The Read Family originally came from Scotland. The name spelling was changed from Reid to Read. Thomas Read (1806- 1862) was a native of Nottingham, England. Thomas Read purchased Lot 26 Concession 4 in 1846. This is the north east corner of Victoria Square. Thomas Read married Ann Clarkson (1806 – 1884) and had one child, Alfred 1834 – 1866. Alfred married Isobel Pollock and had three children, Thomas 1857 – 1942 who married Sarah Meek, Charles 1859 – 1938, who married ____Eyer, and Alice 1862 – 1907 who remained unmarried.

In 1838, Thomas Read of Victoria Square purchased the east half of Lot 27, for L150. George McPhillips’ Map of Markham Township, drawn in 1853 -54, shows Read as the owner. He also owned the east 100 acres of Lot 30, Concession II, Markham, three farm lots to the north, and the east half of Lot 31, Concession III.

Read did not move to Lot 27 until some time between the 1851 and 1861 Census. A Markham Township directory of 1850 – 51 places him in Victoria Square. His other properties were occupied by tenant farmers.

The 1861 Census places Thomas Read on the property at 10956 Leslie Street living in a frame house. He is described as being of English birth, aged 57, and a member of the Church of England. His wife Ann, also of English birth, is aged 56. A servant, Mary Docherty, is included in the household. The Census does not list an occupation for Thomas Read. He may have been retired by this time, the well to do owner of some four hundred acres of land in Markham Township, including the northeast corner of the hamlet of Victoria Square, which contained an inn, church, house and businesses.

Thomas Read died in August of 1862, and was interred at the Read Cemetery at Victoria Square (Lot 263, Concession 4). His properties appear on the Historical Atlas of York County map of Markham Township (1878) in the ownership of his widow, Mrs. Read.
Charles farmed Lot 30, Concession 2 with an auction sale in 1888. He moved to Toronto and worked a lumber business.

Source: Lorne Smith as told by George Duncan November 2000 and from a report on 10956 Leslie Street.