IlUcntwortb Ibistoncal Socictv^
(3oce 2)istrict /Iftilitia
an^
ube /llbilitia of mest Wovh
au6
Mest Xincoln
within
the ^eiritor^ now
Mentwortb
t'oL. Thomas Tayi>()R.
The Gore District Militia of
1821-1824-1830 aqd
1838
The Militia of West York and
West Lincoln of 1804, with the Lists
of OtTicers
TOGETHER WITH
SOME HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
ON THE MILITIA WITHIN THE TERRITORY
AT PRESENT CONSTITUTING THE
COUNTY OF WENTWORTH, IN
THE YEARS NAMED.
By H. H« ROBERTSON
The Griffin & Kidner Co. Ltd.. Printers. Hamilton
J904
" By minute references I have endeavoured to authenticate whatever I
relate. * * * The historian, who records the events of his own time, is
credited in proportion to the opinion which the pubhc entertains with
respect to his means of information, and his veracity. He who deUne-
ates the transactions of a remote period, has no title to claim assent,
unless he produces evidence in proof of his assertions."
— Preface to Bobertfion's Hinfory of America ^ nS8).
CORRIGENDA.
Page 18, first line, read "descendant" for "descendent."
Page 22, eighteenth line, read ceremony "ai'e" for ceremony "is."
Page 36, third line from bottom, read " Renfrewshir-e " for " Perthshire.'
Page 43, fifth line from bottom, read "Mrs." Bailey for " Mr." Bailey.
Page 61, ninth line, read "England" for "Scotland."
WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Some Historical and Biographical /^otes on the Militia within
the limits now constituting the County of Wentworth,
in the years 1804, 1821, 1824, 1830, 1838 and 1839,
with the Lists of Officers.
The portraits which appear in the following ai-ticle have been furn-
ished as follows : That of Captain Roxburgh, by his daughter, Mrs. Wil-
liam Ambi-ose, of Hamilton — a painting in 1831 ; of Col. Thomas Taylor,
by his grandson, Mr. Hamilton MacCarthy, R. C. A., of Ottawa ; of Sir
George Leith and his son. Captain George Leith, by Mrs, Dick-Lauder, of
Ancaster— from paintings. The photographs of Col. Gourlay and of W.
M. Jarvis were taken in after life, and were lent bv Mrs, Gourlay and
^milius Jarvis, of Toronto, respectively. To Major J, E, O'Reilly, of Ham-
ilton, I am indebted for the photograph of his late father. Judge Miles
O'Reilly, and to Geoi"ge H. Bull, of Hamilton, for that of Captain XVilliam
Notman : to Mr. Justice Robertson for the photograph of his father, Alex-
ander Robertson, and I wish to return thanks also to Di\ James Bain,
Toronto Public Library, Mrs. Voltz, nee Wishart, of Buffalo, N. Y., Mis.
Stephen M. Jarvis, of Toronto, the Rev. Canon Bull, Col. Cruickshank of
Niagara Falls. H. J. Morgan, Ottawa, and Mr. J. H. Smith, for data.
DP.A.I?,T I.
X order that an oblivion of past transactions might rest
over Scotland, Edward I.— that "Hammer of the
Scottish Nation"— seized the public archives, ran-
~^^^£ji sacked the churches and monasteries, and destroyed
l^l^l many priceless documents. The investigator who
would record the history of the militia of this district must face
a difficulty akin to that of the Scottish historian. It affords
little satisfaction to be able to account for this by pointing to the
destruction of public buildings, wherein public documents were
stored, at Niagara, and at York, in 1813, to the system of per-
ambulating Parliaments later in our history, or the burning of
6 \VENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
our public buildings in Lord Elgin's time, as the cause. Besides
these misfortunes the investigator in Wentworth will learn that
there is a lamentable absence of records which belong to the office
of the Clerk of the Peace, in marked contrast to the careful pres-
ervation in the Eastern part of the Province. It is our duty to
preserve what evidences we have, in the trust that at some later
date, a more diligent search may be more productive. The
Loyalist Claims Commission which sat in Quebec, Montreal, and
points adjacent, in 1789, has preserved much of the history of the
first settlers, but those who had settled so far west as the head
of Lake Ontario could not attend their deliberations for reasons
which would have been sufficiently obvious to us, had we lived
under the hard conditions of those heroic pioneers. Their poster-
ity, therefore, mu3t lament that the prayer of their petition,
that the Claims Commission might sit at Niagara, was not heeded.
Fort Niagara, a British post covering five acres, had been a
City of Refuge for many loyalist families who had left prosperous
homes in tlie Mohawk valley, and elsewhere, during the revolu-
tion. The assurance contained in the treaty of peace (Article V.)
that Congress would urge the various states to the end that these
expatriated loyalists should have their estates restored to them,
we know was never acted upon, and although the western posts,
Detroit, Michilimackinac, Fort Erie, Niagara, Oswego, Oswegat-
chi. Point Au Fer and Dutchman's Point in Lake Champlain,
were held by Britain as security for the performance of this
among other conditions, the posts were given up after thirteen
years of fruitless waiting in 1796. (Can. Ar. Rep., 1891, xxxii.).
Ten thousand loyalists had come to Upper Canada when the
first Parliament at Newark met in 1792. These, with 2,000 other
settlers, and the Indians, constituted the entire population. Be-
sides a settlement of French families near Detroit, the settlements
consisted, in 1795, in a very considerable colony along the Nia-
gara River, a few farms on the creeks which run into Lake Ont-
ario from Niagara up to its northern point at Burlington Bay:
in an insignificent beginning of a settlement in Toronto, and at
Kingston, and extending along the banks of the River St Law-
rence to the boundaries of Lower Canada, the most populous of
all. (De Rochefaucault, 239.)
Col. Sir Ai.t.ax Xaimkh ^rAcN.vii.
WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY 7
To defend the infant colony by a well organized and efficient
militia, was one of the first considerations of Lieutenant-Governor
Simcoe. His sympathy and familiarity with the case of the
loyalists is well known to you. How he had been appointed to
the command of a Provincial corps known as the Queen's Rang-
ers, after the British victory at the Brandywine on the
loth of October, 1777, and how, after the surrender of Corn-
wallis, at Yorktown, with many of the Rangers on board the ship
"Bonetto," he returned to England, his corps being disband-
ed at the Peace of 1783 (Army List 1798: 573). Many of the
original officers in the Queen's Rangers, however, formed the
nucleus of another regiment of the same name, and accom-
panied their leader to Canada. Among these were William
Jarvis, the secretary; John McGill, late quartermaster and com-
missioner of public stores in L^pper Canada, and Lieutenant for
the County of York: Captain Shank; Allan ^MacNab, father of
Sir Allan; and "William Merrit.
As territorial limits are essential considerations in militia
matters, a brief retrospect of the history of the limits of the ter-
ritory now embraced in the County of Wentworth. is appropriate.
The Niagara Peninsula, in 1788, was a part of the District of
Nassau, which had for its eastern boundary the Trent River, and
for its western limit. Long Point in Lake Erie. Of a total militia
force in the Province at this time of 4,213, the District of Nassau
contributed 600 men. These, with the other disbanded loyalists,
are they to whom Sir Isaac Brock referred, in 1812, as having
settled Upper Canada, "a band of veterans exiled from their
former possessions on account of their loyalty," They belonged
to what has been styled "the heroic period of Upper Canadian
history. ' '
Simcoe, by his proclamation at Kingston, defined the limits
of the Counties- of York and Lincoln. And in dealing with the
names of districts and counties, we are mindful that the township
is our municipal unit, and as population increased, the grouping
of the townships only, was changed. The townships which at
the present time comprise the County of Wentworth, were, in
the time of Grovemor Simcoe, in the west riding of the County
of Lincoln, with the exception of the township of Flamborough,
8 WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCiHtV
which was a part of the west riding of the County of York, the
dividing line between Lincoln and (West) York being the Gov-
ernor's Road, the present boundary between the townships of
Ancaster to the south, and West Flamborough and Beverly to the
north, which latter township, however, was not surveyed until
1797, after Governor Simcoe's departure.
Counties were created for the purposes of militia, and repre-
sentation in the Legislature, and in 1793, to each county a Lieu-
tenant was assigned to appoint the officers of militia and the
jvistices of the peace. The Hon. Robert Hamilton had been ap-
pointed judge of the District of Nassau, and was the first County
Lieutenant for Lincoln. In 1804 Wm. Dickson was judge of Ni i-
gara District Court.
Two years before the arrival of Governor Simcoe, the Lmd
Board of Nassau had directed Augustus Jones— a captain in the
West Lincoln Regt. in 1804— to survey eight townships which
received numbers as designations. Numbers One and Two faced
the Niagara River, Three to Eight, inclusive, extending west
from its mouth to Burlington Heights. In 1793, the numbered
townships were named : Newark, Stamford, Grantham, Louth,
Clinton, Grimsby, Saltfleet and Barton in the order named. All
these were within the County of Lincoln until the creation of the
Gore District in 1816. In 1816 (the lands now constituting the
counties of Halton and Peel having been purchased from the
Indians) the County of Halton and the County of Wentworth
were created and together formed into the Gore District. Halton
comprised Beverly, Dumfries, Esquesing, Flamboro, East and
West, Nassagaweya and Trafalgar. Wentworth: Ancaster, Bar-
ton, Binbrook, Brantford, Glanford, Onondaga, Tuscarora and
Saltfleet. Some of the townships were later appropriated by the
younger Counties of Brant and Haldimand. But this is anticipat-
ing. Simcoe had hardly taken his seat when trouble began to
brew between the new republic of the United States and Great
Britain, then at war with France. The embargo on bread stuffs
consigned to ports of France, was forcibly illustrated in Lord
Howe's great naval victory on the first of June, 1794, and al-
though the ordinance was revoked as to the United States, the
latent hatred was revived and fanned to some purpose by the
WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY 9
French ^linister at Washington. A large party in the United
States was, therefore, in favor of joining France, "the nation
which had made them a nation," in her war against England.
In 1794 Governor Simeoe was directed to erect military posts on
the frontier at Miami, one of the retained posts in the State of
Ohio, as a precaution against the threatening attitude of Gen.
Wayne's army, then encamped where Cincinnati now stands,
making war against the Indians, but threatening the British post
of Detroit. Another post 'erected at this time, by Governor Sim-
eoe. was at the head of Lake Ontario, the site of which was last
year marked by the Weutworth Historical Society, and known as
the King's Head Inn, placed in the communication between Nia-
gara and London to the west.
In 1795 the population of the Province had grown to 30,000:
the most populous portion still continued in the Eastern district,
from Kingston to the interprovincial boundary. In 1796, a
traveller (Isaac Weld) who visited Niagara thus expresses him-
self :
"I think the two Canadas will never become connected with
the present States, because the people of these provinces and
those of the adjoining states, are not formed for a close intimacy
with each other.
"The bulk of the people of Upper Canada are refugees, who
were driven from the States by the persecution of the republican
party; and though the thirteen years which have passed over
have nearly extinguished every spark of resentment against the
Americans in the breasts of the people of England, yet this is by
no means the case in Upper Canada. It is common to hear, even
from the children of the refugees, the most gross invectives pour-
ed out against the people of the States; and the people of the
frontier states, in their turn, are as violent against the refugees
and their posterity: and, indeed, whilst Canada forms a part of
the British Empire, I am inclined, from what I have seen and
heard in travelling through the country, to think that this spirit
will not die away-"
It is not my purpose to discuss Canada's relationship with
the United States. A retrospect, however, brings to Canadians
no national reproach. If unneighborly feeling has existed, it has
not been the fault of Canada. The action of Congress in the War
of 1812 (sixteen years subsequent to the writing of the word?
10 WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
just quoted), the filibustering along our frontier in 1837, the
Maine boundary deception; the sudden repeal by the States of
the Reciprocity Treaty of 1854, "in a moment of temper," done
in retaliation for Canadian sympathy with the Southern States
in the Civil War; the covert permission of the Fenian Raid in
1866; in addition to a harsh alien labor law, form a chain of acts
which have materially helped to stimulate our self-reliance, in-
crease our commerce with other countries, and at the same time
to convince Canadians that a reciprocity treaty, subject to sudden
and whimsical revocation, is not essential to our prosperity.
That the true position for Canada, as the oldest of the British
self-governing states of the Empire, is to be the greatest in the
United States of Great Britain.
ENLISTING THE INDIANS.
Niagara was the gateway for the pioneer loyalists who set-
tled at the head of Lake Ontario. Some came to Niagara from
York, across the Lake, having come from New England or the
Province of New York by the Richelieu and St. Lawrence; but
the great majority of them were men of Butler's Rangers, who
had left their homes in the Mohawk Valley and Pennslyvania.
It has been the fashion for American writers, for over a century,
to malign Butler's Rangers. Frequently acting in conjunction
with the Indians of the Six Nations, they were condemned in this
employment first by the great Whig leaders, on the floor of the
British Parliament, condemnations perpetuated in English cari-
cature, in the Whig publications of Dodsley, and in the bitterest
revilings of their opponents. Adolphus' History of England
contained sweeping accusations against Brant and Butler, the
poet Campbell "embalmed in mellifluous verse," an historical
fiction in the story of the Massacre at Wyoming: while the
alleged massacre of Jane McRae, in the summer of 1777, is to be
found painted in vivid colors, in the old standard Ameri-
can histories, in every form of exaggeration and falsehood, cal-
culated to prejudice the mind. Later writers in the United
States, however, have demonstrated that the taking of Jane
McRae 's life was not the act of the British Indians, but was due
to the fire of the Revolutionary forces (a part of the garrison at
WEXTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY 11
Fort Edward under Captain Palmer) who accidentally shot her
while firing upon her escort of Indians.
This indignation, against the employment of the Indians,
perhaps in England, was honestly uttered : but if so, it was utter-
ed in ignorance that the responsibility for the first enlistment of
the Indians, rested with the revolted Colonists themselves. "We
must accept," says a modern American writer," the responsibil-
ity for the enlistment, before the Battle of Lexington, of the
Stockbridge Indians by the Provincial Congress of Massachus-
etts Bay" (A. M. Davis Winsor's Critical History of America,
Vol. VL). In May, 1775, Ethan Allen sent from Crown Point
to Caughnawaga, soliciting the Indians. "You know," he wrote,
"they" (the King's troops) "stand all along close together, rank
and file, and my men fight as Indians do, and I want you war-
riors to join me: if you will, I will give you money," etc. The
message was, however, taken to Sir Guy Carleton. And on the
8th of July, 1776. Congress (representing the whole of the United
Colonies) authorized the enlistment of the St. John, Penobscot
and Nova Scotia Indians in the Continental service. (Force's
1st series Am. Arc, vol. 1, 193.) Up to this time the Indians of
the Six Nations, swayed by the influence of Sir John Johnson,
Butler, Brant and Claus, had remained aloof.
Gentlemen of the Opposition, in the British Parliament,
may have been in ignorance of these facts, and it is easy to con-
ceive that the theme would form a welcome one for their elo-
quence in arraigning the Government on the war.
