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| East Branch of Susquehanna River near Wyalusing in Pennsylvania. James Secord settled on the Susquehanna a few years before the Revolutionary War. |
The story of Laura Secord (née Ingersol) has been told, embellished, dismissed, corrected, and retold numerous times. Less well known is the story of some other members of the Secord family, including Laura's father-in-law, James Secord.
James (Jacques) Secord was born on 24 Apr 1732 in New Rochelle, Westchester, New York, the son of Daniel Secord (1698-1766) and Catharine Mabee (1703-1761). He was baptized at the Église Françoise at New Rochelle on 28 May 1732. James married Madelaine Badeau, likely the daughter of Jean Badeau and Madelaine Parcot, about 1754. Their first child, Solomon, was born on 9 Mar 1755. Stephen (Etienne) was born two years later followed by David in 1759, Madelaine in 1764, Esther in 1766, Mary in 1770, and James in 1773.
Some family historians have also included a child named John, born in 1762, however, this is not supported by primary sources. While the New Rochelle baptisms of Solomon, Steven, David and Madelaine are found in the register of the Église Françoise À La Nouvelle York, there is no baptism record for John. He does not appear on the pay rolls of Butler's Rangers or the Indian Department, nor is he listed in the 1783 Niagara Return.
James and Madelaine may have lived in New Rochelle for a time after their marriage but tax records show that by 1762 they were leasing a farm in the Southern Precinct of Dutchess County (now Putnam County).
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The Philipse Patent was granted to Adolphus Philipse in 1697 and was held by three of his descendants in the 1760s. |
At issue were the excessive rents, the threat of evictions, and debt imprisonment. Prendergast and his followers refused to pay their rents. Tenants who had been evicted were restored to their farms, and anyone who had been imprisioned for rent debt was broken out of jail.
On 1 May 1766, hundreds of Prendergast's followers marched on New York City. Prendergast halted his "army" at the Harlem River and sent a delegation to meet with Governor Sir Henry Moore. Moore listened to their grievances and assured them that he would not interfere in their dispute. Prendergast's army returned to Dutchess Country and disbanded, however, the landowners soon pressured the Governor into sending British grenadiers from the 28th Regiment of Foot to restore order. Several skirmishes followed in which several soldiers and rebels were killed. Prendergast evaded capture when his supporters made a stand at the Oblong Friends Meeting House, however, he later surrendered and was taken to New York City.
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| Oblong Friends Meeting House |
Fortunately, Predergast's wife, Mehetibal, was able to obtain a stay of execution from Governor Moore, and several months later a royal pardon from King George III.
It is not known if James Secord was ever arrested or imprisoned. Instead, he may have fled Dutchess County for Cortlandt Manor in Westchester.
Most researchers list Somers, Westchester as the birth place for James and Madelaine's three youngest children. Although the Town of Somers was not established until 1808, the area was part of the 86,000 acre patent granted to Stephanus van Cortlandt in 1697.
In 1773, James and his brother Peter appear on a tax assessment list for Walpack, Sussex, New Jersey. Walpack lies on the Delaware River, which forms the boundary between Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Within a year, however, James and Peter had likely moved west to the Susquehanna River, in an area that was claimed by both Connecticut and Pennsylvania.
In his war losses claim, Solomon Secord wrote:
That your Memorialist’s Father at the beginning of the late unhappy disturbances in America was settled on Susquhannah River in Northumberland County in the Province of Pennsa where he was in possession of a good Farm with Buildings thereon erected, Live Stock, Household Furniture, Farming utensils &c the whole valued at £227 New York Currency.Solomon testified that his late father had settled about three years before the war, and had cleared between 20 and 30 acres. Losses included a house and barn, two head of cattle and five horses.
James is thought to have settled near Mehoopany, several kilometres upriver from Tunkhannock where his brother John had settled. Also in the area were his brother Peter and his sister Mary, wife of Joshua Beebe (my ggggg-grandparents).
