A Watercolourist Abroad: John Richard Coke Smyth (1808–1882)

John Richard Coke Smyth, Self-Portrait,
1846. McCord Stewart Museum

Recently, an interesting but badly framed offset print came into my possession. The image, titled, Indians of Lorethe, depicts an indigenous man wearing a capote and ceinture fléchée, who stands behind a seated woman wrapped in a blanket and resting her arm on the shoulder of a young child.

At first glance the print appeared to be hand-coloured lithograph from the first half of the 19th century, however, closer examination showed that it is of more recent vintage.

The artist was John Richard Coke Smyth (1808–1882). The image is misnamed, either by the artist or by the printer, and should properly be called Hurons de la Jeune-Lorrette.

John Richard Coke Smyth was born in Derbyshire, England, the only child of Richard Smyth (1783– ?), a “gentleman,” and Elizabeth Coke (1777-1851). His baptism was recorded at Derby on 1 May 1808.

Little is known about Coke Smyth’s early life. As a young man he travelled to Constantinople in 1835, a trip that also took him to Geneva, Florence, Dresden, Saltzburg, Vienna, Budapest, and Venice. Coke Smyth spent a year in Constantinople, creating sketches and other works. While there he met John Fredrick Lewis with whom he later collaborated on lithographs of Constantinople. Lewis used Coke Smyth’s sketches in creating the stone plates for his Illustrations of Constantinople, published in 1837.

1842 printing of Sketches in the Canadas

In 1838, John George Lambton, Earl of Durham and Canada’s newly appointed Governor General, engaged Coke Smyth as drawing master to his daughters. Coke Smyth travelled with the family to Quebec arriving in May 1838. Five months later, when Lord Durham resigned as Governor General and returned to England, Coke Smyth returned as well. During Lord Durham’s brief tenure, however, Coke Smyth produced numerous sketches and watercolours of Quebec and its environs, and also during a  journey up the St Lawrence River into Upper Canada including several views of Niagara Falls.

23 uncoloured lithographic views were printed in Sketches in the Canadas published in London in 1840. These landscapes and vignettes of 19th century Canadian life were dedicated to Lord Durham. Two years later the work was republished with the lithographs hand coloured.

Several of the plates depict Wendat (Huron) from Jeune-Lorette, a reserve now called Wendake located within the boundaries of Quebec City.

Many of the watercolour and pencil sketches produced by Coke Smyth in 1838 are in the collection of the Royal Ontario Museum, having been presented to the museum by Dr. Sigmund Samuel. Because Coke Smyth rarely signed his work, some of the sketches were misattributed to William Henry Barlett, an artist and contemporary of Coke Smyth who also visited Canada in 1838.  Bartlett’s signature appears in the lower left-hand corner of the sketches, probably placed there by an over-enthusiastic dealer or collector. Stylistically the sketches do not resemble Bartlett’s other work which led Canadian art historian Mary Allodi in 1968 to identify the sketches in the ROM’s collection as having been done by Coke Smyth.

Entrance to Toronto, 1838. Private Collection

Coke Smyth's watercolours occasionally come up for auction. Entrance to Toronto sold at A. H. Wilkens Auction House in Toronto for $1400 in November 2022. This work had previously been sold at Sotheby’s in 1969.

A facsimile copy of Sketches in the Canadas using the 1842 hand-painted edition held by the Royal Ontario Museum was published by Charles J. Munson in 1968. My copy of Indians of Lorethe was likely printed at the same time and sold separately. Strangely, the colours reproduced on the print and facsimile do not match the colours used in other copies of the 1842 printing, notably the colour of the man’s capote and the woman’s blanket.

In 1842, Coke Smyth was commissioned by Queen Victoria to produce “drawings from the original dresses” worn at a masked ball that she had hosted. Souvenir of the Bal Costume was published by Paul and Dominic Colnaghi in 1843.

The Eastern Storyteller, 1854, Location unknown.

Coke Smyth exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1842 and 1855; and at the British Institution and at the Royal Society of British Artists until 1867. His best known work from this period is The Eastern Storyteller that was exhibited at the 1854 British Institution Exhibition.

Coke Smyth also produced watercolours of scenes from Shakespeare, two of which are in the Folger Shakespeare Library. Some of his other watercolours, painted during his trip to Constantinople, can be found in the collections of the National Galleries of Scotland, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Wheaton College, and the British Museum.

Coke Smyth married 25-year-old Marian Hockett at Saint Giles, Cripplegate in London on December 22, 1845.  Marian, who was born in London, was the daughter of Thomas Hockett, a coach builder. Coke Smyth and Marian lived in Hammersmith after their marriage.

Their daughter Marian Coke Smyth was baptised at St Peters, Hammersmith on April 11, 1847. The baptismal register notes that she was born on August 19, 1844 — 16 months before John Richard and Marian were married. Also born before the marriage was Elizabeth Amy, born on March 25, 1845 and baptised at St James, Westminster on Oct 1, 1845.

Coke Smyth had ten children. All but one survived to adulthood. His daughter Amy Frances died at the age of 5 months in August 1846.

At the time of the 1851 Census, Coke Smyth was living in Hampstead, Middlesex with his wife, his daughters Elizabeth and Marian, his son Norman, and his newborn daughter Florence. His occupation was recorded as “artist” and he had two servants. The family was still in Hampstead at the time of the 1861 Census, however, despite nine children, including one-year-old Emily, there was only one servant.

