THE PARKS FAMILY

Descendants of Hay Bay Resident of Days Gone By

Daily British Whig Mar 18 1914

Milo Parks, in his day the oldest resident of North Fredericksburgh was well known in this district, having many relatives in various parts of the county of Frontenac.

Some three years before his death which occurred at the age of eighty-seven years, the following interesting family history was published, showing interesting facts in the life of a United Empire Loyalist:

One of the oldest and most respected residents of the township of North Fredericksburgh is, says the Napanee Beaver, our venerable friend, Milo Parks, who has now for over eighty-four years, resided on the same farm on the pleasant shores of Hay Bay.

Cyrenus Parks, his father, was one of the sturdy U.E. Loyalists who settled in Upper Canada, who resolved to hew out homes for themselves out of the unbroken wilderness, resolved to live and die under the British flag. He was born at Queensbury, Charlotte county, N.Y., on December 22^nd, 1754. There he married and became a large and prosperous farmer, near the banks of the Hudson river. He had just married when the great American rebellion broke out in 1775. As the war advanced he felt it his duty to stand true to the British cause. He became a member of the Kings’ Rangers, a regiment that had a memorable record during the war and later on became a captain in that regiment. His brother James also took up arms in the same cause and became a sergeant in the regiment. By the fortunes of war they were both captured along with the others of the rangers. They were released on giving their parole not to serve again against congress during the continuance of the war. The regiment was disbanded in 1784 and most of the men finally settled in Fredericksburgh, or at other points along the Bay of Quinte.

In the crown lands department, at Toronto, is preserved an old U.E.L. list and on it are the names of Capt. Cyrenus Parks, Sergt. James Parks and Nathaniel Parks, drummer, all of the King’s Rangers. All were on the provision list, for the time the government very considerately granting necessary supplies of pork and flour until such times as the pioneers could clear and cultivate their own lands.

Irvine Parks, our county treasurer has now in his possession the certificate of his grandfather, Nathaniel, signed at St. John, December 24^th, 1783, certifying to his faithful service in the King’s Rangers provincial regiment and to his honourable discharge at the disbanding of the regiment.

D. Nelson Parks, of the Beaver office, has in his possession the family bible of his grandfather, Cyrenus. It is now over 100 years old and according to the statement on the flysheet it was bought in Kingston, “January ye 10, a.d., 1793.” The book has been in family use ever since and is still in a good state of preservation. In it is the record of the births of the parents and their twenty children, written in a very plain, bold hand, no doubt of Cyrenus himself, the head of that numerous family.

ALBERT PARKS

Observes His 86^th Birthday

Hay Bay Man Active in Community Many Years as Official

Kingston Whig Standard Oct 16 1939

Albert C. Parks of Hay Bay, who was born on October 16, 1853, quietly observed his 86^th birthday on Monday and received numerous messages of congratulation. Well known in Napanee where he is a frequent visitor, Mr. Parks is enjoying good health, so much so that one would take him to be many years younger.

Of United Empire Loyalist descent, Mr. Parks, who is a son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Milo Parks, has resided all his life on the original farm in the Township of North Fredericksburgh, which was deeded by the Crown in 1784 to Captain Cyrenus Parks, father of Milo Parks. The mother of Mr. Albert Parks, before her marriage was Miss Bathsheba Lazier, one of the best known families in the Bay of Quinte district.

Mr. Parks has been a life-long member of the Methodist and United Church and during his lifetime has taken an active interest in church work, particularly at the Hay Bay church where he has been a member since a boy. In politics he has been a conservative for many years. He has taken a keen interest in municipal politics and was a commissioner to the County Council for North and South Fredericksburgh and Adolphustown from 1900 to 1904. At one time he was clerk of the township of North Fredericksburgh. For the past quarter of a century he has been president of the Lennox and Addington Mutual Fire Insurance company and has been associated on the board of directors for 56 years.

He looks forward to the annual meetings of the company and has very rarely missed attending. For the past ten years he has been president of the Lennox Telephone Company, which is a rural line with more than one hundred subscribers. He has always enjoyed travelling and has visited at many points in Canada and the United States. He attended the first World’s Fair in Philadelphia, and later ones in buffalo, Chicago and St. Louis.

Mr. and Mrs. Parks have one son, Leonard T. Parks, who has been clerk of the Township of North Fredericksburgh for some years. In spite of his four score years and six, Mr. Parks is still going strong and his many friends in his native township as well as in Napanee tender their congratulations on the eventful occasion.

