| Official Name: | Ponsonby |
| Settlement Type: | Unincorporated community |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | Canada |
| Subdivision Type1: | Province |
| Subdivision Name1: | Ontario |
| Subdivision Type2: | County |
| Subdivision Name2: | Wellington County |
| Subdivision Type3: | Township |
| Subdivision Name3: | Centre Wellington |
| Timezone: | EST |
| Utc Offset: | -5 |
| Timezone Dst: | EDT |
| Utc Offset Dst: | -4 |
| Coordinates: | 43.6289°N -80.3614°W |
| Postal Code Type: | Forward sortation area |
| Postal Code: | N0G |
| Area Code: | 519 and 226 |
| Blank Name: | NTS Map |
| Blank Info: | 040P15 |
| Blank1 Name: | GNBC Code |
| Blank1 Info: | FBMCB |
Ponsonby is an unincorporated rural community on Wellington County Road 7 in Centre Wellington township, Ontario, Canada.[1]
The Upper Grand District School Board maintains Ponsonby Public School on Wellington Road 7.[2] Ponsonby Recreation Club hosts softball and fastball leagues at the Ponsonby ball diamonds on Second Line East near Ponsonby.[3] [4]
Ponsonby was situated along the Garafraxa Settlement Road (which led from Hamilton to Owen Sound via Guelph) to an area known as the Queen's Bush. This settlement road was another government plan to bring settlers to the area with an offer of 50acres. The name Garafraxa is said to be a corruption of the word Sassafrax, a shrub that grew in the district. Others believed it was from an Indian word meaning 'panther country'.
Charles Rankin surveyed the Garafraxa Road around 1840, however the road did not become well populated until the 1850s. Ponsonby was another of many small towns in which travellers could stop and rest for the night. The original name of the town was "Thorpville", however it was changed in 1863 when James Halley took over the post office.