Michael Clipsham was born in Billinghay,
Lincolnshire in 1807. He was married in 1834 to Mary Roberts
in Gautby, Lincolnshire, the town where Mary was born in
1809. Little is known of their life in England. Of their 6
surviving children, the eldest two (Mary and Michael) were
born in or near Sheffield, Yorkshire, the next three
(Martha, John & Thomas) at Market Rasen, Lincs., and the
youngest (James) at Louth, Lincs. In English records Michael is a commercial traveler,
blacksmith, and/or edge tool hardener. These occupations
were how he earned his living. But he was also a Methodist
lay preacher and this was his true calling. Methodist
preachers often moved to where-ever they were needed, so
probably this is why the family moved several times. The family story is that Michael was such a vehement
teetotaler that he offended certain townspeople so much that
they threw him in the cooling vat of his smithy, As a result
he contracted pneumonia, and had poor health for the rest of
his life. Since Lincolnshire had a damp climate, the family
emigrated to Canada in 1853. The first winter in Canada was spent in Montreal, then 2
years at Chambly, Quebec. They were then directed,
presumably by the Wesleyan Methodist church, to Churchville,
near Brampton and Michael preached on the Brampton circuit.
After only 15 months there, Michael died in December 1857
leaving his wife Mary with the six children. The eldest son, Michael, at the age of 18, became the
chief breadwinner of the family. In the fall of 1861 he
moved the family to Meadowvale, where he opened a
blacksmith's shop, with a younger brother as apprentice and
helper. In 1864 Michael married Charlotte Sanderson in
Meadowvale. Michael's eldest son Wesley Clipsham, born in Meadowvale
in 1865, wrote, about 1948, in some reminiscences of the
early days: My father and his brother-in-law Charles Sanderson,
had, in the autumn of 1864, made an exploring survey of the
country, walking from Washago to the cataract of the north
branch of Muskoka River, around which the thriving city of
Bracebridge now stands. One reason they did not go farther was dislike of
the style of bridge over the rushing torrent - the trunk of
a pine tree, its ends supported by the rocky shores. In the spring of 1865 the Sanderson and Clipsham families
left Meadowvale, west of Toronto, and rode the northern
railway to Belle Ewart at south end of Lake Simcoe, where
they took a boat to the Port of Washago. Four miles north of
Severn Bridge they chose lots on opposite sides of the
'Muskoka Road' now 'King's Highway' No. 11. My father who was a skilled iron worker and horse-shoer,
built a little shop by the side of the road. In the first
years his forge fuel was charcoal and one of my earliest
recollections is of the piled-up logs smoldering beneath
their covering of earth. The pile had to be watched day and
night, for if a break occurred in the earthy covering,
flames would have devoured the charcoal. After the railway
reached Orillia "stone coal" could be hauled out, and being
costly, was used only for special jobs. It is shown as reconstructed at Sparrow Lake by Stan
Clipsham in 1972 for use as a garage and workshop. It was originally one log higher and had windows at the
ends of the attic. ................Picture
taken by Bill Clipsham in 1999. "It seems to be the privilege of earliest
settlers in a new district to exercise their sense of humour
in relating tales of later arrivals, to whom they applied
the appellative 'Greenhorn', quite ignoring the fact that
they themselves were in the beginning not a whit less
'green'. It was told of one hardy Scot, in whom the
pioneering spirit was strongly developed, who, determined to
have plenty of sweetness in the new life, tapped for maple
sugar all the forest trees as he came to them. Upon a
neighborly inquiry as to 'How is the sap running?' the
alleged reply was: 'Some rin thick (pines), some rin thin
(maples and birches), and some willna rin at a!
(hemlock).' "The prevailing style of pavement in the early
days, when a pavement was deemed necessary, that is, when
the mud was too deep for the horses to wade or for a wagon
to be hauled through, was 'corduroy', small logs closely
laid transversely upon longitudinal sleepers. Over such
crude trails passed both passengers and supplies for the
settlement of all Muskoka District. Strongly built
'stagewagons' carrying passengers and the Royal Mail to the
northern part of the district daily passed our door. My
father's shop was close to the road, and the daily passing
of the freighter's wagons brought him plenty of work:
shoeing the horses, re-setting loose wheel tires, and
repairing broken wagons. Often he worked from five o'clock
in the morning to eleven at night." "Perhaps the work for which my father was most
highly esteemed was the Sunday School he established in the
early years of his pioneering. Each winter he would practice
the children in new songs, and have a grand 'tea meeting'
and anniversary entertainment. As entertainment of any kind
was a rare thing, this was the great event of the winter,
and the money raised at 25¢ per went to pay for the
Sunday School paper for each family whose child attended,
and for books for the library, and was this literature
appreciated!" "My father's desire had always run to
farming. Since he found the Muskoka Road soil very infertile
after a few years cropping, and a better farm, bordering
Sparrow Lake, came on the market, he bought it and we
moved." The farm that Michael Clipsham bought in 1883 from
Henry Arens was originally settled in 1858 by John Everbeck.
The sills for a house 40' x 20' were laid, but then Everbeck
returned to Germany in search of a wife. After five years he
returned and completed the house in 1863. Its construction
is of some interest. It was built on a frame of 4" x 4"
pine, sheeted inside and out with 1" pine. The space in the
walls was filled with 4" poles and the grooves filled with a
clay plaster. Sometime in the mid-1870s Everbeck returned
Germany after selling the farm to Henry Arens, who expanded
the house by adding a north wing. Many changes have been
made to the house over the years but the original building
remains. This house is probably the oldest still in use
around Sparrow Lake and is still owned by descendents of
Michael Clipsham. Picture taken by Harry Clipsham in
1901.
He can be contacted at clipsham@rogers.com Sources - 1. Obituary of Mary Roberts Clipsham,
Christian Guardian, 4 April 1888, written by her son Rev.
John W. Clipsham. 2. Unpublished reminiscences by Wesley
Clipsham, written about 1948. - Copies in the possession of various
Clipshams, including Bill Clipsham. 3. Unpublished notes on the
Everbeck/Arens/Clipsham house by Ada Clipsham. - Original in the possession of Sara
Clipsham of Sparrow lake
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Square timber log house built on the Muskoka Road by Michael
Clipsham in 1865.
House
at mouth of Kahshe River, originally built by John
Everbeck, owned by successive generations of Clipshams:
Michael, Harry, Bruce, and Joel.
Charlotte & Michael Clipsham with their
children in 1895