American newspaper writers, however, could not have
been in * ignorance of the truth, and their charges, based
largely on religious and highly moral grounds, were worse than
false — they were both canting and hypocritical. A recent Ameri-
can writer has analyzed the time-worn charges against Brant
and Butler, and his deductions are both conclusive and gratifj--
ing in the refutation of the slanders which have rested on the
memory of these brave men. "Col- Butler," says Wm Peck, of
Rochester, N. Y., "was a man of some cultivation and refinement,
and of large landed pos.sessions on the Mohawk River. Sir Wil-
liam Johnson, who died in 1774, had made him his executor.
12 WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
He persuaded the Senecas and Mohawks in their refusal to enter
the service of the United Colonies. For some time he discouraged
their taking up arms, but as the war progressed, this attitude
became untenable, and after Arnold had invaded Canada with
a number of Penobscots in his train, it was determined by Carle-
ton to make reprisals by forays into New York, in which the
Mohawks should participate."
The Mohawk Valley, the scene of their exploits, saw the
most terrible conflict throughout the whole revolutionary strug-
gle. One -turns in horror from the sodden field of Oriskany to
be confronted later with the barbarities of Sullivan's overwhelm-
ing army marching to destroy the fruitful country of the Six
Nations and its people.
THE MILITIA OF 1804.
Before the Constitutional Act of 1791, theoretically, the
Canadian (French) militia law— under the Quebec Act, 1774,
whereby every man was made available— applied. The militia
system of the Lower Province was distinct from the Upper
Canadian law. The first law, after Upper Canada was set apart,
was passed in 1793, and by it every male, between sixteen and
fifty was considered a militiaman. It was required that each
company should be inspected at least twice annually, and while
no pay was provided, there was a fine of $8 imposed on officers,
and $2 on men failing to attend. In 1794 the age limit was ex-
tended to sixty, and a distribution of arms was made, the times
being warlike. The first militia was raised in York in 1798, but
that there was an organized force before that date in Lincoln, is
evident from the order in Council authorizing it. Captain George
Chisholm, and others, being described therein, as of the Lincoln
i\Iilitia. In 1805, four thousand stand of arms were distributed
in the Province and the force consisted of 652 officers and 7,917
men. The Act of 1808 consolidated the law and set the 4th of
June as the day for annual training, and each man was required
to provide himself with "a sufficient musket, fusil, rifle or gun,
and at least six rounds of powder and ball-"
WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY 13
In 1804, the officers of the Second York Regiment were :
Lieut.-CoL, Richard Beasley ; Major, John Baptiste Rous-
seau; Captains, George Chisholm, Daniel Springer and John
Green; Lieutenants. Samuel Hatt, John Mills, Richard Cockerell,
William Bates, Titus G. Simons; Ensigns, David Vanevery,
Samuel Ryckman, James Morden, William Applegarth, John
Showers; Adjutant, Daniel Morden.
Twelve of these sixteen were U. E. Loyalists, and a biogra-
phy of most, if not each, might properly include a history of the
Revolutionary War, and of the War of 1812. Some of them,
under the gallant, but illfated, Burgoyne, in his struggle for the
Hudson, but chiefly in the Valley of the Mohawk, under Butler
and Guy Johnson, in company with the Royal Regiment of N. Y.,
and St. Leger's Regiment.
The name of Richard Beasley appears upon the U. E. List,
with the words "A Loyalist."
Now, the accepted Genesis of the creation of the settlement
at the head of the Lake, is this: that in the beginning came
Robert Land, it is said in 1780, and Richard Beasley perhaps
before that.
On the 14th of Sept., 1777, at Peekskill, charges were pre-
ferred against a loyalist named Basly in company with one Merit.
This might have been Richard Beasley. (Clinton Papers, by
Hugh Hastings, N. Y- State, vol. H, p. 321.) It is noteworthy
that General Vincent spells the name ''Bazeley'' in his dispatch
of the 31st of May, 1813 (Cruik Doc. Hist., p. 283, 1812), and I
am informed that the pronunciation was "'Bazeley."
Richard Beasley 's residence was at Burlington Heights, and
in 1799 he received the crown Grant for Broken Front, Lot 18-19
in the first concession of Barton, the site of Dundurn.
Not far distant was the dwelling of Chief Thayendenagea,
and it was the custcm of the Indians to meet at Beasley 's. On
one of these occasions, the son of the Chief of the Six Nations,
mad with liquor, sprang at his father, armed (it was said by
some and denied by others) with a dagger. The old Chief drew
a short dirk he always carried at his side, and although friends
seized both to part them, the blow was partly effective on the head
U WEiVTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
of the younger man, who subsequently tore off the surgeon's
dressings, and to the infinite grief of his father, succumbed to
the fever which ensued. This occurred a short time before the
death of Joseph Brant, in 1807.
Richard Beasley represented Durham, York and West Lin-
coln in the legislative assembly, the first member being Nathaniel
Pettit. West Lincoln was composed of the following townships :
Ancaster, Barton, Saltfleet, Glanford, Binbrook, Caistor, Gairs-
borough, Grimsby and Clinton.
Richard Beasley was also a Justice of the Peace, and as
such performed the marriage rite for all desiring his offices,
capable of declaring that they lived more than eighteen miles
from a clergyman, and Niagara held the nearest, in 1804. He
with his brother officers, Geo. Chisholm, J. B. Rousseau, Daniel
Springer, John Showers, of the Second York, and James Wilson,
John Ryckman, Augustus Jones, Peter Bowman and Ephriam
Land of the West Lincoln Regt., in 1796, signed the first By-laws
of the Barton Lodge of Freemasonry. Beasley was Deputy Grand-
Master of the Grand Lodge of Upper Canada, which met at York
on the 10th of February, 1804. A century ago.
Although Col. Beasley was colonel of his regiment in 1812,
he does not appear to have been in any engagement, and the com-
mand of the new regiment of Incorporated Militia in 1813 was
given to the jNIajor of his regiment, Titus Geer Simons. (Cruik-
shanks' Doc. Hist., V., p- 301.)
In July, 1789, a survey of lands was ordered for Richard
beasley and Peter Smith (Can. Arc. Q. 43— 1— p. 563, Report of
1891).
JEAN BAPTISTE ROUSSEAU.
Jean Baptiste Rousseau came from old France. He lived
first at York, at which place he is referred to by the wife of Gov-
ernor Simcoe in a diary, and for whom he acted as pilot in July,
1793. With the Hatts and James Wilson he began the settle-
ment at the village of Ancaster- The first mill, built there was
his— the first west of Niagara and York. He was interpreter for
Chief Joseph Brant.
Captain George Ohisholm
Born, July 19, 1752. Died, Dec. 5, 1842.
WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY 15
On the 15th of Nov., 1812, Rousseau was appointed presi-
dent and captain in the Indian department, by order of the
Adjutant General, dated at ]Montreal. He died at Niagara, how-
ever, on the same day, and was buried in St. Mark's churchyard
with military honors, the firing party being taken from the
second York and first Lincoln regiments.
GEORGE CHI.SHOLM.
George Chisholm was born at Ley?, Invernesshire, Scotland,
in 1752, and emigrated to New York in 1773. He joined the
Royal Standard in the revolutionary war, married Barbara Mc-
Kenzie in 1778, came to Niagara in 1791, and settled on the north
shore of Burlington Bay in 1794. No distinct account of the part
he took in the war is recorded. Among his papers is an unsigned
declaration that one Rose, presumably his brother-in-law, served
in the war, and came to Canada with Captain John McDonell,
which would indicate that Chisholm came with Rcse. This infor-
mation may, however, have come to Chisholm from his wife; the
U. E. List contains the name of but one George Chisholm, and
his jilace of residence is there described as in the Home District,
ajj^ieeable to the presumption that the subject of this sketch is
intended— with the additional note: "States a carpenter in Gen.
Burgoyne's army." It will be remembered that many Provincials
of this ill-fated army made their way to Canada after Saratoga.
George Chisholm received his commission in the Canadian
Militia in Dec. 1798, and in 1812 was not too old to meet the ag-
gressor on the frontier of L'pper Canada.
At Queenston Heights he so signalized himself, in company
with Capt. William Applegarth, also of the 2nd York, whose
company, with Chisholm 's, joined the flank companfes of the 41i:t
Regt. in the decisive charge, that the names of these officers were
mentioned in a general order.
In this battle a son of George Chisholm, also named George,
then a lad of twenty, was a sergeant in James Durand's company.
16 WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
His other sons were John, born in 1784 ; James, born in 1786, and
William, born in 1788.
The second George died in 1872, and from his obituary in an
Oakville paper, the following extracts are taken :
"Colonel George Chisholm died at the residence of his son,
Capt. George Brock Chisholm, on the 31st ultimo, in the 80th
year of his age. He was born at Fort Erie on the 16th of Septem-
ber, 1792, and was the youngest son of George Chisholm, senior,
who was a U. E. Loyalist, and settled on the north shore of Bur-
lington Bay in 1794, and died there in 1842. Col. Chisholm took
an active part in the War of 1812. He belonged to the 1st Plmk
Company of Volunteers, was present and fought at the battle of
Queenston Heights, when General Brock was killed, and took
part in nearly all the battles that were fought at that time on the
Canadian frontier. At the Battle of Lundy's Lane he command-
ed a company. He was one of the party who went over with
Colonel Bisshop and burned what there then was of Buffalo. He
was present when the Steamer Caroline was sent over Niagara
Falls in 1837, and for several years after held the colors that
were taken from the steamer before she took her leap; he after-
wards gave them to Captain McCormick, who was returning to
England; but exacted from him a promise that he would always
hoist them on the 29th of December- ]n 1837 he was gazetted
Lieutenant-Colonel, and, in 1838 Colonel. When the rebellion
broke out in 1837, he proceeded with the late Sir Allan N. Mac-
Nab, with seventy-two volunteers, to Toronto (then York) and
marching up to the City Hall they found the late Chief Justice
Robinson standing sentry ; he supplied the men with Government
arms and ammunition. On the 7th December, while crossing a
field to dislodge the rebels from a piece of woods, a ball from the
enemy struck the stock of his musket, partially splitting it, and
remained imbedded in the stock. Sir Francis Bond Head after-
wards ], resented him with this musket with an expression of ap-
preciation of his services. * * * * During the vigor of life
he took an active part in the politics of his country, and was
always allied with the Conservative party. He was among the
oldest members of the Masonic Fraternity in this part of the
WEXTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY 17
Rountry. **■■*** \{\^ thorough knowledge of the Indian
language enabled him to be of great service to the Government
and people in early days when the Indians abounded in this part
of the country."
DANIEL SPRINGER.
Captain Daniel Springer was a soldier in Butler's Rangers,
In 1802 he received the crown grant of lot 14 in the 3rd Con. of
Barton which he afterwards sold to George Hamilton, the begin-
ning of the city of Hamilton. Lot 13 was granted to Richard
Springer, the two lots comprising the lands now lying between
James, "Wellington, Main and Concession streets.
In the war of 1812 Captain Springer was at Detroit, and in
command of a company of the First ^liddlesex. From a report
of the Loj-al and Patriotic Society (p. 247) it appears, "that
Captain Springer exerted himself in defending the Province by
actively performing his duty on all occasions. He therefore be-
came, as usual, extremely obnoxious to all the enemy and the
disaffected, a party of whom seized him on the 1st February,
1814, and after binding him, took his own horses and sleigh, and
placing him in it, carried him to Kentucky. Shortly after his
departure, his family was obliged to move to the Grand River.
He returned in time to share in the glory of the battle of the
Falls."
JOHN GREEN.
John Green joined the Royal Standard in New Jersey in
1776. He lived at Grimsby, known as the 40 mile creek, in 1793,
where he was the proprietor of the mills, which in 1795 supplied
the forces. "He intends to bring up all his sons to farming and
to build for each of them a mill, either on this (Grimsby) or on
a neighboring creek. He grinds the corn for all tiie military
posfs in Upper Canada. (De Rochefocault, p. 260.)
18 wentworth historical society
A descenclent known as Billy Green the Scout, son of Adam
G., living near Stoney Creek in 1813, it is said, with the assistance
of Isaac Gorman, ascertained and carried the American pass-word
for the day, to General Vincent at Burlington Heights on the eve
of the 6th of June, when the force consisting of 704 regulars and
some militia, left headquarters in the night and surprised the
American Army camped at Stoney Creek. Green is said to have
ridden along the crest of the mountain and descended at a point
near Garth street and made his way to Vincent's Headquarters.
SAMUEL HATT.
Samuel Hatt came to Ancaster from London, England, about
1798, in company with his brother Richard. His sister, Susan-
nah, was the wife of Colonel Johnson Butler, who was killed on
the 28th of November, 1812, in the attack on the batteries op-
posite Black Rock, by General Smythe. "The batteries were
wrested from us for a time by superior numbers, but Major
Ormsby, of the 49th Regiment, with a body of troops from Fort
Erie, having formed a junction with Lieutenant-Colonel Bisshop,
who had moved with great celerity from Chippewa with rein-
forcements, those of the enemy who had not retired to their
shore, amounting to nearly forty, were made prisoners with
Captain King, who had commanded in the attack." (Cruikshank
Doc. Hist. 1812—252.)
On the 21st October, 1807, Samuel Hatt married Margaret
Thompson, of Niagara. He commanded the detachment of the
Second York and Fifth Lincoln, which accompanied Sir Isaac
Brock to Detroit, consisting of three officers, three N. C's., and
59 rank and file. The original muster roll of this company has
recently been presented to the W. H. S. by Mr. N. H. McAfee,
of Burgessville, Angus McAfee, his ancestor, being a sergeant
in the company.
Samuel Hatt commanded the third militia division at Queen-
ston from July 12 until the Battle of Queenston (Cr. D. H., 92).
In 1804 his name appears in the list of Commissioners of the
Peace.
WESTWORTH HISTORKAI. SOCIETY 19
After the War of 1812 Samuel Ilatt settled at Chmiiblt'' in
Lower Canada (J. Ryckman's narrative).
JOHN MILLS.
John ]\Iills was born iu New York, and for his loyalty
he sutt'ered imprisonment and the pillory at Staten Island. In
1777 he joined Peter's corps and served therein in Burgoyne's
campaign. He came to Upper Canada in 1793 with his son
James, who married Christina, daughter of ^Michael Hess. Their
children include Michael, Samuel (a senator), John, Nelson,
William and George H., the late president of Wentworth His-
torical Society. From the list of widows and orphans and pen-
sioners, published in the Spectator at St. David's, 25th October,
1816, it appears that Solomon Mills, a sergeant in the Second
York, was killed in action on the 5th of July, 1812 (Can. Arc. B-,
vol. 167, 206).
RICHARD COCKERELL.
Richard Cockerell settled in Ancaster and opened a school
there in 1796 (Hodgin's Doc. Hist. Education). He was the tutor
of the younger Brant, who was born in 1794 and died in 1832 of
cholera. He was appointed a land surveyor in 1805, to survey on
behalf of the crown (Toronto of Old).
