SKETCH V
FIRST WHITE BURIAL IN OLD CHARLOTTEVILLE-
FREDERICK MABEE
The first white burial in old Charlotteville of which we have any account, traditional or otherwise, occurred in the year 1794, on the hill overlooking Turkey Point. The body buried was that of Frederick Mabee, the old pioneer head of the Mabee family. Mr. Mabee had been living on the Point with his family about a year previous to his death, which makes it almost certain that the Mabee family was one of the first families that settled in old Charlotteville.[1] He was buried in a walnut log coffin. This rude casket was made as the old rain-troughs were made, and was provided with a tight-fitting slab which served as a lid. In after years when the remains were disinterred for the purpose of removal, the log coffin was apparently as sound as when first buried.
Frederick Mabee was a U. E. Loyalist. Previous to the close of the war of the Revolution his home was in the British colony of Massachusetts,[2] but when the Americans gained their independence, that home was confiscated and himself and his family subjected to bitter persecution. He had fought for British supremacy, and although the cause he fought for had been lost, he would cling to the old flag and sacrifice everything rather than swear allegiance to the new Republic; and, consequently, he and his fellow-colonists who had supported the old flag were driven out of the country with nothing but their personal belongings. The Mabee family fled to New Brunswick and settled at St. Johns.[3]
The new State of Massachusetts was exceptionally severe with the U. E. Loyalists within her borders, subjecting them to the most bitter persecution. After the war, the Legislature enacted a law providing for the banishment of leading Loyalists, and it is said that three hundred and ten of the most distinguished citizens of the old colony were banished and their property confiscated. Among these were some sixty graduates of Harvard. But the feeling of hatred that actuated the Americans in treating with their Loyalist fellow-colonists was not confined to confiscation of property and banishment of person, as shown by the following letter, dated October 22nd, 1783, and addressed to a gentleman in Boston”
“The British are leaving New York every day, and last week there came one of the d__d refugees from New York to a place called Wall Kill in order to make a tarry with his parents, when he was taken into custody immediately. His head and eyebrows were shaved, tarred and feathered; a hog yoke put on his neck, and a cow-bell thereon; upon his head a very high hat and feathers were set, well plumed with tar, and a sheet of paper in front with a man drawn with two faces, representing the traitor Arnold and the devil.”
Before the war Frederick Mabee had a good home and kind and obliging neighbours, but during and after the war he and his family were subjected to all kinds of abuse. His old neighbours were turned into fiends, and, not satisfied with persecuting him and his family, they actually mutilated his poor dumb animals.
There is a tradition in the family said to have been handed down by Mrs. Mabee to her children, which appears quite reasonable, and which, if true, explains how it came about that Frederick Mabee came to Long Point in advance of the general U. E. Loyalist movement, set on foot by Governor Simcoe about the year 1795. According to this tradition, one George Ramsay, a celebrated English hunter and fur-trader, had annually visited Long Point, while passing up and down the lakes, for many years previous to the first settlement. Indeed, it is said that this Ramsay had an encounter with the Indians on Long Point, while trading with them, as far back as the year 1760. It occurred (so the story goes) near the sand hills. The Indians, nine in number, seized Ramsay's liquors and other goods, and after becoming crazed with fire-water,” bound Ramsay hand and foot and determined on burning him alive. The attack was made in the night, and before the preparation for the burning was completed, the savage spirit succumbed to the liquid spirit of Christian civilization, and they decided to wait until morning. Eight of them stretched out in a drunken snooze around the fire, and the ninth was detailed to guard the prisoner. On this occasion Ramsay was accompanied by his nephew—a mere lad, whom the savages did not molest. During the night the boy secured a knife and severed the thongs which bound his uncle; and when thus freed, Ramsay made short work in sending his drunken captors to the “happy hunting ground,” and made good his escape.
Ramsay's home was in St. Johns. Peter Secord was a cousin of Frederick Mabee, and a U. E. Loyalist also. He accompanied the Mabee family to St. Johns, and, being, an old hunter himself, a fellow-feeling sprang up between him and Ramsay at their first meeting in St. Johns.[4] The latter invited Secord to accompany him on one of his trips up the lakes, and the invitation was gladly accepted. They visited Long Point and Turkey Point, and Secord was so taken up with the country that he made up his mind to return and settle on it, and induced his cousin “Feddie,” as he called him, to do likewise. Ramsay was well advanced in years, and this was his last trip. The glowing account given by Secord of the abundance of game and the natural advantages of the country, led to a determination on the part of Frederick Mabee to migrate to Long Point and establish a home there.
The Mabee party, it is said started for Upper Canada in the fall of 1792, but they wintered in Quebec and did not reach Turkey Point until some time in 1793. They drove twelve cows, rode horses, and employed an Indian guide to pilot the way through the wilderness.
