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.)
Frederick Frank Williamsburgh, at the time of the war lived upon the
Susquehanna, and owned a thousand acres of land. He was a sickly man.
His family consisted of a son eleven years old, and three daughters. One
day he went some distance to a mill, taking his children with him, and
leaving his wife and mother at home. That day the rebels made a raid,
and he was taken prisoner from his children on the road; and coming to
his barn, it, with all his grain was burned up. His wife and old mother
sought safety in the woods, and the house was stripped of everything.
The children arriving home without their father, found no mother, or
grandmother, only the smoking ruins of the barn and the dismantled
house. Frightened almost to death, and expecting to be killed before
morning, they lay down on the floor. About midnight came a knock at the
door; after a time they summoned sufficient courage to ask who was
there, when it was found to be neighbor who had been hunted in the woods
for three days and who was almost starved. He was admitted, and having
slept for a short time, he proceeded to prepare a raft upon the river;
upon this he placed some flour he had concealed in the woods, and the
children, with himself, and floated down the river. But the morning
brought the enemy, and they were taken. The children were conveyed to a
place where they found their mother; but the father having been thrown
into a prison, in three months his weak constitution succumbed to the
cruelty of his prison house.
The family found their way to Lower Canada, after a time, living upon
the rations dealt out from day to day from the commissariat department.
They, after a time, went to Montreal, and one son, when twelve year old,
enlisted. For a time he acted as tailor to the regiment, but
subsequently became a favorite with the Colonel and was promoted. The
descendants of this William Williamsburgh now live in Belleville.
Sergeant Daniel Wright was born in the city of London, 1741. He was
sergeant in the 74th regiment. Sergeant Wright was present at the battle
before Quebec, when Montgomery was killed. He settled in Marysburgh in
1784. He was commissary officer for the fifth township, and was
subsequently appointed magistrate and then registrar, which office he
held for upwards of thirty years. Was Lieut. Colonel in the Prince
Edward Militia. “Old Squire Wright” was a man of education and
gentlemanly deportment, strictly religious, and noted for his urbanity;
he obtained the soubriquet of “Squire civil.” It is said he was never
known to smile. Unlike other retired officers, it is said, he did not
seek to acquire extensive tracts of land. Died April, 1828, aged
eighty-seven.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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