In 1796-7, 1816 Cockerell was the Grand Secretary of the
Grand Lodge of Freemasonry of Upper Canada, which held its
meetings at Niagara (Robertson's Hist. Freemasonry, 459),
He was the editor of the Spectator newspaper, published at
St. Davids, in 1816, and opened the first printing press in the
village of Dundas a short time afterwards, under the patronage
of Major Richard Hatt.
WILLIAM BATES.
William Bates was a sergeant in the Queen's Rangers. In
1800 he had charge of the King's Head Inn, erected by Governor
20 WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Simeoe, reference to which is made by the wife of Governor Sim-
coe in her diary, 11th June, 1796, There is now in the possession
of William Bates, of East Flamboro, a Masonic jewel, given early
in the nineteenth century, by a Mr. Dunlop to Augustus Bates,
sent by Benedict Arnold to the man who helped him through the
lines to the "Vulture-"
A grey headstone at Stoney Creek contains the following :
"Sacred to the memory of Phoebe Bates, wife of Wm. Bates,
born in Stamford,, Conn., died in this Province Dec. 16, 1807,
aged 46."
On the 10th of May, 1813, a week after York had been taken
by the Americans, Chauncey detached two schooners from his
fleet, cruising off Niagara, for the purpose of destroying the
King's Head Inn, which they accordingly bombarded with hot
shot. The post was garrisoned by fifty men of the Second York
and Fifth Lincoln, under Major Samuel Hatt, without artillery.
The garrison were forced to retire, and reinforcements being
brought from Burlington Heights, the enemy retreated to their
boats.
The site of the King's Head Inn was marked last year on
the anniversary of the battle of Lundy 's Lane, by the Wentworth
Historical Society.
JAMES MORDEN.
One Joseph Morden served in Peter's Corps with Burgoyne
in 1777.
James Morden was the son of Ralph Morden who had been
hanged or shot by the revolutionary patriots in 1780. He had
two brothers, John and Ralph. His mother, Ann Morden, came
from Pennsylvania to the head of the Lake, bringing with her
two sisters, Jane and Mary Long, their father, Ralph Long, hav-
ing also lost his life in the royal service. Ann Morden lived at
Dundas, then known as the King's Landing, or Cootes' Paradise.
While passing through, Governor Simeoe remained at her house,
and on one of these occasions, presented her with a Bible which
WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY 21
is still in the possession of the family. In 1739 the Crown Grant
of Lot 18, in the third concession of Barton, now wi.hin ihe City
received the patent for lots 16 and 17 in the first conceison of
West Flamboro, the site of the easterly part of the town of Dun-
das,
WILLIAM APPLEGARTH.
William Applegarth was not a U. E- Loyalist. He came
from Standrop, Durham, England, in 1791, and received the
Crown Grant for the land in East Flamboro, known as "Oak-
lands." The first grist mill in the neighborhood was built by
him in 1809, when sea salmon were plentiful at the Credit, and in
his own mill stream. The mill was destroyed by fire in 1812. A
second mill had the same fate. It was again rebuilt, and the old
mill, with the quaint over-shot wheel, still to be seen from the car
window, is the third mill built by William Applegarth. His wife
was Martha Cooley, U. E. L., whose sister Mary (Polly) was the
wife of Richard Hatt. John Applegarth, and his brother Joshua,
followed William, their brother, to Canada in 1801, and John
formed one of Capt. Samuel Hatt's company at Detroit in 1812-
He opened the first store in the town of Hamilton after the
war. In the thirties William Applegarth was a regular attend-
ant of Christ Church Cathedral, Hamilton.
JOHN SHOWERS.
John Showers was a brother of Michael Showers, of Butler's
Rangers (XX. Pemberton, 16). Michael Showers, to whom the
Crown Grants of lands in Anca^ter Township, now in Dundas,
were made, had a large family, including six or seven daughters,
all of whom lived to extreme old age, were married and left
families. One married a Depew, one VanEvery, and one
Stewart, and one Isaac Smith, late of Sussex County, New
Jersey, the grandfather of Joseph Henry Smith, public school
22 Wentworth historical society
inspector of Wentworth. The name of John Showers appears on
the muster roll of Peter's Corps, under Burgoyne, in 1777, to-
gether with John Mills and Joseph Morden-
TITUS GEER SIMONS.
Titus Greer Simons' biography appears in the Transactions
of the U. E. L, Association, 1902-3. He was a son of Titus
Simons, quartermaster of Peter's Corps, under Burgoyne, and
adjutant of the 1st Regt. West Lincoln. In 1806 he exerted him-
igelf in the formation of the Burlington Agricultural Society, the
original manscript constitution in his own handwriting, being
still preserved. His brother officers of the Second York and
West Lincoln Regiments, were its members. In 1813 he com-
manded the Incorporated Militia (Can. Arc, Q. 341, 207). He
commanded the 2nd York at Lundy 's Lane, where he was severely
wounded.
In 1824, Simons, then colonel of the Second Gore Militia,
laid the corner stone of St. John's Church, Ancaster, the par-
ticulars of which ceremony is to be found on page 973, Robert-
son's Hist, of Freemasonry- He was the first sheriff of the Gore
District.
West Lincoln, First Regt.
In 1804 the west riding of Lincoln had two regiments, and
comprised the following townships: Ancaster, Barton, Saltfleet,
Glanford, Binbrook, Caistor, Gainsboro, Grimsby and Clinton,
The officers of the first regiment were: Colonel, Peter Hare;
Lieut.-Col., Andrew Bradt ; Major, Richard Hatt ; Captains, John
Ryckman, Augustus Jones, Samuel Hatt, Peter Bowman, Wm.
Lottridge, John Smith; Lieutenants, Elijah Chambers, John
Jones, John Aikman, Charles Devine, Lewis Horning, Michael
Chewin, Robt. Land, Jr., Wm Davis; Ensigns, Conrad Johnston,
Benj. Lockwood, John Springer, David Stewart, Peter Hess,
Gershom Carpenter, Ephraim Land, George Smith, Daniel Young,
»Ir. ; Adjutant, Titus Simons ; Quartermaster, James Wilson.
The officers of the second regiment were :Lieut.-Col., Ralph
»
( ■<)[.. Ti'iTs (;i:i:i: Simon?
WEXTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY 23
Clench; Major, Johnson Butler; Captains, Jacob Tenbroek,
John Munro, Abram Nellis, James Henry, George Rangier, John
Carpenter, Jonathan Moore, Smith Griflfin, William Nellis ;
Lieutenants, Titus G. Simons, Wm. Carpenter, Daniel House,
Joseph Adair, Allan Nixon, Philip House, Robt. Comfort, James
Doddy, Solomon Hill; Ensigns, Henry Hickson, Ralph Walter,
Edward Griffin, Pearce Moore, Richard Griffin, John Snyder,
Joseph Smith, Jacob Beam, Jonathan Pettit; Adjutant, Adrian
Marlat.
PETER HARE.
Peter Hare had served through the whole of the revolution-
ary war, a captain in Butler's Rangers- He was born on the
Mohawk River, Tryon County, N. Y. (Can. Are. B., 167, 322).
Captain Hare appears in the U. E. list in 1786 as of the In-
dian Department, and having two children. From the return
of Col. Butler made in 1781, it appears that one John Hire, a
farmer's son, whose place of birth was on the Mohawk Rivei*,
had served as a lieutenant in his corps, seven years. A tomb-
stone in the churchyard at Jordan has the inscription, "In mem-
ory of Peter Hare, Senior, who was born May 11th, 1748, and
departed this life April 6, 1834, aged 85 years, 11 months."
In 1782, at Montreal, INIargaret Hare, widow of Lieutenant
John Hare, who was killed at the Battle of Oriskany, "below Fort
Stanwix," petitioned Governor Haldimand '*to take her misfor-
tunes into consideration, that her six fatherless children will not
be without a paternal patron in this country, where it is difficult
to support a family." The widow Hare refers, in her petition,
to a son in Butler's Rangers. (Pringle's Eastern Dist., 363-4.
Can. Arc. 167-322.) John Hare had been Under Sheriff at Johns-
town, on the Mohawk River, where he possessed considerable
property. His house was plundered by Schuyler and Mrs. Hare
kept as a hostage. Wm. Hare, his son, was gioler. The rebels
took possession of the gaol and used it as a block-house (Pem-
berton XX).
24 WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETV
The widow Hare's memorial sets out that her husband had
been commissioned by Lord Amherst and Sir William Johnson.
That after his death she was plundered of almost all that she
had, and although she attempted several times to extricate her-
self to get to Canada, she was as often prevented by atrocious
cruelty.
In October, 1781, an act was passed that the Loyalists should
be sent off, but, owing to Major Ross' incursion, she was obliged
to return to Johnstown.
An engagement ensued near Johnstown Hall, and the histor-
ian. Stone, states that the widow Hare was at Johnstown when
Sir John Johnston's force was there in May, 1780, and that she
assisted the rebel, Sammons, to escape. (Life of Brant, vol. II.
72 and 78.)
The widow Hare finally reached Montreal, through the
assistance of Colonel St. Leger, whom she met at St. John's, and
was again assisted by Colonel Claus at St. Johns.
ANDREW BRADT.
Andrew Bradt had been a captain in Butler's Rangers. In
Colonel Butler's return (1781) of his officers (Can, Arc. B. 167-
322)^ Andrew Bradt is described as a farmer's son, having been
born in Schenectady, and served nine years in the Rangers. John
Bradt was a lieutenant in the same corps. In March, 1780, one
Anthony Bradt petitioned Governor Haldimand, reciting that
"he had been a lieutenant in His Majesty's militia in Tyron
County, in the Province of New York since 1772, and continued
so until the commencement of the present rebellion, and after
many strenuous efforts in favor of government he was obliged
at last to abandon his all and take refuge in the Six Nation
Indian country, where he served a campaign with Captain Joseph
Brant against the rebels, after which he went home to his family
and gave them some assistance, where he concealed himself until
last Nov. (1779), and was then under the necessity of flying to
this Province," etc.
WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY 25
RICHARD HATT.
Richard Hatt was born in 1769 in London, England. He
settled in Ancaster about 1798. His brothers, Samuel and
Augustus, and sisters, Mary and Susannah, also came to Canada.
He was the first to utilize the water privileges of the Dundas
Valley, where he erected saw mills, grist mills and carding mills.
His was also the second mill at Ancaster. In 1799 he was mar-
ried at Ancaster to Miss Mary (Polly) Cooley, U. E. L. (Toronto
of Old, 335). Peter Desjardins, the projector of the canal which
bears his name, was associated commercially with Richard Hatt
in Dundas, apparently his bookkeeper. In the war, IMajor Hatt
commanded the militia at Fort Erie on the 28th of Nov., 1812,
under Colonel Bisshop, when the attack under General Smythe
was repulsed, and when Colonel Johnson Butler and Captain John
Lottridge were killed (Cr. Doc. Hist. 253-56, 278, 326). At
Lundy's Lane Major Hatt's command formed part of Colonel
Hercules Scott's reinforcement, which, after much counter-
maj'ching, arrived on the scene of battle at 9 p. m. He was
severely wounded in the battle.
Richard Hatt was the first chairman of the First Court of
Quarter Sessions in the District, and the first Judge of the Dis-
trict Court of the Gore District, when the sessions, the Court of
Assize, the Court of Requests, and the Surrogate Court afforded
administration of justice and municipal government. Two
Justices of the Peace, commissioned to certain limits by the
Justices in Quarter Session, constituted the Court of Requests
(legal qualification not essential), sitting on the first and third
Saturdays in the month, sometimes in the open air. In 1816
the jurisdiction of this Court was extended to £5, but no judg-
ment was to be given for more than 10s- unless proved by other
than plaintiff's evidence and admitted. In 1804 there were
forty-five Justices of the Peace in the Niagara District, and Rich-
ard Beasley, Richard Hatt, William Applegarth and John Green
were of the number (U. C. Almanac). Quarter Sessions for
Niagara District met at Niagara until 1815, when it was enacted
that if the district was invaded, or for other reasons advisable.
26 WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
the J. P.'s might assemble at the most convenient place in the
district, and the next session was to be held at the forty mile
creek (Statutes of U. C, Vol.1., 91-187-193-31).
The silver communion service at present in St. James'
Church, Dundas, was presented by Richard, and Mary Hatt, his
wife, in 1817. Of their marriage there were ten children. One
of the daughters, Susannah, was the wife of the first missionary
to Gore District, Ralph Leeming, who came in 1816, Another,
Ann Draper Hatt, married Dr. James Hamilton, of Spring Hill,
West Flamboro, and a son, John Ogilvy, barrister, and sometime
"Warden of the Gore District (1846), married a sister of Sir
Allan MacNab. Two daughters, Mary and Margaret, married
William and Alfred Coulson, and a son, Thomas, married Jennie
Secord, U. E. L.
In 1818 and 1819, Richard Hatt represented the Gore Dis-
trict in the Legislative Assembly (Hodgin's Doc. Hist., Ed. 118,
136).
Richard Hatt was a strong pioneer in the arts of peace, per-
sistent in the maintenance of law and order, and true Briton in
time of war.
The following statement of account from among the papers
of Col. George Chisholm, rendered in 1819 by Peter Desjardin,
Hatt's bookkeeper at Dundas, is instructive as to prices, and the
method of payment :
190. MR. GEORGE CHISHOLM
Dr. to RICHD HATT.
1818
May 11. To ]4 lb. Hyson Tea,
June 15, n 4 yards Sheeting, 1
II 1 Rud,
July 11. I, 4 yards Sheeting, 1
II yi, lb. Tobacco,
Dec. 12. n yi lb. Saltpetre,
10 —
18 —
2 —
Due me, N. Y. c. £ S » 19 « 0
Received Ten Bushels of Wheat \
in full for above, ) 4 " »
For R. Hatt,
Peter Desjardins.
Dundas, 17th Mch., 1819.
WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY 27
JOHN RYCKMAN.
John Ryckman belonged to the Indian department in the
revolutionary war. On the 5th of July, 1778, Guy Johnson had
given him written instructions to proceed to a place of destina-
tion, not disclosed, probably in the Province of New York, with
a company of Oneidas. The party having exhausted their pro-
visions, fell into the hands of the enemy, but made their escape.
John Ryckman was placed on half-pay in 1784, and took
lands in Saltfleet, but removed to Barton. In 1801 he received
the Crown Grant of Lot 28 in the broken front of Saltfleet, and
also lot 28 in the first concession adjoining. The Battle of
Stoney Creek was fought near his farm, and his son John, who
was born, in 1798, upon it, has left a description of the field as he
saw it the morning after the battle. The fences and houses near
bearing marks of the volley firing.
Burlington Heights, he says, was covered with oak trees,
which were converted into block houses and breast works.
(Spectator, 17th July, 1885.)
John Ryckman, Jr., also records the execution for treason
of eight men on the west side of the road, now Dundurn street,
doubtless those mentioned by Kingsford- (Hist, of Can. VIII.,
471.)
Another family, of which another John Ryckman was the
head, settled on the Bay of Quinte. His name appears in the
list of freeholders in Albany County, in 1720. His son, Tobias,
appeared before the U. E. Claims Commissioners at Montreal
(Pemberton, 23, 66), (Doc. Hist. N. Y., O'Callagan, I., 241), and
a son Edward came to Flamboro in 1811 and married Ann
Warren.
