William Berczy

William Berczy, The family of Peter Leopold of Tuscany, 1781-1782, Galleria d'Arte moderna, Florence

William Berczy, The Woolsey Family (1809)

William Berczy (December 10, 1744 – February 5, 1813) was a German-born Upper Canada pioneer and painter.

Early years

Berczy was born in Swabia, Electorate of Bavaria (part of the Holy Roman Empire and now in Germany) as a son of the Wirklicher Hofrat (Albrecht Theodor Moll) and Johanna Josepha Walpurga Moll (née Hefele). Berczy was originally named Johann Albrecht Ulrich Moll, but later changed his name.

He studied at the Akademie der bildenden Künste in Vienna and at the University of Jena in Saxony. His early career was spent in several European countries, including Italy (meeting with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in Florence) and England, where he exhibited at the Royal Academy.

Immigration to British North America

In 1792, Berczy set sailed for the Americas settling in Philadelphia, then setting up a business in York, Upper Canada (now Toronto). A few years later, his work took him to Lower Canada (Quebec).

Although best known for his portraits, he also carried out religious paintings and architectural work, including plans for Christ Church Cathedral in Montreal in 1803, and was a surveyor.

Berczy married, on 1 November 1785, Jeanne-Charlotte Berczy née Allamand (1760–1839) of Lausanne (canton of Bern, now - since 1803 - canton of Vaud), Switzerland. They had two sons, William Bent Berczy and Charles Albert Berczy.

Settler

Berczy helped John Graves Simcoe establish a settlement north of Toronto, which became the town of Markham, Ontario. "William Berczy, co-founder of Toronto, along with his German Pioneers, cleared part of the townsite of York (Toronto), erected houses and a magazine, built 15 miles of Yonge street (Eglinton to Elgin Mills some without shoes) in addition to 30 miles of roads in Markham township and also cleared 24 miles of the Rouge river waterway for navigation."^[1]

His son Charles Albert Berczy became the first postmaster of Toronto.

His two best known pictures are a full-length portrait of the Mohawk chief Thayendanegea (Joseph Brant) (c. 1805)^[2] and a group portrait of the Woolsey Family^[3] (1809).

Death

Berczy travelled to New York City during the War of 1812 and was stranded when attempting to travel to England. He died in the city and was buried at Trinity Church.

His wife moved in with William Bent Berczy and died on September 18, 1839 in Sainte-Mélanie, Lower Canada.^[4]

Structures and communities named after him

An elementary school in northern Markham is named William Berczy Public School in commemoration for the man who founded the city. It has over 800 students in grades K-8.

Also in honour of this founder, the Markham government named one of its densely populated neighbourhoods after him, the Berczy Village.

A bronze statue of Berczy will be situated in at Berczy Square, a park to be built at Berczy Village near Kennedy Road and 16th Avenue in Markham.^[5][6][7]

Literature

• Ronald J. Stagg: Berczy, Williem [...]. In: Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Francess G. Halpenny, General Editor, vol. 5. 1801-1820. Toronto, Buffalo, London 1983, pp. 70–72.
• B[eate] Stock: Berczy, William (Johann Albrecht Ulrich Moll). In: (K[laus] G[erhard]) Saur [Publisher]: Allgemeines Künstler-Lexikon. Die Bildenden Künstler aller Zeiten und Völker, Bd. 9. München, Leipzig 1994, pp. 255–256.
• Hartmut Froeschle [Fröschle]: Adler auf dem Ahornbaum. Studien zur Einwanderung, Siedlung, Kultur-und Literaturgeschichte der Deutschen in Kanada. Herausgegeben und eingeleitet von Lothar Zimmermann. Toronto 1997 (Deutschkanadische Schriften, B. Sachbücher, Bd. 7), pp. 53–63: "Williem Berczy, ein deutschkanadischer Pionier".
• Hartmut Froeschle [Fröschle]: Berczy trifft Goethe. In: Deutschkanadisches Jahrbuch / German Canadian Yearbook 15 (1998), pp. 89–97.
• "William Berczy Co-Founder of Toronto" written by John Andre in 1967 as a centennial project for the Borough of York.
• Pioneers of the Don by Charles Sauriol 1995 ISBN 0-9699685-0-7 (pp288–298 "The Story of the German Mills")

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to William Berczy.

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
• German Pioneers of Toronto and Markham Township - The Story of William Berczy
• Article about Berczy Park in Toronto Star, Dec 22, 2008, giving more detail about his life: "Oasis amid skyscrapers has a magic of its own"
• Berczy and the early Settlement of Markham in History of Toronto and County of York, Ontario Vol 1 1885 page 114
• Berczy in the History of Markham
• The William Berczy Paintings