John Beare (November 14, 1820 – April 5, 1914) was a farmer and mill-owner from present day
Reach Township, Ontario
Scugog is a township in the Regional Municipality of Durham, south-central Ontario, Canada. It is northeast of Toronto and just north of Oshawa. The anchor and largest population base of the township is Port Perry. The township has a population ...
.
Beare, was born in
Bideford
Bideford ( ) is a historic port town on the estuary of the River Torridge in north Devon, south-west England. It is the main town of the Torridge local government district.
Toponymy
In ancient records Bideford is recorded as ''Bedeford'', ''By ...
, England and came to
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 ...
at the age of 19 and worked as a tailor until 1843. In that year, he homesteaded in Reach. By 1850, he had improved the farm to the point where he brought his fiancé from England and was married. His farm grew to and he acquired a flour and grist mill. Eventually he acquired a second mill and enlarged his holdings of land so that all his sons could be located on their own farms within the township.
Beare was an enterprising and progressive farmer. His prosperity allowed him to be the leader in the use of farm machinery such as reapers, rakes, seed-drills, threshing machine, and gang-ploughs. In turn, his farm was the most successful in the area.
John Beare was an important figure of his time. He embodied the ideal homesteader who developed the country and succeeded financially. Homesteading often was a subsistence economy. He successfully turned his life's work into a venture in capitalism. In turn, he placed his large family in a good position to prosper and help the country grow.
External links
Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''Mary Ann Beare - ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
1820 births
1914 deaths
Canadian farmers
English emigrants to Canada
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