Descendents of Edward Ryckman live at Seaforth and also
in the County of Wentworth.
AUGUSTUS JONES.
Augustus Jones was the surveyor who laid out the townships
pf the Niagara Peninsula.
28 WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
JOHN AIKMAN.
John Aikman was born in August, 1763, in the Province of
New York, and died on the 1st of November, 1841. On 13th
August, 1787, he married Hannah, daughter of Michael Showers,
U. E. Their children were all born at the head of Lake Ontario ;
Alexander in 1790. A son, John, married Sarah Hammel, and a
daughter, Maa-y, maaried Thoma^s Hammel. Michael married
Anna Wilson; Nancy married Justus W. Williams; Hannah
Aikman married Rev. Egerton Ryerson. In 1812 Aikman 's farm
was the British outpost towards Stoney Creek from Burlington
Heights, and between these two points, two miles apart, at pres-
ent lies the most central portion of the city of Hamilton.
The minutes of Barton Lodge of 7th April, 1798, record that
"Bro. Aikman says, the lodge shall sit no more at his house, if it
is to sit on Saturday."
Michael Aikman, a son of John Aikman, was the sitting
member in the Legislative Assembly for the Gore District in 1839.
CAPTAIN JOHN LOTTRIDGE.
Captain John Lottridge was killed when a captain of the
3rd Lincoln in repelling Colonel Smythe's attack on Fort Erie
on the 28th of November, 1812. With him also fell Colonel John-
son Butler. (Cruickshank's Doc. Hist., p. 253.)
In 1759 Sir William Johnston sent Captain Robert Lottridge
from Canajoharie to reconnoitre Ticonderoga preparatory to
Amherst's successful attack upon that post. (Stone's Brant, I.,
p. 15.)
Robert Lottridge had five in his family, according to the U.
E. list. In 1814 lot 7, B. F., in the 1st concession of Birton was
granted to John Lottridge, sixty acres on the shore of Burling-
ton Bay, at Gage's Inlet.
In ]796 lot 20 in the second concession of Barton had also
been granted to John Lottridge. In 1802 he was Master of
Barton Lodge, his brother ofiicers, Ephraim Land and Robert
WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
20
Land, being J. W. and Secretary, respectively. (See certificate
to Adrian Marlat, p. 662, Hist, of Freemasonry, J. R. R.)
WILLIAM DAVIS.
William Davis was the son of William Davis, U. E. L., of
North Carolina. He married Mary Long, while his brother,
Jonathan, married Jane Long, who had accompanied the widow
Ann Morden from Pennsylvania, reference to whom has already
been made.
William Davis was born in 1776 and died in 1830, A sister
married James Gage, V. E. L., and another Col. John Chisholm.
PETER HESS.
Peter Hess was the son of Michael Hess and was bom at
Upper Mount Bethel Township, Northampton County, Pennsyl-
vania. The ''Church Book" for that parish records his birth on
the 10th September, 1779. In 1802 Michael Hess received the
Crown Grant for lot 15, in the fifth concession of Barton and also
lots 14 and 15 in the sixth concession, whereon is the family bury-
ing ground, the tombstone of Michael Hess therein recording his
death in 1804, at the age of 65 years. A sister of Peter Hess
(Christina) was the wife of James Mills, a son of John Mills, U.
E. L-, the head of the Mills family. Peter Hess left six daughters,
w-ho married John Bamberger, George Rymal, Robert Mcllroy,
Caleb Hopkins, Mr. Gordon and Col. Nathan Bostwick.
GEESHOM CARPENTER.
Gershom Carpenter was a U. E. Loyalist, who, with John
Carpenter, in 1802, received the Crown Patent for lot seven in
the broken front, and in the first and second concession, and also
lots 16 and 17 in the second, of Saltfleet. His son, John, married
Mar>^ eldest daughter of the Hon. John Willson, of Winona,
sometime speaker of the Legislative Assembly. The father of
30 WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
the latter was a loyalist who had settled, in 1773, in the Niagara
District, having come from Staten Island. (U. E. List, 275.)
(Spectator, 29th May, 1860.)
JAMES WILSON.
The author of Smith's Gazetteer (1850) states that Ancaster
was founded by James Wilson, a Loyalist, J. B. Rousseau and
Richard Hatt. The minutes of the first meeting of Barton Lodge
(31st January, 1796) record that James Wilson was Senior War-
den, John Ryckman, J. W., Daniel Young, Treasurer, while Br.
Bradt was a visitor.
i=.A.i?.T ir.
THE GORE DISTRICT MILITIA, 1821—1824-1830-8-9.
1821.
From the first York Almanac ''published by authority,"
that of 1821, it appears that there were then but two regiments of
Gore Militia, the officers being then, many of them, men who had
served in the War of 1812, and some of the men of the West York
and West Lincoln regiments of 1804 were still among them. The
officers of the regiments were :
1st Gore-Lieut.-Col., Andrew Bradt; Captains, Daniel
Young, William Lottridge, John Smith, James Durand, Israel
Dawdy, John Aikman, Robert Land, Frederick Yeonard, John
W. Mclntyre, Daniel Showers; Lieutenants, Conrad Fillman,
Lewis Horning, William Davis, Peter Hess, Ephraim Land,
Joseph House, David Kerns, Joseph Birney, Abel Land, Allan
McDougal; Ensigns, George I Smith, Philip Reeymall, Jacob
Springstead, George Rousseau, David Kribbs, Simon Bradt,
Henry Young, Angus McAfee, John Forsyth, Abraham Secord;
Adjutant, ; Quartermaster, Ezra Barnum.
2nd Gore— Lieut.-Col.^ Abraham Nelles; Major, Titus G.
Simons; Captains, Samuel Ryckman, John Chisholm, Thomas
Atkinson, William Chisholm, Thomas Smith, John K- Simons,
William Ellis, George Clemens, William McKerlie, George
WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY %\
Chisholm; Lieutenants, Thomas Lucas, William McCorby, Georg3
Chisholm, Peter MeCollum, Walter W. Simons, Duncan McQueen,
Alexander Brown, Moses McKay, Ward Smith, Ashel Davis;
Ensigns, Jacob Cochonour, George King, James Hamilton, M.D.,
William Chisholm, Benjamin Markle, John Lawrason, Abner
Everitt, Aaron D. Vrooman, Ryner Vansiekle, Peter VanEvery,
Jr.; Adjutant, Master W. Simons: Quartermaster, William
Neville.
Independent Companies, Grand River— Captains, Thomas
Perrin, John Westbrook; Lieutenants, Enos Bunnell, Libbines
Garner.
LIEUTENANT DANIEL SHOWERS.
Lieutenant Daniel Showers, on the 12th of July, with a
guard of 16 men, was detailed to convey by water from Burling-
ton to Kingston 29 American prisoners of War, of whom Major
Chapin was one. The guard was overpowered, the tables turned
and the "captives" carried their guard off, prisoners to Buffalo.
(Cruikshank's Doc. Hist., VI., 232.)
An anecdote is told of Daniel Showers, years after the war,
when peacefully residing in Ancaster. Being importuned by a
Yankee itinerant to purchase an infallible remedy for rheuma-
tism, or some kindred ill, he was on the point of buying a dozen
boxes, when he discovered that the remedy bore the label
" Chapin 's Pills." It is said that the gallant Major spoke no
word, but walked to his gun-rack over the capacious fireplace,
took down his long rifle and pointed with an extended finger to
the gate, and that the pedlar made a quick exit.
CAPTAIN JAi^IES DURAND.
Captain James Durand, of the First Gore, was born in Wales,
in 1775. He came to Upper Canada in 1800, and commanded a
company in the 5th Lincoln at Queenston Heights. In 1817 he
32 WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
was elected a member of the Legislative Assembly, having rep-
resented Niagara in the same body in 1814. He died on the 22nd
of March, 1833, at Hamilton.
1824-
The York Almanac of 1824 contains the following list of
officers in the then four Gore regiments :
Militia of Upper Canada.
1st Gore— Colonel, James Crooks; Lieut.-Col., ; Major,
James Racey; Captains, John Westbrook, John W. Mclntyre,
Daniel Showers, Frederick Yeonard, Matthew Crooks, George
Rolph, Philip Rymal, John Aikman, Alex. Aikman, Enos Brun-
nell; Lieutenants, John Forsyth, John Petrie, William Sturges,
Patrick Hamel, William Kerby, John Burwell, John Findlay,
James Corbett, Peter Horning, Robert Berrie; Ensigns, William
Shackleton, John D. McKay, Alex. Westbrook, John Howell,
Richard Hatt, James Durand, William Ritchie, Milcha Files, John
Shaver, Andrew Edie; Adjutant, J. W. Mclntyre; Captain,
; Quarter Master, Ed. Vanderlip; Surgeon, James Hamil-
ton.
2nd Gore— Colonel, Titus G. Simons; Lieut. -Col., John
Chisholm; Major, Thomas Atkinson; Captains, John K. Simons,
W)illiam McKerlie, George Chisholm; Lieutenants, Peter Mc-
Collum, W. W. Simons, Adj't, Duncan McQueen, Alex. Brown,
Moses McKay; Ensigns, George King, William Chisholm, Benja-
min Markle, John Lawrison, Abner Everitt; Adjutant, W- W.
Simons; Lieutenant, ; Quarter Master, William Neville;
Surgeon, .
3rd Gore— Colonel, Thomas Taylor; Lieut.-Col., W. Lot-
tridge; Major, Robert Land; Captains, Ephraim Land, Joseph
Birney, David Kripps, Abel Land, David Kerns, William Davis,
Elijah Secord, Daniel K. Servos, John Secord, Peter Hamilton;
Lieutenants, Jacob Springstead, Henry Young, Jonathan Pettit,
Simon Bradt, David Almas, William Rymal, Nathaniel Crowell,
WESTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY 33
John Depue, Adam Young, Thomas Cheat, Abraham K. Smith,
Henry Beasley; Ensigns, Thomas H, Taylor, Daniel Lewis, Ash-
man Pettit, Michael Aikman, Robert William Taylor, John
Sehnyder, James Wilson, James Lewis; Adjutant, ;
Quarter Master, ; Surgeon, Oliver Tiffany.— Canniff, 650.
4th Gore— Colonel, ; Lieut.-Col., Alex- Wishart;
Majjor, WiUiam Chisholm; Captains, Thomas Smith, William
Ellis, Thomas Lucas, Ward Smith, Robert Murray, W. G. Wooi-
eot, William Holme, Luke V. Spurr; Lieutenants, Jacob Cochen-
our, Aaron D. Vrooman, Peter VanEvery, William Coulson, John
Holme, John VanHorne, Thomas Graham, John Beatty; Ensigns,
James Jones, Zephania Sexton, Charles VanEvery, Alpheus
Smith, Richard Ferguson, Samuel Smith, Henry Nellis, William
Van Allen ; Adjutant, ; Quarter Master, John McAlpin
Cameron; Surgeon, .
JAMES CROOKS.
James Crooks, colonel of the 1st Gore in 1824, was born in
Kilmarnock, Scotland, in 1778. He came to Canada in 1791, and
commanded a company of the 1st Lincoln ^Militia at Queenston
Heights. After the war he settled in West Flamboro, where he
established a small industrial colony, building and operating
there, the first paper mill in Upper Canada. He was elected to
the Legislative Assembly in 1820, and subsequently became a
member of the Legislative Council, a member of which he re-
mained until his death in 1860. (His Memorial, Can. Arc. Rept.,
1898, p. 259-317.)
JAMES HAMILTON, M. D.
James Hamilton, surgeon of the 1st Gore, who, with Oliver
Tiffany of the 3rd regiment, supplied the surgery for the four
regiments, was bom in Lanarkshire, Scotland, in 1797. He settled
in Ancaster in 1818, then the chief place of business between
York and Niagara. In 1820 he built his residence at Springhill,
West Flamboro, one of the most beautiful sites in Western
34
WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Canada, immediately above the town of Dundas, overlooking
Burlington Bay and Lake Ontario. He married Ann Draper,
the daughter of Major Richard Hatt, before referred to. He was
one of the first directors of the Great Western Railway Company,
and the first medical examiner for the Canada Life Assurance
Company. In 1846 he was appointed Lieut.-Col. of the Third
Halton Regt., on reconstruction of the limits. Dr. Hamilton died
at Springhill in 1874.
Dr. Oliver Tiffany died and was buried at Ancaster in 1835,
aged 72 years.
THOMAS TAYLOR.
Thomas Taylor, Colonel of the Third Gore, had been an
officer in the 41st regiment in the War of 1812; Fort Major at
Fort George when it was attacked and taken on the 27th of jNIay,
1813, and was present at the Battle of Stoney Creek, on the 6th
of June, where, as testified in writing by Colonel Harvey, Taylor
"behaved with great coolness and bravery and received several
very severe wounds." Among his papers is a much-stained re-
turn of killed and wounded at the Battle of Stoney Creek, show-
ing 23 killed, 136 wounded and 55 missing, the British loss for
this important victory. Following is the return:
Killed
Wounded.
Missing
a;
to
CJ
-1^
b
iS
HI
b
fo
%
S3
0)
-2
i
03
c
a
S
p
be
05
c
P
•i-s
t3
35
s
o
o
0
'5
1
-p
a
13
h-1
xn
«
1^
o
J
W
<
b
32
«
Ph
cc
«
Staff.
1
8th Rgt.,
1
2
7
1
2
2
4
51
i3
49th Rgt.
1
12
1
3
1
1
5
2
62
3
39
Total,
1
3
19
2
5
2
1
1
1
9
2
113
3
52
Wentworth historical society 35
staff —Fort Major Taylcn-, severely.
(Lieut. Hooker, killed.
Major Ogilvy, severely, not dangerously.
Capt. Mundv. do. do.
om ivgi. ^,j^p^ Goldrick, slightly.
Lieut. Weyland, do.
y Lieut. Boyd, do.
I' Major Plenderleath, severely.
Br. Major Clarke, dangerously.
*wi,u i\iii.< ^^- ^I^J<^r Dennis, slightly,
I Capt. Manners, slightly.
I Ensign Drury, dangerously.
'^ Adjt. Stearn, slightly.
From a letter dated Niton, Isle of Wight, 19th Nov., 1803,
addressed to his wife's sisters, Mary and Sally Bell, care of Mr.
Bell, Surgeon, Newry, Ireland, the following is taken:
**I have no hope of visiting home again for these two months
unless Buonaparte declines his attempt at invasion, but it is gen-
erally expected that he will attempt it. Well-informed people
think that poor Ireland will be the first object of his attack. I
hope you will all be ready, and assisted by the strong arm of
Providence, to resist him heart and hand. I have been some time
stationed at this outpost, a small barrack in a drearj', solitary
situation at the back of the island, opposjte the French coast,
with a Subaltern and a doctor's mate, who reads a lecture to me
on physiologj' in the morning and plays the fiddle in the true
Drummond style in the evening, etc."
In 1814 Taylor was pay-master of the forces at York. In
1824 he was judge of the Gore District Court. It is often said
that Judge Taylor was the first judge, but this is inconsistent
with a list of judges of the several districts given in Mower's
Almanac published in Montreal in 1819, wherein it appears that
Richard Hatt was Judge of the Gore District Court in 1818.
