From my earliest years the name Ryerson has brought immediately to mind an imagery of loyalty and steadfast support for whatever causes the family chose, be it politics or religion. The founder of the family in Norfolk County, Ontario, Joseph Ryerson, epitomized family conviction in his youthful support of the British cause in the trenches of the American Revolution and he kept the faith through all his years helping to forge a new country built on his sound principles. His influence proved not just local, but ultimately to be found all across the province carried far and wide by his five preaching sons and has spanned the generations to the present day.

Much has been written about Joseph’s famous sons Egerton, George, William, John and Edwy- but little about the father himself. Joseph’s brother, Colonel Samuel Ryerse was included in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography. I have felt that the time has come for recognition to be given to not just a man who was my ancestor, but another of our founding fathers who contributed much to the early history of this nation yet whose accomplishments remained unrecorded, until now.

Roots in New Jersey

Joseph Ryerson was born at Pacquanac near Paterson, New Jersey on February 28, 1761,¹ the sixth and youngest child of a couple with the very Dutch names of Lucus (Luyckes) Reyerson and his third wife Johanna Van der Hoff. Judge Lucas Ryerson was a prominent gentleman of the day, a county officer and Magistrate of the Court of Common Pleas. He inherited considerable lands in his father’s, Joris Ryerson’s, purchase from the Indians at Pacquanac, Saddle River Township, Bergen County.² Lucus married three times and was still fathering children in his fifties. His youngest son, Joseph was only three when Judge Ryerson died in 1764. The oldest son born to the first marriage George Luke Ryerson became the head of the household and his stepmother Johanna, who lived on for some years raised his younger brothers and sisters.

As the son of a prosperous family, Joseph probably learned to read and write at the nearby school as did his older brother Samuel. A prolific letter writer in later years, Samuel showed much polish in his correspondence. Joseph’s education was apparently interrupted by the American Revolution while he was still a youth, his writing not quite so refined. His further education came on the battlefields of colonial America.

From Drummer Boy to Lieutenant

When the lines were drawn between the British and American supporters at the Battle of Lexington, Massachusetts on April 19, 1775, family head George Luke Ryerson remained neutral; but his young half-brothers Samuel and Joseph, who would do most things together, joined the loyalist side. On May 6, 1776, at the age of 15, Joseph entered the British Army as a cadet.³ After several months in training, he received admittance to the New Jersey Volunteers, a loyalist militia company, as a drummer in the 4th Battalion. Over the ensuing four years, Joseph’s drum beat was heard in about 15 major campaigns and many skirmishes in New Jersey and New York. His regiment fought in General John Sullivan’s raid on Staten Island, General James Clinton’s New Jersey expedition, and raids on Hoebuck, Paulus Hook and Governor’s Island.

In September 1780, Joseph Ryerson transferred to become one of 550 in the Volunteers attached to the Corps of Provincial Light Infantry sent south to besiege Charleston, South Carolina. During the southern campaigns, Joseph served with the 37th, 71st and the 8[ ]th Regiments of the Infantry. In February 1781 the Light Company from the 4th New Jersey Volunteers defeated a detachment of American troops under General Thomas Sumter. Following this battle, Joseph joined the Prince of Wales’ American Regiment. In a letter dated May 19, 1781, Samuel Ryerse mentioned that his brother Joseph was “Recommended for an Ensigny in the Prince of Wales Regiment”⁴ During this service, Joseph bravely carried dispatches 196 miles into the interior of South Carolina, for which he received promotion from 2nd Ensign to Lieutenant on April 17, 1783.

A glowing account of Ryerson’s war service comes from his brother-in-arms, Peter Redner, of the Bay of Quinte,⁵ “He was a man of daring intrepidity, and a great favourite in his company.” Redner went on to say that Ryerson ranked as one of the most determined men he ever knew who, with the service of his country uppermost in his mind, often exposed himself to great danger to accomplish his desires.

