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• ^^ '

> r-'^^-* * ' ' ' C.

THE STORY OF

LAURA SECORD

AND

O^^

CANADIAN REMINISCKNCi.S

EMMA A. CURRIE

WITH PORTRAITS AND ENGRAVINGS

TORONTO

WILLIAM BRIGGS

1900

176994

Fi;073

u 6

■jf f '5 1 .1-

Entered according to Act of the Parliament of C .'' da, in the year one
thousand nine hundred, by Emma A. CuKRit it the Department
of Agriculture.

me
:nt

cC^jiAML^o/t<xr^

Til !.S r,()(U<

IS ('LnKAiri.) lO THt in.iAJVKlJ V1.\!0K'V OF

(T&re. Cucjon,

VVIfOSj; HI. UK^l AJM WAS TO INSPIRE

'NMMr-^ ■'-.'SU'.S TO TAKE THEIR PLACE IN

'! f 'M-TOKV OF OUR COUNTKV.

■;r

4, ,

liM^S^.J-

oCfAAJ>^^.^ c/cca^

THIS ROOK

IS DEUICATKD TO THE nELOVED MEMORY OF

/iBra. Cur3on,

WHOSE HIGHEST AIM WAS TO INSPIRE

CANADIAN WOMEN TO TAKE THEIR PLACE IN

THE HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY.

II.
III.

IV.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

CONTENTS.

•%■

ClIAl'TER

PAGE

Introduction --..... q

I. The First Settlers - - . - . - i ->

II. The Secord Family, with Documents and ^Vuto-

graphs -16

III. The Ingersoll Family, with Documents and Auto-

graphs 36

IV. Laura Ingersoll Secord, with Documents and Ai to-

graphs 48

V. Reminiscences of 1812 82

VI. St. David's and Vicinity Sg

VII. Fort Niagara 98

VIII. Isabella Marshall Graham estabHshes First Boaid-
ing School in New York City, and Founder of
First Orphan Asylum in the United States - 103

IX. Memoir of John Whiimore, by William Kirby, with

Autograph ji-

X. The Nelles Family 124

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER
XI.

Visit of Prince Erl vard, Duke of Kent -

PACE

- 126

XII.

Two Historic Burnings— Nia^jara and St.

David's 129

XIII.

Stamford Park

- 141

XIV.

Recollections of 1 8;:' and 1838 -

- 144

XV.

Burning of the Stean-er Caroline -

- 149

XVI.

Samuel Zimmerman - - - -

- 152

XVII.

The First Fenian Raid of 1866 -

- 157

XVIII.

Brant Memoranda - - - "

- 161

XIX.

Letters :

Mrs. Thorn

- - 165

William Woodruff - - - -

- - .67

Mrs. Jenoway - - - - -

- 170

Past and Present Names of Placer,

- 173

XXI

An Old Ledger, 1806, 1807, 1808, rlog

- - 175

XXII

Mrs. Grover, of Seaton Hall, Colborne

- 182

XXIII

. Conclusion ---■''

- 193

"*?(

ILLUSTRATIONS.

- 152

PAGE

Laura Ingersoll Secord, with Autograph - FronUsptece

- 161

Homestead of Major David Secord, St. David's - - 20

Autograph of James Secord 25

- 165

167 Autographs of Major David Secord and Mrs. Secord - 27

-170 Autographs of Stephen Secord and Anna Secord - - 30

- 173 Home of Laura Ingersoll at Great Barrington, Mass. - 49

- 175 Home of Laura Ingersoll Secord at Queenston - - - 57
-182 FitzGibbon's Headquarters, 1893 59

- 193 Place where the Indians encamped 61

Chippewa Home of Mrs. Secord, where she died - - 70

Present State of Laura Ingersoll Secord's Grave - - 74

Account of Schooling Billey Galley, and Autograph ot

Mrs. Backus 75

Letter and Autograph of Major Thomas Ingersoll - - "]"]

Diagram of the Battle of Beaver Dams - - - - 78

Source of Four Mile Creek, above St. David's - - - 89

vii

Vlll

ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

Four Mile Creek, below St. David's 93

Autograph of David Secord 97

Fort Niagara in 1888 98

Autograph of Wm. Kirby 123

Arsenal inside Fort George, 1888 - - . - - 129

Magazine inside Fort George, 1888 129

Polly Page (Mrs. David Secord) 139

Stamford Park, 1863 141

Seals attached to Patents from the Crown, 1822 - - 142

Autograph of Ezekiel Woodruff 145

Brock's Monument and Home of William Lyon Mackenzie,

at Queenston, 1895 146

Fort Erie, 1890 i59

Joseph Brant (Thayendanegea) 161

Letter of Joseph Brant ------- 164

Fort Mississauga, 1888 170

Bridgewater Mill, in Queen Victoria Niagara Falls Park - 174
Leaf from an Old Ledger 176

- 93

- 97

- 98

- 123

- 129

14:

159

lyo

INTRODUCTION.

When attention was drawn to Laura Ingersoll
Sccord, in i860, it was a great surprise that she had

'39 so long been unappreciated and known to so few.

141 Living among many of her husband's relatives for

over a quarter of a centur}', hearing constant allusion
to those times, it seemed almost impossible that such

- 145 heroism should have remained untold and her name
e, unmentioned. After reading the newspaper account,

146 inquiry was made of an aged friend whose whole life

was spent in St. David's, as to its truthfulness. Quickly
came the reply, " It is all true." No details were

161 given, but the answer w^as sufficient confirmation.

164 The excitement of the American Civil War and re-

moval from St. David's caused the circumstances to
be almost forgotten, but now and then allusions would
■ ^74 come recalling them. When the Woman's Literary

- 176 Club was formed in St. Catharines, in 1892, it was my

part to prepare one of the papers for the opening of
the Club. The historic subject of Laura Secerd was
selected, and during the preparation of the paper I
found that her ancestors and my own came from the
same place. Great Barrington, Mass. Previous to
this it had been a custom to spend a week or two

INTRODUCTION.

during the summer season in mailing sketches in
water-colors of historic places and buildings, of which
there are so many in this locality. Some had been
previously made in Niagara and vicinity. I con-
cluded to make sketches in connection with Mrs.
Secord's history, and to gather what information it
was possible to gain from her relatives, and those
who had seen and known her. Strange to say, no
one seemed to know anything of her early life or
later years. At historic gatherings I had the pleasure
of meeting Mrs. Curzon, and was greatly impressed
by her appearance. Not long before her death some
correspondence took place between us. Suffering
at that time from ill health, an offer was made to
place what memoranda had been collected in her
hands, to be used as she saw best. It was my last
letter to her, for her death took place soon after.
Feeding that what had been collected might be of
use, a commencement was made to put them together.
A letter was written to the Postmaster of Great
Barrington, asking for the address of any of the
Ingersoll descendants still remaining there. This
letter was placed in the hands of Charles J. Taylor,
Esq., and brought a reply from him. Mr. Taylor had
written the history of Great Barrington, which has
proved of great service. Of this gentleman's kindness
to a total stranger, whom he has never seen — the
time he has given, the researches he has made in
helping through many difficulties — I cannot speak in
too grateful terms.

INTRODUCTION.

Colonel Dunn and Mrs. Dunn, of Toronto, have
also been efficient helpers, in furnishing documents,
history, letters and memoranda relating to the Secord
family, and to Laura Secord also. The granddaugh-
ters of Mrs. Secord, Miss Louisa Smith and Mrs.
Cockburn, have furnished information which should
have weight with the committee who have the erec-
tion of the monument in charge. When it was neces-
sary, J. Hamilton Ingersoll. Esq., of St. Catharines,
has written manv letters.

Miss Woodruff, of Chicago, has furnished much
valuable information in regard to her grandfather
and grandmother, Mr. and Mrs, David Secord, also
valuable autographs ; Mr. Henry Woodruff, of St.
David's, Mrs. Thorn, of Princeton, and Mrs. Saxon,
of St. Catharines, important letters ; Mrs. Norton, of
Westfield, Mass., and Mrs. Hitchcock, of Amherst,
Mass., have assisted in information regarding the
Ingersolls.

My old friend, Mr. Kirby, author of " Chien d'Or,"
has contributed an article upon the Whitmore family,
with whom he is connected by marriage, and which
is a valuable addition to the history of the early set-
tlement of Upper Canada.

Miss Janet Carnochan has also given much infor-
mation in regard to the local history of Niagara.

To Miss Bothwell, of Lockport, and many others
who have done much to help me, my grateful thanks
are given.

The portrait of Mrs. Secord, which is the frontis-

INTRODUCTION.

piece of this work, is from a plate furnished by Rev.
Canon Bull, Niagara Falls South. The late Mr. Joel
Lyons, of Chippewa, had a likeness of Mrs. Secord,
taken in what year is not known, and from this the
plate was made.

The likeness of Mrs. Secord which is in " Lossing's
Pictorial Field Book of the War of 1812," and this
are the only ones known to have been made. The
autograph of Laura Secord accompanies the likeness.
It is the only autograph known to be in existence.
In a footnote, page 621, Mr. Lossing says Mrs. Secord
wrote to him, February i8th, 1861. In 1867 he speaks
of her as being ninety-two years of age, and her men-
tal faculties in full play, her eyesight so perfect that
she could read witho..t spectacles. Mrs. Gregory, her
niece, who saw her in her last illness, and but three
days before her death, bears testimony to the won-
derful preservation of her mind.

To Mrs. Grover, cf Toronto, who has allowed
selections to be made from her " Recollections," my
warmest thanks are given. When these are published
in full, as they will be by her relatives, it is hoped
they will receive the attention they so richly deserve.

Emma A. Currie.

1^1

X L.

CHAPTER I.

T//E FIRST SETTLERS.

The women of Canada can justly claim that the
first Loyalist refugees to seek shelter under the pro-
tecting flag at Fort Niagara were women. Dr. Can-
nifif, in his " Settlement of Upper Canada," gives the
fact that "in 1776 there arrived at Fort Niagara in a
starving and otherwise destitute condition five women
and thirty-one children, whom the circumstances of
the rebellion had driven away." Tradition places
their arrival in the month of November. They had
come from the banks of the Hudson and the valley
of the Mohawk, guided by friendly Indians, to this
ark of refuge. Their names were Mrs. Nelles, Mrs.
Secord, Mrs. Young, Mrs. Buck and Mrs. Bonar. Of
these women but little is known, their names alone
being rescued from the oblivion of the past. Of Mrs.
Secord we know that her husband and two of her
sons were in Butler's Rangers, fighting for that flag
which had sheltered and protected their ancestors so
many years before. Among the Rangers are found
the names of Captain Nelles and Captain Young.
Whether they were the husbands of Mrs. 5Jecord's
companions is not known. Of Mrs. Secord it is said

m^k w ^un

t^-x

THE FIRST SETTLERS.

her children were in a wagon. They had escaped
with their Hves, bringing nothing with them. Her
youngest son ana child, James Secord, was at that
time three years old. They were given tents, cloth-
ing and food. As the days and months passed away
the numbers increased from the Carolinas, Virginia,
and the New England colonies. There came a desti-
tute host, along the length of the St. Lawrence, to
New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The population
increased in the towns and cities so rapidly that it
caused a scarcity in the necessaries of life. In Hali-
fax the population rose in a few months from 1,400 to
4,000. And so everywhere, producing suffering and
privation. There was not a settlement on this side
of the Niagara River when the Revolution com-
menced. When it closed, in 1783, there was a popu-
lation of 10,000. In 1792 there were four hundred
houses in Niagara. From the frontier at Fort Niagara
to Detroit, along the river and lake shore, there was
a thin fringe of civilization. Many of the refugees
waited in New York, hoping, when peace came, to
return to their former homes. When New York was
evacuated, November 25th, 1783, there arose a wail of
despair. Those that could went to England, some to
the Bahama Islands. Many that went to New Bruns-
wick and Nova Scotia came to Upper Canada when
they heard of the fertile soil and milder climate.
Twelve thousand left New York at that time. As
fast as possible they were given lands, implements
and seeds. Grist-mills were erected to aid them.

THE FIRST SETTLERS.

Fort Niagara was the centre of the hopes, the ambi-
tions, the activities of that period. Here, brought at
great expense from the old land, were kept those
vast supplies of various kinds, which were distributed
to the remotest settlements — the munitions of war for
themselves and other garrisons, rations and supplies
for their Indian allies. The canoes of the Indians,
laden with furs from the Upper Lakes, and the
bateaux from the Lower Province with their freight,
all made this their stopping-place. Councils of war
prepared for attack and defence, as the occasion
required. Looking now on its crumbling walls, its
deserted buildings, its empty fortress, the dismal
chambers where the garrison slept within its walls,
it is hard to realize its importance one hundred and
forty years ago. But it was then the door to the
west and to the south, and he who commanded those
was entrusted by his sovereign v/ith a j.ossession
which required wisdom and strength to keep.

Such were the conditions when those women ar-
rived. As their friends and relatives followed they
settled on the western bank of the river, and with
willing hands and brave hearts they turned the
wilderness into golden fields and fruitful orchards.
What they did in the thirty years of peace proves the
intelligence and the industry with which they worked.
The founders of the Dominion have left a record
which their descendants should hold up to future gen-
erations as worthy of everlasting remembrance.

|!l|''l

ij!

chaptp:r II.

THE SECORD FAMILY.

The ancestor of the Secord family, Amboise Secord,
came with his five diildren from LaRochelle, in France,
to New Yorl< in 1681. He, along with other French
emigrants, founded the town of New Rochelle, in
Westchester County, of the same State, about 1689.
The name is spelled in various ways. In the original
it is Seacard, and pronounced se-kar. Most of the
Huguenots sympathized with England dunng the
Revolutionary War. The Secords were very numer-
ous, and more of that name are found among the
U. E. Loyalists and first settlers of Canada than of
any other. Great Britain had assisted the Huguenots
during theii' persecution in France, had sheltered them
in England, had helped them to emigrate to America,
and they proved their gratitude by loyal service and
great sacrifices during the war. Many gave up every-
thing, even life, in the days that tried men's souls.
They were a strong, hardy people, generous and
hospitable, long-lived also — one of their descendants
dying in New Rochelle in the year 1845, aged 105
years. In Canadian annals we find that Peter Secord,
living on the Talbot Road, died in 1818 in his 103rd

^ year.

)'ear u
I twent}
I the bo
^ The
,, being
■; earl)'

mental

' that "

of lane

I the m(

two, a^

rites o

law, ar

# same."

;? as bel(

\ tioners

] spellinj

I Si card,

I forms.-]

\ The

\ Rochel

i^culty (

Dissen

Church

[edifice

I * The
I of 1850,
|informati(

I t Fioi
1} their serv

imiSl

THE SECORD FAMILY.

year. He was one (jf the first settlers. The last
year of his life he killed four wolves and walked
twenty miles to make the necessary affidavit to obtain
the bounty.

They were hard-working and thrifty, silk-weaving
being their principal occupation, and none of the
earl)' settlers had titles of nobility.* The Docu-
mentary History of the State of New York shows
that "in the year 1689 they had dedicated 100 acres
of land to the use of the French Church. In 1709 all
the members of the Church, with the exception of
two, agreed to conform themselves to the liturgy and
rites of the Church of England, as established by
law, and put themselves under the protection of the
same." Among the names are fourteen spelled Sycar,
as belonging to the Church, and among the peti-
tioners are nine Secords, hardly any two of the nine
spelling the name in the same manner. Sycar, Secord,
Sicard, Seacord, Se Cord, Seicard are the different
forms.f

The original PVench Church was founded at New
Rochelle as early as 1692. In 1709, from the diffi-
culty of obtaining ministers, and being considered
Dissenters, all but two persons conformed to the
Church of England, and were obliged to erect a new
edifice in 17 10. The two who would not conform

* The Documentary History of New York State, in the edition
'Sof 1850, Vol. III., and relating to Westchester County, contains muc
Jinformation regarding the Secords and their descendants.

t From Canadian Archives : "Amable and Pierre De Sicard, stating
^ their services and praying for an allowance."

THE SECORD FAMILY.

\'\. I

retained possession of the old church and the loo
acres of land which had been reserved for a French
church. Others joined them, but the congregation
was not large, being always too poor to hire a minister,
and receiving no help from the Established Church
Fund, they naturally fell under the care of the French
Church in New York City, and were known as its
Annex in New Rochelle.* Services were performed
here occasionally by the minister from New York.
Toward the Revolution it fell into decay, and at that
time ceased to be used as a church. The edifice was
torn down, and the Episcopal Churchy through the
courts, obtained possession of the lands, although
they were granted for a French church erected, or to
be erected. After the war, what remained of the
congregation were merged in a Presbyterian church,
which still exists.

Solomon Secord was baptized in the Annex, show-
ing that his parents, descendants of the Badeaus
ancestry, still clung to the original French faith. The
records are in the church in New York City, and were
kept in duplicate in the church at New Rochellc.
The compiler says they agree exactly. In Appen-
dix I. of the Secord family will be found much
valuable genealogical information. James Secord, of
New Rochelle, a lieutenant in Butler's Rangers, was

* New Rochelle is now a part of Greater New York City. In the
old times we find that many of the church members, with their families,
walked to New York to attend church, when there was no service at
New Rochelle.

born

THE SECORD FAMILY.

born April 24th, 1732 ; he was probably of the fourth
generation. His wife was Madelainc Badeau, a de-
scendant of Elias Badea 1, who fled from St. George's,
Saintonge, France, to Bristol, England, and from
there came to America. They had eight children,
five sons and three daughters, most of them destined
to take an important part in the history of Canada.
Lieutenant James Secord died at Niagara, July 13th,
1784. Tradition says he was buried in the private
burying-ground of Colonel Butler. Of the date of
his wife's death and place of burial nothing is known.
James, their fifth son and youngest child, was three
years old when they arrived at Fort Niagara. This
son was the future husband of Laura Ingersoll.

Major David Secord, the third son, had shown his

patriotism and courage from early youth. His father

and eldest brother belonged to Butler's Rangers, and

we find him in his sixteenth year serving with them

during the Revolutionary War till its completion. He

was present at Wyoming as sergeant in the Rangers.

This expedition of Colonel Butler was to bring away

the families of the Loyalist refugees to Fort Niagara.

At that time Sergeant Secord, at Llie risk of his own

life, saved the lives of three American prisoners who

hao abused and killed the wife of Oneida Joseph, an

4 Indian chief, who afterwards settled on the Mohawk

,' Reservation at Brantford, and lived to a great age.

;. Many of the Rangers settled in the Niagara Dis-

•| trict, drawing lands as compensation for their services

.1 and the homes they had lost by confiscation. Mr.

THE SECGRD FAMILY.

Secord had 600 acres of land between Oueenston and
St. David's. His relatives and himself received large
grants in the district also, and in other parts of Canada.
He entered largely into business of various kinds. He
was surveyor, farmer, miller, besides erecting numerous
buildings for mechanics in the village. His first mill
was built in 1786. Appendix V. will give .some idea of
the variety of his occupations and possessions. He
had been in many battles during the Revolution, and
thirty years of peace again found him ready to face
the enemy. In the battle of Queenston Heights he
bore a conspicuous part. In the third and last en-
gagement, in the afternoon, when the invaders were
being driven back. Major Secord called to those who
were rushing down the bank of the river to come
back and their lives would be spared. Among those
who surrendered he found his wife's father and brother.
Another brother of Mrs. Secord, a Mr. Thomas Page,
came over before the war, and settled in Pelham ; he
was a Quaker. David, eldest son of Major Secord, was
taken prisoner, and after some time exchanged. He
reached home the day of the battle of Lundy's Lane.
It was late in the afternoon when he arrived. While
taking his supper the firing was heard, and, tired as
he was, he said, " I must go to father ! " and started
on foot for the battle-field, five miles away. Father
and son met, grasping each other's hand in a brief
welcome, and they fought side by side until young
Secord was again taken prisoner, and afterwards sent
to Greenbush, N.Y. Major Secord was wounded but

yount
ds sent
ed but

IlOMKSTKAl) ()!•■ MAIUR D.WID Sl-XORD, 1 894.

;i!:''

THE SECORD FAMILY.

once in the eight battles in which he was engaged
during the Revolutionary War, and it was a supersti-
tion among the Indians, who knew his dangers and
wonderful escapes, that he bore a charmed life. After
the war was over he had for the second time to
recommence the busy life which in past years had
made him so prominent and so prosperous. For
eight years he was a member of Parliament, doing
good service for his constituency and country. He
deprecated the selfishness of the Family Compact,
who by their ill-timed measures were driving a loyal
people to rebellion. He supported the reforms which
form the basis of our present government. He was
too well known to be branded as disloyal, and too
sensible to go to the extreme lengths to which Mac-
kenzie was driven. Before the rebellion" came he
had shown his courage in another form. Robert
Gourlay had been one of the earliest Reformers, and
one of the first to suffer for his principles. When
unjustly deprived of his property he had appealed in
vain for justice. Suffering in body and mind, sick
and penniless, he stayed in Mr. Secord's house until
he could return to Scotland. He was not the man to
forget a kindness, and Mr. Secord's daughter told the
writer that the first silk dresses she and her sister
had were given, with other remembrances, by Mr.
Gourlay when he returned to Canada. Mr. Secord
was generous and hospitable to a fault ; his house
was ever open to His Majesty's troops. In addition
to military services, he was Commissioner of High-

THE SECORD FAMILY.

ways and Bridges, giving his services for the latter
without pay.

Major Secord was three times married. First to
a Miss Millard, who died about a year after her
marriage, leaving one daughter, who married Mr.
Cummings. His second wife was Catharine Smith,
daughter of Elias Smith, by whom he had eight sons
and one daughter. His third wife was the widow-
Dunn, whose maiden name was Polly Page, sister of
the Thomas Page, of Pelham, previously mentioned.
She had two sons, Lorenzo and Luther, by her first
marriage. It is in connection with Mr. Secord's
marriages, and illustrating the times, that the fo low-
ing circumstances are given. When there was no
resident clergyman who was legally entitled to per-
form the marriage service, the resident magistrate,
or the commanding officer at a military station, was
empowered to do so. The second and third mar-
riages were thus made. An Act was passed b}-
which those who had been married in this manner,
by appearing before the Clerk of the Peace, and
making affidavit as to who performed the ceremon}',
the time and place, and giving the date of the birth
of children, received a certificate which settled al!
doubts as to the legality of such marriages. Major
Secord made those affidavits, which were registered
on the 8th of February, 1832. Rev. Mr. Addison, of
St. Mark's, Niagara, records that some were re-mar-
ried by him. The marriage register kept by him is
instructive and of great value, for the magistrates

l refijgt

On
census

THE SECORD FAMILY.

seldom kept a record, and if they made any they
have been lost.

Major Secord's sister, Magdalen Secord, married
the Hon. Richard Cartvvright, and was the ancestress
of that family which has been, and still continues to
be, so prominent in the history of the Dominion.
Another sister married Dr. Lawrence, of Savannah,
Georgia. The youngest brother, James, married
Laura Ingersoll, who fills the most important place
in these reminiscences. Major Secord's family was
large; the names will be found in Appendix II.
His son George was a member of Parliament for
many years.

From the Scarboro records the following are
selected :

Isaac Secor came to Canada at the outbreak of the Revolu-
tionary War ; came first to Kingston, then moved west, building
the first stone mill at Napanee. The Secords of Scarboro
were loyal, like those who settled in the Niagara District.

The first post-office in the township was on Lot 19, Conces-
sion D ; the first Postmaster, Peter Secor, who held the posi-
tion from its establishment, in 1830, to 1838. A footnote says,
Mr. Secor's sympathy with Mackenzie was what led to this
change.

Miss Janet Carnochan, of Niagara, has furnished
the following, which is evidence of the industry of the
Secords, and of the success which had attended their
efforts not seven years from the arrival of the first
refugees at Fort Niagara :

On the 25th of August, 1782, Col. Butler took the first
census of the settlement of Niagara. Among the names are

%
>•

THE SECORD FAMILY.

rn!

il:l I

Ivl'

Peter Secord — 7 persons, 4 horses, 6 cattle, 14 hogs, 30 acres
cleared land, 80 bu. wheat, 60 bu. Indian corn, 6 bu. oats, 100
bu. potatoes.

Jno. Secord — 5 persons, 6 horses, 10 cattle, 3 hogs, 27 acres
cleared, 50 bu. wheat, 50 corn, 70 potatoes.

James Secord — 6 persons, 3 horses, 3 cattle, 1 1 sheep, 3
hogs, 20 acres cleared land, 7 bu. wheat, 100 corn, 30 potatoes.

In 1783, among the names are Tho's Secord, 40 acres
cleared.

Peter Secord, 25 ; Jno., 50 ; Jno. Secord, jr., 10 acres
cleared.

Authority, Ernest Cruikshank, from Military Papers.

The following appears in the Dominion Archives :

Companies mustered in November and December, 1783.

B. 105 P. 399. Among the names are Silas Secord, Ser-
geant ; age 28, his wife 23.

James Secord, age 53, his wife 49, 2 sons and 3 daughters.

Peter Secord, age 62, wife 40, 3 sons and 2 daughters. Page
395, Bo. 105.

Miss Carnochan furnishes this also :

" In a narrative of the captivity and sufferings of Benjamin
Gilbert and his family, in the possession of Peter A. Porter, of
Niagara Falls, N.Y., and kindly loaned to me, are found some
interesting references to the Secord family, which show them
to have been a family of means and ready to help those in
trouble.

" The Gilbert family were carried off from Pennsylvania by
Indians, 25th of April, 1780, and after many hardships several
of them reached Fort Niagara and Butlersburg (now Niagara),
on the side of the river opposite to Fort Niagara. Abner Gil-
bert was with Elizabeth Gilbert. They went to the house of
John Secord, an Englishman, who was styled brother of the
Chief, having lived with him some time before. Elizabeth was
left here, and in July, 1781, tried to free Abner, who now found

1 The
: tier," ]

the nigt

THE SECORD FAMILY.

his sister Elizabeth, and stayed two weeks with her in the house
of John Secord, and drew clothing from the King's stores.
Elizabeth was very comfortable here. She, with John Secord's
wife and Capt. Freyes' wife, went to see the child of Elizabeth
Peart (wife of Benjamin Peart (Gilbert, the oldest son of the
Gilberts), over a year old, a captive with the Indians. Capt.
Freyes' wife I'urchased the child for thirteen dollars. Elizabeth
Gilbert lived more than a year in John Secord's family, and
became strongly attached to them, calling the mistress of the
house 'mamma.' John Secord took her one day to Fort
Niagara, where she met six of her relatives. Col. Butler and
John Secord procured her release from the Indians (who claimed
her) by presents. She then stayed two weeks at Butlersburg
with the Secord family, and eventually they reached their
lionie."

The author of " Old Trails on the Niagara Fron-
tier," F. H. Severance, has lately given a full account
of the captivity of the Gilbert family. He also relates
the following incident of the War of 1812 :

" Mr. John Lay, a merchant of Buffalo, was taken prisoner
the night that village was burned, December 13th, 1813. The
prisoners were marched from Fort Erie to Newark (now
Niagara). Many Indians were there. Like the white men, they
were celebrating their victory with strong potations. Mr. Lay
kne.v a Mrs. Secord who was living in Niagara. He asked to
be senf there, and under an escort was sent to her house. The
house was surrounded, but Mrs. Secord concealed him in safety
until the arrival of his partner from Buffalo under a flag of
truce, when he was removed and sent a prisoner to Montreal."

(lA^

"C^^^^TZJSk^

ALiU^

KM3M

rHE SECORD FAMILY.

APPENDIX I.

Lieutenant James Secord, of New Rochelle, N.Y., was born
April 24th, 1732, and baptized in the Episcopal Church, May
28th. He was probably of the fourth generation. He married
Madelaine Badeau, a descendant of Elias Badeau, who fled
from St. George's, Saintonge, in F' ranee, to Bristol, in England,
and from there came to America.

Children of James and Madelaine Secord.*

Born. Names. Married. Died.

9 March, 1755, Solomon, Margaret Bowman, 22 Jan., 1799.

20 Aug., 1757, Stephen, Ann or Hannah De

Forest, 31 March, 1808.

2 Aug., 1759, David, ist Miss Millard,

2nd Catharine Smith, 9 Aug., 1844.
3rd Widow Dunn, nee

Polly Page.

21 Feb., 1762, John, went away, never heard from.

4 May, 1764, Magdalen, Richard Cartwright, 25 Jan., 1827.
21 July, 1766, Esther, unmarried, 4 Feb., 1802.

15 May, 1770, Mary, Dr. Lawrence, Sa-

vannah, Georgia.

7 July, 1773, James, Laura Ingersoll, 22Feb.,i84i.

* Magdalen and Madelaine arc names often found among the female
descendants, and Badeau among the males o*" tbi? branch of the Secord
family.

Miss
Cummir

Cath,'
John, Sc

Mrs.

Thef

Beaver (

I Rich£

'1 1720.

His V

They

:i. They we

~,'i^ Crinpda

k« born at

Secord,'*'

James,
Richard,

* Priv:
I degree thi

Mil

''"" -«7 7:!^TVv t^-*^' K^.-.^>:.

THE SECORD FAMILY.

APPENDIX II.
Children of Major David Secord.

Miss Millard, first wife, left one daughter, married to Mr.
Cummings.

Catharine Smith, second »\-ife, left David, James, Stephen,
John, Solomon, (icorge, Robert, Philip, Phtube.

Mrs. Dunn, third wife, left Kiall, Elijah, Mary, Elizabeth.

/<^

xf^^

.Juc^p^ ^ci^2C^

APPENDIX III.

The following is condensed from an article in the Napanee
Beaver of May 19th, 1899 :

Richard Cartwright, born in London, England, 20th October,
1720.

His wife, Joanna, born 9th March, 1726.

They are buried in St. Paul churchyard, Kingston, Canada.
They were residents of Albany, N.Y., Loyalists, and came to
C^ripda about 1790. Their son, Hon. Richaro Cartwright, was
born at Albany, February nrn], 1759, and married Magdalen
Secord,* born at New Rochelle, May ^ih, 1764

James, 3rd May, 1786, unmarried, died Oct. nth,

1811.
Richard, 24th Dec, 1787, unmarried, diedatCharleston,

S.C, 4th May, liiii.

