Elizabeth Posthuma Simcoe 1766  - 1850	Elizabeth Simcoe has been called, "The First Lady of Upper Canada".  Such a title reflects her social and political status as wife of the first Lieutenant Governor.  However, it also reflects her importance as a woman who loved this country even though she spent but five years here. Elizabeth Posthuma Gwillim was orphaned early in her life and went to live with her uncle, Admiral Graves, and Aunt Margaret.  She was always talented at painting and sketching and quite adventurous.   At age sixteen, she married John Graves Simcoe who was thirty-one and she came with him to Canada in 1791.  Two of their six children, Sophia and Francis, travelled with them.  The four older daughters, Eliza, Charlotte, Henrietta and Caroline, were left in England with friends. A diary was kept by Elizabeth during her travels plus numerous sketches.   In 1796, she and John returned to England, because of his poor health.  A few years later, he passed away but she lived to be 84 and died in 1850.
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More Information: Elizabeth Simcoe by John M. Bassett (The Canadians Series)

The London and Middlesex Historical Society