From the original commission before me it appears that Taylor
was commissioned by the Court of King's Bench to take bail,
etc., for the Gore District on the 15th of November, 1819, and for
the Home District in January, 1825. He was commissioned Lieut,
of the 41st Regt. of Foot, 13th Dec, 1810; Colonel of the 3rd Gore
in April, 1823, and died in December, 1837. Colonel Taylor was
36 WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
buried with military honors in the family burying ground of
George Hamilton, Upper John street; the firing party being
taken from the 12th Gore Regiment, of which he was then
Colonel, under Major Elijah Secord and Captain John Law. No
stone marks his last resting place, and the ground has been
transferred to the city of Hamilton for park purposes. His
portrait is from a miniature in the possession of Hamilton Mac-
Carthy, R. C. A., of Ottawa, who has generously offered the
County a bust in bronze of Judge Taylor on a suitable pedestal
being provided. Thomas Taylor was called to the Bar of Upper
Canada in Hilary Term, 1819, having produced evidence of his
call to the bar in England. The order of the Court describing
him in Niagara, and of the Middle Temple- He was elected a
Bencher of the Law Society in 1820, and appointed official re-
porter to the courts about the same time. Taylor's reports (1823-
1827) were the first law reports published in U. C. His wife,
Eliza, died at Niagara, June 6, 1833.
JOHN McALPIN CAMERON-
Quarter Master John McAlpin Cameron, of the 4th Gore,
was the father of the late Chief Justice Sir Matthew Crooks
Cameron, who was born in Wentworth.
ALEXANDER ROBERTSON.
The first troop of cavalry in Wentworth was authorized in
1824, and the Gazette of the 18th of June of that year contained
the following: "His Excellency is pleased to authorize the rais-
ing of a troop of cavalry within the limits of the Second Regi-
ment of the Gore Militia to be attached to that regiment, and to
appoint Alexander Robertson to be Captain thereof." Com-
mission dated 23rd June, 1824.
Alexander Robertson was the son of Ross Robertson, Esq.,
of Foxbar, in Perthshire, Scotland, was born in 1798, came to
Canada in 1819, and settled in Ancaster about the same time as
James Hamilton. They had been friends at home.
C.vKr. Alexander Robertson.
\
WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY 9J
In 1826 he married Matilda, the eldest daughter of Colonel
Titus Geer Simons, U. E. L. Sometime in the twenties, when the
code of honour was in force there was a duel between Dr. Hamil-
ton and Capt. McKay, in which Robertson was the former's
second. The participants left Ancaster on horseback for the
frontier in orthodox fashion, accompanied b}' their seconds and
their surgeon, whose services, however, were not required, the
seconds interfering after the first exchange.
Alexander Robertson removed his residence to London early
in the thirties, where he commanded the London Cavalry
through the troublesome times of 1837-8-9. He died in Goderieh,
in 1855.
The Gazette of 23rd of June, 1824, contained the following
promotions in the 2nd Gore Regiment :
To be Captains — coMMissioxs dated.
Lieut, Peter McColhim, vice Atkinson promoted, June 18, 1824
Lieut. Walter \V. Simons, vice Chisholm promoted.... do 19 do
Lieut. Duncan McQueen, vice Smith promoted in the
4th Gore do 21 do
Lieut. Alex. Brown, vice Brown promoted in 4th Gore do 22 do
To be Lieutenants-
Ensign Geo. King, vice McCullum promoted do 18 do
Ensign Wm. Chisholm, vice Simons promoted do 19 do
Ensign John Lawrason, vice McQueen promoted do 21 do
Ensign Abner Everitt, vice Brown promoted do 22 do
William Nevills, Gent, vice Lucas promoted in 4th Gore do 23 do
John McCullum, Gent, vice Smith promoted do 24 do
John McCarthy. Gent, vice McKay resigned do 25 do
Charles Biggars, Gent, to fill a vacancy do 26 do
James Thompson, Gent, to fill a vacancy do 28 do
Wm. McKay, Gent, to till a vacancy do 29 do
To be Ensigns-
George Notman, Gent, vice King promoted do 18 do
Samuel MuUatt, Gent, vice Chisholm promoted do 19 do
Wm. Young, Gent, vice Lawrason promoted do 21 do
James Lafferty, Gent, vice Everitt promoted do 22 do
Henrv Johnson Kerr, vice Cochenour promoted in the
4th Gore do 23 do
To be Quarter Master with the Bank of Ensign-
Barnard MulhoUau, Gent, vice Nevills promoted do 18 do
To be Surgeon-
Nathaniel Bell, Esquire do 18 do
3
98
wemtworth historical society
1831.
The next list we have is extracted from the Upper Canada
and Provincial Calendar for 1831, by James G. Chewett, York,
U. C, printed by R. Stanton, a book which bears the autograph
of Robert Berrie, sometime Clerk of the Peace for Wentworth,
a barrister, and an officer of the 1st Gore. The Gore Militia at
this time had grown to five regiments. These lists contain the
date of the officers' commissions, and cavalry officers are marked
with a star.
I. GOBE.
COLONEL.
Jag. Crooks Apr. 2, 22
LIEUTENANT-COLONEL.
Jas. Racey Dec. 15, 23
MAJOR.
Jno. Westbrook May 4, 27
CAPTAINS.
Jno. Mclntyre June 12, 19
Daniel Showera do 12, 19
Matthew Crooks Mar. 29,20
Geo. Rolph Apr. 3, 23
Philip Rymal do 4, |23
Jno. Aikman do 5, 23
Alex Aikman do 7, 23
Geo. Gurnett, Adj Apr. 27, 26
Edward Burton Sept. 11, 26
Wm. Richardson June 15, 27
John Petrie do 16, 27
Patrick Hamel May 12, 28
Geo. Rousseau do 12, 28
LIEUTENANTS.
Nathan Crowell Apr. 9, 23
"Wm. Kerby do 14, 23
John Burwell do 16, 23
John Findlay do 17, 23
Peter Horning do 19, 23
Robert Berrie do 21, 23
Wm. Slackleton June 15, 27
John B. McKay do 16, 27
Andrew Westbrook do 17,27
Wm. Notman May 12, 28
Richard Hatt do 20,30
ENSIGNS.
James Durand Apr. 8, 23
Milcha Files do 10, 23
John Shaver do 11, 23
Andrew Edie do 12, 23
Wm. Robertson Apr, 27, 26
Thomas Perrin June 15, 27
John Wilkes do 16, 27
*Thoma8 Butler May 10, 28
John Ryckman . . do 12, 28
James Chep do 13, 28
Edward Vanderlip do 20, 30
ADJUTANT.
George Gurnett Apr. 27, 26
QUARTER-MASTER.
Edward Wands May 20, 30
SURGEON.
James Hamilton Apr. 2, 23
n. GORE.
COLONEL.
Wm. Chisholm May 3,30
MAJOR.
John, K. Simons Sept. 11, 26
C'.vi>'r. Willi A^[ Xotmax.
WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
90
CAPTAINS.
Geo. Chisholm Sept. 14, 20
Duncan McQueen June 21, 24
Alex 'r Brown do 22, 24
*Alex'r Eobertson do 23, 24
George King Sept. 11, 26
John Lawrason . . .■ do 12,26
Chas. Biggar do 13, 26
James Thompson do 14, 26
Abner Everett Cct. 25, 27
Wm. Neville do 26,27
George Notman Oct. 18, 27
LIEUTENANTS.
John McCarty June 25, 24
Wm. McKay do 29, 24
Wm. Young Sept. 12, 26
James Lafferty do 13, 26
Andrew Steven do 13, 26
George Chalmers do 15, 26
Alex. Proudfoot do 16,26
ENSIGNS.
Samuel Mullett June 19, 24
Henry Kerr do 24,24
John Keagy Sept. 11, 26
John Wilier Howell do 12,26
George Durand do 13,26
Andw. VanEvery do 14, 26
James King Oct. 22, 27
James Crooks do 23, 27
Hiram Smith do 24, 27
George Brown do 25, 27
John Bastedo do 26,27
ADJUTANT.
G. Notman, Capt Oct. 18, 27
m. OOBE.
COLONEL.
Thomas Taylor Apr. 2, 23
LIEUTENANT-COLONEL.
Robert Land May 25, 30
MAJOE.
Abel Land May 25, 30
CAPTAINS.
Joseph Bimey Apr. 2, 23
Elijah Secord do 2,23
Danl. K. Servos do 2,23
John Secord do 9,23
Peter Hamilton do 10, 23
Andw. T. Kirby do 15,23
Daniel Lewis do 16, 23
Wm. B. VanEvery Oct. 27, 27
Jonathan Petit May 25, 30
Henry Beasley do 26, 30
LIEUTENANTS.
Jacob Springstead .... Apr. 2, 23
Simon Bradt do 4, 23
David Alnias do 5, 23
John Depue do 10, 23
Adam Young do 11,23
Thomas Choate do 12,23
Abnn. K. Smith do 15,23
W. B. Sheldon, Q-M June 5, 25
Thomas H. Taylor May 25, 30
Ashman Pettit do 26,30
•Michl. Aikman do 27, 30
Robert W, Taylor do 28,30
John Schneider do 29,30
QUARTER-MASTER.
Caleb Hopkins Oct. 18, 27
SURGEON.
Nathaniel Bell June 18, 24
ENSIGNS.
James Wilson Apr. 23, 23
James Lewis do 24, 23
J. B. Rousseau May 25, 30
James Hughson do 26, 30
David Springer do 27, 30
R. Otto Proctor do 28,30
40
wentWorth historical society
QUARTEE-MASTEE. QUAETEE-MASTEE.
W. B, Sheldon June 5,25 J. McA. Cameron Nov. 24, 23
SUEGEON.
Oliver Tiffany Apr. 2, 23
IV. GOBE.
COLONEL.
John Chisholm Aug. 12, 24
LIEUTENAIS T-COLONEL.
Allan MacNab May 24, 30
MAJOE.
Thomas Smith May 24, 30
CAPTAINS.
Wm. Ellis Sept. 12, 20
Alex. Chewett June 19, 23
Thomas Lucas Nov. 26, 23
Ward Smith do 27, ^3
Eobert Murray do 28, 23
William Holme Dec. 1,23
Luke V. Speer do 2, 23
John Thornor, Adj July 22, 26
LIEUTENANTS. .
Jacob Coehenour Nov. 24, 23
Aaron D. Vrooman do 25, 23
Peter VanEvery do 26, 33
William Coulson do 27, 23
John Beatty Dec. 2,23
ENSIGNS.
James Jones Nov. 24, 23
Zephaniah Seton do 25, 23
Charles VanEvery do 26, 23
Alpheus Smith do 27,23
Richard Ferguson do 28, 23
Samuel Smith do 29,23
Henry Nelles Dec. 1,23
ADJUTANT.
John Thorner July 12, 26
V. GOBE.
LIEUTENANT-COLONEL.
Wm. M. Jarvis May 3,30
MAJOE.
Peter McCollum May 3,30
CAPTAINS.
Henry Trout Sept. 11, 26
William Kent do 11, 26
Thomas Stevens do 11, 26
George Thompson do 12, 26
James McNab Oct. 16, 27
George Trout ;. .Oct. 17, 27
Thomas Fyf e do 18, 27
Adam StuU,, Adj do 19,27
LIEUTENANTS.
Alex. Campbell Sept. 13, 26
Wm. Campbell do 14,26
William Trout Oct. 16, 27
Archd. McKinnon do 17, 27
John Burns do 19, 27
ENSIGNS.
Alex. McNab Sept. 12, 26
Stephen McCollum do 15, 26
Henry Fyfe Oct. 13, 27
John O 'Eeilly do 14, 27
John Meredith do 15,27
Dugald Livingstone .... do 17, 27
Angus McCall do 17,27
John Fisher do 18, 27
James Stevens do 19, 27
ADJUTANT.
Adam StuU, Capt Oct. 19, 27
QUARTEE-MASTEE.
John Burns Oct. 19, 27
WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
41
As yet we have found no list of Gore Militia between 1831
and 1838. During the rebellion four Battalions of Incorporated
Militia were raised in the Province, the 1st Battalion being raised
in Wentworth under Col. Gourlay, late of the Welsh Fusiliers,
and Allan X. ]\IacXab. Besides these the Militia force con-
sisted of 12 Provincial battalions, 106 regiments of country
Militia and 31 corps of artillery, cavalry and rifles.
From a general order of 13th December, 1838, we find the
following appointments to the 3rd and 12th Gore Regiments, and
that the Gore Militia had then twelve regiments- Following is
the list :
APPOINTMENTS.
THIRD GOBE BEGIMENT.
13th December, 1838.
To be Captains—
Lieut. Miles O'Eeilly
C'apt. Bichard O. Duggan, from
First East York.
Henry Cornwall, Esq., late of
the First West India Eegt.
Lieut. James Hughson
John Snider, Esq.
Thomas Lotridge, Esq.
Isaac Webster, Esq.
Bobert F. Ainslie, Esq.
To be Lieutenants—
Bobert Berrie. Gent
Hamilton R. O'Beilly, late of
the London "Volunteers.
James W. Eitchie, Gent.
Daniel C. Gunn^ Gent.
Alex. Fee^ Gent.
George S. Tiffany, Gent,
Hugh B. Wilson,' Gent,
John Bradler, Gent.
Francis G. Stanton, Gent.
Ttomas Allen Blythe, Gent
John Cameron, Gent.
To be Ensigns—
John A. Land, Gent.
Robert Land, Jonr., Gent,
Charles McGill, Gent.
John Ferrie, Gent.
Bobert Wetherell, Gent.
William Keams, Gent.
George Hughson, Gent.
Andrew Stewart, Gent.
To be Quarter-Master.
Lieut. John Cameron.
TWELFTH REGIMENT, GOBE.
To be Major-
Captain Elijah Secord, from
Third Gore.
George Leith, Esquire
Andrew Newell, Esq.
John Williamson, Tsq.
Nathaniel Hughson Esq.
Alexander Calder, Esq.
Henry Morgan, Esq.
James L. Willson, Esq.
To be Lieutenants-
Henry Magill, Gent.
James Duff, Gent.
William Benner, Gent.
John Gage, Gent, from Third
Gore.
John McKerlie, Gent.
William Gage, Gent.
Peter Oage, Gent.
42 WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Charles Depew, Gent. Elijah W, Secord, Gent.
John Carpenter, Gent. Alexander Duff, Gent.
Levi Lewis, Gent.
To be Ensigns—
To be Paymaster-
William Blackie, Esq.
John Lee, Gent, from Third Gore.
William Alexander, Davis, Gent.
John McDavid, Gent. To be Surgeon-
David Kerns, Gent.
Matthew B. Secord, Gent. — McCartney, Esq.
Henry Carpenter, Gent.
Thomas Davis, Gent.
Elisha Bingham, Gent, from To be Quarter-Master—
Third Gore. John Galbraith, Gent.
1837.