In October 1775 the 24th Regiment, Connecticut Militia was established, and James was appointed captain of the Ninth Company. The following June he was replaced because he was "suspected and accused of Tory proclivities."
Because James "would not side with the rebels," he left his farm on the Susquehanna for Fort Niagara in the spring of 1777. With him were his sons Solomon, Steven, and David. Madelaine and the younger children remained behind. James and his sons were part of a group that became rangers in the Indian Department under Deputy Superintendent John Butler. This group included Peter Secord and his son Silas, John Secord and his son John, Joshua Beebe and his son Adin, Jacob Bowman and his son Adam, and Abraham Wartman and his son Adam.
On 31 Mar 1777, John Butler wrote to Sir Guy Carleton, Governor of the Province of Quebec:
A number of people daily coming in from the Mohawk River and many of the first inhabitants who will be greatly distressed unless some way relieved. I therefore make bold to ask your permission and authority to form these, with numbers more I can draw from that country into a Ranger's Battalion, which I think I can complete in three months, having received letters from seventy of the inhabitants of the Susquehanna by one Depue, expressing a desire of entering into His Majesty's service as Rangers. I have, by consent of Captain Lernoult, wrote them to come on and do expect them here in the space of twenty days; their use as scouts with Indians to an army would be presumptuous in me to point out.John Butler noted the arrival of a number of Susquehanna loyalists in a letter to Carleton on 8 Apr 1777:
Since my letter to Your Excellency of the 31st ulto, several people have arrived from the Susquehanna, who inform me of more being on their way and more to follow them in a few days.In a letter from Butler to Carleton dated 16 Jun 1777, James is shown as being paid 8 shillings per diem while his sons and the others received 4 shillings. In his response Carleton wrote:
I cannot, however, but observe that the pay of the men of the company of Rangers is very high and I wish you had given me your reason for proposing it at that high rate; but I take it for granted that it is only to continue at that rate during the expedition.The expedition that Carleton refers to was the St. Leger Expedition, part of the 1777 Saratoga Campaign. Butler brought his rangers to Oswego to rendevous with Brigadier General Barry St. Leger. St. Leger's expedition left Oswego on July 26 and travelled overland to Fort Stanwix which was besieged beginning on 2 Aug 1777. On August 6, James and the other rangers were part of the ambush of American reinforcements known as the Battle of Oriskany. Ernest Cruickshank is his history of Butler's Rangers states that 18-year-old David was wounded during this battle.
St. Leger lifted the Seige of Fort Stanwix on August 22 after receiving misleading intelligence that an American relief column commanded was approaching. A few days later St. Leger gave leave to the Susquehanna rangers "to go home for their families and to bring off some cattle." Several secondary sources record that James was placed in charge.
In early January, however, many of the Susquehanna rangers were captured by a patriot force commanded by Nathan Dennison. 18 were sent to prison in Connecticut. Among their numbers were Philip Buck, Jacob Bowman, and his son Adam Bowman. James and eleven others were released for lack of evidence.
Butler reported on their capture in a letter to Captain Francis Le Maistre, Adjutant General dated 28 Jan 1778.
By accounts from the Susquehanna River, I am well informed of the rebels having taken prisoners thirty of the Rangers who went from Oneida Lake by leave of Colonel St Leger. They were to have returned to this place with as many beef cattle as they could drive off. The rebels, as is supposed, got notice of their design and with a party of 200 men surprised and took them with three Indians.In September 1777, Butler had finally received permission to form a Loyalist regiment. Solomon, Steven, and David enrolled in Butler's Rangers, however, James remained an employee of the Indian Department. In his Upper Canada Land Petition dated 12 Jan 1796, James's youngest son wrote: "That your Petitioner’s Father brought in to this province about forty men who all joined Col Butler's late Corps of Rangers and for which he was promised a Company in said Corps but afterwards withheld from him." Pay records show that James held the rank of Lieutenant in the Indian Department and served until at least April 1779.