* Private letters show that Mrs. Cartwright possessed in an eminent
1 degree the kind and generous heart of her ancestors.

THE SECORD FAMILY.

Stephen Henry,
John Solomon,

and
Robert David,

24th Jan., 1801,

Twins.
4th Sept., 1804,

Hannah, Dec, 1792, married Capt. Alex. Dobbs,

Royal Navy ; died 4th Jan., 1839.
Thos. Robinson, 19th Jan., 1799, married Miss Fisher, died

26th June, 1826.
died aged 13.

married Sarah Hayter Mac-
aulay, died 15 Jan. ,1845.
married Harriett Dobbs, died
1843.

Children of Rev. Robert David Cartwright
AND Harriett Dobbs.

Two sons who died young.

A daughter, Mary Jane, and

Pev. Conway Cartwright, Protestant Chaplain of Kingston
Penitenil^'-v, Canada.

Sir Richard John Cartv/r'ight, born 4th Dec, 1835 ; married,
August, 1859, Miss. Frances Law.

The Hon. Richard Cartwright, son of the Loyalist, was in
partnership at Niagara with the (afterwards) Hon. Robert
Hamilton. He settled in Kingston about 1790. Was a mer-
chant and forwarder and an extensive mill-owner, one of the
earliest magistrates, and was appointed by Governor Simcoe a
member of the First Legislative Council of Upper Canada,
which office he held at the time of his death. He was also a
prominent ofiicer in the Militia, Chairman of the Land Com-
missioners for this section of the Province (Napanee). He had
grants of 6,000 acres of land, of which a considerable portion
was in the locality of Napanee. The land, with water privi-
leges, was on both sides of the river. The town of Napanee
was built on land which once was his. He obtained the first
Government flour mill erected there in 1785. He was a
member of the Church of England, and was interested in
educational matters.

Of Sir Richard Cartwright, now the Minister of Trade and
Commerce in the present Government of the Dominion, it is suf-
ficient to say his career is well known to the present generation.

ililll;;

THE SECORD FAMILY.

APPENDIX IV.

Dec. I77S.

To the Honorable Fredciick Haldimand, Esq., Governor-
General and Commander-in-Chief in and over the Province of
Canada and the Frontiers thereof in America, and Vice-Admiral
of the same.

The petition of Mary De Forest humbly sheweth :

That your Excellency's petitioner, with seven children, have
suffered much and are greatly distressed by being plundered of
all their effects, and her husband imprisoned, oy the Rebels in
Albany, in theyear 1777, occasioned by his Loyalty and Attach-
ment to the Interests of Great Britain.

And as your Excellency's petitioner, with her children in
these distressed circumstances, will become naked for want of
clothing and in want of other necessaries requisite in a family,
as she has received no other assistance than provisions,

Your Petitioner Humbly Requesteth that your Excellency
will take her suffering condition into your most serious con-
sideration, hoping your clemency will grant them some relief,
,; and your Petitioner, as in duty bound, will ever pray.

Mary De Forlst.

I Endorsed, — The Humble Petition of Mary De Forest to the
j Honorable Frederick Haldimand, Esq., &c., &c.
Pi ay for relief of her and seven children.

i This Mary De Forest is the mother of Hannah (or Anna),
\ wife of Stephen Secord.

Family of Stephen Secord and Hannah (or Anna)

De Forest.

Births. Married. Died.

20 Feb., 1785, Richard Robin-
son. 30 Dec, 1865
19 April, 1787, unmarried. 3 Jan., 1852
19 July, 1790, Ann Carscallen. 27 July, 1846

Names.

i Mary,

* James,
;' David,

THE SECORD FAMILY.

Names.

Births.

Elizabeth,

7 Mar.,

Esther Magdalen,

I June,

William Edwin,

26 Mar.,

Richard Henry,

12 May,

Stephen Alexander, 15 May,
Julia Ann, 8 May,

Samuel Robison, 18 Dec,

Hannah De Forest, wife
Oct. loth, 1841.

Married. Died.

1793, unmarried. 22 Aug., 1814

(At Napanee)
17915, George Keefer. 7Sept.,i87i
1797, Frances Hoiden. 5 Jan., 1881
1799, Catharine Elizabeth .

Stull 7 July* 1866 a|

1801, unmarried. 27 Feb., 1884
1803, Wm. Stull. 13 Jan., 1868
1805, Elizabeth Weaver.

15 Aug., 1875
of Stephen, born July, 1767, died

Hannah Secord was buried at the Warner burying-ground, |
near St. David's.

'm\

THE SECOND FAMILY.

APPENDIX V.

When St. David's was burned, 19th July, 1814, these were
the losses of Major David Secord :

I three-story frame house, which had seven fire-places, three
chimneys. It was a hotel, 22 x 80 feet, with stables and out-
1 houses.

I stone dwelling, two stories, 24 x 30.

I " " " " 24x60.

1 grist-mill, stone and timber, 22 x 40, with appurtenances.
Blacksmith shop and tools.
New frame barn, 34 x 44, with two fanning mills, and other

property.

2 log buildings, 22 x 20.
1000 Ibc. candles, made by contract for British troops, 2s.

per lb.

7 horses, 4 cows, 20 fat hogs — from 150 to 200 lbs. each.

I new wagon and a large yoke of oxen. The wagon was
loaded with furniture.

Store of merchant goods, ^500.

50 tons of wheat, which at that time was £Z per ton.

200 sheep and other property.

Household furniture and family clothing.

In 1817, flour was $10.00 per barrel.

THE SECOND FAMILY.

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THE SECORD FAMILY.

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THE SECORD FAMILY.

APPENDIX VII.

School Agreement.

Article of Agreement made the first day of November in the
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred thirty and one.
Between Richard H. Secord, of Grantham, of the District of
Niagara, of the one part, and the undersigned inhabitants, of
the other part.

Witnesseth, that for the conditions hereinafter mentioned,
he, the said Richard H. Secord, doth agree to and with the said
subscribers for and during the term of three months, commenc-
ing on Monday the fourteenth instant. He, the said Richard H.
Secord, shall teach a common day school in the said Township
of Grantham, and shall faithfully use his best endeavors to teach
and instruct such pupils as may, in behalf of the subscribers, be
put under his care and tuition, the following branches of educa-
tion, viz., Spelling, Reading, Writing and Arithmetic, and to
understand them as far as the space of time and their respective
capacities will admit. Secondly, He doth engage to maintain
good order and exercise impartial disciplme in said School, to
suppress and discountenance all immoral habits and practices
among his pupils, and to use all reasonable diligence to improve
their education. Thirdly, for the purpose of teaching he doth
agree to attend at the School House eleven days in every two
weeks, from nine o'clock a.m. until four o'clock p.m. for the
aforesaid term.

Lastly, if any charge should be brought against the said
Te;icher relative to his conduct in the performanceof the duties
of hie school, on his being examined before the Trustees, and
if foupd culpable of a misdemeanor, they are at liberty to dis-
charge hii'i on paying him for whatever space of time he may
have taught.

For and in consideration of the due performance of the above
conditions to us, i;io subscribers, on the part of the said Richard

H. Secc
Richard
currency
we do ei

writing (
an equal

pupils SL

may be ;

Johi
Johr
Nan
Dav
Johr
Will

The i
There ar
I though e
Lent I

I y

above
ichard

THE SECORD FAMILY.

H. Secord, we do Promise and Agree to pay him, the said
Richard H. Secord, the sum of eight shillings and nine pence
currency per quarter for each pupil subscribed. And further,
we do engage to furnish him in a school house with suitable
writing desks, benches, &c., also each subscriber shall furnish
an equal proportion of firewood (according to the number of
pupils subscribed) delivered at the school house whenever it
may be needful for the benefit of the said school.

Subscribers' Names.
John Vanevery, 2 James Turney, i

2 Henry C. Ball, 2

John Bessey,
Nancy Wilson,
David Grass,
John Grass,
William Price,

Charles Mundy, 2
Thomas Wood, 2
Elizabeth Ball, i

The agreement is a remarkable specimen of penmanship.
There are five varieties of writing in the document, delicate as
though engraved.

Lent by Miss Martha Secord, Stamford, Ont.

2 said

CHAPTER III.

THE INGERSOLL FAMILY,

Richard Ingersoll was born in Bedfordshire,
England, in 1600, and came to Salem, Massachusetts,
in 1629. His descendants have been traced through
four generations.

John, a brother of Richard, born in 161 5, came to
Salem the same year, but not at the same time. He
was in Hartford, Connecticut, for a short period, |
where he married in 165 1. He removed to North-
ampton, Massachusetts, where his second marriage
took place in 1657, and thence to Westfield, Massa-
chusetts, where he married for the third time in 1667.
This became his home, for he died there, September
3rd, 1684. Westfield appears to be the central point
from which started so many of the families whose
names were famous in the New England colonies,
and whose descendants in these later times continue
keeping in every State of the Union the honored
names of their ancestors. Westfield is now a thriving
city of over 25,000 inhabitants.

John Ingersoll built a house which, with many 1
additions and improvements, was standing in 1884.
It has since been destroyed by fire. It was re-

THE INGERSOLL FAMILY.

purchased by Chandler Lambert Ingersoll, of Brook-
lyn, of the eighth generation, in 1857, for a summer
residence. The gravestones in the burying-ground
were re-carved by his order, but the tomb of the
original settler could not be found. On the grave of
Thomas Ingersoll, a magistrate in Westfield, who
died in 1748, is the following inscription :

" This stone stands out to tell
Where his dust lies ;
That day will show
The parts they acted here below."

This house was called the seat of the ancient aris-
tocracy. In its early days it was used as a fort,
where the people resorted for safety at night during
the Indian troubles. Many traditions were connected
with it. " Among them, that Greylock, a famous
Indian chief, who had killed ninety-nine persons, had
skulked around the place for a long time to kill
Mrs. Ingersoll, and had nearly succeeded but for
the timely arrival of her husband, who fired his gun
while Greylock was trying to scalp her, at which he
fled and was never seen afterwards."

Through the history of the United States the
name of Ingersoll constantly occurs in all the con-
ditions and avocations of life. — the settler with his
axe, the mechanic and inventor, the merchant, teacher,
the singing-master, magistrate, judge, diplomat, his-
torian, the ^ soldier, the patriot, the exile. The
record of nine generations and over eight hundred
names have been followed. The families connected

THE .WGERSOLL FAMILY.

with them by marriage are also from that New Eng-
land stock which bore their part in the colonial days
and in the formation of the American Republic. They
were a long-lived race, and in looking over the
genealogical records, there are found many men and
women who lived over ninety years. Thomas and
David are frequent names among the Ingersoll
descendants, and the name is sometimes spelled
Ingersoll.

Their names, connected with many others, are
found in all matters pertaining to church, educational
and municipal affairs. Wherever they lived — and
you find them all through the colonies — they were
useful citizens, doing their share in promoting the
prosperity of the place they had made their home.

The town of Great Barrington, Massachusetts, was
settled by families from Westfield in 1724. To form
the settlement 1 1 5 persons united together, and,
choosing a committee to represent them, went
through the usual formalities in regard to the
acquiring, laying out and settling the land. Two
tracts ofjland, each to contain nine square miles,
were purchased, to be laid out on the Housatonic
River. These were divided into four townships. On
the 25th of April, 1724, Konkapot and twenty other
Indians, in consideration of the payment secured to
them of four hundred and sixty pounds in money,
three barrels of cider and thirty quarts of rum, exe-
cuted a deed to the committee of the lands above
mentioned. Among these first settlers are Moses

'■Hi

Miillllill

THE INGERSOLL FAMILY.

ling-
days
They
r the
n and
s and
ersoll
3elled

3, are
tional
— and
' were
g the
ne.

s, was

form

and,

went

) the

Two

miles,

atonic

other

red to

loney,

1, exe-

above

Moses

and Thomas Inger.soll. Other Ingcrsolls followed.
I'etcr Ingersoll built a house in 1766, which is still
standing. A David Ingersoll was among the early
magistrates, and some extracts from his records as
Justice of the Peace may be found instructive. The
stocks and the whipping-post were a cc^nmon form
of puni.shment,

Aug. 14, 1754. \
The King, /
Ag't Eliner Ward ) for stealing sundry goods from Mr. John
IJrown. She confest she stole 3 caps and Yz M. pins.
Ordered to pay 32 shillings and ye goods ; being 3 fold
damages and cost, and to be whipt 20 stripes. All were
performed.

At a Court before Justices Dwight and Ingersoll, October
5th, 1754, Samuel Taylor, Junior, and Ebenezer Crowfoot, of
Pontoosack, complained of for making and spreading a false
alarm and digging up and scalping an Indian which was
buried. They confessed themselves to be guilty. Taylor
ordered to pay a fine of 20 shillings, or be whipped 30
stripes. Neglected to pay s'd fine and was whipped. Crow-
foot to pay fine of 13 shillings, 4 pence, to be whipped 20
stripes. Omitted paying and was whipped. Both to pay
/6 7s 6d, committed until performed. In addition they were
bound for their good behaviour in the sum of ^5 each.

Oct. 7, 1754.

The French at this time were offering a bounty for
English scalps, and this false alarm and the effort to
obtain a bounty for an Indian scalp obtained in this
manner brought upon them deserved punishment.

THE INGERSOLL FAMILY.

Jn those clays a few had negro slaves. They were
hired out to work, and " Sophia Green " was sold by
the same David Ingersoll for ;^20.

A Thomas Ingersoll of the fifth generation, born
in Westfield in 1749, removed to Great Harrington in
1774. He married Elizabeth Dewey, daughter of
Israel Dewey. The Dewey family came from West-
field also, and there had been intermarriages between
the families previous to this. The troubled years of
the Revolution had already commenced. The colonies
were in a ferment, and the time that was to see the
formation of another form of government on this
continent soon arrived. From 1726 to 1775 there
had been many added to the Ingersoll name. As
soldiers during the Indian and French wars, they had
taken their share of danger, and when the Revolu-
tionary War took place they were on the Continental
side. One David Ingersoll, a lawyer and a magis-
trate, remained a Loyalist. Sabine says : " During
the troubles which had preceded the shedding of
blood he was seized by a mob, carried to Connecticut,
and imprisoned. In a second outbreak of the people's
displeasure his house was assailed. He was driven
from his home and his enclosures laid waste." He
mortgaged his property and went to England. He
married there, and left children at his death in 1 796.
The front door of his house bore the marks of the
hatchets and swords used at that time. It was after-
wards used as a young ladies' boarding school. In

THE INGKRSOLL FAMILY.

were
dby

born

hagis-

thosc days it was not possible to be neutral. Men
were drafted and compelled to ^o in person, to find a
substitute, or pay a fine of ^lo. It is the old story,
no freedom of speech or thought, everywhere sus-
picion surrounds, and selfishness and lawlessness
rcii^n. The lengthy wars of those times bereft the
people of everything. To those who fell on the
battle-field, or perished from the hardships of war,
must be added those who were driven from their
homes, leaving behind them all their earthly posses-
sions — glad to escape with their lives. War always
leaves hard times. Continental money had sunk to
its lowest depreciation, when it took a punch bowl
filled with bills to buy a meal, and $72 in paper was
worth only one of silver. The majority of the people
were without resources. Work was not to be had.
Rebellion was again the cry in New England, culmin-
ating in Shay's rebellion, 1786 and 1787. Captain
Ingersoll gave the new government his assistance in
putting it down, and for this he was made Major
Ingersoll.

It was shortly afterwards that Thomas Ingersoll
made arrangements to move to Canada. He was
a man of enterprise, respected by his fellow-citizens,
for he had held various town offices. He was a
lieutenant of militia from 1777 to 1781, when he
became captain, and after the war a major for four
years, and at various times performed military ser-
vice. He never claimed to be a Loyalist. A letter

TIIR INGERSOLL FAMILY.

i;i;r'ii

written by his son, James Ingersoll, for many years
Registrar of Oxford, which appeared in the Wood-
stock Sentinel-Revieiv, January 31st, 1879, and re-|
printed June 17th, 1899, by request, pjives mam
details of his father's removal to Upper Canada.
Major Ingersoll saw the proclamation of Governor j
Simcoe, offerin^^ tracts of land to settlers on easy
terms. The forests and rivers of Canada with thei
fertile soil were glowingly depicted. Ingersoll made;
up his mind to settle under the old flag and com-
mence the pioneer life of his ancestors of one hundred,
and fifty years before. He had met the famous Indian
chief, Joseph Brant, in New York, who promised him,
if he would come to Canada, to show him the best
lands for settlement. Brant had already selected for
the Six Nations the present Mohawk Reservation.;
He advised him to select lands on River La Tranche,,
now called the Thames. Brant, true to his promise,^
sent six of his best young men to show Major Inger-
soll the lands most desirable for the settler. The.
parties who were willing to join Mr. Ingersoll in thistj
venture selected him as their agent in the applica-
tion for a township. Government was then held atj
Newark. The Order-in-Council was passed Marchj
23rd, 1793. There were no roads in those days, only'
the Indian trail from Ancaster to Detroit. The
place selected had been the summer camping-ground-
of the Indians for many years. Work was com-
menced at once by Mr. Ingersoll and his associatesJ

THE INGERSOLL FAMILY.

Mr. Ingersoll with his own hands felling an elm tree
for the log-house* that was to be his future home.

The conditions of the grant were that there were
to be forty settlers, each to have 200 acres or more
upon the payment of 6d. sterling per acre. The
balance of the 66,000 acres was to be held in trust
by Mr. Ingersoll for the benefit of himself and his
associates by paying the same price, 6d, sterling.
Arrangements had been made to bring in one
thousand settlers from New York State, wdien repre-
sentations were made to the Home Government
that such settlers would be injurious to the country
and deprive others from settling. The order was
rescinded, and his grant cancelled, as well as those
of his associates. Between eighty and ninety fam-
ilies had already settled. Col. Talbot suffered the
(same treatment, a man of whose loyalty there could
be no possible question. Having influential friends
lin England, he returned home, and by his representa-
tions and their help Colonel Talbot's rights and lands
were restored. He advised Mr. Ingersoll to do the
I same, but he had not the time to spare, neither the
money and friends there to aid. Discouraged, he left
the settlement in 1805, removing to Etobicoke. We
find that during the few years he was in Oxford County
he was appointed Justice of the Peace, and as such

* On the site of this log-house a brick store on Thames Street,
joccupied by Mr. Poole, was afterwards erected. — Letter of J arms
\lngcr:oll, January 31st, 1879.

THE INGERSOLL FAMILY.

performed the marriaj.;e ceremony. The first Regis-
trar of Oxford, Mr. Thomas Hornor, was married by
him in 1801.* Hi.s last home was on the River
Credit,f where he died in 181 2, leaving a large family,
whose descetidants are found through the length and
breadth of the Dominion. His eldest son Charles, at
the time of his father's death, was employed as a
clerk in the house of Messrs. Racey and McCormick,
merchants in Queenston. When the War of 18 12
commenced, he, along with the late Hon. William
Hamilton Merritt, raised a troop of dragoons, called
the Provincial Light Dragoons. Mr. Merritt was
captain, and Charles Ingersoll lieutenant. They
served until the end of the war, and received grants
of land for their services. Charles was at the battles
of Queenston and Lundy's Lane. While taking
despatches to General Proctor, he was present at the
battle of the River Raison, and came near losing his
life at that time. After the war was over he com-
menced business with Mr. McKeiina, at the Twelve
Mile Creek, and was also a business partner of Mr.
Merritt. He married Anna Maria Merritt in 18 16, a
sister of his friend and companion in arms. In 18 17

*Vol. 15, G. Dominion Archives, is found the entry dated 5th
September, 1805, "Thomas Ingersoll, Captain of the Militia of
Oxford District." — From Mrs. Curzon, "Life of Laura Secord,"
second edition.

t The River Credit is so called because the fur traders met the
Indians on its banits and delivered goods to them on credit. The
Indian never broke an engagement to pay. If by any accident he
could not bring the number of beaver skins promised, his friends or |
relations made up the promised number.

THE INGERSOLL FAMILY,

he rc^jurchased his father's Oxford farm at sheriff's
sale. The log-house where James Ingersoll was born
in 1801 was still standing, but in a ruinous condition.
James Ingersoll was the first white child born in
Ingersoll. The brothers went earnestly to work.
First a saw-mill, then a grist-mill, a store, a potashery
and distillery were built. Charles Ingersoll brought
his family there in 1821. Soon after he became a
magistrate, postmaster and a Commissioner in the
Court of Request. He was also appointed Lieut-
Colonel of the Second Oxford Militia, twice was
returned member of Parliament, and died in 1832 of
cholera. His eldest son died at the same time.
Ingersoll was named by him in memo'-y of his father,
James Ingersoll received the appointment of Regis-
trar on the death of Mr. Hornor, holding that office
from 1834 until his death, August 9th, 1886, aged
eighty-five years.

THE INGERSOLL FAMILY.

APPENDIX VIII.

Elizabeth Dewey, born 28th Jan., 1758, married 28th Feb.,
1775, ^^^^ 20th Feb., 1784.

Children of Thomas Ingersoll and Elizabeth
Dewey Ingersoll.

1. Laura (Mrs. Secord), born Dec, 1775, married James
Secord, died 17th Oct., 1868.

2. Elizabeth Franks* (Mrs. Pickett), born 17th Oct., 1779,
married Rev. Daniel Pickett, 15th Jan., 1806, a'ed 15th Aug.,
1811.

3. Myra (Mrs. Hitchcock), born 1781, married in Canada to
Mr. Hitchcock, died in Lebanon, Madison County, N.Y., in

1847.

4. Abigail (Mrs. Woodworth), born Sept., 1783, married
Guy Woodworth 9th Sept., 1804, died 27th Feb., 1821.

Thomas Ingersoll's second wife was Mrs. Mercy Smith, a
widow. Married Capt. Thos. Ingersoll 26th May, 1785; buried
1 8th May, 1789. There were no children by this marriage.

Sarah Whiting, born 26th April, 1762. Married, ist, John
Backus; 2nd, Thomas Ingersoll, 20th' Sept., 1789; died at
Ingersoll, Ont., 8th Aug., 1832.

Children of Sarah and Thomas Ingersoll.

I. Charles Ingersoll, born at Great Barrington, Mass., 27th
Sept., 1791 ; married Anna Maria Merritt, 5th Sept., 1816; died
i8ih Aug., 1832.

* There were "refugees" from Canada in Great Barrington during
the Revolutionary War. Among them there wasa Jacob Vanc'erheyden
and a family by the name of Pranks, who came from (Quebec in 1775. t)f
this family there was a Miss Elizabeth Franks, a young lady and a
belle, who made her home in the family of Col. Elijah Dwighl. She
married and resided in Vermont.

THE INGERSOLL FAMILY.

2. Charlotte (Mrs. Marigold), born at Great Barrington,
1793 ; married Mr. Marigold, died at London, Ont.

3. Appy (Mrs. Carroll), born at Great Barrington, April,
1794; married Mr. Carroll, died at Lakeside, Ont., 12th Jan.,
1872.

4. Thomas Ingersoll, born 1796, died at St. Mary's, 1847.

5. Samuel Ingersoll, died at St. Mary's, 1861.

6. James Ingersoll, born loth Sept., 1801 ; married Cath-
arine Macnab, 1848; died at Woodstock, 9th Aug., 1886.

7. Sarah (Mrs. Mittlebergher), born loth Jan., 1807 ; mar-
ried Henry Mittlebergher, of St. Catharines ; died at St.
Catharines 17th Nov., 1826.

CHAPTER IV.

LAURA INGERSOLL SECORD.

|.!,.|'l'' ij!

Mr. Sabine, the biographer of the U. E. LoyaHsts,
says :

" Men who, like these, separate themselves from their friends
and kindred, who are driven from their homes, who become
outlaws, wanderers and exiles, such men leave few memorials
behind, their papers are scattered and lost, and their names
pass from human recollection."

If this is true of men, in narrating the hves of
women who iiave performed heroic deeds the narra-
tor encounters still greater difficulties. The scanty
records of their youth tell us little of the influences
that developed and formed their character ; and the
exciting period in which they lived, crowded with
remarkable events, prevented the just appreciation of|
their services. Even at this late day there is a little-
ness which would like to ignore the importance and
dignity of the work. But if the past is discouraging, j
there is hope that in the years to come the search-
light of hisiory will be turned on woman's work, so |
that what she has done, and what she can do, will
receive due recognition and be valued as it deserves.

Thomas Ingersoll, the father of Laura Ingersolll

alists,

friends
ecome
norials
names

es of
larra-
canty
encL^
d till
with
ion ot
Httle-
e and

:arcli-
rk, SI
), wil
rves.

ersoll

LAURA INGERSOLL SECORD.

Secord, removed from Westfield, Massachusetts, to
Great l^arrington, in the same State, in 1774. He
married February 2Sth, 1775, EHzabeth, daughter of
Israel Dewe)'. Land was purchased, a home built,
and Mr. Ingersoll commenced business. This hou.se,
built in 1783, is still standing. It is on the east side
of Main Street. The lot is large, being five-eighths
of an acre. It was larger in Major Ingersoll's time,
containing between four and five acres, and running
back to the Housatonic River. A street has been
taken off the southerly side. The house is broad
and low, and has been renovated and somewhat re-
modelled in later years. The glass panes in the
windows were formerly 6x8 inches. The property
is now owned by the town, and is called the Great
liirrington Free Library and Reading Room. A
house in the background, at the extreme right, was
formerly the shop of Major Ingersoll, and is on a side
street.

Elizabeth Dewey was born January 28th, 1758, and
was but seventeen years of age at the time of her
marriage ; she died February 20th, 1784, leaving four
daughters. ^ Laura, the eldest, was only eight years
old at the time of her mother's death. Elizabeth
Franks, the second daughter, married Mr. Pickett,
and died in Canada. Myra, the third daughter, was
married in Canada to Mr. Hitchcock, and after a few
years returned to the United States. Abigail, the
youngest, at the time of her mother's death was

LAURA INGERSOLL SECORD.

adopted by her aunt, Mrs. Nash, and afterwards mar-
ried Guy Woodworth, of Vermont.

Mr. Ingersoll married. May 26th, 1785, Mrs. Mercy
Smith, the widow of Josiah Smith. There were no
children by this marriage. She was buried May i8th,
1789. Both the marriage and burial are recorded by
the Rev. Gideon Bostwick,* who was the first Episco-
pal clergyman in Great Barrington. Little is known
of the second Mrs. Ingersoll, but there are letters
wherein she signs herself " Your affectionate step-
mother, Mercy Ingersoll" ; another where Mr. Inger-
soll's name is mentioned, and signed in the same
manner. Thomas Ingersoll married, September 20th,
1789, Sally Backus, widow of John Backus. Mrs.
Backus was the daughter of Gamaliel Whiting, and
sister of General John Whiting. The Whitings came
from Westfield, ar 1 there had been marriages between
the Ingersolls ana Whitings. The old homestead of
the Whitings was purchased by the town of Great
Barrington for a town hall, and a monument to the
soldiers who fell in the late Civil War stands upon the
hearth-stone, which has never been removed. Mrs.
Backus had one daughter by her first husband, called

* Previous to the Revolution the Documentary Records of the Colo-
nies furnish abundant materials for the historian. During that time
they were imperfectly kept, and sometimes ceased altogether. Fortu-
nately, the church registrations kept by the Rev. Gideon Bostwick, of
Great Barrington, the first Episcopal minister settled there, are con-
tinuous. He was one of the applicants for land with Mr. Ingeisoll,
but died before the arrangements were consummated. Two of his sons
eame to Canada. One was Sheriff of Norfolk, and another, Colonel
Bostwick, lived at Port Stanley.

LAURA INGERSOLL SECORD.

Xancy, who married a Mr. McKinstry, a name promi-
nent in American annals. Mrs. M :Kinstry died in
Cairo, Egypt. Of the girlhood of Laura Ingersoll
scarcely a memory remains ; of her sisters, also, few
records arc left. This much can be safely said, that
Laura and Elizabeth were old enough to receive
impressions that could never be effaced. War leaves
memories that do not pass away. Great Barrington
was on the highway where soldiers were passing to
and from the war. I'risoners were also sent there.
Among them, sick and dispirited, came General Bur-
goyne, after his surrender at Saratoga. With him
were Baron Riedesel, the Hessian commander, and
many English officers. Her father's experiences had
been many. He had taken the Continental side,
along with the numerous Ingersolls whose home was
in Great Barrington.

The days of the Revolution had passed away ; the
reaction which follows war took place. A depreciated
currency, lack of business and work — for the soldier
does not readily go back to the oil and monotony of
the farm — insurrection in Massachusetts and Penn-
sylvania, were taxing the capacity of the builders ot
the new nation to the utmost. Thomas Ingersoll,
who had risen from the ranks to be major, suffered,
with many of his friends, from these discouragements,
and they were willing to make ne\v homes on the
fertile Canadian lands.

It is at the sale of her father's property in Great
Barrington, preparatory to bringing his family to

LAURA INGERSOLL SECORD.

Canada, that Laura Ingcrsoll's name first appears in
history.* On January nth, 1793, she, with Mr. Ives,
witnessed the sale. Two years later, on April 21st,
1795, she is again a witness with Hcber Chase, at the
relinquishment by her stepmother, Sally l^ackus Inger-
soll, of her rights in her husband's property. These
records are valuable, as showing their preparations to
come to Canada. They lived in Oxford County, where
is now the town of Ingersoll. James Ingersoll was fi\c
years old when his father removed to the County of
York. Four of the children by the third marriage were
born in Great Barrington, and three in Canada. At
the final sale of the property in Great Barrington
Laura Ingersoll must have been in her twentieth
year. It is more than probable that she came with
her father before the other members of the family.

