Old-Time Records
by Thos. W. Casey |
An Old Adolphustown Burying Ground From “The Napanee Beaver” Aug 16, 1901 |
In the first settlement of the U.E. Loyalists in the old
Township of Adolphustown every lot situated on the north side of Hay Bay,
consisting of the fourth and fifth concessions, was at once assigned and nearly
every one of them was at once occupied. It so happens that every one of these
lots lies fronting the waters of either Hay Bay, or Bay Quinte, and that was a
very important matter in the days when there were no roads, wagons or horses,
and the water was the one common highway.
There was but one burying ground in that part of the township, and it alone has
been used by the people of that locality from the time of the first settlement
of the township to this day with a slight exception to two. It will probably
continue to be the last resting place of many of the residents of that locality
for generations to come. It happens, however, that the descendants of the first
Loyalists who cleared away the wilderness there and transferred the then
"wild lots" into very fruitful and productive farms have now nearly
all left the township. It is somewhat singular that of all the well-known of
the earliest and largest families all over the old township of Adolphustown,
only a very few bearing the old family names now remain living there. The old
residents of three score and three score and ten years are now surrounded by
those whose names and families they knew nothing of in their early years.
THE OLD BURYING GROUND
A recent visit to the old burying ground in the Fourth concession of the
township of Adolphustown, located on the small hill on the farm now occupied by
James McMorine and Wm. H. Cadman, was of unusual interest to the writer. It
recalled the memories of many faces and histories of those familiar many years
ago, who were active and influential citizens in their day, but who are now
silently resting until the resurrection day. Just how early that "God's
acre" was established, and began to be used we know not, but it was
probably soon after the first deaths began to occur among the earliest of the
settlers. There seems at no time to have been any other common burying place
established, and few of the dead among the settlers were taken elsewhere for
burial.
The interments of the first generation were nearly all made before there were
headstones at all in use, and what red cedar posts and other articles may have
been made use of to mark the respective graves are now all obliterated. The
ground is now in a much better condition that most of our old country
graveyards, having been recently well and substantially fenced, with a very
substantial steel wire fence and red cedar posts. The most of the headstones
that were ever put there - they are nearly all white marble slabs - are also in
a fair state of preservation. Today, with a very small expenditure of time,
labor and money, it can all be put in a good condition. Perhaps all it may now
need is for some active person to take the initiative of starting a
subscription for that purpose.
SOME FAMILIAR NAMES
Among the names inscribed on these headstones are numbers of those well-known
and familiar to the inhabitants of years ago, but hardly now known at all. They
may as well be taken in rotation as they lived along the Hay Bay front,
commencing at "the Point" at the western extremity. There first come
those of William Casey and his wife Martha Robinson. They were the pioneers of
what was well-known as "Casey's Point" in early times, and the name
was often given to the entire neighborhood. That point has become pretty well
isolated now, but in the early days when canoes and small sailing boats were
alone used for traveling purposes it was considered a very central locality.
William Casey and his brother Willet, who first settled in the second
concession of Adolphustown, were among the well-known of the earliest U.E.L.
refugees. They were natives of Providence, Rhode Island where their father was
a silversmith of considerable prominence. They were both active in the British
course during the years of the American revolution, and of course, they shared
the fortune of all the other Loyalists of that day, and had to find refuge in
Canada, their property having been confiscated. Willet lies buried, with his
wife and several members of his family, in the old U.E.L. burying ground at the
village of Adolphustown, and mention has been made of them before. William and
representatives of three generations of his family lie buried here. His name
appears on the on the official lists of the U.E.L.'s in the Provincial Crown
Lands Department with this official record: "Was a master carpenter in
Quartermaster General's Department at Yorktown (previous to the outbreak of the
revolution.) Came in 1786." His name was on the Government list of 1786 of
those to whom provisions were supplied. His name also appears in the Crown
Lands as the one to whom the original deed was granted for lots 24, 25, and 26
of the fourth concession of Adolphustown - farms now owned by Dr. Ward and
Isaiah Sherman. He lived on that farm till the day of his death, and reared a
large family, whose descendants are now pretty generally scattered in various
parts of this province and in British Columbia, and elsewhere. He died in 1842
at the ripe age of 82 years. He was a member of the first Methodist class
formed in Upper Canada, at Adolphustown. In 1791, he was one of the builders of
the historic old Methodist Church there - the first of the kind built in Upper
Canada, and his name stands on the original subscription list as one of the
largest subscribers for its erection. His wife, Martha Robinson, was a native
of Duchess County, New York, and was a member of a well-known Quaker family
there. She died in 1840 aged 77 years.
They built a large and comfortable dwelling house for themselves over a hundred
years ago, which is still standing and is now occupied, sound and quite as warm
today as most of the modern built dwellings. It has seen the whole of one
century and the end and commencement of two others. In their day it was not an
uncommon thing to see wolves, foxes and bears passing along the bay shore
directly in front of their own doors, and bears used to swim across the bay there,
where it was over a mile wide. Two of the daughters once saw a bear thus
swimming to shore, and went down to meet him, knowing how wet and tired he
would be after such a swim and actually killed him with an axe and club. And it
was quite a large one, too.
One of their children only, Samuel Robinson, with his wife, Hannah Johnson,
have their final resting place beside the parents. Their daughter Elizabeth
Jane, who died a young woman, and a grandchild, Jewel J., a young son of the
late Hiram Casey, of Kingston are also lying in the same family plot.
GERMAN FAMILY
Christopher German, another of the pioneer settlers, lived next farm to Wm.
