William Kingston Flesher

William Kingston Flesher (June 10, 1825 – July 22, 1907) was a settler of southwestern Ontario, a militia officer, businessman and political figure. As well as founding the village of Flesherton, he represented the riding of Grey East in the Canadian House of Commons as a Conservative member from 1872 to 1878.

Flesher was born in Kingston-upon-Hull, England in 1825, the eldest child of Rev. John Flesher, a Methodist preacher and Jane (née Cawood) Flesher. He was educated and spent his formative years in England. After he married Jane Foster in 1847 at the age of 22, they emigrated to Canada West.

Flesher first moved to Bolton, Ontario, where he helped to run a mill with his brother John. However, Flesher sensed that he would never make his fortune as an employee, and cast about for a better opportunity. The colonial government was granting 50-acre plots of land to settlers on the understanding that if the settler was able to clear twelve of the fifty acres within five years, the settler would be given free title to the entire plot. Flesher travelled north to the newly surveyed Artemesia Township in Grey County, and was settled on 50 acres of land at Artemesia Corners, the intersection of the Toronto-Syndenham and Durham Roads (later provincial Highways 10 & 4). He was only the second settler in the area, the first being Aaron Munshaw Jr., a former Reformer who had recently returned from exile after the failed Upper Canada Rebellion. Munshaw had been granted land on the east side of the Toronto-Sydenham Road straddling the Durham Road, and had built a small tavern at the intersection. Flesher's land grant was on the opposite side of the road.

Both men laid out the parts of their land grants as village plots, and sold them to tradesmen and others eager to move to the area. Flesher also built a saw mill and a grist mill on the nearby Boyne River, and eventually built a large house for his family.

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