Of Laura Ingersoll's early life in Canada, the date
of her arrival, and her marriage to Mr. Secord, nothing
can be found. Probably the marriage took place soon
after her arrival here. Her granddaughter. Miss L
Louisa Smith, of Guelph, says she lived at St. Davi()'s
a short time after her marriage, and there are records
showing James Secord was living at Queenston in
1802. Everything shows that James Secord shared
in the prosperity of that time. He was a successful
merchant, and they kept two colored servants.

The Secords were a numerous race, and were U. K
Loyalists, not settlers. Being among the earliest
arrivals, they received lands in the Niagara District

See Appendix X.

LAURA INGERSOLL SECORD.

and were among the most prominent and prosperous
j)cople. An old ledger, dating from 1806 through
1S07, 1808, and part of 1809, shows that they were
living in Queenston at that time. Mr. James
Sccord's name frequently occurs, and the entries
show that they were for articles of household use
and what women wear. As they are read over,
paper and quills are of frequent mention. The arti-
cles of dress are expensive. There are slippers and
fine hose. The dress of that period for common use
was a petticoat and short gown, the skirt of stuff
goods, the short gown of calico and expensive, being
worth from $1.00 to $1.50 per yard. All other goods
were high in price. Mr. Secord was a merchant also,
and it can easily be seen that there was an exchange
of goods.

We can little imagine the dismay of the people as
the war-cloud dimmed and overspread the sky.
Nearly thirty years of peace had changed the wilder-
ness to fertile fields and orchards. The log cabin
had given place to ample stone and brick houses,
many of which still remain as testimony to the
industry and prosperity of the settler. Niagara was
the social and military centre ; Queenston was the
head of navigation, where the merchandise from
Montreal was transhipped to the remotest settle-
ments. Her own relatives and her husband's were
among the most influential of the people. A Miss
Secord, of Niagara, was called the belle of Canada.
The name of a Miss Ingersoll is given among the

LAURA INGERSOLL SECORD.

belles in the period from 1792 to i8cx), and we have
often asked ourselves, was it Laura Ingersoll?
Perhaps some future searchers amon^^ the records of
those times will be able to give the answer. Of the
causes of the war it is needless to write. On that
memorable morning of the 13th of October, 1812, when
the invaders crossed the Niagara River, General Brock
rose very early. His colored servant, as he assisted
him to put on his sword, said, " You are very early,
sir." " Yes, but the Yankees are earlier," was the
reply. With a small staff he hurried to Queenston
to direct and inspire his followers. The attack, and
his death in the early morn, are a part of Canadian
history. Laura Secord's husband was one of those
who bore the remains of the dead warrior from the
field to the house where they remained until the after-
noon, when they were removed to Niagara. The next
attack was followed by the death of Colonel Mac-
donnell. At the close of the third and last attack in
the afternoon, word was conveyed to Mrs. Secord
that her husband was wounded and lying on the hill-
side. She hurried to the spot. What follows is best
told by her grandson, the late James B. Secord :

Just as she reached the spot three American soldiers came
up, and two of them raised their muskets to club him to death.
My grandmother rushed in between them, telling them to kill
her and spare her husband. One of them spoke very roughly
and told her to get out of the way, and, shoving her to one side,
was about to accomphsh his murderous intention. Captain
Wool, coming up at that moment, sternly inquired how they
dared attempt such a thing, called them cowards, sent them to

LAURA INGERSOLL SECORD.

Levvislon under guard, where afterwards they were tried by
court-martial and sentenced to several months' imprisonment
for their breach of discipline. Captain Wool ordered a party
of his men to take Mr. Secord to his own house in Queenston,
and did not even make him a prisoner on parole. After his
promotion, and when he had risen to the rank of colonel, he
several times visited my grandfather, and their friendship
continued until my grandfather's death.

It is pleasant, amid the cruelties of war, to record
tlie kindness of a brave and honorable foe.

At the time when the great exploit of Laura
Secord was performed, Niagara and Queenston were
ill possession of the American forces. Few of the
inhabitants remained in Queenston. The order of
General Dearborn (American commander), "that
every man of the serviceable military age should be
considered and treated as a prisoner of war," had
deprived the homes of helpers and protectors. From
Niagara to Fort Erie scouting parties had gone in
every direction. Within two days nearly two hundred
persons were arrested and sent as prisoners to the
United States. Among them were the Rev. Mr.
Addison, the first rector of St. Mark's, Niagara, six
of the leading merchants, lawyers and others. Jacob
Ball was taken from his bed at night. Men working
in the fields, many too old and many too young for
service, and men helpless from wounds, were sent
away. General Vincent had evacuated Fort George
and retreated to Burlington Heights, at the head of
Lake Ontario. When evacuating Fort George, the
guns were spiked and the ammunition destroyed. The

LAURA INGERSOLL SECORD.

military records of the fort, as well as FitzGibbon's
private papers, were destroyed at that time. Previ-
ous to this a depot of provisions and ammunition had
been formed near the Beaver Dams. By General
Vincent's orders these were deposited in a stone house
occupied by Mr. De Cew.

Colonel Bisshopp had retreated from Chippewa and
Fort Erie, placing De Haren at the Ten Mile Creek,
where there was a junction of three roads, and his
own command at Jordan. These positions materially
interfered with the enemy, compelling them to live
on their own resources. Lieutenant FitzGibbon was
well known throughout the country as a man of
valor and discretion, remarkably self-reliant and
resourceful, and an adept in military strategy. He
was well known also as the faithful companion and
friend of the lamented General Brock. Soliciting
the privilege of raising a volunteer company of fifty
men, to be used as scouts,* the permission was
granted, and on the 13th June, within three days, the
number was made up. He was obliged to decline
the services of many who desired to be under his
command. To these, two days after, there was
added a party of Caughnawaga Indians, under Cap-
tain Ducharme, of nearly one hundred and sixty men.
FitzGibbon's headquarters were at the stone house,
formerly mentioned, of Captain De Cew (after whom

*The jackets worn by FitzGibbon's scouts were red on one side and
grey on the other, and reversible. They used cow bells to signal
instead of bugles. FitzGibbon himself could give an Irish yell or an
Indian war-whoop. They were constantly on the alert. — "Veteran
of 1812."

and

O
H
s.

■Jl

O
^5

Amen

LAURA INGERSOLL SECORD.

the falls are named), and who was at that time a
prisoner in the United States.* De Haren was at the
Ten Mile Creek with some Indians and men from
New Brunswick. Throughout the peninsula there
were only about sixteen hundred troops. They were
in rags, many without shoes and often in want of
food, yet they were ever ready to face the enemy.

h^rom the time the volunteers came under Fitz-
Gibbon's command their work commenced, ever on
the alert by day, and never sleeping twice in the same
place. On the 20th they had a skirmish with the
Americans at Niagara Falls. The next day they were
at Chippewa and Point Abino, then to Lundy's Lane,
where FitzGibbon had a narrow escape. Ducharme
and his Indians were equally busy. They had been
near Fort George more than once, killing men and
making prisoners. Annoyed beyond measure at their
audacity, the American commander determined by a
vigorous blow to dislodge FitzGibbon and overawe the
inhabitants. At a council of war in Niagara, on the
1 8th of June,! Colonel Boerstler, of Maryland, a man
distinguished for gallant services, was selected, him-
self being present. Under his command were placed
six hundred and thirty men, a company of light
artillery, two field-pieces, mounted infantry, and a
troop of dragoons.

At Mrs. Secord's house, in Queenston, some of the
American officers were billeted. On the 23rd of

* The story of Captain De Cew's escape is given in the " History of
Thorold Township."

t Vitic. Tames B. Record.

LAURA INGERSOLL SECORD.

June Bcerstler dined with them. They talked freely
of their plans, and of the importance of securing the
Beaver Dams as a base of operations, whereby a
large force could be concentrated to advance on
Burlington Heights. The capture of FitzGibbon
was to be the commencement of the enterprise.
" That position once captured," said Colonel Boerstler,
" Upper Canada is ours." He spoke truly, and mili-
tary men of the present day acknowledge it was
worth the venture.

Laura Secord was a quiet but eager listener. When
Bo-Tstler returned to Niagara to assume the com-
mand, and the other officers left her house to perform
their allotted part, she consulted with her husband on
the best course to pursue. For Mr. Secord to go was
impossible, and there was no one else to send. The
decision was soon made, for she was a woman of action
and of few words. Said her niece, Mrs. Gregory :

" On that ever-to-be-remembered morning, Aunt left her
home before daylight* (the cow and the milk-pail are a fable),
and came to St. David's, and rested at Grandma'st for a few
minutes, and then left, Aunt Elizabeth Secord accompanying
her as far as St. Catharines — then called Shipman's Corners^
— after which she proceeded on her way alone. I never heard
Mrs. Neville's name in connection with the affair until I read it

* On June 24th the sun rises nt 4.3b. She reached St. David's as
the sun was rising.

t Mrs. Stephen Secord.

% Mrs. Shipnian came from New Jersey, a distance of over 500
miles, on horseback, with her children. The first name of St. Cath-
arines, Shipman's Corners, was in memory of her family. It was
where the Imperial Bank now stands.

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LAURA INGERSOLL SECORf).

in a sketch copied from the Methodist Magazine. I remember
well of sitting, in childish astonishment and terror, listening to
Aimt and Grandma talking over the affair, and of hearing her
relate the fears she entertained of meeting and being taken
prisoner by the American Indians before she had reached the
Ih'itish lines, and given the information she was perilling free-
dom and life itself to give. Slie did not seem to think she
had done more than a sacred duty."

From Niagara to the Beaver Dams by way of
Oueenston is between seventeen and eighteen miles ;
from Queenston to Beaver Dams between twelve and
thirteen.

The Beaver Dams before the settlement of Upper
Canada was a place where those ingenious and clever
animals, the beavers, had constructed dams and made
this their resort. The place was surrounded by beech
woods. These were long visited by the curious, and
those wishing to see the engineering skill of the indus-
trious animal that is conspicuous on our national arms.
In Bcerstler's plan of attack* the artillery was to take
the main road ; the other detachments, marching by
different roads, were to meet and join in the attack
upon FitzGibbon, while a portion were to attack De
Maren and hold him in check at the Ten Mile Creek,
thus preventing his assisting FitzGibbon. Ut was
this portion of the plan, never carried out, that caused
Mrs. Secord so much difficulty, and extended the
distance for her to travel. The fear of being inter-

* In the " Veteran of 1S12 " is a map used by Colonel Ikvrstler at
the court which exonerated him from blame for the disaster.

LAURA INGERSOLL SECORD.

cepted at the Ten Mile Creek kept her from taking
the direct road.

Such was the situation on the evening of the 23rd
of June. The advance guard of the enemy had
reached Queenston. Silence had been enjoined, no
lights or fires allowed, patrols thrown out,* and
pickets placed to prevent information of the move-
ment being given. With a hurried farewell to her
'.band and children, Mrs. Secord took her fate
in her hands, and went forth with the inspiration
which comes when duty calls. It was before the early
light of the summer morn, and long before the last
of Boerstler's troops had halted at Queenston, when
she started on her way. Her brother, Charles Inger-
soll, was lying dangerously ill at St. David's, and
this excuse satisfied the sentinel for her early trip.
He was at the house of her sister-in-law, the widow
of Stephen Secord, at the south-east end of the vil-
lage. She was there but a few minutes, but in that
brief time resisted all persuasions to change her
purpose, and induced her niece, Elizabeth Secord,f
to go with her. This she did as far as Shipman's
Corners, where her feet became so sore she was
unable to proceed farther. From that point Mrs.
Secord's journey was performed alone. It had been
a very rainy season, the streams were swollen, and
where the rude bridge had been swept away, on her
hands and knees she crept over on a fallen tree. To

* The first sentry was at her own gate. — Vide Mrs. Dunn,
t Elizabeth Secord died at Napanee the following year.

I'LACK \viii:kk riii: Indians encami'KD.

LAURA INGERSOLL SECORD.

■'1

! ;■

avoid danger she had to recross the stream more
than once, and to travel beyond the orcHnary route.
As she neared the vicinity of FitzGibbon, in coming
up a steep bank, she came upon the Indians who
were encamped there. They sprang to their feet
upon her appearance, with piercing cries demanding
to know "What white woman wanted?" Though
terrified, her presence of mind did not forsake her, but
to the last years of her life she never could speak of
that time without emotion. 1 hey were Caughnawa-
gas, and did not understand English, With difficulty
the Chief, who partially understood English, at last
comprehended that she had a message of importance
for FitzGibbon, and must see him. It was seven
o'clock in the morning when she came upon the
Indian encampment. After what seemed a long de-
tention she was at last conducted to FitzGibbon, and
told him of the coming attack. There was no waste
of words on either side ; FitzGibbon recognized the
danger, and his arrangements were promptly made.

Ducharme asked permission to post his men at a
ravine in the beech woods, which only the day before
had fixed his attention as a good place for an ambus-
cade. FitzGibbon gave the desired permission, and
he with his twenty-five Caughnawagas and sixteen
Mohawks started on a run for the desired spot.
Lieutenant Jarvis, who saw the exhausted condition
of Mrs. Secord, brought her a drink of water, and
FitzGibbon, as soon as the disposition of his men was
made, sent her to Mr. Turney's as a place of safety.

LAURA INGKRSOLL SECORD.

where, as she graphically expressed it, " I slept
right off." Very soon after the Indian scouts came
rushing in, with loud cries announcing Bci^rstler's
approach. Thanks to Mrs. Secord, every preparation
had been made, and FitzGibbon rode two miles down
the road to see the advancing lines of the enemy.*
Soon after nine Bccrstler appeared, and the action
commenced at ten. The weather was intensely hot,
and as he neared the ravine the Indians kept up an
incessant firing from the woods. The artillery made
ineffectual efforts to drive them out. Their repeated
attempts to march forward were baffled, and Bcerstler
changed his direction, to everywhere meet an invisible
enemy. He was wounded twice, his horse was killed,
hi.s men were falling on every side, his officers dis-
abled, and no advantage gained. He retreated to a
hollow, where for a while they were partially shel-
tered. Then the Indians pressed forward with exult-
ing shouts. Bcerstler had conducted himself bravely,
but he knew tha^ aid for FitzGibbon would soon
arrive ; he was no longer on the offensive, but the
defensive. FitzGibbon saw his advantage, and brought
up his Iroops which he had held in reserve. Bo^rstler
rallied his men once more, placed his wounded in

* The Beaver Dam is at least three miles from De Cew's house, and
the falls arc only a short distance beyond the house, which is of stone,
and was selected by (leneral Vincent. Thither the ammunition and
other supplies were removed for safety, as the house could not be taken
without artillery. If FitzGibbon rode two miles after his arrangements
were made, and saw Boerstler approaching, it must then have been nine
o'clock, for B(trstler says the action commenced at ten. Boerstler
never reached the Beaver Dams nor De Ccw's house, only the neigh-
borhood of both.

LAURA INGERSOLL SECORD.

\v'aj]jon.s, and with his artillery commenced to retreat.*
Captain Hall, of the Provincial Cavalry, arrived at this
time, and three Kelly brothers, who had been work-
ing in a hay-field at some distance, and had heard
the firing, seized their muskets and hurried to the
beech woods, picking up eight or ten more of the
militia on the way. The Americans were at the last
in David Miller's apple orchard, and there Bcerstler
surrendered.-|-

liccrstler was surrounded, and FitzGibbon thought
if he could be detained for a little while the capture
would be effected without further blood being shed.
Captain Hall was instructed to personate De Haren,
and was sent forward with a flag of truce. A scjldier
of the 49th was to personate Colonel Bisshopp.
Bcerstler was unnerved by defeat and the pain of
his wounds. It was represented to him, in the
strongest language possible, how difficult it would be
to hold the Indians in check. Some frightful
examples of recent date were recalled to his memory,
and while they were being told, FitzGibbon's troops
were marched and remarched across the field.ij:
Brurstler asked time to decide. This was refused,

* Btx-rsller sent to General Dearborn for reinforcements, and 300
men were sent under Colonel Christie. They reached Queenston, but,
hearing of Bti'rstler's surrender, returned to Fort George. The force
that was to have made an attack upon De Haren and hold him there,
(lid not reach the Ten Mile Creek.

t Note 36, page 192, Mrs. Curzon.

i " We frightened the enemy," says Judge Jarvis, "with our In-
dians and from sounding the bugle in different positions, to make them
suppose we were numerous and had them surrounded. "

LAURA INGERSOLL SECORD.

and five minutes only were given. FitzGibbon was
more than anxious to have the surrender accom-
plished before the arrival of superior officers, De
Haren with reinforcements being immediately
expected. The terms of the capitulation had
scarcely been accepted before De Haren arrived,
and it tool: considerable strategy on FitzGibbon's
part to finish the work that thus far he had so
successfully carried out.* The late Judge Jarvis
(then Lieutenant) said in after years, " When the
Yankees did surrender we wondered what Fitz-
Gibbon was going to do \\\\\\ them." Bncrstler
said the action lasted three hours and ten minutes.
The surrender took place at 4 p.m. FitzGibbon's
ruse proved successful, and the articles of capitula-
tion were signed. Thirt}' Americans had been killed
and sixty wounded. Ducharme had fifteen Indians
killed and twenty-five wounded. In addition, there
were surrendered the colors of the 14th United
States Infantry, two cam. j, two baggage wagons,
and five hundred stand of arms, as substantial tokens
of the victory. No massacre stained its laurel.s.
To Ducharme and his Indian allies belongs the
glory of the fight ; to F'itzGibbon the tact, skill and
humanity which made the victory so great. Many
years after, in constructing the ne v Welland Canal,
the burial place of the dead was discovered. The
remains were carefully gathered, and a stone obelisk

* The capitulation was signed by De llaren, Ijul evei3'thing was
prearranged by FitzGibbon.

LAURA INGERSOLL SECORD.

marks the spot where our Indian friends and the
invading foe sleep their long sleep together.

The effect of the victory at Beaver Dams, com-
bined with the previous successful night attack by
Colonel Harvey at Stony Creek, on June 5th, when
the enemy were driven back to Niagara, and two of
their generals,* Winder and Chandler, captured, had
a most inspiring effect throughout the country. The
enemy thereafter was compelled to keep within his
entrenchments, and though there was frequent skir-
mishing, few gains were made by the Americans.
The farmers who were left, and the volunteers who
could be spared, returned to their homes to gather,
as well as their limited numbers permitted, the har-
vest and fruits of the year, though much remained
unreaped and ungathered for want of hands.

Laura Secord returned from the house of Mr.
Turney to her home, happy in the knowledge that
her sacred duty had been performed. No words of
pride or triumph crossed her lips. The grandson
who has been previously quoted, says : " She was a
modest and unassuming woman, and did not attach
the importance to her exploit that it merited."
Neither at that time would it have been wise to have
given it publicity. Queenston, as most other places
on the frontier, was one day in possession of the
invading troops, perhaps the next in that of their
defenders. Darker days were yet in store for Canada,

Lieutenants IngersoU and McKenna took them to Quebec.
5

LAURA INGERSOLL SECORD.

deeds of relentless cruelty, followed by swift and
remorseless retribution. The foe was driven back to
his own land, but before he left Niagara was laid in
ashes. On the loth of December, 1813, in the midst
of a snow-storm, and at only an hour's notice, the
terrible order was given. On the 19th day of July,
1814, St. David's, where the first years of her married
life were passed, met the same fate as Niagara. She
saw the homes of her kindred, the labors of thirty
years, swept away, while their owners were prisoners
or serving on the various battle-fields. These years of
warfare tested her discretion and courage to the
utmost.

Mrs. Curzon gives the following, which is quite
characteristic of her quickness of speech when
moved :

" Three Americans called at her house in Queenston to ask
for water. One of them said, ' When we come for good to
this country we'll divide the land, and I'll take this here for my
share.' Mrs. Secord was so nettled by the thought expressed
that, although the men were civil a id respectful, she replie i
sharply, ' You scoundrel, all you'll ever get here will be six feet
of earth.' When they were gone her heart reproached her for
her heat, because the men had not molested her property. Two
days after the men returned. They said to Mrs. Secord, 'You
were right about the six feet of earth, missus.' The third man
had been killed."

Mr. H. C. Mewburn, of Stamford, heard Mrs.
Secord tell the same story.

Her granddaughter. Miss Smith, already quoted,
relates that she saved a number of gold doubloons in

LAURA INGERSOLL SECORD.

a copper kettle which was hanging over the fire.
Miss Smith still possesses the tea-kettle, which is
more than one hundred years old.

Another incident, related by her granddaughter,
Mrs. Cockburn, probably occurred about this time,

Mr. Secord had received quite a large sum of money, which
by some means must have become known. One night soon
after, when she was alone with her young children, and only a
colored boy called Bob and a colored girl called Fan in the
house, a man appeared asking admittance, saying he was
pursued. My grandmother refused to admit him at that time
of night. Then he said he could and would come in. Chang-
ing her voice to an Irish brogue, she threatened to set the dog
upon him. The colored boy was told to growl like a dog,
which it seems he could do to perfection. The man went
away, but soon returned, when my grandmother presented an
old horse-pistol, telling him she would shoot if he did not leave.
He went off declaring he would yet get in. Grandmother after-
wards heard that a desperate character had been seen around
the village at the time the money was received.

When the war ended, and the welcome days of
peace came, and the prisoners returned to their
homes, her eldest daughter was married to Dr.
Trumbull, assistant surgeon of the 17th Regiment.
The engagement took place during the war, and the
marriage followed, April i8th, 18 16. Her brother,
Charles Ingersoll, was married the same year to
Sarah Maria, sister of the late Hon. W. H. Merritt,
his companion in arms. Both of these marriages are
recorded in the parish register of St. Mark's Church,
Niagara. Having gone to Jamaica, in the West Indies.
Dr. Trumbull died there. Mrs. Trumbull, with her

LAURA JNGERSOLL SECORD.

two daughters, visited her mother before she went
to Ireland, which she made her home. Mary Trum-
bull, the eldest, never married. Elizabeth Trumbull,
the second daughter, married Mr. Davis, President of
the Bank of Ireland in Belfast.

Four of Mrs. Secord's daughters were married while
she lived in Queenston. Of two of these marriages
the date has not been found. One daughter, Char-
lotte, never married, and died at Guelph, Appollonia
died at the early age of eighteen, and was probably
buried at St. David's, in the burying-ground given
by . Major Secord. Harriet Secord married David
William Smith, a lawyer, November 23rd, 1824. This
marriage, by license, was performed at Queenston
by Rev. Mr. Turney, Chaplain of the forces ; it is
also entered in the St. Mark's Parish Register. Mr.
Smith practised law at St. Catharines, and, dying
there, was buried at Fort Erie ; Mrs. Smith died at
Guelph. Hannah Cartwright married a Mr. Williams,
from England. After his death she married a Mr. Car-
thew, who was also an Englishman. Their home was
in Guelph, and they are buried there. Mrs. Secord's
only son, Charles Badeau, married Margaret, daugh-
ter of W, Robins, of New York, who had been in '.;he
English service, but the number of his regiment is not
known. This son Charles lived for many years in the
house where General l^rock was taken for a few hours
before the removal to Fort George. He was Regis-
trar of the Surrogate Court at Niagara, dying there
in 1872, leaving two sons and one daughter. Occa-

LAURA INGERSOLL SECORD.

sionally we come upon traces of Laura Secord's life
in Oueenston. We hnd —

On the 14th July, 1817, Thomas Dickson, of Queenston,
Merchant, conveyed the Thorburn Homestead property to
James Secord, Merchant, for ^25.

On the 4th December, 18 17, James Secord and his wife
Laura conveyed the same land to Samuel Street, for $625.

Mr. James Secord received a pension for his ser-
vices at Queenston, and an appointment in the Cus-
toms Department at Chippewa. The year of his
removal from Queenston has not been obtained. An
incident of Mrs. Secord's life in Chippewa is related
by her granddaughter, Mrs. Cockburn :

" My grandmother was a woman of strong personality and
character, and her word carried great weight with it, as the
following incident will show. Upon one occasion a negro in
whom she was interested was very ill with the smallpox. Of
course there were no isolated hospitals in those days, the
patient hiding to be treated at home, precautions being taken
to prevent the contagion from spreading. Grandma heard
that the doctor intended smothering the poor negro, and accord-
ingly challenged him as to those reports. He admitted the
charge, saying at the same time, ' He is only a nigger and not
much account anyway.' 'As sure as you do,' my grandmother
answered, ' I will have you indicted for murder.' This seemed
to set him thinking, and putting forth renewed efforts he pulled
the poor fellow through, who, in after years, testified his grati-
tude in many ways for the saving his life. She was a great
favorite with young people, who, on returning from scb jol for
their holidays, would say, after a brief time in the house,
' Now, we must go and see Mrs. Secord.' "

LAURA INGERSOLL SECORD.

Mrs. Secord's home in Oueenston was well back
from the street and on rising ground. It was a frame
building. A niece of her husband's says that both
sides of the path were thickly set with roses. The
hand of the renovator has done its work. Fortunately
a sketch of the place in water-colors was taken tiie
year previous to its renovation. The house in Chip-
pewa, fronting the river, where her last years were
spent, has also been renovated, but the front of the
house, the small glass in the front windows, and the
porch still remain. The large stone house built by
De Cew in 1810 is in good preservation, and can
stand the storms for many a year to come. It is
nearly a century since it was built. The walls are
very thick ; the casings of the windows in the hall, the
wainscotting, and the stairs also are of solid walnut.
The frieze and casing of the windows in what was
the drawing-room show that it was a handsome as
well as a convenient house.

Mr. and Mrs. Secord were living in Chippewa when
the rebellion of 1837 took place ; it must have recalled
the scenes of Laura's earlier days. Here were the
headquarters of Colonel (afterwards Sir) Allan Mc-
Nab, and from this same place went Captain Drew
to cut out and burn the steamer Caroline. It was the
beacon light at the mouth of the Chippewa Creek —
only a short distance from her home — that guided
him to and from the night's adventure.

When the great gathering took place at Queenston

■f.
■J.

LAURA INGERSOLL SECORD.

Heights, July 30th, 1840, to take measures for the
reconstruction of Ikock's monument, destroyed by
Ik-njamin Lett, April 17th, 1840, Mr. Secord spent
the night with his brother, Major David Secord, at
St. David's. Mr. James Secord, Major Secord and
Mr. William Kirby (the author of " Chien d'Or," who
was then a young man living at St. David's), went to
and returned from Oueenston together. The War of
1 81 2 was the principal topic of their conversation, yet,
strange to say, neither her husband nor his brother
made the slightest allusion to Mrs. Sec^'^-rd's heroic
deed. Mr. Secord died at Chippewa, 22nd February,
1 84 1, and was buried at Lundy's Lane. With his life
the pension ceased. Mrs. Secord never received any
recompen.se from the Canadian Government. Twenty-
seven years of widowhood were to follow — a long
struggle with limited means, and many bereavements
to herself and daughters, borne on her part with un-
complaining patience, grateful for help, and but sel-
dom asking for it. How grateful she was, and how
kindness touched her heart, is well told in this inci-
dent : A nephew of her husband's had to the last
years of his life been exceedingly kind. With tears
she used to put her old arms about his neck and
say, " You have been more than son or brother
to me."

In i860 the Prince of Wales visited Canada, and
spent several days at Niagara Falls, occupying the
residence of the late Samuel Zimmerman, which had

LAURA INGERSOLL SFXORD.

been specially refurnished for himself and suite. On
Sunday he attended church at Chippewa. Durini;
his stay at Niaj^ara Falls a petition was presented for
his approval, and Mrs. Secord's name being the only
woman's name upon the petition, the Prince made
inquiry as to its being there. When he was told of
her meritorious action, he continued his inquiry in
regard to her circumstances, and sent her a check for
;^ioo sterling. This was the first and only remuner-
ation she ever received for her services, and is gladly
mentioned as one of the kindly acts of the eldest son
of our beloved Queen Victoria. The first tim.e her
brave act had been recognized as worthy of notice
was m.\}[\Q Anglo- American Magazine^ No\. III. In
the November number of 1853, was a leport of the
action at Beaver Dams, one of a scries of articles
upon the War of 181 2. Mrs. Secord's narrative was
given and the certificate of Fit/'Gibbon which estab-
lished the fact, and elicited her grateful thanks.
Even then some doubted, and as time passed along
some denied its truth.

Her life commenced with the Revolution, her father
and kindred fi^nting for the Republic, while her
future husband and his mother were among the first
fugitives to find safety in Canada. The son of the
refugee and the daughter of the settler were united
by marriage, and participating in the War of tSt2,
ga\re invaluable services to their country, Togethei
they saw the beginning and end of the rebellion.

LAURA INGERSOLL SECORD.

The year 1866 broiu;ht the I'^enian Raid, and her
brave heart must have beat with quickened throb,
and the old ^yc^^ j^deamed with their youthful fire, as
she saw among the volunteers many of the old names
of her kindred hastening through Chippewa to Fort
l'>ie.

The great age attained by Mrs. Sccord had been
years of loneliness and bereavement. Of the large
family of brothers, sisters and step-sisters but four
survived her. Among those of her husband's rela-
tives who had been her companions in the trials of
more than three-quarters of a century, there were
none remaining.

On the 17th of October, 1868, at the age of ninety-
three,

" Life dropped the distaff from the hands serene,

And loving neighbors smoothed the careful shroud,
While death and winter closed the autumn scene."

" Laura Secord was of fair complexion, with kind, brown
eyes, a sweet and loving smile hovering about the mouth.
This did not denote weakness. She was five feet four inches
tall and slight inform."*

Her granddaughter. Miss L. Louisa Smith, says :

" I feel a nation's gratitude should have appreciated the
noble act of Laura Secord, and have raised a monument to her
memory on the spot selected by her husband as their last
resting-place."

Mrs. Cockburn.

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LAURA INGERSOLL SECORD.

Mr. and Mrs. Secord are buried in the buryint^-
ground at Lundy's Lane. The battle-field was then
as now the burying-place. The head-stone of Laura
Secord is three feet high and eighteen inches wide,
and has the following inscription :

Here Rests

LAURA,

Beloved Wife of James Secord,

Died October i/tii, 1868.

