26 King Street West, Colborne
(mid to late 1800s)
Roll No. 1411-012-020-35600 – Cramahe Township Ontario
Gothic Revival Cottage
No. 26 King Street West Street in the village of Colborne Ontario, is a Gothic Revival Cottage also called Ontario Cottage in this part of the Province. It is a three bay, one and a half story, clapboard property, with a single story “tail” addition on the rear of the property.
There is the ubiquitous central peaked gable over the front door with a narrow square sash rather than the more common Palladian window. The front facade windows are of newer vintage.
The front door has a glass transom and the cottage has a peak roof and a tall “Gothic” gable.
Although almost totally obscured by plantings, the foundation appears to be concrete rather than the rubble stone foundations commonly found in 18th and 19th century buildings. This perhaps would indicate a build date after 1900. Though, as is the case with other properties on King Street West, the rubble may have been parged to give the appearance of a poured concrete foundation. The land records do indicate that the house was built in the last half of the 19th century but, as always, it is difficult to determine the actual build date of these century homes.
The cottage has no gingerbread or other embellishments but currently it has a dichromatic paint treatment which gives it a very pleasant and trim appearance.
History or Associative Value
In 1854, Joe Keeler (III) sold the property (now 26 King St.W) to George Inglis, a Scottish blacksmith and bother of neighbour Peter Inglis (who owned today’s 20 King St.W). George married Sarah Leach in 1840 and they had 12 children (four of whom died). The Bricault (or Bicco) family of Lower Canada owned the property in 1881. The fathers and sons were labourers, clerks, livery servants and blacksmiths. They probably built the house as early as 1867 of between then and 1881. They owned the property until 1933.
Additional Historical and Genealogical Information
26 King Street West, Colborne, Ontario
Cramahe Township, Concession 1, Lot 32, Reid Lot 145
Nathaniel Gaffield (ca. 1755-ca. 1838) (LINK) was the first owner of Concession 2, Lot 32, a 200 acre parcel part of which would later become Reid Lot 145. Lot 32 is bounded on the south by King Street West, and on the north by Orchard and Purdy Roads. On the east it is bounded by the undeveloped road allowance running north from Ontario Street. On the west the southern half of the Lot is bounded by Percy Street. Percy Street angles northwestward in the northern half of Lot 32, and the western edge of the lot is along the line Percy would have taken if it had headed straight north.
Although he had probably lived there since at least 1797, Gaffield wasn’t officially granted Lot 32 until 13 May 1804. He sold it to Joseph Keeler (1763-1839) on 23 January 1806 (LINK). .
Keeler transferred the southern third of Concession 2, Lot 32 to his son Joseph Abbott Keeler (1788-1855) (LINK) on 1 January 1824. This was the area now bounded by Ontario Street on the west, Percy Street on the east, and King Street on the south. The northern limit was along the backs of the modern properties along the north side of Park Street.
Over the next 30 years Joseph Abbott Keeler sold off bits and pieces of this land to a variety of people. By 1855 he had sold off most of his holdings in Lot 32, and when he died that year what was left was inherited by his son Joseph Keeler III (1824-1881). (LINK).
Joseph Keeler III continued his father’s tradition of selling off sections of this property. He sold Reid Lot 145 (now 24 and 26 King Street West) to George Inglis (ca. 1812-1885) on 19 June 1861. George Inglis was one of the brothers of Peter Inglis discussed under 20 King Street West (LINK). He also owned other properties in Colborne, and Land Office records indicate that he resided on Reid Lot 149 in 1849, so he probably never lived on Reid Lot 145.
Like his brother Peter, George Inglis was a blacksmith who emigrated from Scotland (see above). His wife was Sarah Leach (1821-1892), whom he married in 1840, and they had twelve childen: Ann (1840-1844), Peter (1841-1912), Isabella (1843-1921), Elizabeth (1846-1847), Matilda (1848-1853), John (1852-?), George Wallace (1854-1927), Eliza Jane (1857-1862), Albert McCheyne (1860-1862), Wallace (1860-?), and Robert Henry (1861-1888). If George Inglis did live on the property in question, any or all of his offspring might have lived there too, except the ones who had already died (Ann, Elizabeth, Matilda, and Henry). George Inglis died of heart disease in Colborne in 1885.
Inglis mortgaged Reid Lot 145 with Joseph N. Hall (?-?) of Montreal on 20 November1863, and four years later, on 14 May 1867 transferred ownership to him. The next Land Office record has Leander Bricco (?-1884) transferring the property to John Bricco (ca. 1864-?) on 11 November 1881. There is no record of the transfer from Hall to Leander Bricco.
Bricco seems to be a rather mysterious character. First of all, he is referred to as “Leander” in the Land Office record as well as on his death record, the 1871 census, and a gazetteer entry for 1871, but “Joseph” in the 1861 and 1881 records. Ancestry.ca entries universally use “Joseph”. Also, his reported age varies widely: His birth year has been listed as 1800, 1817, 1833, and 1835 (there is no correlation with recorded birth year and recorded first name, so Leander and Joseph really do seem to be the same person). Ancestry.ca entries list his original name as “Joseph Bricault dit Lamarche”, suggesting he was born Joseph Bricault but was sometimes called Joseph Lamarche.
Bricco was born in Lower Canada (hence the original spelling of “Bricault”) and appeared in Colborne censuses with an anglicized last name in 1861, 1871, and 1881. He died of “paralysis” (a stroke?) in 1884. Though it’s only a manifestation of poor spelling on the part of census takers, and not part of Bricco’s “mysterious” nature, records show his family name spelled “Bricco”, “Brico”, “Bricault”, “Bricoe”, “Bricee”, “Bricko”, “Brecco”, “Breco”, “Brieco”, and “Brisco”.
Leander/Joseph Bricco was married to Ann Devine (?-1912), an Irish immigrant. As with her husband, her birth year is unclear. 1812, 1826, 1829, and 1833 have all appeared. Their children, probably all born in Colborne, were Ann (ca. 1858-?), Barney (ca. 1859-1939), James (ca. 1860-1942), John (ca. 1864-?), Emily (ca. 1866-1891), and George (ca. 1869-?). Their father’s profession was simply “labourer”.
On 11 November 1881, Leander/Joseph transferred Reid Lot 145 to his son John. Two years later, on 26 January 1883, John transferred the property to his mother Ann, who retained it until 3 August 1915, when it was inherited by another of Leander/Joseph’s sons, Barney. Barney kept the property until 1933. The only record available for John’s occupation was as a livery servant in 1884. No indication of wife or children have been found. Barney was listed as a labourer in 1881, once as a labourer and once as a blacksmith in 1893, as a blacksmith in 1895, and as a grocery clerk in 1901. He married Hannah O’Shea (ca. 1857-?) and had three children, all born in Colborne: Helen Mary (ca. 1894-?), Francis Daniel (1895-?), and Kate (1912-?). Barney died in 1939 in Colborne.
The owners of Reid Lot 145 do not appear to have live there until it was acquired by the Bricco family, who owned it from sometime between 1867 and 1881 until 1933. Unless the current house at 26 King Street West is older than 1867, it seems pretty obvious that the Briccos built it.