THE PARLIAMENT FAMILY

History of the Settlement of Upper Canada, Wm. Canniff, 1869

Mrs. Morden, of Sophiasburgh, was born upon the banks of the Hudson, forty miles from its mouth. Her birthday stretches back ninety-eight years. She came into Canada with her father, George Parliament, who was of German parentage, born upon the sea; and like the ocean, he was throughout his brief life tossed up and down with scarcely a day of calm and sunshine. The family reached the Fourth Town and only six weeks after, her father’s eyes were closed in death.

Mrs. Morden has a distinct recollection of the rebellion. Her father was staunchly loyal and she has heard him repeatedly declare that he would lay his bones in the King’s domains. During the war he was imprisoned twice, at Goshen and Poughkeepsie. She was thirteen years old when they came to Canada and remembers the many weary days of travel by Oneida Lake. Her father walked and drove the cattle all day, her mother would sit up till late at night over the camp-kettle preparing food for the party to use the following day, so that there would be no delay on the way. Having crossed from the States, the Skenectady boats landed at Little Cataraqui. The father was down below on the St. Lawrence swimming the cattle across the stream. They found their flour was nearly done. She, with a little sister, went along the shore to the village of Kingston to buy flour; she had only enough money to buy a quarter of a hundred of second flour, which she carried from McAulay’s store to the hungry company at the little Cataraqui, where they were wind-bound. She remembers the appearance of the shores as they journeyed along; the rude log cabins in the small clearings. The family of eleven children settled upon the north shore of Hay Bay. The eldest boy was nineteen years old. They now thought that they, in common with other settlers, would be permitted to work out a peaceful and happy future, but the arrow of death was already in the bended bow. The mournful occasion can hardly be appreciated, the father of eleven children in the wilderness suddenly cut down. Each of the neighbours had quite enough to do to care for his own family. All these terrible facts are fresh in the mind of the venerable lady. The events of later years are faded from her memory, but those are too deeply engraven upon her mind by the pen of sorrow, to be erased while life lasts and mind sits enthroned. The subsequent events connected with the family for a time are no less distressing. They had one cow, the milk of which supplied them with their principal food. Fish was occasionally caught. But they often had to seek herbs and greens. For weeks they were in the greatest distress for the very necessaries of life. All of the family who were old enough went out to work. The following spring and the subsequent ones, her mother made sugar, not to use in the family, “oh! no, that was too great a luxury.” It was all carried and sold for flour. Mrs. Morden remembers it, for she carried much of the sap. She subsequently worked out, until after several years she found a kind supporter. Mrs. Morden, whom the writer saw nearly four years ago, (1865) was then, although so old, yet vigorous and sprightly, with a kindly face and even a sharp eye. Of all the persons it has been our privilege to converse with, there are only a few who gave such clear and appropriate testimony and afforded so much satisfaction. She confined her remarks strickly to the questions and we learned much in a short hour. She spoke feelingly and with Christian nobleness said she, “I have lived a long time and had many blessings, thanks be to God.” Thus spoke the lips of one whose youth had been spent in another century.

ARCHDEACON PATTON, D.D.

