Ely Playter

{{Short description|Farmer, lumberman, militia officer, and member of the Upper Canada House of Assembly}}

File:Playter's bridge near York.jpg leading to Ely Playter's parent's home.]]

Ely Playter (1776–1858) was a farmer, lumberman, militia officer, and member of the Upper Canada House of Assembly, who lived in and around York, modern day Toronto.

Playter was born on November 30, 1776, in Chesterfield Township, Burlington County, New Jersey to George Henry Playter, a Loyalist, and his wife Elizabeth Welding, a Quaker. By the 1790s, Playter, with his parents and siblings, had moved to York in Upper Canada.{{Cite web |url=http://ao.minisisinc.com/scripts/mwimain.dll/144/ARCH_AUTHORITY/AUTH_DESC_DET_REP/SISN%206176?SESSIONSEARCH |title=Ely Playter, 1776–1858|work=Archives Descriptive Database |publisher=Ontario – Ministry of Government and Consumer Services |access-date=2019-04-17}}

In York, Playter worked as a tavern-keeper, farmer, and militia officer. He participated in the War of 1812 including the siege of York.{{Cite journal|last=Raymont|first=David|date=2013|title=Defending York: The 1813 Diary of Ely Playter|journal=The York Pioneer|publisher=The York Pioneer and Historical Society|volume=108|pages=3–15}} Following the war he was elected to the 9th Parliament of Upper Canada, defeating William Warren Baldwin in 1824.{{Cite web|url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/playter_edward_13E.html|title=Biography – PLAYTER, EDWARD – Volume XIII (1901–1910) – Dictionary of Canadian Biography|website=www.biographi.ca|access-date=2019-04-11}} Playter moved with his family sometime around 1826 to Pekin, Niagara County, New York.{{Cite news|url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/24298360/ely-playter|title=Obituary – Ely Playter|date=4 August 1858|work=Niagara Falls Gazette|access-date=2019-04-10 |via=Find a Grave}}

Playter documented his life from 1801 to 1853 in a number of diaries. In addition to documenting his day-to-day life, he also provided a first-hand account of someone living through the War of 1812. Topics include the challenge of rounding up the local militia, the siege and subsequent fall of York to American soldiers in 1813 and its subsequent occupation.{{Cite magazine |url=http://spacing.ca/toronto/2012/06/16/war-of-1812-when-toronto-was-under-attack/ |title=War of 1812: When Toronto was under attack |date=June 16, 2012 |magazine=Spacing }} Playter's diaries have been used as primary resource material for numerous publications related to the early history of Toronto including Pierre Berton's War of 1812 and Flames Across the Border, 1813–1814. Part of his diaries were published in Edith G. Firth's The Town of York 1793–1815: A Collection of Documents of Early Toronto{{Cite book|title=The Town of York 1793–1815: A Collection of Documents of Early Toronto|last=Firth|first=Edith|publisher=Champlain Society|year=1962|location=Toronto|oclc=988509472}}

Playter married Sophie Beman on November 27, 1806.{{Cite book | title = Toronto of Old: Collections and Recollections | last = Scadding | first = Henry | author-link = Henry Scadding | publisher = Willing and Williamson | year = 1878 | location = Toronto | pages = 334}} They had numerous children. Their son, Ely Welding Playter was the 24th Mayor of Oakland.{{Cite web|url=https://localwiki.org/oakland/Ely_W._Playter|title=Ely W. Playter |author=Gene |date=2017 |website=Oakland Wiki |access-date=2019-04-12}}

Playter died on August 29, 1858, in Pekin, New York.