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Written Fifty-Five Years
Ago The Purdys, Herchimers and Other
Neighboring Settlers -
Sketch of the Writer - Tracing Their Descendants. Thomas W. Casey, of Napanee, is continuing
his very useful and fruitful investigations.
A very interesting manuscript has recently been loaned to him by Peregreve M. Clark, Ernesttown. It contains the “reminiscences“ of his
father, John Collins Clark, and was written fifty-five years ago, in 1844,
and gives his remembrances of the U.E. Loyalist pioneers settled along the
Bay of Quinte shores of Ernesttown, and also some of the lots in Kingston and
Fredericksburgh. The Ernesttown
record is a very complete one, giving a very accurate and minute record of
the families first located on every front lot in the township, commencing
with the Kingston boundary line. That
is followed by a much briefer and less comprehensive notice of some of the
families in Kingston township. As
these may be of interest to many readers of the Whig they are here enclosed. The Purdys The Purdy family located in the
last lot in Ernesttown adjoining Kingston and some of the descendents became
residents of the latter. It may be as well, therefore, to give Mr. Clark’s
reminiscences of them. He writes: “David Purdy located the last lot (No. 42)
on the front of Secondtown, east side. He married Miss Abigail Ostrum,
whose connections settled in the township of Sidney, not far from
Belleville. He had a large family most
of whom are still living (in 1844).
Two of his youngest sons, Samuel and Joseph, reside on the old
farm. The old man is dead, but his
widow still survives. “Gilbert, the oldest son of the Purdy
family, married Miss Asenith Goldsmith, of
Hallowell, who left him. Ruliff, another son, married a widow Gilbert, of Sidney,
where he resides, and has become a prominent and wealthy man. David was
accidentally shot and killed when a boy by his cousin, John Everett. Samuel married Eliza, a daughter of Samuel
Lockwood, and Joseph married Minerva, her sister. John and Jacob married daughters of Jacob Fretts, of Fredericksburgh. Elizabeth married a Mr. Woodward; he died and she married again. Mary married John Abbott; he died and she married William Ellerbeck. Old
Mrs. Purdy, mother of these children, has from her youth been troubled at
times with aberration of mind and several of the children have been similarly
affected. David Purdy’s brothers, Micajah, Gilbert and Samuel, settled in the township of
Kingston. they had large
families. Samuel moved to some distant
place. Gilbert is still living, he was
twice married, and Micajah, who died lately, was
married five times, and was the father of twenty-three children, nine of
whom, and his last wife are living.
His two first wives were sisters by the name of Sands, of Newburgh,
New York state, the third was a Miss Ann Detlor, of Fredericksburgh, the
fourth a Miss Embury (niece of the third) and the
fifth Miss Mithebel Holmes, also of Newburgh, N.Y. The Herchimers Nicholas Herchimer,
son of Capt. Herchimer, settled on the point in
Kingston township, called “Herchimer’s Point”. He
married Charlotte Purdy, and had a number of children. The manner of his death was as
follows: He had some business with two
blacksmiths by the name of Rogers, working at Isaac Hough’s shop in
Ernesttown. the blacksmiths quarrelled
with him and beat him; he managed to
return as far as the writer’s house at evening, on horseback, where he died before
morning. The murderers were arrested
and committed to prison, but before their trial they broke jail and escaped
from the province. The widow Herchimer
married Robert Abernetha, she died last year (1843). Capt. Lamoine, a retired officer of the army
now owns the farm. “The oldest son, Laurance
Herchimer, married Miss Elizabeth Baker; she died, and he lately married Miss Hannah
Losee, widow of James Losee jr. There were other sons - John, Jacob and
Nicholas. Jacob is dead. One of the daughters married Prentice J.
Fitch; she has been dead many
years. Mr. Fitch married a widow
Noland, he is dead. Another of the Herchimer daughters married Capt. Sadlier; One married Lewis Wartman, and another an
officer in the army.” Other Neighboring Families “Below Mr. Herchimer,
on the front, were Mr. Holmes, Barnabas Wartman, Mr. Day and Mr.
Everett. the latter married a Miss
Purdy and his son, Charles Everett, married a daughter of Davis Hawley,
Ernesttown. His brother, Daniel
Everett, also married a daughter of Davis Hawley for his first wife; she died and he married Miss Mary Marsh, of
the township of Hope. He is dead and
she remains a widow. John Everett
lives in Belleville. One of old Mr.
Everett’s daughters married Peter Grass.
She died lately. Two others
married in succession Capt. Coleman of Belleville. The old gentleman has been dead many
years. On the front was also settled
Messrs. Joseph Ferris, Peter Wartman,
Graham, Ellerbeck, Capt. Herchimer
and Mr. Grass. John Grass, son of the
latter, married Miss Catherine Snook.
Among others settled in the township of Kingston were the Messrs. Day
and Knight, Buck and Bright, Horning, Powley,
Burnett, Babcock, Lap, Abbertson, Purdys, Ryders, Smiths and McGuins. “In the town of Kingston I can recollect,
among the early settlers Messrs. Cartwright, Forsyth, Ferguson, Cuthbertson, Markland, Anderson, Lyons, Smith, McAulay,
Robins, Collk, Perriber, Merril, Stoughton, Gray, Hix, Cassaday, Ashley, Burley, Cummings, Stover, Kirby and
others who were merchants, inn-keepers and mechanics, not to omit the Rev.
John Stuart, the first clergyman of the Church of England. Several of the descendants in that town are
now lawyers, clergymen, schoolmasters and gentlemen, and not a few whose
family names have become extinct, no male branches remaining, largely
attributable to intemperate habits.” Sketch of the Writer The writer of the foregoing, J. C. Clark,
was a son of Robert Clark, who built the first grist mill in Upper Canada at
Kingston Mills, in 1783, under the direction of the British government, for
the benefit of the early settlers.
Both father and son settled on the front of Ernesttown, about four
miles west of Collins Bay, where both lived and died. The son was named after John Collins, the
first deputy-surveyor of this province, under whose direction the surveys of
the first four townships were principally made in 1783 and 1784. Mr. Collins owned quite a large tract of
land in the vicinity of Collins Bay, a mile square or more, which was
afterwards sold to archdeacon, G. O’Kill Stuart, for
a trifling amount. J.D. Clark was a
schoolmaster at his native place as early as 1810, and the old school
register of the daily attendance is still in existence and in a good state of
preservation. He was also path-master
in 1820, and the record of the assessment, for statute labor on his “beat”
and the credit given to each man is also still in existence, as well as the
account for building a schoolhouse in that locality in 1820. He was an uncle of the late Charles Clark,
for many years a resident of Kingston, who is still well remembered by the
older readers of the Whig. |
