Talks With A Port Rowan Pioneer Mother
—Mother Ellis
Among the old people of Norfolk who are living in this year of grace, 1897, there is only one here and one there who lived in Long Point settlement previous to the war of 1812, and who was old enough to have a distinct remembrance of the events immediately preceding and leading up to the declaration of that war. Mrs. Elizabeth Ellis is one of the very few who have thus been blessed with a long lease of life. If she sees the close of the present year she will have entered her 94th year, and her mental faculties are apparently unimpaired. Born in 1804, she came to Long Point settlement when she was about seven years old, and for the past eighty-six years she has witnessed the wonderful growth and development of her adopted country. The following is the story of her life as told by herself:
“I’m almost ninety-three years old, an’ for the past seventy-one years I’ve lived right here in this house. My! my! since I came here with my parents in 1811 there have been great changes. My father’s name was Marks Barrett. He was a Pennsylvania Dutchman, and, during the war of the Revolution, he was a British Loyalist; but he didn’t come to Canada in time to secure a U. E. Loyalist grant o’ land. I was about seven years old when we moved to Canada, and I remember that we stopped at a settler’s house for bread and butter. Father made known our wants in English, and the settler refused to grant the request; but when father spoke in Dutch, the settler, who was a Dutchman, made us all come in and eat dinner with ‘em, and he gave us supplies and wouldn’t accept pay of ‘em. I tell you the Dutch people are awful kind to each other. My father settled near here and died quite a young man.[1] When I was a girl I used to work out and spin. I did a job o’ spinnin’ for Joseph Kitchen’s folks down in Charlotteville, and we had lots o’ fun. Hannah Gilbert, who afterwards married James Haze, was there helpin’ in the spinnin’, and when we got our day’s work off we used to go after wild strawberries. Mr. Kitchen was full o’ mischief, and he tried to scare us with rattlesnake stories. We thought he was only foolin’, but one day he threw a snake with seventeen rattles on it right through the window, and it caught on the spindle o’ my wheel. While I worked there I used to go over to Billy Smith’s place, on the next farm, and wrestle with Fanny, his wife. My! my! the girls enjoyed themselves in them days. Nowadays pride has turned everything to vanity, and young people know nothing about the real pleasures o’ life.
“I married James Ellis, a son of Cornwall Ellis, who came from the Susquehannah Valley to this country about ninety-five years ago, and took up this lot of two hundred acres. Right out there in the bay where them boats are anchored, Cornwall Ellis planted an orchard. From the end of the pier away around here to the west it was hard, dry ground then, and many a bushel of peaches I picked in that orchard after I was married. My husband got the east half and his brother the west half of the lot. Port Rowan was built on our lot and the Wolven lot which joined it on the east. Cornwall Ellis was a great hunter and trapper.[2]
“William Finch’s wife was my sister, and I was down there when the Americans burned their mill in the war of 1812. My, but them Kentucky soldiers were big, swarthy-looking fellows. When they sacked Port Dover a Mrs. Steele, a friend o’ mine, refused to let ‘em enter her house. She had packed a basketful of choice crockery, for safe-keepin’, and when she began to sass the Yankees one of ‘em jumped into the basket and smashed all the crockery, and then it was awful the way Mrs. Steele cussed and swore.
“I’ve been a member of the Baptist Church in Port Rowan sixty-eight years. I was a convert at the time of the great revival here. When Elder William McDermand commenced his wonderful work here, there were only two Baptists in the neighborhood—Deacon Michael Troyer and Mrs. John Killmaster. The meetin’s were held in our barn, and hundreds were unable to get inside. It was a mighty reformation. The work accomplished by the Spirit of the Lord was miraculous. Every one was under conviction, and it seemed as though nearly every one was converted. Night after night, and all night long the air was filled with the melody of human voices singin’ praises to God. There was one family who kept away from the meetin’s. The father of this family was a drunkard and a very wicked man. An extra effort was made to save this man. Elder McDermand appointed a prayer meetin’ at the man’s home, and requested a number of us to attend. We did so, and the elder attempted to lead in prayer, but he was speechless; he then tried to read a hymn, and once again he tried to pray but it was no use. At last he give up, and announced that the Lord refused to give him utterance. Shortly after that the man died, in what condition God only knows. The old people refer to this copious out-pouring of the Spirit as the great reformation in Port Rowan. The influences of this great revival were felt for twenty years. It commenced with a mere handful, and before it ended 240 sat down to the communion table.
“Before I was married the soldiers used to train near our house, just east of Port Rowan, and I used to see ‘em whipped for goin’ to the village and gettin’drunk, as they sometimes did. I never forgot the land o’ my birth, and one time durin’ the rebellion Colonel Burwell requested me to cook breakfast for a number of his soldiers. I told ‘im I wouldn’t do it, as the Queen was abundantly able to take care of her own soldiers.
“I shall never forget that shower of meteors—it happened nearly seventy years ago. It was about eleven o’clock at night when I woke up and saw it. It shown brightly through the windows an’ lit up the room. I went outside an’ the air seemed completely filled with fallin’ stars; they came right down all about me, an’ I put out my hands and tried to catch some of ‘em. They seemed to fall at my feet and I tried to pick ‘em up. The shower continued for some time. Some thought the world was comin’ to an end, but it always seemed to me that it was a harbinger of the great reformation that followed so soon after in Port Rowan.
