Owen Chapter 8

SKETCH VIII

THE FATHER OF NORFOLK PRESBYTERIANISM

JABEZ CULVER

A little more than a hundred years ago Norfolk was an unbroken wilderness. During all the preceding centuries her area, now checked off into fertile, productive fields, and dotted with comfortable homes, lay in the lap of nature, subject only to the action of natural forces. No sound of civilization had ever disturbed the quiet solitude of her wooded valleys or reverberated along her shaded hillsides. No “click” of the settler’s axe, or clarion note of that harbinger of the dawn of civilization—the chanticleer—had ever been heard in Norfolk a little over a hundred years ago. But the time came when the westward march of civilization demanded a surrender on the part of the “noble red man” of the wigwam villages and favorite hunting grounds of this interior portion of the New World. The transition of our county from a condition of primeval forest to a high state of cultivation and refinement, in one short century, is something wonderful to contemplate. The cause of this marvelous effect is traceable to the superior qualities of our old pioneer stock. All honor to our brave old pioneers. They have all been laid to rest, but their children and their children’s children have not forgotten the privations they suffered, the Christian altars they erected in their rude cabins, their patient industry, their love of home and the land of their adoption, and their strong faith in God which enabled them to persevere in the face of difficulties and overcome the obstacles which lay in their rough and uneven pathway.

Such a man was Jabez Culver,[1] the pioneer Presbyterian preacher, and paternal head of one of Norfolk’s best and most numerous families. In the early days of the American colonies, it is said that three Culver brothers emigrated from England to America, settling in the colony of Connecticut. The grandparents of Jabez Culver moved from Connecticut into New Jersey and were buried in the Culver burying ground near Schooley’s mountain, about 136 years ago. The father of Jabez was buried in the family burying ground near Chester, Morris County.[2] Jabez moved from Morris County into Sussex County where he owned considerable property. Culver’s Lake and Culver’s Gap, in that county, were named after Jabez Culver who owned the adjoining lands. He was a Presbyterian minister, and was pastor of a congregation near Deckertown, N.J. that worshipped in the “Beemer meeting-house.”[3] It is said that during the war of the Revolution, Rev. Jabez Culver’s sympathies were all on the side of the British, but having been subjected to an overpowering American influence, and being the owner of considerable real estate, he chose the Bible in preference to the sword, and joined Washington’s army as chaplain. Thus he was enabled to minister to the spiritual needs of the rebels without materially aiding in the overthrow of the British.[4]

When the new province of Upper Canada was organized, it is said that Jabez Culver journeyed from New Jersey[5] to Newark on horseback to consult with Governor Simcoe as to terms of settlement in the new province. The Governor knew the value of the man who came to see him, and he knew that the numerous Culver family and their many family connections in New Jersey would make the very best stock that could be obtained in his work of laying the foundation of a prosperous British commonwealth, and it is said he promised Mr. Culver a grant of 600 acres of land for himself, 400 acres for each of his married children, and 200 acres for each unmarried child.[6]

Rev. Jabez Culver’s children were all born in New Jersey. One son, Nathan, met with a remarkable experience.[7] He fell into a kind of trance, and was spirited away where he saw a vision of the eternal world, which made such an impression on his mind it broke down his unbelief and led to his conversion. An account of this vision was published by his father after Nathan’s death. One strange thing connected with the vision was the alleged fact of his being entrusted with a message of warning from the spiritual world to his brother-in-law, Stephen Kent. Kent was young, hale and hearty, but the message informed him that his death was near at hand, and it warned him to prepare for it. In two short months the summons came. He was accidentally drowned. This is a well authenticated fact, and it gives the vision a serious signification, to say the least.

Rev. Jabez Culver came to Norfolk in 1794. He settled on lot 1, 12th concession of Windham, and erected the first log house in the township. He had thirteen children, eight of whom—seven sons and one daughter—came to Norfolk with him.

