Photo of the stone monument erected to Jane Gibbins (née Young) near Priscillas Place, off Lockhart Road. The story is recounted in brief on the monument, but the full story as told by William J. Gibbins is as follows: Jane, her husband David, and their children came to Canada from County Down, Ireland, in 1836. David Gibbins was a carpenter and knew little of farming, but his wife Jane made up for this with plenty of experience. David set out from their temporary home in Markham to investigate the land in Innisfil and returned with four soil samples tied into the four corners of a handkerchief. Jane was to choose the location of their farm based on these samples. Later in 1836 David returned to the farm, located on lot 11, concession 11, to build shelters for his family and livestock. His wife and children then followed, mostly by ox trail. Night fell when they were just a few miles from the farm, and the cows with their calves were exhausted from the journey. Jane sent David and her children on to the farm while she remained in the forest with the animals. She tied the calves to a sapling with her scarf so the cows would not wander away, and kept the family’s two dogs with her to frighten away the bears. The next morning she made her way to the farm and did some cooking and errands before lying down, exhausted from the journey and weakened by exposure. A resident of Innisfil for only a few hours, Jane never woke up from her sleep that day. David buried her on a hill overlooking the land she had chosen.
