GOMSexsmithJ.JPG

 

   John O. Sexsmith, J.P., now one of the oldest residents and best known citizens of Richmond township, is not yet among our octogenarians, but is nearing the eightieth mile-stone of an industrious and useful life.  He was born in Delaware County, New York State on the 14th of April, 1817, but his parents moved to Canada in 1821, when he was but five years of age, and they settled in Richmond, then an all but unbroken wilderness, and he has resided on the same farm ever since.  He has lived to see that unbroken wilderness one of the wealthiest and best cultivated sections of all Canada, and he has done well his share in making the locality what it is, educationally and religiously, as well as from a mere business stand point.

 

   He is of Irish descent.  His grandparents, both Sexsmiths, were natives of Kings and Queens counties, Ireland, about forty miles south-west of Dublin, and in their early days, the feuds and conflicts between the Orangemen and the Ribbon-men were intense.  Those were days of serious and bloody conflicts between the Protestants and Roman Catholics of the Green Isle.  His grandmother brought with her to Canada, vivid remembrances of the fact that in her early girlhood days, she was hidden for days together under a haystack to escape the pursuit of the Ribbon-men.  Many young children were thus secreted in those troublesome times in the unhappy Ireland of the last century.  Little wonder that many members of the various Sexsmith families that came to this country brought with them intense and bitter feelings taught them by their ancestors.

 

   George Sexsmith, the father of this sketch, came to New York State with his parents when a young man and married there, we believe.  He moved to Upper Canada, as we have already intimated, and became one of its hardy and respected pioneers.  He died many years ago and was buried in the old burial place of the Carscallen farm, a couple of miles down the Napanee River, where members of the well known early settlers found their last resting place.  His wife attained the ripe old age of 93 years, an old lady well known and highly respected by many of the older readers of the Beaver.  She died over 40 years ago and lies buried in the old "Vandebogart burial ground," now a part of the Napanee Cemetery, where her monument now stands.  They reared several children who became well known citizens, but the subject of this sketch is now the last surviving member.

 

   Mr. Sexsmith, though not a British subject by birth, as has been already intimated, long ago became one legally, and that without doubt; for he has three times taken the Oath of Allegiance to the British Crown.  When a young man, he took that Oath before casting his first parliamentary vote.  Then again, in the troublesome times in connection with the Mackenzie Rebellion of 1837, many well known Reformers, who had supported Marshall Bidwell and his friends in this county, found it judicious to take the Oath again, though there was no tincture of disloyalty about them.  Over forty years ago, he was appointed a Justice of the Peace, on recommendation of David Roblin, who then represented Lennox and Addington in Parliament, and for the third time he took the Oath.  It is needless to say that Her Majesty has no more loyal subject than he has been, ever since he reached the years of manhood.

 

   Mr. Sexsmith has been all his lifetime a farmer and a good type of the intelligent yeomanry of which our old County is so justly proud  By his own industry and good business habits, he provided amply for his family and a competence for his old age.  He had only the advantages of a country school education, but by his own reading and study, he has become one of the best generally read and informed men among the farmers of this county.  For years, he was Superintendent of Schools for his own township and performed those duties well.

 

   For forty years or over, he has been a Justice of the peace and is well posted in all matters pertaining to that position.  He has been a lifelong supporter of the old Reform party, and few of our old men are today so thoroughly posted in our Canadian political affairs.

 

   Mr. Sexsmith has been from boyhood an active and prominent member of the Methodist church.  For fifty years, or more, he has been a well-known Local Preacher in that church.  In the early days in this county, when Ministers and Churches were few, he did much valuable and gratuitous service in that capacity.  Then the Napanee Circuit extended from Casey's Point on the Bay to beyond Switzer's church, and north and west to the rear of the county and some miles into Hastings.  In all that section, including Napanee, Newburgh, Deseronto, Selby, Roblin, Forest Mills, and Kingsford, there was but one church--at Switzer's.  Perhaps there is not now another church member in the township who has had a more intimate personal knowledge of the membership, the rise and growth of the Methodist church in all these localities than Mr. Sexsmith.

 

   His health still remains good: though not so physically strong as years ago, his mind is still as active and his memory as good.  He is still taking a very intelligent and active interest in all passing events in Church and State.

 

   He was married over half a century ago to Miss Eliza Robinson, also a resident of Richmond, who is still a help-meet indeed to him and is also still active in body and mind.  They have had four children, all of whom are still living and well known to many of our readers.  These are Mrs. J.S. Hullet, of Napanee, Mrs. Ira Hudgins, of Selby, George A., of Sheffield, near Erinsville, and David R., who resides on the homestead with his father.

 

 

 

 

 

HOME 1