In Memory of

JAMES SECORD, SEN.,

Collector of Customs,

Who departed this life on the 22nd of February, 1841,

In the 68th year of his age.

Universally and deservedly lamented as a sincere Friend, a
kind and indulgent Parent, and an affectionate Husband.

A simple wooden paling surrounds the graves.*

* Given by Mrs. Dunn.

i'rksknt statk ()!• i.aika indkksoll
secokd's (;ra\i:, 1900.

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LAURA INGERSOLL SFXORD.

APPENDIX IX.

The Children of James Secord and Laura
ingersoll.

Name, Married. Died.

Mary, Wm. Trumbull, Asst. Sur-

geon of 37th Regiment,
April i8th, 1816. In Ireland.

Charlotte, Unmarried.

Harriet, David William Smith, bar-

rister, at Queenston, by
license, Nov. 23rd, 1824.

Hannah Cartwright, Hawley Williams, first ;

Edward Carthew, second.

Laura, Dr. William Clark, first ;

Capt. Poore, second.

Charles Badeau, Miss Robins. In 1872, aged

63 years.

AppoUonia, Unmarried. At Queens-

ton, aged 18.

There are thirteen grandchildren living in the present year,
1900.

James B. Secord, jun., married Miss Flint ; died in 1899, ^^
Niagara; no children.

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Lent by Chas. J. Taylor, Esq.

LAURA INGERSOLL SECORD.

APPENDIX X.

Thomas Ingersoll"^ Certain real estate. Deed dated Jan.
to f"th, 1793. Acknowledged the same day

Samuel Whiting J before

Thomas Ives,

Justice of the Peace.
" In the presence of
Laura Ingersoll,
Thomas Ives."

Book 33, pages 106, 107.

Thomas Ingersoll \ Certain mountain lands. His X P^rt
to >■ which he owned jointly with Thomas Ives

John Whiting J and John Burghart.

Deed dated April 20th, 1795. Acknowledged April 21st,
1795, before

Moses Hopkins,

Justice of the Peace.
"In presence of
Jared Ingersoll,
Heber Chase."

April 28, 1795, Mrs. Ingersoll makes a release (on same
deed) of all her rights in the property, conveyed as wife of
Thomas Ingersoll, " my present husband," and signs her
name

Sally Ingersoll. [Seal.]
In presence of

Heber Chase,

Laura Ingersoll.

LETTER OF MAJOR THOMAS INGERSOLL.

7P'

Lent by Chas. J. Taylor, Esq.

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DIAGRAM OF BATTLE OF iiEAVER DAMS.
June 2/ S, iSi3„

It is well to remember that three Indian trails con-
verging on Niagara were still used. A part of the
road over which Bcerstler passed has been closed,
and other roads opened in its place. The old and
new canals, with a network of railways from all direc-
tions, iiave changed the face of the country, and
caused the disappearance of most of the old land-
marks. Of the beech woods, then so extensive, but
little remains, and the beaver dams will soon be
among the things of the past. In the " History of
Thorold " there are views of the place taken in 1 897.
The reader will notice in the accompanying diagram
the position of several buildings. From the barn
on the Metier lot Mrs. Philip Metier watched the
engagement from its beginning until the close. Mrs.
Metier also said Boerstlcr passed a little after nine
o'clock. The Hoover House, being so close to the
battle-ground, was forsaken by its inmates for a safer
place. The Kellys were in David Miller's apple
orchard. The diagram is kindly given by Mr. A. W.
Reavely, an old resident who has studied the locality,
and is familiar with its history and traditions.

LAURA INGERSOLL SECORD.

STATEMENTS Ol- MRS. SECORD AND CAPTAIN

KITZGIUHON.

Mrs. Sccord's own statoment :

'* I shall commence at the battle of Queenston, where I was
at the time the cannon-balls were flying around me in every
direction. I left the place during the engagement. After the
battle I returned to Queenston, and then found that my husband
had been wounded, my house plundered and property destroyed.
It was while the Americans had possession of the frontier that
I learned the plans of the American commander, and deter-
mined to put the British troops under FitzGibbon in possession
of them, and, if possible, save the British troops from capture and
total destruction. In doing so I found I should have great diffi-
culty in getting through the American guards, which were out
two miles in the country. Determined to persevere, however, 1
left early in the morning, walked nineteen miles in the month of
June to a field belonging to Mr. De Camp, in the neighborhood
of the Beaver Dam. By this time daylight had left me. Here
I found all the Indians encamped. By moonlight the scene
was terrifying, Jind to those accustomed to such scenes might
be considered grand. Upon advancing to the Indians they
all ran and said, with some yells, ' Woman ! ' which made me
tremble. I cannot express the awful feeling it gave me, but I
did not lose my presence of mind. I was determined to perse-
vere. I went up to one of the chiefs, made him understand I
had great news for FitzGibbon, and that he must let me pass to
his camp, or that he and his party would all be taken. The
chief at first objected to let me pass, but finally consented, with
some hesitation, to go with me and accompany me to Fitz-
Gibbon's station, which was at Beaver Dam, where I had an
interview with him. I then told him what I had come for and
what I had heard — that the Amerirans intended to make an
attack upon the troops under his command, and would, from
their superior numbers, capture them all. Benefiting by this

LAURA INGERSOLL SECORD.

information, Capt. FitzGibbon formed his plans accordingly,
and raptured about five hundred American infantry and fifty
mounted dra^^oons, and a field-piece or two was taken from the
enemy. I returned home the next day exhausted and fatigued.
I am now advanced m years, and when I look back I wonder
how I could have gone through so much fatigue with the forti-
tude to accomplish it." — Taken from the Anglo-American
Mas^acmc, Vol. UK, November, 1853, No. 5.

The followintj Is copied from "A Veteran of 18 12,"
by Mary Agnes FitzGibbon, granddaughter of Lieu-
tenant-Colonel James l-'itzGibbon :*

" I do hereby certify that Mrs. Secord, wife of James Secord,
of Chippewa, Ksq., did, in the month of June, 181 3, walk from
her house near the village of St. David's, to De Cou's house in
Thorold, by a circuitous route of about twenty miles, partly
through the woods, to acquaint me that the enemy intended to
attempt, by surprise, to capture a detachment of the 49th Regi-
ment, then under my command, she having obtained such
knowledge from good authority, as the event proved. Mrs.
vSecord was a person of slight and delicate frame, and made the
effort in weather excessively warm, and I dreaded at the time
she must suffer in health in consequence of fatigue and anxiety,
she having been exposed to danger from the enemy, through
whose lines of communication she had to pass. The attempt was
made on my detachment by the enemy . and his detachment,
consisting of upwards of 500 men and a field piece and fifty
dragoons, were captured in consequence. I write this certifi-
cate in a moment of much hurry and from memory, and it is
therefore thus brief.

"(Sgd.) James FitzGibbon,

" Formerly Lieutenant 4gth Regiment.''^
Mis. Secord possessed the original, December, 1863.

* Licutcnanl-Coloncl FitzGibbon, born November nth, 1780, died
at Windsor, December loth, 1863, aged 83.
6

CHAPTER V.

REMINISCENCES OF 1812.

Many of the incidents in these reminiscences arc
given as nearly as possible as they came from the
lips of the narrators. They are not history, but the
experiences of those who made new homes for them-
selves and their posterity, and exemplified the perils
which beset them during the troubled days of war.
Posterity is reaping now what a noble ancestry
planted, and should give more than silent remem-
brance to the fathers and mothers of this Dominion.

It was my privilege in early youth to have heard
much relating to the War of 1 8 12. It was the cus-
tom of those days for the women to take their sewing
or knitting and spend the afternoon with their friends.
The number was not large, and they were mostly of
the same age. As old soldiers, when they meet, talk
over their battles, with the triumphs and defeats of
the past, so these women told again their share in the
perils and trials of those eventful years. A quarter
of a century had not passed, and they were still
vivid in their memories. Stoves were few ; only the
open fire with shining brass andirons and fender,

REAflNISCENCES OF 1S12. 83

with brii^ht candlesticks on the mantel-piece, which
was generally so hi^'-h that it was safe from the
depredations of the children. There were no pic-
tures, antl very few books. Occasionally could be
seen those silhouettes which we are j^atherinf; up
now as precious relics of the past. The brass
knocker and the brass door-handle were in evi''' Te,
but there was no lock and key, only a stick hanj^ing
by a string to place over the latch, and this often for-
;^'otten. Visitors arrived between two and three p.m.
ICvery married woman, young or old, wore a cap.
It would have been undignified not to do so. In
the making and trimming of these caps much taste
was displayed. The lace, gathered or plaited at the
sides, was usually real English lace, now called
Mechlin. There was a plain space over the forehead
where a large bow of ribbon, of color most becoming
to the wearer, was placed, and strings of the same.
A large collar trimmed with lace, or el.se of embroid-
ery, completed the dress of the younger matrons, or
those not in mourning. Widow's caps were of
muslin, with a full puffed frill. This had a black
ribbon passing back of the frill and tying under the
chin. A widow's dress was black bombazine, open
to the belt, with white muslin kerchief carefully
folded. This she was supposed to wear until death
or re-marriage. Middle-aged ladies wore dresses of
pressed flannel, generally brown. Of what we call
gossip there was but little. The conversation soon
drifted to the war. As one after another told her

REMINISCENCES OF 1S12.

tale of suffering, there arose a hatred of war in m>
heart, which has grown stronger with advancing years.
Our aged male friends often rela d their own ex-
periences and those of their friends. The description
of Colonel Butler and his Rangers was a combination
of bravery and cruelty, which was the fascination and
terror of my childhood. Years after, when from the
lips of those who knew the man, who had been his
comrades in war and his neighbors in the better days
of peace, we heard the story of his later years, it was
to find a different character — a brave soldier, a loyal
and useful citizen.

An amusing incident was related by an aged
friend. When a very young child. Colonel Butler
visited at her father's house. Her father had held
a commission in the Rangers also. Butler was
accompanied by a colored servant who dressed his
wig. It was the fashion of the age to have what was
called " body servants," and they were generally
colored. Colonel Butler wore one wig and carried a
second. This was dressed on a blocked head with a
painted face. The child entered his room one day
when this was standing on the dressing-table, and
ran frightened and screaming from the place, telling
them "somerie had cut off Colonel Butler's head."
It took considerable tim'" and reasoning to convince
her that this was not true.

Marriage customs sixty years ago had peculiar
features. The invitations were written, and had a bow
of white ribbon at the left-hand corner. The cere-

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REMINISCENCES OF 1812.

mony was generally in the evening. The bride was
attired in white, and was always supposed to wear
some simple thing that was borrowed, to bring good
luck. At the supper the first piece from the wedding-
cake was cut by her. After supper she changed her
dress for a silk one. The next day the bride and
bridegroom, bridesmaids and groomsmen, with many
of their friends, drove to Niagara Falls. The bride
wore a long white gauze veil, and afterwards wore this
for a few Sundays to church. The evening following
the marriage, or soon after, the bridcgn^om's parents
gave what was called an "infair" at their home to
the bridal guests. An elaborate supper was pro-
vided, with cards for the elderly people and dancing
for the younger, in which the fathers and mothers
joined.

The deaths and funerals of that time were also
notable family events, with many usages now passed
away. The custom of " sitting up " with the dead
has only been discontinued a few years. The dead
were kept many days before burial, and elaborate
preparations were made for the funeral. The family,
from the oldest to the youngest, were put in gar-
ments of the deepest woe, the whole neighborhood
working to prepare the mourning. A table, with
refreshments to eat and drink, was laid out the day
of the funeral. These refreshments were according
to the social rank and financial standing of the
deceased. There were long crape bands and black
scarfs of various kinds, and gloves for the pall-

REMINISCENCES OF 1813.

bearers, the physicians, clergymen, etc. The funeral
garments went through various stages of grief, taking
from two to three years before they could be left off.
The diary of Colonel Clark says that the family sleigh
was painted black at his mother's death.

Attendance upon the sick devolved upon women,
for there were no trained nurses. Any woman who,
by careful observation, had learned some of the
requirements of sickness, was a valued member of
the community. There were few women who did
not feel it a sacred duty, at all times and all places,
to minister to their sick neighbor, undeterred by
darkness, by distance or the danger of contagion.
Whoever was " handy " in sickness was a frequent
topic of conversation. Vaccination had not yet
taken the place of inoculation, and whole families
were inoculated at the same time, followed wiLh the
best preventive results.

The late Colonel Clark, of Port Dalhousie, left a
diary which contains much useful information regard-
ing the times in which his father lived.

The volunteers went back to their ruined homes,
their wasted fields, to struggle with poverty of which
we can form no idea or estimate. The church and
the school-house, the minister and the school-master,
had disappeared. The children of that generation
grew up in most deplorable ignorance. As soon as
the struggle for food, clothing and shelter was over,
these were the first things that secured attention.
There were villages in which there was not a clergy-

REMINISCENCES OF 18K

man to be found of any denomination. In sickness
those who made any appearance of piety, whether
male or female, were called upon to give what spir-
itual consolation could be given the dying in the last
hour. The writer remembers a lady who came to
St. David's, and whose infant was evidently dying.
The mother was very anxious that her child should
be baptized. An aged woman, who was a Methodist,
performed the rite, to the comfort and satisfaction of
the about-to-be-bereaved mother.

It has been asked why did not England give more
aid to those who had so bravely upheld the flag of
their common country? There is one answer that
should be sufficient. She was gathering her resources
for that miighty struggle which culminated in Water-
loo and gave peace to the nations for many years.
The settlements, commenced so auspiciously, had
been put back by the invasion for another half
century. Between two English-speaking peoples there
were left the wounds which take so many years to
heal, and the evil influences which war ever brings.
Amid it all, Canadians felt that they had preserved
their country and the prestige of that great Empire
which had ever been their protector, that England's
flag still waved on the ramparts of Quebec and on
Queenston Heights, and that " these sons of a
mighty mother" would ever be a part of that race
whose drum-beat is heard around the world.

The only resource of Canada was her fertile lands,
and these were as unknown to the world as to herself

REMINISCENCES OF 1S13.

The tide of emigration from Europe was turned to
the nomes offered by the United States. It was that
happy period \vhen the) sang —

" Come along, come along, make no delay ;
Come from every nation, come from every way ;
Lands, they are broad enough ; don't be alarmed.
Uncle Sam is rich enough to give you all a farm.''

And they did come, until there was no more to
give. Canada, unl<nown, belittled, misrepresented, is
only now beginning to realize the greatness of her
domain, the worth of her possessions, the magnitude
of her wheat fields, the timber and the fisheries of
the Pacific coast, the gold of British Columbia and
the Klondike, the iron, copper and nickel of other
provinces ; while the coal from her mines is coming
into the market to replenish the decreasing resources
of other countries, and to help the industries and
commerce of the world.

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CHAPTER VI.

ST. DAVID'S AND VICINITY.

St. David's received its name in honor of Major
David Secord. It has had more than one name, the
first being Four Mile Creek Mills. The spring origi-
nates in the township of Stamford, near the Grand
Trunk Railway. It was afterwards called Davidsville
and Davidstown, and finally merged into St. David's,
by which name it was known during the war, and
which it still retains.

In 1793, Governor Simcoe established salt works
at Louth. Peo^'le were allowed to make their own
salt. The Rev. Mr. Addison had certain rights in
the works given him.

Mineral springs are of frequent occurrence, both
above and below the mountain ridge. There was one
on the farm of the late Joseph Thorn, and another on
or near that of the late Mr. John McKinley.

The mineral springs at St. Catharines have long
been celebrated for their curative properties, especially
in all forms of rheumatism. If better known, they
would bring numberless sufferers to be cured.

Two hundred and fifty years ago the missionary

Sr. DAVinS AND VICINITY.

Daillon pronounced the peninsula of Ontario incom-
parably beautiful, the most extensive and fruitful land
he ever saw. Others followed, expressing the same
admiration. Time has prove'' the truth. This land
reaches from the shores of Lake Erie to Burlington
Bay. The bloom and beauty of tii^ orchards 'n the
early spring, and the odor of the vineyards, arc the
promise of what the autumn days will bring. Fruits
of unrivalled excellence are carried by the iron horse
to the remotest hamlets of the Dominion, and the
greyhounds of the Atlantic carry them from the
" garden of Canada " to the tables of Europe.

Major David Secord gave the land where stands
the present Methodist church, and along with it the
burying-ground. Queenston never had a public
burial-place, and most of her dead are buried here.
The site of a school-house was also included in the
gift, and here the church and school-house stood, side
by side, until 1871, when one more in unison with
modern requirements was erected nearer the village.
Its removal gave enlargement to the burial-ground,
which was much needed. A small creek is the bound-
ary on the eastern side. The church was commenced
before the division of the Methodist Church into t^v
two branches of Wesleyan and Episcopal Methodist
Churches. The building was of substantial materials,
and was well on its way to completion when the
division took place. It was left in this unfinished
state for many years. The late Bishop Richardson is

ST. DAVmS AND VICINITY.

authority for the statement that the old Warner meet-
ing-house was the only one the Episcopal Methodists
called their own. This church is on the Thorold
Road, and, with its burying-ground, can be seen from
the Grand Trunk Railway. This building has been
renovated and made much smaller.

During the winter of 1842 and 1843 the Niagara
Temperance Association sent a lecturer through the
Niagara District. iVfter the division the Methodists
of both denominations held alternate religious services
in the school-house. The school trustees refused to
allow the school-house for temperance lectures. A
few of the residents, at their own expense, partitioned
off part of the old church, put in a table, stove and
benches, and commenced meetings. Very soon relig-
ious meetings were held there, as it was much larger
than the school-room. This lasted for a year or two,
when all united to put the whole church in repair.
It has had other renovations to make it more modern.
The first pulpit was a lofty one, ascended by many
steps. It has been cut down twice, if not oftener.

In the burying-ground rest many of the Secords,
Clements and Woodruffs. Judge De Veaux, the
founder of De Veaux College at Niagara Falls, N.Y,,
and his wife are buried here. Mrs. De Veaux was
the sister of Richard and William Woodruff. There
were three brothers in the Clement family — Joseph,
" John, the Ranger," and James. Their lands were
all in this neighborhood. When Mrs. Joseph

ST. DAVID'S AND VICINITY.

Clement died* in 1842, considerable of the estate of
Joseph Clement was purchased by his nephew, Major
Joseph Clement. At his death he directed that a
monument should be erected on the north side of the
road. This monument commemorates the name of
himself and his wife. In the same field with the
monument, and where the Presbyterian church
stands, was the headquarters of General De Rotten-
berg's forces during the War of 181 2,

At the north-east end of the village, where Mr.
Neil Black now resides, was the home of Mrs, Stephen
Secord and the first Secord mill. Mrs. Secord's hus-
band died previous to the War of 181 2. All her sons
.served in various capacities during the war. Mrs.
Secord often ran the mill with no assistance, and fur-
nished the flour to the British forces — we are glad to
say, at remunerative prices. When St. David's was
burned, she, with another woman, succeeded in saving
one of her buildings from the flames, and with her own
hands helped to rebuild another. After the war the
mill was rebuilt, but the Secords building a larger
one nearer the Queenston Road, caused this one to
be disused, and its picturesque ruins are among the
recollections of the past.

At the south-western side of St, David's there was
for many years a settlement of colored people, mo.^tly
escaped slaves. They lived by cultivating vegetables

* Mrs. Clement gave to each of her daughters — Mrs, Lowell, Mrs.
Dunton, Mrs, Richard Woodruff, and Mrs, William Woodruff — build-
ing sites on the main road.

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ST. DAVID'S AND VICINITY.

and fruit, by picking berries — of which there was a
j)rofusion in those clays — and by gatiicring nuts.
They were ever ready to do all kinds of jobbing and
domestic work. They also made si)lint brooms and
husk mats, for whicli a ready sale was found. They
were not permitted to attend the school. A white
teacher came from Pennsylvania and taught for a
shf)rt time among them. To their credit, be it said,
the)' did not disturb the melon patch or carry off the
l)oultry. They had a small church, and their exer-
cises during revivals and at their baptisms drew large
audiences. When the attempt to carry Mosely from
Niagara to the United States was made, in 1837, the
excitement among them was intense. A recollection
of that time can never be forgotten. A wagon-load of
colored men, driving at furiou.-. .^peed, passed through
tlie village. None but the driver had a seat, and the
men stood with hands and arms holding one another
up. Mo.sely was rescued, and escaped. One of the
men, whose name was Maclntyre, returned with a
bayonet wound through the check. There was a
larger settlement at Niagara Falls.

In the days of the early settlement it was not an
uncommon thing, in a dry time, for the women to
make up a party and go to the Niagara River to
wash their clothes. Even at the present time, with
jjlenty of streams, many have to bring water from a
distance, and the domestic animals suffer much in
consequence. The years 1787 and 1788 were notable

ST. DAVID'S AND VICINITY.

for the visitation of drought and famine, never to be
forgotten.

When the days of peace came, after the Revolu-
tionary Wc was over, the refugees and the settlers
brought cuttings of fruit and small trees, as opportu-
nity offered, from their old homes, more especially from
the Mohawk Valley and Pennsylvania. These were
a reproduction of French and German fruits. Thus
Cobas Middaugh brought a summer sugar pear which
ripened in August, that was most delicious to the
taste. The apples have not been surpassed in excel-
lence by our modern productions. Pippins and russets
were of several varieties. Swayzie Pomme Gris is a
native variety of russet. Plurns — the blue, the dam-
son, green gage and egg — were abundant. Peaches
had not attained the perfection of the present time,
but were so plentiful that they were gathered in
heaps, and carried in wagons to the distillery. The
wild grape grew where it could find a place to climb
upon. Dried fruits — such as peaches, plums, cherries
and berries — were in every house for winter use. The
" paw-paw," now so seldom found, was common then.

The old-fashioned flowers were everywhere. Roses
grew in abundance, especially the damask and Lan-
caster, and a dark double crimson rose. Single and
double white roses were common, and a striped rose
now seldom seen. A small Burgundy rose, called the
button rose, was used as a border. White lilies, crim-
son peonies, tulips of every hue, and fragrant pinks
were cultivated along with annuals, by the careful

;

^7-. DAVIDS AND VICINITY.

hands of our ancestors. Each begged and shared
with her friends anything new. The conservatory
e.nd nursery were then unheard of

Part of the semi-annual visitations were from
Indians. One aged squaw, named Mary, came from
the Tuscarora Reservation, beyond Lewiston, N.Y.
It was her custom to enter without knocking and
silently take a seat by the fire. Whatever was given
her to eat she took without thanks, never sitting at
the table. She made no attempt at conversation, nor
could she be drawn out to say more than yes or no,
and this was generally given with a nod or shake of
the head, and an occasional " Ugh." She was always
well dressed. Her moccasins were decorated with
colored porcupine quills ; a skirt of dark-blue broad-
cloth reached nearly to the ankles ; below were leg-
gings of the same, embroidered with beads. A calico
jacket was fastened from the throat to the bottom with
silver buckles about an inch in diameter, as closely
as they could be placed. A blanket was worn on
the head, and a large basket containing articles for
sale, v/ith a strap to go over the head, held the
blanket in place. The baskets were of all sorts and
sizes, made of splint, and of various colors, aL / bead-
work. We were always glad to see her, and she knew
she was welcome. She was old when we first knew
her, and always walked with a staff. When she came
no more, we felt that one of the old landmarks had
passed away. The male Indians brought large
baskets, also hickory whip-stocks, axe-helves, and

ST. DAVIDS AND VICINITY.

husk door-mats, and occasionally furs ; but the fur
trade was vanishing before the advance of civilization
and the increasing number of settlers. The Indian
man dressed like the white man, his only peculiarity
at that time being that he used a blanket instead of
an overcoat and a beaver hat. Such were the
Indians of sixty years ago. Now both sexes dress
more and more like the white people.

The Methodist ministers, who suffered everything
in the way of hardship and privation, are first among
those whom this age should honor for the noble work
they did in evangelizing and educating the people in
the remotest settlements. No place was too difficult
of access for their visitation. It was necessary, too,
for their comfort and respectability, that, as much as
possible, the wife should accompany her husband in
his ministrations. A minister's wife told the writer
that often on their journeyings their washing was
done at one place, the wet bundle dried at another
stopping-place, and ironed at the third. This was
done with her own hands, she taking the soap, the
blueing and the starch with her, for often some one
or other of these necessaries could not be had. She
also said that her needful sewing and mending were
done under the same circumstances. They suffered
from cold, insufficient clothing and unwholesome
food, and their scanty salary was seldom paid in full.

A clergyman, eminent in his church, said that
his studes were iiiaue while travelling his circuit, his
wife driving while he studied ; and when she could

ST. DAVID'S AND VICINITY.

not go, his children took their turn in driving with
him. They were not discouraged, for three of his
sons became clergymen.

Their frequent change of residence was especially
arduous to the wife and family. Many were moved
every year, generally at two years, and to live three
years in a place was a remarkably happy event.
With the years and prosperity came the furnished
parsonages, which have lessened the inconvenience of
removals.

It has been frequently said that the ministers were
unlearned men. That, no doubt, was true, but,
unlearned t.s they were, they were ever striving to
improve themselves, and impressing upon all with
whom they came in contact the advantages of educa-
tion. The first libraries in the rural districts were
the Sunday-school libraries, and the Sunday-school
teachers had often to teach the alphabet to the
children. Testaments and hymn-books given as re-
wards in Sunday-school were, in many cases, the
first copies of the Scriptures in their homes. Their
parents, perhaps, could not read, and had no means
to send their children to the common school.

a^^v^.

'^ OA-t^

isO^^^

CH/.PTER VII.

FORT NIAGARA.

" The Indians were ever sensible of the importance of this
point. Repeated attempts had been made by the French to
get possession. At last, by strategy, they succeeded. A
French officer, who had been a prisoner among the Iroquois,
became naturalized among them, thereby gaining his freedom.
He communicated to the Governor a plan for the French to
establish themselves at Niagara. He returned to the Iroquois,
pretending love for a nation that was now his own, and asking
to brmg his family among them. To do this he must have a
house where they could live in a suitable manner, and offering
to trade with them from this place. The house was built. As
trade grew rapidly, the house extended until it soon became a
fortress, which alike awed the Indians and the English."

This extract is from a work published in 1760,
called a " Military Dictionary," compiled by a mili-
tary gentleman, and dedicated by the author, " To the
Right Honourable Edward Boscowen, Admiral of the
Blue Squadron," etc.

Another account, given by F. H. Severance in his
" Old Trails on the Niagara River," is corroborative
of the attempted settlements. It is the narration of
the Chevalier De Trigay for the year 1687, soldier to

■ J .;■ .

KORT XIACARA I\ 1 88S.

FORT NIAGARA.

the Sieur De Brissay, Marquis Denonville, Governor
and Lieutenant-General in New France.

" I was with the troops numbering some hundreds that the
Marquis Denonville took through the wilderness into the
cantons of the Iroquois, and afterwards employed to build a
stockade and cabins at the mouth of the straits of Niagara on
the east side, in the way where they go beaver hunting. ' Fort
Denonville,' the Sieur De Brissay decreed it should be called.
He let none rest day or night until he had made a fortification
in part of earth surmounted by palisades. On the plain about
the fort were no trees, but some of us went into the forest on
both the east and west side of the river and cut the trees. It
was hard work getting them up the h'gh bank, laboring in fear
of an attack. But in three days w-.; built a pretty good fort
with four bastions, where we put two great guns.

" We began to build some cabins on the four sides of the
square in the middle of it. Duluth and De Tontaye, as the
work progressed, left for Detroit, Mackinaw and Duluth, Then
the Marquis himself went back to Montreal, leaving loo men,
with officers, to hold the new fort. He left on the 3rd of
August. The men worked hard, and got up the cabins for the
soldiers and a place for the commandant, built a bakehouse
and oven and a storehouse, digged a well. Vaudreuil soon
followed Denonville. The men were left with insufficient
implements and ammunition. The stores proved bad, and the
dreadful winter was accompanied by starvation, disease and
death. The brave De Troyes, lying on his dying bed, felt
his hand grasped by a friendly Miami, who brought relief. The
men who had gone out to get wood had been devoured by
wolves, for their powder was exhausted. Among the rescued
was Father Milet. A spot was marked in the square, and they
knelt for mass. An oak was felled, and while the carpenters
prepared the cross, Father Milet traced with his own hand the
legend, "Regnat, Vincit, Imperat Christus.'' The cross was

100

FORT NIAGARA.

raised on the spot where De Troyes and his fourscore comrades
were buried.

"The friendly Miamis helped, but the Iroquois constantly
tormented them. Finally the order came to leave. The pali-
sades were torn down, the guns put on board a vessel, and the
cabins alone were left standing. On the 15th of September,
1688, they had their last mass. The cross was left standing,
but the standards went with the builders of Fort Niagara to
Montreal. Previous to this there had been an attempt by
La Salle and La Motte De Lassure. They called it Fort Conty,
but these had failed. In 1721, Charlevois, in his canoe, came
up the Niagara. Four years passed, when the French again
attempted, with success, to erect a fort. De Longueuil superin-
tended, and a Royal Engineer named De Levy directed the
construction. The' stone came from Lewiston, the cut stone
from Frontenac, the wood from the west side of the river. The
oldest part is 175 years old. It has been enlarged and altered
many times."

During the Revolutionary War Fort Niagara was
the refuge of the LoyaHsts from all directions. The
Indians, driven from their homes, flocked here in great
numbers. All these had to be fed and clothed, the
Loyalists to be housed, and the Indians given ammu-
nition to help provide for themselves.

1779.
February 12th.
September 21st.
October.

1,364 drew rations, besides 64 families.
Food for 5,036.

Though many had been sent away,
there were still 3,768 to maintain.

Bolton, who commanded for three years at Fort
Niagara, wished the Indians whose villages had been
destroyed by Sullivan to go to Montreal, and those

FORT NIAGARA.

101

who lived near home to return and take care of the
corn, for it was impossible to feed all the Indians.

Sullivan in his raid had destroyed all but two of
the Indian villages, and to Fort Niagara the despair-
ing and broken-hearted remnants of the doomed
people gathered as their last refuge. Even with the
help given, many died from cold and starvation.

