Old-Time Records

by

Thos. W. Casey

Col. James Rogers of Fredericksburgh

and Descendants

From “The Napanee Beaver” Sept 27, 1901

The most prominent man among the pioneer settlers of the Township of Fredericksburgh, in 1784, was Col. Jas. Rogers, who was in reality the leader of those who first settled in West Township. Just on what lot he located, we do not know. If any reader of these lines can supply the information it well be gladly received. He has no descendants now remaining in this county that we are aware of, and any fact in regard to him and his family are difficult to obtain here. It does not seem just, however, to the memory of one who occupied a position as prominent, as his, that more should not be known of him. Col. Rogers and Col. Crawford were the prominent officers during the war of men of the King's and Queen's Rangers, who principally were the first settlers of Fredericksburgh.

Among the memorial tablets on the walls of St. Alban's U.E.L. church at Adolphustown are two with the following inscriptions:

"Col. Jas. Rogers, of King's Rangers, died in Fredericksburgh, Sept., 1790, aged 63 years.
"Col. Wm. Crawford, of Royal Rangers, died in Third Town, U.E.L."

It will be seen that, by the date of Col. Roger's death, he did not live long - about six years - after his settlement in this county. That fact may largely account for it, that so little appears to be known of him in the early records of the township.

In the old U.E.L. list preserved in the Crown Lands Department, in Toronto, are the following brief records;

"Rogers, Col. James, Marysburgh and Sophiasburgh, S.G. Major, Commandant, Provision List (Government) 1786"
"Roger, James, Marysburgh and Sophiasburgh, Son of Major James, King's Rangers, P.L. 1786."
"Rogers, David M., Marysburgh and Sophiasburgh, Son of Major James, King's Rangers. P.L. 1786."

The David M. here referred to was

DAVID McGREGOR ROGERS

Who was for many years a member of the old Upper Canada Legislature, of whom reference has several times been made in these columns at previous times. He was first elected to represent Adolphustown and Prince Edward county - then one electoral district - in the second Parliament, in 1797. In the Third Parliament, he was elected for Prince Edward, a part of Hastings and Northumberland; Adolphustown having by that time been united to Lennox and Addington for political purposes. He continued to be a member of the Legislature until the time of his death in 1824. He was therefore twenty-seven years a Member, the longest of any one person of the old Upper Canada Parliament. In connection with him may be given the following verbatum extract from the official records of the Votes and Proceedings of the House of Assembly in 1801. It shows somewhat the quaint and formal manner in which the business was transacted at that time. After the report of the Lieut. - Governor's Speech from the Throne, the report is as follows:

"David M. Rogers, Esquire, Knight, representing the counties of Hastings and Northumberland, stood up, and addressing himself to the Clerk (who standing up, pointed to him and then sat down), proposed to the House, for their Speaker, the Honourable D.W. Smith, Esquire, in which motion he was seconded by the Hon. Henry Allcock, Esquire, one of the Judges of the Court of King's Bench, Knight, representing the Counties of Durham, Simcoe, and The East Riding of York." The motion was carried and the Speaker made the usual speech of "gratitude for the honour and thereon sat down in the chair."

David McGregor Rogers first lived at what was then know as "Little Lake" - perhaps the Consecon Lake of today. Later he moved into Northumberland county, near Grafton, where we understand that a number of his descendents are among the well known residents of today. It is said that Col. Rogers, being an officer, was entitled to a government grant of 1,200 acres of land. His sons were also entitled to large grants. There was not enough remaining land in Fredericksburgh to supply these grants, after each family of the Rangers had received a homestead, and it was therefore necessary to supply grants located in Prince Edward and Northumberland. That fact, may account for David M. Roger's location where he lived and died.

The writer is indebted to Lieut. - Col. H.C. Rogers, Peterborough, for an interesting copy of a paper by Walter Rogers, Esq., B.A.., Barrister, Inner Temple, London, Eng., and read before the United Empire Loyalists' Association, at Toronto, from which a number of the facts herein contained have been gleaned. Here is an extract from that paper: "David McGregor Rogers seems to have been a man of considerable force of character, uniting as he did the blood of his soldier father with that of the Highland outlaws, which he owed to his mother, whose name he bore as a part of his own. On one occasion he is said to have slain a wolf, the marauding tyrant of the district, with his oaken walking stick. As a lad he had taken a part in the migration, and upon his return to St. Johns years afterwards, he was invested with the dignity of an honorary chieftainship by the local Indians. He died at Grafton, Ontario in 1824, while still a member of the House of Assembly.

COL. JAMES ROGERS

From the same paper we take also the following extract: "The founder of my own family in Upper Canada was Col. James Rogers. During the revolutionary war he had served for five years as commandant of a corps known as the King's Rangers, which, during that time, formed part of the garrison of St. John's, Quebec. This post commended the northern outlet of the great waterway which connects the valley of the Hudson with that of the St. Lawrence. At the peace he settled with some two hundred of his disbanded soldiers upon the shores of the Bay of Quinte, he and his followers occupying what is known as the township of Fredericksburgh, as well as a part of an adjoining township, (Adolphustown)"

ABOUT FREDERICKSBURGH

How Fredericksburgh came to be settled and how, it has come that a large slice of Adolphustown was added to that municipality is, no doubt known to many, but for the information of some others, the following extracts from Dr. Canniff's excellent history may be of interest.

