Owen Chapter 50

SKETCH L

THE THREE EPHRAIMS

No name is more strongly suggestive of old Charlotteville than that of Ephraim Tisdale.

From the beginning of the century down to the present time, there has been one or more Ephraims in every generation of the Tisdale family, and those of the first three are entitled to the honor of being classed as pioneers.

There are seven Canadian branches of the Tisdale family, and the genealogy of each—except that of Ephraim—is given in another sketch entitled. “The Tisdale Brothers.”

The Tisdales, of Norfolk, are the descendants of an old Welsh family that settled in the County of Lancaster, England, where they rose to eminence through their acknowledged head, Sir John Tisdale, who was raised to the peerage. The Tisdale arms is minutely described in an old paper brought from New Brunswick by John Tisdale—the family crest being a peacock’s head in natural colors on an azure field. Some time in the first half of the seventeenth century, the great-grandfather, came to America and settled in old Massachusetts Bay Colony, receiving a grant of land which was described as the town of Freetown.[1] Walker Tisdale, the only son of the first Ephraim, who remained in New Brunswick, visited Freetown early in the present century and saw there, in the old Tisdale burying ground, the tombs of his great grandparents, being marked by two large horizontal granite slabs. During Cromwell’s time, one John Paul, a Scotch Loyalist, fled from England and came to America, and his daughter was the grandmother of father Ephraim of this sketch. Ephraim’s father owned a shipyard in the vicinity of Boston. He conducted an extensive business, and was a leading influential man.

Ephraim Tisdale, the father of the Norfolk Tisdale family, was a sea captain. He owned a sailing vessel, and was employed in the West India trade; and it is said that during the early part of the war of the Revolution he was engaged in Government service in the distribution of army supplies. During the war he fought for old King George, and when the end came, with its independence for the Americans and its bitter persecution for the Loyalists, the Tisdale estates were confiscated and the Captain and his family subjected to ignominious treatment. Turning their backs upon the old home, they fled into New Brunswick.[2] Here, on the St. John River, between St. John and Fredericton, and near a place called Waterbury, they settled on lands allotted to U. E. Loyalists. Although very much reduced in circumstances and surrounded with less favorable conditions, the Old Flag which they loved and for which they had sacrificed so much, still waved over their heads, inspiring them with renewed courage and increased energy, and they were soon on the road to prosperity again. Captain Tisdale resumed his seafaring life, as shown by an old document, which reads as follows:

“Barbados.

“By this Public Act, or Instrument of Protest, be it made known and manifest unto all men that on the day of the date hereof, before me, Valentine Jones, jun., Deputy Secretary and sole Notary Public of this Island, personally came and appeared Ephraim Tisdale, Master or Commander of the schooner ‘Polly,’ now riding at anchor in Carlisle Bay in this Island, and George Furser, Mate, belonging to the said Vessel, who being duly sworn on the holy Evangelists of Almighty God, requested me, the said Notary, to make or draw a Protest for the reasons following, viz.: For that these Appearers sailed from the Port of Parr, in the Province of New Brunswick, on the thirteenth day of December last past bound for the Island, and proceeding on their said Voyage on the nineteenth day of the same month, in the Latitude 40.00 North, and Longitude 60.30, met with a very hard Gale of Wind, which obliged them for the preservation of their lives to throw overboard eighty thousand shingles. Wherefore I, the said Notary, at the Instance and Request aforesaid, did even as I do by these Presents publicly and solemnly Protest as well against the hard Gale of Wind aforesaid as against the Insurers and owners of the said schooner ‘Polly’ and the shippers of her cargo, and all Persons with them concerned. for all Costs, Losses, Damages, Hurts, Detriments, Prejudices and Inconvenience whatsoever arising to these Appearers, or any others with them concerned, for or by reason or means of the Accidents and Misfortunes hereinbefore mentioned and set forth.

“In Faith and Testimony whereof I, the said Notary, have hereunto set my hand and affixed my seal of office this Twelfth day of January, One thousand and Seven Hundred and Eighty-five.

“Valentine Jones, jun.,

(Seal). “D. Secy. & N. Public.”

