The Cemetery on the Nith: John Pine (1781-1864)

John Pine (1781-1864), Riverside Cemetery,
Blenheim, Oxford, Ontario

My recent post, "The Cemetery on the Nith: The Secords of Blenheim," looked at some of the descendants of John Secord (1755-1830), a cousin of my gggg-grandmother Charlotte Beebe. John's will, dated 2 Sep 1825, in addition to making bequests to his children and grandchildren, also made a bequest to two of his nephews:

Item – to John Pine and Daniel Taller (sons of my late sister Mary) Lot 7 Conc 5 Blenheim, 200 acres...condition to be performed on part of Daniel Taller – unless Daniel Taller does within two years after my death come settle and reside on his 100 acres hereby devised then the whole of Lot 7 Conc 5 shall belong exclusively in fee to the said John Pine.

Not much is known about Mary Secord. She was the daughter of John Secord (1725-1804) and Phoebe Travis (1727-1769), and is thought to have been born about 1761 in Westchester County, New York. She is named in the will of her grandfather, Robert Travis, proved 24 Dec 1767, along with her sisters Sarah and Catherine. In the will of her grandmother Mary Travis, née Ogden, dated 1774, she is recorded as “Mary, daughter of John Secord.”

Given her age, Mary would have accompanied her father when he settled on the Susquehanna River near Tunkhannock shortly before the Revolution. She would have been with him when he moved up the Susquehanna to Tioga Point, and would have arrived at Niagara in 1778 when Loyalist families were evacuated there after the Battle of Wyoming.¹ Unlike her sisters Catherine and Sarah, Mary did not petition for land as the daughter of a Loyalist. Given that her son John Pine was born in the United States, this suggests that Mary may have returned to the United States after the Revolution.

John Secord’s will indicates that Mary married at least twice, once to John Pine’s father and once to Daniel Taller’s father. I have not found any other sources that record a Pine-Secord or Pine-Taller marriage. Undocumented family tradition, as reflected in numerous online genealogies, state that Mary also married John Doyle about 1816 and died at Yorktown² in Westchester County in 1829.

Nothing else is known about Mary's son, Daniel Taller. Whether Daniel ever settled in Blenheim or whether John Pine inherited the whole of Lot 7 Concession 5 is not yet known.

John Pine’s gravestone, however, can be found in Riverside Cemetery in Blenheim. He was recorded in 1834 as pathmaster for the 6th Concession, Blenheim, and was living in Blenheim at the time of the 1852 and 1861 Censuses. According to the 1857 Tremaine Map of Oxford County, he occupied the northwest quarter of Lot 7 Concession 5. John married twice and had at least six children from his first marriage. He died in Blenheim on 30 Jan 1864, and based on his age as recorded on his gravestone, was born on 16 Oct 1781.

Many online genealogies record that John was the son of James Pine (1738-1823) and Mary Buckhout (1745-1835) who lived in Pittstown, Rensselaer County, New York. The source, however, is not documented, nor is John Pine named in the will of James Pine, dated 25 Oct 1822, although four sons are named.

Clearly, John Pine of Blenheim was the son of Mary Secord, and not James Pine and Mary Buckhout.

John Pine married his first wife about 1805. Their son, John Calvin Thompson Pine, was born in 1807, followed by a daughter Mary about 1809. Both were born in the United States. Daniel is thought to have be born about 1810, followed by Susan (1819-1873), Phoebe Ann (1825-1888), and John (1831-1913). Daniel's birthplace is unknown, but the younger three were born in Upper Canada. Given the age gaps there were undoubtably other children.

John Pine (1830-1913) Wolverton
Cemetery, Blenheim, Oxford, Ontario

According to undocumented sources, John Pine's first wife was Mary Ann Pine. This sounds reasonable since their first child was named John Calvin Thompson, and Calvin's Michigan death registration records his mother as Annie Pine. In 1839, John married his second wife, Charlotte Cooty (1805-1886).

John's daughter, Mary Pine, married Levi Churchill (1806-1891), son of David Churchill (1768-1840) and Zerviah Leach (1772-1840) in 1830. Her sister Susan married Levi's brother, William Churchill (1812-1859) in 1834, while their brother Daniel married Levi and William's sister Charity Sophia Churchill in 1835. Phoebe Ann Pine married George Ward (1822-1894).

All of John Pine's children, except for his youngest, moved to Michigan after their marriages. The youngest, John, remained in Blenheim until he moved to Cleveland in 1901 to live with his grandchilden. He died in Cleveland in 1913 but was buried beside his wife at Wolverton Cemetery in Blenheim.

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¹ John Secord’s Upper Canada Land Petition includes a certificate stating that John had come into the province in 1779 with a wife [unnamed] and three children, “exclusive of his eldest son who had a family.”

² Yorktown was incorporated in 1788. Most of Yorktown was part of the Manor of Cortlandt.