390 Lakeshore East - Captain William Wilson

Captain William Wilson was a very successful mariner and major land owner.

William Wilson and his 9 siblings came to Canada from Ireland with their widowed mother in 1817. William was 8 years old at the time. They originally settled at Perth, Ontario. At an early age William signed up on a sailing vessel and started his career on the lake. William and his brother, Robert, married sisters from the neighbouring village of Port Nelson (now Burlington). By 1841 William and his wife had one child and were renting a property in Oakville. By 1848 he joined the Presbyterian church and had two young sons. In 1849 he was listed a Captain of a schooner out of Oakville. He was very successful and within six years he had a large three-storey brick commercial building erected on Lakeshore Road that is still standing at 234 Lakeshore Road E. It was a hardware store for over 70 years and most recently was Moe's Kitchen and Tavern.

Captain Wilson purchased many other pieces of property, including this lot on which he built his home, as well as several adjoining lots.
He also owned two lots at 294 and 298 Sumner Avenue. His will left at total of 16 Oakville lots and 2 lots in Orillia to his heirs.

The two fireplace mantles from the interior of the house are unique in Oakville and were likely obtained by Captain Wilson on a trip to the United States. The window proportions and placement very close to the floor were likely also design elements he had seen on his travels.

After William's death, his daughter Mary Jane Wilson, owned the house, renting it out and eventually selling it to Edmund Gulledge. In 1944, the building was purchased by Herbert Merry and his family, who converted it into a triplex. One section of the house was rented to the Marriott family for several years.

William Wilson's grandson, Hugh, trained Canadian bred hunter horses with H.C. Cox who lived in an estate on Lakeshore Road East called "Ennisclaire". Many of these horses won trophies at competitions at Madison Square Gardens. They also started the Ennisclaire Hunt Club in southeast Oakville.

Much of this history and the interior photographs come from "Old Oakville" by David and Suzanne Peacock, copies of which can be purchased at the Historical Society.