“In 1813 there was a tavern here kept by a man named Cooper, and one store kept by a man named Burnham. Besides these two buildings, there were probably four or five other houses. At that time an American, by the name of Dickson, was engaged in smugglin’ goods from the other side into this port. George Ryerson came up here one day with six soldiers to arrest Dickson an’ confiscate his goods. The boat lay down there in the bay in plain sight of the house here, an’ when Ryerson arrived he an’ Dickson had a fight. Dickson finally surrendered, an’ Ryerson put the soldiers on board the boat an’ told ‘em to sail into Port Dover with the prisoners and cargo. When they sailed away the cargo was secreted in the marsh, an' Dickson, soldiers and all, headed for the Land o’ the Free an’ never showed up again on this side.
“My! how we used to suffer here with the mosquitoes. In my early married life I’ve walked up an’ down the road with my baby in my arms to keep it from bein’ devoured, body an’ soul, by the mosquitoes. It seems like a big story to tell, but I’ve seen a solid mass of mosquitoes all over my old out-door oven more ‘an two inches thick.”
Marks Barrett had three sons and five daughters. His sons—Philip, Marks and Henry—all settled west of Big Creek. Elizabeth Barrett, the subject of this sketch, was one of the five daughters of Marks Barrett.[3] She was the mother of fourteen children, ten of whom—five sons and five daughters—grew up and married, except Caroline, the eldest, who remained single, and lives with and cares for her aged mother.
John Anderson, the eldest son of Mrs. Ellis, lives in Port Rowan, and is a grape wine manufacturer of good repute, being the owner of two fine vineyards. John was an expert hunter and trapper in former days—the days when Edward Foster was a terror to the beasts of the marshes and thickets, the birds of the air and the finny tribes that inhabit the waters. If there is anything that John Anderson likes, it is to sit down at the close of a hard day’s work—never before—and relate his hunting and trapping experiences.
Joseph Ellis, the second son, married Sarah Anderson. They live in Port Rowan.
Aaron Ellis, the third son, married Jennie Bauck, and settled in Walsingham.
Daniel Ellis, the fourth son, married Naoma Stone, and settled in Walsingham.
William Ellis, the fifth son, married Margaret Holmes, and settled in Walsingham.
The four daughters who married were Matilda, Mary, Elizabeth and Ellen. They married, respectively, Abraham Countryman, William McCallum, John Elisha and Thomas Cowan. Elisha and Cowan settled in the states; the others settled in Walsingham.[4]
[1] No vital dates have been found for Marks Barrett. His last record was as a Petty Juror on the London District Court on April 9, 1817 (Fraser, Minutes of the London District Court, p. 165). If he died while “quite a young man”, as stated by his daughter Elizabeth (Barrett) Ellis, then he could not have served in the American Revolution, as per her earlier statement. This might rather be a memory of the War of 1812 during which Marks served in Captain John Backhouse’s Company, listed in the 1814 Muster Rolls. It is noted that Marks’ oldest child Hannah was born in 1796, so he might have been born in the 1770 to 1775 period.
[2] Cornwall Ellis was born about 1777 according to his land petition of March 13, 1813 in which he stated that he was 36 years old and born in the state of New York (Upper Canada Land Petition “E” Bundle 11, Doc. No. 41). In the Surveyor’s Report of December 23, 1794, Ellis was stated to have been at Long Point for eighteen months, placing his arrival about June 1793. He received a Crown Grant of Lot 16, Front Concession of Walsingham Township, the location of the present village of Port Rowan on May 17, 1802 (Abstracts of Deeds Register). Cornwall’s first wife was Beulah Millard, widow of Isaiah Millard stated in a 1796 petition to the estate of her late husband (Lincoln County Surrogate 1794-1813). Beulah died by 1802, when Cornwall’s second wife Rosamond was mentioned in a London District Court record (Fraser, Minutes of the London District Court, p. 36). All of the children named by Owen were born after 1802. Cornwall Ellis died on March 4, 1821 according to the probate papers attached to his will. He devised the east half of his lot to James Ellis and the west half to Henry Ellis. The other children named by Ellis were youngest daughter Nancy, and other daughters Elizabeth, Dinah, Mary, Lovinia, and Agnes. (London District Surrogate Registry, Doc. No. 88). The daughter’s husbands were mentioned in the will of Rosamond Ellis dated on February 6, 1841: Mary Price, wife of Stephen Price, Elizabeth Raymond wife of William Raymond, Agnes Pearce, and unmarried daughter Nancy who subsequently married on December 27, 1843, Charles Hanson, recorded in the Talbot District Marriage Register.
[3] Unfortunately Owen did not identify all of the children of Marks Barrett. His mention of a son Marks Barrett could not be confirmed. There was a John P. Barrett, born c. 1812 who could have been a son. He married first on September 1, 1834, Elizabeth Burger, recorded in the London District Marriage Register. His second marriage with Martha J. Brown on April 6, 1845 was recorded in the Talbot District Marriage Register. Martha Jane died on 21 Aug 1856 and John’s third wife Mary Ann _______ was recorded with him in the 1861 Census. One of Elizabeth (Barrett) Ellis‘ sisters could have been Hannah, born on November 15, 1796 who married William Finch and was buried beside him in Vittoria Baptist Cemetery, Charlotteville Township. A second could have been Lana, born on 22 Feb 1802 who married Philip Becker and was buried beside him in Clear Creek Cemetery, Houghton Township. Another might have been Catherine, born c. 1816 who married Stephen C. Millard on April 22, 1845, recorded in the Talbot District Marriage Register. A fourth might have been Eleanor who married on March 20 1839, Joseph Denas, of Houghton Township, recorded in the Talbot District Marriage Register.
[4] Elizabeth Ellis married on 27 Aug 1870 to John Schuyler Liger. They lived at Walsingham Centre then at Chesaning Michigan. Source: Vital Registrations of Marriages of Ontario Vol. 3, P. 242. Eleanor (Ellen) Ellis married on February 25, 1864, Francis Cowan, recorded in the Norfolk County Marriage Register.