By the time of Ryerson’s promotion, formal peace had been declared by the Treaty of Paris and the soldiers of the Prince of Wales American Regiment bided their time at New York pending England’s decision on their resettlement elsewhere in British North America. Lieutenant Ryerson had a life long interest in masonry and this subject formed the final record of his last moments at New York. On August 1, 1783 Joseph Ryerson, Royal Arch Mason, was initiated into “the sublime degree of a Royal Arch Super-excellent Mason... under sanction of Warrant Number 535 Grand Chapter at Long Island.”⁶

The Evacuation of New York

and Settlement in New Brunswick

On September 15, 1783 Joseph Ryerson, and his brother Samuel, who by this time was given the surname of “Ryerse” in his militia records, along with their Regiments embarked from New York City in the “Fall Fleet” which carried soldiers and civilians, with their families to New Brunswick in late September and early October 1783. One of the later fleets of 1783, this was a massive evacuation of 1,826 militia officers and men with their families, including 1,770 women, 355 children over ten, 341 children under ten, and 311 servants.⁷ An exodus of this magnitude had never before been seen in America. Most of Joseph’s Prince of Wales’ American Regiment with their families sailed from the foot of Manhattan Island on the Montague, the remainder on the Elizabeth.⁸

When they landed at St. John, the Ryerson-Ryerse brothers were both single men, Samuel a widower who left his children with in-laws in New York, and Joseph unmarried. Both had little more than the uniforms that they wore and the military issue rifles in their hands, and they remained with their units until the location of their settlement could be decided. Most of the regiments, including the Prince of Wales’, moved upriver in November 1783 to St. Anne’s Point (present-day Fredericton). Lieutenant Joseph Ryerson’s regiment received as their assignment the task of laying out the town site with streets to be not less than sixty feet wide and at right-angles; the plan to include “Proper Public Squares or Cites for Public Building nearly Central as may be.”⁹

Each loyalist regiment settled on a tract of land along the river, that to the Prince of Wales’ being Block 11 on the north shore west of St. Anne’s, refused by the men, as was Block 14 by Samuel Ryerse’s 3rd New Jersey Volunteers.¹⁰ With the long delays in the granting process, many had already begun to look elsewhere, both singly and in groups. Captain Samuel Ryerse with other associates explored down-river then petitioned for land on Little River, in Sheffield Township, Sunbury County back of the town of Maugerville.¹¹ Here, Samuel and Joseph received 400 acres each, the younger brother’s being Lot 9, straddling the stream. Besides Samuel, Lieutenant Ryerson’s neighbours included Ensign Henry Van Allen and Lieutenant Peter Teeple with whom he maintained life long friendships.

Both Samuel and Joseph married during 1784, the former, a widower, to the widow Sarah Underhill Davenport, the latter, a bachelor, to Sophia Mehetable Stickney, daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth (Barker) Stickney, formerly of Rowley, Massachusetts, born at Marysville, New Brunswick on October 7, 1766. Her parents pioneered in New Brunswick in pre-loyalist times.

The Ryerse-Ryerson couples started families in the back country of New Brunswick. With their wives, the brothers made a point of supporting the growth of the Anglican church at Sheffield. They, however, cleared little of their crown grants, soon becoming disillusioned with lands which proved to be barren and rocky making even subsistence farming almost impossible. Samuel gave up and left in 1792. Joseph continued to struggle on for a while longer. The older brother established himself in Woodhouse Township at the Long Point Settlement in Upper Canada and, pleased with the new situation, sent back to New Brunswick for his friends and neighbours to join him. Quite a few did among them Lieutenant Joseph Ryerson. He came without his family in 1797 to visit and look over the area.

The Move to Charlotteville

While on his exploration to Long Point, Ryerson became impressed with the new territory. On July 17, 1797 he made out a land petition¹² requesting land in the area, noting his war service as a Lieutenant in the Prince of Wales’ Regiment disbanded at New Brunswick in 1783. He admitted to having 400 acres in that province but he went on to state that he had not improved upon the property. Attached was a certificate from Samuel Ryerse to the effect that Lieutenant Joseph Ryerson had attained the age of 34 years, and was born in New Jersey. The Land Board of Upper Canada recommended Ryerson for an officer’s grant of 1,600 acres on August 21, 1797.

