The Simcoe Family At York, 1793

C.W. Jefferys' notes about this picture from The Picture Gallery of Canadian History Volume 2

On August 23rd, 1793, Simcoe ordered that the name of Toronto should be changed to York, in honour of the success of the Duke of York against the French in Holland.

Mrs. Simcoe's Diary says, "There was a party of Ojibway Indians here, who appeared much pleased with the firing. "—a salute of 21 guns to celebrate the occasion. "One of them took Francis in his arms, and was much pleased to find the child not afraid, but delighted with the sound."

The illustration shows Mrs. Simcoe's hound, "Trojan," who once disgraced himself, as she says, by tearing in pieces a map of Canada which she had drawn. In the background is shown the "canvas house," in which the Simcoes lived. This was a large tent which had been used by Captain Cook in his South Sea expedition, and which Simcoe had bought in London at the sale of the explorer's effects. It was set up on the high ground east of Garrison Creek, at the foot of the present Bathurst Street, Toronto.