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The house at 10484 Ninth Line is located on Markham Township Lot 24, Concession 8. This lot was leased by the Crown to Pennsylvania-German immigrant Henry Wideman (originally spelled ‘Weidman’) in 1803, the year of his arrival in Markham Township. Henry Wideman (1757-1810) came from Buck’s County, Pennsylvania with his wife, Catherine Van Hoben and their children. He was one of the first ordained Mennonite clergymen in Upper Canada, and the first in Markham Township. Unfortunately, Henry Wideman was killed by a falling tree while clearing the road allowance in front of his lot. The Wideman Church on Highway 48 was named for him.
Henry and Catherine Wideman’s son, Christian Wideman arrived in Markham Township in 1805, two years after his parents. He married Maria Kauffman. Christian Wideman received the Crown patent for the family homestead in 1824 and is listed on Lot 24 Concession 8 in Walton’s Directory of 1837. Christian Wideman sold the east 65 acres of Lot 24 (the location of 10484 Ninth Line) to his son Henry Wideman (1810-1871) in 1844. The same year, Christian Wideman sold the larger 135 acre, westerly portion of the farm to Samuel Wideman, another son.
At the time of the 1851 census, Henry and Susan (Lehman) Wideman and their children were living in a stone house on Lot 28, Concession 7, even though the 65 acre portion of Lot 24, Concession 8 had been purchased in 1844. By the time of the 1861 census, the Henry Wideman family had moved to this location and were recorded as residing in a stone house. Henry Wideman died in 1871. His son, Peter Wideman, continued to farm the property. In 1878, a the estate of Henry Wideman assigned the farm to the London and Canada Loan and Savings Company, who sold to John McCreight the following year. John McCreight willed the farm to James McCreight in 1892. James and Viola McCreight sold the property in 1948.
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