The city of St. John, N.B., was at this time called the town of “Parr,” and it was at this place, on the 18th day of May, 1783, where the first settlement in Canada of U. E. Loyalists was effected.[3]

We also learn that in 1786 Captain Tisdale had made a change from the Polly to some other vessel. His sons did not all come to Long Point the same year. Lot came first. He came in 1798, and from that year down to 1808, when the old Captain and his remaining sons brought up the rear, much correspondence of a highly-interesting character passed to and fro between the “Town of Charlotteville, Upper Canada,” and “Waterbury, New Brunswick.” This correspondence has been preserved, and, if published, would throw much light on the life and times of a hundred years ago. Lot, writing to his sister Hannah in 1800, states that “peaches are plentiful,” and that he will secure a supply, as a young widow has an orchard so heavily laden that “the trees have to be propped up.” Who the “young widow” was who had such an orchard in Charlotteville in 1800, he did not say. It is supposed, however, that she was Mrs. John Stone, nee Nancy Mabee, and that the peach orchard was located a little west of “The Glen,” on the lot purchased and settled on in the following year by Ephraim, son of the Captain.[4]

In 1807, Father Ephraim wrote to Lot, describing an overflow of the St. John River. The water rose until it was twenty-seven inches deep on the floor of his house, and the fences on his farm were nearly all washed away. He states that he can sell his farm for £800, and that he expects to be able to come to Long Point in the following spring. In 1808 he came and settled near Vittoria. He died, in 1815, in his seventy-first year.

Ephraim Tisdale, son of the Captain, first came to notice as a cabin-boy on board his father’s vessel, a few years before the war of the Revolution broke out. It is said he was also a captain of a trading vessel for some years previous to his coming to Upper Canada. In 1801 he was a married man, with two or three children.[5] Lot had been in Long Point settlement for two or three years, and had written back many glowing descriptions of the country, leading other members of the family to a determination to come also. Accordingly, in 1801, Ephraim and his family, William, and their widowed sister, Hannah, who had married Israel Perley, and her three children, started for Long Point. They came in small boats, taking advantage of the numerous water-stretches that intervened. At night the boats were drawn ashore and made to serve as a covering and protection for their sleeping berths. They came up along the shore and landed at the mouth of the ravine where now is located “The Glen.” Ephraim settled on Lot 18, on the lake front, formerly taken up by John Stone, and here Ephraim, the grandson was born. Joseph Tisdale came to the settlement in 1802, and purchased a portion of Ephraim’s land, including the notorious “hollow,” where he built his pioneer cabin. Ephraim did not possess the speculative spirit that his brothers were imbued with, and he took no part in their business adventures. He stuck to his farm and was contented with agricultural pursuits. He was appointed High Constable for the District of London, June 14th, 1803, and served one year. He had five sons—Henry, Lot, Ephraim, James and Benjamin; and five daughters—Elizabeth, Ruth, Philena, Matilda and Mary Ann.

Henry Tisdale, eldest son of Ephraim, married Phoebe Teeple, and settled in Malahide. He had one son, Walker; and two daughters—Tryphena and Submit.[6]

Lot Tisdale, second son of Ephraim, married Margaret Shoemaker, and became a Middleton pioneer, settling near Courtland. He had four sons—Lot, George, Nicholas and William F.; and three daughters—Hannah, Matilda and Sarah.[7]

Ephraim Tisdale, third son of Ephraim, was twice married. By his first wife, Mary Monroe, he had three sons—Ephraim, James and William L.; and one daughter, Mary; and by his second wife, Hannah Price, he had five sons—Thomas P., Alonzo, David, Charles and Edward; and two daughters—Margaret Ann and Mary Francis. James married Maria Coltman, settled on the homestead, and had three sons—Walker, Allen McNabb and John C.; and six daughters—Mary, Nancy, Camilla, Caroline, Susan and Harriet.[8] Benjamin married Caroline Williams, settled near the homestead, and had two sons—Albert and Eli; and three daughters—Elizabeth, Helen and another who married into the Oak’s family.[9] Elizabeth and Ruth married, respectively, James Spore and Rev. Horace Dean. Philena married Ephraim T. Perley, and settled in Middleton, near Courtland. Mary Ann married a Teeple,[10] and settled in Ohio; and Matilda died single.

