SKETCH XI
A PIONEER WHO LIVED IN THE EXECUTIVE LOG MANSION
-THE AUSTIN FAMILY
As Charlotteville is the home of the McCalls, so is Woodhouse the home of the Austins; in fact the bare mention of “Woodhouse” suggests the name “Austin.” There are names which are peculiarly Norfolk names—names which were planted in the virgin soil of the county and so firmly rooted to the foundation of our social fabric that each succeeding generation adds to their strength. Among these old elementary names are the Austins of Woodhouse.
Love of home is a leading characteristic with such families, and tends to good and desirable citizenship. When a family becomes numerous in the locality where the grand-ancestor built his pioneer cabin, it denotes on their part loyalty to country, fidelity to local interests and affection for each other.
Solomon Austin was one of our prominent old foundation builders. His family came to Canada with a party of U. E. Loyalists, consisting of twelve families. They came from Maryland and North Carolina, and arrived on the Niagara frontier in early 1793.[1] The Austins came from Orange County, North Carolina and previous to the war of the Revolution all had comfortable homes and kind neighbors; but the terrible result of war made them homeless and despised aliens in the land that gave many of them birth.
It is said that shortly after the new province was organized these twelve families clubbed together and sent one of their number to the new country to learn what were the natural advantages of settlement, and the inducements offered settlers by way of land grants, etc. The name of this trusted emissary was John Davis, who subsequently settled in Windham, a little north of Simcoe, and later on his brother Robert came from North Carolina and settled near him.
Mr. Davis reported favorably, and in due time the party was en route for the new country. They came in canvas-covered wagons, bringing their household effects and a number of cows and other farm stock with them. Buffalo, at this time, was a small village containing about a dozen houses. The party crossed the river at Old Niagara, and remained there a short time.
In common with most of their fellow Loyalists, they came into the forests of Upper Canada with little or no means. Governor Simcoe offered his executive log mansion at Newark to Solomon Austin, as a temporary shelter for his family until he could locate his land. He was awarded 600 acres for himself and wife and 200 acres for each of his children, to be selected by themselves from any of the untaken lands, which at that time included pretty much the entire province.[2]
But why did Governor Simcoe show Solomon Austin so much kindness? Sir John Graves Simcoe had fought England’s battles in the war of the Revolution, and was a U. E. Loyalist himself. He had been an officer, and Mr. Austin had been a private in his command and had distinguished himself at some minor engagement, and his old General had not forgotten it; hence the extra favors shown him and his family when they arrived in the new country.[3]
Mr. Austin was accompanied by his son Solomon when he made his tour of inspection in view of locating his lands. They made up their minds to locate their new lands in some pleasant valley, where the droughts would not trouble them as of yore. Furthermore, they had resolved to build a mill, and this also made a choice of valley lands necessary in order to secure the required water-power priviledges. They travelled through the forest on foot, and held a conference with Chief Brant at Brant’s Ford (Brantford) and the chief pointed out a southerly course, toward the “big lake.” They proceeded according to Brant’s directions, and, in due time, came to a stream, which they followed to the lake. This was Patterson’s Creek, and the place where they came upon it was near the spot where the old home of Elder Steinhoff was located. When they reached the mouth of the creek they found a squatter living in a log cabin on the east bank. This man’s name was Walker, and was, no doubt, the first settler in Port Dover.[4] When they reached the mouth of Big Creek, they wended their way up the cedar-entangled valley of that stream to a point some distance above the site of the present village of Delhi. Nothing they had seen pleased them as well as the little valley down which they had found their way to the lake, and so, taking a south-easterly course, they struck their old trail, and located their lands in what is now known as Lynn River Valley. They spent about three weeks in the forests of Norfolk, mostly, before they decided on a location. Unlike so many of our old Long Point pioneers, the Austins made a wise choice when they located their new homes. The natural surroundings of the old Austin homestead are picturesque and the soil is exceedingly fertile.
When Mr. Austin and his son returned to Newark, they found the family suffering with that pest of pioneer life, chill-fever. This detained them a whole season in the Niagara settlement, and it was sometime in 1794 before they were settled in Lynn Valley.[5] They suffered, of course, the hardships and privations which fell to the lot of all the old pioneers.
