Matthew Teefy
{{Short description|Canadian businessman (1822–1911)}}
File:Youthful Matthew Teefy.jpg
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Matthew Teefy (April 18, 1822 – December 19, 1911) was postmaster, a general merchant, village clerk and a justice of the peace in Richmond Hill, Ontario.{{cite book|url = http://www.archeion.ca/matthew-teefy-fonds;rad|title = Description of the Matthew Teefy fonds|publisher = Archives of Ontario}}
Biography
Born in Tipperary, Ireland, Teefy came to York, Upper Canada with his family at the age of two.{{cite web|url = http://edrh.rhpl.richmondhill.on.ca/default.asp?ID=s8.7|title = Who Was Who in the 1873 Municipal Elections|work = A Brief History of Richmond Hill – A History of the Community to 1930|author = Robert M. Stamp|publisher = Town of Richmond Hill Public Library|year = 1991}} He began his career by apprenticing as a printer.
In 1846 he married Betsy Clarkson, with whom he would go on to father nine children, six of whom survived to adulthood.
The couple's first child was born March 2, 1847.{{cite web|url = http://edrh.rhpl.richmondhill.on.ca/cemeteries/stone.asp?ID=StLukesCem&SID=SLS.11c|title = Teefy|publisher = Town of Richmond Hill Public Library}} Their second child, John Read Teefy, was born August 21, 1848.{{cite web|url = http://www.umanitoba.ca/colleges/st_pauls/ccha/Back%20Issues/CCHA1939-40/Carr.html|title = The Very Reverend J. R. Teefy, C.S.B., LL.D.|author = The Very Rev. Henry Carr, C.S.B.|publisher = The Canadian Catholic Historical Association|origyear = 1939|year = 1940|work = Report 7|pages = 85–95}} J.R. Teefy would be the namesake of Teefy Househttps://acotoronto.ca/building.php at the University of Toronto. Another son, Robert Baldwin Teefy, emigrated to California and became one of the founders of Bank of Italy, predecessor to the Bank of America.San Francisco Blue Book & Club Directory 1924
Teefy was appointed postmaster of Richmond Hill on December 3, 1850, and the village's treasurer in 1873. He resigned his position as village treasurer in 1904, but remained the village postmaster until his death in 1911. At the time of his death he was the longest-serving postmaster in Canada. He was buried in St. Luke's Catholic church cemetery in Thornhill, Ontario.{{cite web|url = http://edrh.rhpl.richmondhill.on.ca/cemeteries/stone.asp?ID=StLukesCem&SID=SLS.11a|title = Teefy|publisher = Town of Richmond Hill Public Library}}
Teefy Avenue in Richmond Hill is named in his honour.{{cite web|url = http://edrh.rhpl.richmondhill.on.ca/default.asp?ID=saa|title = Appendix A. Settlers|work = A Brief History of Richmond Hill – A History of the Community to 1930|author = Robert M. Stamp|publisher = Town of Richmond Hill Public Library|year = 1991}}
See also
References
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Category:Irish emigrants to pre-Confederation Ontario