Joseph Ryerson then returned to New Brunswick and in 1798 brought his family which included three sons and three daughters, the oldest nearing 12 years, the youngest of them an infant born in the spring of 1797. Joseph’s Crown grant of 1,600 acres turned out to be located in Walpole Township, Haldimand County some distance to the east of where he wanted to be- near his brother at Port Ryerse. He settled instead on land for which he traded with Samuel, Lot 24 in the second concession of Charlotteville Township at its boundary with the Gore of Woodhouse. The two brothers traded lot for lot in Charlotteville and Walpole. Along with Lot 24, Joseph also received Lot 23, and then added two Crown leases nearby, until the Ryerson farm comprised a total of 800 acres. The first family residence was a small log home near the west bank of Young’s Creek which afforded easy transportation to Lake Erie.¹³

Ryerson’s Public Service

Norfolk County had been settled as early as 1790 and was known as the “Long Point Settlement” in its earliest times. John Graves Simcoe provided the driving force behind settling and organizing the new territory. He appreciated the loyalist officer’s soldiering skills and appointed Samuel Ryerse his lieutenant in charge of military and judicial affairs making him the most powerful figure in the Settlement. When Joseph Ryerson came to Norfolk County in 1798, he was in the right place at the right time to receive some positions of responsibility from his brother. At the establishment of the London District Court in 1800, Ryerson was appointed the first Sheriff of the district.¹⁴ On March 10, 1802, he also took on the post of District Treasurer¹⁵ which duties he carried on concurrent with those of Sheriff. Living just a few miles east of the district capital of Charlotteville, Ryerson lived close to the seat of power and attended all meetings of the court. He also received the position of Colonel in the Norfolk Militia by 1803 now making him one of the most influential figures in the Settlement.

About 1802, the Ryerson family moved to a new log cabin, a rambling building much more commodious than the first, to accommodate a growing family. Norfolk artist W. Edgar Cantelon later drew a sketch of the second home and this drawing is in the collection of the Eva Brook Donly Museum at Simcoe, along with Cantelon’s renderings of Joseph’s third and final house.

Although the business of day-to-day homestead building in the wilderness occupied much of his time, Joseph showed deep interest in the institutions of his area, both political and temporal. At Job Lodor’s tavern in the town of Charlotteville on January 3, 1803 Colonel Joseph Ryerson and six other Master Masons met to petition the Grand Lodge of Upper Canada for a warrant to establish a lodge in their area. At this formative meeting, Joseph was elected the temporary Worshipful Master.¹⁶

During the first decade of the 1800’s at Norfolk little time could be spared for matters of state. However, a political rivalry brewed between Samuel Ryerse and Benajah Mallory, a wealthy land owner and tavern keeper at Burford. The affair became so heated that few could ignore it. The two rivals ran as candidates for the county representation in the legislature of Upper Canada in 1804 and the campaign which followed included some extraordinary actions. Mallory went so far as to have Joseph Ryerson arrested for misbehaviour, a charge which the Justices dismissed outright in open court.¹⁷ Mallory won the seat, but not without further contest from the Ryerse faction that claimed Mallory was ineligible, being a teacher and preacher with “the Religious Sect called Methodists.” ¹⁸ Although he retained his seat and then was re-elected in 1808, Mallory was finally defeated in 1812 and turned traitor, supporting the American forces during the War of 1812, ultimately justifying the opposition of Ryerse and his brother.

On November 16, 1805 Joseph turned the job of Sheriff over to his future son-in-law, John Bostwick. The following August, Joseph replaced this public duty with his appointment as the collector of duties on goods brought from the United States, and Collector of Revenue from Still and Tavern Licenses. On March 10, 1807, he was sworn in as a Justice of the Peace of the London District with local jurisdiction for Walpole, Rainham and Woodhouse shared with his brother.¹⁹ He then took the post of returning officer for Norfolk in the 1808 elections.

On March 31, 1808, Joseph Ryerson received Pottahawk Point located on Long Point proper as compensation for a shortage in his Crown lands at Walpole- this an exceptional grant, reflective of his high regard in political circles. He was the only individual to be given a Government grant on Long Point proper, this location thereafter known as Ryerson’s Island.

The Assessments of Charlotteville showed Judge Ryerson to be one of the more affluent citizens of the township. In 1808, his property valuation totalled between £200 and £300. In 1809, he had 1,487 acres uncultivated and 60 acres cultivated, a house of round logs all assessed at £280/4/10. In these early times, to have even a couple of dozen acres cleared and planted counted as an accomplishment. A few years later, his assessment came to £430/8.²⁰

The War of 1812

In 1810, after eight years in the position of District Treasurer, Joseph stepped down but continued his duties as Justice of the Peace and Colonel of the Militia. With war looming on February 11, 1812 Joseph and his son-in-law Captain John Bostwick were re-commissioned in the service. On April 18, 1812 Lieutenant Governor Isaac Brock appointed Joseph Ryerson the Lieutenant Colonel of the First Regiment of the Norfolk Militia.