He writes:

"The early settlers sometimes called it the Township of Frederick. It was called after Augustus Frederick, the Duke of Sussex, ninth child of King George III. According to the original plan of this township preserved in the Crown Land's Department, it was surveyed in 1784. The limits of the Second Town (Ernesttown), having been defined, the Third (Fredericksburgh) was also planned. Having fixed the base line which formed a slight angle with that of the Second town, over the width of Twenty-five lots, it was at first the intention to limit the township to this extent of frontage; and the lots were consequently completed and numbered from west to east, as had been done with the first two townships. But it turned out that this would not meet the requirements of Sir. John Johnson's disbanded soldiers, (of whom Jas. Rogers was a Colonel), to whom a promise had been made that they should be located in a township by themselves. The result was, that the wishes of the corps were gratified, and the township was enlarged to the extent of thirteen additional lots, (taken from Adolphustown) which the map will show are numbered from east to west, and which indicates that the lots were completely surveyed before they were numbered. That portion of the Third town, included in the portion first numbered, received the name of Fredericksburgh Original, and that subsequently added was called Fredericksburgh Additional."

And so it came about that in order to make room for Roger's men in one township that Fredericksburgh, contains over 40,000 acres, and Adolphustown a little over 11,000. It thus comes about that Fredericksburgh, since divided into two townships, contains two sets of lots from No. 1 to 11 numbered in opposite directions, from the west base line of the originally surveyed township.

FOLLOW-UP
Napanee Beaver Oct. 11 1901

COL. JAMES ROGERS' RESIDENCE

Two weeks ago there appeared in the Beaver some notes in regard to Col. James Rogers, one of the prominent U.E.L. pioneers of this county, and the leader of the settlers of the Township of Fredericksburgh, who belonged to the "Rogers Rangers" as they were sometimes called, an by others known as the Queen's or King's Rangers. It was stated that though he died in Fredericksburgh, yet no one now appears to know the location where he lived.

Our former townsman, Mr. C. C. James, Deputy Minister of Agriculture for the province, has very kindly examined the original Crown Lands records of Toronto, and sends the following information. The lot referred to in his letter is now well known as "the Sherman farm", on the North Shore of Hay Bay, in the third concession of N. Fredericksburgh. It was owned by the late Robert Sherman until his death, some years ago, and is now occupied by his sons. The writer's early remembrance of the at farm was when it was owned by Mr. James, Mrs. Sherman's father. It was then but little cleared, the whole of the excellent land except a couple of small fields, on each side of the road, being in very heavy timber. It may be doubted, therefore, if Col. Rogers lived on that lot, or if he did, very little clearing was effected - much less than on those occupied by most of the prominent early settlers. The following is Mr. James' letter:

Dear Sir -- In the Beaver of 21st September, in your sketch of Col. Jas. Rogers, you ask for information as to the lot upon which he located in Fredericksburgh. Your difficulty has arisen from the fact that no lot was patented to him, and none of his descendants remain in that township. I can, perhaps, give the information:

In 1789, Lord Dorchester, Governor-General of Canada (which at that time included what is now Ontario), requested the Law Boards to have prepared for his information a list of the lots under certificate of location. John Collins, deputy surveyor general, prepared the list for the Mecklenburg district and forwarded it to Lord Dorchester on the 25th January, 1790. In this report is contained a list of the lots in Fredericksburgh, with the names of those located, and Maj. Jas. Rogers appears as the owner of lot No. 6 in the 3d concession (200 acres). This lot is on the north shore of Hay Bay, not far from the east end of the bay. This lot was patented on July 7th 1818, to "Margaret Rogers, now Greeley." I think I am correct in stating that she was a daughter of Maj. Jas. Rogers, and that her daughter is still living in Northumberland county north of Grafton. This was the only lot assigned to Maj. Rogers in Fredericksburgh, the rest of the land to which he was entitled being granted in Prince Edward county. A fair inference therefore is that his lot No. 6 in the 3d concession is the one on which he lived and where he died in 1790.

The list of 1790 above referred to is very interesting as showing the first location of the loyalists and disbanded soldiers, and also in supplying the military titles of all the officers at the time of their location. Other names in this township list are Capt. Crawford, Gunnersell Lipscomb, Ruster, George Singleton; Lieuts. James Bradshaw, Carscallen, Richard Ferguson, Wm. Fraser, Isaac Ferguson, John Howard, Hazleton Spencer, Solomon Johns, Philip Lansign, Wm. McCoy, McGinn, Wm. Schermerhorn, Church and Young, etc.

This list does not of course give the final location of all the settlers, but the lots at first assigned. No doubt there was a good deal of moving about, trading and exchanging, before settlement was finally made and patents issued.

One other point in the article needs a slight modification. David McGregor Rogers did not sit in the U.C. Legislature continuously from 1796 to 1824. He was out of the then House for one term, 1816 to 1820. He had, I believe, a claim to prosecute against the Government. He sat for 24 years, the largest term of service in Upper Canada. He was named after his maternal grandfather, Rev. David McGregor."

C.C. JAMES

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