The Jesuit Pear Tree

Local agriculture has long history
Long before huge tractors and monster combines roamed the fields of Chatham-Kent and Southwestern Ontario, there were a variety of active, productive and organized forms of agriculture being pursued.

Although many native communities lived nomadic forms of existence, the Hurons as well as the Neutrals (among others) were considered to be some of the earliest agriculturalists to the area. Such crops as maize, beans, squash, tobacco, sunflowers, wild strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, onions, wild cherries, apples, walnuts, wild pumpkins and wild peas were successfully cultivated by early native groups.

Although many might think that the tapping of maple trees to obtain syrup is a relatively modern approach, it was a process used by a number of native groups within our area. The Wynadots had a very progressive (by European standards at any rate) lifestyle. They lived in well-organized villages and became quite wealthy by selling such valuable resources as horses, cattle, hogs and corn to the French inhabitants of Fort Detroit.

During the 1740s, there were efforts made to induce settlers from France to come to our area and settle along the rich agricultural land bordering such rivers as the Detroit, St. Clair and Thames. By 1748 it was estimated that at least 50 families had settled between Sandwich and Amherstburg (called "Petit Cote" at the time) with each family having at least two fields under cultivation.

The two main crops to begin with were spring wheat and peas; however, this limited range was soon to be increase. Although the major source of income for most settlers to the area in the 1740s was fur trading, farming was becoming a relatively lucrative sideline as French settlers began to expand the number of crops that they grew. Wheat, barley, oats, peas, buckwheat, Indian corn as well as potatoes quickly became mainstays of the pioneer agriculturists. As time went on, the value of raising sheep, horses and cattle became clear to the French settlers, and as the 1700s progressed it was estimated that the French in the Fort Detroit area had in excess of 3,000 cattle and sheep. Fattened swine were raised, slaughtered and then marketed as salt pork to the immediate area and beyond.

It has been estimated that every French farm of the 1700s had as a mandatory component a fruit orchard. In these orchards were peach, plum, apple and pear trees. The original pear trees grown in our area were from seeds brought over from France.

One interesting bit of trivia from this time period was passed down in a historical account and it was in reference to one of these original pear trees. It was reported that in the 1970s a pear tree, planted in the 1780s on Lot 7 Concession 1 in Essex County, was still bearing fruit! This tree referred to in the article as "The Jesuit Pear Tree" originally came to the new world as a tiny seed from France.
Lisa and Jim Gilbert are local historians.

Link (here)