The property is particularly significant for its association with Adam Fergusson, advocate, statesman and agriculturalist and its association with his son, Adam Johnson Fergusson Blair, advocate and statesman.
Born in 1783 at Woodhill, Perthshire, Scotland, Adam Fergusson, established himself early in life as a learned gentleman-advocate. A founding director of the Highland Agricultural Society as well as a founder of the first Scottish Veterinary School at Edinburgh, Fergusson first visited Upper Canada in 1831. The purpose of his visit was to investigate, on behalf of the Highland Agricultural Society, the state of agriculture in Upper Canada and the potential for emigration for Scottish farmers and crofters.
Fergusson’s findings were published in 1832 and reprinted in 1833 as an appendix to his own work, Practical notes made during a tour in Canada, and a portion of the United States. A reform-minded individual, Fergusson was impressed with the opportunities for immigrants, and at the age of 50 brought his second wife, Jessie Tower, his seven sons and one daughter, a manservant and tutor to Upper Canada in the summer of 1833 (Fergusson’s first wife and mother of his children, Jemima Johnson Blair, died at age 30 following the birth of her eighth child in 1824). The Fergusson family settled on 122 acres near the village of Waterdown in East Flamborough Township where he built his home, “Woodhill”. During the same year, Fergusson and James Webster purchased 7,367 acres in Nichol Township on part of which they established the Town of Fergus. The pair established grist and saw mills, the management of which was transferred to Fergusson’s son George. Fergusson, however, maintained his principal residence at “Woodhill”. Woodhill was named after Fergusson’s home in Scotland.
A staunch supporter of Britain, Fergusson commanded the Gore Regiment during the Rebellion of 1837. Fergusson is credited with having had a moderating effect on William Lyon Mackenzie and his rebellion against the Family Compact. In 1839, Fergusson was appointed for life to the Legislative Council of Upper Canada (and later the Legislative Council for United Canada). Fergusson further demonstrated his loyalty to the British crown when he opposed annexation to the United States in 1850. Fergusson was chairman of the Reform conventions of 1857 and 1859 and together, with George Brown, William McDougall, and others, Fergusson prepared the resolutions for the 1859 convention which condemned the union as a failure and advocated constitutional changes leading to confederation.
A farmer by avocation, Fergusson’s commitment to improving the conditions and quality of Upper Canadian agriculture by encouraging selective livestock breeding, the development of new feeds, crop rotation, soil analysis, and improved drainage techniques did not wane. He was one of the first to import pure-bred, short-horned cattle from Britain. Later, “Woodhill” became a “model” farm, introducing East Flamborough farmers to grains other than wheat. As early as 1843 he advocated a central agricultural society for Canada West and served as the first president of the Agricultural Association of Upper Canada organized in 1846. From its inception in 1850 until his death in 1862, Fergusson was a leading member of the Board of Agriculture of Upper Canada. It was through this organization that an annual exhibition was developed: the forerunner to the Canadian National Exhibition. In 1852, an Act of Parliament established the Bureau of Agriculture with Fergusson as the inaugural chair (official predecessor of the Minister of Agriculture).
A senator of the University of Toronto from 1856 until his death, Fergusson encouraged the establishment of a chair of agriculture at the university and was credited with bringing Dr Andrew Smith from Scotland to found the veterinary school at Guelph which opened in 1863.
Fergusson died at “Woodhill” in 1862. The family burial plot is located at St. Luke’s Anglican Church in Burlington.
Fergusson’s second son, Adam Johnson Fergusson Blair, was born in Perthshire in 1815. Following the emigration of his family to Upper Canada, Fergusson Blair was called to the Canadian Bar in 1839. Not unlike his father, Fergusson Blair established himself early in life as a statesman. Appointed in 1842 as the first judge of the County of Wellington, he later ran successfully as a Reform candidate for the District of Waterloo (unseating his father’s former business partner, James Webster). He served in this position until 1854. From 1860 until his death in 1867, Fergusson Blair served as Legislative Councillor, Brock division. It was in 1862, following the death of his father, that Fergusson Blair returned to Woodhill to take up residence. A vocal supporter of the Great Coalition between George Brown and John A. MacDonald, Fergusson Blair was rewarded for his support of Confederation by John A. MacDonald with appointment to the first Senate of the Dominion of Canada in 1867. It was later that year, at the age of 52, that Fergusson Blair died. Fergusson Blair is buried in the family plot at St. Luke’s Anglican Church in Burlington.
Given the important role that both men played in the North American experiment that later became the Dominion of Canada, it is not surprising that “Woodhill” itself is reputed as having been a “busy spot”. Woodhill became part of Canada West in the Province of Canada. Many meetings were held there and high ranking dignitaries were entertained including Premier Robt.
Baldwin, Wm. Blake, and W.L. MacKenzie ”(Dyer, Laird of Woodhill, p. 69).
-398 Mountain Brow Road East Designation Bylaw 44-2009
A large house was required to accommodate his family, which included his new wife, Jessie Tower, six of the seven sons from his first marriage, servants, and a tutor for his sons. In Scotland Fergusson had been a lawyer, magistrate and director of an agricultural society. After settling in Woodhill, he published Practical Notes from a Tour of Canada and helped to found the Agriculture Association of Upper Canada, whose first exhibition in 1847 was the forerunner of the Canadian National Exhibition. He promoted the founding of the Ontario Veterinary College, later the University of Guelph. He was one of the founders of the Canada Life Assurance Company and a co-founder of the village of Fergus, Ontario. He was active in politics as a moderate Reformer and a member of the Legislative Council.
One of his sons, Adam Fergusson-Blair, was President of the first Privy Council of the Dominion of Canada in 1867.
The Hon. Adam Fergusson died in 1862 (his monument is in St Luke’s Church yard) and his sons inherited Woodhill. In 1871 George & Robert Ferguson sold it to William Spence.
