Blacksmith, storekeeper, mayor. Thomas Driffill evolved along with 19th-century Bradford and helped to guide its course.
Driffill was born Jan. 27, 1809, in Lincolnshire, England, the son of blacksmith Samuel and his wife, Ann (Morwood) Driffill. Driffill received a modest formal education at best, which only makes the heights to which he climbed in life even more remarkable. Instead, he apprenticed under his father in the smithy, learning to hammer metal into shape over an anvil.
Lincolnshire was and remains a largely agricultural region. Economic growth was slow in the 19th century. Agricultural wages were low, and those of craftsmen were not much better. It seemed to be a place bereft of opportunity.
Escaping an uncertain future, Driffill immigrated to Canada in 1830. The next year, he married Sarah Sampson, and they ventured up Yonge Street, crossed the Holland River, and joined a handful of others in settling Bradford. Driffill opened a log blacksmith shop catering to area farmers. Later, he added the construction of wagons to his portfolio.
Tragically, Sarah died in 1832, likely in childbirth. The widower wasn’t alone for long, however; in 1833, he married Jane Hill. Together, they raised eight children.
Driffill worked as a blacksmith until the early 1850s, and then gave up the hammer and tongs to open a hardware store at the southwest corner of Holland and Simcoe streets. In addition to selling the expected tools and building materials, the store dealt in books and stationery. He was so successful and respected that when Bradford, then home to 1,000 people, was incorporated as a village in 1857, he was easily elected its first reeve on Jan. 1, 1858. Driffill served in this capacity for several terms. Later, he sat on council for a time and held the office of magistrate for 25 years, during which time he was “faithful in the discharge of every duty.”
The only real setback Driffill experienced was in May 1871, when much of Bradford was consumed by fire. Driffill’s store was a complete loss, being reduced to smoking ash and a few blackened timbers. The loss was $20,000 above his insurance. It was devastating.
Driffill gave himself some time to mourn his loss, and then brushed himself off to rebuild. The brick mercantile that rose from the ash still stands today as the restaurant Wing’n it.
Driffill died May 20, 1891. He is buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery. Son James continued the store for another decade before selling it in 1901, ending five decades of the Driffill Hardware Store as a landmark in young Bradford.