Coke Smyth wasn’t very conscientious about having his children baptised. Four of his children, 11-year-old Beatrice, 9-year-old Constance, 7-year-old Walter, and 6-year-old Harold, were all baptised in 1863 when the family was living in Highgate.

The family moved to the seaside resort of Brighton about 1867. Coke Smyth continued painting but no longer exhibited. He did contribute illustrations to Henry Beveridge’s five volume Comprehension History of India published in 1871.

Arundel Castle, Trout Gallery

Sketches from this period as well as some earlier sketches are in the collection of Dickinson College’s Trout Gallery in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

By 1871, Coke Smyth's daughter, Elizabeth was working in Brighton as an elocutionist — a person who teaches the art of public speaking.

Coke Smyth’s son Norman died at Brighton on February 4, 1872 at the age of 24. His wife Marian died at Brighton four years later on May 2, 1876 at the age of 55. Later that year, Coke Smyth had his thigh broken in a railway accident.

By 1881, Coke Smyth had moved to Worthing, Sussex where he was living with his daughter Elizabeth who was now headmistress of a boarding school for girls.

John Richard Coke Smyth died in Worthing, Sussex on December 20, 1882, less than two weeks after the marriage of his youngest daughter, Emily.

Gallery

(Left) Indians of Lorethe from the 1968 facimile edition of Sketches in the Canadas. (Right) Indians of Lorethe from the 1842 printing.

Three watercolour sketches by John Richard Coke Smyth in the collection of the Royal Ontario Museum. Initially misattributed to William Henry Bartlett due to the signatures which were added later.

Moose Hunter and Citadel Quebec from the 1842 printing of Sketches in the Canadas. Source: McCord Stewart Museum

The Yeni Valide Camii and the Süleymaniye Mosque, with the Golden Horn in the Foreground. A watercolour painted by Coke Smyth in 1835 or 1836 while in Constantinople. Source: Victoria and Albert Museum.

Three images from Queen Victoria's copy of Souvenir of the Bal Costume published in 1843. Source: Royal Collection Trust

The Fratricide

The Fratricide at Wyoming
by James Charles Armytage, 1860

One of the enduring stories of the Revolutionary War is the murder of Henry Pencil by his brother John at the 1778 Battle of Wyoming. According to legend, John Pencil, a Loyalist soldier in Butler’s Rangers, discovered his Patriot brother Henry hiding on Monocanock Island after fleeing from the battlefield. Rather than take his brother prisoner, John shot, tomahawked, and scalped Henry. What is interesting about this legend is that while most of the stories of atrocities associated with the “Wyoming Massacre” are myths, this one might be true.

The earliest accounts of “The Fratricide” are found in the journals kept by participants in the 1779 Sullivan-Clinton Campaign against the Haudenosaunee. In his entry for June 23, 1779, Captain James Norris of the 3rd New Hampshire Regiment wrote:

A Young man by the Name of Henry Pensil, who had escaped the Fate of most of his Countrymen, & in the Evening after the Battle had taken refuge on a small Island in the River, was discovered by a Tory who fiercely accosted him with the Appellation of a Damnd Rebel: the poor fellow being unarmed began to implore his pity, fell down upon his knees and entreated him not to stain his hands with his Brothers blood, “John, I am your brother, spare my Life and I will serve you” : “I know you are my Brother” replied the Villain; “but you are a damnd Rebel, Henry, and we are of opposite sides and Sentiments”—in the mean time was loading his gun with great coolness, which after the most moving appeal to his humanity & Justice, with all deliberation he levelled at his breast and shot him! then Tomahawked, & scalpd him! Another young man who lay concealed in the bushes a little way off, & afterwards made his Escape, heard all that passed, and saw the Murderer, who stood up upon a log while he loaded his Gun, and knew him to be the Brother of his unfortunate companion: He also adds that the Savages came up soon after he he'd finished the bloody deed: and cursed his cruelty in the bitterness of their hearts & said they had a great mind to put him to death the same way.

Captain Norris’s commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Henry Dearborn, recorded similar details in his journal a few weeks later but added, “The above account I have from one Mr. Slocum a young fellow belonging to Wyoming who lay in the bushes so near Pencel as to hear all that passed.”

Reverend William Rogers, Chaplin to Enoch Poor’s brigade, recorded the story as told by Lieutenant Colonel Zebulon Butler, the American commander at the Battle of Wyoming:

On a small island in the Susquehannah below the field of action, Giles Slocum, having reached thus far in safety, concealed himself in the bushes, where he was witness to the meeting of John and Henry Pensell, brothers, John was a Tory and Henry was a whig. Henry, having lost his gun, upon seeing his brother John, fell upon his knees and begged him to spare his life ; upon which John called him a damned rebel. John then went deliberately to a log, got on the same, and began to load his piece, while Henry was upon his knees imploring him as a brother not to kill him. " I will," said he, " go with you and serve you as long as I live, if you will spare my life." John loaded his gun. Henry continued, " You won't kill your brother, will you?" " Yes," replied the monster, “I will as soon as look at you, you are a damned rebel." He then shot him and afterwards went up and struck him four or five times with a tomahawk and scalped him. Immediately after one of the enemy coming to him said, " What have you been doing, have you killed your brother?" "Yes," said he, "for he was a damned rebel." The other replied, "I have a great mind to serve you in the same manner," They went off together. In the evening, Slocum made his escape. Slocum is a man of reputation, and his word was never disputed in the neighborhood where he is known. The family of the Pensells came from lower Smithfield on the Delaware, twenty miles above Easton. Henry's widow and seven children are still at Wyoming, in very low circumstances.