Casey, and now lies buried close beside him. He was a native of New York State,
when yet a British province, and during the war of the revolution, and was a
soldier of the King's Loyal Rangers. He appears to have come also in 1786,
together with two brothers, one of whom settled in Fifth town, now Marysburgh,
and the other in Ninth town, now Tyendinaga. They all reared large families,
and their descendants are today very numerous and widely scattered nearly all
over the country, but none of the name are now left residing in Adolphustown.
Christopher German was a man of a good deal of prominence and influence in his
day. He was one of the early magistrates of the county and a member of the
early Court of Requests. He was also a member of the first Methodist class
formed in the province, a local preacher of some prominence, and a trustee of
the first Methodist church built. The writer yet remembers the large and genial
old man, full of good nature. He is said to have been a man of powerful bass
voice, and that counted a good deal in a public man's favor in those early
days. He died suddenly, of apoplexy in 1840 in the 74th year of his age. He was
a large and successful farmer and influential business man. The farm is now
owned by Mr. James Jaynes, and is considered one of the best in the entire
township.
His wife, Catharine, lies by his side. She survived him several years and died
in 1849 aged 79 years. They reared a large family, several of whom became
well-known and highly respected men. Two of the children of this family, John
and Jane, were among the ten victims of the great drowning that occurred on
that fatal Sunday morning of June 1819. The parents had reached there by an
earlier boat and were helpless witnesses to the death struggle in the waters of
their children a few rods off. We have heard it said by some of those who were living
at that time, that the agony of the mother during that terrible moment was
among the worst agonies they ever witnessed. She was a beautiful singer, and
was said to have been singing with the others in the prayer meeting in the
church when the alarm of the drowning struggle was given, but was never known
to sing again. They were healthy and promising young people.
Two at least of the sons of Christopher German became useful Methodist local
preachers, like their father. They were Peter and Matthew. Peter was for many
years a resident of Prince Edward county, where he died and his memory was long
held in high esteem. His son, Rev. John Wesley German, is now a respected old
superannuated Methodist minister, residing at Berlin, Ont. Matthew was many
years a resident of this county and died in North Fredericksburgh in 1860 and
he and his first wife, Margaret Smith, lie buried not far from the graves of
their parents. He was a man of more than ordinary intelligence and ability, and
highly respected in his day.
THE BOGARTS
It was partly on the well known Bogart homestead, in the fourth concession,
that the burying ground is located, and its location there may have been
because of the first interment of some members of that once very large and well
known family. Members of five generations of that family have been interred
there. The family were of Dutch origin, and may have been among the settlers of
the New Netherlands - at Tapaan, on the Hudson river, before New York became an
English colony. Gilbert (or Gyspert in Dutch), Bogart, the head of this family,
came from New York with several of their children among the first refugees who
left New York in 1785, in the vessels that passed around the Atlantic coast and
up the St. Lawrence as far as Sorel, before the close of the season of that
year. They located on lot 21, which was originally deeded by the government to
Gilbert and his son Abraham, and on which they both lived and died and were
buried. Gilbert died in 1829, in the 78th year of his age and his wife, Mariah
Lent, in 1837 in her 95th year. Their son, Abraham Bogart, died in 1844, in his
82d year, and his wife, Maria Lazier, in 1874 in her 102d year. Their son,
Lewis Lazier Bogart, died in 1888, in his 85th year, and his wife, Elizabeth
Cronk, in 1890, in her 77th year. Cornelius V. Bogart, another son, died at
Belleville in 1888, in his 80th year. It well be seen from these figures, and
some that are to follow, that they all belonged in a family noted for their
longevity. Members of five generations of that family have been buried in that
now historic ground. Some of the bodies have since been moved to another plot,
but still it pretty well deserved to be called, as it was once know, as
"the Bogart burying ground."
ABRAHAM'S BOGART'S DESCENDANTS
In the old church records of St. Paul's Church, South Fredericksburgh - the
first church of England built in the Midland district if not in the province -
is Rev. John Langhorn's original certificate of the marriage of "Abraham
Bogart, of Adolphustown, bachelor, and Mary Lazier, spinster, of
Sophiasburgh." That occurred on March 18 1792, and the original
certificate with their signatures attached thereto is now in the Bishop's
office, Kingston. Mr. F. Richardson took an excellent photograph of it last year.
They reared a large and somewhat remarkable family of ten children, nine of
whom, were sons, "and there was not a drone or a black sheep among
them" used to be remarked by the older people. They all lived to be
elderly people, were married and had families of their own, except, Peter who
was one of the victims of the great drowning, already referred to in his
eighteenth year. The sons nearly all of whom became prominent and respected men
attributed and very properly, no doubt, much of their success in life to their
energetic mother, to whom they paid truly regal respect and homage when she
became one hundred years old.
She had the good judgement to introduce them all to learn some industrial
trade, and nearly every branch of industry then available was represented among
them. Among the trades taught to some of them were the blacksmith, cooper,
tailor, hatter, carpenter, shoe maker, and we are not sure that exhausts the
list. It is yet well known what extensive and quite wealthy business men some
of them became, but the prudent foresight of the mother was for "something
to fall back on, in case they fail" in other business speculations.
For lack of available space now it will be necessary to defer to a future issue
references to the families of the Coles, Bensons, Campbells, Huycks, Valleaus,
Clarks, Hermances, Sobys and others whose names are marked on the various
graves in this old ground that may also well deserve the title of another
Adolphustown U.E.L. burying ground.