As part of my volunteer work for the Ontario Genealogical Society's Toronto Branch, I do some look-ups at the Ontario Archives for enquiries that come in to the Branch.
This week, I had three sets of look-ups to do. One involved finding a news item in the Toronto Leader for Thomas Young. Young was born in England in 1805 where he trained as an architect, and emigrated to Canada where he taught drawing and produced some of the earliest images of the growing city. He soon became active as a working architect and was commissioned to design a number of significant municipal and private buildings. HIs career foundered and he died of "apoplexy", a general term used to describe cardiac or cerebrovascular events.
The article about his death appeared in the October 4th edition (1860) of the Toronto Leader:
It reads:
Sudden Death
Yesterday morning a gentleman named Thomas Young, and old resident and well-known architect of this city, was found dead in his bed at the Grand Trunk Hotel, Palace street, where he had been staying for the previous week. On Tuesday night, he retired to rest apparently in good health; but not appearing at an advanced hour in the morning his room was entered and he was found a corpse. An inquest was held in the afternoon by Coroner Scott and a post mortem examination made by Drs. King and Alkin.The result of the medical inquiry showed that death had been caused by apoplexy.The jury returned a verdict accordingly. The deceased, who had no relatives in the city, occupied at one time an eminent position in his profession, but for some cause or other he unfortunately gave way to the seductive but destroying influence of liquor.
(Note: Palace Street is today's Front Street)
Source: Entry for Thomas Young in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online.
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