The war of 1812 broke in on their work of home-building, and Solomon Austin and his four stalwart sons marched out of the little valley to fight for the Old Flag in the defence of their new homes. They were at the battle of Lundy’s Lane, and before the war closed, it is said, each one of the sons had been promoted to the rank of Captain. It is no wonder the Austins are noted for loyalty to country, fidelity to sound principles and love of home.[6]
The grand-American ancestor of the family emigrated from the border of Wales about 175 years ago, and settled on a little bay in the Petapsco River, about twelve miles above its entrance into the Chesapeake Bay, in Baltimore County, in the colony of Maryland. Here, on the Austin estate, was founded the city of Baltimore, in 1729. When the colonies threw off their allegiance, the Austins were wealthy and influential—as, indeed, were all the leading Loyalists—but when the war was over they were reduced to poverty and subjected to persecution. The overthrow and expulsion of the Loyalist element proved an irreparable loss to the tone and moral worth of the colonies, but it proved a “God-send” to the new British Province of Upper Canada. It is but little more than a century since these victorious colonies, which had been long established, confiscated the homes of their old colonial leaders because they fought to put down the rebellion, and with kicks and curses sent them penniless into an unbroken wilderness; but in 1893 the new Ontario met these same thirteen old colonies at Chicago before the assembled world, and clearly established her superiority over every one of them in the degree of material development attained, and in the intellectual status of her people as measured by the standard of her educational institutions. What is the secret of this wonderful development in one short century? It lies in the superior qualities which these old U. E. Loyalist foundation builders possessed and which they transmitted to their children. Let us not forget this important fact while boasting of the intellectual and industrial achievements and the moral excellencies of our people.
Solomon Austin had four sons—Solomon, Jonathan, Philip and Moses; and five daughters—Mary, Amy, Esther, Elizabeth and Anna.
Solomon Austin, eldest son of Solomon, was twelve years old when the family came to Canada. He married Sarah Slaght, by whom he had six sons—Philip, John S., David, Jonathan, Abraham and Samuel; and four daughters—Susan, Julia Ann, Mary Ann and Elizabeth, who married respectively, Nathan Pegg, William Shand, Henry Paskins and Alfred Farnum. Philip, David and Samuel, married and settled on farms in Woodhouse. John S. and Jonathan established a carriage manufactory and built up a trade and a reputation for square, honest dealing, that any business firm might envy. Abraham became a Baptist preacher, and thirty years ago there were few Baptist Sunday School scholars in the County of Norfolk who did not know the familiar face of Elder Austin.[7]
Jonathan Austin, second son of Solomon, married Hannah Potts. He had two sons— William and John; and six daughters—Charlotte, Mary, Joanna, Catherine, Elizabeth and Rebecca Ann. He and his younger son built the mills in Lynn Valley, known as “Austin’s Mills.” Four of his daughters—Charlotte, Joanna, Elizabeth and Rebecca Ann, married respectively, John Wheeler, John Hinds, Thomas M. England and Robert Laning.
Philip Austin, third son of Solomon, was born in 1790. He married Mary Slaght and succeeded to the old homestead. On one occasion during their early married life, Mrs. Austin was nearly frightened to death by a band of armed Indians who came to the house during the husband’s absence, and coolly ordered a meal of hot buckwheat pancakes. In their estimation this was a great delicacy, being far ahead of anything “Ingins’s squaw” ever made of pounded corn. They stacked their guns in front of the door, and Mrs. Austin proceeded at once to comply with their demands. She baked up all the “pancake timber” she had, and the “noble red men” swallowed the red-hot flapjacks as they came from the griddle. When the material was exhausted the half-satisfied warriors shouldered their guns and went on their way. It was in a time of peace, and they were, no doubt, a band of hunters; but at that early time to have such a band of armed Indians suddenly drop in upon a lone woman, was enough to nearly frighten her to death.
