History of the settlement of Upper Canada (Ontario,) with special reference to the Bay Quinté. William Canniff
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Howell spent $1,400 in vain efforts to recover. No doubt it was pre-judged before he spent his money. An event in Howell’s life during the war is not without a touching interest. Before joining the regiment, he had courted and won the heart of a fair lady at Johnstown. While stationed at Coteau du lac he obtained permission during the winter, when hostilities were suspended, to go to Johnstown to obtain his bride. Guided by seven Indians, he set out to traverse a pathless wilderness, on snowshoes. The wedding trip had its perils, and almost a fatal termination. On their return they lost their way in the interminable woods, and soon found themselves destitute of food. For days they were without anything to eat. One day they shot a squirrel, which, divided among them, was hardly a taste to each. The thongs of their shoes were roasted and eaten, to allay the pangs of hunger. At last they succeeded in shooting a deer, which had well nigh proved the death of some, from over-eating. Two of the men were left behind, but they subsequently came in.
Sergeant Howell’s loss as a loyalist was great; but, so far as could be, it was made good by Government. He drew 1,200 acres of land as an officer, and the same quantity for his family. At an early date after his arrival at the Bay he was appointed Commissioner in the Peace; and subsequently he was made Colonel of the Prince Edward Militia.
Soon after settling in Fredericksburgh he built a windmill, probably the first mill built by an individual in the Province. He afterwards sold it to one Russell. The remains still mark the spot.
He finally settled in Sophiasburgh, while it was yet considered by the infant colony as the backwoods of the settlement. He was a man of liberal education for the times, and was conversant with the Dutch and French languages, and understood the Indian dialect. From his former connection with the Johnson settlement upon the Mohawk, and his close contiguity to the Mohawk Indians upon the Bay, he held a high place in their regard. He often visited them; and their chiefs as often paid him state visits. They often called upon him to settle their disputes, which he never failed to do by his sternness and kindness combined. His presence was sufficient to inspire awe amongst them when disposed to be troublesome, which was increased by his long sword which he would hang to his side.
Henry Hover was quite a boy when the rebellion was progressing, being about sixteen when the Declaration of Independence was signed. Living along the Hudson, near New York, he went out one day for the cows, when he was caught by some rebels and carried to Lancaster jail. After being in prison for some time he was released, and permitted to go to New York. He some time after, by some means, enlisted in Butler’s Rangers, and set out, with four others (one his brother), to traverse the wide country on foot, from New York to Fort Niagara, the head-quarters of the company. Lying one night under the trees, they were suddenly attacked by a scouting party of rebels, by being fired upon. One was killed, and the rest taken prisoners. Henry Hover remained in prison, in chains, until the close of the war, nearly two years. The hardships and cruelties he endured were, indeed, terrible. When he was taken prisoner he had on a pair of linen trowsers; no others were ever given him; and when he was released these were hanging in shreds upon him. They had nothing to lie upon but the cold brick floor, two persons being chained together. Years after, a stranger called one day at Hover’s in Adolphustown. Hover not being at home, the man wrote his name, “Greenway,” the man to whom Henry had been chained for many a weary day and month in prison. Hover being released at the close of the war, reported himself at Niagara, and was discharged with the rest of his company. He received all his back pay, while in jail, and a grant of land at St. Davids; but his father, Casper Hover, a refugee, had settled in Adolphustown, having come in Major Van Alstine’s corps. Henry wished to see his parents, from whom he had been so long separated, and sought a chance to go down from the Niagara frontier. He entered on board an old “hulk,” an old French vessel coming down the lake, and so got to Kingston, which place he reached soon after Van Alstine’s company had settled in the fourth Township. Henry set out from Kingston on foot, along the bay, through the woods. In time he arrived at the third township. He was misdirected across to Hay Bay. Following its shores, he met Holland’s surveying party, who told him that he was astray, and put him on the correct track. Henry Hover determined to remain at the bay, and was included among the original settlers under Van Alstine, drawing land like the rest, being the only one who did not belong to that company. He sleeps from his warfare—from his long life of well-spent industry, in the “old U. E. burying ground,” at the front, in Adolphustown.
