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George Miller, a native of Cummertree Parish, Dumfries, Scotland, emigrated to Upper Canada in 1832. He settled on Lot 16, Concession 9, Markham Township, a former Crown reserve lot that was granted to King’s College (later to become the University of Toronto) in 1828. In 1839, the same year George Miller purchased the property he was leasing from King’s College, his spacious two-storey farmhouse of adobe brick was constructed. Miller named his property “Rigfoot Farm” after the estate he had lived on in Scotland. He married Catherine Somerville in 1840. George Miller was noted for his interest in the improvement of farm stock. He imported Leicester and Cotswold breeds of sheep and Short-horned Durham cattle. In addition to livestock, George Miller imported trees from Scotland for his farmstead. He helped organize the Provincial Exhibition, a forerunner of the Canadian National Exhibition, and received many awards for his stock at the Exhibition. He was also involved in the Home District Agricultural Society and served as a vice president. In addition to his success in agriculture, George Miller owned a sawmill on Little Rouge Creek and became a major landowner in the area of Markham Township, amassing just under 885 acres by the late 1850s. Rigfoot Farm remained in the ownership of George and Catherine Miller’s descendants until 1934 when it was purchased by Reuben Richard Pearse and Helen (Chester) Pearse. The Pearse family farmed in the Scarborough Township community of Hillside and moved to Markham after selling their property to Dr. Robert Jackson, the owner of Dr. Jackson Foods Limited, for his Valley Halla estate, now part of the Toronto Zoo lands. |