Sticking with “The Township of Sandwich” and with Chippawa Street in the west end, I noticed this old photo. It’s captioned:
- The Col. John A. Wilkinson Homestead
Chippewa Street, Sandwich.
Interesting to note, at some time in the last century the spelling of the street changed from Chippewa to Chippawa….
The book also has the following info:
The “Hon. John A. Wilkinson Homestead” on Chippewa Street, built around the year 1818 or shortly after the war of 1812. The material for this house was brough from Montreal by Mr. Wilkinson. It was at this house that Dr. John James Hume called professionally and afterwards spend the night socially with Mr. Wilkinson and family the evening before he was murdered by rebels in Windsor, December 4, 1838.
I wonder if Col. Wilkinson was the father (or some other relation) of George Wilkinson of Wilkinson’s Shoes, longtime downtown retail fixture.