1791–1879
Prospect Cemetery
Section 12 Lot 12
Bartholomew Bull, one of Toronto’s earliest settlers, arrived from Tipperary, Ireland, in 1818 with his wife Elizabeth and their daughter. Initially renting land, he soon purchased a large tract of uncleared property stretching east from today’s Dufferin Street and Davenport Road. Bull supplied cordwood to the garrison at Fort York and steadily expanded his holdings.
A devout Methodist, he hosted marathon tent meetings (large revival gatherings) converted his log cabin into the first Sunday School in the district. His efforts laid the foundation for the Davenport Methodist Church, the cornerstone of which was set in 1857 on Davenport Road. That road, once called “Bull’s Road,” followed the ancient Indigenous trail known as Spadunk and later took its name from a neighbour’s homestead.
Bull’s influence reached far beyond matters of faith. In 1830, he built Springmount, York Township’s first brick house. Bull passed away in 1879. Fifteen years later, in 1894, his remains – along with those of Elizabeth and other family members – were exhumed, placed in a Saratoga trunk, and reinterred at Prospect Cemetery. The grave, sealed in stone and cement, stands beneath the Bull monument, a tribute to a pioneer who shaped Toronto’s west end.
Source:
• Bartholomew Bull – Wikipedia
• Mount Pleasant Group – Bartholomew Bull
• WikiTree – Bartholomew Bull Genealogical Profile
• Toronto Historical Association – Bull Family Cemetery History
Photos:
• Portrait, From the private collection of Williams Perkins Bull, BARTHOLOMEW BULL, The Patriarch of Spadunk, Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
• Springmount, 1830-1883, Unknown author, Public domain, via TPL/Wikimedia Commons