Turkey Point was literally covered with wild-fowl when the family arrived there. It was a perfect bedlam of discordant sounds. The gabble of the wild turkeys, the scream of the geese, and the quacking of the ducks was something wonderful to hear. Deer were plentiful and tame. Sturgeon were so plentiful along the beach that all one had to do to capture them was simply to knock them on the head with a club. The Indians on the Point at this time, it is said, were rather a gay lot, very liberal in the use of paint and feathers. They were very fond of cow's milk, and were sometimes inclined to help themselves. The milk was kept in wooden troughs, similar to sap troughs, and whenever the Indians showed a disposition to help themselves, Mrs. Mabee would check them by waving a piece of red cloth and pointing over the lake. This served as a warning to them, and meant that if they did not behave themselves the British red-coats would come and drive them off the Point.
Some members of the family claim that the settlement was made as early as 1791, while others say it was not made before 1794;[5] but Mrs. Mabee and her family were living there in a comfortable log-house at the time of Governor Simcoe's visit in 1795. The grave of Frederick Mabee was there also, and a piece of ground known as the “Indian fields” had been cleared of its light growth of timber and cropped; all of which makes it appear quite reasonable that the family may have settled there, at least, as early as 1793.
The Mabee party consisted of Frederick Mabee and wife; Oliver Mabee, their eldest son, aged about nineteen; Simon, the second son, aged about seventeen; Pellum, the youngest son, aged about twelve—at least, these were the ages of the sons at the time of the Governor's visit;[6] two single daughters—Polly and Sally; and two married daughters— Nancy and Lydia with their respective husbands—John Stone and Peter Teeple.[7] It is said that Peter Secord, also, came with a Mabee family.[8]
Mrs. Mabee was awarded 600 acres of land, comprising Lots 8, 9 and 10 in the lake front of Charlotteville.[9] Subsequently, she married John B. Hilton, of New York, but he died three years after the marriage.[10]
The genealogy of the Oliver branch of the Mabee family is given elsewhere under the title, “An Old Pioneer Deacon,” and that of the Pellum branch is given under the title, “The Boy who Waited on the Governor.”
Simon Mabee, second son of Frederick, was born in 1778, and was about fifteen years old when the family settled on Turkey Point. In 1799, he married Abigail, daughter of John Gustin, and, for a time, owned the land upon which the larger and better portion of the old village of Vittoria is built. Simon Mabee possessed a religious nature. He was emotional, warm-hearted and sympathetic; and early in life gave himself up to the work of preaching the gospel. Among the early pioneer preachers who visited the little settlements throughout old London District, no man was better known or more highly respected than Simon Mabee. It is said he gave that old pulpit war-horse of later pioneer times- Elder McDermand- his first lessons in ministerial work. He finally settled in Oxford County where he raised his family. He had four sons- Samuel H., Walter B., John G. and Oliver D.; and eight daughters- Elizabeth, Anna, Nancy, Susanna S., Rachel C., Abigail, Lavinia and Mary.
Elder Mabee's eldest son, Samuel H., settled in the States. Walter B. was twice married. He settled near Beachville and had two sons—Simeon and Walter and seven daughters—Abigail, Anna, Frances, Rachel, Alice, Catharine and Martha.[11] John G. died in childhood. Oliver D. married Samantha, daughter of Aaron Barber, and settled in Goshen. By this union he had one son, Aaron; and two daughters, Abigail and Elizabeth. Subsequently, he married Mary Ward, by whom he had one son, Charles Byron. Mr. Mabee died in 1896, in Tennessee, in his 80th year. Elizabeth married Absolem Burtch, and settled at Burtch's Landing on the Grand River. Anna married Levi Burtch, settled in Oxford and left no children.[12] Nancy married Eli Sage, and settled near Ingersoll. Susanna S. married Philander King, and settled at Marshall, Mich. Rachel C. married John Clark, and settled near Woodstock. Abigail married Charles Harris, and settled near Ingersoll. Lavinia married Jacob McMichael, and settled in Townsend. Mary died in childhood.
Polly and Sally Mabee, the two daughters of the original Frederick, who came to Long Point single, married David Secord and Silas Montross. The former was a miller at Niagara,[13] and the latter's family genealogy is given elsewhere. The Teeple and Stone families were prominent factors in the early days of the settlement, but they are unknown to the present generation of Norfolk citizenship.[14]
More than a hundred years have come and gone since Frederick Mabee was laid to rest in his rude coffin. To-day his great-grandsons are found in the ranks of busy men, scattered all over the American continent, and his great-great-grandchildren occupy seats in nearly every school-house in the land. In fact, these descendants have become so numerous and so widely scattered that they meet as strangers, never dreaming that the old pioneer mother who pounded corn in the hollow of a white-oak stump on Turkey Point more than a hundred years ago, was their common maternal ancestor.
[1] The Mabee family were preceded at Charlotteville Township by John Stacy and his son-in-law Silas Secord. See footnote 1, in Sketch III, “Doctor Troyer And His Big Witch Trap.”
