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Front: Nice Canada #27 6¢ Brown on cover with blue target cancel
and matching blue Markham, U.C. split double circle cancel.
Reverse: Black striped Mourning cover, soiled and trompe
l'oeil missing from embossed medallion.
Notes: This is a #27 used on cross border mourning cover
from Markham, Upper Canada to the small town of Clarence in Cedar
County, Iowa (Pop. now 1008). Proper 6¢ usage for mail to the US
in this period. When Upper and Lower Canada were established in 1791,
John Graves Simcoe was appointed the first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper
Canada. Simcoe named the Township of Markham, north of the Town of York
(now Toronto), after his friend, William Markham, the Archbishop of
York. By 1857 most of the Township had been cleared of timber and was
under cultivation. Villages like Thornhill, Unionville and Markham
greatly expanded and new, specialized industries such as wagon works,
tanneries, farm implement and furniture factories sprang up. In 1871,
the Toronto and Nipissing Railway Company, with stations in Unionville
and Markham, officially opened its line from Scarborough to Uxbridge.
Initially, the railway brought renewed prosperity and rapid development.
Farmers and millers had a more convenient means of transporting their
products to Toronto. Other merchants had easier access to supplies and
business boomed. This cover is from the Chisholm family correspondence,
best known for William Chisholm (Upper Canada) (1788-1842), an Upper
Canada farmer, businessman and politician and the founder of Oakville,
Ontario. Descendants later relocated to Iowa.
Condition: Stamp is fine for the issue with perfs just in
at right. Envelope reduced at left.
Contents: None.
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