The Grimsby Stone Shop was built by Allan Nixon between 1798 and 1800. Allan Nixon was one of a group of United Empire Loyalists that came to the “Forty” in 1787 from New Jersey. Allan Nixon fought in the American Revolution (1775 to 1783) as an Ensign member of Butler’s Rangers.
After the American Revolution, Allan Nixon joined his Commanding Officer, Colonel Robert Nelles and other United Empire Loyalist families and came to Canada to settle in the Niagara District. The area was referred to as the “Forty” because it was built around a creek that was 40 miles from the Niagara River. Allan Nixon served on the township council in 1793.
In 1799, Allan Nixon became the first Junior Warden of the lodge of Freemasons in Grimsby.
In 1804, Allan Nixon was appointed Lieutenant in the Lincoln Militia and served in the first year of the War of 1812. Following the American Revolution, Allan Nixon was granted a large 1200 acre plot of land because of his loyalty to the British. It was situated at the “Forty” which ran from the escarpment to Lake Ontario. He built a Stone Blacksmith Shop close to the escarpment because of the abundance of stone and firewood. Building started in 1798 and was completed in 1800. His original log cabin was down by the lake but he later built another home across the road from the Stone Shop around 1803.
Allan Nixon, along with his wife Mary, died in 1813 when typhus spread through the local community killing 25% of the local population. William Nixon, Allan and Mary’s son, took over the Blacksmith Shop. George Pettit another United Empire Loyalist, was also employed as a Blacksmith. It is said that William Nixon was the first white child born in the Niagara area.
In 1796, the first Lieutenant Governor, John Graves Simcoe, surveyed and named the township in Upper Canada as Grimsby after Grimsby, Lincolnshire England.
We would like to give a special thank you to Catharine Gonnsen who is the
fourth generation granddaughter of Allan Nixon.
As well, we would like to thank local historian, Dorothy Turcotte.
Both have generously contributed valuable historical information
about the Stone Shop.
We would also like to thank the Grimsby Museum, Grimsby Historical Society, the Grimsby Archives at the Carnegie Building, John Holbourne and
Allan Smith for additional information and pictures provided.
