The Purnell family from Gloucestershire, England is regarded as one of the earliest families to arrive in the northern part of East Flamborough Township.
Property ownership in the area was complicated by the British Crown’s decision to award so many of the lots to the family of General Sir Isaac Brock’s family, who were absentee owners for over 30 years.
Abraham Purnell Sr., (1783-1856) arrived in the Mountsberg area c.1835 and was one of the earliest property owners, obtaining his deed to Lot 11, Concession 12 on March 30, 1837.
Thomas Purnell (c. 1792-1876), also from Achton, Gloucestershire and a younger brother of Abraham Sr., arrived in the township many years later and received his deed to Lot 12, Concession 11 on Aug. 23, 1848.
It is from this family that the name Purnell’s Corners eventually originated. Members of the Purnell families were deeply involved with the establishment of the Mountsberg Methodist Church in East Flamborough, where many of the early members are buried in the cemetery, and also with the later Freelton Methodist Church.
The Purnell family also came to own property in West Flamborough Township. A third generation member of the Purnell family, Alfred Purnell (1863-1950), son of Abraham and Elizabeth Purnell and grandson of Thomas, along with his wife Sophia Schultz, lived at the northern corner of the intersection of Brock Road (now Hwy. 6) and the 13th Concession Road (now Regional Road 18) – the meeting point of the two roads becoming known as Purnell’s Corners.
This extreme northerly point of West Flamborough Township was farmland, parts of which had also been owned by Thomas Purnell. At the intersection, an old tollgate once stood, charging the traffic that was using Brock Road to travel north and south.
Rates for the tollgate varied from one-half pence for cows to four pence for a carriage drawn by four horses until the gates were abolished in 1898.
Lisa Jefferies, Flamborough Archives Summer Student
This article was originally published in the Flamborough Review, 10 December 2015.
