John Graves Simcoe John Graves Simcoe ( February 25 , 1752 – October 26 , 1806 ) was a British army officer and the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada from 1791 – 1796 . Then frontier , this was modern - day southern Ontario and the watersheds of Georgian Bay and Lake Superior . He founded York ( now Toronto ) and was instrumental in introducing institutions such as the court s , trial by jury , English common law , freehold land tenure , and in abolishing slavery . He ended slavery in Upper Canada long before it was abolished in the British Empire as a whole – by 1810 there were no slaves in Upper Canada , but the Crown did not abolish slavery throughout the Empire until 1834 . Early life . John Graves Simcoe was the only surviving son of John and Katherine Simcoe ; although his parents had four children , he was the only one to live past childhood . His father , a captain in the Royal Navy , commanded the 60 - gun HMS " Pembroke " , with James Cook as his sailing master , during the 1758 siege of Louisbourg . When his father died of pneumonia a few months prior to the siege of Quebec , the family moved to his mother ' s parental home in Exeter . His paternal grandparents were William and Mary ( née Hutchinson ) Simcoe . He was educated at Exeter Grammar School and Eton College . After a year at Oxford University , Simcoe was admitted to Lincoln ' s Inn , but then decided to follow the military career for which his father had intended him . He was initiated into Freemasonry in Union Lodge , Exeter on November 2 , 1773 . Marriage and family . Simcoe ' s godfather was British admiral Samuel Graves . Simcoe married Graves ' ward , Elizabeth Posthuma Gwillim , in 1782 . The Simcoes had five daughters prior to their posting in Canada . Son Francis was born in 1791 . Their Canadian - born daughter , Katherine , died in infancy in York , Upper Canada . She is buried in the Victoria Square Memorial Park on Portland Avenue . Military career . In 1770 , Simcoe entered the British Army as an ensign in the 35th Regiment of Foot . His unit was dispatched to the Thirteen Colonies . Later he saw action in the American Revolutionary War , in the Siege of Boston . During the siege , he purchased a captaincy in the grenadier company of the 40th Regiment of Foot . With the 40th , he saw action in the New York , New Jersey and Philadelphia campaign s . Simcoe commanded the 40th at the Battle of Brandywine on September 11 , 1777 , where he was also wounded . In 1777 , Simcoe sought to form a Loyalist regiment of free blacks from Boston , but instead was offered the command of the Queen ' s Rangers on October 15 , 1777 , a well - trained light infantry unit comprising 11 companies of 30 men , 1 grenadier and 1 hussar , and the rest light infantry . The Queen ' s Rangers saw extensive action during the Philadelphia campaign , including a successful surprise attack ( planned and executed by Simcoe ) at the Battle of Crooked Billet . In 1778 , Simcoe , during a foraging expedition opposed by rebel militia , commanded the attack on Judge William Hancock ' s house , killing 20 American rebels in their sleep and wounding 12 others . William Hancock was also killed , although he was not with the Americans . The massacre took place at night and with bayonets . On June 28 of that year , Simcoe and his Queen ' s Rangers took part in the Battle of Monmouth , in and near Freehold , New Jersey . During the winter of 1779 , Simcoe attempted to capture George Washington , but decided that his men would not shoot the future president . During that year , Armand Tuffin de La Rouërie captured Simcoe . Simcoe was released in 1781 , and rejoined his unit in Virginia . He was involved in a skirmish near Williamsburg , and was at the Siege of Yorktown . He was invalided back to England in December of that year as a Lieutenant - Colonel . Simcoe wrote a book on his experiences with the Rangers , titled " A Journal of the Operations of the Queen ' s Rangers from the end of the year 1777 to the conclusion of the late American War " , which was published in 1787 . Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada . The Province of Upper Canada was created under the " Constitutional Act of 1791 " , within several years of the end of the American Revolutionary War . The area had been newly settled mostly by Anglo - American and other Loyalists from the Thirteen Colonies , as well as the Six Nations of the Iroquois , who had been allies during the war . The Crown had purchased land from the Mississaugas and other First Nations to given the Loyalists land grants in partial compensation for property lost in the United States , and to help them set up new communities . Simcoe was appointed lieutenant governor and made plans to move to Upper Canada with his wife Elizabeth and daughter Sophia , leaving three daughters behind with their aunt . They left England in September and arrived on November 11 . As this was too late in the year to make the trip to Upper Canada because of severe weather , the Simcoes spent the winter in Quebec City . The next spring they moved to Kingston and then Newark ( now Niagara - on - the - Lake ) . The Constitutional Act stipulated that the provincial government would consist of the Lieutenant - Governor , an appointed Executive Council and Legislative Council , and an elected Legislative Assembly . The first meeting of the nine - member Legislative Council and sixteen - member Legislative Assembly took place at Newark on September 17 , 1792 . The first Act Against Slavery in the British Emprire passed in 1793 , and served for the English colonists of Upper Canada as a mark of distinction with respect to the French - Canadian populace of Lower Canada . The Upper Canadians valued their common law legal system , as opposed to the code civil of Quebec , which had chafed them ever since 