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Description

Striking large format birdseye view of Ingersoll, Ontario, published by J.C. Young in Toronto.

Fine view of the town, spreading out on either side of the Thames River, with streets, roads and railroads identified, including the Ingersoll & Woodstock Gravel Road. The key at the bottom locates 87 businesses in the business directory, each of which is shown on the view. The map includes 23 vignettes, only some of which include names, leading us to believe that this may have been a proof state of the view.

Wesbroom was active in Toronto in the late 1870s and 1880s. Reps also notes a view of Toronto, published in 1878. Wesbroom appears in the 1881 Toronto Directory as an engraver, but by 1893, he had given up this work and moved to New York to become a Baptist Preacher.

The area was first settled by Thomas Ingersoll (Laura Secord's father) who in 1793 obtained a land grant of 66,000 acres from Governor John Graves Simcoe. The town was originally founded as Oxford-on-the-Thames but renamed to Ingersoll in Thomas' honor by his son Charles. In 1852, Ingersoll was incorporated as the "Village of Ingersoll". Nine years later in 1861, it changed status to town.

No copies in OCLC. Reps locates 1 facsimile and 1 photo, but no original examples (and therefore does not list the size).

Condition Description
Tears, folds splits and loss of image along folds, expertly restored and backed with archival paper.
William Nathaniel Wesbroom Biography

William Nathaniel Wesbroom had a dual career. The 1881 directory lists him as an engraver, but he was actually a skilled lithographer and artist. His best-known work is a birdseye view of Toronto.

But William gave up art for preaching, and moved to the USA in 1893 with his wife Elizabeth. In 1900 they were living in Nassau, New York state, and William's occupation was given as “Preacher Baptist”. By 1910 they had moved to Camden, New Jersey and William had become a Baptist Minister.