In their 1795 Upper Canada Land Petition, David and James Secord wrote that their father:
... brought to this Post [Fort Niagara] forty six Loyal subjects all which Joined his Majestys Standard and in the year following he also brought to this Post his family consisting of a wife seven children three of which Joined Coll Butlers Rangrs and served during the war—your Petitioners father likewise served as a Lieut in the Six Nation Indian Department and having received five Hundred Acres and hopes your Excellency will assign your Petitioners such further quantity of Land as they may be entitled to."
Given his status as a Lieutenant in the Indian Department, James likely spoke several indigenous languages including Mohawk and Seneca, and may have also been fluent in French. At various times he would have served as a liasion with the Haudenosaunee, as a recruiter for the Rangers, or as a scout.
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| Butler's Rangers Belt Plate, Niagara-on-the-Lake Museum |
Butler's combined force descended the Susquehanna in canoes, and arrived at the head of the Wyoming Valley on July 1. After capturing Fort Wintermoot and Fort Jenkins, Butler ambushed a force of about 300 Patriot militia who had left the security of Forty Fort in the belief that Butler was withdrawing. The inexperienced militia panicked and ran, and were slaughtered by the Seneca.
In his report to Fort Niagara's commanding officer, Lt. Col. Mason Boulton, Butler wrote:
When they were within 200 yards of us they began firing. We still continued upon the ground without returning their fire till they had fired three volleys. By this time they had advanced within 100 yards of us, and being quite near enough, Saingerachta ordered his Indians, who were upon the right, to begin the attack upon our part, which was immediately well seconded by the Rangers on the left. Our fire was so close and well directed that the affair was soon over, not lasting above half an hour from the time they gave us the first fire till their flight. In the action were taken 227 scalps and only five prisoners. The Indians were so exasperated with their loss last year near Fort Stanwix that it was with the greatest difficulty I could save the lives of these few.Later in the report Butler added:
But what gives me the greatest satisfaction is that I can, with great truth, assure you that in the destruction of this settlement not a single person has been hurt of the inhabitants but such as were in arms. To those, indeed, the Indians gave no quarter.
A lurid and misleading account of the "Wyoming Massacre" was published in the Connecticut Courant on July 28, 1778, and was widely reprinted in other American newspapers. The account claimed that some prisoners were thrown onto a fire and held down with pitchforks, that women and children were burned alive within their homes, and that several instances of fratricide and familicide occured. Other accounts erroneously claimed that the Mohawk war leader Thayendanegea (Joseph Brant) led the indigenous warriors, and that a Seneca woman known as Queen Esther executed at least fourteen captive American soldiers at Bloody Rock.
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| Ensign Downey's Escape, Battle of Wyoming by Don Troiani |
Perhaps the most reliable account of the Battle of Wyoming appears in the journal of Richard Cartwright (1759-1815). Cartwright was a civilian who served as Butler's secretary from 1778 to May 1780. He later married Madelaine Secord, daughter of James and Madeline.
... on the 1st of July [they] entered the settlement, the party consisting in the whole of 464 Indians and 110 Rangers. That day and the next, two small forts, in which were a number of women and children and a few men, surrendered on condition of having their lives spared and being allowed to retire into the country.
The Indians at first, seeing the inhabitants shut up in forts, and in some measure secured from their fury, thought of nothing but of scattering through the settlement to vent it upon the cattle and buildings, and at the same time to collect as much plunder as they could. Major Butler, however, by his earnest entreaty, prevailed upon them to keep in a body till he tried what effect a flag of truce would have, and finding it attended with such unexpected success in the two first instances, they were desirous of getting possession of all the rest of the forts by the same method, and a flag was accordingly sent to the principal fort on the 3rd, but was insulted, and soon after the greatest part of that garrison, and some small ones below it, in all about 450 men, commanded by a Colonel Butler, came out to attack them, on which a very warm engagement ensued, and lasted for about fifteen minutes, when the rebels retreated with precipitation, and were hotly pursued by the Indians, who took 226 scalps and three prisoners, and several were besides drowned in attempting to pass the river.