Somewhat surprisingly, “The Fractricide” did not appear in the lurid and sensationalist “Poughkeepsie” account that, in the weeks following the battle, was widely published in Patriot newspapers. As a result the story also didn’t make its way into in the early histories of the United States such as John Marshall’s influential Life of George Washington. “The Fratricide,” however, reemerged in the nineteenth century local histories written by Isaac Chapman, William Leete Stone and George Peck.

When Issac Chapman wrote A Sketch of the History of Wyoming in 1818, he included an account that closely mirrored Norris, Dearborn, and Rogers.¹ Although Chapman didn’t name the actors of the drama, he contributed to the story by adding: “the tory brother thought it prudent to accompany the British troops on their return to Canada.”

In The Poetry and History of Wyoming, published in 1841, Wiliam Leete Stone echoed the earlier accounts and describe the murderer as a “fiend in human form.” Stone also raised the possibility of an additional witness:

This tale is too horrible for belief; but a survivor of the battle, a Mr. Baldwin, whose name will occur again, confirmed its truth to the writer with his own lips. He knew the brothers well, and in August, 1839, declared the fact to be so. The name of the brothers was Pensil.

Stone never gave “Mr. Baldwin” a first name, but Oscar Jewell Harvey, author of The History of Wilkes-Barre identified him as Sergeant Thomas Baldwin, a Continental soldier in the 1st Independent Westmoreland Company. A few weeks before the Battle of Wyoming, several officers of the two Independent Companies had resigned their commissions and, accompanied by a number of the enlisted, had returned to the Wyoming Valley to help defend their homes. The morning after the battle, Baldwin and the other surviving Continental soldiers fled with Lieutenant Colonel Butler rather than being taken as a prisoner of war.

Baldwin later participated in the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign and was at the Battle of Newtown. In 1782 he led an attempt to rescue a mother and children who had been taken captive by a party of Seneca. Three of the four children were rescued but the mother was killed by her captors. After the war, Baldwin settled in what is now Chemung County, New York, but since he died in 1810, he could not have “declared the fact to be so” to Stone.

The Fratricide's Fate from George Peck's 1858 Wyoming:
Its History, Stirring Incidents, and Romantic History

The definitive version of “The Fratricide” is George Peck’s Wyoming: Its History, Stirring Incidents, and Romantic History published in 1858. Peck enthusiastically endorsed the tale of a “Tory shooting his brother,” but like most historical writers in the 19th century, valued style more than accuracy, and therefore decided that he needed to reveal the rest of the story:

John Pencil fled to Canada with the other refugees, and settled in a wilderness. He was twice chased by wolves, and each time rescued by the Indians. The savages, however, began to think there was something judicial in the matter, and concluded to leave him to the retributions of Providence. They said, " He too wicked — too wicked; Great Spirit angry; Indian no more help him." It was not long before another pack of the ferocious wild dogs scented the fratricide, and this time they were left to satisfy their thirst for his blood. The miserable wretch was killed and devoured, an end well becoming such a monster.

Peck claims that he received these details from a Mrs. Alexander² who got them from “a gentleman from Canada,” but it is far more likely than Peck invented them. Art historian Darlene Miller-Lanning suggests that Peck included these previous unknown details so as to create a cautionary tale to southern secessionists. Writing just a few years before the Civil War, Peck wanted to “demonstrate the grave moral costs associated with rebellion.”

At the commemoration of the Battle of Wyoming in 1878, Steuben Jenkins, a local politician and lawyer, gave a long-winded, jingoistic, and error-filled speech during which he presented “evidence” that the fratricide never occurred. The evidence was a 1781 petition to the Connecticut Assembly in which a John Pencil and five others requested a discharge, having already served four years with the Continental Army. Obviously, if John was with the Continental Army in 1778 he could not have murdered his brother at the Battle of Wyoming.

Not everybody agreed with Jenkins. In 1885, Horace Hayden in his introduction to the The Massacre of Wyoming: The Acts of Congress for the Defence of the Wyoming Valley wrote:

A century had not passed over the bloody field of Wyoming ere it became necessary for the grandson of Giles Slocum, in a letter now before me, to asseverate the truth of the fratricidal murder of Henry Pencil, received by him from the lips of his grandfather well known as a man of cautious and accurate speech.

Oscar Jewell Harvey also examined Jenkins’s evidence and discounted it but for the wrong reason. Harvey concluded that the John Pencil who signed the 1781 memorial was John and Henry’s father. He made this claim despite his familiarity with John Pencil’s 1787 Loyalist Claim for Losses.

John Pencil's 1787 Claim for Losses

In his claim, John stated that his father had died “8 or 9 years ago” and that he had an “elder brother” who died after his father and who was “killed in action.” Harvey declared that John’s statements were “unreasonable and improbable” or “absolutely false,” instead of considering the possibility that there was another person by the name of John Pencil.

The John Pencil who signed the 1781 memorial enlisted in the second incarnation of the 3rd Connecticut Regiment in 1777. The soldiers of this regiment were recruited from the counties of Windham and Hartford, not from Wyoming Valley. The 3rd Connecticut, however, was garrisoned in the valley when it merged with the 4th Connecticut in January 1781. The petition was unsuccessful as John appears on the muster rolls of the merged regiment in 1782.

John Pencil of the 3rd Connecticut was therefore not John and Henry’s father, but neither was he the John Pencil who allegedly killed his brother.

