ...
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. Van Egmond became an early contractor employed by the
Canada Company
The Canada Company was a private British land development company that was established to aid in the colonization of a large part of Upper Canada. It was incorporated by royal charter on August 19, 1826, under an act of the British parliament,, ...
to construct the original road into the new settlement, allowing the entry of settlers for the purchase of company lands and further economic development. He eventually became a supporter of
William Lyon Mackenzie
William Lyon Mackenzie (March12, 1795 August28, 1861) was a Scottish Canadian-American journalist and politician. He founded newspapers critical of the Family Compact, a term used to identify elite members of Upper Canada. He represented Yor ...
and led a force of armed rebels in their unsuccessful skirmish at
Montgomery's Tavern
The Battle of Montgomery's Tavern was an incident during the Upper Canada Rebellion in December 1837. The abortive revolutionary insurrection, inspired by William Lyon Mackenzie, was crushed by British authorities and Canadian volunteer units ne ...
near
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
on 7 December 1837, during the
Upper Canada Rebellion
The Upper Canada Rebellion was an insurrection against the oligarchic government of the British colony of Upper Canada (present-day Ontario) in December 1837. While public grievances had existed for years, it was the rebellion in Lower Canada (p ...
.
Life
Anthony van Egmond was born in
Groesbeek
Groesbeek () is a town and former municipality in the province of Gelderland, the Netherlands. In January 2015 the former municipality merged with Millingen aan de Rijn and Ubbergen. The larger area was known as Groesbeek until January 2016, when ...
in the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
, the son of Johannes Arnoldus Gijben and his wife Maria Bloem. When he was twelve years old, his father was murdered. Alleged criminal activity forced him to flee around 1795 to Germany, where he assumed another identity, which included adoption of a false claim of descent from the Van Egmonds, an aristocratic family of the Netherlands. In 1819, attracted by the prospect of purchasing land from the
Holland Land Company
The Holland Land Company was an unincorporated syndicate of thirteen Dutch investors from Amsterdam who in 1792 and 1793 purchased the western two-thirds of the Phelps and Gorham Purchase, an area that afterward was known as the Holland Purchase ...
, he travelled, via
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
,
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
, and
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, to
Indiana, Pennsylvania
Indiana is a borough in and the county seat of Indiana County in the U.S. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The population was 13,564 at the 2020 census, and since 2013 has been part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. After being a long time par ...
. The land, which he purchased in 1826, was eventually seized and sold at auction to cover unpaid taxes.
The Canada Company
In 1828 he emigrated to Oxford Township East, in
Upper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the ...
, where he purchased 200 acres (809,000 m
2) of land from the Canada Company. Because of the establishment of a personal friendship with local company official
John Galt
John Galt () is a character in Ayn Rand's novel ''Atlas Shrugged'' (1957). Although he is not identified by name until the last third of the novel, he is the object of its often-repeated question "Who is John Galt?" and of the quest to discover ...
, Van Egmond came to the attention of other Canada Company executives and was subsequently employed by the company as the initial primary contractor for road construction in the Huron Tract. Van Egmond was also charged with establishing a series of inns to be positioned at twenty mile (32 km) intervals along the Huron Road, which were to act as nightly stopping and resupplying points for the arriving settlers.
Although Van Egmond continued to complete his contractual obligations to the Canada Company, he continually resented that the Company insisted on paying all fees in the form of one-third cash and two-thirds company 'land credits', redeemable in exchange for parcels of land already owned by the company. Van Egmond found himself having to expend his own funds in order to achieve Canada Company development goals. At that time, the land credits he was paid with were only immediately redeemable in cash for a fraction of their stated value, because of the undeveloped condition of the lands involved. Because of this arrangement, by the early 1830s, Van Egmond had personally accumulated of land in the Huron Tract, including located in the central area of what is today the city of
Stratford, Ontario
Stratford is a city on the Avon River within Perth County in southwestern Ontario, Canada, with a 2016 population of 31,465 in a land area of . Stratford is the seat of Perth County, which was settled by English, Irish, Scottish and German im ...
. In August 1830, Van Egmond's wife, Marie Susanne Elizabeth Dietz Van Egmond, ceremonially cut and bound the first sheaf of wheat harvested in the Huron Tract, at a gathering on their family farm on the Huron Road, which included local Canada Company officials and other regional businessmen.
Van Egmond became increasingly disgruntled at what he perceived as the Canada Company's failure to expend obligated amounts of money from the Huron Tract Improvement Fund for the development of local roads and other infrastructure, as well as at what he believed was the company's disregard for the general well-being of the arriving settlers. It's interesting to note that Van Egmond's views appear to be at least partially vindicated by an uncompleted judicial review conducted by Justice Jonas T.W. Jones in 1840. In his report Jones upheld Van Egmond's position that the Canada Company's practice of paying debts, partially in cash and partially in 'land credits', did not abide with the terms of the company's original purchase agreement, when they acquired the lands from
the Crown
The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...
.
Reform politics
Van Egmond began to voice his concerns by corresponding with
William Lyon Mackenzie
William Lyon Mackenzie (March12, 1795 August28, 1861) was a Scottish Canadian-American journalist and politician. He founded newspapers critical of the Family Compact, a term used to identify elite members of Upper Canada. He represented Yor ...