The Third Gore Regiment did duty in and about Hamilton
in 1837-8. From the orderly book of Captain Daniel Lewis it
appears that service commenced on the 6th of December, 1837,
the day before the attack on Toronto, known as the Battle of
Gallows Hill. Colonel MacNab took 60 "men of Gore" to Tor-
onto by steamer that day to the great satisfaction of the Gover-
nor. A regimental order directed that Captain Gourlay, late of
the 23rd Regiment, ''will be pleased to superintend all duties
and give the necessary instructions to Sergt- Major Powell," etc.
On the 16th the detail included a Main Guard of 40 men under
Lieut. John Lee— a guard at Dundurn, called the "Castle
Guard," under Lieut. A. Pettit, which was posted at "the Bat-
tery Lodge at Col. MacNab 's," the Bank Guard, under Ensign
H. Lutz, and a Guard at Beasley's Hollow, under Lieut. John
Snider, the Mountain Picquet at the Mountain View, under
Lieut. F. Snider, and the Town Picquet under Lieut. James Lewis.
Other commissioned officers were Capt. John Urquhart, Adjt.
Thos. Nichols, Capt. Thos. Wilson, Capt. John McDavid, Capt.
Henry Beasley, Ensign Levi Lewis, Lieut- Chas. McGill, Lieut.
G. F. Stanton, Ensign Conn, Capt. James Hughson, Lieut. John
Gage, Ensign Duff, Ensign Griffin, W. Scott-Burn, Lieut. Thos.
Davis, Lieut. J. M. Pettit, Sergt. James Coombs, David Gilkison,
Abram Springstead, W. W. Secord, Henry Watts, Capt. Wm^
WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY 43
Lane, Lieut. John Doyle, Lieut. J- D. Oliver, Lieut. J. M. Parkins,
Lieut. H. E. Carpenter, Capt. Jos. Birney, Capt. Peter H. Hamil-
ton, Capt. Servos, Lieut. Wm. Hill, Lieut. John Young, Ensign
James Duff.
On the 28th of December a general order advised the Colonel
"that a most unprovoked attack has lately been made upon our
frontier by a number of citizens of the State of New York, who
have collected in arms and offer publicly the land of this Prov-
ince as a booty to their followers," and reference was made to
the Militia Act of 1808, requiring Militia men to bring with them
to the point to which they might be ordered, a serviceable "gun,
fusil or musket," and six rounds of powder and ball.
In 1837 a !Mr. Bailey kept an eating and lodging house at
the corner of Main and John streets, known as "David Farley's
Corner." During the troubles— but whether before or after the
attack on Toronto in December, is not related— two rooms were
secured at Bailey's for MacKenzie by Ebenezer Griffin, of Water-
down, MacKenzie being unknown to the landlord- MacKenzie
planted a table in front of the Court House, and was soliciting sig-
natures to one of his many protests or petitions. After he retired,
Mr. Kerr, of Wellington Square, and George Pettit, of Tapley-
town, enquired at Bajley's for MacKenzie, whereupon Mr. Bailey
fainted "at the foot of the stairs." MacKenzie was dragged to
the street, after a scuffle, but was rescued and piloted at night
into Nelson, it is said to Dr. Rolph's, on Dundas street, and
thence to Toronto. (M. A. Bailey's statement.)
Note— Mr. George D. Griffin, now of Parkdale, Toronto, Ont., was the
second son of Ebenezer C. Griffin, of Waterdown, and was thirteen years
of age in 1837. He says his father was friendly with Wm. L. MacKenzie,
while he confined himself to constitutional methods, bat broke with him
sometime prior to the rebellion, and was bitterly attacked in the editorial
columns of MacKenzie 's paper. The militia gathered at E. C. Griffin 'g
home in Waterdown at the time of the Gallows Hill affair, and he served
with the militia on the Niagara Eiver in 1838. He held a commission as
Lieutenant in the 7th Gore Regiment. (See pp. 13-18, Vol. 3, Transactions
^entworth Historical Society.)
44 WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
JOSEPH BIRNEY.
Joseph Birney was born in Orange County, N. Y., in 1777.
His father lost his life in the Royal service, and his mother went
to Nova Scotia, but moved to the head of Lake Ontario, first to
reside at Robert Land's, and afterwards in Ne'son Township.
In 1812 Joseph Birney was an Ensign in Samuel Hatt's company
which accompanied Brock to Detroit- He was active at the
Battle of Queenston Heights, and was wont to describe the grief
of McDonell at the fall of his chief, and of his own heroic sacri-
fice. Birney 's trade as a ship carpenter made him a useful m^n
for the engineers. He built a bridge for the troops across the
water gap at Burlington Heights, and was engaged in construct-
ing defensive works on Burlington Plains during the Battle of
Stoney Creek, for use in the event of retreat from the height^.
In 1821 he was a lieutenant in the 1st Gore and was a captain in
the 3rd Gore, Col. Taylor's regiment, *in 1823. He was one of the
"men of Gore" at Montgomeries' in 1837. He related how Capt.
George Chisholm lead the men into action. As the company was
crossing the open, a bullet struck the stock of Chisholm 's musket
with such force as to knock Chisholm down. One of his com-
pany dropped on his knee, and taking deliberate aim at a rebel
sharpshooter behind a stump, shot him, through the head.
Whether this man was the only rebel killed, referred to by Mr,
Dent, we cannot say.
CAPTAIN GEORGE GORDON LEITH.
Captain George Gordon Leith, of the 3rd Gore, in 1838, was
born in Armagh, Ireland, in 1812. His father being Adjutant
General of the Forces in Ireland at the time. He came to Canada
in 1834 and settled in Binbrook, where he remained until the
death of his father, when he returned to Scotland, where he mar-
ried and resided until 1854. Returning then to Canada, he took
up his abode at the Hermitage in Ancaster, where he lived until
his death in 1887. Captain Ijeith was visited in Binbrook by hi^
C'-VPT. Geouge Gordon Lkith.
WENTWURTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY 45
father, Major General Sir George Leith, Bart, who there ex-
pended considerable sums in roadways and other public works-
It is noteworthy that Mr. Leith and Col. Gourlay came about the
same time, just before the rebellion, and were neighbors. Sir
George Leith was the son of Sir Alexander Leith, who was killed
at the seige of Havana. He entered the army at an early age, his
first commission being in the 88th Regt.. in 1779. He served in
Jamaica and joined the 71st Regt at Madras in 1786, and was
present under Lord Cornwallis at the Seige of Seringapatam in
May, 1799, and saw considerable service under Sir Arthur Wel-
lesley. He was appointed Governor— the whole civil and mili-
tary authority— of Penang, in 1800, a position he held until 1806,
receiving while there a costly set of Indian china, a gift from the
King of Burmah, in recognition of his services. After a service
of nineteen years in India, he returned home and was appointed
Asst. Adjt.- General in Ireland, and in 1813 Lieut.-Colonel of the
42nd Highland Regt., and a Major General in 1819. Sir George
Leith died in Edinburgh in 1842, aged 76. (Gentleman's ^Nlag.,
1842.)
From Fother gill's almanac of 1839, a fuU list of the oflScers
of the Gore District Militia is taken, including the territorial
limits of each regiment, together with the date of commissions,
from which it would appear that in 1838 there was a patriotic
response to the alarm created by the ^lacKenzie rebellion, and
we remember that those who opposed him were resisting more
than a fight for enlarged popular rights; they were opposing,
also, an open attempt to subvert British rule in Canada, and to
create a republic therein :
1st EEGIMENT GORE. MAJOR.
Limits: .Township of Ancaster James Aikman Nov. 27, 38
and the adjacent Indian lands,
o^x ^^x^x CAPTAINS.
COLONEL.
Jas. Geddes May 19, 36
R'd. Hall do 20,36
LIEUTENANT-COLONEL, j \ ^^^^^^ do 231 36
Matt. Crooks Sept. 8,38 Jas. Chep June 2,36
46
WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
John Aljnas Nov. 27, 38
Jos. Eymal do 27, 38
Alex. Btnkley do 27, 38
Thos. Crpoks do 27,38
Fred'k Suter do 27, 38
Jas. Sampson do 27, 38
LIEUTENANTS.
Wm. Kirby Apr. 14, 23
Ed. Vanderlip May 19, 36
Philip Staver Nov. 27, 38
Preserved Cooley do 27, 38
Sam '1 Hamil do 27, 38
J. Ashborough do 27, 38
Thos. Burry do 27, 38
Sam'l Aikman do 27,38
Jno. McKenzie do 27,38
J. C. Chadwick do 27,38
ENSIGNS.
Chas. Brown Nov, 27,38
Wm. Mclntyre do 27, 38
G. Chrysler do 27,38
Jas. Fields do 27, 38
Wm. Martin ^ do 27, 38
E'd Wardle do 27, 38
M. Hendershdt do 27, 38
Jas. Murray do 27, 38
G. P. Kousseau do 27, 38
John Crooks do 27, 38
ADJUTANT.
J. S. Sampson do 27, 38
SUEGEON.
Thos. Eolph July 2,38
OAVAIiBY.
CAPTAIN.
Alex'r Milne Nov. 2,38
LIEUTENANT.
E. P. Crooks Nov. 2, 38
COENET.
J. W. Cooley Nov. 2,38
2nd aOBE REGIMENT.
Limits: Township of Trafalgar,
COLONEL.
Wm. Chisholm May 3,30
LIEUTENANT-COLONEL.
Chas Bigger Nov. 9, 38
MAJOE.
Alex. Proudfoot Nov. 9, 38
CAPTAINS.
Geo. Notman Oct. 18, 27
Jas. King Nov. 9, 38
Geo. Brown do 9, 38
Geo. Sproat do 9, 38
G. E. Chisholm do 9,38
Joseph Bowes do 9, 38
Amos Biggar do 9, 38
Angus McQueen do 9, 38
Wm. Bussell do 9, 38
J. B. Harrison do 9, 38
Wm. Hutton ... do 9, 38
J. S. Diamond do 9, 38
Merrick Thomas do 9, 38
LIEUTENANTS.
Eobt. Smith Nov. 9,38
Levi Wilson do 9, 38
E. K. Chisholm do 9, 38
Wm. Biggar do 9, 38
Aug. Smith do 9, 38
Amos Jeffrey do 9, 38
Eob't Webster do 9,38
John Street do 9, 38
P. Lawrence do 9, 38
Thos. Lloyd do 9, 38
ENSIGNS.
Jas. Belyea Nov. 9,38
Sam '] Clark do 9, 38
E 'd Biggar do 9, 38
Thos. Faux do 9, 38
S. C. Kenny do 9, 38
Geo. Marlatt do 9, 38
Jas. Young do 9, 38
J. Ferguson do 9, 38
Wm. Chisholm do 9, 38
Geo. Marlatt , . • do 9, 38
Major-Gex. Sir Geokhk Leith, Bart.
WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
47
ADJUTANT.
Geo. Notman Oct. 18, 27
J. B. Diamond Nov. 9, 38
QUAKTER-MASTER.
Ed. Anderson do 9, 38
SURGEON.
W. McPherson Nov. 9,38
ASST. SURGEON.
E. Richardson Nov. 9,38
CAVALRY.
CAPTAIN.
J. L. Biggar Nov. 9,38
LIEUTENANT.
O. Hammond Xov. 9, 38
CORNET.
John Back Nov. 9,38
1st LIEUTENANT.
Jas. Arnott Nov. 9, 38
2nd LIEUTENANT.
W. Delmage Nov. 9,38
Srd 60BE.
Limits: Town of Hamilton and
Township of Barton.
COLONEL.
Sir A. N. MacNab
.May 4, 36
LIEUTENANT-COLONEL.
Robt. Land May ,25, 30
MAJOR.
Abel Land May 25, 30
CAPTAINS.
Jos. Birney ....... Apr. 2, 23
W. B. VanEvery Oct. 17, 27
John Pettit Mar. 25, 30
Henry Beasley ...do 26,30
Thos.* Choat do 27, 30
M. O 'Reilly Dec. 13, 38
R 'd O. Duggan do 13, 38
H. Cornwall do 13,38
Jas. Hughson do 13, 38
John Snider do 13, 38
T. Lottridge do 13,38
Isaac Webster do 13, 38
R. F. Ainslie do 13,38
LIEUTENANTS.
J. Springstead Apr. 2,23
Simon Bradt do 4,23
David Almas do 5, 23
John Depue do 10,23
Adam Young do 11, 23
Ab'm R. Smith do 15,23
W. B. Sheldon June 5,25
J. H. Taylor May 25, 30
Ashman Pettit May 26, 30
M. Aikman do 27.30
R. W. Tavlor do 28,30
J. Sneider do 29, 30
Jas. Lewis do 27, 31
Robert Berrie do 27,31
H. R. O'Reillv do 27,31
J. W. Ritchie ' do 27, 31
D. C. Gunn do 27, 31
Alex. Fee do 27,31
G. S. Tiffanv do 27,31
H. B. Wilson do 27,31
John Bradley do 27,31
F. G. Stanton do 27,31
T. A. Blvthe do 27,31
J. Cameron do 27,31
ENSIGNS.
Jas. Hughson May 16, 30
D. Springer do 27,30
R. O. Proctor do 28,30
John J. Law do 27,31
J. McDavid do 27,31
M. O 'Reillv do 27, 31
C. C. Ferrie do 27,31
D. Keams do 27,31
J. A. Land Dee. 13, 38
Rob't Land, Jr do 13. 38
ChM MoGill do 13,38
48
WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
John Ferrie Dec. 13, 38
R. Weatherall do 13,38
Geo. Hughson do 13, 38
And'w Stewart do 13 38
ADJUTANT.
R. W. Taylor do 13, 38
QUARTERMASTER.
W. B. Sheldon June 5, 25
John Cameron do 6, 35
SURGEON.
Gerald O'Reilly June 6,25
PAYMASTER.
W. Scott Burn Apr. 7, 38
CAVAIiRY.
CAPTAIN
D. Servos Apr. 2, 23
SECOND CAPTAIN.
VT. Aikman Oct. 4,37
LIEUTENANT.
John Land Oct. 4, 37
SECOND LIEUTENANT.
R. J. Hamilton Oct. 4,37
CORNET.
J. B. Rosseau May 25, 30
4th BEGIMENT GOSE.
Limits: Township of Dumfries.
COLONEL.
Wm. Dickson Apr. 23, 28
LIEUT.-COLONEL.
A. M'DonneU Dec. 7, 37 P, M'Colm Nov, 9, 38
MAJOR.
Thos. Smith May 7,37
CAPTAINS.
Wm. Ellis Sept. 12, 21
Alex. Chewitt Jan. 19, 23
Thos. Lucas do 26, 23
Ward Smith do 27, 23
Rob 't Murray do 28, 26
Wm. Halme .Dec. 1, 26
L. N. Spurr do 2, 26
John Thorner Feb. 22, 26
LIEUTENANTS.
J. Cocheneur Nov. 24, 23
D. Vrooman do 25, 23
P. S. Every do 26, 23
Wm. Coulson do 27, 23
John Beaty Dec. 2,23
ENSIGNS.