Harvey concluded that both Giles Slocum and Thomas Bennett had witnessed the murder of Henry Pencil. He wrote that the fratricide was “more indisputably authenticated than many other incidents,” neglecting the fact that all of the evidence was hearsay.

One piece of hearsay evidence that Harvey did not consider is the memorial of Joseph Slocum (1776-1855), written in 1839 and submitted to Congress with a petition from the inhabitants of the Wyoming Valley. Joseph was a younger sibling of Giles, and although he was a small child when the Battle of Wyoming occurred, would have heard the story from his brother. Joseph wrote:

Giles escaped to Monockesy island, and buried himself in the sand and bushes, the Indians in search; they found another man, who had also reached the island; heard their conversation; he begged hard for his life, but they slew him. Giles lay till night; when the enemy had returned, he waded back to shore, and there met Nathan Carey, who had escaped; they went together, and safe to Forty Fort.

Giles Slocum, the son of Jonathan Slocum (1735-1778) and Ruth Tripp (1736-1807) was born in Rhode Island in 1759, the oldest of ten children. His family migrated to the Wyoming Valley in 1777 and settled near Wilkes-Barre.

While Giles escaped from the battlefield and possibly witnessed a fratricide, his sister, five-year-old Frances, was taken captive by the Munsee Delaware in November. She was discovered living among the Miami in Indiana decades later. In December, six weeks after Frances was taken, Jonathan Slocum and his father-in-law Isaac Tripp were ambushed and killed.

Despite all this, Ruth Slocum refused to leave the valley. Giles married Sarah Ross in 1780, raised a family, and continued to live near Wilkes-Barre until his death in 1820.

It seems likely that Giles Slocum did witness the death of Henry Pencil on Monoconock Island. What is uncertain is whether the murderer was John Pencil. Did Giles really believe he saw John shoot, tomahawk, and scalp his brother, or did he add these details to make the story more interesting? The account his brother Joseph provided is significantly different than the story Giles told Henry Dearborn and other participants in the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign. Perhaps it is the more accurate version.

Detail from the Map of Gen. Sullivan's March from Easton to the Seneca & Cayuga Countries.
   Sullivan's forces encamped at Standing Stone on August 9, 1779. Source: Library of Congress

So who were John and Henry Pencil?

Johann Bentzel was born in what is now Germany about 1738, possibly in the Palatinate region to the west of the Rhine River. When John and his older brother Henry arrived in Pennsylvania with their parents, their name was quickly anglicized as Pencil, although it was often recorded as Pensel or Pensyl.

Many family historians have wrongly identified John and Henry’s parents as Johannes Bentzel (1704–1770) and Maria Sophia Krieder (1704–1789) who arrived in Philadelphia from Rotterdam in April 1749 aboard the Elliot. This Johannes Bentzel, however, was living in Dover, York, Pennsylvania when he made his will in 1769. In his will he names his wife Sophia and his son Johan Phillip. He refers to Johan Phillip’s brothers and sisters, but does not name them.

John’s Claim for Losses indicates his father would have died early in 1778. In an affidavit that accompanied the claim, Peter Wartman, who lived on the Susquehanna near Tuckhannock said that he “remembers John living on the Susquehanna with his parents.”

A better candidate for John and Henry’s father arrived in Philadelphia from Rotterdam in September 1753 aboard the Edinburgh. Johannes Bentzel is recorded as having taken the Oaths of Allegiance and Abjuration, and directly underneath his name appears Henry Pintzel and Johannes Pintzel. Older male children were also required to take the oath. Johannes Bentzel and his family settled in Lower Smithfield, near Stroudsburg on the Delaware River, and were living there in 1761.

During the Seven Years War, John decided to “take the King’s shilling” and joined the British Army.

In February 1780, Captain Walter Butler of Butler’s Rangers wrote to Captain Robert Matthews, Governor Frederick Haldimand’s military secretary:

I have a man of the name of Pencil, who served formerly in the Royal Americans. He has an old mother who is upwards of seventy who he is obliged to attend constantly. He says if he allowed a little provision for her, he could make out to save as much from his pay for some family taking charge of her; but otherwise he will be lost to the service. He is a man of good character and very fit for the service he is in.

The Royal American Regiment was raised in 1756 at Philadelphia. Four companies of the 1st Battalion, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Henri Bouquet, participated in Forbes Expedition against Fort Duquesne in 1758, while the remaining six companies were at the Battle of Carillon the same year. The 2nd Battalion participated in the Siege of Louisbourg in 1758 and were at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in 1759.

Soldier of The Royal Americans

The 3rd Battalion was at the disastrous Siege of Fort William Henry in 1757, the Siege of Louisbourg in 1758, and the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in 1759. The 4th Battalion were also at Carillon. Elements of the 4th later participated in the Battle of Fort Frontenac in August 1758 and the Battle of Fort Niagara in 1759. All except the 1st Battalion participated in the Montreal Campaign of 1760.

It is not known exactly when John joined the Royal Americans, or how long he served, or to which battalion he was assigned. A likely scenario is that he joined the 1st Battalion at Philadelphia during the winter of 1759 when Lt. Col. Bouquet had send out recruiting parties in order to bring the battalion back up to full strength.

In the spring of 1759, the 1st Battalion was tasked with providing the garrison for the newly constructed Fort Pitt as well as for other forts in the Ohio Country. This duty continued for the rest of the war.

After the 1763 Treaty of Paris, the 1st Battalion was reduced in strength by one company. Five companies were stationed at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, one company was stationed at Fort Detroit, and detachments from the remaining three companies garrisoned Fort Pitt, Fort Bedford, and Fort Michilimackinac, as well as several smaller forts in the Ohio Country.

