Immigration to Upper Canada, and the founding "Stoufferville", 1803-1805[edit]
In October 1804, Abraham Stouffer emigrated to Upper Canada from Pennsylvania with his wife's family, the Reesors.[3] Their entourage of five Conestoga wagons reached Markham Township after a six-week journey. The information on Stouffer's Affirmation of Allegiance states: "farmer, hazel eyes, brown hair, six feet one inch high, born in Pennsylvania, 28 years old, a Menonist."[4] Abraham and his wife Elizabeth initially settled north of Cedar Grove on the Little Rouge River, but soon acquired 400 acres of land on the Markham-Whitchurch Township Line. In 1805, Stouffer purchased Lots 1 and 2, Concession 9, on the Whitchurch side of the township line, and soon after he acquired lot 35 on the Markham side.[5] Stouffer, who had learned milling from his father, built a saw and a grist mills on Duffin's Creek (near what is today Mill and Main Streets), and a village soon developed around the mills. The settlement became known as "Stoufferville".
Abraham Stouffer was a leading figure in the larger community. In 1825, he became a director of the Farmers' Storehouse Company, an enterprise of millers formed to counter the power of the York merchants.[6] In 1832, when a post office was established, the name of the village was shortened from "Stoufferville" to Stouffville.[7] Stouffer was also one of the first trustees of the AltonaMennonite Meeting House.[8]
^Cf. Jean Barkey, ed., Stouffville, 1877-1977: A Pictorial History of a Prosperous Ontario Community (Stouffville, ON, 1977), esp. "About this Book" (images 10-11) and "Introduction," pp. 1-10.