1763 . This was ostensibly one of the primary reasons for the partition of 1791 . Simcoe collaborated extensively with his Attorney - General John White on the file . Simcoe ' s first priority was dealing with the effects of the Northwest Indian War , in which American Indians warred with the United States over encroachment in their territory west of the Appalachian Mountains . War broke out between Britain and France in 1793 . Although the United States pledged neutrality , its sympathies were with France , an ally during the Revolution . Simcoe was instructed to avoid giving the US reason to mistrust Britain , but at the same time to keep the Native Americans on both sides of the border friendly to Britain . Simcoe essentially denied the boundary defined in the Treaty of Paris ( 1783 ) on the grounds that the Americans had nullified the treaty . The British wanted the Indians to form a buffer state between the two countries . Tribes pushed into the area by the Iroquois and colonists allied with existing regional tribes . Together , groups of Ottawa , Ojibwa , Pottawatomi , and Huron ; from eastern Illinois Country : the Miami , Wea , Kickapoo , Mascouten , and Piankashaw ; and from the Ohio Country : the Delawares ( Lenape ) , Shawnee , Mingo , and Wyandot , engaged in scattered warfare with the United States , trying to end Anglo - American encroachment . The conflicts were called the Northwest Indian War . The Indians asked the British for military support , which they initially refused . They did supply the Indians with weapons in 1794 . In February 1794 , the Governor - in - Chief Lord Dorchester , anticipating that the Americans would honour their treaty with France , said that war was likely to break out between the United States and Great Britain before the year was out . His statement encouraged the Indians in their war . Dorchester ordered Simcoe to rally the Indians and arm British vessels on the Great Lakes . He also built Fort Miamis ( in present day Maumee , Ohio ) to supply Indians in the upcoming war . Simcoe expelled Americans from a settlement on southern Lake Erie which had threatened British control of the lake . George Washington denounced the " irregular and high - handed proceeding of Mr . Simcoe . " While Dorchester planned for a defensive war , Simcoe urged London to declare war : " Upper Canada is not to be defended by remaining within the boundary line . " Lord Dorchester was given an official reprimand for his strong speech against the Americans in 1794 . Simcoe realized that Newark made an unsuitable capital because it was on the United States border and subject to attack . He proposed moving the capital to a more defensible position in the middle of Upper Canada ' s southwestern peninsula between Lake Erie and Lake Huron . He named the new location London and renamed the river as the Thames in anticipation of the change . Lord Dorchester rejected this proposal , but he accepted Simcoe ' s second choice of Toronto . Simcoe moved the capital to Toronto in 1793 , renaming the settlement York after Frederick , Duke of York , George III ' s second son . Simcoe began construction of two main routes through Ontario to aid in the defence of Upper Canada ; they would also help encourage settlement and trade throughout the province . Yonge Street , named after the Minister of War Sir George Yonge , was built north - south between one of the two portages fur trade routes between Lake Ontario and Lake Simcoe . Soldiers of the Queen ' s Rangers began cutting the road in August 1793 , reaching Holland Landing in 1796 . Another road , Dundas Street named for the Colonial Secretary Henry Dundas , was built east - west between London and York . The Northwest Indian War stuttered to a stop after the United States defeated the Indians at the Battle of Fallen Timbers . They made peace under the Treaty of Greenville . While still at war with France , the British could not afford to antagonise the Americans . In the Jay Treaty of 1794 , they agreed to abandon the frontier forts and to relocate on their side of the border defined in the Treaty of Paris ( 1783 ) . Their plan for an Indian buffer state failed . After the British surrendered Fort Niagara in November 1796 , they confronted the United States from Canada over the Niagara River . Later career . In July 1796 poor health forced Simcoe to return to Britain . He was unable to return to Upper Canada and resigned his office in 1798 . He served briefly as the commander of British forces in Saint - Domingue ( Haiti ) . There , in the spring of 1797 , he defended the coastal town of Saint Marc but lost Mirebalais and the Central Plateau to the forces of Toussaint Louverture , leader of the slave revolt This campaign signaled the end of the English attempt , in collaboration with the plantation owners , to restore slavery and other aspects of the " ancien regime " . Simcoe was commissioned Colonel of the 81st Foot in 1798 , but exchanged the position for the 22nd Foot less than six months later . He was also commander of the Western District in Britain . In 1806 , he was appointed commander - in - chief of India ( to succeed Charles Cornwallis , 1st Marquess Cornwallis , who had died shortly after arriving in India . ) Simcoe died in Exeter before assuming the post . Gerard Lake , 1st Viscount Lake , was reappointed to replace Simcoe . Simcoe was buried in Wolford Chapel on the Simcoe family estate near Honiton , Devon . The Ontario Heritage Foundation acquired title to the chapel in 1982 . Legacy . Many places in Canada were named in honour of Simcoe : There are two places named for Simcoe with the title " Lord " , but Simcoe was not made a Lord in his lifetime . They are the following : Captain John Kennaway Simcoe , the last member of the Simcoe family , died without issue in 1891 and was survived by widow beyond 1911 .