During Pontiac’s War in 1763, many of the smaller forts garrisoned by the 60th were captured. Fort Detroit was besieged from May until October. Fort Pitt was besieged for several weeks until a relief column commanded by Lt. Col Bouquet defeated the indigenous forces at the Battle of Bushy Run. The relief column included the five companies of the 1st that were stationed at Lancaster. Whether John Pencil participated in any of these events is uncertain.

At some point John obtained a discharge and returned home to Lower Smithfield. He was on the Susquehanna by 1772, as both John and his brother Henry appear on the List of Settlers dated September 1772.  John was soon joined by his parents as both he and his father appear on the April 1773 petition to the Connecticut Assembly requesting the formation of a new county to serve the needs of the settlers.³

The precise location of John’s home on the Susquehanna is unknown but one source records that he lived at Standing Stone, named for a four metre tall sandstone monolith located on the west bank of the Susquehanna about 20 miles downstream from Tioga Point. He is missing from the 1776 Tax List for Westmoreland County, but the 1777 Tax List places him in the North District, also known as the “Up the River” District. His Claim for Losses, however, mistakenly records that he was “late of Tryon County, New York.”

In his claim he states that he had a small house and six acres cleared, and had 12 sheep, two cattle, and five horses.

John’s brother Henry married Sally Fuller (1737–?), the daughter of John Fuller, about 1768. Their first child, Catharine, was born in 1770 followed by Henry (1772-1833), Joseph (1777-1885) and Hannah (1778–?). There may have been three more children. Rogers recorded seven in his journal when Brigadier General Hand’s troops were encamped in the Wyoming Valley during the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign. Because Henry does not appear on the surviving tax lists, the location of his home in the Wyoming Valley is not known.

John and Henry may also have had a sister, Eliza, who married John Jacobs (1748-1831) about 1771. John and Eliza lived in Hanover Township downriver of Wilkes-Barre. There is evidence that John served in the Hanover Company of the 24th Regiment of Connecticut Militia, that he was wounded during the Battle of Wyoming, and that Lt. Col. Denison helped him escape to Forty Fort. Eliza is said to have fled her home after the capitulation of Forty Fort by following the path from Wilkes-Barre to Easton, carrying her baby and leading a cow. John and Eliza lived in Hanover Township after the war.

Soldier of Butler's Rangers

Many of the inhabitants “up the river” supported the British during the Revolutionary War and left their homes for Fort Niagara in the early spring of 1777.  John, however, remained on the Susquehanna for another year. The 1778 pay list for Butler’s Rangers records that he enlisted on June 1, 1778, a month before the Battle of Wyoming.

John likely would have been present at the Battle of Newtown in August 1779. Whether he participated in other actions such as the Battle of Klock's Field in 1780 or the Battle of Johnstown in 1781 is uncertain.

In March 1783, John married Eva McNott, a widow with five children, at the Machiche refugee camp near Trois-Rivières, Quebec. Eva was the daughter of Geradus Dingman and Saartje Jansen. Geradus settled on the Susquehanna near Unadilla, New York about 1770, as did Eva and her first husband James McNott. In October 1778, Unadilla was destroyed in retaliation for the destruction in the Wyoming Valley. Eva fled to Canada with her husband, children, and parents, and was sent to Machiche. James enlisted in the 2nd Battalion of the King’s Royal Regiment of New York but died at Machiche in 1779 before he could report for duty. Both of Eva’s parents, and possibly one of her children also died at Machiche as the Loyalist returns for 1779 show six children rather than the five that appear in later returns.

John’s mother was also at Machiche when he married, having arrived from Montreal in the summer of 1781. Several of the returns describe her as a “very old woman.” John may have brought his widowed mother with him to Niagara before he enlisted in Butler’s Rangers. She may still have been at Niagara when Captain Butler wrote his letter, but by November 1780 she was billeted in Montreal. She was still at Machiche in December 1783.

John appears on the November 30, 1783 Niagara Return with his new bride and her five children. When Butler’s Rangers disbanded in June 1784, he brought his family to the Bay of Quinte Region. The October 1784 Cataraqui return shows John settled in Township 3 (Fredericksburgh). With him is an additional adult woman, presumably his mother. The 1786 Return shows two women and an additional boy under ten. John and Eva had one child together, John, born about this time.

As a result of his 1787 claim, John received only £54 in compensation as the commissioners discounted his claim that his father had received “1000 acres on the Susquehanna” in 1767 and had gifted it to John about 1771.

John received patent to the east half of Lot 11 Concession 5 in Frederickburgh Township on May 17, 1802. He appears as a witness to two marriages in 1802, but does not appear on the 1808 assessment roll for Fredericksburgh. He likely died between 1802 and 1808.

He definitely wasn’t eaten by wolves.

“The Fratricide” is just one of the many stories that grew in the aftermath of the Battle of Wyoming. Of course, there is no evidence that woman and children were burned alive in their homes, that Parshall Terry cut off his own father’s head, or that Thayendanegea (Joseph Brant) led the indigenous warriors. Whether a loin-cloth clad, middle-aged, Munsee Delaware woman named “Queen Esther” executed prisoners after the battle is debatable. But despite the abundance of hearsay evidence that supports John Pencil killing his brother, reasonable doubt still exists.

