page_title: Flesherton
section_title: Settlement
hierarchical_section_title: Flesherton / Nineteenth century / Settlement
caption_attribution_description: English: William Kingston Flesher in uniform of a captain of the 31st Grey Regiment militia, taken in 1866 in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada. Flesher (June 10, 1825 – July 22, 1907) was surveyor and settler of southwestern Ontario, a militia officer, businessman and political figure. As well as founding the village of Flesherton, he represented the riding of Grey East in the Canadian House of Commons as a Conservative member from 1872 to 1878.
context_page_description: Flesherton is a community in the Municipality of Grey Highlands, in Grey County, Ontario, Canada, located at the junction of Highway 10 and Grey County Road 4. Although the area initially showed a high rate of growth in the 1850s and its founder believed that it would become an important centre of economic activity, growth stagnated when an all-important rail link bypassed it, and the community never grew larger than a small village. The self-proclaimed "Gateway to the Beaver Valley" recently lost its autonomy as a village when it was amalgamated with the surrounding Artemesia Township.
context_section_description: In 1848, the land along the north-south Toronto-Sydenham road and the east-west Durham Road was surveyed and divided into 50-acre lots. The intersection of the two roads, which lay in a small valley, was named Artemesia Corners. To encourage settlement of the wilderness, the lots were granted to settlers, who then had to clear at least twelve of the acres within five years in order to receive free title to the lot. The first settler at Artemesia Corners was Aaron Munshaw Jr., a former member of Button's Troop during the War of 1812, and an active member of the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1838. Following the failed rebellion, he had fled into exile in the United States with William Lyon Mackenzie. In 1850, having been granted amnesty, Munshaw moved to Artemesia Corners and settled a 50-acre lot on the east side of the Toronto-Sydenham Road that straddled Durham Road. He built a small tavern and stagecoach stop at the intersection of the two roads. Munshaw's father, Aaron Sr., also moved to the area, becoming one of the first farmers in the district.
  William Kingston Flesher, a recent British immigrant, settled on the 50-acre lot on the opposite side of the Toronto-Sydenham Road from Munshaw in 1853 and built a saw mill, and then a grist mill on the Boyne River that flowed through the valley. Both Munshaw and Flesher also laid out the portions of their acreages as village lots, hoping to encourage people to move to the area. Throughout the 1850s, more settlers, mainly Scottish immigrants, claimed lots and began to clear the land; tradespeople quickly arrived and bought the village lots at Artemesia Corners.
  In 1864, as the village grew, Munshaw built a larger inn and stagecoach stop that incorporated some parts of the original hotel. This building, operated as a hotel by the Munshaw family until the 1960s, is now known as Munshaw House and still stands on the original spot.
caption: W.K. Flesher in captain's militia uniform, 31st "Grey" Regiment, at Niagara-on-the-Lake during the Fenian Raids of 1866.
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