John Graves Simcoe is a towering figure in the history of early Ontario. He was the first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada. He was responsible for moving the provincial capital from Newark (now Niagara-on-the-Lake) to Toronto. He began construction of Yonge Street. And he moved to abolish slavery in Upper Canada (though it didn’t apply to everyone, and some slaves continued to be held for some years after).
He was, in short, a defining character.
Locally, he left a mark by naming Lake Simcoe. Most people assume that John Graves Simcoe named it after himself, cementing his legacy, if you will. But that’s not the case.
When French explorers arrived in the region and made contact with the native Huron/Wyandot people, they learned that the lake was known as Ouentironk —Beautiful Water. The first map of the lake, crafted in 1675 by Pierre Raffeix, referred to it as Lac Taranto. This name didn’t really stick, however, and by the early 18th century it was known as Lac aux Claies, which means Lake of Grids, in reference to the numerous First Nations fishing weirs in the lake.
During the five-year period from 1791 that he occupied the position of lieutenant governor of Upper Canada (Ontario), Simcoe named, or renamed, many locations. He saw to it that Lac aux Claies was renamed Lake Simcoe.
But not in his own honour.
Instead, Lake Simcoe honours the life and service of his father, Captain John Simcoe of the British Royal Navy. Born in 1710, he entered the navy as a teenager and rapidly rose up the ranks. When the Seven Years War broke out between France and Britain in 1754, Simcoe was in command of the 60-gun warship HMS Pembroke. He was present during the siege of Louisbourg in 1758, when British forces captured this vital Nova Scotia fortress. Without its capture, the British fleet could not sail up the St. Lawrence to assault Quebec City.
Simcoe would miss the capture of Quebec, however, as he died of pneumonia on May 15, 1759, four months prior to the Battle of the Plains of Abraham.
Forty years later, Captain Simcoe’s sole surviving child sought to memorialize his father’s service by naming Ontario’s fifth largest body of water in his honour.
As a point of interest, Simcoe named Cook’s Bay as well. It honours famed explorer James Cook, who as a relatively young officer served under Captain John Simcoe during the Seven Years War and mentored a young John Graves Simcoe in the absence of his father.
