Anniversaries

To blow my own horn a bit;

8th Anniversary
Yesterday I completed 8 years of 'virtual' Walking around Canada. Since leaving St. John's NFLD on 1 March 2004 I have walked over 10,550 K's and am now walking up the 'Top of the World Highway' just west of Dawson City, YK and am heading thru Alaska back to Whitehorse, then ?? Last stop was Inuvik, NWT, at the top of the Dempster Hwy.

100th Anniversary
On 19 April 2012 it will be the 100th Anniv of the sinking of the Titanic. A connection to Ottawa was the fact that Charles Melville Hayes, the President of the Grand Trunk RR, was on board heading home for the opening celebrations of the Chateau Laurier Hotel which were to be held on 26 April 1912. The opening was not held and Sir Wilfred Laurier signed the register on 1 June 1912 to begin operations. This year they will celebrate the 100th anniv. starting 1 June 2012.
Ref; Ottawa Citizen 17 Feb 2012 pgs C1 and C8.

200th Anniversaries
In 1811 Ira Honeywell settled in Nepean Twp, Con. 1, Lot 26 with his wife and son. This lot is just up Woodroffe Ave not far from new Ottawa City Archives. The Nepean Museum has built a representative cabin in which they would have lived. There is no known Genealogy of this family available locally altho I have started one on PAF on branch computer.
In 1812/13 Braddish Billings settled in Gloucester Twp on a lot in Junction Gore. An extensive genealogy of his family is on the branch computer and also on the branch website. I would like to know if anyone has a connection to these two early settlers or to those who settled in present day Ottawa before the start of the Rideau Canal construction.

Early Settlers Bytown

In this weeks CHOO newsletter under Nepean Museum
They have a display on the cabin representative of the one Ira Honeywell's [1774-1852] family would have lived in when they arrived to settle in Feb 1811. He arrived with his wife Charlotte Andrews [1785-1861] and infant son Rice [1802-1885]. They were the first permanent settlers in what is now Ottawa.
I have yet to see the display but on a previous visit I was told that they would build the display from slabs obtained from the sawmill at the Cumberland Museum.
We have now entered the era of the 200th Anniversaries.
FYI, Braddish Billings was in the Bytown area. He settled in Gloucester Twp where the present day Billings Museum is located

War of 1812

On Monday night. 10 Oct 2011 at 9PM all PBS stations with a Canadian audience will be telecasting a program on the War of 1812. More info at www.pbs.org/1812. The bicentennial starts on 18 June 2012 and the war ended on 24 Dec 1814. There is no direct involvement in the war for present day Ottawa area but the war lead to the building of the Rideau Canal 1826-1832. Also a large number of soldiers of the 100th Reg. of Foot [the 99th Reg. after Feb 1816] settled in the Richmond Military Settlement mainly in Goulbourn Twp. Visit the Goulbourn museum. the home of the 100th/99th at www.goulbournmuseum.ca They also have a Blog and are on Facebook and they 'Tweet'
Enjoy

War of 1812

Battle of Lundy's Lane 25 July 1814

The battle started late in the day and ended about midnight.  Soldiers did not know if the one next to them was a friend or foe. Those who fought in the Peninsula had never seen such carnage. Casualties [dead,wounded, deserted or missing] of the British were 878 [84 dead] and Americans 853 [174dead] British Regiments involved were; 1st, 8th, 41st,
89th, 103rd and 104th as well as a number of militia.
Ref: Wikipedia, Battle of Lundy's Lane; and
Flames Across the Border, 1813-1814, Pierre Burton

Laura Secord is buried in Drummond hill Cemetery.

Also buried there is Robert Randall on whose headstone is
written 'Died of Colonial Misrule'.  He is connected to the Ottawa area as he owned the land now known as LeBreton Flats. He will be the subject of a later post.

Pictured at right is a monument in Drummond Hill Cemetery.