James Jones Nov. 24, 23
Z. Senton do 25, 23
G. V. Every do 26, 23
Alpheus Smith do 27,23
R. Ferguson do 28,23
Sam Smith do 29,23
Henry Nellis Dec. 1,23
ADJUTANT.
John Thorner July 22, 26
QUARTER-MASTER.
Jno. McAlpine Cameron Nov. 24^ 23
Sth REGIMENT GORE,
Limits: Townships of Nassaga*
wega and Esquesing.
COLONEL.
George Chalmers July 5, 38
LIEUT.-COLONEL.
WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
40
MAJOR.
Wm. Kent Nov. 9, 38
CAPTAINS.
Alex. Campbell Nov. 9, 38
Wm. Campbell do 9,38
A. McKinnon do 9,38
John Burns do 9, 38
A. McXab do 9,38
Jaa. Stevens do 9, 38
Alex. Campbell do 9,38
Wm. Clay do 9,38
Adam Sproat do 9, 38
E. Leonard do 9, 38
LIEUTENANTS.
Wm. Logie do 9, 38
Thos. Chisholm do 9, 38
Wm. Stull do 9, 38
Alex. McCann do 9,38
Wm. Morrison do 9, 38
Geo. Thompson do 9, 38
Wm. Armstrong do 9, 38
Eobt. Morrison o 9, 38
J. MeKinnon do 9,38
David Carridice do 9, 38
ENSIGN.
A. McJ?:innon Nov. 9,38
Wm. McKenney o 9, 38
Thos. 'Burns .' do 9, 38
James Sterret do 9, 38
A. McQuarrie ...do 9,38
Eob't.Moffatt do 9,38
J. Kimmerman do 9, 38
John Dynes do 9, 38
J. Standish do 9, 38
J. B. Switzer do 9, 38
ADJUTANT.
James McNabb do 9,38
QUARTEE-MASTEE.
Thos. Joyce do 9, 38
SURGEON.
Jas. Cobban do 9, 38
CAVALRY.
CAPTAIN.
Alex. Lewis do 9, 38
LIEUTENANTS.
J. Donaldson do 9, 38
CORNET.
Geo. Lynd do 9, 38
6tli REGIMENT GORE.
Limits: Township of Guelph.
COLONEL.
LIEUT.-COLONEI..
Brook Young Jan. 5, 38
MAJOR.
CAPTAINS.
John Poore Aug. 19, 30
Geo. Wilson do 19,30
R. P. Webb .do 19.30
Henrv Strange do 19, 30
Thos.' Saunders do 19, 30
Jeflfrev Lynch do 19,30
Ed. Heath do 19,30
Jno. Smith do 19,30
LIEUTENANTS.
Wm. Alexander do 19, 30
Wm. Thompson do 19, 30
Geo. Guage do 19,30
Ed. Heanney Jan. 5,38
Wm. Davis ' do 5, 38
Geo. Eoods do 5, 38
ENSIGN.
Thos. Kennedy Aug. 19, 35
Walter Fulton do 19, 35
John Si>eer8 do 19, 35
Chas. Grange do 19,35
50
WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Ed. Thompson Aug. 19, 35
Geo. Harvey do 19, 35
J. Weatherall do 19,35
Frank Smith do 19.35
ADJUTANT.
Ed. Thompson Aug. 19, 35
Wm. Brown May 15, 38
David Persons do 15, 38
Eobt. Dickie do 15, 38
E. Kirkpatrick do 15, 38
Kenneth Wishart do 15, 38
A. M. Chisholm do 15, 38
Absalom Griffin do 15, 38
J. Ferguson do 15, 38
QUARTEE-MASTEE. ADJUTANT.
James Corbett Jan. 5,38 Joseph Davis do 15,38
7tli EEGIMENT GOBE.
Limits: Township of Flamboro,
East and West.
COLONEL.
J. Chisholm Apr. 23, 38
LIEUT. COLONEL.
Alex. Brown ....... May 15, 38
MAJOR.
And. Stevens .May 15, 38
CAPTAINS.
James Crooks May 15, 38
Fred. Fields do 15, 38
John O. Hatt do 15, 38
W. M. Shaw do 15, 38
H. Young do 15, 38
B. Overfield do 15,38
Alex. Brown do 15, 38
Robt. McNaught do 15, 38
Joseph Davis do 15, 38
LIEUTENANTS.
J. Patterson do 15,38
Wm. Miller do 15, 38
John Weir do 15, 38
E. C. Griffin do 15, 38
John Millar do 15, 38
Thos. Smith do 15, 38
Eobt, Lottridge do 15, 38
J. G. Chisholm do 15, 38
ENSIGNS.
J. Taarquharson May 15, 38
QUAETER-MASTER.
E. M. Wheeler do 15, 38
Sth BEGIMENT GOBE.
Limits: Township of Nelson.
COLONEL.
Geo. Chisholm Apr. 23, 38
LIEUT.-COLONEL.
Wm. McKay ,. . .May 15, 38
MAJOE.
Hiram Smith May 15, 38
CAPTAINS.
A. W. K. Chisholm ...May 15, 38
T. Cooper do 15, 38
James Wilson do 15, 38
W. O 'Eeilly do 15, 38
John Wettenhall do 15,38
Joshua Ireland do 15, 38
John Lucas do 15, 38
John McGregor do 15, 38
J. F. Bastido do 15,38
J. A. Chisholm do 15, 38
LIEUTENANTS.
And. Pettit May 15, 38
David Bastids do 15, 38
J. S. McCallum do 15, 38
Wm. O'Eeilly do 15,38
A. G. McKay do 15,38
Wm. Earls do 15, 38
W. Spence do 15, 38
James Langtry do 15, 38
Jacob Bastids do J.5, 38
James Panton do 15, 38
Col. George Chlsholm.
Boni, Sept. 16, 1792; died, Jan. :il. 1S72.
WENTWOPTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
51
ENSIGNS.
D. McGregor May 15, 38
John Atkinson do 15, 38
Wra. McKirley do 15, 38
Thos. Atkinson do 15,38
Geo. Crooks do 15, 38
Wm. Panton do 15, 38
Eobt. Millar do 15, 38
Ed. Thompson do 19. 35
ADJUTANT.
James Panton May 15, 38
QUARTER-MASTER.
W. D. Chisholm May 15, 38
SURGEON.
Nath. Bell May 15, 38
9tli REGIMENT. GOBE.
Limits: Townships of Waterloo,
Woolwich, Wilmot and the adjacent
Clergy Reserves.
lOth GOBE BEGTMF.NT.
Limits: Town and Township of
Brantford.
COLONEL.
Arnold Burrows Mar. 20, 38
LIEUT.-COLONEL.
W. Richardson May 8,38
MAJOR.
Thos. E. Wilby May 8, 38
CAPTAINS.
J. Thomes May 8,38
Wm. Muirhead do 8, 38
Robt. Buttersby do 8, 38
J. K. Buchanan do 8, 38
J. Wilds do 8, 38
R. Cotton do 8,38
T. Gore Swayze do 8, 38
James Wilkes do 8,38
Alex. Bnnnell do 8,38
Thos. Burrows do 8, 38
LIEUTENANTS.
Francis Gordon May 8, 38
Charles Dixon do 8, 38
John Coles do 8, 38
R. W. Burrows do 8,38
Angus Bethune do 8, 38
Joseph Smith do 8, 38
Geo. Richardson do 8, 38
Francis Hunter d9 8, 38
Sam. McKnight do 8, 38
ENSIGNS.
Thomas Racey May 8,38
Arnold Burrows do 8, 38
Wm. H. Yeoward do 8, 38
Wm. Robertson do 8, 38
John Biles do 8,38
Thos. Haney do 8, 38
Ab 'm Hawley do 8,38
John J. Files do 8,38
ADJUTANT.
T. Wakeman Nov. 13, 38
QUARTERMASTER.
J. Gardiner May 8,38
SURGEON.
James Dixon May 8, 38
PAY MASTER.
J. Muirhead Nov. 1,38
CAVALBT.
CAPTAIN.
M. Wilson May 8,38
LIEUTENANT.
A. Westbrook May 8, 38
CORNET.
Russell O'Dea May 8,38
52
WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
11th GORE EEGIMENT.
12th EEGIMENT. GOBE.
Limits: Townships of Beverly Limits: Township of Glanford,
and Pushlinch. Binbrook and Saltfleet.
COLONEL.
A. T. Kirby Apr. 23, 38
LIEUT.-COLONEL.
J. Hamilton May 15, 38
MAJOR.
Edward Heath May 25, 38
CAPTAINS.
Adam Ainslie May 25, 38
Robt. Haniell do 25, 38
A. Vrooman do 25,38
A. Cornell, Sen do 25, 38
B, Babbington Jan. 30, 38
J, Hammersley do 30, 38
Adam Robertson do 30, 39
R. W. Kerr do 30,39
LIEUTENANT.
James Jones Jan. 30, 39
Hugh Fairgrave do 30, 39
Aaron Cornell, Jun do 30, 39
Samuel Congo do 30, 39
C. C. Fields do 30, 39
T. C. Jarney do 30, .39
F. M. Stone do 30, 39
Henry William do 30, 39
T. L. C. Leathers do 30, 39
ENSIGNS.
Wm. Leslie May 25, 38
James Lynch Jan. 30, 39
Geo. Colclough do 30, 39
T. Laureson do 30, 39
John Heath '..do 30,39
Francis Kerr do 30, 39
John Fairgrave do 30, 39
QUARTERMASTER.
John Ennig Jan. 30, 39
COLONEL.
LIEUT.-COLONEL.
W. Gourlay : Dec. 24, 33
MAJOR.
E. Secord Dec. 24, 38
CAPTAINS.
John Secord Dec. 24, 38
Dan. Lewis do 24, 38
Geo. Leith do 24, 38
Andrew Newal do 24, 38
John .Williamson do 24, 38
N. Hughson do 24, 38
Alex. Calder do 24,38
Henry Morgan do 24, 38
Jas. L. Willson do 24, 38
LIEUTENANTS.
Henry McGill Dec. 24, 38
James DufE do 24, S8
Wm. Benner do 24, 38
John Gage do 24, 38
John McKirley do 24, 38
Peter Gage do 24, 38
Robt. Gage do 24, 38
Chas. Depew do 24, 38
John Carpenter do 24, 38
Levi Lewis do 24, 38
ENSIGNS.
John Lee Dec. 24, 38
Wm. Alex. Lewis do 24, 38
John M. David do 24, 38
David Kearns do 24, 38
Mat. B. Secord do 24, 38
H. Carpenter do 24,38
Thos. Davis do 24,38
Elisha Bingham do 24, 38
E. W. Secord do 24, 38
Alex. Du£f do 24, 38
Capt. Alexander Roxburgh.
WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
'i\
QUARTERMASTER.
John Galbraith Dec. 24, 38
SURGEON.
Wm. Henry McCartney .. Dec. 24, 3S
PAY MASTER.
Wm. Blackie do 24, 38
13th REGIMENT GORE.
Limits: Township of Nicol, Era-
mosa, Erin and Garafraxa.
COLONEL.
A. Ferguson Mar. 20, 33
LIEUT.-COLONEL.
Wm. Hewart Sept. 27, 38
MAJOR.
James Webster Sept. 27, 38
CAPTAINS.
Wm. Buist ,Sept. 27, 38
Henry Trout do 27,38
T. W. Valentine do 27, 38
Thos. Webster do 27,38
A. C. Huntley do 27,38
A. D. Ferrar do 27,38
J. M. Clean Sept . Tt, .*<
Wm. Renney do 27,38
D. Henderson do 27, 38
J, M'Kee do 27, 38
LIEUTENANTS.
D. B. Ferguson Sept. 27, 38
Alex. Drysdale do 27, 38
.lohn Valentine do 27,38
R. M'Donald do 27,38
Alex. Campbell do 27,38
J. Dinwwodie do 27,38
D. Bernard do 27, 38
John Kennedy do 27,38
J. Smith Apr. 27, 38
James O'Reilly do 27,38
ENSIGNS.
C. C. Hamilton Apr. 27, 38
T. R. Brock do 27, 38
Thos. Callendice do 27,38
Mat. Smith do 27, 38
James Ross do 27, 38
S. Broadfoot do 27,38
Alex. Harvey do 27, 38
Jos. Mair . ." do 27, 38
J. Graham do 27, 38
ADJUTANT.
Wm. Buist Sept. 27, 38
QUARTERMASTER. ... .
Hugh Black Sept, 27, 38
CAPTAIN ALEXANDER ROXBURGH.
Capt. Alexander Roxburgh was born at Kirkcudbright,
Scotland, in 1774. In 1799 he sailed for Canada, a fellow-passen-
ger with Dr., afterwards Bishop, Strachan. In 1812, from among
the settlers of Glengarry— mainly disbanded Highlanders — he
raised a company in the Glangarry Light Infantry, and received
a commission as Captain. ''To the Jacobites of 1745, to the U. E.
Loyalists of 1775," says* Coffin, "was added a gallant band of
Scottish soldiers, who had fought for the crown against Republi-
can France from 1792 to 1803." The descendants of men who
4
^ WEXTWOI^TH historical SOCtETV
had braved "CullodeD's fateful moor," but whose loyalty was
such, that regardless of names, genealogies or dynasties, they
looked to the principle, and whether it was for James, or whether
it was for George, struck heartily and home in the abiding senti-
ment of Bonnie Dundee :
"Ere the King's crown shall fall, there are crowns to lie broke. "
Captain Roxburgh commanded his company throughout
the war, was wounded at the taking of Fort George, in IMay,
1813, and participated in the notable service of the Fencibles at
Lundy's Lane, where they formed the right of the British line.
The regiment was disbanded in 1816, and in 1832 Capt. Rox-
burgh settled in Ancaster. He was on service in 18 37-8, and in
1841 moved to Hamilton, where he acted as magistrate with
Major Arthur Bowen. His wife was Euphemia, daughter of
Alexander Melville, of Barqular, Scotland, who predeceased her
husband at Ancaster in 1834. Captain Roxburgh died at Ham-
ilton, and was buried in St- John's Churchyard, Ancaster, in
1856. His portrait is from a painting in 1831, in the uniform of
the Fencibles. Though not of the Gore INIilitia his associations
are the justification for inserting his name among the officers of
the District.
ALEXANDER WISHART.
Alexander Wishart, Colonel of the 4th Gore Regt. in 1823, it
might be said, was a soldier both by birth and by profession.
The son of Capt. Alexander Wishart, of the 78th Highlanders, .
he was born at Edinburgh Castle in 1792. The 78th being order-
ed to India, a letter from Capt- Wishart, dated Lucknow, Feb-
ruary, 1798, contains a graphic account of the accession to the
throne of Oude of Saadit AJy, and the deposition of a usurper
under British auspices. Sir Alured Clarke being Commander of
the forces, and Sir John Shore, Governor.
