Susanna Maria Willcocks ownership
Susanna Maria Willcocks, born in 1768, was the daughter of William and Phoebe Willcocks. William had been Sherrif in Cork, Ireland in 1765. Under the advice of Peter Russell the family left Ireland and settled Whitby and Toronto in 1795. Susanna Maria is the first known owner of the Duke Street lot where Campbell House would later be built in 1822. By 1806 Susanna Maria had been appointed ‘housekeeper’ to the Executive Council of Upper Canada, a petition position typically reserved for women. She held this office until 1815. Susanna Maria inherited a large amount of land from Elizabeth Russell, wife of Peter, and her father, William Willcocks, in 1822. She lived at the original Spadina House (current Toronto address 285 Spadina Road) , dying there on 8 August 1834. After her death, much of her land went to the Baldwin family. Her sister, Phoebe, married Dr William Warren Baldwin in 1803.
The Willcocks family were heavily involved in landholding, and Susanna Maria was no exception. She is the earliest name that can be found on record as owning what became Campbell House’s original site. She most likely did not live at the Duke Street property.
Sources:
- Biographical Info – JK Johnson –In Duty Bound: Men, Women and the State in Upper Canada, 1783-1841 – 2014 – p. 67
- Biographical Info – Dictionary of Canadian Biography, William Willcocks (http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/willcocks_william_5E.html)
- Image – Toronto Public Library (http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDMDC-PICTURES-R-3235&R=DC-PICTURES-R-3235)