Eaton Hall: Pride of King Township

By Kelly Mathews and Steve Pellegrini

In 1901, Florence McCrea married into one of the most prosperous families in the Dominion of Canada, becoming Lady Eaton fourteen years later when her husband, John Craig Eaton, was knighted. Not long after the death of her husband, Lady Eaton retired from her home in Toronto to the seventy-two-room, Norman-style chateau she had built on their King City property. She named it Eaton Hall. The estate fueled the local economy and community, supported the Canadian World War II effort and established a firm place in the hearts and minds of the residents of King Township. Rediscover an enchanting and bygone age with the life and history of Lady Eaton and her grand Eaton Hall.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The History Press
• Release date: May 25, 2015
• ISBN: 9781625854728

Kelly Mathews

Kelly Mathews is the manager of community recreation, summer camps and the outdoor education centre at Seneca College, King Campus, home of Eaton Hall. Her writings have been published by New York Media Works, Readers' Digest Canada via: Best Health Magazine and Our Canada magazine work. Follow her on Twitter @EatonHallEstate or follow @AllThingsRegal, where Kelly explores Commonwealth and British royal history.

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Chapter 1

LADY FLORENCE MCCREA AND SIR JOHN CRAIG EATON

Vincit omnia veritas. (Truth conquers all things.)

—Eaton family motto

When Timothy Eaton passed away due to complications of pneumonia on January 31, 1907, at the age of seventy-two, his youngest son, John Craig Eaton, found himself not only $5 million richer but also the new, proud owner and president of the T. Eaton Co. Ltd. John Craig was born in Toronto and was named after his paternal grandparents—bridging the first name of his grandfather (John Eaton) and the maiden name of his grandmother (Margaret Craig). Born in Toronto on April 28, 1876, John Craig Eaton—or Jack, by which he was more often referred—was three months away from his thirty-first birthday when he found himself; his young wife, Florence Flora McCrea (age twenty-six); and their firstborn son at the helm of the most prosperous private empire in the Dominion of