David Thomson (1763-1834)

PIONEER

David Thomson was born in Scotland and immigrated to Canada in 1796. After a short stay with his brother Archibald in Newark, he moved to York, now Toronto, where he was instrumental in the construction of Upper Canada’s (Ontario’s) first parliament buildings in 1797. Two years later in the spring of 1799, David, his wife Mary and their five children moved to Scarborough where history records the family as the first to settle in the old township. Their sixth child, Jennet, was the first recorded birth in Scarborough. David encouraged his brothers Archibald and Andrew to join him and together the Thomsons carved out pioneer settlements from the forests that once covered Scarborough. They built the community’s first homes, first church, first school and helped defend their country in the War of 1812. Notable descendents of the Thomsons of Scarborough include Farley Mowat and Ken Thomson, Lord Thomson of Fleet.