Notes:

¹ Although written in 1818, Isaac Chapman’s work was published posthumously in 1830.
² Hannah Alexander nee Hibbard (1778–?) was an infant when her father was killed at the Battle of Wyoming. Her mother later married Matthias Hollenback (1752-1829) who escaped the massacre by swimming across the Susquehanna.
³ The Susquehanna River valley north of Sunbury was claimed by both Connecticut and Pennsylvania, and was the setting for several armed clashes during the Pennamite-Yankee Wars. In 1776 the Connecticut Assembly established Westmoreland County even though the area was already in Pennsylvania’s Northumberland County.

Sources:

Chapman, Isaac A. A Sketch of the History of Wyoming. Wilkes-Barre, Sharp D. Lewis, 1830.

Cook, Frederick, editor. Journals of the Military Expedition of Major General John Sullivan against the Six Nations of Indians in 1779. Auburn, New York, 1887.

Crowder, Norman. Early Ontario Settlers: A Source Book. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1993.

Harvey, Oscar Jewell. A History of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, Vol. 2. Wilkes-Barre: Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, 1909.

Hayden, Horace Edwin (ed.). The Massacre of Wyoming: The Acts of Congress for the Defence of the Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania, 1776-1778: With the Petitions of the Sufferers by the Massacre of July 3, 1778, for Congressional Aid. Wilkes-Barre, 1895.

Jenkins, Steuben. Historical Address at the Wyoming Monument, 3d of July 1778, on the 100th Anniversary of the Battle and Massacre of Wyoming. Wilkes-Barre, 1878.

Jones, J. Kelsey. Loyalist Plantations on the Susquehanna. Unpublished, 2013.

Library and Archives Canada. Haldimand Papers. MG21, Volumes B164, B166, B168, B188, B202.

Library and Archives Canada. Land Petitions of Upper Canada, 1763-1865. RG 1 L3.

Marston, Daniel P. Swift and Bold: The 60th Regiment and Warfare in North America, 1775-1765. Master’s Thesis, McGill University, 1997.

Miller-Lanning, Darlene. “Dark Legend and Sad Reality: Peck’s Wyoming and Civil War,” Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies, Vol. 6, No. 4 (Autumn 1998) pp. 405-444.

National Archives of the United Kingdom. American Loyalist Claims, 1776–1835. AO 12–13.

Peck, George. Wyoming: Its History, Stirring Incidents, and Romantic Adventures. New York, Harper & Brothers, 1858.

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.

Strassburger, Ralph Beaver and Hinke, William John (1934) “Pennsylvania German Pioneers: Volume 1, 1727-1775.” Proceedings of the Pennsylvania German Society, Vol. 42.

Stone, William L. The Poetry and History of Wyoming: Containing Campbell's Gertrude. New York: Wiley and Putnam, 1841

Watt, Gavin K. Loyalist Refugees: Non-Military Refugees in Quebec 1776-1784. Milton, Ontario: Global Heritage Press, 2014.

The Rockwood Cairn (Part 2)

Map of Eramosa Township from the 1877
Historical Atlas of the County of Wellington

Murder in Eramosa: The Willoughby Family           

The death of a young mother was tragic but not uncommon in Canada during the 19th century. When Sarah Willoughby of Eramosa Township died on August 1, 1857, her husband Charles was left as the sole caregiver for their five young children.

Like many widowers in similar situations, Charles resolved to find a new mother for his children. Four months after Sarah's death Charles married 39-year-old Margaret Moore from County Donegal, Ireland. Fourteen years later, on February 3, 1871, he murdered her.

Charles, the son of John and Sarah Willoughby, was born about 1821 in Kilcommon, Wicklow, Ireland. Charles married Sarah Langrill, daughter of William Langrill at Kilcommon in 1849. Later that year they emigrated to Canada, accompanied by Charles's younger brother Thomas. Charles settled in Eramosa Township in Wellington County east of Guelph. The 1852 Agricultural Census shows Charles farming 100 acres at Lot 6 Concession 6, of which only 10 acres were cleared. Charles rented at first but was able to purchase the property in the fall of 1858.

Charles and Sarah's children were all born in Canada. Their oldest, William, was born soon after their arrival. Their next child, John, was born early in 1852, followed by Sarah in 1853, Mary in 1855, and Elizabeth in 1857.

Charles and Margaret had two children: Charles, born in 1858, and John James, born in 1861 and named after his step-brother John who had died a year previously. Charles and his step-sister Elizabeth were baptised at Norfolk Street Methodist in Guelph on September 10, 1858.

A detailed account of Margaret’s murder appeared in the Guelph Mercury, the St Catharines Constitutional and several other newspapers. Apparently, Charles woke up thirsty and demanded that Margaret get him a drink of water. When she refused he grabbed an axe and struck her in the face, killing her instantly. When his daughters Sarah and Mary went to investigate, Charles barricaded them in their bedroom, and then tried to killed himself with the axe. When that failed he went out to the barn and attempted to hang himself. Meanwhile, Sarah and Mary escaped and summoned help. Charles was arrested and transported to the Guelph jail to await trial.

The readers of the St Catharines Constitutional were not spared some of the more gruesome details:

...the scene presented was one of the most sickening character. Close to the head of the poor woman were lying pools of congealed blood which had flowed from the wound and her mouth. Part of the frontal bone, the cheek bone, and the upper part of the jaw bone were smashed in, the eye was quite black from the effect of the blow, and the abrasion showed that the wound had been inflicted with a blunt instrument.

Charles was described by his neighbours as “grasping, mean, selfish, passionate, and quarrelsome,” to which the Constitutional commented:

...even to a passionate man, as he is, the mere refusal to get him a drink of water does not afford the shadow of a provocation for committing such an awful crime.