[2] Frederick Mabee was a fourth generation New Yorker. His great-grandfather, Pieter Casparszen (Mabie) Van Naerden came from Holland during the late 1640's and settled in New Amsterdam (present Manhattan). His grandson Simon Mabee lived at New Rochelle, New York then took his family to Westchester County where Frederick and his brothers joined the militia during the Seven Years War. Later, Frederick lived and paid taxes in Rombout Precinct, Dutchess County, near Fishkill, New York from at least 1773 to 1779. For more information see “Frederick and Levinah Mabee, The First Settlers at Turkey Point” by R. Robert Mutrie in The Long Point Settlers Journal, Vol. 1, No. 2, p. 21
[3] Frederick and his family went in the exodus of New York to New Brunswick in the “October Fleet” of 1783, sailing on the Sally to Saint John, New Brunswick. They settled first in the town of Carleton (south Saint John) but later moved to Queensbury, York County on the Saint John River west of Fredericton. Ibid.
[4] Peter Secord did not accompany the Mabee family to St. John, New Brunswick. During the American Revolution he served in Butler's Rangers on the Niagara frontier. Late in the war, he was the first settler west of the Niagara River, cultivating a farm in Niagara Township near the village of St. Davids. His son Silas, also a former Butler's Ranger settled in Charlotteville Twp., Norfolk Co. in 1790. Peter joined his son there in 1796. There is a possibility that Secord visited the Mabee family in New Brunswick giving rise to this family tradition (Upper Canada Land Petitions “S” Bundle 1, Doc. No. 172 and “S” Bundle 2, Doc. No. 81)
[5] In her land petition of June 25, 1798, Frederick’s widow Levinah stated that her husband, “at reduction of 1783 settled in Nova Scotia where he continued til the year 1792… from Governor Simcoe’s promises, he came to Quebec and was recommended by his Excellency to all Commanding Officers of the different Posts for assistance in order to reach Niagara….” (UCLP “M” Bundle 4, Doc. No. 273). As proof of arrival by 1793, the surname Mabee was written on Turkey Point in an August 1793 map of the Long Point Bay area made by Deputy Surveyor William Chewett. (Survey Map of Long Point NA NMC-16721 (1/2) ® H 1/410/Erie/1793)
[6] Oliver Mabee’s gravestone in Vittoria Baptist Church Cemetery shows that he died on February 2, 1854 aged 80 years 5 months and 22 days giving a calculated birth date of 10 Aug 1773. He would have been nineteen during the family’s trek in 1792-3. The gravestone of Simon Mabee in Ingersoll Rural Cemetery shows his death on January 3, 1843 aged 64 years and so a calculated birth about 1778. He would have been about fifteen during the trip and about seventeen at the time of the Lieutenant-Governor’s 1795 visit. A family record included in the unpublished manuscript of family historian Royal Mabee records Pellum’s birthdate on January 19, 1787. He would have been six when the Mabee party arrived at Turkey Point and twelve at the time of the vice-regal visit.
[7] The Teeple couple remained in New Brunswick until the autumn of 1794 when they sold their land there and followed the Mabee family (Deeds of York County, New Brunswick)
[8] If so, Peter Secord then returned to Niagara where he lived continuously from the Revolutionary War period until 1796, the residency noted in his 1794 and 1795 land petitions cited in footnote 3 above. He did not settle at Norfolk County until 1796.
[9] Widow Levinah Mabee’s Crown Patent of May 17, 1802 gave her lots 8 and 10, Charlotteville Township. Lot 9 was the Teeple family grant. Levinah purchased a part of the Teeple grant on May 9, 1812 and made that her homestead. (Abstracts of Deeds Register of Charlotteville Twp.)
[10] William Benjamin Hilton, born in New York c. 1749, died at Charlotteville Twp. on 28 Sep 1801. After service in The King's American Dragoons in the Revolution, he went in the Exodus from New York to Nova Scotia. He returned to New York until 1797 when he moved to Charlotteville and married widow Levinah Mabee. His birthplace and year were listed in the 1799 Muster Rolls of the Charlotteville Company of the Norfolk County Militia. His death date appeared in the estate administration dated November 3, 1801 (London District Surrogate Registry, Doc. No. 33). Hilton told of his war service in his Upper Canada Land Petition “H” Bundle 3, Doc. No. 90.
[11] In the 1852 Census of West Oxford Township, Oxford County, Walter B. Mabee had a son named Francis Simon, not a daughter Frances. He also had a son Levi in addition to those mentioned.
[12] Levi and Anna (Mabee) Burtch had four children recorded in the 1852 and 1861 Censuses of West Oxford Twp., Oxford Co.—Esther, David/Daniel, Job and John.
[13] David Secord may have worked in his father's sawmill in Niagara Twp., Lincoln Co. while growing up. He moved to the Long Point Settlement and established a gristmill on his Crown Grant in Lot 19, Concession A, Charlotteville Twp. He and Mary moved later to another grant in Lot 25, Concession 4, Yarmouth Twp., Elgin Co. (Abstracts of Deeds Registers of Charlotteville and Yarmouth Townships)
[14] Descendants of both the Teeple and Stone families lived in Norfolk County at the time of Owen’s writing. Peter Teeple’s son Luke settled in Charlotteville Twp., near Vittoria and his family were recorded in the 1901 Censuses of Charlotteville, Windham and South Walsingham Townships. The second generation of the Stone family settled at Port Rowan and St. Williams, South Walsingham Twp. The Stone surname died out but granddaughters of John and Nancy Stone lived out their lives in the area and were recorded in the 1901 Census of South Walsingham Twp.