History of the settlement of Upper Canada (Ontario,): with special reference to the Bay QuintéCanniff, William
History
History of the settlement of Upper Canada (Ontario,): with special reference to the Bay Quinté
Canniff, William
Ontario -- History; Quinte, Bay of (Ont.)
“He commanded at Niagara during the building of Fort George, and in 1802
he again retired on half-pay, the Royal Canadian Regiments having been
most injudiciously reduced during the continuance of the ephemeral peace
of Amiens. While at Fort George he married Miss Yates, a lady from the
States, whose amiable and obliging manners gained the esteem of all who
had the honor of her acquaintance. By this lady, in whom the Colonel
enjoyed all that has to be wished in a companion and friend, he has a
son, a promising boy, who, it is to be hoped, will inherit the virtues
of his father. The Colonel’s active benevolence was known to all, and
experienced by many of his friends.
“There was something so generous, so noble in his manner of doing a
kindness of this sort, as to give it a double value.
“In 1807 he was appointed Pay-master to the 10th Royal Veteran
Battalion, a situation certainly far below his merits—but his
circumstances, which, owing to his generous disposition, were by no
means affluent, induced him to accept it.
“He had been exceedingly infirm for many years, and perhaps the severe
climate at Quebec was too much for his weak constitution. Certain it is
that this city has been fatal to several respectable characters from the
Upper Province. He caught a severe cold in the beginning of November,
1809, accompanied with a violent cough and expectoration; he was not,
indeed, thought dangerously ill, till within a short time of his death,
but his feeble constitution could not support the cough, and he expired
on the twenty-first.
“Such are the scanty materials which I have been able to collect
respecting the life of a most excellent officer and honorable man, who
became dearer to his friends and acquaintances the longer he was known
to them.
“He was rather below the middle size, of a fair complexion, and in his
youth, uncommonly strong and active. For some time past his appearance
was totally altered; insomuch that those who had not seen him for many
years, could not recognize a single feature of the swift and intrepid
captain of the Rangers.
“An acute disease made it frequently painful for him to move a limb,
even for days and weeks together, but though his body suffered, his mind
was active and benevolent, and his anxiety to promote the interests of
his friends ceased only with his life.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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