The War of 1812 raged on for over two years back and forth across the province and the Ryerson family fought along with their neighbours for their home and even their lives. Joseph’s four oldest sons all served- 1st Lieutenant George Ryerson, Lieutenant Samuel Ryerson, Private William Ryerson and special services volunteer John Ryerson. John Bostwick captained his own company of the Militia as did another Ryerson son-in-law, James Mitchell.²¹ Ineffective at first in stopping the invaders, The Long Point Settlement and other parts of Upper Canada were ravaged by the raids. The Norfolk Militia saw active service throughout the war and finally assisted in repulsing the invasion. In the end the British proved victorious but not without suffering severe destruction and loss. The post-war period became one of reorganization and re-construction for the settler-soldiers all of whose lives were disrupted, some of their homes plundered and burned. The Ryerson family had its share of grief. Son George Ryerson was “severely wounded to the great injury of his health.”²² The Ryerson home itself escaped damage but the nearby village of Port Ryerse fell laid to waste.

The Ryerson Home

About 1818 Joseph and his sons built their third and last home. This imposing monument to the affluence of the Ryerson family was built in a Neo-Classical style which withstood the test of time until its demolition in 1963. Travellers along Highway 24 south of Simcoe several decades ago, after dipping down to Ryerse’s Creek, would see the Ryerson house at the top as they headed up the hill on the other side. In 1819, Joseph Ryerson added to his public honours that of School Trustee. On January 1, 1820 as a mark of his military acumen, he was again commissioned to lead the 1^st Norfolk Regiment.

The Ryersons and Religion

As committed as they proved to their political convictions, the Ryersons and Ryerses were also staunch supporters of the Church of England (Anglican) faith. During the early years, they were counted among the founders of St. John’s Anglican Church. This was prominently located south of Simcoe on the east side of the main road enroute from Brantford and the relatively populous lands in Townsend and Woodhouse Townships to Lake Erie, now Highway 24. Even before the church was built, some of the Ryerson-Ryerse brothers’ children were baptised by pioneer saddle-bag Anglican preacher Reverend Robert Addison on one of his rare visits to the Long Point Settlement, recorded in his registers.

For many years in the British colonies, Anglican held sway as the “Established Church” and only ministers of that denomination (or Justices of the Peace) could perform marriages. Public office holders also had to belong to this established religion. Only after 1806, could ministers of other faiths be allowed licenses to perform marriages. For this reason, “dissenting” congregations in some areas generally remained small. After the conclusion of the War of 1812, a wave of Methodism swept through the Long Point Settlement catching up Joseph’s wife and sons, much to his apparent disapproval. In the years that followed, Joseph saw five of his six sons enter the Methodist ministry. Norfolk historian E. A. Owen wrote a colourful account of the Ryerson sons’ scholarly side:²³

“This generation of Ryersons seems to have been endowed

with a passionate fondness for books and ‘book larning’,

as the Colonel used to express it. He used to say that ‘Sam’

was the only one that was any good, and that when he sent

the others out on the farm to work he would find them lying

in a fence-corner or under a shade-tree, reading books. He

used to say that whenever he bought a new book he was

compelled to hide it, to keep his ‘good-for-nothing boys’

from fighting over it. At last the old Colonel gave up in

despair and let them have their own way.”

These sons having their “own way” joined the foremost men of the pulpit of this province during their lifetimes.

During 1825 Ryerson, aged 64, retired from all of the offices he held. The following year, he suffered the loss of his his favoured son Samuel, 35, and his oldest child Polly, 40. Even after his retirement, Joseph performed an occasional public function. In 1828, he assembled the Muster Roll of the 1st Regiment, which this time included his youngest son, Edwy. Although he served fervently with the Methodists, Edwy remained on the homestead to help his father as much as his ministerial career would allow him.

The Colonel’s Later Years

In 1837 Joseph, aged 76, saw his third war, this one a rebellion against the ‘Family Compact,’ the Executive Council which governed the province. Again the Ryersons supported the cause of the Crown. Even son Egerton who supported the establishment of a popularly elected government, voiced against the rebellion, preferring peaceful means of resolving the dispute.