Mrs. Philip Austin was the mother of seventeen children, fourteen of whom grew up to man’s and women’s estate. There were six sons—Aaron, Isaac, Philip B., Joshua, Joseph and Oliver; and eight daughters—Nancy, Elizabeth, Rebecca, Mary, Hannah, Esther Ann, Emily Jane and Priscilla. It is said our best people come out of large families, and no one of our old families is more in evidence as to the truthfulness of this old saying than the family of Philip Austin. Among them we find some of Norfolk’s most distinguished citizens. Four of these sons—Isaac, Aaron, Joseph and Oliver—have added dignity, tone and moral worth to the solid yeomanry of Woodhouse, the first having served many years in the Township and County Councils as Reeves of Woodhouse, and the last is at present serving in the same capacity. Oliver Austin is not only a leader in township and county affairs, but he displays the same progressive energy in the advancement of agriculture and the support of every movement tending to develop a stronger moral and religious sentiment among the people. Joshua the fourth son, stands for the first half of that old familiar mercantile firm-name, “Austin & Werrett,” that found its way into every household in the county years ago. Emily married her brother’s business partner, George Werrett. Several members of this large family settled in the Western States, where they raised families and prospered. Philip Austin died in 1876, in his 83rd year, having survived his wife eleven years.[8]
Moses Austin, youngest son of Solomon, married Mary Misner and settled in Woodhouse. Subsequently, he built a saw-mill in the vicinity of Tyrrel, Townsend. He had four sons—Lewis, Edward, Nathaniel and William; and four daughters—Margaret, Mary, Sarah and Julia. These sons and daughters married and settled, mostly in Woodhouse and Townsend.[9]
Mary Austin, eldest daughter of Solomon, and first-born child, married Henry Walker and settled near her father’s homestead. Her children are enumerated in the Walker genealogy.
Amy Austin, second daughter of Solomon, married Selah Styles and settled in Woodhouse. She had two sons—Peter and Selah; and one daughter, Lavinia.[10]
Esther Austin, third daughter of Solomon, married Raynard Potts, and settled just north of her father’s homestead. Her children are enumerated in the Potts family genealogy.
Elizabeth Austin, the fourth daughter, married John Pegg. Her children are enumerated in the Pegg genealogy.
Anna Austin, youngest daughter of Solomon, married David Marr, of Marr’s Hill. The names of her children are given in the Marr genealogy.
Solomon Austin and his pioneer wife both attained the age of eighty-two. None of their sons reached so great an age, except Philip, who reached his eighty-seventh year, being the last survivor of the family. Moses died comparatively young, being only about fifty-five, while Solomon reached his sixty-eighth year. For several years previous to Philip’s death, the members of his large family held a reunion on the anniversary of his birth. At the last of these reunions there were present one hundred and thirty-seven descendants of Philip Austin, and the direct descendants of the original Solomon Austin numbered, at this time, over seven hundred. If this was the number twenty years ago, what a mighty host they must be to-day!
But according to a family tradition, the destiny that gave Norfolk this vigorous and most excellent element, hung on a very slender thread at one time. It happed while Solomon Austin was fighting for British supremacy in America. As the story goes, he and six others were taken prisoners, and himself and another were condemned to death. Just before the time fixed for execution, Mr. Austin and another prisoner were permitted to go to the spring for a drink. They were accompanied by two guardsmen, and when they arrived at the spring, one of the guards handed his gun to the other guard and laid down to take a first drink himself. While thus engaged the standing guard passed his comrade’s gun over to Austin and gave him the wink to make good his escape. It was a narrow escape, but it proved successful. He knew the man who thus saved his life, and had always looked upon him as a bitter enemy; but he never saw him afterwards, and never knew what became of him.
The twelve families referred to in the first part of this sketch, all settled in the Niagara and other Eastern sections, except the Austin families. As before stated, John Davis moved up from Niagara subsequently. Accompanying the party were several young men with no family connections. Two of these— John Pegg and Henry Walker—settled in Norfolk. John Austin, a young man, son of a brother of the original Solomon Austin, came with the party, and was awarded land in the County of York, where he settled, married, and raised a family.[11]
[1] The Austin settlement party arrived in June 1794. On June 4, 1794, a member of the party—John Davis petitioned stating that he “has removed with 11 families to this Province from North Carolina (Upper Canada Land Petition “D” Bundle 1, Doc. No. 33). On June 26, 1795, John Davis filed a second petition stating that he “came to the Province last summer from North Carolina” (Upper Canada Land Petitions “D” Bundle 1, Doc. No. 33 and “D” Bundle 1, Doc. No.44). Solomon Austin’s own petition dated July 16, 1794 did not mention his date of arrival, but was his first, stating that he “came here with wife and seven children” (Upper Canada Land Petition “A” Bundle 1, Doc. No. 14). The gravestone of Solomon’s son Philip in Old Woodhouse Methodist Church Cemetery, Woodhouse Twp. states that he came to Canada in June 1794. See also The Long Point Settlers Journal, Vol. 3, No. 1 for stories of this trek.
