Ontario Abandoned Places will be rebranded as Ominous Abandoned Places

Granny Cock's House

Demolished House in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada

Apr 10 2011

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Recent status Demolished
Location # 2577

Part of what was once the Windfields Industrial Complex, this farmstead sits abandoned on Winchester Road in Oshawa, waiting for the 407 to plow through it. The house has been purged of anything of value, including copper pipes, and sits sadly waiting for the wrecking ball.

The one and a half story vernacular farmstead was built in the 1840s, on property that belonged at the time to a Mrs Harriet Cock. Harriet Trevithick was born in 1791 in England. On January 26, 1818 Harriet wed William Cock. Poor Willy died in 1819, a prosperous grocer. He left Mrs Cock a rich woman. Cock emigrated to Canada from England in 1842, along with her only child, her daughter Harriet, and her manservant. She bought three pieces of land in Whitby East, as well as some property on Georgian Bay. The 1871 cencus finds Mrs Cock an 80 year old widow, living in the house with a farmer, her 23 year old grandson William Guy, and 17 year old Farm Servant Joseph Vallant. At the time, Mrs Cock also had residing with her 19 year old Elizabeth Graham who was employed as her house servant. Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry Graham, who farmed nearby on the 6th concession.

Comments

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10 years ago

His gallery was deleted July 27, 2013. Refer to the activity logs below.

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10 years ago

Hi trailpro! Thanks very much for your question about my coin finds. Yes, the 'Victoria' silver quarter is dated between 1837 - 1901, the large Upper Canada Penny is 1857 and the Lower Canada Bank of Montreal Half Penny is 1844!

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10 years ago

also of note: Granny first name was HARRIet, and her husband's was WILLY... Also, just looking at the old 1877 Atlas. A few properties to the east were the "Lick" family...Imagine if they married into the family who owned this property?

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10 years ago

Wow david you found a treasure! Lucky you! Are those old coins?

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10 years ago

I have just posted a number of pictures of relics that I found while metal detecting on this property. I found all of these items in the field which sits about 30' to the east of the old house. Please feel free to email me with any questions. David

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10 years ago

I pass by here every morning on the way to work and noticed one of the first things to disappear were the stain glass windows on the top floor. Also noticed there is some kind of archeological (?) dig just down the road from it that has been an open pit since last year. I wonder if anything of interest was found or is published somewhere? Thanks very much for the info on this property.

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10 years ago

This place is being demolished in a couple weeks.

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11 years ago

Lol...the house had little of interest beyond a nice peelie room and a few other things. These ones just kinda get lost in the shuffle after a while.

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11 years ago

I have a weenie little gallery to post but it's down the priority list...will get to it!

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12 years ago

Haha! I didn't make this sh*t up man! :D

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12 years ago

also of note: her first name was HARRIet, and her husband's was WILLY...

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12 years ago

Don't mean to be rude but just looking at the old 1877 Atlas. A few properties to the east were the "Lick" family...Imagine if they married into the family who owned this property?