The Culver party included several families, making up a good-sized caravan. They brought a number of horses, several cows and some hogs with them; and during the journey were frequently attacked by wolves. Nathan Culver had previously died in New Jersey, leaving a little son about four years old, who was adopted by his grandfather. While camping in the Grand River swamp this little fellow, who’s name was Jabez B., sat on a huge rattlesnake, but one of his uncles succeeded in rescuing him without serious consequences. It is said that Long Point settlement contained but five families when the Culver family arrived, the Troyer, Mabee and Smith families being three of them.[8] The present site of Brantford contained three houses, and near the spot where Jabez Culver erected his log cabin, a family named Cooley had squatted. This family bore an unsavory reputation, and the glow of advancing civilization soon drove them back into the shadow of unknown regions.[9] The lands taken up by the Culvers were heavily timbered, and during the first two or three years the marsh grass on Turkey Point was untilized as a common pasture ground. The young cattle and farrow cows were wintered on the Point, the young men alternating with each other as herdsmen.

Rev. Jabez Culver was ever an indefatigable worker as an ambassador of the Gospel. He rode in a rude cart, consisting of a home-made wooden axle-tree, to which was attached a pair of shafts and the two front wheels of a “Jersey” linch-pin lumber waggon. A rope seat was arranged over the axle-tree and a bell was attached to the horse, so that while that animal was picking his own living during the hours of religious service, it might be easily found when the time came for jogging along to the next “appointment.” As settlement advanced, he organized a congregation at Turkey Point, one in Windham, and, later on, another in Oakland. When he was nolonger able to travel from place to place, he sat in a chair in his own house and preached. In 1807 he wrote a lengthy account of his conversion and call to the ministry. This manuscript is preserved and in possession of Nelson Culver, of Normandale. A copy of Nathan’s vision is also in Mr. Culver’s possession. Rev. Jabez Culver was ordained in 1760 in New Jersey, and yet the London District Court refused, in 1800, to grant him a licenseto marry, although a portion of his congregation went into court and acknowledged him as their pastor. The following year, however, the court granted him a license after he had taken the oath of allegiance. He died December 29th, 1818, in his 88th year, and Anna, his wife, died March 10th, 1813, in her 74th year. In the old pioneer’s family were nine sons—Ebenezer, Jabez, Nathan, Aaron, John, Michael, Gabriel, Griffith and Benjamin; and four daughters—Phoebe, Anna, Freelove and Hannah.

Ebenezer Culver, eldest son of Jabez, was born in 1756. He settled in Welland and had one son and two daughters.[10]

Nathan Culver, second son of Jabez, was born in 1764. He died in New Jersey in 1792, leaving as before stated, and infant son, Jabez B., who was adopted in his grandfather’s family.

Jabez B. Culver, only son of Nathan, was born in New Jersey in 1789, and was not five years old when his grandfather’s family came to Norfolk. He married Hannah Bacon and settled in Windham. In his family were six sons—Nathan, Mahlon, Allen, William, Eli and Jabez; and five daughters—Clarissa, Malissa, Cricena, Miriam and Nancy. He died in 1841, in his 53rd year. The children of Jabez B. Culver, who are living, have passed into the “sere and yellow leaf” of a ripe old age, and yet there are the great-grandchildren of the Windham pioneer.

Michael Culver, sixth son of the original Jabez, was born in 1772, and died in New Jersey at the age of eighteen, four years before the family came to Norfolk.

Griffith Collver, seventh son of Jabez, was born in 1778, and was sixteen years old when the Norfolk settlement was made. He settled in the Western States.

Benjamin Collver, youngest son of Jabez, was born in 1780, and was fourteen years old when the family left New Jersey. When he was twenty-seven he was appointed constable for Windham by the Court at Turkey Point. He settled in Ohio, where he died single.

Phoebe Culver, eldest daughter of the original Jabez, was born in 1757. There is no note of her death in the old family registry, and it is supposed she remained in New Jersey. If she was alive when the family left New Jersey she would have been thirty-seven years old.

Anna Culver, second daughter of Jabez, was born in 1759, and, if living was thirty-five years old when the family came to Canada.

Freelove Culver, third daughter of Jabez, was born in 1762. She married Michael Shoaf[11] in New Jersey, and came to Upper Canada with her husband and family when the Culvers came.[12] He was among the earliest settlers, and his name appears quite frequently in the Grand Jury lists of the pioneer courts of London District. He settled on Lot 6, 13th concession of Townsend, and had five sons—Jacob, Dennis, Michael, Vincent and Benjamin; and three daughters—Anna, Salinda and Dorcas, who married respectively, Peter Martin, of Burford, Job Slaght, and Adam Book, of Ancaster. The sons all settled in Townsend.[13]

Jacob Shoaf, eldest son of Michael, married Mary Carpenter, and had four sons—Philip, James, Michael and Elijah; and five daughters—Nancy, Martha, Mary, Elizabeth and Margaret.

