backstreets of toronto: littlehayes lane
The cans of worms one opens when they start researching the background of local street names. The laneway was named in 2000, according to this city notice (PDF - I have not found a copy of attachment #2 online). According to the document, the name derived from Major E.B. Littlehayes, "an aide to John Graves Simcoe, who owned land in the area". I've poured through half-a-dozen library books about the Simcoe era in Upper Canada and found no references to "Major E.B. Littlehayes". "Major E.B. Littlehales" is a different story. Edward Baker Littlehales (?-1825) was military secretary to Simcoe during the latter's tenure as governor of Upper Canada. His main accomplishment appears to have been a survey of the land between Detroit and Niagara in February-March 1793, which resulted in the recommendation of the site for London. Quoted in Henry Scadding's book Toronto of Old (1873), Littlehales found that site to be "a situation eminently...