, a radical reformer who published a newspaper, the
Colonial Advocate
The ''Colonial Advocate'' was a weekly political journal published in Upper Canada during the 1820s and 1830s. First published by William Lyon Mackenzie on May 18, 1824, the journal frequently attacked the Upper Canada aristocracy known as the ...
, in
Upper Canada's capital York. In January 1835, Van Egmond organized the Huron Union Society which met in the homes of recent settlers in the region. Its purpose was primarily to agitate for changes to Canada Company's policies and business practices in the Huron District, however their stated aims also included demands for a more responsible government in the province, where control of public revenues would be in the hands of elected, rather than appointed officials. The Society also called for the immediate sale of all remaining
Clergy reserves Clergy reserves were tracts of land in Upper Canada and Lower Canada reserved for the support of "Protestantism, Protestant clergy" by the Constitutional Act of 1791. One-seventh of all surveyed Crown lands were set aside, totaling and respectivel ...
and an end to what they saw as government sponsored monopolies, such as the Canada Company itself. It was also in 1835, that Van Egmond was nominated in the recently created District of Huron as the Reform candidate in an election to be held in 1836 for a seat in the
13th Parliament of Upper Canada
The 13th Parliament of Upper Canada was opened 8 November 1836. Elections in Upper Canada had been held 20 June 1836. All sessions were held at Toronto.
The House of Assembly had five sessions 8 November 1836 to 10 February 1840.Archives of On ...
in Toronto. He was defeated in that election by
Robert Graham Dunlop
Robert Graham Dunlop (October 1, 1790 – February 28, 1841) was a British naval officer and political figure in Upper Canada.
He was born in Keppoch, Scotland in 1790 and joined the Royal Navy at the age of 13. He became a lieutenant while ...
from Goderich, Ontario, the brother of
William "Tiger" Dunlop
William Dunlop (19 November 1792 – 29 June 1848) also known as Tiger Dunlop, was an army officer, surgeon, Canada Company official, author, justice of the peace, militia officer, politician, and office holder. He is notable for his contribut ...
.
Rebellion and confinement
Frustrated by what he saw as a failure to address important issues on the part of both the Canada Company and the so-called
Family Compact
The Family Compact was a small closed group of men who exercised most of the political, economic and judicial power in Upper Canada (today’s Ontario) from the 1810s to the 1840s. It was the Upper Canadian equivalent of the Château Clique in L ...
he began a period of much more involvement with
William Lyon Mackenzie
William Lyon Mackenzie (March12, 1795 August28, 1861) was a Scottish Canadian-American journalist and politician. He founded newspapers critical of the Family Compact, a term used to identify elite members of Upper Canada. He represented Yor ...
and participation in more extreme forms of politics. It's possible that Mackenzie based his appointment of Van Egmond as military leader for a planned open rebellion to begin at
Montgomery's Tavern
The Battle of Montgomery's Tavern was an incident during the Upper Canada Rebellion in December 1837. The abortive revolutionary insurrection, inspired by William Lyon Mackenzie, was crushed by British authorities and Canadian volunteer units ne ...
near Toronto in December 1837, on Van Egmond's possibly exaggerated past claims of having gained actual combat experience in the
Napoleonic wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
in Europe.
It is indicated in sources that on the day of the actual engagement at Montgomery's Tavern, Van Egmond advised William Lyon Mackenzie that their military cause was "hopeless" and advised him to retreat from the situation. Mackenzie is purported to have threatened Van Egmond's life if he failed to proceed with their plan. After being routed in the engagement by government armed forces, Van Egmond was arrested and confined to a small prison cell in Toronto. Suffering from a possible combination of malnutrition, pneumonia and exposure, Van Egmond became seriously ill in confinement and was transferred to a nearby hospital where he died on 5 January 1838. Subsequent to his death, Van Egmond's substantial real estate holdings, apart from the original family farm, were seized by the colonial government, purportedly as punishment for his participation in the uprising. Van Edgmond is buried at Egmondville Cemetery in
Egmondville, Ontario
Egmondville is an unincorporated rural community in Huron East, Huron County, Ontario, Canada.
History
The community was founded in 1845 by Constant Van Egmond, the eldest son of Anthony Van Egmond and named in honour of his father. Van Edmonds ...
.
The community of
Egmondville, now incorporated within the community of
Seaforth in the Municipality of
Huron East
Huron East was a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1882 to 1917. It was located in the province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from ...
was founded in Van Egmond's honour in 1845, by his eldest son Constant.
Sources
* Lee, Robert C., (2004). The Canada Company and The Huron Tract, 1826–1853. Natural Heritage Books, Toronto On. , pp. 80, 84, 129, 154–155, 257
* Coleman, Thelma, (1978). The Canada Company, County of Perth, Stratford On. , pp. 63, 82–83, 100, 102–105, 170, 172–173
*
* commenting on Van Egmonds involvement in the Rebellion
References
Further reference
*
Location of Original Van Egmond Family Farm, historically described as "Lot 4. Concession 1, Hullett Township Location of Egmondville, Ontario
{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Egmond, Anthony
1778 births
1838 deaths
People from Groesbeek
Upper Canada Rebellion people
Dutch emigrants to Canada
Dutch people imprisoned abroad
Dutch people who died in prison custody
Canadian people who died in prison custody
Prisoners who died in Canadian detention
Prisoners who died in British detention
Deaths from pneumonia in Ontario