Charles Willoughby’s trial took place in Guelph on March 22, 1871. At his trial it became clear that he suffered from serious mental health issues. Charles was apparently prone to fits of rage and was frequently delusional. He blamed Margaret— “a careworn heart broken woman”—for the death of his son John and accused her of trying to poison him.

One of the key witnesses was Dr. Joseph Workman, superintendent of the Asylum for the Insane in Toronto, and the leading mental health expert in Canada. Based on Dr. Workman’s testimony the jury found Charles not guilty on the grounds of insanity, and Charles was committed to the Asylum.

Margaret was buried at the Erin Mills Cemetery. Her death registration notes that she was "murdered by her husband."

Charles died in Toronto at the Asylum for the Insane on January 29, 1879.

Sarah and her son John would have been buried at St. John's Anglican as the Willoughby property was located about one kilometer to the northeast of Rockwood.

Ann Trownsell (1856–1862)

This hard to read gravestone commemorates Ann Trownsell, the six-year-old daughter of Richard Trownsell (1836–?) and Mary McNamana (1835-1910). While Richard and Mary were born in Ireland, the 1861 Census indicates that Ann and her three-year-old sister Lucy were born in Canada.

Richard and Mary had at least five more children: Charles (1862–1930), William (1866–1937), Richard (1869–1944), Thomas (1869–1869), and Maria (1871–1932). Richard and Thomas were twins.

In 1868, the family emigrated to the United States and settled in Fayette in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Although Fayette was the site of an industrial complex that produced pig iron, it appears that Richard only worked for the Jackson Iron Company for a short time before he began farming in the area. When smelting at Fayette ceased in the early 1890s and the community became a ghost town, Richard purchased a farm in nearby Garden.

Mary Ann Wilkinson née Dyer (1810-1869) 

Mary Ann Dyer was born about 1810 in County Laois, Ireland and married Edward Wilkinson (1799-1880) about 1843. They had at least six children. All but the youngest were born in Ireland which indicates that the family emigrated to Canada about 1849.

All six children were living with their widowed father in Eramosa in 1871. At the time of his death in March 1880, Edward was a resident of the Wellington County House of Industry and Refuge, having been admitted shortly before his death. Edward’s daughter Jane (1848–1945) married at St John’s Anglican in Rockwood in 1871 which suggests that her mother had been buried there. As Edward was not buried at the House of Industry Cemetery he may also have been buried at St John's Anglican.

Children of Benjamin Kerr and Susan Collier

John, Margaret and William were the children of Benjamin Kerr (1828–1884) and Susan Collier (1828–1915). In 1851, Benjamin purchased the east half on Lot 19 Concession 1 in Erin Township, just east of the border with Eramosa Township. The location of the property would suggest that the burials of his three children occurred at Ascension Anglican.

Both Benjamin and Susan were born in Ireland, however, they married after they had come to Canada. Susan, the daughter of Robert Collier (1797–?) and Margaret (1807–?), was living with her family in Garafraxa Township at the time of the 1852 Census. As Susan's two youngest siblings were born in Canada, her family would have emigrated about 1844 just prior to the Irish Potato Famine.

Benjamin and Susan had at least seven children. Susan outlived Benjamin by many years. She was a patient at the Hamilton Asylum for the Insane in 1901, 1911 and at the time of her death. Benjamin and Sarah are both buried at Everton Cemetery along with their daughter Margaret Ann (1871–1899).

James Odgan Gates (1871-1871)

His name is misspelled on his gravestone but James Ogden Gates, the son of James Gates (1832–?) and Rosanna O’Brian (1840–?), was born on January 12, 1871, and died eleven months later on December 19, 1871.

James was the grandson of one of two brothers who emigrated from Connecticut to Upper Canada before the war of 1812. Olmstead Gates (1779–1856) and James Gates (1782–1857) settled in Prescott County on the Ottawa River. James married Mary Willard (1797–1880) and had nine children, including their youngest son, also called James.

The 1852 Census shows James O Gates, aged 19, living with his parents and a sister in Caledonia Township, Prescott County. It is tempting to assume that the “O” was for Ogden. To confuse matters, James had a cousin named James Ogden Gates (1812-1875), the son of his uncle Olmstead.

James married Rosanna O’Brian about 1857 and had moved west to Erin Township in Wellington County before 1861. In the 1867 Irwin & Burnham Directory, James is listed as a householder at Concession 3 Lot 14 in neighbouring Eramosa Township.

In addition to James Ogden, James and Rosanna had four daughters. The youngest, Melissa, also known as Millie, was born in 1874.

When the family was enumerated in April 1871, they were living in Flamborough Township north of Hamilton. They returned to Eramosa before the end of the year but were living in Erin Township when Melissa was born.

James’s and Rosanna’s fates are uncertain as their death registrations have not been found. The 1881 Census show James Gates in Plantagenet South Township, Prescott with the family of his sister Maria. The enumerator recorded James as married but Rosanna is not with him.

Two of James and Rosanna’s daughters, Annie (1862–1945) and Theresa (1865–?) married in Toronto in the 1880s. In 1881, 1891 and 1901, their daughter Melissa was living in Plantagenet South Township in Prescott County as the adopted child of Henry Vogan (1824–?) and Mary McNally (1824-1900). Melissa died in Toronto in 1910.

