Tag Archives: Chippewa

Battle

Lewis B Smith
2nd Regiment Lincoln Artillery

Gunner Lewis B. Smith

Lewis B SmithLewis B Smith born 10 Jun 1764 in Amwell, Sussex, New Jersey, USA and his wife Phoebe Huffman born 30 Sep 1772 , married in 1785, at Johnsonburg, New Jersey, U.S.A. Shortly there after, they headed to Upper Canada to escape persecution.

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2nd Regiment Lincoln Artillery

Ira Bearss
3rd Regiment Lincoln Militia

A Quaker in the militia?  Pacificism is one of the basic tenets of the Quakers.  Moreover, during the War of 1812 Quakers, Mennonites and Tunkers could be exempt from the usually compulsory military duty thanks to Sir John Graves Simcoe and the Militia Act of 1808.  Yet Ira Bearss, 1789-1874, a Quaker, served with the 3rd Regiment Lincoln Militia during the War of 1812.   Ira’s brother Daniel Bearss, 1788-1850, served in the same regiment as did a third brother,  Josiah Bearss, 1791-1879.  Josiah’s grave in Zion Cemetery, Ridgeway, Ontario, has already been commemorated with a War of 1812 veterans marker.

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3rd Regiment Lincoln Militia

Titus Williams
Flank Company
2nd Regiment Norfolk Militia

Colonel Titus Williams, born Long Island, 22 November, 1790, son of Captain Jonathan Williams, of the British Army. Received Ensign’s Commission in the 2nd Regiment Norfolk Militia. Volunteered on 27 June 1812, the day of the war’s outbreak, appointed Lieut., in Left Flank Company. Commanded a detachment of Norfolk men at Detroit. Became Captain and Adjutant of the 2nd Regiment Norfolk Militia at Detroit some time later. Was afterwards captured by Americans on Niagara River, sentenced to be executed, but was liberated in May, 1814. Immediately appointed Adjutant of the 4th Regiments Norfolk Militia and was at Lundy’s Lane. Then placed in command of the 103rd Regulars at Dover and Ryerse.

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Reuben Green
Flank Company
2nd Regiment Lincoln Militia

Reuben Green was born in February, 1783, in Sussex County, New Jersey. In the summer of 1786, he made the long and arduous journey with his brother Henry and his United Empire Loyalist parents Charles and Rebecca (Scritchfield) Green from New Jersey to Canada. As they passed through the Blue Mountains of Pennsylvania, three and a half year old Reuben, seated in the saddle basket (pannier) of their horse, had a terrifying view of the deep gorge below; this memory of the journey haunted him for the rest of his 90 year life. They crossed at Lewiston to Queenston on 18 September 1786 and settled in Mount Dorchester, (later known as Stamford, and finally as Niagara Falls). Eight days after their arrival his pregnant mother gave birth in the Bender’s barn to his sister Rebecca; the first white child born in the district.

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Flank Company
2nd Regiment Lincoln Militia

Leonard Haney
2nd Regiment Lincoln Militia

The Reverend  (Private) Leonard Haney

by William F. Haney
20 September 2014
at Hillside Cemetery
451 Canboro Road, Pelham, Ontario, Canada

The Reverend Leonard Haney was born to Isaac and Mary Haney in Thorold, Ontario (Upper Canada) on 10 January 1796. The family moved to the Pelham area around 1808. The first documented mention of Isaac Haney in this area we have found is in 1788 when he helped serve as chain bearer in the land survey of land of and around Thorold.

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2nd Regiment Lincoln Militia

Michael Harris
100th
(HRH The Prince Regent’s,
County of Dublin)
Regiment of Foot

Michael Harris was born into a distinguished family in Dublin, Ireland in 1795.  Little is currently known of his younger years there.

Michael enlisted with the 100th (H.R.H. Prince Regent’s, County of Dublin) Regiment of Foot (later renumbered as the 99th).  Michael was only ten years old when the regiment sailed from Ireland to British North America for garrison duty in the colonies. It is unclear at this time if Michael actually sailed with the regiment in 1805 because of his young age but it was not uncommon for young boys to enlist. (and an actual date of enlistment has not been found)

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100th
(HRH The Prince Regent’s,
County of Dublin)
Regiment of Foot

Christopher Myers
Quartermaster General’s Department

Colonel Christopher Myers CB

Christopher John Myers was born c 1774 in County Dublin, Ireland.  In August 1799, as a captain in the 40th Regiment of Foot, Myers was wounded at the Battle of Bergen in what is now Holland.  Isaac Brock, then a Lieutenant-Colonel commanding the 49th Regiment of Foot, participated in the same battle.

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Quartermaster General’s Department

John Langstaff
1st Regiment York Militia

John Langstaff, one of 8 siblings, was born 1774 in Piscataway in the British New Jersey colony that would later become part of the United States.  He came to this area in 1808. He married Lucy, daughter of Abner Miles of Miles Hill later to become Richmond Hill.  Langstaff took over his father-in-law’s land at the site of toll gate number 3 on the Yonge Street Highway, two side roads south of Richmond Hill.  The land was located on the northeast corner of the intersection later to become Yonge Street and Langstaff Road.

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1st Regiment York Militia