Major Butler's loss was only seven wounded, two of whom died of their wounds. This victory made them entire masters of all the settlement, as it occasioned such a panic that all the forts were either abandoned or surrendered, on the same conditions as the first, before the 7th Instant. Most of the houses were burnt except such as belonged to people under the name of Loyalists; a very large number of cattle were driven off; and effects to a great amount were brought away in plunder by the Indians.
All this was said to be done without any acts of cruelty being committed by the savages; for the deliberate murder of prisoners after they are brought into their camp is not, it seems, reckoned among acts of cruelty by these barbarous wretches.
The Wyoming expedition also provided the opportunity for Loyalist families still living on the Susquehanna to be safely escorted to Fort Niagara. In his journal, Richard McGinnis wrote of encountering families "on their way to Niagara" at Tioga. In her war losses claim Mary Beebe (nee Secord), wife of Joshua Beebe and sister of James Secord, stated that "corn, turnups [sic], potatoes and wheat” were left in the field, suggesting a late spring departure. Mary and Joshua's youngest child was born at Tioga in late July.
Madelaine Secord, however, was no longer on the Susquehanna. In the early spring of 1778, Madelaine, Elizabeth Bowman, and Anna Buck had brought their families to Canojahorie, Elizabeth's former home in the Mohawk Valley area. A few months later they were escorted to Fort Niagara, arriving in early November.
Unlike many families who were sent to refugee camps in lower Quebec, Madelaine and her children remained at Niagara for the remainder of the war. In October 1778, James's brothers, John and Peter, were discharged from Butler's Rangers on 7 Oct 1778 due to their age. James, however, remained with the Indian Department.
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| George Romney, Thayendanegea, National Galley of Canada, 1776 |
Unlike the "Wyoming Massacre," where only militiamen had been killed, 30 non-combatants, mostly women and children, were slaughtered by the Seneca, despite the efforts of Thayendanegea to curtail the violence. 15 soldiers of the 7th Massachusetts Regiment were also killed including their commanding officer.
Arriving soon after the massacre, one witness wrote:
I was never before a spectator of such a scene of distress and horror. The first object that presented was a woman lying with her four children, two on each side of her, all scalped; the next was the wife of the Reverend Mister Dunlop, likewise scalped, stripped quite naked, and much of her flesh devoured by the Indian dogs. But it would be tedious to mention all the shocking spectacles that were to be seen.An additional 70 non-combatants were taken prisoner, however, Thayendanegea secured the release of many of them a few days later. About 30 women and children remained captives of the Seneca along with four officers and 12 enlisted men from the 7th Massachusetts. Lt. Col. William Stacey, second-in command of the 7th Massachusetts was turned over to the British and remained a prisoner-of-war until 1782.
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John Butler (1728-1796). Copied from the original by Henry Oakley. Niagara on the Lake Museum, 1834 |
James retired from the Indian Department sometime after April 1779. In the summer of 1780, James, his brothers Peter and John, and his nephew John were part of the first group to start farming on the west side of the Niagara River. James and Peter began clearing land along Four Mile Creek several kilometres inland from Lake Ontario, while John and his son John settled closer to the mouth of the Niagara River.
By August 1782, James had cleared 20 acres and had 11 sheep, three horses, three cows, and three hogs. A year later an additional 20 acres had been cleared.
Recognizing the need for a sawmill and gristmill, James and Peter requested government assistance to transport millstones and iron works from lower Quebec. Governor Haldimand, however, insisted that the mills, like the farms on the west side on the Niagara, would belong to the Crown. Haldimand, however, was willing to pay for construction and materials. In his letter to John Butler dated 9 Jul 1782, Adjutant General Robert Matthews wrote:
With respect to the mills proposed to be built by the Secords, His Excellency will not permit any thing of the kind as private property. It must be undertaken entirely upon the same footing as the farms. Some estimate of the expense must be sent down by the most intelligent of these men. The General will provide and send up the materials; they will be paid for building the mills and allowed a reasonable profit for working them. The sooner Secord is sent down the better and he should be furnished with remarks in writing respecting the situation of the intended mills, the materials wanted, what parts of them can be procured above, &c.After many delays the mills began operating in the fall of 1783. The grist mill escaped destruction during the War of 1812, and was in operation until 1910. About 1990 the building was converted into a residence and received heritage designation in 2004.