"Keep my boy's thoughts off military life," he then writes
his wife, "and for this reason you should not allow him to wear
red clothes or any dress of an army appearance." Notwith-
standing, at the age of twenty, on the 9th of July, 1812, his son
Alexander received a commission as a Lieutenant in the 55th
(Westmoreland) Regt. Soon after, on th€ 25th of February, 1813,
r
ft J
\
4
'-# A
f^' r
Col. William Munson Jakvis
WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY 55
he was appointed to a Lieutenancy in the 42nd Royal Highland
Regt. Having, in 1813, married Janet, daughter of Capt. Hector
McLean, also of the 42nd, in 1820 he brought his wife to Flam-
borough, in the County of Wentworth, V. C. The winter trip
from York to Flamborough is described by Mrs. Wishart— on
the 6th Dec, 1820: "We met Major Simons coming to meet us in
a sleigh with three of his children- He insisted that we should
go to his house and remain there for a few days, etc
I attended the St. Andrew's Ball at Dundas. A ^Irs. Crooks and
I led the way with Major Simons into the ball-room, where we
danced till seven o'clock the next morning. I had the honour
of dancing with the highly accomplished Capt. Brandt," etc.
Colonel Wishart died in West Flamboro on the 10th Dec,
1823, at the age of 31. In 1838, his son, Kenneth McLean, re-
ceived an Ensign's commission in the 7th Gore Regt. The lands
first acquired by Alexander Wishart are still in the occupation
of the family. The descendants of Hector McLean preserve with
pride a small silver "stirrup cup" presented to their ancestor
by Prince Charlie, the night before Culloden. The cup bears
the inscription "C. S."
WILLIAM MUNSON JARVIS-
William Munson Jarvis, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fifth
Gore, and also sheriff of the Gore District in 1830, was a younger
son of Mr. Secretary William Jarvis — so prominently connected
with the beginning of the government of Upper Canada— and
his wife, Hannah 0., daughter of the Rev. Dr. Samuel Peters, of
Connecticut. William Jarvis had been an officer in Simcoe's
"Queen's Loyal Rangers," and after the war returned to Eng-
land with Colonel Simcoe. Dr. Peter's history of Connecticut,
published at the close of the revolution, is now conceded to con-
tain a true picture of New England before the rebellion, though
the first edition was put under the ban on its arrival in the
States, and burned. W. M. Jarvis was born at Niagara in 1793,
then the seat of government. With his brother, Samuel Peters
Jarvis, he took an active part in the War of 1812, and at Lundy's
56 WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Lane, with Richard Hatt, Titus Geer Simons, Manuel Overfield
and other militiamen of West York and Lincoln, he Avas wound-
ed, from the effect of which the sight of his right eye was des-
troyed. He married Miss Anne S. Racey in 1828, and was ap-
pointed sheriff of the Gore District in 1827. He died at Hamil-
ton in 1867. (See Ontarian Families— Chadwick ; and Can.
Archives Report, 1898-262.)
MILES O'REILLY.
Miles O'Reilly, a Captain in the 3rd Gore, in 1838, was born
in Stamford Township, in May, 1806. He was of U. E. Loyalist
descent. In 1824 he commenced to study law under ]Mr. Brecken-
ridge, at Niagara, and continued his studies later in Toronto
under Robert Baldwin. He was called to the Bar in 1830, and at
once commenced practice in Hamilton, the other practitioners
then being Allan Napier MacNab and Robert Berrie. When the
rebellion broke out in 1837, Mr. O'Reilly shouldered his muskel
in the ranks and was one of the band of sixty **'men of Gore"
who accompanied Sir Allan MacNab to Toronto in December.
He was appointed Judge of the Gore District Court in 1837,
succeeding Judge Thomas Taylor, and was retained after the
rebellion to defend 112 rebels tried at Hamilton before Macaulay,
C. J., and a jury, counsel for the crown being Wi'liam Draper,
afterwards Chief Justice Draper, and Sir Allan MacNab. The
tridl lasted two months. Mr. O'Reilly's local knowledge enabled
him, by challenging, to guard against a paiti/an jury. None of
the accused were found guilty- Early in the fifties the Great
Western Railway arrived in Hamilton, and Mr. O'Reilly dd
much for the city and the Company as its solicitor. In his
capacity as Judge, and afterwards a Master in Cl^anceiy. an
office to which he was appointed in 1871, Mr. O'Reilly was recog-
nized as possessing judicial ability of the highest order. In 1880
an address and service of plate were presented to him on the
fiftieth anniversary of his call to the Bar, by the Hamilton Bar,
in testimony of universal respect and a warm feeling of affection
for himself personally. A brilliant conversazione followed the
(Ai'T. Miles O'Heii.i.y
WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY hi
presentation cermony in the Court House. Mr. O'Reilly died on
the 19th of August, 1890, at Hamilton. His life contributed in a
marked degree to the progress of Hamilton almost from its birth
as a village until it became a prosperous city. His wife was a
(laughter of James Racey, Esquire, who was a Major in the 1st
Gore Militia in 1824.
COLONEL WILLIAM GOURLAY.
Colonel William Gourlay, of the 12th Gore, in 1836, was born
at Berwick on the Tweed in Scotland. He had been a lieutenant
in the 23rd Regiment, "Welsh Fusiliers, in which regiment he
served from 1815 to 1836, being with his regiment— part of the
army of occupation of Paris, after Waterloo.
His father. Captain Alexander Gourlay, followed the bril-
liant record of the same regiment throughout the Peninsular
War under Wellington. William Courlay came to Canada in
1836, and settled in Binbrook, in the County of Wentworth.
From Colonel Gourlay 's orderly books, which Mrs. Gourlay has
kindly placed at the disposal of the writer, the record of the 1st
Battalion of Incorporated Militia, from its creation in Novem-
ber, 1838, to its disbanding, is recorded. In the first Regimental
order, dated Head Quarters, Hamilton, Nov. 16, 1838, is incorpor-
ated a stirring address by the Lieut-Colonel, Sir Allan MacXab,
on assuming the command, and the following officers are ap-
pointed provisionally, on their raising the quota of men required
b}' their respective ranks:
No. 1.— Captain Brown, Lieut. Patrick, Ensign Hale, Grena-
diers.
No. 2. — Captain Leonard, Lieut. Thompson, Ensign Wonham.
No. 3. — Captain Tench, Lieut. Campbell, Ensign Courtenay.
No. 4.— Captain Feilde, Lieut. McDonell, Ensign Thorner.
No. 5. — Captain L'ssher, Lieut. Gordon, Ensign Thompson.
No. 6,— Captain Chisholm, Lieut. Thorner, Ensign Campbell.
No. 7.— Captain Kelly, Lieut. Tallant, Ensign Doyle.
No. 8.— Captain Poore, Lieut. Ainsley, Ensign ^Metcalf, Light
Company.
58
WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Also that :
"The officers are to attend Major Gourlay for the purpose of
being drilled at such time as he may appoint, and Major Gourlay
is requested to report to the Lieut.-Colonel from time to time the
progress which the officers make."
By a general order of the 26th January, 1839, commissions
were granted by the Lieut. Govei-nor as follows:
November 1st, 1838.
To be Captains—
Samuel Usf=her, Esq.
Marcus Blair, Esq.
.Tames Brown, Esq.
Frederick Fei'de, E'^q.
John Poore, Esq.
Bartholomew Tench, Esq.
To be Lieutenants—
Angfus D. M;'cdone]l, Gent.
William A. Thompson, Gent.
William Lanef, Gent.
John Wold Tallant, Gent.
George H. AiHsley, Gent.
John Thorner, Gent.
Duncan M. Campbell, Gent.
Charles Patrick, Gent.
To be Ensigns—
.Joseph Courtenay, Gent.
Wm. TTssher Thompson, Gent.
Edward D. Hale, Gent.
John S. Doy.e, Gent.
.John E. Thorner, Gent.
Wm. G. Wonham, Gent.
To be Adjutant-
Captain Marcus B'air.
The following colour Sergeants were appointed on the 31st
January, 1839 :
AugUotiiie Vila No. 1.
Thomas Molloy No. 2,
Samuel Baxter No. 3.
John Kettle No. 4.
Kichard Atkins No. 5.
Jacob Bishop No. 6.
Thomas Forsyth No. 7.
and Privates George Tiffany, Lesslie Murphy and John Ferguson
were appointed Corporals.
Captain Poore, of the 8th Company, married a daughter of
Laura Secord, the heroine of Beaverdanis. On the 24th of Nov-
ember, 1838, the Gore District ]\Iilitia went into mourning for
the death of Captain Edgeworth Ussher, of the Niagara Fencibles,
who was, to quote the Brigade order, "basely and treacherously
assassinated by a portion of that gang of pirates and bandits,
who now infest the borders of this Province.."
It will be remembered that Captain Ussher was deliberately
shot and murdered on his own doorstep on the night of the 16th
of November, 1838, at Chippewa, the assassin having boldly
knocked at the door and discharged his pistol through the side
Col. William Gourlay.
WentWorth HtSToktcAL SOCIETY m
light. The murderer was Benjamin Let, the destroyer of Brock's
monument. Captain Ussher was buried in Lundy's Lane Ceme-
tery.
On the 10th of April, 1839, William Gourlay was appointed
Lieut.-Colonel of the 12th Gore, and on the 1st Battalion of In-
corporated Militia being raised in Nov., 1838, he was commis-
sioned Major of that battalion. Major Gourlay was appointed
Lieutenant-Colonel of the 1st Battalion Incorporated Militia in
1841, and in 1843, it, with the three other Incorporate 1 Militia
regiments, was disbanded, receiving expressions of the warmest
praise from the Commander of the Forces. He was also Chair-
man of the Courts Martial. Colonel Gourlay married in March,
1850, Emily, daughter of John Lionel White. Colonel Gourlay
died at Barton Lodge, in the Township of Barton, in 1867.
In 1838 the limits of the 3rd Gore were "the Town of Ham-
ilton and the Township of Barton," and some of the officers
are within the memory of those still living: Sir Allan MacNab,
Robert Land, IMiles O'Reilly, Dr. Gerald O'Reilly, George Leith,
and Robert Ainsley, who acted as Captain Leith 's second in a
duel with one Gibbs, the pistols, it is said, having been surrepti-
tiously loaded, by the waggish seconds, with red currant jam.
From the order book of Major Elijah Secord, Adjutant of
the 12th Gore (1839 to 1845) and commanding in consequence of
Colonel Gourlay 's absence with the Incorporated Battalion, it ap-
pears that the rate of pay for infantry was, for Lieut.-Colonel, 17
shillings sterling a day ; ]\Iajor, 16 shillings ; Captain, 11 shillings,
7d. ; Lieutenants, 6 shillings, 6d., and Privates, 1 shilling. A
Captain of cavalry received 14s. 7d. ; a Private, Is. 3d.
On the 27th of May, 1840, there is a regimental order that
Captain Leith shall take command of the No. 6 Company, late in
command of Captain Newell, deceased. This order book contains
the limits of each company, the formation of two flank companies
auxilary to the Incorporated Militia, with the roll of each, and
the orders relating to the restoration of Brock's Monument in
1840.
60 WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
In 1846 a new state of things was introduced, changing fhe
limits of the Gore Militia into Regimental Divisions to be divided
into Battalions composed of the Townships, as follows:
WENTWORTH
First Battalion, City of Hamilton, Lieut.-Colonel Sir A. N.
MacNab.
Second Battalion, Barton and Glanford, Lieut.-Colonel
Robert Land.
Third Battalion, Saltfleet and Binbrook, Lieut.-Colonel Wil-
liam Gourlay.
Fourth Battalion, Onondaga, Tuscarora, Oneida and Seneca.
Fifth Battalion, Ancaster, Lieut.-Colonel John Aikman.
Sixth Battalion, Brantford, Lieut.-Colonel Wm Richardson.
HALTON
First Battalion, Trafalgar, Lieut. Colonel Charles Biggar.
Second Battalion, Nelson, Lieut.-Colonel George Chisholm.
Third Battalion, Flamboro East and West, Lieut.-Colonel
James Hamilton.
Fourth Battalion, Beverly, Lieut.-Colonel, A. T. Kirby.
Fifth Battalion, Dumfries.
•Sixth Battalion, Esquesing and Nassagaweya.
Only a portion of our duty is performed in this search for,
and preservation of, these Militig lists. It is hoped that their
collection will be an incentive to further biography — the very
"woof and warp" of local history. These men were the best of
our best, and we would be remiss were we not to endeavor to
perpetuate their memory in this, their collective and voluntary
service, remembering as we do, that they were those who stood
forth :
"With hearts resolved, and hands prepared,
The blessings we enjoy to guard 1 ' '
INDEX.
John
Aikiuan. John
Aiknian, Michael
Ainsley, Robert
Applej^ai'th. Wni
Bates, Wm.
Bates, Phoelx-
Beasley, Richaiti .
Berne, Roht.
Birney, Josepli
Bonaparte
Brant, Joseph
Bradt, A.
Bi-ock, Sir Isaac .
Burgoyne
Butler, Col. John .
Butler, Col. Johnson
Butler's Rangers .
Cameron, John McA
Carpenter, Gei-shoni &
Chewett, James G
Chisholm, George
CockeivU, Richartl
Crooks, James
Davis, Wm. & Jonathan
Desjardins, Peter
Detroit. Hatt's Company at
Dodsley's Publications
Dui-and, James
Parleys
Gore, Men of Oiigin of
Gourlay. Col. Wm.
Green, John .
Griffin, Eben
Hanultf)n, Geoi-ge
Hamilton, James. M.D
Hamilton. Robt.
Hai-e, Peter and .John
Hatt, Richard
Hatt, John O.
Hatt, Samuel
Hess, Michael and Peter
Incorporated Militia in 1813
Incf>rpcirated Militia in 1838
28
28
63
John, Joshua 21
19
20
13
:fi
44
So
13
24
7-18-63
15
11
25
19
3K
29
:«
15
19
33
29
26
18
10
31
43
1 42
61
17
43
17
:«
8
23
25
-26
18
29
22
41
Tei
Indians, Enlisting in Revoluticm
Jarvis, Wm. M. .
Jones, Augustus .
Kerr, Mr.
Leeming. Rev. Ralph .
I,<eith, Sir Geoi-ge
Leith, Getu-ge G .
Lewis, Daniel
Lottridge
MacKenzie, W. Ly«m, Capture of
Maci-ae, Jane
MacXab. Allan
MacNab, Sir Allan X.
Mills, John
Morden, Ann
Morden. .Tames
Xewell, Capt.
O'Reilly, Dr. Gerald .
O'Reilly, Judge Mil.s .
Peitit, Geoi"ge
Poore, Capt.
Quarter Sessions .
Retpiests Court, of
Robertson, Alexander .
Robinson, Chief Justice
Rosseau, J. B.
Roxbui-gh, Alexander .
Ryckman, John
Secord. Elijah
Showei-s, Michael and John
Showei-s, Daniel .
Simons, T. G.
Springer, Daniel and Richai-d
Tavlor, Thomas
Tiffany, Oliver Dr.
Tiffany, Geoi"ge
Ussher, Capt. Ekigeworth.
murder of
U. E. Loyalists
Weld, Isaac
Wilson, James
Wishart, Alex.
Wyf>ming
10
50
27
43
•26
45
44
42
•£i
43
10
7
41
19
20
20
63
(W
60
43
62
:«
16
14
57
27
63
21
31
•22
17
:u
:«
6:^
63
13
9
»)
.58
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