Town of Georgina
The Unhappy Groom
By Jeanne Hopkins
Captain Simon Lee had settled at Thornhill in 1832 where he built himself a large, two- story frame house on Yonge Street.
Captain Lee had worked for the East India Company, the name given to several European communities which had opened up trade with India during the 1600's. These companies were essentially private enterprises which had been granted licences by the Queen and British parliament. The Netherlands, France, and Great Britain were all part of this organisation.
After Simon Lee retired from the company around 1835, he moved further north and settled on Lot 8, Concession 8, in Georgina Township. His 500 acres of land included property, just east of what is now Sibbald Point Provincial Park.
Simon Lee was secretary of the organisation set up to look into the building of a Church of England in Georgina Township. St. George's Anglican Church, or the Sibbald Family Church, was built in 1838.
Simon Lee's oldest daughter, Emily Buxton Lee married William Sibbald of Eildon Hall. William had really wanted to marry the second Lee daughter, Mary Ready, but Mrs. Lee and tradition stated that the girls had to marry in order and as William was the first to ask, he was obliged to marry Emily. The groom had to be enticed to the altar "with liberal portions of brandy". But, the marriage turned out to be a happy one, even though the bride died on April 8, 1854 at the young age of 28 years.
Mary Ready Lee married John Barwick of Thornhill and the couple lived in Captain Lee's plantation-style home on Yonge Street. The Barwicks had 18 children. A third daughter, Eliza, married Captain Robert Douglas Stupart of the Royal Navy.
Source: Georgina Advocate - Our History December 1992. Reproduced with permission