This page was exported from Shelburne Free Press [ https://shelburnefreepress.ca ] Export date:Wed Jul 3 11:28:10 2024 / +0000 GMT ___________________________________________________ Title: A brief history of William Jelly, Founding Father of Shelburne --------------------------------------------------- William Jelly was born in 1835 to Irish Immigrant John Jelly near Elizabethtown in Upper Canada, in a place later referred to as Brockville. It is largely believed that Shelburne is the result of Melancton Townships' 1940's construction of the Toronto Sydenham Road enticing settlers and promoting growth. Jelly lived in Amaranth Township, Wellington County and finally settling, taking up half of the West Lot 1, Concession 2 in 1864. While many reference Jelly as a Farmer turned businessman, other's concede he was still growing something! Caravaggio's Pharmacy is the very location where William Jelly built the timber framed, William's British Canadian Hotel which opened in 1865, becoming locally known as Jelly Hotel. Only coming to own the property in 1870, Jelly and his three brothers seemed to thrive, buying land, promoting growth and development. It was at this time, within a year of the Hotel opening, Jelly became the first post master of a post office named Shelburne by members of Canadian Parliament after the Earl of Shelburne and at that time the post office was conveniently located in the hotel. In later 1870, Jelly sold the hotel which then became known as Shelburne House. Convinced the village of Shelburne would prosper as the expected arrival of the Toronto, Bruce and Grey Railway was certain to ensure Shelburne's growth, Jelly took particular interest in surveying the village. And thrive it did! When the village of Shelburne was incorporated in 1879, William Jelly was elected Reeve, and remained Reeve for 14 years even though elections were held. Also elected to the Ontario Legislative Assembly, Jelly represented Dufferin as a Conservative. Jelly enjoyed a two year political career serving on Council for Melancthon Township and Grey County Council. Though Jelly took a brief pause from politics from 1893–1897, he was convinced by locals to serve again, which he did until his death in 1900. Jelly was survived by his wife, Bessie and his daughter Adeline. William Jelly is widely considered one of the very first businessmen in Shelburne and was witness to his little, thriving village grow to 1000 people in his time noting Main Street evolved as wooden store fronts became brick, and Shelburne quickly became a manufacturing centre. In 1977, Shelburne became a town and today, the population continues to grow. Jelly's hard work, political commitment and insight into a dream to see Shelburne thrive will bring the community of Shelburne together on June 14th at 12 p.m., at Jack Downing Park, where an unveiling of a statue dedicated to this great man will be celebrated and honored by Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, the Honorable David C. Onley, the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, representing Her Majesty, The Queen of Canada, MP David Tilson, Warden Bill Hill, Shelburne Mayor, Ed Crewson, and CAO John Telfer. A proud day for the community of Shelburne to share and remember a moment that took a life in the making, William Jelly, Shelburne's founding Father, a different kind of farmer. Worth noting, according to Wikipedia, Shelburne's population today in 2014 is a comfortable 7,200 and continues to grow. By Alex Sher --------------------------------------------------- Images: https://shelburnefreepress.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Jelly-graphic-001-1-300x210.jpg --------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Post date: 2014-06-12 10:24:05 Post date GMT: 2014-06-12 14:24:05 Post modified date: 2014-06-18 12:23:14 Post modified date GMT: 2014-06-18 16:23:14 ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Export of Post and Page as text file has been powered by [ Universal Post Manager ] plugin from www.gconverters.com