Governor Simcoe at one time thought of making
London the capital of Upper Canada, but when
Michigan was ceded by treaty to the Americans he
selected Toronto. Newark, with Fort Niagara in
American hands, could be no longer thought of as
the capital.

No other place has a more varied history. Gained
by strategy, held by force since English arms took it
from France in 1759, it has never been taken by
arms from their grasp. Ceded to the United States
by treaty, it was handed over to them in 1796. It
was re-taken in 181 3, and held until peace restored it
in 181 5. Such is the history of Fort Niagara.

One of the incidents occurring in 1812 is given in
a pamphlet written by a lady who lived in Lewiston.
Her father was surgeon at Fort Niagara, and often
attended service at St. Mark's Church. She and her
sister, both little girls, usually accompanied him. A
short time previous to the invasion they were at the
church. General Brock walked to the ferry with
them. He bade the little girls a kindly farewell,
and, shaking hands with their father, said, " I suppose
we shall soon have to be enemies." This lady also

102

FORT NIAGARA.

says there was a large orchard in front of the Fort
at that time. Wind and waves have swept it away.

Another tradition, characteristic of the period, is
told by Mr. Kirby. Between the officers of Fort
George and Fort Niagara there had been many
plea.sant social interchanges. Some American offi-
cers were dining with their British friends the even-
ing that the news came that war had been declared.
The news was kept back. When the repast was
over, the British officers went with their guests to
the ferry. Then the news was told, and, shaking
hands, they parted to meet as friends no more.

X^'^-'^K.

CHAPTER VIII.

ISABELLA MARSHALL GRAHAM.

:in-

[This article was compiled from the " Life of Mrs, Isabella
Graham," written for the Woman's Literary Club, its object
being to stimulate and encourage "higher education among
women," to show its value in all the conditions of life to those
who are fortunate enough to acquire it, and that no sacrifice is
too great to obtain it. Her life shows what it did for her a cen-
tury and a half ago, and the enduring influence which it gave.]

Isabella Marshall (afterwards Mrs. Graham)
was born July 29th, 1742, in Lanarkshire, Scotland.
Though her father was one of the elders of the
Established Church, who left with Ralph and Eben-
ezer Erskine, she was educated in the principles of
the Church of Scotland. She had watched with
assiduous care her dying grandfather, and in his will
he left her a legacy of some hundreds of pounds.
Though only ten years old, she asked that the money
should be used to give her a thorough education.
Her wish was granted, and for seven successive
winters she attended the school of a Mrs. Morehouse.
Her father rented the farm of Ellerslie, which had
been the habitation of the patriot William Wallace.
Here her childhood and youth were passed. At the

103

104

ISABELLA MARSHALL GRAHAM.

age of twenty-three she married Dr. John Graham, of
Paisley. About a year after their marriage Dr.
Graham was appointed surgeon to the 6oth or Royal
American Regiment, and was ordered to Canada,
where the regiment was stationed. Mrs. Graham
accompanied him, hoping to make a permanent
home in America. Dr. Graliam wished to sell his
commission and purchase a farm on the Mohawi<
River, and Mr. Marshall (Mrs. Graham's father), was
to follow and superintend the farm. The voyage
occupied nine weeks from Greenock to Quebec.

Quebec at that time was a gay and fashion ible
place, and during her short stay she formed many
pleasant acquaintances. They were soon ordered to
Montreal, and here her eldest daughter Jessie was
born. An infant son had been left with her mother
in Scotland, but he died soon after his mother's
departure. Their stay in Montreal was brief. Dr.
Graham being ordered to Fort Niagara on Lake
Ontario, to join the second battalion of his regiment.
Mrs. Graham followed him as soon as possible.
Here they lived for over five years, and it was the
birthplace of Joanna,^ the second, and Isabella, the
third daughter. Her servants were two Indian girls
who, under her careful training, became highly useful.
Mrs. Graham taught them everything relating to
housekeeping, to cook, to take care of her children,
to read and to sew.

For some time she was the only wife in the fort,
but the latter part of her stay saw other ladies, and

ISABELLA MARSHAL^L GRAHAM.

ion

a j)lcasant society, whose friendship for her extended
throuf,di life. It was here she met an officer's wife,
Mrs. Brown, whose mother was Mrs. Vanbrugh Liv-
iiifjstone, of New York. She ever spoke of those
years as the hajjpiest of her life. She liad a conge-
nial husband, and their circumstances were easy.

Mrs. Graham tells of the Indians, and of a chief of
the Senecas bringing his sick daughter a long dis-
tance for her husband's medical treatment. There was
no chaplain or religious service of any kind in the
fort, and Mrs. Graham took her Bible to the woods
surrounding the fort, to read, to meditate and to
pray. Already the newspapers of the day were full
regarding preparations for what was to be the Revo-
lutionary War. As that part of the regiment was
mostly composed of Americans, it was thought best
to send them to Antigua in the West Indies. Dr.
and Mrs. Graham, their three children, and the two
Indian girls, were sent by boat to Oswego, thence
through the woods by the trail to the Mohawk River,
and to Schenectady in bateaux. Here Dr. Graham
left them and proceeded to New York in hopes to
sell his commission and settle upon the Mohawk.
Mrs. Graham followed, and during her stay in New
York made many friends. Dr. Graham did not sell
his commission, and they embarked for Antigua, 5th
November, 1772, with the regiment. An insurrection
was raging among the Caribs in Antigua, and three
weeks after their arrival the regiment was sent to the
field, Dr. Graham accompanying it. In her letters to

106

ISABELLA MARSHALL GRAHAM.

him she hopes they will not entail slavery upon their
prisoners, and bids him, should any fall to his lot, to
set them at liberty. Thus, ninety years before it was
abolished by the Civil War had she learned to abhor
slavery and speak for freedom. Mrs. Graham sent her
eldest daughter, who was only five years of age, to her
mother's care in Scotland, to escape bad influences,
but before she arrived the grandmother died. This
was a great affliction, but she was destined to a
greater trial. On the 17th of November, 1773, Dr.
Graham was stricken down with a violent fever, and
in a few days she was left a widow in a foreign land.
Kind friends did all they could in this hour of deso-
lation. The widow's weeds assumed at that time
were never laid aside, and the style in which they
were made, through her long life, was not changed.
She was then thirty-two years of age. Though her
meaqs were limited and she was urged to sell her
Indian girls, she refused to do so. One of the girls
died before she left Antigua, the other went to Scot-
land with her and married respectably. To the sur-
geon of the regiment who succeeded Dr. Graham — a
young man who had been helped by her husband —
she presented his library and sword. Dr. Henderson,
ever af ix, as his means permitted, sent her remit-
tances until the year 1795. After the birth of her
son she made preparations to return to her native
land. Upon her departure Major Brown gave her a
letter to the agent in Belfast. No vessel was going
to Scotland, so she sailed for this port. This letter,

ISABELLA MARSHALL GRAHAM.

107

when delivered to the a<^jnt, was found to be intended
for her, whereby the officers, as a mark of respect and
affection for the memory of her deceased husband,
had paid the expenses of her voyage. Her widow's
pension was but i^i6 a year.

On reaching her home she found that, in addition
to the loss of her mother, her father had lost every-
thing by becoming security for a friend, and was
living in a very small house. His health failing, she
assumed the care of her parent. He lived with her
until his death, nine years after, receiving the assid-
uous care of herself and children. The only income
upon which she could rely was ^20 a year. She
kept a small school in Cartside for a while, when she
removed to Paisley. These were days of poverty and
lonelin'jss, for her acquaintances had forgotten her.
She had a cow, and made and sold butter. The
children fed on the skim milk ; their breakfast and
supper was porridge ; dinner, potatoes and salt ; and
they were dressed in homespun. A rigid determina-
tion to owe nothing carried her through this painful
period. Upon the advice of friends, she made a small
venture to increase her funds. This was unsuccessful
at first, for the vessel in which she had made her con-
signment was captured by a French privateer. Her
friends proposed a boarding house or a boarding
school. After mature consideration, she chose the
boarding school, and removed to Edinburgh. A
natural magnetism made her friends, whose friend-
ship lasted through life. At this time she received

108

ISABELLA MARSHALL GRAHAM.

the insurance upon her lost venture. She ever made
it a point to return borrowed money with interest to
those who helped her in her hour of need, and these
were people who had loved and honored her husband.
The school, through their efforts, became a great suc-
cess. People of piety and influence committed their
children to her care. Her superior education was of
great service. She felt deeply the teacher's responsi-
bility. She watched their studies and their spiritual
welfare, and to these she added the useful accomplish-
ments which fitted them to fill a distinguished place
in life, for her pupils were many of them from the
highest ranks. A code of laws for their governance
was adopted and carried out. When any offence
against these laws was committed, pupils held a court,
the offender was tried by her companions, they fixed
the penalty, and this sentence was submitted to her
approval. Thus there was no hasty, arbitrary or
capricious punishment. In sickness she watched over
them with unremitting care, and no expense was
spared to restore them to health. She educated the
children of clergymen at half price. As her school
prospered, she grew in greatness with it. She insisted
that the payments be in advance. She helped by
lending money and taking work in return, and asking
no interest. Business on correct principles was con-
ducted by precept and example. Her school caused
constant thought and watchfulness. Her daughters
were trained to be her assistants in every way. No
false pride prevented her accepting what she could

ISABELLA MARSHALL GRAHAM.

109

not do herself. Thus Lady Glenorchy sent Mrs.
Graham's eldest daughter to Rotterdam, paying her
expenses and keeping her in pocket money, that she
might become proficient in the French language.

This Lady Glenorchy was of an ancient family,
and had married the Earl of Breadalbane. Together
they had travelled on the Continent, and their beauty
and accomplishments made them welcome in nearly
every court in Europe. He died in early youth, and
thenceforward Lady Glenorchy, when the light of her
life went out, devoted herself to good in every form.
She took the management of her estates, she kept an
account of her income, and to what object it was
applied. She built chapels for ministers of various
denominations ; no good object but had her helping
hand. Idleness and pride she could not tolerate.
Her charities were not published ; but to be good,
and to do good, was her constant aim. She gave
liberally during her life, for she believed in spending
her money while she lived.

After Lady Glenorchy's death Mrs. Graham felt she
would like to return to America. We must remember
that a woman of Mrs. Graham's character and attain-
ments ever made friends, who felt it a privilege to
promote her views. We have mentioned before Mrs.
Brown, whose husband was in the 6oth Regiment.
She, with others, urged her to come to New York.
There was no first-class school for young women in
America. Lady Glenorchy had left her ;^200, and Dr.
Henderson's remittance gave her the means to return.

110

ISABELLA MARSHALL GRAHAM.

This was done after careful deliberation. She chartered
a small vessel, as Algerian pirates swarmed the seas.
Into the details of the voyage we will not enter. She
landed in New York the 8th of September, 1789.
She received a glad welcome from her many friends
who felt every confidence in her ability to teach the
higher blanches of education. She opened her school
on the 5th of October, 1789, with five scholars, and
before the month closed she had fifty. A favorable
d.i, i^e was soon perceptible in the minds, manners
ctra . jcomplishments of the young women committed
to her care. In the highest social circles of New York
City at the present time, it is considered an honor
that their great-grandmothers attended Mrs, Graham's
school, and there are frequent allusions made by the
descendants of her pupils. Mrs. Graham ever incul-
cated religious principles as the only solid foundation
of morality and virtue. Her conversation and example
were ever an inspiration. General Washington when
in New York visited her school, and honored it with
his patronage. The venerable Bishop Moore, of the
Episcopal Church, never missed an examination.
Jessie, her eldest daughter, married Mr. Stephenson,
a merchant of New York, in 1790. When her beau-
tiful life ended, Mrs. Graham, as she saw her depart,
calmly said, " I wish you joy, my darling." The
second daughter, Joanna, and the third, Isabella, mar-
ried merchants. Her only son, born a few months
after Dr. Graham's death, had, under the advice of
friends, been left in Scotland to complete his studies,

ISABELLA MARSHALL GRAHAM.

Ill

His first instructor was faithful, and he was sent to
Edinburgh. Here ' was left, in a measure, to him-
self, and, dissatisfied with study, prevailed upon his
friends to get him into the merchant service. He
was shipwrecked on the coast of Holland, and a friend
of Mrs. Graham's took him to his house and enabled
him to come to the United States. He remained
with his mother for some months. Mrs. Graham
thought it was his duty to return to his employers to
finish his term of service. She fitted him out hand-
somely, and he embarked for Greenock with the son
of her pastor, Dr. Mason, who was going to Edinburgh
to attend theological lectures. Three months after,
she learned a press-gang had boarded the ship. He
was saved by a stratagem of the passengers, but his
effects were taken. Early in 1792 Mrs. Graham heard
that her son had been ill of fever, and after that sub-
ject to epileptic fits, which unfitted him for the ser-
vice. Mrs. Graham had him carefully provided for,
and the gentleman to whom he was apprenticed per-
mitting him to leave, she wrote urging him to come
home. He wrote her from Demerara, in 1794, stating
that he had sailed from Amsterdam in a Dutch ves-
sel, which was taken by the French and re-taken by
the English. He had arrived at Demerara in the ship
Hope, and would return to Europe and to her with a
fleet which was to sail under convoy. A vessel
named the Hope was captured by the French. What
was young Graham's fate was never known, though
every inquiry by herself and her sons-in-law was

112

ISABELLA MARSHALL GRAHAM.

made. Mrs. Graham ever regretted she had not kept
him with her, and the advice was given to friends " to
ever keep your children about you."

Mrs. Graham's school had brought her prosperity
and influence. She always gave a tenth for religious
and benevolent purposes. Upon the marriage of her
daughters she closed the school. A lease of the pro-
perty she had taken from Trinity Church Corporation
was sold at an advance of i^i,ooo. " Quick, quick,"
she said, " let me appropriate the tenth before my
heart grows hard." Thenceforward her active mind
and life were spent in carrying out schemes for good-
She helped to form the first Missionary Society in
New York. The Methodists and Moravians in An-
tigua had been her friends at the time of her husband's
death, and she sent £^o to aid their Christian work.
In 1/97 -'''"^^ founded a Society for the Relief of widows
with small children whose fathers and protectors had
died with the yellow fever. Her son-in-law, Mr.
Bethune, a member of the St. Andrew's Society,
found how inadequate were the society's means. Hi.s
wife and her mother started this society, and Mrs.
Graham was its first directress. They sent circulars
to their friends, and they met at Mrs. Graham's house.
It is not possible to enumerate the societies founded
by her in those sixteen years which were devoted to
the good of humanity. Her son-in-law, Mr. Smith,
had purchased a colored man and set him at liberty-
" Brother Pero," as he was called by Mrs, Graham,
ever had her friendship and help. His Christian

ISABELLA MARSHALL GRAHAM.

113

principles were recognized by all. She used to read
to him and watch over him in sickness.

Kvery society had the help of her charity and her
business methods. When pestilence came to the city
she appealed to her old pupils for their aid and their
ministrations. Emulating her example, the}^ went
among the dead and the dying. She had taught them
to rise above class and creed. We shoulii remember
that in those days there were no schools such as at
present instruct our youth. To organize day schools,
to have her old pupils go among them as instructors
to found Sunday-schools and tract societies are but a
few of the lines of work. The crowning work was the
first orphan asylum in America. Assisted by Mrs.
Hoffman, they with only $250 commenced their labors
in 1806. In fourteen months they secured land and
a larger building, and even this was only fifty feet
square. This grew and prospered, and the land on
which it stood was sold in 1836 for $39,000. With
this, on the banks of the Hudson, was built the beau-
tiful Bloomingdale Asylum. Tablets to Mrs. Graham
and Mrs. Hoffman, its founders, adorn the walls. She
founded a school to assist young women of limited
means to a higher education, and her old pupils
taught them voluntarily. She formed loan societies,
and helped others to materials, paying for the work,
when finished. The Hospital and female convicts were
helped, and the Magdalen House established. Such
was the work of this great teacher. The last time
she met her workers, was to form a society " for the
promotion of industry among the poor." When the

114

ISABELLA MARSHALL GRAHAM.

summons came, she sent for a dear friend, a Mrs.
Crystie, to be with her. They had mutually promised
that whoever should be first called would be assisted
by the other. Surrounded by her children, Isabella
Graham died 27th July, 18 14,

The noble work of Isabella Graham has been car-
ried on by Mary Lyon, Mrs, Emma Willard, and
many others. We see its fruit in Mount Holyoke,
Vassar, and Wellesley.

As a child she saw those scenes so admirably
depicted by Sir Walter Scott in " Waverley," when
the heart of Scotland, stirred to its depths, made its
ineffectual effort for the restoration of the Stuarts.
She escaped the Revolutionary War to have the
" Father of the Republic " place his relatives under
her care to be educated.* Her eyes closed before the
war commencing in 1812 had terminated.

We can believe that the woman who would not
own a slave, who wrote to her husband in the same
clear tone, whose sons-in-law followed her example,
must have done much to create the principles which
led to the extinction of slavery in America.

In 1896, at Fort Niagara, when was commemorated
the one-hundredth anniversary of the withdrawal of
the British flag, among the memories of that day the
two who were uppermost in my thoughts were the
brave discoverer and soldier, La Salle, and the equally
noble woman, Isabella Graham.

* At his death she makes this comment : "Great things were said
of Washinj;ton, and they were due. A nation blest him while he lived,
and with all the form of language lamented his death."

CHAPTER IX.

MEMOIR OF JOHN WHITMORE,

NIAGARA TOWNSHIP, ONT.

The late John VVhitmore, Esq., of Lake Road,
Niagara Township, Ont, was born 1775, in the Pro-
vince of New Jersey, North America. His father,
Mr. Peter Whitmore, was a farmer, a man of honor-
able character and loyal principles. He had a family
consisting of wife, three sons and five daughters.

During the revolutionary troubles in New Jersey,
Peter Whitmore and two neighboring farmers like
himself in principle were harassed and persecuted
by the rebels to such a degree that they resolved to
leave their homes and move to the frontier settle-
ments on the west branch of the Susquehanna, in
the Province of Pennsylvania. The three families
removed there accordingly sometime in 1776, built
houses and commenced clearing the land and farm-
ing the wilderness of the Upper Susquehanna.
There were many Indians about, but the Whitmore
family had no fear of them, being Loyalists and on
friendly terms with them, as all being on the same
side in the Civil War then raging in the colonies.

115

116

MEMOIR OF JOFIN WHIT MO RE.

They were, moreover, quiet, industrious people, who
strove to live in the fear of God and with good-will
towards whites and Indians. The least thing they
expected was to be attacked by any of the Indians,
who were continually coming and going on the war-
path to fight for the King's cause in the colonies.

So far as regards the Six Nations and other loyal
tribes they were quite safe. But the rebel Congress
had incited a number of the Indian tribes — princi-
pally Oneidas and Delawares, with deserters and
vagabonds from other tribes — to take up arms for
the rebel cause, and these Indians, seeking oppor-
tunity in the absence of protection to the Loyalist
settlers, committed outrages and murders during the
whole course of the war, in which they were aided by
bands of white marauders, called " Sons of Liberty "
— a bad set, whose career need not be followed out in
this memoir.

Sometime in the early spring of 1779, a band of
Delawares, with some white ruffians disguised as
Indians, made their appearance in the woods near
the house of the Whitmores. They acted as if not
intending any harm, and the family, having been so
long accustomed to Indian guests and visitors, felt
not the slightest fear of them. Indeed, their daughter
Mary had seen and spoken to them at a spring where
she had gone to get water, and they spoke to her as
if not thinking of any injury. She told her people in
the house, but they suspected nothing.

Their confidence was rudely broken in the night.

MEMOIR OF JOHN WHITMORE.

117

rht.

When the family were all in tlicir beds, the savages
suddenly burst in the unprotected door. The family
in the house that night consisted of the father, mother,
one son grown up, a younger son George, and John
Whitmore, four yeiis old, as well as three daughters
and a baby not a year old.

Peter Whitmore and his son jumped up to defend
the house, but they were both instantly shot ; the
mother, too, was killed. The children were seized
and carried away captives by the Indians, who
instantly took to the woods to avoid pursuit. The
children were dragged along by the savages, but the
baby, which was carried by one of them, cried and
wailed so much that an Indian, in order to stop its
noise, took it by the heels and dashed its head against
a tree, fearing probably that its crying would discover
their track to pursuers.

The children, when the band encamped^were com-
pelled to witness the scalps of their father, mother
and brother stretched on hoops and scraped by the
Indians for preservation. This shocking sight was
ever vividly remembered by Mr. Whitmore, although
but four years old when it occurred. Personally he
had only a faint recollection of the massacre, but his
sister Mary, who was fourteen years of age at the
time, remembered everything distinctly. She resided
near the Long Sault, Hoople's Creek, near Cornwall,
Ont., and related these particulars to the writer of
this, on the occasion of a visit which her brother,
John Whitmore, accompanied by the writer, made

118

MEMOIR OF JOHN IVHITMORE.

her in the year 1850, he not having seen her for
seventy years.

It was only about 1846 that he discovered where
his sister was living, near the Long Sault. She had
married a U. E. Loyalist named Hoople, and her
descendants are still living at that place.

The American Indians are not by nature a cruel
people. It is only in war that they act cruelly to
their enemies and to their prisoners. Their practices
in regard to the latter are in accordance with a code
of traditional usages, and to avenge the deaths of any
of their own tribal warriors, they torture and kill
and burn their prisoners, as many as they have lost
of their own tribe.

The children of the Whitmorc family were adopted
into different families of the Delawares. John and
Mary were adopted by an Indian woman who had
lost her husband in the war. They were, as was
generally the case in such matters, kindly and even
affectionately treated in every respect as the Indians
treated their own children. John was also regularly
adopted into the tribe. He underwent the ordeal of
fire, that is, endured the laying on of hot coals upon
his inner arm, the marks of which he carried all his
life. His ears were pierced for pendants and his nose
for a ring, in the Indian fashion. He was declared in
council to be a brave boy and worthy of being a mem-
ber of the Delaware nation into which he had been
adopted. Of course, he and his sister forgot their

MEMOIR OF JOHN WHITMORE.

119

own language, and spoke only Delaware when the)'
were, after some years, rescued from captivity.

Their Indian fo:;ter-mother was entirely devoted to
them, and did all in her power to make them happy,
and I think did so, for the Indian life of John and
Mary VVhitmore was always referred to b\' them as a
happy period of their lives. Their foster-mother used
to vist John VVhitmore occasionally, and was treated
with the utmost respect by him.

The other children became separated from John
and Mary VVhitmore. One of them, taken by the
Oneidas, was afterwards taken from them by the
Senecas, and she married Horatio Jones, chief inter-
preter of the Senecas on the Genesee River. Some
of her descendants, the Joneses, living near Attica,
New York, are still there. One son of Horatio Jones
by an Indian wife — William Jones — is at the present
time head chief of the Senecas, on the Cattaraugus
Reservation, New York. The other sister was never
heard tell of No trace of her was found after being
taken captive. George VVhitmore, the brother of
John, was also rescued, and a grandson of his is now
living in Jersey City, N.J.

John VVhitmore and his sister Mary were rescued
from the Indians in 1783 by Captain Daniel Servos,
of Butler's Rangers. Captain Servos took John to
his home at Niagara, adopted him as his own, and in
time gave him his daughter Magdalene to wife, and a
share of his large property the same as his own sons.
Eliza Magdalene, only surviving daughter of John

120

MEMOIR OF JOHN WHITMORE.

and Magdalene VVhitmore, was the wife of Wm.
Kirby, the writer of this memoir.

John VVhitmore was a man of excellent under-
standing and character, of a kindly, cheerful disposi-
tion, honorable and just in all the conduct of life.
One of the worthiest of men, he deserved the sincere
and general respect in which he was held by all who
knew him. The character of "Farmer Gay" in the
Canadian Idyll of " The Harvest Moon," is taken
from John Whitmore, and describes him well.

His benevolent heart and Christian principles con-
quered in one great trial and temptation of his life,
and is worth recording here as a proof of the possi-
bility of love conquering the fiercest passion of
revenge for great and cruel wrongs.

In 1813, when the American army, having taken
the town of Niagara, occupied it for near seven
months, there was among the Indians who accom-
panied their army an old Delaware chief named
De Coignee, who had been one of the party which had
m.assacred the Whitmore family in 1779. John Whit-
more knew him well, and, hearing of his presence in
the American army, was fired with a great spirit of
revenge to slay him for the murder of his father,
mother, brother and baby sister. He came into the
town, saw the chief and spoke to him, upbraiding
him for the murders. The chief took his words
patiently , and excused the act as taking place in war
time. But John Whitmore would not accept the
excuse. He could not kill the chief in the midst of

MEMOIR OF JOHN WHITMORE.

121

the camp, but resolved to take his life on the first
opportunity that offered. He learned from some of the
Indians that De Coignee was to go at a certain hour
on some business to the house of Captain John D.
Servos, on the Lake Road, then occupied by an
outpost of American dragoons and Indians. He
resolved to waylay him on the road and kill him.
He accordingly took a musket and bayonet, and went
and posted himself in the woods by the roadside
where the chief had to pass, and where he could
make sure of his enemv. The hour came, but the
chief, for some cause, had delayed his departure.
John Whitmore sat under a tree, waiting hour after
hour for his appearance, and thinking, at one time
thoughts of revenge, and afterwards asking himself
what it was he was about to do. He thought of his
duty to God, who bids us forgive our enemies, yea,
even love them. His mind underwent great changes
and perturbations. After three hours' waiting in the
woods, the resolution to shoot De Coignee melted
awa)', and when at last the chief appeared, alone,
painted and plumed, John Whitmo" :, asking pardon
of God and men for sparing him — if it were wrong to
do so — allowed him to pass by unscathed within a
few yards, and unwitting of the danger which was so
near to him.

This triumph of Christian love over justifiable
revenge for the deepest of injuries was a source of
thankful satisfaction to this good man, who some-
times, although only in the bosom of his family,

122

MEMOIR OF JOHN WHITMORE.

would refer to it. He lived to a good old age, one of
the most successful and prosperous farmers in the
district, and died in 1853. His son and family still
occupy the old home on the Lake Road. A fine
portrait of the good old man is in the possession of
his son-in-law, William Kirby.

His worthy partner in life, Magdalene Servos, had
also been a witness to the murder of her grand-
father, Thomas Servos, who was killed by a troop of
dragoons sent by General Washington to take him
prisoner, dead or alive, as a spirited, active and brave
Loyalist — a class of men whom Washington feared
and hated and persecuted to the utmost of his power.
Tixomas Servos lived at his mills and farm on the
Charlotte River, near Schoharie, New York. As an
officer of the militia of the province he had served in
the French war, and was present at the siege and
capture of Fort Niagara when it was taken by Gen.
Sir Wm. Johnson in 1759. The Servos murder was
a cruel, vindictive act on the part of General Wash-
ington, who was ever incapable of a generous feeling
towards the Loyalists, wuo were as sincere and con-
scientious in their sentiments and opinions as he was
himself, perhaps more so.

Magdalene Servos was a child in the cradle when
her grandfather was nurdered by Washington's
dragoons. Four of his sons — ardent Loyalists — were
actively engaged in Butler's Rangers and with the
Northern Confederate Indians all through the Revolu-
tionary War. They served with honor as officers of

MEMOIR OF JOHN WHITMORE.

123

the First Lincoln Militia in the War of 1812, and in
the rebellion of 1837, when Col, John D. Servos com-
manded the regiment. A brave, loyal family on all
occasions.

Magdalene Servos Whitmore was a worthy
daughter of such a family ; a pious, good, quiet,
tender wife as ever was ; a woman beloved by all
around her. She died in the house of the writer in
Miagara, in 1854.

This worthy cc^uple are buried in the Servos bury-
ing-ground, Lake Road, Niagara Township. Mr.
Peter Whitmore, their son, still living, resides in the
old home.

Such were the men and women who laid the
foundations of Upper Canada, and gave it the ever-
loyal character and impress of justice and integrity
which distinguishes this Province, and, indeed, our
whole Dominion. May it last forever.

con-
was

>-/<—

when

ton's

were

the

ivolu-

ers of

CHAPTER X.

THE NELLES FAMILY.

Among the early inhabitants of the Niagara
District were the Nelles family. Some were United
Empire Loyalists, and others were settlers. There
are many of the name of Nelles living in Lincoln,
Haldimand and Brant counties.

Many of the U. E. Loyalists came from a settle-
ment in the Mohawk Valley, from that section called
the Palatinate, in memory of the land from which
they came. The Palatinate in Europe, which was
their home, was a portion of Germany lying on both
sides of the Rhine. It had been cruelly devastated
by the French during the wars of Louis XIV.
Under the protection of Queen |;Anne, about 3,000
emigrants, nearly all Lutherans, were landed in New
York in June, 17 10, and lands were assigned them
on the banks of the Hudson ; but these not proving
satisfactory, they changed until a final settlement
was made in the Mohawk Valley. Many of their
descendants remain there at the present time. It
was here their ancestors dwelt happily and became
very prosperous. At the time of the Revolution it

124

THE NELLES FAMILY.

125

was considered the garden of New York State. Two
Nelles brothers came in 1710 with the other emi-
grants. They had numerous descendants. On the
military rolls of New York, from 1776 to 1783, there
are no less than fifty-seven Nelles soldiers. The
Nelleses had large possessions, and were prosperous
in every way. When the church at Stone Arabia was
built, six of the Nelleses gave ;^36o, while another
built the spire, and another gave the ground upon
which it was built. The church still exists. Henry
Nelles, a Loyalist, had been obliged to find a refuge
in Canada. When a retaliatory expedition was being
arranged to devastate the Mohawk VaUey, Henry
Nelles stipulated that the church of his fathers should
be spared. That stipulation was faithfully kept.
During the French and Indian wars prior to the
Revolution, the Nelles names showed they did good
service.

These facts are from a paper by Judge Nelles, read
October 17th, 1894, before the Kansas Society.