Dennis Shoaf, second son of Michael, married a sister of Job Loder,[14] and settled on a part of the homestead. He had seven sons—John, Levi, Hiram, Gabriel, Alford, Daniel and David; and four daughters—Elizabeth, Nancy, Lizana and Jane.

Michael Shoaf,[15] third son of Michael, married Elizabeth Baldwin, and had five sons— William, Jonathan, Isaac, Lewis and Summers; and two daughters—Delila and Phoebe Ann.

Vincent Shoaf, fourth son of Michael, married Elizabeth Martin, and had six sons—John M., Levi A., Stephen S., Alson, Moses and Adam; and eight daughters—Mary Ann, Lydia, Angeline, Jane, Lavinia, Caroline, Marilla, Amelia, and one or two more whose names were not given, making sixteen or seventeen in the family.[16]

Benjamin Shoaf, fifth son of Michael, married Margaret Walker, and had five sons— Baldwin, Franklin, Kinsley, John and Anson; and three daughters—Sarah Ann, Mary and Alice. The name “Shoft” has been Anglicized into “Shaw.”

Hannah Culver, fourth daughter of Jabez, was born in 1779, and died, single, in 1788, about six years before the family left New Jersey.[17]

The four sons of Jabez, whose names are omitted in this sketch, married four Culver sisters. Their children possessed a double portion of Culver blood, and a history of the four branches is given in sketch “The Double Culver Quartette.”

[1] Jabez and all but two of his sons invariably signed their surname “Collver”. The exceptions were sons Aaron and Jabez Jr. who later in life signed “Culver.” Some in the later generations of Jabez’ descendants adopted the “Culver” spelling while others continued to use “Collver”. In the 1852 Census of Norfolk County, there were twenty-four listings for Collver and only a handful of Jabez’s descendants listed as “Culver/”

[2] Jabez’s ancestors seem to have used the “Colver” spelling of their surname. The immigrant ancestor Edward Colver sailed from London, England in July 1635 in The Abigail. He settled at Dedham and then Roxbury, Massachusetts and finally at Croton, Connecticut. Jabez’ grandparents were John and Sarah (Long) Colver who settled at Schooley’s Mountain, Morris Co., New Jersey. They were buried in the burying ground near Pleasant Grove Church, Morris Co., NJ. Jabez’ parents were John and Freelove (Lamb) Colver who went with John’s parents to Schooley’s Mountain. Father John died at Black River, Hunterdon Co., NJ. See Sources In Collver-Culver Genealogy, edited by William R. Yeager, published by Norfolk Historical Society (Simcoe, ON: 1976), p. 1-10.

[3] Reverend Jabez Collver preached at the Meeting House in Wantage, Sussex County, New Jersey for about thirty years. Ibid. p. 11

[4] Collver’s Land Petition dated June 25, 1798 contradicts Owen’s statement that he served with American General George Washington. Collver stated that he was “strongly attached to the British Crown & Government... suffered much persecution and loss in the time of the late American War.” He subscribed his name to a militia enrollment under Loyalist John Pettit. Upper Canada Land Petition “C” Bundle 4, Doc. No. 60.

[5] Owen appears to have been unaware of an interim residency at Chemung County, New York where Jabez and several of his children settled as early as 1789. In that year and in 1790, he wrote two letters dated at Chemung to his son Ebenezer who had settled in Upper Canada. Jabez was listed as the head of a household at Chemung in the 1790 Federal Census. See Yeager, Op.Cit., p. 18-19

[6] In response to Jabez Collver’s Land Petition of June 11, 1794, the Executive Council ordered him 1,000 acres of land and 200 acres to each of his three sons who came with him. The others filed their own petitions and received land as they arrived. (Upper Canada Land Petition “C” Bundle 1 Doc. No. 10)

[7] The events recounted in this paragraph likely occurred in Chemung County, New York where Nathan Collver was recorded in the 1790 Federal Census.

