David Myers was born in 1800 at Black River, a village near Utica in New York State. His father was Captain Christian Myers, a veteran of the Revolutionary War who, perhaps because of the horrors of combat, fell deep into the bottle after the war. Captain Myers married Catherine Wolff, a woman at least twenty years his junior, who bore him three sons, the youngest of which was David.
Unstable and alcoholic, Captain Myers abandoned his young family not long after David entered the world, leaving Catherine to raise their children on her own. In 1806, she married George F.H. Wernecke. The cast-off Myers boys found a new father and, in time, four half-brothers. Life, we can assume, was good.
Just after the War of 1812 concluded, George and Catherine packed up their four youngest boys and moved to Upper Canada (Ontario). After a few false starts, they ended up farming in Innisfil. David and the other Myers boys, already independent young men, remained behind in New York State.
In 1829, David was visited by his half-brothers who sang the praises of their bountiful farm and the opportunities Canada offered. He was sold. In 1830, he packed his bags and immigrated to Canada, landing at first in Markham where he found employment as a labourer and, about a year later, married a woman named Melinda. Soon, Melinda was pregnant. David thought it was better to be with family, so the couple moved in with his mother and father-in-law.
Sadly, Melinda died in childbirth. Their son, Leonard, outlived her by a few short days.
On July 29, 1833, David bought the south half of Lot 16, Concession 10 — what would today be the northeast corner of Yonge and Victoria streets in Stroud — and began farming on his own. Here he would marry twice, first to Mary Ann, then to Sarah, and raise eight children.
A hamlet began to take root in the fertile soil around this crossroads. The community became known as Myers’ Corners. This honour was the result of David being among the earliest settlers in the vicinity and his commanding presence in shaping local affairs. It certainly wasn’t because of his business acumen. Family lore says that David lost the farm a couple of times due to financial mismanagement and had to plead with his stepbrothers to purchase it back for him.
Myers watched as Myers’ Corners became Victoria in the 1840s but he didn’t live long enough to see it become Stroud. David Myers died on Sept. 29, 1877, just three years before the second and final name change. He was buried in the family plot in St. Paul’s Anglican Cemetery.