Journal of Education for Ontario 1874

The late much lamented Archdeacon Patton was born of English parentage about the year 1806, in the County of Donegal, Ireland, and the son of Major Patton of the British army. He came with his parents at an early age to Canada, and the Patton family settled on the Bay of Quinte, in the Township of Adolphustown. He, in his early years, was educated (in part at least) under the Rev. J. Braithvaite, M.A., Rector of Chambly, in the Province of Quebec, who was an eminent teacher in those early days of provincial educational matters. In or about the 1829, he was ordained successively deacon and priest by the then Bishop of Quebec, (Canada’s only bishop at that period) the Hon. Right Reverend Charles James Stewart, D.D., and was appointed to the then mission of Kemptville, where he laboured many years very successfully as its first rector; and no one can visit that interesting parish, but must not the enduring effects of the pastoral zeal and energetic efforts of that first able and judicious parochial administrator. In 1846, he was appointed by the late Bishop in Toronto in succession to himself and such other zealous men as Salter J. Mountain, Archbold, and Lindsay, Rector of Cornwall. Here, for a period of over twenty-five years he laboured and successfully too, following directly in the wake of such great missionary spirits, and contributed largely to make Cornwall the model parish of the Diocese of Ontario in order, liberality and zealous parochial efforts. Whilst Cornwall and the whole of the Diocese of Ontario was a portion of that of Toronto, he was latterly Rural Dean of the Eastern District, which position he continued to hold until the new one of the former was created. Here his zeal and ability were pre=-eminent, as in other matters. About fourteen years ago the degree of Doctor of Civil Law, or D.C.L., was conferred upon him by the University of Trinity College, Toronto. In 1871, he was unanimously elected Prolocutor of the Provincial synod assembling in Montreal, and in succession to the Rev. Dr. Beaven, of Toronto, who had previously held the office at each session since its constitution in 1861. Again, in the special sessions held in 1872 and 1873, which resulted in the election of the Missionary Bishop of Algoma, he most ably filled the Prolocutor’s chair as at first. On the death of the late Rector of Belleville, the Rev. John Grier, M.A., in October, 1871, Archdeacon Patton, was nominated to the Rectory, and he was inducted as such on the 30^th of November of the same year. During his brief tenure of office in Belleville, the beautiful Grier memorial window in St. Thomas’ Church, and the new and elegant ecclesiastical rectory are momentoes of his zeal and energy, and the noble Bishop Strachan Memorial Church, in its origination and construction, was one of the latest of his zealous efforts at Cornwall, previous to his leaving it. The foundation stone of this structure was laid in 1869. It is now one of the most stately and beautiful ecclesiastical churches in the Diocese. - Intelligencer.

PETER PERRY

Was Born in Ernesttown Township

An Old-Time Reformer

T.W. Casey in Napanee Beaver,

An old-time reformer was Peter Perry, M.P.P., born in Ernesttown during the last decade of the eighteenth century. He was one of the most noted of the native sons of Lennox and was next in prominence to Christopher Hagerman, who practised law in Kingston for years, afterwards being collector of customs at Kingston, and later on representing the limestone city in the legislature. This same Hagerman was a chief justice at the time of this death. Peter Perry was the son of Robert Perry, one of the oldest settlers in Ernesttown. His education was not much, but he was a man of great natural force and eloquence.

It was at Robert Perry's first log house that the Methodist exhorters, McCarthy and Lyons, were arrested for holding a religious service and not being "in orders" in the Church of England. Robert Perry, in connection with Capt. Parrott, became bondsman for McCarthy and accompanied him to Kingston, where he was banished from the country by judge Cartwright. No wonder that a young man reared in such stirring times should become an earnest sympathizer of the then reform party - a party demanding and struggling for some of the much needed reforms and liberties that we now enjoy.

In 1825, at the election then held, Peter Perry and Marshall Spring Bidwell were elected for Lennox. At that time and later, there was but one polling place for the whole county, there was open voting and the election generally lasted a week. The polling place for the elections of 1825 and 1828, were near John Fralick's tavern, at the corners on the Kingston road where the Morven brick church now stands. Perry and Bidwell were three times elected, holding their seats from 1825 to 1837, when through the active influence of the then governor, Sir Francis Bond Head, and the whole government party, these men and the leading reformers of the province were all defeated. No doubt that defeat and the means taken to accomplish it, brought about the Mackenzie Canadian rebellion, which occurred some months later. There is no reason to suppose that Perry, or Bidwell or Robert Baldwin were parties to that untimely and ill-conducted rebellion, which would have proved a very serious affair indeed had its management been in abler and more judicious hands.

Before Peter Perry's defeat he had left his farm and moved to Whitby. The fact of his being an absentee had to do with his defeat. When a young man he married Miss Mary Ham, daughter of John Ham, near Ernesttown Station, and settled on a farm in South Fredericksburgh. His farm was lot twenty-five, second concession of Fredericksburgh, the farm now owned and occupied by Charles Hawley. He was faming there during the most of his parliamentary days. It has been told that his nephews and his neighbors used to plough with his oxen for him while he was away attending to his political duties.

He became a successful merchant and speculator at Whitby, and accumulated considerable wealth. He was one of the pioneer business men in Ontario county. The thriving town of Port Perry, on Scugog lake, north of Whitby, was named in honor of him. When the "Clear Grit" party sprung up, in protest to the administration of the Baldwin-Lafontain government late in the forties, he joined its ranks, but did not again enter parliament. He died years ago and lies buried at Whitby.