Settlers

Honeywell, Ira 1774 - 1852
Draper [settled in 1814]
In Feb 1811 Ira Honeywell moved into a cabin which he built during the previous winter. He brought with him his wife Charlotte Andrews 1785 - 1861, who he married in Prescott on 29 Nov 1801 and their son Rice 1802 - 1885. He received the land, Nepean Twp, Con 1, Lot 26 OF (Ottawa Front) from his father Rice Honeywell 1760 - 1839, on condition that he settle it.
Ref; Ottawa Past and Present pg 25, 26
Their son Rice married Margaret Hare 1805 - 1890.
I have not been able to find a Family History on the Honeywell Family
Hare family Ref; G-169 'Tales of the Hares' Ottawa Br. Library Dewey# 929.271 H222

The Honeywell's lived in isolation for 3 years till a Draper settled nearby and only stayed for less than a year. When researching another family I found the following in 1852 Census Canada East Ottawa County, now Pontiac Co, Clarendon Twp p.1d,2a (3) a James Draper, age 77, born in US,
a carpenter and a Quaker. Would these be the same person? I know there are Draper families near Shawville

War of 1812

Battle of Chippawa 5 July 1814

According to 'Red Coats and Grey Jackets'; by Donald E Graves: "On the banks of the Niagara River, a few miles south of the great falls, a battle took place on 5 July 1814. For more than three hours on a hot summer afternoon, four thousand American, British, and Canadian Soldiers, as well as Native warriors from many nations, fought in the fields and woods surrounding Canadian Samuel Street's prosperous farm-- when the fighting had ended, more than seven hundred lay dead or wounded."

This battle is of interest to settlers of Goulbourn Twp as members of the 100th Regt of foot participated. The museum at Stanley's Corners, just south of Stittsville houses artifacts and memorabilia of that regiment. Also there are lists of the soldier/settlers as well as the attestation records of soldiers in that regiment.

Also at Chippawa were the following units:

Royal Artillery and RA Drivers

19th Light Dragoons

1st Foot (Royal Scots)

8th Foot (Kings Regt)

100th Foot

2nd Regt, Lincoln Militia

The reference details everything one would need to know to get a vivid picture of the battle.

War of 1812

Battle of Beaver Dam 25 June 1813

This was not a battle like Chippawa or Lundy's Lane, more like an affair or skirmish.
Laura Secord overheard the Americans talking and what she heard made her take about a 19 mile circuitous route to warn the British. Most of us have heard of Laura Secord but not about the person to whom she gave that information
The person she told was Capt James FitzGibbon of the 49th Reg't.[General Brock's Reg't]
Not much is known about him as he is one of those 'unsung hero's'. A very good account of the 'battle' can be found in his Biography, "A Veteran of 1812" written by his granddaughter Mary Agnes FitzGibbon.
[A copy is in Ottawa Br. Library, call # G-249; Dewey #, B FtzG]
The following is a quote about FitzGibbon taken from inside front dustcover.
"Lt. FitzGibbon was one of the greatest and most venturesome leaders in the War of 1812. The commander of a troop dubbed the Bloody Boys, he practiced a form of guerilla warfare, at the time considered unconventional. A colourful character, early in the fighting, FitzGibbon disguiesd himself as a butter vendor in order to enter and move through an American camp. It was the Lt. who, in 1813, received news from Laura Secord of an impending suprise attack at Beaver Dams. And it was FitzGibbon who, despite being vastly outnumbered, obtained an American surrender two days later. FitzGibbon's success within the military was due in part to Sir Isaac Brock, who recognized the achievements gained thru the Lt's occasional unorthodox methods.
After the war, FitzGibbon was twice promotedand helped suppress the Rebellion of 1837. He spent his final years in England, where he was made a military Knight , before dying in 1863"
James FitzGibbon was born in Glin, Limerick, Ire 16 Nov 1780; d. 10 Dec 1863

There is also a James FitzGibbon closer to home. He was born in Belfast, Ire in 1789. Came to Canada with the Royal Engineers, as Chief Carpenter, to build the Rideau Canal. He died in Ottawa 5 Dec 1868

War of 1812

One year from today will be the 200th Anniversary of start of War of 1812. On 18 June 1812 the US declared war on Brittain.
On 1-3 June 2012 the Ontario Genealogical Society will hold their annual Conference in Kingston. The theme will be 'Borders and Bridges'.
Anyone who lost an ancestor in the war may be interested in viewing the following web site
http://www.1812casualties.org/ It is possible to enter data in more than one box.
Anyone with ancestors in 100th Reg. of Foot should be aware that in Feb 1816 the 100th was renumbered to the 99th. A large number of Soldiers and their Officers settled in Goulbourn Twp.
Carleton County