Wilson, David, 1778-1866 : David Willson (Wilson) was born 7 June 1778 at Dutchess County, New York. Willson married Phebe Titus, a Quaker, and in 1801 joined a number of Quakers from New York, Vermont and Pennsylvania who moved to Upper Canada seeking free land and an escape from religious persecution in the United States. These Quakers formed a small community, near York, centred around a meeting house built on land donated by Willson in 1810. Between 1805 and 1811 Willson, rejecting his own Presbyterian roots, became one of the most active Quakers in the area, serving on numerous committees, acting as an overseer of the meeting for worship, librarian, and keeper of the meeting's records. In late 1811, Willson felt a call to the ministry but was not well received by a small number of Quakers and was forbidden from speaking in meetings for worship. Just as the War of 1812 was beginning, Willson opened his own home to meetings for worship. This small group formed a new religious body, the Children of Peace (also known as the Davidites), promoting peace, love and equality among all people. Quakers who had been spread out over much of what is now the northern York region, came to settle in East Gwillimbury Township. They formed a village they called Hope (now Sharon), a sign of their utopian aspirations. The village centred on the meeting house built on David Willson's farm on concession 2, lot 10 not far from the Quaker meeting house. The two meeting houses competed for members in the area until 1826, when the Quakers finally abandoned the settlement to the Children of Peace.
In 1825 under Willson's leadership, this small group of 300 began construction of a copy of Solomon's Temple to solely serve as a place to collect alms for the poor. This concern for the poor also led Willson to make increasingly radical forays into Upper Canadian politics. Willson took the Children of Peace in regular processions through Toronto to preach in both meetings for worship, and at political gatherings of reformers.
David Willson was the only minister the group had ever known. As Willson became feebler, the energy and dynamism of the group slowly ebbed away. David Willson died at Sharon, Canada West 16 Jan 1866; with his loss, the Children of Peace also lost their vision. Although the group continued for a number of years under the leadership of Willson's son, John David (himself in his 70s), the group slowly withered; its membership of 302 in 1851 shrank to 178 in 1861, and 91 in 1871. A Methodist church was built in the village in 1867, and an Anglican church in 1869. In 1889, after a court battle between Willson's sons and a remnant of the group that wished to join the Presbyterian church, it disbanded.
