Bartholomew Homestead (ca. 1855 - 2013), Ringwood / Stouffville

NEW: Executors /Executrix Release Form (1897) for Philip Bartholomew, 1806-1897

Dr. Arnold Neufeldt-Fast, Stouffville

On August 23, 2014,

Loren Grove

(Stouffville) passed

on to me the

original copy of the

Executors/

Executrix Release

Form signed by the

children of Philip

Bartholomew upon

receiving their share

of the assets of their

father’s estate

(signed 1897).

Loren Grove’s

grandfather, Jacob

B. Grove, Ringwood

(Stouffville), was an

executor of the will.

Philip Bartholomew Homestead - Demolished 2013

In 2013, the brick heritage home below was approved for demolition by Whitchurch-Stouffville Town

Council.

The Heritage Advisory Committee advised that the historic home be designated and protected. See the

following items:

http://www.yorkregion.com/news-story/1448153-stronach-farmhouse-demolition-to-stouffville-

council-today/

http://www.townofws.ca/en/town-hall/resources/Documents/Committees/Heritage_Minutes_06-

Feb-12.pdf (item 7.3)

I also advocated to Town Council and in the papers of its significant heritage value:

http://www.stouffvillefreepress.com/letters/what-value-does-an-old-building-have/

Shortly before demolition, over-grown

shrubs and trees around the house had

been removed, and the Bartholomew

House was visible—briefly--in its

former glory.

–Picture: Arnold Neufeldt-Fast

The articles above (based on the research of local historian Fred Robbins) on the 160 year old

Bartholomew homestead demolished last year have one very interesting historical error.

New: While Philip’s father Henry owned the property originally, he died while “returning home” from the

War of 1812 in 1815--probably the only settler in what is today Whitchurch-Stouffville that died in

connection with the war (see below; this information was not available for the War of 1812

commemoration event in 2012 in Stouffville).

Almost all Whitchurch-Stouffville area settlers during the War of 1812 were Mennonite, Quaker or

Brethren-in-Christ, all of whom were non-resistant conscientious objectors.

Philip’s grandfather was a German Hessian

soldier who fought for England against

American colonists in the American Revolution.

New: Philip (1806-1897), not his father Henry

(d. 1815), built the homestead on the Stouffville

Road property ca. 1855, and demolished with

Council approval 2013.

New: Philip became a Mennonite—and by

definition a pacifist

Source below: G.W. Bartholomew, Record of

the Bartholomew Family [1885], pp. 589,

592f).

-ANF