Anthony Van Egmond

Anthony Van Egmond, born Antonij Jacobi Willem Gijben (10 March 1778 Groesbeek in Dutch Republic – 5 January 1838 in Toronto, Upper Canada) before coming to North America, was purportedly a Dutch Napoleonic War veteran. He became one of the first settlers and business people in the Huron Tract, located in present-day southwestern Ontario Canada.Van Egmond became an early contractor employed by the Canada Company to construct the original 74-kilometer (46 mi) in length road into the new settlement, allowing the entry of settlers for the purchase of company lands and further economic development. He eventually became a supporter of William Lyon Mackenzie, and led a force of armed rebels in their unsuccessful skirmish at Montgomery's Tavern near Toronto, Ontario on December 7, 1837 during the Upper Canada Rebellion.

Anthony van Egmond was born in Groesbeek in the Netherlands, the son of Johannes Arnoldus Gijben and his wife Maria Bloem. When he was twelve years old his father was murdered. Alleged criminal activity forced him to flee to Germany around 1795 where he assumed another identity, which included adoption of a false claim of descent from the Van Egmonds, an aristocratic family of the Netherlands. In 1819, attracted by the prospect of purchasing land from the Holland Land Company, he travelled, via Amsterdam, Liverpool, and Philadelphia, to Indiana, Pennsylvania. The land, which he purchased in 1826, was eventually seized and sold at auction to cover unpaid taxes.

In 1828 he emigrated to Oxford Township East, in Upper Canada, where he purchased 200 acres (809,000 m²) of land from the Canada Company. Because of the establishment of a personal friendship with local company official John Galt, Van Egmond came to the attention of other Canada Company executives and was subsequently employed by the company as the initial primary contractor for road construction in the Huron Tract. Van Egmond was also charged with establishing a series of inns to be positioned at twenty mile (32 km) intervals along the Huron Road, which were to act as nightly stopping and resupplying points for the arriving settlers.

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