294 and 298 Sumner Avenue - Captain William Wilson

Two properties owned by Captain William Wilson

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 a lot on which he built his home at 390 Lakeshore Road East, the southeast corner of Lakeshore Road and First Street. He also owned these two lots at 294 and 298 Sumner Avenue. His will left 16 Oakville lots and 2 lots in Orillia to his heirs.

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.

The Francis Matthews Soda Water Works factory operated for several years from the smaller building at 298 Sumner Avenue.

Much of this history is drawn from "Old Oakville" by David and Suzanne Peacock, copies of which can be purchased at the Historical Society