In the "Old Trails on the Niagara River," by Mr.
Severance, the name of Capt. Nelles is found as being
at Fort Niagara in September, 1781.

As before mentioned, Mrs. Nelles's name is the
first in the honor roll of the five women refugees
of 1776.

CHAPTER XI.

VISIT OF PRINCE EDWARD, DUKE OF
KENT, IN 1791.

Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and father of
Queen Victoria, who was commander of His Majesty's
forces in America, resided for some years in Halifax,
Nova Scotia, and was extremely popular. He had a
summer residence about six miles from Halifax, called
the Prince's Lodge. All that remains at the present
time is a wooden pavilion called the Music Room.*
An incident that recalls the fast-fading memories
of that period is given in the " Life of the Rev.
Jacob Bailey,"*!' who, with his family, were refugees
from Maine. Mr. Bailey suffered much from his
loyalty. It was through many difficulties and dan-
gers they escaped to Halifax. He had a son who
was baptized by the name of Charles. It had been
the intention of Mr. and Mrs. Bailey that his name
should be Hugh Percy, but Mrs. Callahan, the god-
mother, seeing so many patriots in the church, was
afraid to give the name, and called him Charles, the
name of her husband. He was baptized Charles, and

Picturesque Canada.

^t Life of Jacob Bailey.

126

VISIT OF THE DUKE OF KENT.

127

always signed his name so. He was a remarkably
handsome person, and when the Prince was visiting
Annapolis he observed the lad, who, among many
others, had assembled to bid him welcome. He
inquired who he was, and was so pleased with his
person and address that he prevailed upon his father
to allow him to be taken under his own care and
provide for him. Accordingly the lad was placed in
the Military Secretary's office, and was subsequently
given a commission in his own regiment (the 1st
Royals), where he served with honor until the War of
1812. The regiment was ordered to Canada. He
was then a captain high up on the list. Being at
Fort Niagara when it was re-taken in 18 13, he was
conspicuous for his bravery. He was killed at the
battle of Chippewa.

The Prince visited Niagara in 1791, and while
there went to Niagara Falls. To get a view at that
time below the Falls the branches of the trees were
cut, to make steps to get down to the water's edge.
On his return from the Falls he dined at Queenston
with Judge Robert Hamilton.

During the famine years of 1787 and 1788* the
settlers had been aided by the Commissary Depart-
ment, who were now demanding payment. A depu-
tation waited upon the Prince, who heard them with
sympathy, and ordered the officials to cancel every
charge. " My father," he said, " is not a merchant to

* Annals of Niagara.

128

VISIT OF THE DUKE OF KENT

deal in bread and ask payment for food granted for
the relief of his loyal subjects."

The Prince spent two weeks at Niagara. Numerous
entertainments marked his visit, and the generation
of ladies who lived at that period never ceased to
relate the introduction they had, and the balls in
which they had danced with the Prince as their
partner. The people came from the remotest settle-
ments to pay their respects to the son of the good
King, under whom they enjoyed the protection of
British subjects.

ted for

nerous
oration
sed to
alls in
; their
settle-
2 good
tion of

^S'

V! U^

'^.%^m>aJl.'^^^/\^^>^

AkSKNAL IXSIDI-: luKl ( ; KC )K(iK, I S8iS.

MAGAZINE INSIDE FORT GEORGE, t888.

CHAPTER XII.

TIVO HISTORIC BURNINGS.

BURNING OF NIAGARA.

i^ajBi

Tme burning of Newark (now Niagara) took place
on December loth, 1813, under circumstances which
produced a hatred long cherished, and a retaliation
swift and vindictive.

It had been necessary for General McClure to
evacuate Fort George. To destroy the fort was not
considered sufficient, but the torch was ordered to be
applied to the town. The winter of 181 3 set in
unusually early. The cold was intense and the
ground covered with a deep snow. In the midst of
a snowstorm the inhabitants were commanded to
leave their homes. Half an hour's notice was all
that was given. Those who could do so carried their
furniture into the streets, others fled to the country.
Mrs. Lowell, the grandmother of the late James
Lowell, M.P., rose from a sick-bed, and on horseback
went to the Short Hills. Mrs. Dickson, whose hus-
band was a prisoner in Fort Niagara with many
others, was carried by the soldiers out of her house
on a bed and laid upon the snow. Lying there she
9 129

130

TIVO HISTORIC BURNINGS.

saw her home and its contents reduced to ashes, A
fine library, for which Mr. Dickson had paid ^600,
was also consumed. Scarcely a book was left. The
public buildings were destroyed, among them the
registry office. A few books withstood the flames.
The charred covers and discolored pages bear evi-
dence of that day's destruction. St. Mark's Church,
which had been used by both parties as a hospital,
was also burned, its stone walls alone remaining.
Fortunately the home of the rector. Rev. Mr. Addison,
was on the lake shore, three miles distant from the
town. At an early period the parish records had
been conveyed to this place for safety. The mar-
riage register of St. Mark's from 1792 to 1832 is
valuable as it is interesting, containing much that
corroborates the history and customs of the time.

Mr. Merritt, in his diary, says : " During the night,
by the glare, they discovered Niagara was on fire.
As they advanced near the burning town, a sad
sight presented itself — heaps of burning coals, and
the streets full of furniture. Mr. Gordon's house
was the only one left standing. Niagara was in
ruins, a heap of smouldering ashes."

The attempt to blow up Fort George was a partial
failure. The enemy retired in such haste that his tents
were left standing. Colonel Murray at once took
steps to retaliate for this departure from the usages
of war. On the night of December 19th* of the same

* One of the traditions of the re-capture is, that when the attacking
force entered so unexpectedly, the officers were playing whist, and one
asked, "What is trumps ?" The answer came, " British bayonets ! "

TIVO HISTORIC BURNINGS.

131

attacking
and one
Dnets!"

year, an attacking force of six hundred and fifty men
surprised and captured I''ort Niagara. The store-
houses, full of clothing and of camp equipage, twenty-
seven pieces of cannon, three thousand stand of arms
and many rifles fell into their hands, a prize of great
value to the captors. Colonel Chajjin and Captain
Leonard were taken, and sent as prisoners to Que-
bec. Youngstown, Lewiston, Manchester and Buffalo
were burned, and the whole American fron*"ier was
made to suffer. The revenge of war is more t'^rrible
than the cause which produces it.

BURNING OF ST. DAVID'S.

The burning of St. David's by the American forces,
July 19th, 1814, was another of those unjustifiable and
indefensible acts which added to the cruelties of the
struggle and increased the hatred towards the
invaders. It was never defended by the Americans,
and the officer at whose command the torch was
applied was court-martialed and dismissed from the
service. The circumstances as related by Mrs.
Sccord, wife of Major David Secord, were verified by
her daughter, Mrs. Woodruff, and the husband, Mr.
Woodruff, gave additional information.

A picket of Canadian volunteers was stationed
under the command of Cornet Henry Woodruff near
the place now owned by Mr. Fairlie. This point was
on the direct road leading to Shipman's Corners (now
St. Catharines). Another road led to the same place,
striking the main road at the Ten Mile Creek (now

132

TIVO HISTORIC BURNINGS.

Homer). A few rods from Mr. Fairlie's was the road
leading to the Short Hills, called the Thorold road,
and another road leading to the township of Stamford.
An American scouting party attempted to pass
through the line, but was warned not to make the
attempt, as it would be fired upon. In spite of the
warning the party pushed on, and was fired upon.
No one was injured, but the horse ':>{ the commanding
officer was killed. He made terrible threats of ven-
geance, upon which Cornet Woodruff told him " he
should be thankful that it was his horse instead of
himself" No one thought anything serious would
result. Two days after, in the afternoon, notice was
given to the people to leave, as the place was to be
burned. One cannot describe the surprise and terror
with which these tidings were received. The women
were busy at their usual avocations. Their husbands
and brothers were away. Hurriedly the children
were sent to a place of safety, Mrs. Secord directing
them to go to her brother's, Mr. Thomas Page, of
Pelham. Few had horses, wagons or conveyances of
any kind ; mostly all had to go on foot. Mrs. Secord
placed some of the more valuable articles of furniture
in a wagon, hoping to save them, but she was unable
to get them away. Then collecting her own cows
and those cf her neighbors, she drove them to Lewis
Smith's, a farm about a mile from St. David's. It
was near 6 p.m. when she left, and she could see the
gleam of the bayonets as the Americans came on
the Oueenston road. She said : " During the evening

TJVO HISTORIC BURNINGS.

133

we could see the smoke and flames rising from our
burning homes. The road was filled with people,
and I had hard work to find my children. The next
morning my husband was on patrol duty with
another officer. As he saw the crowd, ' That looks
like my flock,' he said to his companion, and rode
rapidly forward to see what was the cause. He soon
heard the dreadful story, that his home, the mills and
other buildings were nothing but a heap of ashes.
We stayed some days in Pelham, and when I came
back I found, in pure wantonness, they had destroyed
a number of young pigs and burned them in the
ruins of our house. This at the time, seemed my
greatest loss, for I had depended upon these for
winter use."

Said Mrs. Sarah Clement (sister of Lewis Smith) :
" My bread was about ready for the oven when the
word came. A neighbor suggested that the bread
should be taken with us, and baked when we reached
a place where it could be done. It was turned from
the bread-trough into table-cloths, and we started on
our way. The afternoon was hot, and the bread kept
on rising and escaping from the table-cloths. You
could have tracked us by the dough along the road.
At last, when I came near a field where there was a
pool of water, I climbed the fence and shook the
dough into the water as well as I couH. When we
returned some days after, the dough was still floating
upon the water. I said, ' Cast thy bread upon the
waters, and thou shalt find it after many days.' Sad

134

TJVO HISTORIC BURNINGS.

as we were, we laughed." That portion of Scripture
and Mrs. Clement have ever been inseparably con-
nected. Only one house was left — a house occupied
by Mr. Quick. Mrs, Stephen Secord with another
woman managed to save an outbuilding. After the
fire she repaired another with her own hands.

In the country every house was filled to reple-
tion, not only with the homeless, but the sick and
the wounded. The neighboring places offered help.
Ancaster opened its hospitable doors. As we look
upon the numerous thriving towns and the populous
cities of our day, it is hard to realize that these places
at that time had no existence. There is a book by
the Rev. John Carroll, which gives some reminiscences
of that time which are worth repeating. He says
that after Proctor's defeat his mother with her five
children, and another family with children, found
shelter in a log-cabin, with a bark roof, near the
Upper Ten Mile Creek, They made a fire in the
grove near the house, and ther*" was an orchard with
nearly ripe fruit. Here they stayed for some weeks.
As the weather grew colder they moved to St.
Catharines, then the Twelve Mile Creek, After this
they went to Hamilton in a cart drawn by two oxen,
for the use of which they paid $30. Here they lived
in a log-house with one room and an open fire, the
flooring loose. A sick officer was already there, and,
as the children's noise could not be borne, a fire was
made outside to warm themselves. This was done

TWO HISTORIC BURNINGS.

135

till " warmer quarters " were found,
quarters are thus described :

The warmer

" The sappers and miners dug" places ten feet square, with
an entrance at one side by means of a trench, like the descent
to a root-house. The roof of slabs rested on the surface of the
ground and met in the centre. The only light came from the
chimney, which was low and capacious, and a hole i.i the door
without glass. If this was left open the snow drifted in, and it
had to be shovelled out through the small hole."

Such were the quarters where Hamilton now
stands. On the retreat from Niagara a sick soldier,
lying by the roadside with the ague, asked Mrs.
Carroll for a handkerchief to tie around his aching
head. She had not this to give him. Then he asked
for a string, and she had not even that. Prices of
food were very high, and the volunteers often were
allowed to return to their homes to sow the grain,
then afterwards to reap.

Mrs. Secord tells the following : " The Indians were
constantly asking for money to buy liquor. It was
dangerous to refuse, and more dangerous to give, for
a drunken Indian cannot be controlled. One time an
Indian demanded money. I told him I had none,
though a belt was on my person containing my hus-
band's pay, which he had sent to me for safe keeping.
He soon raised his tomahawk, thinking to frighten
me, but I knew my only safety was to stand my
ground. Had I given him anything, there would hav^e
been no end to his demands. We had trained our
children to obey signals, and they knew when help

136

TIVO HISTORIC BURNINGS.

was needed without speaking." There was no paper
money at that time. It was all gold, silver and Brock
coppers. Leather stamped and used for change is
one of the traditions of the war.

Another aged friend says : " A young officer, son
of an English baronet, was brought from Niagara to
my house in the month of August. He had been
severely wounded in one of the frequent skirmishes.
There was a man to take care of him, but he suc-
cumbed to his wounds on the following day, and was
buried in the Presbyterian burying-ground at Stam-
ford." The name is unfortunately forgotten.

In the private burial-places were buried many whose
names are now forgotten. It is one of the saddest
features of the private burying-grounds, as they pass
from the possession of the original proprietors, that
no provision is made that the graves of the dead
should be respected. The ploughshare of the new
occupant soon levels the spot where the forgotten
brave and the ancestors of our country sleep. The
old and the new possessors alike share the odium of
the desecration and destruction of those sacred spots.

It was at the house of this same friend, Mrs.
Richard Woodruff, whose kitchen was taken posses-
sion of hj the Indians, that a large pig was killed
and roasted before the fire. The grease ran across
the floor and over the doorstep. She was upstairs
attending to her children. As the feast went on, the
chief in command came to her, asking, " Had she a
mother?" On being told she had, he said, "White

TWO HISTORIC BURNINGS.

137

squaw go to mother," for he feared his followers
would be uncontrollable. She needed no second
warning, and went to her mother.

Mrs. David Secord said : " There had been some of
our own Indians staying in my house. They had
occupied unfinished rooms in the upper part of the
house. Unknown to me, when leaving, they put
their unused war-paint under some loose boards in
the floor. A few days after some American Indians
occupied the same place. The loose boards attracted
their attention, and the war-paint was soon discovered.
With fearful yells they commenced to question and
threaten me. Fortunately my young son ran to the
American quarters for help. The officer came at
once, bringing soldiers with him, and none too soon,
for one of the Indians was brandishing his tomahawk.
The Indians were taken away and soldiers put in
their place. There was a ravine running back of the
house we occupied. The front and upper rooms were
always taken by the officers and soldiers. We lived
in the back part of the house and cellar kitchens.
But," she added, " I will say this, the officers were
courteous and endeavored to see that we were well
treated. Both British and American officers were
alike in this respect."

Such is war. Is it any wonder that women hate
its name? None but women who h?.ve passed
through the perils of war can realize what ruin it
brings to the home, the wasted life and property, and

138

TIVO HISTORIC BURNINGS.

the aftermath of hatred which always is sure to
follow.

Said another : " We had long before buried our
silver and many articles of value. They were taken
up and put in fresh places. Sometimes the place
was forgotten. Long years after, the spade and the
plough turned up those forgotten treasures ruined
and useless."

An aged friend said : " One morning a large Ameri-
can force marched through St. David's. I sold over
$100 worth of whiskey from one barrel before break-
fast. I had a barrel of whiskey and a barrel of water,
As the whiskey was sold I kept replenishing with
water, and towards the last it would not have hurt
your conscience to sell a drink of it, for it was so
weak it could hurt no one."

St. David's never regained the size and importance
of former times. Those that owned rebuilt, some on
the old foundations, but none as large as before-
Many moved away, and though it had breweries'
distilleries, furniture manufactory, mills and the other
occupations of village life, the grist-mills are about
all that at present remain. There was a bank for a
short period, and Mackenzie issued his paper here a
few times, but in what building has not been posi-
tively ascertained.

Another incident of that time was related by Mrs.
Secord : " I was very ill when my baby was born.
The woman who took care of me had the baby on her
lap before the fire. She had been warming its feet,

2 to

our

iken
)lace
I the
ined

neri-
over
eak-
ater,
with
hurt
.s so

ance
le on
:fore-
;rics'
)ther
bout
for a
ere a
posi-

Mrs,

born.

n her

feet,

i;"vl

I'OLLV i-AClK (MRS. DAVID SECORD).
(Lent hy Miss \. Wood ni ft.)

t
t

tl
a
a
re

TH'O HISTORIC BURNINGS.

139

and, as the baby cried, I tried to waken her. She had
gone to sleep. I called in vain, then I got up ; but
my poor baby's feet were blistered, and she died in a
few days."

Such was the life of the women — to toil in the
house and in the field, in constant terror for the lives
of all most dear to them. Mrs. Secord lived to a
good old age, and is buried with others of the honored
dead in the graveyard at St. David's. Her portrait
is given, one of the noblest women of the olden time.

Mrs. Woodruff (daughter of Mrs. Secord) relates
that a party of British Indians had a young girl whom
they had taken captive. Our hearts pitied her, but
we dared not interfere. Where she came from, or her
name, we could not learn, but afterwards were told
that she had been restored to her friends. Whether
this was true or false we never knew, and could only
hope it was so.

To add to the miseries of that period a set of
miscreants who follow in the wake of armies, called
" Grey-coats," who were white men disguised as
Indians, plundered everything upon which they could
lay their hands.

The home of the writer was for many years a brick
house which had been built upon the foundations of
the place burned in 1814. In making some changes
a charred beam was brought to view ; it was evidently
a relic of the past. In straightening a creek in the
rear of the house a 24-pound cannon-ball was found.

140

TIVO HISTORIC BURNINGS.

It was a frequent occurrence to pick up balls of
various sizes in the neighborhood.

The following is copied from Mr. Lossing's " Pic-
torial Field Book of the War of 1812," page 815 :

" Colonel Stone, of the New York Militia, while out on a
foraging expedition, wantonly burned the little village or hamlet
of St. David's, a short distance from Queenston. Similar
unwarrantable acts caused great exasperation against the
Americans. General Brown promptly dismissed Stone from
the service, as a punishment for his crime, in accordance with
the sentence of a court-martial."

Lossing has a foot-note to the above, written by an
American officer :

" * The militia have burned several private dwellings,' wrote
the gallant Major McFarland of the Seventy-third Infantry,
who was killed a short time after at Niagara Falls, and on the
19th burnt the village of St. David's, consisting of about thirty
or forty houses. This was done within three miles of the camp.
I never witnessed such a scene, and had not the commanding
Colonel Stone been disgraced and sent out of the army I should
have resigned my commission.''

s uf

Pic-

on a
unlet
milar
the
from
with

y an

wrote
intry,
)n the
thirty
amp.
iding
liould

STAMFORD I'AKK, 1 863.

CHAPTER XIII.

STAMFORD PARK.

"Stamford Park, the residence of Sir Peregrine
Maitland, was built on a range of rising ground which
overlooks the country and Lake Ontario for a great
distance. Near this spot, by the blowing down of a
tree, were found a quantity of human bones. A
number of skeletons were found on digging, with
Indian beads and pipes ; also some conch shells,
shaped apparently for musical instruments, under
several of the heads. Other perforated shells were
found, such as are said to be known only on the
western coast of the continent within the tropics.
Brass and copper utensils are also found. The ground
looks as if it had been defended by a palisade." —
Northern Traveller, 1830.

Stamford Park was visited in 1837 by Mrs. Jamie-
son, wife of Vice-Chancellor Jamieson. She writes :
" It is the only place in Upper Canada combining our
ideas of an elegant, well-furnished English villa and
ornamented grounds, with some of the grandest and
wildest features of the forest scene."

Sir Peregrine Maitland, who was appointed Lieu-

141

142

STAMFORD PARK.

tenant-Governor of Upper Canada in 1818, while
living in Toronto, built a fine summer residence in
the township of Stamford. It faced towards Lake
Ontario, and was on one of the highest points of land
in the township. The building was of brick and
stuccoed, and contained twenty-two rooms. The
kitchen and servants' hall were in the detached build-
ing in the rear, and connected with the main part by
a covered way. The trees surrounding the place were
planted with an eye to beauty. At the right was the
children's garden, and " The Governor's House," as it
was called, for many years was a pleasant resort. In
the drawing-room were marble mantel-pieces, the
carvings being scenes from the Iliad.

lii.s circumstance was related by Mrs. Hobson,
wafe of Sneriff Hobson, of Welland, and before her
marriage Miss Eliza Clow, of St. David's. During
the residence of Sir Peregrine and Lady Sarah, they
and their children often attended church in what is
now the Methodist Church, in St. David's. Their
seat was at the right of the pulpit, under the west
window. Mr. Richard Woodruff prepared cushioned
seats for them. ^Vhen they left Upper Canada, upon
Sir Peregrine's appointment as Governor of Nova
Scotia, there was a sale of their house-furnishings.
Mr. R. Woodruff bought some of the wine-glasses and
a small gilt circular mirror. Mr. William Woodruff
bought some of the drawing-room chairs. Man}'
homes still possess relics purchased at that time.
After his departure the place v/as occupied by Mr.

ri
("I

/',

f^ :; - o

•y) i- o

y. -

- :: S

STAMFORD PARK. 143

Green, a banker. It passed through various hands,
until it was destroyed by fire in April, 1842. A
sketch of the ruins was taken in 1863. No vestige of
the house now remains. A valuable deposit of sand
was found near the site, A short branch of the
Grand Trunk Railway was laid to the spot, a derrick
and other appliances were erected, and soon the
demolition was complete. The children's garden and
the trees planted by them were destroyed. The lodge
at the entrance \o the grounds is all that remains to
remind us of one of the early Governors of Upper
Canada.

Among the people of the Niagara District, Isaac
Brock and Peregrine Maitland were popular names
bestowed upon their ons.

CHAPTER XIV.
RECOLLECTIONS OF 1837 AND 1838.

To many the incidents about to be related may-
seem trivial, but they were not considered so at that
time, and they illustrate the intolerance which over-
rides the right of every one to his own opinion.

That portion of the Niagara District which was
represented in the Assembly of Upper Canada had
sent men of Liberal opinions. Major David Secord*
at the time of the rebellion was an aged man. The
preceding pages have shown the sacrifices made by
himself and relatives, the loyal services they gave and
were willing to give as subjects of the English gov-
ernment. The arbitrary measures of the Family
Compact previous to 1837 met his disapprobation,
and he took the only legitimate way of condem-
nation, by voting as a member of Parliament for
reforms.

Mr. William Woodruff was also a Reform member,
and voted as he believed for the best interests of
Canada. He had been in the battle of Oueenston

* It was customary at that time to call siiccessful business men
"kings." Major Secord was called "King David," and Mr. Richard
Woodruff " King Dick."

144

RECOLLECTIONS OF IS.il AND 1S3S.

145

Heights, and served as a volunteer through the War
of 1 812. Richard Woodruff,* his eldest brother, was a
member at the commencement of the rebellion. He
had also as a volunteer been at the capture of Detroit
and Chrysler's Farm, for v hich, many years after-
wards, he received a medal.

These men all lived in St. David's. They had
taken the only constitutional way of expressing their
disapproval of the high-handed actions of the Gov-
ernment of the day. Mackenzie's rebellion met their
distinct disapprobation, though they had a personal
friendship for the man. Major Secord, as before
stated, had given Robert Gourlay a shelter and kindly
care for many weeks at his house, when he was sick
and friendless, and when no one else dared to do so.
St. David's thereafter acquired the name of a " Rebel
hole." As the regulars and volunteers passed and
repassed on their way to and from Chippew many
threats were made, and the hope expressed that the
place would be destroyed. In the spring of the year
1838, Mr. Woodruffsf father died at Niagara Falls,
N.Y., and was buried at St. David's. His son-in-law,
Judge De Veaux, at whose home he died, was at the

* " King Dick" commenced his life as a merchant in James Secord's
store at ( Kieenston.

t Mr. Woodruft's signature ;

^^>

146

RECOLLECTIONS OF 1S37 AND 1838.

funeral. He was a small man, and how or when the
story originated that he was Mackenzie in disguise
was never known. But so it was. A detachment from
Quccnston was sent to St. David's. Mr. Woodruff's
servants were first interrogated, and he was then
taken from his bed to Oucenston for examination.
Fortunately for himself, he was able to prove that
he was not harboring a rebel. Even as late as 1840,
when the meeting was held at Queenston for the re-
construction of Brock's monument, Mr. Woodruff was
not permitted to speak, and the letter published in
this volume was written to his friend, Mr. Thorburn,
at that time.

Another incident of that period may be given. A
young man, on the 4th of July, rode on horseback
through the village, dressed in a pink cambric jacket,
and carrying a lance with pennon, in imitation of the
Lancers, which were stationed at Queenston. It was
evident that it was the foolish prank of a young man
who had taken too much of Canada's curse. He rode
up and down the street more than once. It enraged
an old pensioner, who went to Queenston and in-
formed the officer stationed there that the people of
St. David's were celebrating the 4th of July. The
officer took some men and marched to the place.
His men were halted in front of the Methodist Church,
and scouts sent forward to reconnoitre, and see what
was going on. Mr. William Woodruff had heard
of their approach. Wlien the scouts arrived every

en the

isguise
it from
(Iruff's
s then
nation,
'c that
s 1840,
the re-
uff was
;hed in
orburn,

en. A

r.seback

jaclvet,

. of the

It was
[ig man
ie roclc
mraged
md in-
iople of
r. The
; place,
rhurch,

e what
heard
every

1—

^^-^...'^^-r •- -.J,^-.;

iL—

«*;

;R0CK.S MONl'.MKNT AND HOMK OF WILLIAM lAON
MACKKNZIK, AT (,)rKF,\ST(JN, I.S95.

.SI

tl
\v
re

fii
w;
nc
he
th

RECOLLECTIONS OF 1837 AND 183S.

147

house was dark, and the streets quiet, but from
behind the curtains many anxious hearts were watch-
hvj; fo) the outcome. I\Ir. Woodruff took the officers
to his house and treated them, and they returned to
Oueenston satisfied that their march had been un-
necessary. The writer had American visitors at that
time. They went to bed very late, and left as early
the next morning as they could conveniently get
away.

T)uring the winter of 1837-38 the front part of the

lousr was closed, and the curtains drawn. A bed

wns r lit ''n the sitting-room, our cloaks and hoods on

chairs, for a hasty flight, and the children slept in the

adjoining bedroom.

We took the A^ezu York Amciicmi, published in
New York City, and most of our news came that
way, and was from one to two weeks old. The usual
salutation to visitors or persons on the streets was,
" What is the news from the seat of war ? " The
super-loyal wore a narrow band of red flannel around
their hats. Another fad of that time was long red
woollen socks, worn by the men over the boots, and
reaching to the hips.

One night, when my mother was sitting by her
fireside later than usual, she heard a slight tap at the
window. Thinking it was a call to go to a sick
neighbor, by some one who did not wish to disturb the
house, she went to the door. A fjntleman stf.-od
there holding his horse by the bridle, who, in an

148

RECOLLECTIONS OF 1S.17 AND 18.18.

aj^itatcd voice, asked to be directed the nearest way
to the Niagara River. Tlic directions were given,
and the inquirer rode carefully away. Who he was
we never heard, but whoever he was he escaped, and
the circumstance was not mentioned till long after.

The Sunday before Moreau was hung (for the exe-
cution took place on Monday morning) wagons were
passing all the day and night, filled with men, women
and children. There were but few carriages in those
days. Chairs were placed in the wagons, covered
with quilts and blankets. Such was the usual way.
A liberal price in money and in land had been offered
for a hangman, but none appeared, and the sheriff,
most unwillingly, had to perform the duty. Moreau
sleeps in the Catholic burying-ground at Niagara.
He acknowledged he had been deceived into a useless
adventure.

Before the invasion from Michigan took place, my
mother's relatives informed us such a project was
contemplated, and advised us to leave. My father
could not leave his business, and my mother preferred
to remain with him. Such v/as the way people on
the frontier and near it lived in those days — the fear
of invasion, and the unjust suspicion which out-
weighed and forgot a life of honorable service.

a I
tlj

way

;ivcn,
2 was
i, and
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; exe-
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/omen
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overed
il wa\'.
offered

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ct was
father
ferred

ople on
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ch out-

CHAPTER XV.
BURNING OF THE STEAMER ''CAROLINES

Thk destruction of the steamer Caroline chirincr
the rebellion of 1837 is one of the oft-quoted inci-
dents of that time. Perhaps an account given by
one of the participators may not be unacceptable.

On Thursday evening, the 29th of December, 1837,
A. C. Currie and Walter Wagstaff were doing patrol
duty on the Niagara frontier along the river above
Chippewa. When returning to Chippewa, and near
the bridge which crosses the Welland River (then
called Chippewa Creek), they saw a crowd on the
bank, and heard a call, " Volunteers for this boat ! "
Currie at once dismounted, and gave his horse to
Wagstaff to take back to the camp. Offering his
services, he was asked if he could row, and replying in
the affirmative, was immediately accepted. The party
consisted of seven boats, the men armed with pistols,
cutlasses and boarding-pikes. They left Chippewa
about 1 1 p.m., not knowing their destination, or what
they were expected to do. It was supposed they
were going to Navy Island, wdiere the patriot army
was encamped. They proceeded up the river above

149

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150

BURNING OF THE ''CAROLINE:'

the island, and approached the American shore. In
the darkness and fog two of the boats lost their way
and returned to Chippewa. The other five were
grouped together a short distance above Schlosser,
Captain Drew, the commander, then told them the
object of the expedition was to cut out and carry off
the steamer Caroline, which for some days had been
employed in carrying supplies to the so-called
patriots on Navy Island. They were ordered to let
the boats drift down the river towards the wharf,
where the Caroline was fastened, to keep perfectly
still, to be at their oars, and when challenged or fired
upon, to at once board and capture the vessel.
When near the Caroline they were challenged and
immediately fired upon. That shot wounded Lieu-
tenant McCormac, the officer in charge of the boat in
which was Charles Currie. They pushed forward,
boarded the Caroline, and were soon in possession,
the few on board quickly escaping to the shore. In
the excitement, one person by the name of Durfee,
from Buffalo, was shot. This was the only life lost.
An attempt was made to get up steam to take the
Caroline across to Chippewa, but this requiring too
much time, and it being reported that a large num-
ber were coming from the island to the rescue, she
was towed into the stream and the torch applied.
Before this was done search was made to see if any
one was concealed. The only person found was a
boy from Lower Canada, who was taken across to
Chippewa and afterwards returned to his friends.

