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Chapter 1 Township of West Oxford Early Beginnings This area was first named '"Oxford Nations Indians in New York State Upon the Thames'" and included and a group of experienced hunters, originally the townships of East and he explored lands west of the Grqnd North Oxford. We believe East Oxford River and chose the section which was detached between 1820--22. We later became East, West and North know that North Oxford was detached Oxford. in 1842 and the town of Ingersoll on in 1793 a surveyor, Augustus Jones, Jan. 1, 1852. partially surveyed the area. A large The township of West Oxford is grant of 66,000 acres of land was made triangular in shape and is entirely to Major Thomas Ingersoll on con-- surrounded by other townships in dition that he build a thirty mile strip Oxford County, with the exception of of road from Burford to Ingersoll. about one mile of road at the South-- This work consisted mostly of west corner of West Oxford which widening the Indian Trail (later separates it from the county of called the Old Stage Road), but it took Middlesex. him until 1795 to finish this job at a Before the earliest settlement of cost of $50,000. white immigrants the Atiwandaronk The opening of the road brought in Indians lived along Lake Erie and in many settlers, who settled mainly this area. They were called the along the Broken Front, and the first Neutrals by the other tribes. The and second concessions of the river, now called the Thames, wan-- township. The surnames of known dered through the valley with lush settlers before 1800 were Beach, rolling wooded hills on either side. Brink, Burtch, Burdick, Carroll, The Indians called the river "Many Canfield, Cook, Crawford, Choate, Antlered.'"' Their homes were long Dickson, Dodge, Dygert, Edwards, huts covered with bark and skins with Harris, Ingersoll, Karn, Mabee, several families living in one hut. Nichols, Sage, Scott and Topping. They cleared the land nearby to grow In 1799 the Oxford settlers actually pumpkin, corn, squash, gourds and produced more grain than they tobacco. When the land became in-- needed for their own consumption, fertile the whole village moved on to a and sold most of the surplus corn and new site. wheat to the North West Fur com-- The first governor of Upper Canada pany. The company transported their was Colonel John Graves Simcoe. He purchases by way of a wagon road issued a proclamation offering a which now extended to Fort Detroit township to those in the United States and from that point it was shipped by who were United Empire Loyalists company boats to the Sault. and who would come to Canada and According to the Oxford Gazetteer provide forty families. Each per-- by Thomas S. Shenston '"Oxford on manent settler was to have two the Thames" may justly be called the hundred or more acres at six pence first settlement of the county for it per acre. Major Ingersoll made ap-- was the nucleus around which the plication for such a township. Ac-- entire county was settled. In the 1800 companied by Chief Brant of the Six census there were 64 names listed as