A Family of Pioneer Mothers—McCleish Family
The McCleish girls, of Charlotteville, were known all over Long Point settlement, not by reason of any unusual traits of character possessed by them, but simply because there were eleven of them in one family, and each one had a brother. This was the enigmatical way of expressing it, and many a pioneer youth was led to believe there were twenty-two sons and daughters in the family, instead of twelve—the only son being held in common by the eleven sisters. It served a purpose by teaching thoughtless youngsters the folly of jumping at hasty conclusions. The family name has become extinct in Norfolk, but the McCleish blood courses through the veins of a considerable portion of Norfolk’s present population. These eleven McCleish sisters all became pioneer mothers, and their descendants are scattered all over the Western States and Canada, and have become, numerically, as the “sands of the sea shore.”
Andrew McCleish, the father of this large family of pioneer mothers, was a Scotch U.E. Loyalist.[1] He came to Long Point before the present century was born, and drew four hundred acres of land, comprising Lots 9 and 10 in the 5th concession of Charlotteville.[2] Mr. McCleish was not accustomed to farming; and, in addition to his inexperience, he possessed a frail constitution. His bush life, therefore, was far from being satisfactory to himself. He made slow progress in the arduous task of hewing out a home in a forest, and he was unable to retain all his land.[3] In the central portion of this tract was a cranberry marsh, consisting of fifty or sixty acres, and the stories which have been handed down pertaining to the immense quantities of berries taken from this marsh, sound as though they might have originated with old Baron Manchausen himself. It is said that on one occasion a party came over from the Boston settlement for cranberries, among whom were Benjamin Fairchild and one of the Corlisses, and that Hugh McCall went to the marsh with them and filled their sacks by scooping up the cranberries with a wooden shovel. The berries were put through a fanning mill, and when bagged up the party went home with sixteen bushels. Mr. McCleish failed to turn this bountiful gift of nature into a source of revenue. Settlers far and near came for cranberries, and Mr. McCleish made no charges. At first the berry-pickers tendered the proprietor little donations of one thing and another, but finally they neglected even this little courtesy, and simply helped themselves without asking leave. The provocation led Mr. McCleish into a very foolish act. In 1819 he set the marsh on fire during a very dry time, and it burned until the following January, totally destroying it, root and branch.
When McArthur’s troops passed through the settlement, during the war of 1812, they set adrift a jaded young horse that had given out and become unfit for further use. Several settlers refused to take the poor beast in, but Mrs. McCleish took pity on it and gave it a home. Under her kind treatment the animal rapidly recuperated, and for many long years afterwards it carried its kind benefactress about the settlement, as the oldest people living well remember.
The marshes in Norfolk at this early day were infested with the dreaded “masasauga,” and it is a wonder that so few of the old pioneers were bitten by them. Titus Finch was bitten by one in the McCleish marsh, but a copious draught of whiskey, taken immediately, counteracted the poison. The wife of Colonel Daniel McCall was bitten on the foot by a “rattler,” and came near losing her life. In after years she gave birth to two children and, it is said, both of these children died in infancy, having turned spotted previous to death.
Andrew McCleish died some time before the rebellion, aged about seventy. The names of his eleven daughters were Fanny, Mary, Amy, Martha, Margaret, Eleanor, Jane, Phoebe, Ann Maria, Christiana and Leah, and the name of the only son was Andrew.
Fanny McCleish married Thomas Shippey, a miller, and settled in Bayham.
Mary McCleish married Isaac Smith, and settled in Norwich.
Amy McCleish married Isaac Procunier, and settled in Walsingham, where they raised a large family. Mr. Procunier was a lumberman.
Margaret McCleish married Whiting VanNorman, one of the VanNorman brothers of Port Normandale fame. Whiting served for a time as foreman for his brothers at the “furnace,” and from there he went to Illinois. Subsequently he returned to Canada. They had four sons and three daughters. The sons settled in Minneapolis, and two of the daughters married and settled in Oxford.
Eleanor McCleish married Henry Rohrer, and settled in Walsingham.
Jane McCleish married Daniel Rohrer, and settled in Walsingham. Her children, and also those of her sister Eleanor, are enumerated in the Rohrer genealogy.
Phoebe McCleish married Jasper Dresser, and settled in Brant county.
Ann Maria McCleish married Granville Davis, and settled in Ohio. Subsequently she married David Stackhouse, and settled in Charlotteville. Her son William Stackhouse succeeded to the homestead—Lot 2, 1st concession.
Christiana McCleish married Walter Rockafeller, and settled in Walsingham. She had seven sons—Andrew, Alexander, William D., Cornelius, Allan, Walter and Ralph; and three daughters—Adaline, Jane, and Hannah. The Rockafellers, who, by the way, are related to the famous American millionaire of that name, have become quite numerous in the township of Walsingham.
Leah McCleish, the youngest daughter, married Eli Louks, and settled in Walsingham. She had one son, Andrew; and two daughters, Sarah and Henrietta.[4] Andrew succeeded to the homestead—Lot 6, 3rd concession.
Andrew McCleish, the only son, was twice married. By his first wife, Jane Franklin, he had three sons, Andrew, George and Austin; and three daughters, Sarah, Rachel and Helen. Subsequently he married Mrs. Titus, nee Mary Dolan, by whom he had one son, Bruce. Mr. McCleish settled in Walsingham, and died in Aylmer when about sixty years old, and none of his children remain in Norfolk. The sons are all in the States—Andrew being in Michigan, one daughter settled in Manitoba, one in Aldborough, and Helen married James Chute, and settled on Nova Scotia Street, Malahide. The name has become extinct in Norfolk.
[1] Andrew invariably signed his surname “McClish“. During the American Revolution, Andrew served in the 42nd (Highland) Regiment, a corps of regular British soldiers from Scotland. Following the war, he settled in New Brunswick then late in life arrived in Norfolk County, Upper Canada in October 1807, too late to be designated a United Empire Loyalist by the Executive Council of Upper Canada. Only the provincial troops qualified under the government’s strict guidelines at any rate. The father of Andrew’s wife Amy Montross, Peter Montross came earlier and did qualify however. Source: Upper Canada Land Petition “M” Bundle 8, Doc. No. 195
[2] Andrew McClish received a land grant as a settler of Lot 8, Concession 4, Charlotteville Twp. and his wife received the adjoining Lot 9, Concession 4 as the daughter of a United Empire Loyalist. Source: Abstracts of Deeds Register of Charlotteville Township.
[3] Andrew and Amy McClish retained both of their lots until 1831 when they sold them to their daughter Margaret (McClish) Van Norman according to the Abstracts of Deeds Register of Charlotteville Township.
[4] Eli and Leah Louks had two additional children, Mary Jane born c. 1846 and Joseph, born c. 1855, recorded with them in the 1861 Census.