BURNING OF THE ''CAROLINE:'

151

g too

num-

Lie, she

pplied.

if any

was a

ross to

riends.

The Caroline soon drifted into the rapids, lighting
her path to destruction and illuminating the shores
as she was borne along. A fire had been lighted at
Chippewa at the mouth of the Wclland River, for
which the boats were steered. When passing below
Navy Island they were fired upon, but the shots did
no harm. Mr. Currie took from the Caroline a pillow
and a water-bucket. On the wharf he picked up the
butt end of a pistol, which he still owns as a relic of
his experiences in 1837.

Among the volunteers in the boat was Mr. John
Mewburn, son of the late Dr. Mewburn, of Stamford,
and brother of Dr. F. Mewburn, of Toronto, and of
H. C. Mewburn, Esq., of Stamford, in the county of
VVelland. Mr. John Mewburn soon after went to
England, where for fifty years he was in the Bank of
England, retiring after half a century of faithful ser-
vice with a handsome allowance and a recognition of
honorable service. Charles Currie and Mr. Mewburn
still survive.

(Rev. Canon Bull says that Captain McCormac
was wounded in the wrist, and that his mother
dressed the wound for several days.)

CHAPTER XVI.

SAMUEL ZIMMERMAN.

It is but a slight act of justice to recall the name
of one who fifty years ago was the foremost man in
the Niagara peninsula, and whose brief career was
the commencement of great improvements, not only
at Niagara Falls, but throughout the Province of
Ontario.

Samuel Zimmerman was born in Huntington
County, Penn., March 17th, 181 5. His parents were
not wealthy ; the family was a large one, and their
education the ordinary school of that period. Upon
the death of his father and mother he assumed the
charge of his three younger brothers and his sister.
He educated them, ana trained his brothers to assist
in carrying out his plans.

He came to this country as a contractor in 1842.
Along with the late James Oswald, of Stamford, and
others, he constructed four locks and the aqueduct on
the Welland Canal. His first venture was successful,
and he turned his attention to larger enterprises.
Railways and bridges were becoming the necessities
of the age. Quick in his perceptions, he realized the

152

SAMUEL ZIMMERMAN.

153

possibilities of Niagara Falls and the surrounding
country. In 1848 he made extensive purchases at
Niagara Falls and in the locality of the first suspen-
sion bridge. This place was first called Elgin, then
Clifton, and now Niagara Falls. People are still
living who remember when the " forest primeval "
was cut down to make way for what now is a great
railway terminus. They recollect the cable that first
crossed the river with its iron cradle, and the first
passenger bridge. Now from Lewiston to Fort Erie
there are five bridges, representing the highest type
of engineering skill, strength and beauty.* These also
represent four others that have been tiaken down or
destroyed. The International Bridge af^Black Rock
and the Cantilever are the only original ones re-
maining.

Previous to Mr. Zimmerman's purchase of the
Clifton House and other lands, the buildings were
of the most unsightly kind. " There is but one
Niagara Falls in the world," and his iirfeas were in
unison with the place. He bought, at Nberal prices,
the rights of the property holders. When one man
refused to sell, he bought land and built the man a
substantial stone house. As prosperity attended his
efforts his views enlarged. During his short career
he visited England and the contfnent more than
once, and came back with the determination to make
still more attractive the natural beauties of the place.
After his marriage in 1848, to Miss Woodruff, daugh-
ter of Richard Woodruff, Esq., of St. David's, he at

154

SAMUEL ZIMMERMAN.

once commenced his improvements. Clifton House
was renovated, a concert hall and six cottages built.
The grounds which now make the entrance to the
Queen Victoria Niagara Falls Park were laid out, and
the fountain put in. At Clifton improvements of
the most substantial character were made. The post-
office, bank, blocks for dwellings, stores, and water-
works, were constructed in the most approved and
modern manner. He encouraged the same spirit in
others, and was ever ready to assist them in their
enterprises. He built one hundred and twenty miles of
the Great Western Railway (now the Grand Trunk),*
the Cobourg and Peterboro', the Port Hope and
Lindsay, the Erie and Ontario railways, and at the
time of his death arrangements were being made to
build the Great Southern,

He did much for the town of Niagara. He built
the steamer Zimmerman^ and was part owner of the
steamer Peerless^ afterwards celebrated as a blockade
runner in the Civil War of the United States. The
town of Niagara presented him with an elegant
silver vase as a recognition of his services. In 1855
he sold the Clifton property to Messrs. Pierson and
Benedict for $200,000. A frequent remark of his
was, " I have no politics, and I will support any party
who will aid my railway policy." And he did so.
The people had unlimited faith in his plans. The

* Before the Great Western Railway was built there was a horse
railway from Queenston to Chippewa, only used during the season of
navigation. This was probably the first railway of any kind in Canada.

SAMUEL ZIMMERMAN.

]55

louse
built.

the
t, and
Its of
: post-
ivater-
d and
)irit in

1 their
lilesof
unk)*
le and
at the
lade to

e built

of the

ockade

The

legant

n 1855
3n and
of his
^ party
did so.
The

a horse

season of

Canada.

faculty of impressing others with his ideas, to
draw around him as fellow-v/orkers the men who
could realize their importance, was possessed by him
in a supreme degree. He made and unmade many
political candidates.

He had intended building a magnificent residence
at Niagara Falls. Plans had been furnished by Mr.
Upjohn, a prominent architect in New York. Four
of the lodges and the stables were built. These still
remain. The foundations of the house had been
commenced when Mr. Zimmerman's untimely death
took place by the terrible railway disaster at the
De.sjardins Canal, near Hamilton, March 13th, 1857,
It was intended at that time to build a monument on
his estate. A temporary vault was constructed, and
on the 17th of March, 1857, his remains were placed
there with high Masonic honors. The monument
was never built. Upon the death of the first Mrs.
Zimmerman, in April, 185 1, he had built a vault and
erected a monument to her memory in the old bury-
ing-ground at St. David's. His young sister was also
buried there a few months previous to his death.
When his estate passed into other hands, his remains
were removed to the vault in St. David's, where they
rest beside his wife and sister. No inscription marks
the resting-place.

The house where Mr. Zimmerman lived was sub-
stantially built. The woodwork in the drawing-room
and dining-room was of solid walnut, highly polished ;
the second floor of oak. A veranda went around

156

SAMUEL ZIMMERMAN.

the building. From this, in summer, the views of the
Falls were very fine, and also from the long French
windows in the drawing-room and dining-room. To
sit outside in summer and at the windows in winter
was one of the pleasures of his busy life.

When the Prince of Wales visited Canada, in i860,
this house was rented and furnished for himself and
suite. No one who was present at the illumination of
the Falls and the river the evening of his arrival can
forget the surpassing beauty and grandeur of the
scene. Our American neighbors joined with us to
make it worthy of the place and its visitor.

When the Clifton House and other portions of the
estate were bought by the Hon. John T. Bush, the
house was taken down, and the present mansion
built on the foundations commenced by Mr. Zim-
merman.

The portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Zimmerman, his two
sons. Miss Zimmerman and his brother, Martin Zim-
merman, were painted by Mr. Wale.

The well-known portrait painter, Mr. Huntington,
of Boston, Mass., and Godfrey Frankenstein, of
Springfield, Ohio, also painted a portrait of Mrs.
Zimmerman. Mr. Zimmerman was twice married,
his last wife being Miss Emmeline Dunn, of Three
Rivers, Quebec. His sons and his brothers are dead.
John, the eldest son, married Miss Henry, of Toronto.
There are two daughters from this marriage.

Clifton House, so memorable, was destroyed by
fire on Sunday, the 26th of June, 1898.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE FIRST FENIAN RAID OF 1866.

For some time before the Fenian Raid the press
of the United States in various places gave intima-
tions that Canada would be invaded. Canadians
were incredulous as to the loud talk of disaffection,
and did not believe anything so foolish possible.
They had laughed over that popular air, "The
Wearing of the Green," which told the world that
"The shamrock is forbid by law to grow on Irish
ground," that Irishmen " No more St. Patrick's Day
we'll keep," and worst of all, that " They're hanging
men and women, too, for wearing of the green."
When the Fenians did come but one man joined
them, and, discomfited and dismayed, they returned
on the second day to Buffalo, the place from which
they came.

The raid takes its place in history to be dealt with,
and it is only what were the impressions and scenes
of that time in St. Catharines that will be related
here.

During the winter of 1865-66 a letter was sent from
Lewiston, N.Y., saying a gathering of Fenians was to

167

158

THE FIRST FENIAN RAID OF 18GG.

be made from there. A person wa'- sent to confer
with the writer, but the conclusion arrived at was that
there was no cause for immediate alarm. Another
letter was soon after sent from a person in Phila-
delphia, who had been a resident in this locality for
many years, and who felt it his duty to report the
state of feeling and accompanying threats made in
that city. These letters were forwarded to the mili-
tary authorities. They felt that something should be
done as a measure of prevention and intimidation, so
that an invasion would be prevented. They ordered
a few companies of volunteers to be called out, to
place upon duty along the frontier, and they were to
meet at St. Catharines. Should any demonstration
be made by the Fenians, the firing of a cannon would
be the signal to call them together. During the
night of March 7th, 1866, after midnight, the order
came, " Call out the volunteers." The cannon was
fired, and its echoes awakened the slumbering
citizens. There was a rush of the volunteers to the
town hall. Many persons hired conveyances and
took their most valued things away to the neighbor-
ing villages. The wildest rumors were abroad — that
18,000 Fenians were crossing Suspension Bridge, and
the warm reception they were going to meet — but no
Fenians came. There was a second alarm on the
evfj of the 17th of March. Soon after, the volunteers
returned to their homes ; but none the less there
was an intuitive feeling that an attempt would be
made. Arms and ammunition were distributed, and

■«

confer
'as that
Another

Phila-
Hty for
lort the
nade in
he mili-
ould be
ition, so
ordered

out, to
were to
stration
n would
ing the
le order
ion was
mbering
-s to the
ces and
eighbor-
id— that
dge, and
— but no
1 on the
^lunteers
iss there
^ould be
ited, and

lour KKIK, 1.S90.

THE FIRST FENIAN RAID OF 180G.

159

more than the usual drill took place. A gentle-
man from St. Catharines attended a meeting of
Fenians in Buffalo, heard their wild talk, saw their
arms and their parade, without a word of remon-
strance from the authorities.

Early in the morning of the 1st of June, 1866, news
came that the invaders were landing at i v.. Erie.
There wa hurrying to and fro in hot haste, and the
volunteers were .sent forward. It is the part that St.
Catharines took that is recorded. The troops left here
on Friday afternoon. About 3 o'clock on Saturday
morning a detachment of the Queen's Own pas.sed
through the street on its way from the Grand Trunk
to the Welland station, singing cheerily, " Tramp,
tramp, tramp, the boys are marching." Some of them
were University students whom many of us knew. A
few hours after, about 10.30 a.m., came intelligence
of the fiasco at Ridgeway, and the order following,
" Call out the Home Guard." The streets were full
of people, and arms were being distributed in the
Town Hall. With the bell ringing, the husbands
and fathers, brothers and sons, with pale faces de-
scending the steps, the impression made has never
been forgotten. Soon after word came that the
wounded were to be sent here, and that the Town
Hall would be used as a hospital. The women
gathered and went to work, under the direction of
Dr. Mack, making bandages, pillows, sheets and
pther things needful for their reception. Carpenters
were already at work, and soon after midnight the

160

THE FIRST FENIAN RAID OF ISOn.

place was ready. The number of beds was over
twenty. It was perhaps 6 a.m. on Sunday morning
when the sad procession of \\ ided on stretchers
passed from the Welland Railway station to the
temporary hospital. More were brought Sunday
afternoon, and along with them two wounded Fenians
and some prisoners. The first thing to be done was
to prepare breakfast, as most of them had gone
without food for over twenty hours. The weather
had been very hot, and their appearance was in keep-
ing with what they had undergone. None were
allowed breakfast until after examination, which was
speedily done. Some were fatally, some dangerously,
and others lightly wounded. Every care and com-
fort was given. On Monday their friends arrived.
Those that could be removed with safety were taken
to their own homes. The regular army surgeon took
his position on Sunday evening. Some went from
here maimed for life, and some died.

The Fenian prisoners were brought here and put in
the police cells until they were transferred to Toronto
jail. In Toronto, a few months after, they w^ere tried,
with an American lawyer watching the proceedings to
report if they had a "fair trial." These men were found
guilty, imprisoned for a few months, pardoned, and
with a ticket to Suspension Bridge, N.Y., and five
dollars in their pockets, were returned to the land of
their adoption, no more let us hope, to be deceived
by tales of British cruelty, and that they would be
welcomed by Canadians as deliverers from British
tyranny ! So ended the first Fenian Raid.

as over
norning
retchers
to the
Sunday
Fenians
one was
id gone
weather
in keep-
le were
lich was
^erously,
id corn-
arrived,
re taken
ion took
;nt from

id put in
Toronto
3re tried,
idings to
;re found
ned, and
and five
I land of
deceived
v^ould be
1 British

Illlllt

J OS 111' II I! RANT.

( rilAVK.MiANECEA.)

CHAPTER XVIII.
BRANT MEMORANDA.

Pre-eminent in historic fame stands the name of
the famous Thayendaneijea (Joseph Brant), the great
chief of the Mohawks. Of rare abilities, of unques-
tioned bravery, princely generosity and fortitude
under many misfortunes, the wisdom of hir views
and the statesmanship with which he managed and
held his people together, are proofs that the red man
has ability which, under just treatment, well deserves
recognition and encouragement. Brantford has hon-
ored itself both by its name and erecting the statue
to his memory.

No one has suffered more from the untruths started
by literary people than Brant. He was not at Wyo-
ming, and though this misstatement was called to the
poet Campbell's notice, and undoubted proof fur-
nished, it still remains uncorrected. At that time he
was in the Scoharie valley seeking to bring out the
Loyalist refugees of that region.

Brant died at his home in Burlington, Ont, 24th
of November, 1807.

" Brant gave Major Nelles, one of his Ranger
11 161

162

BRANT MEMORANDA.

friends, nine square miles of land. A homestead
was erected here, which still remains. It was famous
for the good cheer and hospitality of its owner." —
Picturesque Canada, p. 488.

Mollie Brant, wife of Sir William Johnson, and
sister of the famous Joseph Brant, had great influence
among her people. She had the respect of the
English, who wished her to live at Niagara on
account of this influence over the various tribes who
were constantly coming and going from that point.

The readers of American history will recollect
that in 1775 and 1776 Montgomery and Arnold
attempted the conquest of Canada. For a few
months they were successful, but were compelled to
retreat in June, 1776. One of the episodes of this
mission was the surrender of an American force at
the " Cedars," when Major Isaac Butterfield with
three hundred men surrendered to Captain George
Foster. Probably it is here the following occurrence
took place :

He "saw some service in the French war, though young, and
at the commencement of the Revolution joined the American
arms ; was at the battle of Bunker Hill and the principal
northern battles. He was taken prisoner at the 'Cedars' in
Canada, and came near losing his life to gratify savage revenge.
He was bound to a stake, and the faggots piled around him,
when, it occurring to him that the Indian Chief, Brant, was a
Mason, he communicated to him the Masonic sign, which
caused his immediate release and subsequent good treatment.
He was afterwards promoted to a Colonelcy in a New York
regiment, and served during the war. He died at Livingston,
N.Y., June 9th, 1821 ; his widow, April 7th, 1833."

estead

"amous

))
ner. —

•n, and
ifluence

of the
jara on
bes who
point,
recollect

Arnold
r a few
Delled to
s of this

force at
eld with

1 George
;currence

young, and
; American

2 principal

Cedars' in

ge revenge.

ound him,

ant, was a

BRANT MEMORANDA.

163

iign,

which

treatment.

New York

Livingston,

This story was told Mr. Taylor by his fathci many
years ago. The fact that Mr. McKinstry's life was
saved by a Masonic sign to an Indian chief is true,
and Mr. Taylor's father said it was Brant.

Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol. 13,
p. 42, 1859:

The John McKinstry mentioned here was a brother
of Charles McKinstry, the father of David Charles
McKinstry, who married Nancy Whiting Backus,
daughter of Sallie Backus, the third wife of Major
Ingersoll,

This John McKinstry was born 1745, died June
9th, 1822.

Extract from Charles J. Taylor's letter of May
27th, 1 900:

" The ' Mr. Hambly ' to whom the ' orders ' for laying out
the lots near ' Mohawk Village ' are addressed, was one
William Hambly (said to have been an Englishman), who was
a land surveyor and school-master here* the latter years of the
eighteenth century, married here in 1788, later went to Canada.
This paper, the autograph, came to me about thirty years ago,
in a lot ot old papers of Captain Freeman Wheeler, who was
next neighbor to Mr. Hambly, and who purchased Hambly's
house and land after Hambly's removal from this place. In
one old paper of August 30th, 1805, Hambly is described as
of Township of Woodhouse and District of London, Upper
Canada."

Great Barrington, Mass.

»':

LETTER OF JOSEPH BRANT.

61^.

w-^^^C-X /^^^j^ J^_''X/u^

^CCC'Or.

Jl/t^r ^ /^%-4SV,

Lent by Chas. J. Taylor, Esq.

^^/J^^

CHAPTER XIX.
LETTER OF MRS. THORN.

Princeton, Ont., Feb. 12th, 1900.

My mother, Mrs. G. T. Hornor, wishes me to answer your
letter.

She knew Jan^-s IngersoU, the Registrar, and his brother,
Charles IngersoU, and one sister, Appy, who married William
Carroll. She also knew a Mrs. Whiting and her daughter,
Miss Sarah Whiting, from Long Point, or near there, relatives
of the Ingersolls, whom she met at Charles Ingersoll's.

You say, " any information in regard to your family will
be welcome."

I will copy rame extracts from the Oxford Gazetteer, by
T. S. Shenstone, the Registrar of Brant, published in 1852
where he speaks of my grandfather, Thomas Hornor, the first
Registrar of Oxford County.

"The late Thomas Hornor, the first white settler of the
County of Oxford, and for many years its representative, was
born March 17th, 1767, at Bordentown, New Jersey, then a
colony of Great Britain; was married in i8oi,byCol. Inger-
soU, ;.P., the father of our much-respected townsman, James
IngersoU, Esq., the Registrar of the County, and died in
Burford, August 4th, 1834, of cholera. He came to the County
of Oxford m company with his cousin, Thomas Watson, in
1793, before ever a surveyor's chain had jingled in its woods,
and probably they were the first white persons who ever trod its
soil. Mr. Hornor proceeded to Albany, N.Y., to purchase the

165

166

LETTER OF MRS. THORN.

if
P

materials and engage the mechanics to erect his saw-mill, the
first erected in the County of Oxford. He packed his goods in
two small, roughly-made boats, which he launched on the
River Hudson, near Albany, [ .jceeded up the Hudson to the
River Mohawk, and up the said river about loo miles, then
carried their goods and boats across ti- Norner Cre'^k, thence
down the Norner Creek to Lake Oneida, across the lai'e to the
Oswego River, thence into Lake Ontario ; along the southern
coast of that lake to the Burlington Bay Beach, drew their boats
through a small outlet of the bay, and then proceeded across
the bay and landed near where Sir Allan McNab's castle* now
stands. The boats were then made fast for future use, and the
goods drawn by oxen on roughly-made sledges to their destina-
tion in Blenheim. The mill was got up and in working order in
the latter part of 1795.

'* Mr. Hornor's principal reason for leaving the United States
was his great attachment to the British Crown.

" In the War of 181 2 several unsuccessful attempts had been
made by different parties to get the Grand River Indians to
join the expedition, then being formed by General Brock, to
attack Detroit. Col. Norton, the Indian agent, could only
muster nine men. Mr. Hornor, knowing his own influence with
the Indians, collected seventy-five Indian warriors and marched
to the scene of action, notwithstanding the American general,
Hull, hadjssued his proclamation refusing to give quarter to
any white man found fighting beside an Indian. After remain-
ing on the enemy's frontier for two or three weeks i f was
dismissed and sent home, or rather toward home, for !ie and
his men had only proceeded as far as Pike's Creek, on Lake St.
Clair, when he was summoned back in great haste by General
Proctor. This summons was instantly obeyed, and he and his
men returned to the frontier and remained there until discharged
a second time. The whole expense of this expedition was paid

* Dundurn, now Dundurn Park, Hamilton.

LETTER OF WILLIAM WOODRUFF. 1G7

lill, the
3ods in
on the
1 to the
!S, then
thence
e to the
outhern
;ir boats
i across
le'* now
and the
destina-
order in

;d States

ad been
idians to
rock, to
jld only
nee with
marched

general,
uarter to

remain-
1 f was
lie and

Lake St.

General
and his

scharged

was paid

for out of his own pocket, nor was he ever paid one penny of it
back. Again, in the following winter, when General Winchester
was advancing against Detroit to re-take it, Mr. Hornor
shouldered his musket, took his place in the ranks as a private,
and so remained until duly discharged."

Mother's father, Capt. Turner, from Bennington County,
Vermont, came into the country in 1823, and with two others
took the contract of surveying the townships of Zorra and
Nissouri, and settled a mile and a half west of where Woodstock
now is. Hoping I have not wearied you,

I am, yours truly,

(Sgd.) (Mrs.) Annis M. Thorn.

LETTER OF WILLIAM WOODRUFF, ESQ.

St. David's, July 29th, 1840.

Dear Sir, — As you may be in want of some historical
knowledge respecting the battle of Queenston Heights, etc.

On the morning of the T3th of October, 18 12, a little before
daylight, the American army commenced crossing the river.

Our forces consisted of the Grenadier and ^.ight Company
of the 49th Regiment (the whole before Gen. Brock arrived was
commanded by Capt. Dennis of the 49 Reg.). Two companies
of the York Flanks, two from the head of the lake, the two flank
companies of the ist Regiment L. M., also two from the Forty
Mile Creek, lay at Niagara. We were put under arms about
daylight.

I saw the late Gen. Brock start from the Government House
at Niagara, followed by his aide, the late Col. Macdonell. He
left orders that as soon as the troops and militia could be got
into line, to march to Queenston.

We left Niagara about sunrise, and arrived at Durham's

ICS

LETTER OE WILLIAM WOODRUEF.

soon after. We made a small halt, and then marched up the
hill to about where Mr. Stephens now lives ; but before we got
there we saw a small firing on the hill about the place where
the hustings are erected, when we were informed that, after the
death of Gen. Drock, the gallant Col. Macdonell had led up a
small force to oppose the Americans, where he received his
death wound. We then met our small force on retreat. Gen.
Sheaffe arrived about this time and assumed the command. We
then deployed through S. Vrooman's, Mr. Hamilton's and
Philip Middeau's fields, and gained thehills without any opposi-
tion through the fields where James Williams now lives. We
marched by old Mr. Chisholm's house,* and formed a line in
where are now Dr. Hamilton's fields, the Americans occupying
the point of the mountain with a front of about a quarter of a
mile, it being covered with brush and timber, we being wholly
without covering of any kind. We here waited eyeing each
other for about an hour, waiting for the two flank companies of
the 2nd Regiment Militia, and the Grenadier Company of the
41st Regiment. The former arrived.

We were then ordered to advance. Our little field-pieces
commenced firing. It was returned by the Americans, with a
6-pounder masked in the brush. A rapid advance was ordered,
without firing a musket-shot on our part, until a small distance
from the enemy under cover of the woods and underbrush. We
were then ordered to halt and fire, which was done. About
this time the company of the 41st joined us on the extreme
right.

We stood still but a short time, until, I supposed, we w':;re
ordered to advance with a double quick time. The musketry
made such a noise I heard no orders, but as others moved we
all followed. The object, I supposed, was to dislodge them
from their cover, and, if possible, take their field-piece, for
without knowing or seeing (for the smoke was dense) we, our

* The Chisholm house is at present occupied by Mr. Smealon.

LETTER OF WILLIAM WOODRUFF.

169

company, came smack against their field-piece, which, when we
advanced, I suppose they had abandoned.

The General and his aide, no doubt, as they ought to do,
had a position where all was clear to them, but as the wind blew
from the enemy we had their smoke and ours in our faces. To
be more brief, the Americans, not being under discipline,
would not be brought up again after they broke, but sought
concealment under the bank. Our regulars and militia forces
numbered about 8oo and perhaps from 80 to 100 Indians. I
must observe that the most severe and destructive part of the
engagement to our people was in the morning before and a
little after the death of Gen. Brock. The prisoners after the
engagement numbered about 900, exclusive of the dead and
wounded.

Sir, all this is from personal observation by myself. I may
err m some minutia;, but it is correct in the main features.

I iiave written a great deal without conveying much intelli-
gence.

Yours,

(Sgd.) W. Woodruff.

David Thorburn,

Queenston.

ton.

170

LETTER OF MA'S JENOWAY.

LETTER OF MRS. J E NO WAY.

The remains of earthworks in the rear and west of Brock's
Monument, on Queenston Heights, has occasioned many sur-
mises as by whom anu for what purpose they were constructed.
The following letter given to Hon. J. G. Currie by Mrs.
Saxon, wife of the late Frederic Saxon, Esq., written by his
aunt, Mrs. Jenoway, has been accepted l)y the Niagara Falls
Park Commission, and placed on record as a satisfactory ex-
planation as to the cause and time of their construction :

Hope Cottage, Fort George,

4th September, 1814.
Miss Jenoway —

To the care of R. O. Middleton, Esq.,
Cowper Street, Salford,

Manchester, England.

My Dear Sister, — It is with great pleasure I write these
few lines to you to tell you of our good fortune so far, and I
hope and trust in the Almighty for its continuance. It is now
about five months since your brother was made Assistant
Engineer at this place, and am glad to say his emoluments are
very great, and so are his exertions. I only fear he will be ill
with his great assiduity. We are living in a cottage of his own
building. I assure you I am quite delighted with it, but am
greatly afraid of our good fortune not lasting long, as it seems
to me to be too good to remain any length of time. We have
a fine horse and carriage of the country, which just holds our
family and a little baggage. I have now been with my dear
husband three months, which is the longest period we have
lived together since we came to Canada. After I left Mrs.
Robinson's family at Kingston, which was on the eleventh of
December, Mr. Jenoway having got leave of absence for three
weeks to take us up to York, where I remained at a boarding

f "r

•'■'V>\;"^'

:^v.• "■■. " ■ •■• V-

:c v.;,;;,o ,;n

:'>',.

■.:A.tH

KORT MISSISSAL'CA, IcS,S8.

1;-

I- I

LETTER OF MRS. J ENOW AY,

171

school. I had one room and boarded with the family, and paid
at the rate of a hundred a year. I stopped there until the sixth
of June, when I left to join my husband, who was at Queenston,
having been ordered from Fort George to erect the fortifications
there. I had only been a fortnight there when five thousand of
the Yankees landed above Fort Erie. Mr. Jenoway was left to
command Queenston and the fortifications he had constructed,
but unfortunately our army had to retire after a hard battle,
with only fifteen hundred of the British to oppose so many of
the enemy. Consequently your brother had to blow up the
batteries and make the best of his way to Fort George with
his men and guns. Previous to that, about eleven o'clock in
the night, I was obliged to make my retreat with the children.
When we had got four miles from Queenston, six Indians
rushed out of the bush and asked me for my money. The ser-
vant was so frightened he durst not speak to them, but I had
courage enough to make them understand I was an officer's
lady, when they immediately went away. You may easily
suppose what a tremor I was in. As we went towards the
Twelve, before we got within six miles of it, our servant upset
us. Fortunately we had no limbs broken, only much bruised.
We were near a Mr. Thompson's, where we staid three weeks,
with the Yankees within four miles of us and came a few times
within a mile and a half of us. After the Americans had retired
to St. David's and Queenston, my dear husband fetched me to
Fort George, made the family a present of twenty-five dollars
and drove off. My poor little Richard and his brother is, and
has been for several weeks past, extremely ill ot che ague and
lake fever. 'Tis a second attack of it this time. It is nearly as
bad here for that disease as in Walcherine, only not so
dangerous. Hannah is well and grows a fine girl, but very
backward in her talking. Your brother has pretty good health
at present, but is almost hurried off his legs. I assure you that
he is so very much employed that I have little of his company,
as he has the entire command of the Engineer Department at

172

LETTER OF MRS. J ENOW AY.

Fort Mississauga and Fort George. The former is a large new
fort, which he had the direction of at the commencement, and
considered the largest and most important of any in Upper
Canada. Not doubting you will participate in our good fortune,
we hope the accompanying order on my brother will be accept-
able.

(The remainder of the letter is family matters.)

Believe me, your affectionate sister,

Harriet Jenoway,

Address to us-

-R. O. Jenoway,

Assistant Engineer,

Fort George or elsewhere.

Upper Canada, America.

CHAPTER XX.
PAST AND PRESENT NAMES OF PLACES.

In the early period of discovery, from the Gulf of
St. Lawrence to the head of Lake Superior was
called on the ancient maps the St. Lawrence.

Governor Haldimand had first named the district
Nassau. Governor Simcoe changed the name to
Niagara. He also named the ridge of land from
Queenston to Burlington Mount Dorchester, the
highest point being at Grimsby.

In looking over letters and documents it is found
that some places have changed their names more
than once.

Past Name.
Fort Conty ....
Fort Denonville

West Niagara

Onghiara

Butlersburg

Newark (by Governor Simcoe, New

Ark Refuge)

Niagara-on-the-Lake - - . .

173

Present Name.
I Fort Niagara, N.Y.

- Niagara.

174

PAST NAMES OF PLACES.

Past Name.
Niagara Falls, Ontario, included the
present Niagara Falls Park, to-
gether with the islands, bridge-
water Mills, and w''-^^ was formerly
Clifton - - - -

Lundy's Lane - - - -

Drummondville

Drummond Hill

Elgin

Suspension Bridge - - - -

Clifton

Street's Grove, sometimes Street's
Creek, west of Chippewa, on the
Chippewa Creek - - - -

Short Hills comprised what is now - J

Fort Riall, so named after General 1
Riall /

Lawrenceville . . . -
Four Mile Creek

Present Name.
Niagara Falls.

