Wagonmaker Simon Colwill set up shop north of Gambier

GAMBIER — Simon Colwill was born in the southwestern corner of England, Cornwall, in 1810.

Lacking any large cities, Cornwall was at the time a rather remote region, and people needed means to make their ways across the district’s rough roads.

One of the most practical was wagons, and so it was that Colwill at age 16 was apprenticed to a wagonmaker. Colwill must have thrived at his job, because within a few years, he was ready to start a family.

But he also knew that a crowded rural district of England with well-established wagonmakers wasn’t going to leave much room for him to make a living.

So, on April 1, 1835, he made Ann Hurd his wife, and three days later, they embarked on a ship to America, along with Simon’s older brother, Thomas.

Just over a month later, they arrived in New York City, and from there made their way into the interior.

It seems that Gambier was the Colwills’ destination, so one might guess that they knew some of the other English people associated with the formation of Kenyon College in Gambier.

Colwill opened a wagon shop in Gambier and made enough money that he was able to purchase a piece of land north of Gambier in 1848. Seven years later, he moved his wagon shop to this farm.

The 1871 atlas shows an S. Colwill with a farm property on what is now New Gambier Road, with some of his property extending toward Gambier on Gaskin Avenue.

Since Hill’s Knox County history specifically identifies Colwill’s wagon shop as being in Monroe Township, it must have been on the northern part of the property.

That farm, along with an adjoining property owned by T. Colwill, is labeled “Spring Farm” in the atlas. Census reports show that Simon’s older brother Thomas as part of the same household in 1870. 

Among Simon’s several children is a son named John. John Colwill is shown as the landowner of the two united farm parcels on the 1896 atlas, leading me to think that this is the property where the wagon shop was.

It’s less certain looking at the actual spot.

The spring that once fed a stream has either gone dry or been tiled underground, because there is today no stream crossing New Gambier Road at this spot, nor does the road slightly veer south before returning to a straight line (though there is a newer house whose curved driveway may make use of that original veer). 

The dot showing the location of the Colwill house isn’t consistent, though. In the 1896 atlas, it is closer to County Road 238, but in 1871, it is located slightly more east. 

I suspect the earlier atlas shows the truer spot, because at just about that location today can be found an old farm house (with later extensions) and some older out buildings, including a large barn. 

My guess would be that this is the original Spring Farm where Simon Colwill had his wagon shop from 1855 until his death in 1884. Perhaps his eldest son John inherited both the farm and the wagon business.

Simon and his wife Ann are buried in Oak Grove Cemetery, just south of their farm. On the marker is the religious inscription:

“I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”