Asa Townsend

Asa Townsend (c.1775-alive 1851) was an early settler in Westminster Township near what became the City of London, Ontario. His lands ultimately became incorporated in London's Springbank Park. By the 1820s he removed westward to settle on the bank of the Ausable River in what later became Bosanquet Township in Lambton County. Here he operated a salt well. He and his wife—whose name is not known—are credited with being the first white settlers in the area of the present village of Arkona, Ontario. Asa was still living at the time of the 1851 Bosanquet Township assessment, living just east of Arkona, apparently next door to an Ezekiel Townsend who was possibly his son. The Townsends had been joined in 1833 by settler Henry Utter who settled what would become the south-eastern corner of Arkona.

Sources

• St. Denis, Guy. Byron: Pioneer days in Westminster Township (London, Ontario: Crinklaw Press, 1985)
• Johnson, William. Arkona Through the Years (Forest, Ontario: Pole Printing, 1976).
• Bosanquet Township Assessment Rolls, 1851. Lambton Room (Archives), Lambton County Library Headquarters, Wyoming, Ontario.