RAY F. PERRY

More Than 200 Gather at Special Banquet

In Tribute to Services of Warden R. Perry

Kingston Whig Standard Oct 21 1950

Glowing tributes were paid to Ray F. Perry, reeve of North Fredericksburgh and warden of the counties of Lennox and Addington, and Mrs. Perry, on the occasion of the warden’s supper held in the banquet room of Union Lodge No. 9 Thursday night.

There was an attendance of more than 200 and the chicken dinner with a full line of accessories was provided by the officers and members of the maple Leaf Women’s Institute.

Mr. Perry was born on Sept. 1, 1891 at Hay Bay, Township of North Fredericksburgh. On Sept. 1 1915, he was united in marriage to Reta Marie, youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W.R. Smith of North Fredericksburgh.

Mr. and Mrs. Perry have a family of five, Arthur B. Perry, who is employed by the TTC in Toronto; W. Lynne Perry, a farmer in North Fredericksburgh; Luva Mae Perry, employed by the DVA, Kingston, who served three years overseas in England, France, Belgium and Germany, as a member of the CWAC; Ida Marie Perry, a student at the Napanee Collegiate Institute and Thelma Rae Perry, a student at SS No. 13, North Fredericksburgh.

Mr. Perry was elected to the township council of North Fredericksburgh where he served for six years. He was a school trustee for SS No. 13 in North Fredericksburgh for 21 years and was the secretary-treasurer in the same township for 18 years.

He was president of the Lennox Agricultural Society for two years and was president of the Lennox and Addington Poultry Association for five years.

When the school board of the township school area was inaugurated he had the honor of being chairman for two years. He was elected secretary-treasurer of the Union Cheese and Butter Co. Ltd., and has held this position since 1927.

Mr. Perry was elected reeve of North Fredericksburgh in January, 1944, a position he has filled with distinction, and this year, was elected to his highest office, that of warden for the counties of Lennox and Addington.

Among those at the head table were Warden Perry and Mrs. Perry; George J. Tustin, MP for Prince Edward-Lennox and Mrs. Tustin; Donald Baxter, MLA for Prince Edward-Lennox and Mrs. Baxter; Colin Wood, warden for Frontenac County and Mrs. Wood.

Members of the county council present were C.A. Milligan, reeve, and W.R. Douglas, deputy reeve of Napanee; Guy Huyck, reeve of South Fredericksburgh; J.R. Johnston, reeve of Adolphustown; Herbert Bulch, reeve of Bath; T.C. Cochrane, reeve of Amherst Island; Delbert Sexsmith, reeve and Erwell Huff, deputy reeve of Ernestown; Edgar Drew, reeve and Fred McConnell, deputy reeve of Camden; Herbert York, reeve of Sheffield; Mel Card, reeve of Newburgh; Carmon Davis, reeve of Richmond; Herbert Chatson, reeve of Denbigh and E.J. Courneyea, reeve of Kaladar.

The members of the county council and their wives had a special table. Also present were Mayor H.W. Vine and Mrs. Vine of Napanee.

W.S. Wilson, county clerk, officiated as chairman and the meeting was opened by Rev. G.E. Coulter, minister of the Morven Pastoral Charge, who said grace.

In a brief address, Mr. Perry said that this was one of the proudest moments of his life and at the same time it was one of the hardest.

The toast to Warden Perry was proposed by Harry Pringle of North Fredericksburgh, who said that he had known Mr. Perry for a long period of years and by James Clark, who wished the warden and Mrs. Perry many years of happiness. The reply was made by Mayor H.W. Vine of Napanee, who said that Mr. Perry was one of the “old reliables” and had done a wonderful job on the county council.

C.A. Milligan, reeve of Napanee, also voiced the popularity of the warden and stated that his advice had always been sincere.

Others who spoke briefly were Edgar Drew, Mr. Cochrane, Delbert Sexsmith, W.W. Exley, treasurer for the county; Harold Webster, sheriff; Charles Hanna, manager of the Dominion Bank, and two ex-wardens, Harold Brandon and J.B. Elliott. Warden Wood of Frontenac County then gave a humorous address in which he congratulated the warden of Lennox and Addington on his success.

In responding to the toast, Mr. Perry said that he was pleased to be associated with the fine men on the township council as well as with the county council. He said that he had wonderful support this year and expressed his thanks to the councils and the officials.

