Mulmur’s “many rolling hills”
The township of Mulmur is one of Creemore’s nearest neighbours. A drive of a few kilometres to the south will find you at the northern border of the township. The first crossroads south of Avening marks the border.
The name Mulmur comes from the Irish Gaelic. A check on the internet tells us that it can be translated as “many great bald hills.” Very few of the many hills of Mulmur could be called bald. A loose translation is “many rolling hills.”
Mulmur is one of the townships of Dufferin County. Up until 1881, the townships of Mulmur and Mono were part of Simcoe County. Ontario at that time did some restructuring, taking townships from Grey, Simcoe and Wellington counties. The Belden Atlas of 1881 for Simcoe includes the maps of Mulmur and Mono but notes that by 1881 they belonged to the County of Dufferin.
Two books about the history of Mulmur are available. One is Mulmur: The Story of a Township 1951 and the other is Mulmur Township Scrapbook 150 Years of History. The 1951 book is available at the Creemore branch of Clearview Public Library for viewing but is not available for borrowing. The second book was put together in 2001 for the sesquicentennial. It is in the form of a loose leaf binder. I am fortunate to have a copy.
Settlement began about 1824 or 1825 in the south- east corner of the township. The village of Rosemont is at the exact south east corner. The first official Mulmur Township council was formed in 1851. Even at that time settlement was still confined to the south, to the Honeywood area in the north west and Banda in the north-east.
The majority of the population in the early days of settlement were Irish. In Ireland in 1847 a fungus hit Ireland’s potato crop and destroyed the food of which half the population ate exclusively. Those surviving the famine chose to take decrepit ships across the Atlantic. Many died on the trip. The remaining people landed and found land where they could make a home. Mulmur and Mono were often chosen.
The Honeywood area was settled by people from Yorkshire, England where living conditions were not the best. Honeywood was called Yorkshire Settlement or Little Yorkshire. I have ancestors from among those people. My great great grandparents and three of their children who died young are buried in Honeywood cemetery.
One of my favourite books which I have read many times is The Yellow Briar by Patrick Slater. It gives a picture of what life was like for the Irish who came and built log homes and made a place for themselves in the new province of Ontario. The story is set at Mono Mills, just beyond the border of Mulmur and Mono. It is a bittersweet love story. Read it if you can find it.
More to follow about Mulmur.
