Looking Back Over The Century Probably no part of the Bradford and West Gwillimbury district has undergone more rapid change, during recent years, than the properties with a water boundary, and in this group the map of the Gilford area has been transformed. Mostly a quiet farming community, a few years ago, the Gilford area is now a busy summer resort, with its shore line literally dotted with cottages, and with a network of roads leading to summer properties, set back from the shore. It is the home of the Golf Haven Country Club, which is mentioned almost daily on the air, when its famous "pro", Moe Norman, wins another big tournament. Gilford has its marinas too, and is as busy as the proverbial beehive during the summer season, and is growing steadily, as the sale of lots proceeds rapidly.... The first settler in Gilford is said to have been a Mr. Thos. McConkey, who came there in 1860, and, according to records, ten years later the village had a population of 250. Some of the names, found in records of a century ago in Gilford, included: J. Rennett (farmer), J. Blatherwick (station agent), John Flansburgh (Commercial Hotel), George and John Doolittle (farmers), John Fletcher (carpenter), Alec Fraser (stage prop.), Patrick Gibbons, James Hughes (farmer), Tom Kneeshaw, A.P. Lawrence (hotel keeper), George Lee (carpenter), Richard McCann (hotel keeper), Miss McLean (teacher), Alex and Thomas McRae (tailors), T. McConkey (general merchant), Thos. McConkey (prop. steam saw mill), Mattingly (foreman T. McConkey), Matthew Neely (contractor), Wm. Neely (farmer), Robert Nelson (general merchant and grain dealer), John O'Donnell (farmer), -- Rathwell (farmer), Henry Swalm (builder), John Wilson (trackmaster) and others. Advertisements appear to be a method of preserving names, because many of these names have been obtained from advertisements, and, in some cases, the spelling of the names has changed during the years. In this rapidly changing corner of the township, the years to come are likely to bring rapid changes, but it would appear that the "Neely" names is likely to continue to be a part of Gilford.