NICHOLAS PETERSON

Settlement of Upper Canada, Wm. Canniff, 1869

Nicholas Peterson, with his three sons, Nicholas, Paul and Christopher, were living near New York and took a part in the war.

They assisted in fighting one of the most remarkable battles of the revolution. It took place on the west side of the North River opposite the city of New York, when seventy-five British Militiamen resisted an attack made by 5,500 rebels, for several hours.

The British had a Block House, made of logs, with a hollow excavation behind and in this hollow they loaded their guns and would then step forward and discharge them at the enemy. Only three of the British were slain; the rebels lost many. These Petersons lost everything of any importance when they left New York. Some of their valuables they buried to preserve them from the enemy and the rest they left to their use.

Nicholas and Paul settled on lots No. 12 and 13 in the first [correction- third] concession of Adolphustown, south of Hay Bay.

M.W. PRUYN

He Died On Thursday Morning - Sketch of His Career

Daily British Whig Mar 10 1898

Napanee, March 10, -

M.W. Pruyn attacked by paralysis on Sunday died this morning.

M.W. Pruyn was a native of South Fredericksburgh, Lennox county. He was born there on the 22nd of October, 1819. His father, William Pruyn, was among the early U.E.L. settlers on the shores of Bay of Quinte two or three miles west of the village of Bath. According to the records in the old Upper Canada crown lands department he does not appear to have come to this province until about 1808 or twenty-six years later than the U.E.L. settlers. He was a man of considerable means and much business energy and was among the first of the extensive lumbermen on the Bay of Quinte. He is said to have built the first saw mill on the Salmon river, near where the village of Shannonville now stands. That for years, became an active business locality both for saw and grist mills. The Pruyns were a well-to-do family residing at Kinderbrook, on the Hudson river, province of New York, years before the American revolution. Harmen, grandfather of the late M.W., appears to have been a wealthy resident in that locality as early as 1750. During the revolution he took sides with the British, and he was afterwards reported "banished" from his native land and considerable of his property was confiscated for that offence - as were a great many others in those days who remained loyal to the British flag. He also came to Upper Canada, where some of his relatives and friends had preceded him. He afterwards lived and died in this province.

The Pruyns were among the families who brought slaves with them, which they retained for many years. The Pruyn family were connected by inter-marriage with a number of then well known pioneer families about the Bay of Quinte, including the Fairfields, Finkles, Churches, Dorlands and others.

When the subject of this sketch was a young man he went west and entered the mercantile business, which he followed all his remaining days. He was first at Woodstock, then a small village, then he located at Brantford, then but a thriving town. There he remained for years and was at one time the mayor of Brantford and one of the leading business men. He there married Miss Mary M. Derby daughter of the late William Kerby, one of the founders of what is now the city of Brantford. She survives him, though now quite feeble, being seventy six years of age. Their two sons, John rose, of Chicago, and William Kerby, of Napanee, are also living.

When Lennox and Addington was separated from Frontenac as a separate county, in 1834, the late Oliver Hatford Pruyn was appointed sheriff, and on his invitation his brother Matthew William, moved to Napanee and became deputy sheriff, a position which he held for seven or eight years. In the general dominion election of 1882, Sir John Macdonald left Kingston and became the Conservative candidate for Lennox, where he was declared elected by a small majority over David W. Allison, Adolphustown, the liberal nominee. The late Mr. Pruyn was an ardent supporter and personal friend of Sir John. The election was protested and Sir John was unseated, after he had represented after he had represented the county for one session. At the bye-election that ensued Mr. Pruyn was the nominee of the conservative party and was defeated by a narrow majority of eight by Mr. Allison, who represented the county at the next session. His election was in turn protested and voided, and at the ensuing election Mr. Pruyn was declared returned by a majority of eighty-five, and he represented the county during the next two sessions. Thus during our fifth dominion parliament Lennox had three elections, two protests and was represented by three men. During the same time there were two elections and two protests in connection with the provincial legislature. The county never before or since witnessed so much political excitement and commotion as between 1882 and 1886. At the next general election Uriah Wilson, the present M.P. for the county, received the conservative nomination over Mr. Pruyn, who then retired and he has never been a candidate for political honors since.

Mr. Pruyn was a staunch member of the Church of England and a regular communicant for many years. He was an enterprising citizen, a kindly neighbor and a man of intelligence and good business habits.

T.W.C.

* see also: obituary for Matthew William Pruyn