[2] In his Land Petition of July 16, 1794, Solomon Austin noted that he, “took up arms in defense of His Majesty’s Government in North Carolina... was taken prisoner at Moore’s Creek Bridge and ill treated... afterwards his known attachment to the British Constitution made him obnoxious to the Government of Carolina...” In response, The Executive Council of Upper Canada ordered that Austin be ordered 600 acres of land. As the children of a United Empire Loyalist, Austin’s children could all apply for a 200 acre grant of land as they came of age and did. Source: Upper Canada Land Petition “A” Bundle 1, Doc. No. 14.
[3] Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe was Colonel of the Queen’s Rangers, a Loyalist Regiment during the American Revolution. It has not been learned which regiment Austin joined, but the Queen’s Rangers raised at New York did see service in North Carolina. By the strict terms of his own Act passed by the Executive Council of Upper Canada, Simcoe was not a United Empire Loyalist. The Act required that the person be a resident of the American colonies by 1775, and Simcoe was a resident of England at that time. He went to America and played a major role in the King’s forces during the Revolution. Simcoe was never knighted, so did not have the title of “Sir”.
[4] Peter Walker settled first in the front of Walpole Township, Haldimand County in 1793, then soon after removed to the mouth of Patterson’s Creek at present Port Dover, recorded in the diary of Deputy Surveyor William Chewett. Walker’s granted location was Lot 11, Concession 1, Woodhouse Twp. Source: Report of Deputy Surveyor David W. Chewett.
[5] Owen’s 1793 date of arrival for the Austin family at Niagara was one year too soon, so if detained at Niagara for a year, the Austin family did not arrive at Norfolk until 1795. The September 1795 report of Deputy Surveyor Alexander Aitken mentioned “(Mill Seat) intended for one Austin.” (Source: Surveyor General’s Letter Book 3, p. 1000-1009, Archives of Ontario MS 627, Reel 1).
[6] While three of Solomon’s sons were listed in the Muster Rolls of the Norfolk County Militia during the War of 1812, Solomon himself was not. After all, he was aged 68 in 1812. During the war, his son Philip was a Sergeant in Park’s Company, Solomon Jr. was a Private in Park’s Company and in McCracken’s Detachment. Jonathan served as a Lieutenant in White’s Company. Moses, aged eleven in 1812, was too young to serve. Source: Muster Rolls of the Norfolk Militia 1812-1814, National Archives of Canada RG 9, IB7, Vols. 27, 28, 29, reprinted in The Long Point Settlers, by R. Robert Mutrie.
[7] Susan Austin married to Alfred Farnum on April 26, 1835. Julia Ann Austin married Nathan Pegg on February 20, 1834. Mary Ann Austin married William Shand on February 28, 1850. Elizabeth Austin married Henry Paskins on January 9, 1855. The first two marriages were recorded in the London District Marriage Register and the last two in the Talbot District Marriage Register.
[8] Philip Austin was born on May 7, 1790 according to his gravestone in Old Woodhouse Methodist Church Cemetery, Woodhouse Twp.
[9] Another daughter of Moses Austin, Anna, born c. 1838 was recorded with the family in the 1852 Census. She married on July 26, 1859, Hanson Lemon, the marriage recorded in the Brant County Marriage Register.
[10] They settled afterwards at Norwich Twp., Oxford Co. recorded in later records.
[11] Based on their individual Land Petitions, the North Carolina settlement party included the following: Solomon and Joanna Austin with their seven children; matriarch Jane Davis with her sons John, Robert and James and daughter Edwyck with her husband James Derrickson; William Walker with his wife and eleven children; Anthony and Margaret Dougherty with four daughters; Archibald and Margaret McCool with five children. Including the married couple James Davis and Edwyck (Davis). This accounts for six of the eleven families. William Walker settled at Clinton Twp., Lincoln Co. and six of his children settled in Norfolk. The pioneer mother Jane Davis settled at Barton Twp., Wentworth Co. with her son Thomas who preceded her. Her sons John and Robert Davis settled in Norfolk. The Derrickson, Dougherty and McCool families settled in Townsend Township. For details of these families see the individual biographies in The Long Point Settlers by R. Robert Mutrie. Detail of the Austin family migration is included in The Long Point Settlers, Vol 3., No. 1.