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THE SIMCOE STAINED GLASS WINDOW |
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The stained glass window featured on our cover depicts the story of two families and their friendship, the Sibbalds and the Simcoes. In 1833 two sons of Mrs. Susan Sibbald emigrated from Scotland to Canada in order to study colonial farming near Orillia. In 1835 Mrs. Sibbald set sail from Scotland to investigate her sons’ activities and to find a suitable farm for them. She took a day tour on Lake Simcoe and decided to settle at what is now called Sibbald Point. Mrs. Sibbald and John Coomer donated land for a cemetery and church near the entrance to her estate which she named Eildon Hall. The first wooden church named after "Saint George - for England" was built by local families in 1838. Funds for its structure were principally acquired by the fund raising ability (from Britian) of Susan Sibbald’s close friend, Mrs. Charlotte Simcoe, daughter of John Graves Simcoe, the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada. The first church was replaced in 1877 by the present St Georges Anglican stone church. Mrs Sibbald’s three sons mainly financed and supervised the building of this new church. The east window of the stone church was designed with painted and stained glass, in Britain, in the workshop at Wolford Lodge, Devonshire, by three artisan and stone carver daughters of Governor John Graves Simcoe. However, four had originally started the project, but one of the daughters died before the window was finished. When examining the window you will notice seven crosses in the middle section. These seven crosses represent the seven daughters of Governor Simcoe, one for each. Susan Simcoe came to see the window being made in 1846. |
According to the research by R.W. Bro. Wallace McLeod, John Graves Simcoe had been initiated into Union Lodge No. 307, on the English register (Moderns) in Exeter, England in 1773, and commanded the Queen’s Rangers at the outbreak of the American Revolution as Colonel. There are many historical memories attached to St. George’s Anglican Church, the Eildon Hall estate, and the surrounding area. Governor John Graves Simcoe for instance named Lake Simcoe after his father. Renowned Canadian writer Stephen Leacock (1869-1944) wrote in his autobiography "The Boy I Left Behind Me" memories of the area. His story "Buggam Grange: A Good Old Ghost Story" was inspired by the Eildon Hall estate. He is laid at rest in the churchyard. Wolford Lodge, Governor Simcoe’s estate in England is currently owned and maintained by the Government of Ontario. So the Stained Glass Window leaves us reminders of a life of a Mason his family and friends.
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