Among those who fought the unequal battle of Bennington was Captain Hogle, who was shot dead. He was a native of Vermont. He left a widow and three sons, who were yet young. They were under the necessity of leaving their valuable possessions and removing to Canada. They buried plate in the garden, which was never regained. At the expiration of the war they settled in Ernest town.
David Hartman—was present at the battle of Bennington, and was shot through the chest. Notwithstanding, he lived for many years. He settled in Ernest town.
John Ham, the founder of the Ham family of Canada, so well and so favorably known in different sections of the Province. He was born near Albany. His father was a native of Germany, although of English parentage. John Ham was a soldier during the war, and in one of several engagements, was wounded in the leg. The ball, lodging in the calf, was cut out, and, at the request of the suffering but brave hero, was shot back at the foe. He was one of the company who settled in Ernest town. He had a family of ten children, eight of them being sons, namely: John, Henry, Peter, George, Jacob, Philip, Benjamin, and Richard, all of whom lived and died in Canada.
The name of Herkimer is engraved upon the history of America, both in the United States and in Canada. “Colonel Hanjost Herkimer, or John Joost, was a son of Johan Jost Herkimer, one of the Palatines of the German Flats, New York, and a brother of the rebel general, Nicholas Herkimer. His property was confiscated. He went to Canada, and died there before 1787.”—(Sabine.) Prior to the war he had occupied several public offices. He served as an officer in Butler’s Rangers. We find his name inserted for lot 24 of Kingston, on which now stands part of the city. His son Nicholas settled upon the Point now bearing the family name. He married a Purdy, and had several children. His end was a sad one, being murdered by a blacksmith, named Rogers, who escaped. A daughter was married to Captain Sadlier, another to an officer in the army, and a third to Mr. Wartman.
The old family place in New York State is yet indicated by the name of Herkimer County.
William Johnson Holt was ensign in Ferguson’s Rangers. This corps formed part of the army of Burgoyne at the time of his surrender, and, with other provincial prisoners, retired to Canada, by permission of Gates. The subject of this notice settled in Montreal, where he held the lucrative office of Inspector of Pot and Pearl Ashes, and received half pay for nearly fifty years. He died at Montreal, in 1826. By his first wife (Ruah Stevens, of Pittsfield, Massachusetts), he was the father of a large family of sons and daughters; by his second wife (Elizabeth Cuyler) he left no issue. His sixth son, Charles Adolphus, alone has surviving male children, of whom the eldest, Charles Gates Holt, is (1864) a distinguished counsellor-at-law, and a gentleman of the highest respectability, at Quebec. In February, 1864, he was appointed one of “Her Majesty’s Counsel, learned in the law,” and thus entitled to wear the “silk robe.”
“John Jones, of Maine, captain in Rogers’ Rangers. Being of a dark complexion, he was called ‘Mahogany Jones.’ Prior to the war he lived at or near Pownalborough, and was Surveyor of the Plymouth Company. As the troubles increased, the whigs accused him of secreting tea, and broke open his store. Next, they fastened him to a long rope, and dragged him through the water until he was nearly drowned. Finally, to put an end to his exertions against the popular cause, he was committed to jail in Boston. He escaped, went to Quebec in 1780, and received a commission in the Rangers. In Maine, again, before the peace, he annoyed his personal foes repeatedly. Among his feats was the capture of his ‘old enemy,’ General Charles Cushing, of Pownalborough. Jones, immediately after the peace, was at the Bay of Fundy, and interested in lands granted on that island to loyalists. In 1784 he resumed his business as surveyor, on the river St. Croix.—At length, ‘his toryism forgotten,’ he removed to the Kennebec. He died at Augusta, Maine.”
Captain William Johnson, of the King’s Royal regiment, afterwards colonel of the Militia of Addington. Besides the celebrated Sir John Johnson’s family, there