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| Secord grist mill c. 1920 |
According to the claim for losses submitted by Solomon Secord, James died in summer of 1784. Madelaine appears as "Widow Secord" on the 20 Jul 1784 Niagara Return. Some family historians record her death as having occured on 21 Sep 1796, however, evidence for this is lacking.
James never met his famous daughter-in-law but his story, while not heroic, illustrates the hardships suffered by those who supported the Crown during the American Revolution.
Sources:
Connecticut Courant and the Weekly Intelligencer, 28 Jul 1778, p. 3.
Crowder, Norman. Early Ontario Settlers: A Source Book. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1993.
Francavilla, Lisa A., "The Wyoming Valley Battle and 'Massacre': Images of a Constructed American History" (2002). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539626377. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-00ct-xe13
Harvey, Oscar Jewell. A History of Wilkes-Barré, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania: From Its First Beginnings to the Present Time, Including Chapters of Newly-discovered Early Wyoming Valley History, Together with Many Biographical Sketches and Much Genealogical Material. Wilkes-Barre: Raeder Press, 1909
Jones, J. Kelsey. Loyalist Plantations on the Susquehanna. Self-published, 2009. https://docplayer.net/100900251-Loyalist-plantations-on-the-susquehanna-j-kelsey-jones-updated-2009.html
Library and Archives Canada. Land Petitions of Upper Canada, 1763-1865
Library and Archives Canada. Haldimand Papers (MG21, Add. MSS 21765, Volumes B105, B166, B167, B168)
Miner, Charles. History of Wyoming: In a Series of Letters, From Charles Miner, to His Son William Penn Miner. Philadelphia: J. Crissy, 1845.
Moulton, R. Kirk. "Early Sicard-Secor Famiies of New York: Origins of United Empire Loyalist William Secord." New York Genealogical Bulletin, Vol. 150, No. 4 (October 2019) p. 302-316.
Nester, William R. The Frontier War of American Independence. Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books, 2004.
Reilly, Bob. "The Heroine of Quaker Hill," The Pawling Record, 13 Jul 2018. https://www.pawlingrecord.org/single-post/2018/07/13/The-Heroine-of-Quaker-Hill
Smy, William. An Annotated Nominal Roll of Butler's Rangers 1777-1784. Welland, Ontario: Friends of the Loyalist Collection at Brock University, 2004.
Smy, William A., editor. The Butler Papers: Documents and Papers Relating to Colonel John Butler and His Corps of Rangers. Brock University Library Archives & Special Collections, 1994. https://dr.library.brocku.ca/handle/10464/9242
Stone, William L. The Poetry And History of Wyoming: Containing Campbell's Gertrude, And the History of Wyoming, From Its Discovery to the Beginning of the Present Century. Fourth edition, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.: C. E. Butler, 1869.
The National Archives of the UK. American Loyalist Claims, 1776–1835 (AO 12–13).
Watt, Gavin. Fire & Desolation: The Revolutionary War's 1778 Campaign as Waged from Quebec and Niagara Against the American Frontier. Toronto: Dundurn, 2017.
Watt, Gavin K. and James F. Morrison. The British Campaign of 1777, Volume One, The St. Leger Expedition: The Forces of the Crown and Congress. Second edition, Milton, Ontario: Global Heritage Press, 2010.
Wittmeyer, Alfred Victor and Edward F. De Lancey. Registers of the Births, Marriages, And Deaths, of the "Église Françoise À La Nouvelle York,": From 1688 to 1804. New York: Huguenot Society of America, 1885.
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