Joseph and his wife, Mehetable lived long lives and in 1850 celebrated 66 years of marriage. Now well advanced in years, the couple outlived a son and three daughters. On June 10, 1850, Mehetable died at the age of 84. Her obituary said of her:²⁴

“She was the instrument of the religious

character and vocation of her sons- a

woman of strong sense, deep piety, and

enlarged charity- she best of mothers,

the most devoted of christians....”

In the spring of 1852, Joseph Ryerson, Gentleman, was listed on the Charlotteville census return aged 92. Although he had much earlier assured his sons that he had converted to Methodism, the elderly gentleman gave the Church of England as his religion, a statement of his staunch character.

On August 9, 1854 Joseph Ryerson expired at the age of 93, buried with full masonic rites next to his wife in Old Woodhouse Cemetery to the south of the Methodist (now United) church on the southeast side of present Highway Number 24 where it meets Highway Number 6, below the county town of Simcoe. In 1902, Joseph and Mehitable’s grandson, Colonel George Sterling Ryerson, M.D., replaced the original grave-marker with a large monument to their revered memory reading:

“In memory of Colonel Joseph Ryerson

United Empire Loyalist sometime Lieutenant

in the Prince of Wales New Jersey Regiment.

Commanded 1st Norfolk Regiment in War of

1812. First Sheriff of Norfolk County. Who

died August 9th 1854 Aged 94 Years. Wife

Sarah Mehetabel Stickney Who Died June

10th 1850 Aged 84 Years.”

Thomas A. Ryerson is co-author of a soon to be released book, The Ryerse-Ryerson Family- A history of the brothers Samuel Ryerse and Joseph Ryerson and their descendants.

Sources

1. Ryerson, A.W. Ryerson Genealogy, p.p. (1916), p.54

2. Ibid. P.1

3. Obituary of Joseph Ryerson, Christian Guardian, Issue of Aug 23, 1854

4. Ryerse Phyllis A. Capt. Samuel Ryerse (1975), P.39

5. Caniff, Dr. History of the Settlement of Upper Canada, P.119

6. Simcoe Reformer, Issue of 30 Jan 1904, P.6

7. Wright, Esther Clark. The Loyalists of New Brunswick, p.p. (Wolfville, NS: 1955), P.66

8. Bell, D.G. Early Loyalist Saint John, New Ireland Press (Fredericton, NB: 1983), P. 29

9. Op.Cit. P.185

10. Ibid. P.180

11. Petition of Samuel Ryerse and associates, Sep 22, 1785, New Brunswick Land Petitions, Archives of New Brunswick (1785)

12. Petition of Joseph Ryerson, Upper Canada Land Petitions, “R” Bundle 3, Document 36

13. Owen, E.A. Pioneer Sketches of Long Point Settlement. William Briggs (Toronot: 1898), P.68 and other secondary sources stated that Lots 23 and 24 in the second concession of Charlotteville had been Ryerson’s Crown grants. However, the Abstracts of Deeds Register of Walpole Township, Haldimand County show his 1,600 acre government patent to be located there; the Abstracts of Deeds Register of Charlotteville records his purchase of Lots 23 and 24 from Samuel Ryerse. Joseph Ryerson sold the last part of his Walpole grant in 1816

14. Fraser, Alexander, “Minutes of the Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace for the London District,” in Department of Public Records and Archives of Ontario, Twenty-second Report (The King’s Printer, Toronto: 1934), P.2

15. Ibid. P.33

16. Thompson, J.F. Century of Masonry in Norfolk County (1978), P.3

17. Op.Cit. P.60-61

18. Bannister, J.A. Norfolk Historical Nuggets #7

19. Op.Cit. P94,98

20. Yeager, William R., Editor. Charlotteville Township Assessments 1808-11,

The Norfolk Historical Society (Simcoe, ON: 1976)

21. Mutrie, R. Robert. The Long Point Settlers, Log Cabin Publishing (Ridgeway, ON 1993), P. 253-4

22. Petition of George Ryerson, Upper Canada Land Petitions “R” Bundle Miscellaneous 1812-40, Document 64

23. Owen, P. 69

24. Obituary of Mrs. Ryerson, Christian Guardian 19 Jun 1850