Niagara Falls South.

Niagara Falls.

}

Ten Mile Creek and Upper Ten Mile ")
Creek - j

Twelve Mile Creek - - - - )^
Shipman's Corners - - - - j

Suspension Bridge, N.Y., and Man- )
Chester are included in - - - (

Twenty Mile Creek - - - -

Forty Mile Creek . . . .

Ball's Mills

Merrittville

Crookston

Four Mile Creek Mills
Davidsville - . . .
St. David's Town

Pelham, Font Hill and
St. John's.

Fort Mississauga.

Virgil.

Homer.

St. Catharines.

Niagara Falls, N.Y.

Jordan.

Grimsby.

Glen Elgin.

Welland.

Chautauqua, Niagara.

St. David's.

outh.

inland

ga.

N.Y.

l!kII)(;i:\VATKR MILL, 1893.
In (^iK'L'ii \'ict()iia Ni;ii;aia Falls Park,

Niagara.

i '-■

CHAPTER XXI.

AN OLD LEDGER.

In the endeavor to bring back the past, there is
often great disappointment in questioning aged peo-
ple. We have been told that early impressions are
indelible, but when an attempt is made to particu-
larize facts and dates, we seem to come upon the
impossible. If we ask for old letters, there are but
few ; for diaries or records, there are none. It is
only fading memories, seldom recalled, that can be
gathered, and tangled threads which we vainly try to
straighten.

In an old ledger, happily saved from destruction,
and kindly lent by a friend. Dr. John A. Carroll, of
St. Catharines, there are some good reasons for the
silence and obscurity of the past. Everything was
against the preservation of private or public docu-
ments. The price of paper and ink, the high rate
of postage, the imperfect ways of communication,
the length of time, and last, but not least, the imper-
fect education of our forefathers, are a few of the
obstacles. Many men could scarcely sign their names.
They did not spell correctly. Very few women could
write; it was not thought necessary. If a woman

175

LEAF FROM AN OLD LEDGER.

l^^^^c^^^

i
it

f^\^,^','^^^ — — '^'

'^^Aji ^^<*>*iC. —

/.'^

J>/

/*♦*«</

^le^/ U^^-^^X - , _ ^ _

/y-

... tf/^'O-/^ f/.

•.//

/V /

. /

er/y

^^,

/ 6

z
/

'/f

AN OLD LEDGER.

177

6 //

could muster courage to make her mark on some
extraordinary occasion, this was considered enough.
If the pioneer Hfe was hard for the man, it was still
harder for the woman.

The ledger of which we write, and from which
selections will be made, was the property of Mr.
Thomas Dickson, a merchant in Queenston. Queen-
ston at that time might be considered the commercial
centre of what is now the Province of Ontario. From
Queenston were sent the supplies needed in the re-
motest settlements. These settlements had no names.
The currency of that time was not in dollars and
cents. One shilling would be 20 cents of the present
time, 20 shillings £\, and 5 shillings $1.00. It is
quite necessary this should be remembered as you
read the prices of ninety-four years ago. The ledger
was from 1806, through 1807 ^^^cl 1808 and part of
1809. The names are mostly of German ancestry^
a few French, some English and Scotch, and not
many Irish.

Paper, 3/ to 4/6 per quire, j Bible, 12/; Testament, 5/

Sealing wax, 2/6 per stick, j Spelling-Book, 2/6

Almanacs, 1/2, Dutch 2/ j 25 Quills, 4/ ; by bunch, 5/

Lottery ticket, 3/4 j Postage, from 1/6 to 4/

Primer, i/, Pasteboard, 1/3 per sheet.

Postage was very high, anywhere from 2/ to 4/, and
on foreign correspondence still higher. Whenever it
could be done, letters were sent by private hands to
save the expense.

178

AN OLD LEDGER.

The necessities of life were very expensive ; luxur-
ies were not much indulged in. Here are some of
the prices :

Muscovado Sugar, 2/4 per lb.

Loaf Sugar,

Maple Sugar,

Coffee,

Chocolate,

Pepper,

Snuff,

Indigo,

Yz cwt. Flour,

Eggs,

Ham,

3/6

1/
4/
4/
5/
4/
3/ per oz.

13/
1/3 per doz.

1/3 per lb.

Hyson Tea, 8/ to 10/ per lb.

Bohea Tea, 5/ "
Salt, 12/ per bushel, ^2 perbbl.

Tobacco, 3/ to 6/ per lb.

Candles, i8d. "

Starch, 2/6 "

Ginger, 4/ "

Allspice, 5/ *'

Nutmegs, i/6apiece.

Potatoes, 3/ per bushel.

Vinegar, 2/6 per quart.

Articles Worn.

Printed calico, 5/6 per yd.
Flannel, 5/6

Striped cotton, 8/6 "
Needles, i /per paper.

(Generally sold by the ^ doz.)
Stockings, 9/ per pair.

Man's fine hat, £■}> 12s. 6d.
Bandana handkerch*fs,9/toi3/
Set knitting needles, 1/

Thread, 6d. per spool.

Ball and skein thread most

commonly used.
Sewing silk, 1/ per skein.

Brown Holland, 4/6 per yd.
Morocco slippers, 10/ per pair.
Cotton, 3/ per yd.

White vest, ^i 4s.

Muslin, 10/ per yd.

Cotton handkerchiefs, 3/ to 4/ apiece.

Articles for domestic use.
Copper tea kettle, ;
Iron pot,
Frying pan,
Shears,
Cow-bells,
Spade,
Skates,
Brass candlesticks, per pair, 16/

i8s.

Tin canister.

7/6

Brass tacks.

1/6 per 100

18/

Pudding dish,

3/6

Whip-lash,

8/6

Pins,

3/ per paper.

12/

Comb,

16/

AN OLD LEDGER.

179

luxur-
5ome of

3/ per lb.

5/ "
2 per bbl.

6/ per lb.

8d. "

2/6 »
4/ "

5/ "
i/6apiece.

)er bushel.

per quart.

per spool,
-ead most

per skein.
4/6 per yd.
o/ per pair,
3/ per yd.
^i 4s.
o/ per yd.

3/
i/6 per loo

4/
3/
5/ per paper.

Building materials and tools were very expensive.

Nails,
Gimlet,
White lead,
Glass, 7x9,
Brick,

Locket,
Breast pin,
SnufF box.
Watch key,
Watch,
Tobacco,

2/ per lb.

Qd.

3/ per lb.

1/ per pane.

6/2 per 100

Luxuries
£1 6s.
6s.
3s.
3s.

£^ I2S.

3/ to 6/ per lb.

Lock,
Hammer,
Screws,
Door latch.
Chamber lock,

9/
4/
2%d. each.

4/
16/

Ladies' twist a specialty.

Digging grave, 6/

Making a cupboard, £1

Folding bedstead, 16/

Cradle, 8/

What they drank.
Rum, 14/ per gal., 3/6 per qt.
Whiskey, 2/ per qt.

Brandy, 16/ per gal.

Barrel of cider, £2

Spirits, 16/ per gallon.

Wine, 18/ *« «'

Port Wine, 18/ " "
Teneriffe Wine.
Madeira.
Beer, per keg, 16/

Sword, sash and belt, £^ 4s.
Proportion foradance, ;^i 6s.
Wine glasses, 3/ apiece.

Windsor soap, 1/6 a cake.

Pair of boots, ^3 4s.

Silk handkerchief, 13/

Useful Articles.
Wash tub,
Iron kettles.
Brass kettles.
Pewter teapot,
Mouse trap.
Tumblers,
Sad iron.
Gun powder.
Japanned pitcher.

Turpentine,
Chairs,

12/
from £iio £/^
£2
16/

6/
1/6 apiece.

6/
6/ per lb.

£1

3/ per pint.
12/ apiece.

180

AN OLD LEDGER.

Medicines.
Glauber salts.
Turlington.
Sulphur — Brimstone.

For horse-shoeing, repairiiifr of furniture, freight
transportation from Detroit to Montreal, and to every
hamlet, pork, beef, flour, everything marketable, were
taken in exchange.

'The stores had in stock everything needed for
domestic use. Much of the trade was in exchange
for articles raised, or of home manufacture. ' 'here
are charges for making men's best suits of expensive
material and those for common use. As Queenston
had other stores, there were supplies for all kinds of
vessels, from His Majesty's warships to the fisher-
man's bark and the Indian's canoe. One can readily
see what were the necessities and what the luxuries
of that time. There was gilt-edged china, cut glass
and all grades of cutlery. There were medicines and
drugs. Brimstone was always necessary, as also pills
and ointments. The women were not forgotten, for
frequently we see untrimmed bonnets, ribbons, etc.,
and occasionally thread-lace and velvet. Furniture
also, for common chairs were 12/ apiece. There was
probably a coopershop, for barrels were in great
demand. A blacksmith shop also in connection, as
there are charges frequently made for work of this
kind. The only difference between the general store
of a hundred years since and the departmental store

AN OLD LEDGER.

181

•eight
every
, were

;d for
hange
' 'here
tensive
enston
inds of
fisher-
cad ily
ixuries
t glass
les and
so pills
:en, for
s, etc.,
Irnitiire
re was
great
tion, as
iof this
il store
il store

of the present is, that the wants of that age were less,
and there were no bargain days !

Value of currency used one hundred years ago:

York currency, $2.50 to the £.

Eight York shillings, I2>^ cents, $1.00.

Halifax currency, $4.00 to the £.

Five shillings at 20 cents to the $1.00.

The military accounts were kept in sterling money.

Guineas, 21 shillings.

Twenty shillings sterling ^i.

The money in circulation was English and Spanish
gold, Spanish silver dollars and quarters, York shill-
ings and sixpences, copper pennies, half-pennies and
farthings.

Mr. Morris, an old resident of Beamsville, long
since dead, gave the following anecdote of the War
of 1 81 2. He had served as a volunteer and had fur-
nished supplies for the troops. At the end of the war
he came to Queen^:ton to receive his pay. He was
paid in Spanish silver, which he put in canvas bags
and started to walk to Beamsville. Before long the
bags became very heavy. They were shifted from
one pocket to another in the vain effort to make them
balance. The money was at last taken from the
bags, and divided in the best manner possible. " It
was the first and only time in my life that I ever had
too much money."

CHAPTER XXII.

MRS. GPOVER, OF SEATON HALL, COLBORNE.

A FRIEND has placed in my hands certain " Recol-
lections " of the school experiences and daily life of
Mrs. Grover, of Colborne. The selections from them
form a connecting link between the period when the
settler had overcome the difficulties of the first settle-
ment and the invasion of 1812. It shows how the
women of Canada were educated after the war, and
what was thought necessary for a finished education.
Mrs. Grover's ancestry was from families who were
most prominent in revolutionary times, and is an
addition to the honored names of the U. E. Loyalists
These /ecollections were written for her grandchildren
when she was between seventy and eighty years ot
age.

Mrs. '"rover is the granddaughter of Matthew
Goslee and Ann Schuyler mentioned in the following
pages.

No name stands higher in New York annals than
that of her uncle, General Philip Schuyler, the brave
soldier and courteous gentleman, of kindly heart to
friend and foe, the wise counsellor and the right

182

MRS. GROVER, 0I< COLBORNE.

183

hand of Washington ; the two united by a friendship
commencing before the Revolutionary War and end-
ing onh- with th^ir lives. Such is the brief record of
his noble life.

It will, no doubt, be a matter of surprise to find
that a woman who had suffered so cruelly in every
way as did Ann Schuyler, should choose for a hus-
band a Loyalist, and, turning away from all that was
pleasant in the life of those days, resolve to share his
lot in the Canadian wilderness.

Mrs. Grover's recollections commence with the
following obituaries. The precise dates are not
given :

In the Colborne Express, of 1850, appeared the
following obituary :

"On Monday, the 21st instant, 1850, in the village of Col-
borne, at the residence of her son, Ann Schuyler, relict of the
late Matthew Goslee, and mother of J. D. Goslee, Esq., in the
88th year of her age.

" Mrs. Goslee was a niece of General Schuyler, of Revolu-
tionary fame. She was born in Albany, and spent the early
part of her life in the United States. She accompanied her
husband at the end of the Revolutionary War, in 1783, to
Canada, with other Loyalists. They left their home and their
all from pure attachment to their sovereign, and suffered all
the privations consequent upon settling in a new country. Mr.
Goslee died in 1830, since which period the deceased lived
with her son (her only child). She retained full possession of
her faculties till the last hour of her life."

Other obituaries follow, the dates not given :

" Elizabeth Hamilton, cousin of Mrs. Goslee, and wife ot
Alexander Hamilton, died in Washington on Thursday. The

184

MRS. GROVER, OF COLBORNE.

remains were brought to New York City, and the funeral ser-
vices took place in Trinity Church to-day at i o'clock. Mrs.
Hamilton was the eldest daughter of General Philip Schuyler,
born at the old family mansion, Albany ; married to Hamilton
in that city, December, 1780. At the time of her marriage
Hamilton was aide to Washington, with the rank of lieut.-
colonelj and had just completed his twenty-fourth year. Mrs.
Hamilton survived her husband over fifty years. Both she
and her sister Catharine were cousins of Mrs. Goslee, whose
obituary we publish to-day."

Mrs. Grover copies from an old register the follow-
ing marriages, celebrated in 1780 :

" Married in Albany, Elizabeth Schuyler, eldest daughter of
General Schuyler, to the gallant Hamilton,* aide to General
Washington, with the battle guns of the Revolution firing a
salute, and Liberty Bell ringing a merry peal."

Again, two years later :

" The marriage of Ann, niece to General Schuyler, at the
old Manor House in Albany, to Matthew Goslee, a soldier of
the Revolution, took place on the nth day of August, 1782."

" Catharine, the second daughter of General Schuyler,
married Colonel Cochran, and settled in Oswego. She visited
Mrs. Goslee, and at her death the funeral sermon was printed
and sent to Mrs. Grover's mother."

" Mrs. Hamilton lived to be ninety-six years old. They had
no children. Their graves are in Trinity church-yard, New
York. Mrs. Goslee's mother died when she was quite young.
Her father and only brother were killed at the same time,
fighting on the Revolutionary side. General Washington,
before those troublous times, had been god-father to her cousins,
EHzabeth and Catharine Schuyler, and herself."

*Alexander Hamilton, killed in a duel with Aaron Burr, Vice-Presi-
dent of the United States, July nth, 1804.

MRS. GROVER, OF COLBORNE.

185

There are many anecdotes connected with these
" recollections." One that Hamilton and Aaron Burr
came together to General Schuyler's, and were given
a cup of coffee by the sisters, Hamilton saying, as
he took the cup, " May the Lord preserve you." In an
old letter of Kate Schuyler's she says, " I have cut
Aaron Burr, never to speak to him again."

An anecdote of Washington and General Wayne
is given, very characteristic of both. Washington
asked General Wayne if he could storm Stony Point
and take it from Clinton, who had strongly fortified it.
" I will storm hell if you will plan it. General," was
the reply. " Try Stony Point first," said Washington,
solemnly. Wayne did, and took it on the evening
of July i6th, 1779.

Mrs. Grover gives a selection from an old song,
popular in 1776, evidently written to show the Mother
Country how well the colonists lived :

" On turkeys, fowls and fishes
Most frequently they dine ;
With gold and silver dishes
Their tables always shine.

" Wine sparkles in their glasses,
They spend the time away
In merriment and dances
In North America."

Mrs. Grover describes the scene where her errand-
mother, seated on the fence under a cherry tre^'e saw
her father and brother, with a company of volunteers

186

MRS. GROVER, OF COLBORNE.

march to their last battle, and heard her brother's
parting words, " Look out you don't fall, Sis ! "
Through the afternoon, from this position, she listened
to the boom of the cannon, and saw their defeat.
She then ordered a colored man, their slave, to saddle
two horses and secrete them, until needed, in a hickory
grove near by. Her friends were rushing past, telling
every one to save themselves, for the British were
■ 'ctorious and were burning their homes and driving off
*' 'jir cattle. They saw the burning barns and knew
their homes would soon follow. Her father's last
letter had told that her uncle, General Schuyler, was
stationed in the Jersey woods. With her attendant
she rode night and day to put herself under his pro-
tecting care. While passing through a wood on the
second day they saw tents in the distance, and hur-
ried on till stopped by a sentinel with the command,
" Dismount." The girl was suspected of being a spy.
She stood on the ground and began to tell her pitiful
story, while the slave was trying to disengage an
enormous horse-pistol from his garments. Just at
that time a young officer came riding up, and she
noticed that his red coat showed one sleeve gone, and
the place supplied by a blood-stained bandage. She
knew at once that she was in the enemy's camp, with
the evidences of battle surrounding her. She was
weak and faint for want of food, and wearied with her
long ride. The officer sent for food and wine, and
told the colored man to put up his pistol, " for the
young lady will come to no harm. Is she your mis-

MRS. GROVER, OF COLBORNE.

187

rother's

SI ))
IS !

listened

defeat.

o saddle

hickory

t, telling

ish were

riving off

nd knew

ler's last

yler, was

ittendant

r his pro-

od on the

and hur-

;ommand,

ing a spy.

her pitiful

ngage an

Just at

, and she

gone, and

age. She

:amp, with

She was

d with her

wine, and

I, *' for the

; your mis-

tress, and who i he? " he asked. " Yes, massa ; she
is my mistress, IViiss Annie Schuyler. The Britishers
have killed my massa and Mr. Philip, then burn us
up, and we run away to find my missus' uncle. We
thought he was in these woods ; guess we're mis-
taken." " My God ! " exclaimed the officer, " a niece
of General Schuyler in this wood with no protection
but this slave ! " He begged her to take the food.
When she had done so he assisted her to remount
her horse, and, leading the way, gave the necessary
directions, following which, a few hours after, she
found herself with her uncle at his headquarters.
From there she was sent to the old Schuvler mansion
near Albany, and remained with her cousins until her
marriage, which was from his house and with his
approval. It was there she again met the officer who
had shown her such considerate kindness in those
hours of bereavement, defeat and danger.

Scarlet riding-habits were the fashion of that time.
The one worn on that memorable day was afterwards
made into a cloak with a chapeau, long used during
her Canadian life, and the saddle is now in Mrs.
Grover's possession. Matthew Goslee was the name
of this brave man, who afterwards became her hus-
band. His family lived in Maryland, and six brothers
served in the Continental Army. He served under
Cornwallis, and was in the 33rd Foot, participating in
many battles of the Revolution. He was with Corn-
wallis in his unfortunate campaign, and was amc ig
those who gave up their swords at the surrender of

188

MRS. GROVE R, OF COLBORNE.

Yorktovvn, October nth, 1781. He ever referred to
this as the most unhappy day of his life.

Mr. Goslee owned a plantation and fifty slaves.
These were confiscated at the close of the war. The
plantation was bought in by his brothers and offered
to be restored if he would return and live there. He
chose, however, the life of the Loyalists along with
his faithful wife, Ann Schuyler.

Mr. Goslee settled near Colborne, and had 1,000
acres of land. The log-house was built among the
pines to protect it from the heat of summer and the
cold of winter. They lived the old story of the
settler's life in its earliest days ; the log-house with
its immense fire-place and the large logs piled upon
each other. Here the Indians, hungry and almost
naked, slept before the fire. In Matthew Goslee's
house they ever found help and shelter.

The only son and child of Matthew Goslee married
at twenty-one the daughter of a U. E. Loyalist, and
settled beside the old homestead, only a stream
dividing them. They had three daughters and one
son. One of the daughters was Mrs. Grover. She
was born and lived for many years in her grand-
father's house, and was ever asking from both her
grandparents " stories about the war." They will not
be given here, as they are familiar to the readers of
American history, and corroborative of what has
been so often told. She tells of her dress of striped
linen, spun and woven by her mother, the stripe

MRS. GROVER, OF COLBORNE.

189

rred to

slaves.
•. The
offered
•e. He
ig with

d i,ooo
Dng the
and the
of the
ise with
ed upon
I almost
IGoslee's

married
list, and

stream
and one
2r. She
• grand-
)oth her
will not
;aders of
hat has

striped
le stripe

brown, colored from the bark of the butternut tree.
" Grandfather made me shoes from cloth."

The main road ran past her grandfather's house,
with the " forest primeval " on each side. In summer
they went in an ox-cart when not on horseback ; in
winter with a sleigh. Mrs. Grover's school life com-
menced with her grandfather taking her to the school,
which was a log building and kept by a young man
whose name was Daniel Cummings, a member of the
Bcptist Church. Mr. Goslee would put the child on
horseback, hang her lunch basket on the horn of the
saddle, and lead the horse to the school, coming for
her at four o'clock. There she learned her A B C's,
but " never mastered the multiplication table ! " She
was sent to an American boarding-school when
twelve years old, much against her grandfather's
wishes, where she stayed a year without coming
home. At that school Harriet Beecher, afterwards
the celebrated Mrs. Stowe, graduated the same year.
Many Canadians were there. She gives some of her
studies — geography, history, rhetoric, philosophy,
mythology. With the others she made a drawing of
the map of the world, which pleased her father very
much. She made a drawing, also, of a mourning piece
with a large tombstone and a lady standing under
a weeping willow. While absent the beloved grand-
father died. He could never be prevailed upon to
visit the United States. On her return home she
came partly by the stage coach and the Erie Canal to

190

MRS. GROVE R, OF COLBORNE.

Rochester, and then crossed the lake to Presqu' Isle,
where she was met by her father and taken home.

The following year the young student was taken
to York (now Toronto) to the school of the Misses
Purcell and Rose. This was in May, 183 1, her father
giving her a ring engraved with her initials and $25
for spending money during the term. The school
was under the patronage of Lady Colborne, whose
husband was Governor at that time. She gives the
names of the teachers, and the persons attending the
school, who were the daughters of the leading people
in Ontario. " Miss Purcell was like a mother to us,
and the school life was happiness and perfection."
She tells of an invitation from Lady Colborne for the
school to attend a bazaar, and for which a holiday
was given.

" On the day appointed we marched down the street, two
teachers in front, two behind, and the boarders two by two
between them. The soldiers of the 71st Highlanders lined the
corridors and room where the bazaar was held, and their band
gave such heavenly music. I was fifteen then, and had never
seen soldiers dressed in this manner, and I felt my face redden
as I saw the bare knees. Their bearskin caps, too, surprised
me. The tables were beautiful. Lady Colborne was at one,
and her sister, Miss Young, at another. The young ladies at
the dififerent tables wore white dresses, and small black silk
aprons with pockets. Sir John was present, walking up and
down the hall and leading his little daughter by the hand. I
knew he had been at Waterloo, and I thought of Washington,
Cornwallis, and the people I had heard grandfather talk about."

Our narrator met at (.♦■her times two ladies in deep
mourning, one a Miss Shaw, the fiancee of General

MRS. GROVE R, OF COLBORNE.

191

[u' Isle,
)me.
s taken
Misses
r father
md $25

: school

, whose
ives the
ding the
\ people
er to us,
faction."
2 for the
holiday

treet, two
'o by two
lined the
heir band
lad never
ce redden
surprised
IS at one,
ladies at
Dlack silk
g up and
hand. I
shington,
k about."

in deep
General

Brock, who wore black to the day of her death, and a
Miss Givens, " who was engaged to a son of Sir
Peregrine Maitland by his first wife. This gentleman
went to England for his health, and died on the
return trip. Miss Givens lived to be ninety-one years
of age, faithful to the love of her youth. I never
forgot that beautiful day in June, and can see it still."

Mrs. Grover's house in Colborne, in after years, was
named, in memory of those pleasant days, " Seaton
Hall," Sir John Colborne having become Lord
Seaton.

The recollections do not say what was studied in
the Toronto School, but there were " pencil drawings,
wonderful embroideries, with shaded silks to imitate
engravings, and still more wonderful samplers."
They had a French dancing-master, but the waltz
and the polka were unheard of After her return
home at Christmas time there were private theatri-
cals, her brother figuring as David, and a very tall
serving man as Goliath. They had an ancient piano,
and her brother had a guitar for serenades.

Mrs. Grover tells of a trip to New York with her
father and mother, driving from her home to Brigh-
ton, taking tea at Preiqu' Isle, and leaving there by
steamer for Charlotte, the port for Rochester, United
States. They stayed there two days, visiting places
around the city. From there they went by the Erie
Canal to Albany. The boat was drawn by three
horses abreast, and they thought it a most delightful
way of travelling.

192

MRS. GROVER, OF COLBORNE.

** Twenty miles this side of Albany we saw the first railroad
and enjoyed the change ; then on a floating palace from
Albany to New York. . , . New York City was a wonder
to us. I supplied myself with everything new. Father took
us to the Park Theatre. We heard Tyrone Power, who was
afterwards lost on the ill-fated President. Father hired a
private carriage and we drove about the city, Brooklyn and
various places on Long Island Sound. We were in New York
six weeks, and greatly admired the character of the people.
While in New York we were present at the farewell of Fanny
Kemble to the stage, and were fortunate in having good seats.
The play was ' The Wife,' and the Opera House and all other
places of amusement were closed, as every one wished to hear
the talented actress for the last time. The house was full, and
she acquitted herself worthy of her fame before the assembly
of beauty and fashion. The excitement of feeling was of the
most intense nature. Smiles, tears, wit, applause congregated
there to give a dazzling effect to the whole. Many who had
never entered a theatre before flocked to hear the great Kemble
and his daughter as she took her farewell. At the end they
came forward, and Mr. Kemble said, ' We bid you farewell,'
amid the waving of handkerchiefs, fans, play bills, etc. After
our return father sold his land and moved into Colborne. My
sister went to school in Montreal, my brother to college. My
father bought a horse for me, and I ever used the Revolu-
tionary saddle."

Well might Mrs. Grover say :

"Those lives were noble in their missions, strong in their
fortitude, sublime in their patience, and tenderly humane in
unselfishness and neighborliness. Often my grandmother,
after her own duties for the day were ended, would carry a
pine torch and wave it to protect herself from wild animals
while going through the woods to a neighbor whom sickness or
death had visited. It may be these are better times, but the
more we catch the spirit of those days the nearer we shall be to
nature's God.*'

t railroad
ace from
a wonder
ther took

who was
• hired a
iklyn and
slew York
B people,
of Fanny
)od seats.
[ all other
;d to hear
I full, and
assembly
'as of the
igregated

who had
t Kemble
end they
farewell,'
c. After
-ne. My
;ge. My

Revolu-

j in their
amane in
dmother,
1 carry a
animals
:kness or
s, but the
lall be to

CHAPTER XXIII.

CONCLUSION.

It has been the aim „f the writer in these Reminis-
cences to recall the hi^jh character of the mothers of
th.s Domm,on. They were indeed worthy helpmeets
of the men who levelled the forests and cleared the
broad acres of their new home. With unwearied
pat.ence these women shared their varied toils ■ with
qu.e, fortitude endured the separation from kindred
and the homes oftheir youth to bear with them the
lardsh.ps and the isolation of the settler's life with a
oyalty and courage always rising to meet whatever
the occasion and duty demanded

There is no place that is not rich in local history.
It IS the duty of those who live among the men and
women who made it, to gather their story and pre-
serve the,r traditions before they are lost forever that
the names of these worthy pioneers shall not be for
gotten and their services to the country remain un-
appreciated. .A great statesman said, that "people
who never look back to their ancestors will Z look
forward to posterity," and it is good advice for the
past and the present. Strangers visiting amon,. us
have noticed this forgetfulness.
^^ 193

194

CONCLUSION.

Mrs. Jamieson, the wife of an early vice-chancellor,
came to Canada late in the year 1836. She had two
objects in view — to see Niagara Falls, and to study for
herself the characteristics of our Indian tribes. She
did both. It was her privilege to meet the Indians
under conditions seldom offered to anyone. She staid
amon^ them and saw the better side of the best men
and best women of their race. She bears witness to
the disabilities under which the Indian lived — the
vain effort to escape the temptations set for him at
every step, by the pernicious example of the white
man, and victimized by the covetousness which robbed
him of his lands for the most meagre compensation.
Her keen observation saw other things, for she com-
mented upon the political life and the mistakes of
that stormy period. More than these, she saw with
honest indignation the position of Canadian women,
and with what silent fortitude they bore their lot.

Mrs. Moodie and Mrs. Traill came to Canada in
1832. The remainder of their lives were spent in this
Province. They have given to the world their experi-
ences as settlers in " Roughing it in the Bush " and
" The Backwoods of Canada." They helped our
literature, and did much to make our country known
in the old land from which they came. They, too,
bear witness to the industry and kinaness of our
women. Let us not forget, as we recall the memories
of the dying past, the tribute due to the living present.
History is repeating itself before our ex'es. The
Doukhobortsi, now making homes for themselves and
their children on the prairies of the great North- West,

CONCLUSION.

195

may show the same gratitude t(j the friends who
brought them across the seas, as did the Huguenots
and the homeless sufferers of the Palatine. Their
women, who, yoked together, with relieving ranks,
turned the sod of the fertile prairies, arc also training
their sons and daughters to be our helpers and de-
fenders in the years to come.

On every hand women are working in the " strife
for truths which men believe not now." Thrf)Ugh
many difficulties and much opposition women can
now enter the open doors of the University and Col-
leges to that higher education which men and women
alike need. Both have a common interest in the great
questions of the day. An intelligent comprehension
of these questions is not above woman's capabilities,
nor are they un needing of her help. Women rise or
fall as thc)' understand the duties which the age
brings ujion them. While they choose their vocation
in life the\' should remember with gratitude the
patient years of study, the unobtrusive and undaunted
courage, with which Miss Martin has won this right
for herself and others.

The story of Laura Sccord is again presented to
the public with the hope that the time has arrived
when our people will unite to erect a monument
worthy of the courage and patriotism it will repre-
sent. But for Mrs. Curzon Miss Secord's name would
have only been a foot-note in history. In rescuing
her name from oblivion she gave an inspiration which
it is our duty to perpetuate.