Ephraim Tisdale, the father of this family, settled on Lot 18, 5th concession of Charlotteville, remaining there until he died. He served his native township in the Municipal Council, leaving a creditable record behind him. He served as sergeant in a troop of cavalry during the rebellion, and ever after held an official position in the Norfolk Militia. It is not necessary to tell the people of Norfolk that Ephraim Tisdale was a staunch Loyalist. This would be a waste of words. He was notoriously loyal. He was fearless and outspoken in giving expression to his sentiments, politically, religiously or socially. He was upright and honorable in business transactions, and sympathetic and generous in social intercourse; but it was the hardest thing in his life to exercise charity in dealing with a man who scoffed at the Old Flag while claiming its protection. His grandson, George, son of Alonzo, occupies the old homestead at present, being the great-great-grandson of the original Ephraim Tisdale, who followed his sons to Long Point so many years ago. Ephraim Tisdale died in 1883, in his 83rd year.

In this branch of the Tisdale family are several leading and shining lights in the professions. Colonel D. Tisdale, son of Ephraim, is the present member for South Norfolk in the Dominion Parliament. He was a member of the late Tupper Government, holding the portfolio of Minister of Militia. In addition to this, he is a leading member of the Norfolk bar and Colonel of the 39th Battalion of Norfolk volunteers.

[1] The immigrant ancestor John Tisdale was born at Ripon, Yorkshire, England on November 7, 1614. He immigrated to the old Massachusetts Bay Colony about 1636, settling on a 10 acre grant in Green Harbour. He and his wife Sarah Walker moved with their children to Taunton, Massachusetts. Between 1655 and 1659, John was a Constable of Taunton. In 1674, he represented the City of Taunton at the Plymouth General Court. On June 27, 1675, while engaged in a skirmish with hostile Indians, John was killed. John’s son Joshua Tisdale was born at Duxbury, Massachusetts in 1646 and he settled at Freetown, Massachusetts. He was the father of the first Ephraim Tisdale, born at Freetown in 1707. Source: Robert Lee Tisdale, The Descendants of John Tisdale, 1614-1675

[2] Ephraim Tisdale went in the 1783 Loyalist Exodus from New York to New Brunswick, voyaging in the ship Brothers in the “Springfleet.” His family at embarkation included one adult male, one adult female, five children aged over ten and four under ten years old and one servant. Source: D. G. Bell, Early Loyalist Saint John, New Ireland Press (Fredericton, NB 1983), p. 246

[3] The colonial government of New Brunswick did not institute the formal title of “United Empire Loyalist” as did the province of Upper Canada, so use of that title for pioneers in New Brunswick is not correct. Further, several pioneers crossed from Fort Niagara to establish farms in Niagara Township, Lincoln County, Upper Canada in 1780 making that the earliest settlement of Loyalists in Canada, not St. John, New Brunswick.

[4] The “young widow” could not have been Nancy (Mabee) Stone who was born on February 24, 1772 and died on April 20, 1854. Her husband, John Stone was born on February 21, 1757 and died on March 31, 1845, according to the gravestones in Vittoria Baptist Cemetery. There were two known widows in early Charlotteville Township in 1800, although neither was a “young widow”. They were Nancy’s mother Lavinah (Pelham) Mabee, and Maiden Rice Stacy.

[5] By 1801, Ephraim and Submit Tisdale had the following children born: Elizabeth on May 19, 1794, Philena c. 1797, Henry c. 1797, Lot in 1799 and Ephraim on July 27, 1801. Source: Descendants of John Tisdale

[6] The names of Henry Tisdale’s family have not as yet been found. Descendants of John Tisdale states that Henry Tisdale had seven children. In the 1842 Census of Malahide Township, Henry was recorded on the south part of Lot 8, Concession 14 with five family members born to that time in addition to himself and his wife.

[7] Lot Tisdale’s son William “F.” listed by E. A. Owen was actually named William Emerick Tisdale at his baptism in the Wesleyan Methodist Church. Lot also had another daughter Frances, born on January 25, 1840 and baptized in the Wesleyan Methodist Church on March 12, 1840.

[8] James Tisdale had an additional daughter Charlotte E., born in 1848 and recorded with him in the 1852 Census of Charlotteville Township.

[9] Benjamin N. Tisdale had the following children baptized in the Wesleyan Methodist Church: Albert born March 15, 1842, Elizabeth born May 6, 1843, Ellen born May 18, 1845, Eli Chadwick born May 13, 1847, Emily born September 4, 1852 and Nancy Eliza born November 5, 1854.

[10] Mary Ann Tisdale married on October 2, 1826, Simon Peter Teeple, this event recorded in the London District Marriage Register.