Elizabeth Simcoe
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[edit] Elizabeth Posthuma Gwillim (1762-1850)
In the village of Whitchurch in Herefordshire, England (the date and city of birth are uncertain), Elizabeth Postuma Gwillim was born to Elizabeth Spinckes and Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Gwillim. Only months before Elizabeth's birth, Lt. Colonel Gwillim died, while Elizabeth's mother died shortly after her daughter's birth. In commemoration of her mother, Elizabeth was given the name "Posthuma." After Elizabeth was baptized the same day as her mother's burial, she was taken into the care of her mother’s younger sister, Margaret, who married Admiral Samuel Graves in 1769.
In 1782, Elizabeth met and marrried John Simcoe. John and Elizabeth had four daughters and one son, Francis Simcoe, for whom they named Castle Frank. Katherine Simcoe, the only daughter of Elizabeth and John to be born in Upper Canada, died in childhood of unknown causes; she is buried at Fort York Garrison.
[edit] Daily life
While her husband was at council meetings in Newark (Niagra on the Lake), Elizabeth spent much of her time with Guy Carleton (Lord Dorchester) and his wife, Lady Dorchester. In her diary, Elizabeth states that, in a span of fifteen days, she attended to four parties at the home of Lord and Lady Dorchester. Elizabeth wrote of another occasion when, in the course of a week, she played cards three times and had tea and biscuits twice with the Lord and Lady Dorchester.
[edit] Legacy
Lady Elizabeth Simcoe's legacy includes a series of 595 water-colour paintings that depict the Town of York and the naming of the Scarborough, Ontario district of the Greater Toronto Area after Scarborough, England. The townships of North, East and West Gwillimbury, just south of Lake Simcoe in central Ontario, are also named for the family.
