Family History

he first person we should mention is Peter Shaver, the builder of the house. The eighth child of William and Mary Catherine Schaeffer, he was born in Ancaster, Ontario in 1809. It is believed that the children of William and Mary anglicized the family name to Shaver. It is not known exactly when he came to Etobicoke, however, with one of the first land deeds for the area, 21 year old Peter purchased 100 acres to farm, just north of what is now Burnhamthorpe Road and Highway 427. It was a rather primitive part of Ontario, for all that existed were fields of black walnut trees. Two years later he would marry Esther Vansickle, whose ancestors had come from the Netherlands. They had six children. In 1846, the year that Esther Josephine was born, Peter received a patent from the Crown for another 100 acres to the south of his farm, extending from what is now Burnhamthorpe Road to Bloor Street.

The first house was of wood frame construction and he named his farm Applewood. Fertile soil and hard work produced good crops as was evidenced by the 1851 census for his property:

Barley - 110 acres, Wheat - 30 acres
Peas - 4, Buckwheat - 4
Potatoes - 2, Clover - 10, honey,
Apples and Wood 200 lbs

In the history of Etobicoke, the Christian tradition played a vital role in setting the pattern of life for the pioneers. The Shavers were devout Methodists. The records of Islington United Church show Peter and his brother George as two of the trustees responsible for the first Methodist church in Etobicoke.

In those days it was not uncommon for houses to be occupied by extended families, where more than one generation of the family lives in the house. Above we mentioned a daughter, Esther Josephine. She married James Woodsworth, a Methodist minister. In this house, in 1874, she gave birth to James Shaver Woodsworth who would go on to become a parliamentarian, founder of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation and a social reformer who coerced the MacKenzie-King government into introducing Old Age Pensions, Unemployment Insurance and Family Allowance. In 1882, the Rev. James Woodsworth would move this part of the family to Winnipeg, where he became Methodism’s chief missionary to the prairie people. His son, J.S. Woodsworth would follow in his footsteps. The young James Shaver Woodsworth trained for the Methodist ministry and, in 1898, he entered Victoria College in Toronto where he met his future wife, Lucy Staples.

Woodsworth would go on to study at Oxford, in England where he became familiar with the slums and he discovered his special vocation – socialism. He was made aware of the fact that people were suffering without food or proper shelter. When he returned to Canada, he became a champion of the working class, serving at the All Peoples’ Mission in North Winnipeg. His work brought him in contact with labour groups. He became aware of how employers could take advantage of workers and how unemployment could lead families to starvation. For these reasons, he used his position in federal parliament to sway the government into bringing in the above mentioned social programs. He was also a pacifist by nature and, true to his convictions, he stood alone in parliament in opposition to Canada’s entry into the Second World War.

In 1974 James Shaver Woodsworth’s name was chosen to commemorate Woodsworth College at the University of Toronto and this facility is devoted to part-time students.