Ponsonby is an unincorporated rural community on Wellington County Road 7 in

Centre Wellington Centre Wellington is a township in south-central Ontario, Canada, located in Wellington County. The primary communities are Elora and Fergus. The area is agricultural but also includes industries such as manufacturing. In the Canada 2016 Cens ...

township,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

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 ...

. The

Upper Grand District School Board The Upper Grand District School Board (known as English-language Public District School Board No. 18 prior to 1999) is a school board in Ontario, Canada. It spans an area of 4211 km² and serves approximately 35,000 students through 65 elemen ...

maintains Ponsonby Public School on Wellington Road 7. Ponsonby Recreation Club hosts softball and fastball leagues at the Ponsonby ball diamonds on Second Line East near Ponsonby.Ponsonby Softball
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History

Ponsonby was situated along the Garafraxa Settlement Road (which led from

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

Owen Sound Owen Sound ( 2021 Census population 21,612) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. The county seat of Grey County, it is located at the mouths of the Pottawatomi and Sydenham Rivers on an inlet of Georgian Bay. The primary tourist attract ...

via

Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Wel ...

) to an area known as the

Queen's Bush The Queen's Bush was an area of what is now Southwestern, Ontario, between Waterloo County, Ontario and Lake Huron that was set aside as clergy reserves by the colonial government. It is known as the location of communities established by Black se ...

. This settlement road was another government plan to bring settlers to the area with an offer of . The name Garafraxa is said to be a corruption of the word Sassafrax, a shrub that grew in the district. Others believed it was from an Indian word meaning 'panther country'. Charles Rankin surveyed the Garafraxa Road around 1840, however the road did not become well populated until the 1850s. Ponsonby was another of many small towns in which travellers could stop and rest for the night. The original name of the town was "Thorpville", however it was changed in 1863 when James Halley took over the post office.

References

Communities in Centre Wellington Ghost towns in Ontario {{WesternOntario-geo-stub