[8] By 1794, there were considerably more than five families. Those in Townsend Twp. included Averill, Omstead, Cooley and Fairchild. See “The Townsend Settlement Story” by R. Robert Mutrie in The Long Point Settlers Journal, Vol. 2, No. 1. Settlers in the southern townships included Troyer, Mabee, Smith, Secord, Stacy, and Dedrick to name several mentioned in the footnotes to the preceding sketches.

[9] Gideon Cooley and his sons Gideon Jr., Luther, Charles and Calvin were among the earliest settlers in Townsend Township. The family settled on Lot 1, Concession 12 along the Windham Town Line opposite the Collver residence and continued there until 1800 when Gideon sold his farm to Timothy Collver. His son Gideon Jr. settled earlier about six miles to the southwest on Lot 2, Concession 14, Windham Twp. and the family lived there for a time. This was sold to John Davis in 1801. Another son, Luther Cooley settled in Burford Township then made his subsequent home in Lot 7, West Side of Mount Pleasant Road, Brantford Township, Brant County at the village of Mount Pleasant. (Abstracts of Deeds Registers of Townsend, Windham, Norwich and Brantford Townships).

[10] Ebenezer Collver built his first home on Lot 8, Concession 7, Louth Township, Lincoln County, a location he voluntarily surrendered to the Crown so that the salt springs could be developed. He was then allowed 400 acres in Lots 8, 9, 10 and 13, Concession 7 in exchange. Lots 9 and 10 were on the east and west sides of Ninth Street which road then angles through the south part of Lots 9 and 10 meeting Pelham Road south of the farm at the foot of the Niagara Escarpment and the hamlet of Rockway. Lot 13 is located further west on Pelham Road. The family of Ebenezer Collver was mentioned in a letter from Caroline Collver to her uncle Gabriel Collver. By his first wife Elizabeth Beemer, Ebenezer had: Eleanor (Lena), born on July 15, 1780; Anne Collver, born on November 1, 1782; Elizabeth Collver born on January 7, 1790, Margaret Collver, born on 15 Oct 1794, Sarah Collver, born on 9 Apr 1797. Ebenezer and his second wife Phoebe (Carpenter) Coon, had Caroline Collver, baptized on January 16, 1820; Augustus P. Maitland Collver, born c. 1815/16, baptized on January 16, 1820; and Eliza Wellington Collver, baptized on January 16, 1820, all recorded in the Reverend Robert Addison Register of St. Mark’s Church, Niagara-on-the-Lake. 

[11] Michael signed his surname “Shoaff” but later in life this became anglicized to “Shaw”. His son Dennis retained the earlier spelling and his son Dennis Jr. continued it in his 1852 Woodhouse Census record. The other branches of this family adopted “Shaw,” but were sometimes recorded by the earlier spelling.

[12] Michael Shoaff served in Butler’s Rangers during the American Revolution, so his family likely lived at Fort Niagara during that period. Afterwards, he settled at Tioga County, New York. He brought his family to Norfolk in 1796 (Upper Canada Land Petitions “S” Bundle 2 Doc. No. 23 and “S” Bundle 3 Doc. No. 191)

[13] According to his gravestone in Collver Cemetery, Dennis Shoff died in 1842 aged 63 years which would place his birthdate circa 1779 and so the oldest son of Michael. There is then a long gap in births. Possibly some died young in between. The next child Jacob was aged 36 in the 1830 Muster Rolls of the 2nd Regiment of the Norfolk County Militia placing his birth circa 1794. In the same record, Michael Shaw Jr. was aged 32 placing his birth about 1798. Source: Nominal Rolls of the 2nd Regiment Norfolk County Militia, Dec 1830, National Archives of Canada RG9, IB1, Vol. 16.

[14] Dennis Shoaff married Sophia Loder. After her husband’s death, Sophia Shaw lived with her niece Sarah (Lodor) Anderson in Charlottville Township where they were recorded in the 1852 Census.

[15] Michael anglicized his surname to “Shaw” and signed as such in his will dated April 30, 1842 (Norfolk County Surrogate Registry)

[16] In the 1852 Census of Townsend Twp., Vincent Shaw had an additional child Allen aged 25 living with him. In addition to the daughters named by Owen, Vincent had a child Saphrona aged 10 living with him in 1852.

[17] Hannah died in childbirth in October 1788, leaving a young son, mentioned in a letter of Rev. Jabez Collver. See Yeager, Sources in Collver-Culver Genealogy, p. 18-19.