Charles Edward Knowles (1874-1874)

Charles Edward Knowles was one of six children of James Whitaker Knowles and Margaret Hickey. His father, James Whitaker Knowles, was a sadler who at the time of his death in 1923 had lived in the village of Rockwood for 63 years. James, the son of George Knowles (1811-1867) and Hannah Staniforth (1811–1871), was born in Dewsbury, Yorkshire, England in 1841. James left his parents behind in England when he emigrated to Canada in 1858. He married Margaret about 1863 and their first child, George Staniforth Hickey, was born a year later. Charles was their fifth child.

Charles was born on April 13, 1874 and died three months later on July 30, 1874. He was buried at St John’s Anglican in Rockwood. A year later James and Margaret had another son who they also named Charles Edward.

Margaret died in 1906 at the age of 69. Both Margaret and James are buried at the Rockwood Cemetery as are three of their other children.

Mary Ann Stevenson (1828-1866) and Children

Mary Ann Peavoy, the oldest daughter of George Peavoy (1810–1883) and Eliza Jestin (1808–1879), was born in Upper Canada in 1836. Her father was born in Mountrath, County Laois, Ireland but all of his thirteen children were born in Wellington County.

Mary Ann’s husband, Samuel Stevenson, was born in Ireland about 1831 and farmed the west half of Concession 7 Lot 26 in Eramosa. Three of their children died young and are commemorated on Mary’s gravestone: James (1855-1857), Elizabeth (? –1857) and George E. (1860-1865). A fourth child, Margaret, was born in 1863. Samuel was living with Margaret and his son-in-law, John Johnston, in 1891. Samuel died in 1893. Samuel is consistently recorded as Methodist in census data, and given the location of his farm, his wife and children may have been buried at the Copeland Methodist Cemetery.

Daniel DAY (1810–1883) and Family

Daniel Day, the son of Daniel Day (1780–1835) and Elizabeth Watson (1784-1867), was born in Withernwick, Yorkshire on August 19, 1810, and was baptised there on 7 Oct 1810. In 1831 he emigrated with his parents to Guelph in Upper Canada. Daniel married Matilda Bowes about 1840, and their oldest child, Mary, was born on November 17, 1841. Daniel and Matilda had at least five children including Robert who was born in 1847. By 1851 Daniel had moved to Eramosa Township where he farmed Concession 3 Lot 20. Matilda died on February 25, 1872 at the age of 61 and was buried at McCormick Cemetery in Eramosa Township.

Robert married Harriet Mary Croft, daughter of William and Anna Croft at Eramosa on November 19, 1872. Robert and Harriet had three children: Annie Evelina (1874–1950), William Richard (1875– ?) and John Robert (1878– ?). Robert died in 1879. Harriet continued to live in Eramosa with her children until her death on December 17, 1886.

After Robert’s death, Daniel moved to Amabil Township in Bruce County to live with his daughter Mary’s family. Daniel died in Amabil in June 1883 but was buried in Eramosa.

Daniel, Robert and Harriet were likely interred at Ascension Anglican given the churchyard’s proximity to the Day property.

Sources:

Gazetteer and Directory of the County of Wellington, 1867. Irwin & Burnham, 1867.

Day, Frank. Here and There in Eramosa. Self-published, 1953.

Thorning, Stephen. “Insanity Verdict in 1871 Eramosa Homicide Case.” Wellington Advertiser, January 18, 2002. Reprinted January 6, 2022.

“Wife Murder at Rockwood” St. Catharines Constitutional, Feburary 9, 1871.

Gazetteer and Directory of the County of Wellington, for 1871-2. A. O. Loomis & Co., 1871.

The Rockwood Cairn (Part 1)

Rockwood Cemetery, in the village of Rockwood to the east of Guelph, Ontario, contains mostly 20th century gravestones. At the back of the cemetery, however, is a cairn containing two dozen 19th century gravestones from three small local cemeteries that were closed in 1945.

Twelve gravestones were removed from Ascension Anglican Cemetery, nine from St. John's Anglican in Rockwood, and five from Copeland Methodist. While any documents that would show the original location of individual gravestones no longer exist, census data, nineteenth century directories, and historical maps can be used to identify the provenance.

Ascension Anglican Church was located on Lot 21 Concession 4 in Eramosa Township. A church building was constructed in 1861 but the congregation closed in 1879. Many years later in his Historical Sketch of the Parish of Acton and Rockwood, Rev. E. A. Brooks wrote, "today a few forgotten gravestones remain and the outline of the church foundation can be traced on the turf.”

A Wesleyan Methodist church was located three kilometres to the east at Lot 21 Concession 6. This church opened in 1865 on land donated by John Copeland but closed six years later.

Although no longer surrounded by gravestones, St. John's Anglican Church has sat on a hill overlooking the village for more than 160 years. The current stone building dates from 1880 and replaced a frame building constructed in 1859.

James Clark (1779-1862) and Elizabeth Turner (1785-1861)

James Clark and his wife Elizabeth Turner emigrated to Canada from Kent, England. James and Elizabeth were married in Newington, Kent in 1806. In 1861 they were living with their son Thomas (1812–1870) on Lot 5 Concession 8 in Erin Township. The 1861 Census records that James and Elizabeth were members of the Church of England which suggests that their gravestones were originally from the Ascension Anglican Church.

Children of James Abbot and Martha Ann Copeland

Thomas, Martha, Ann, and the unnamed twins were the children of James Abbot and Mary Ann Copeland. All five children were born in Canada. Census data indicates that James and Mary Ann had 14 children altogether. Between 1851 and 1861, James built a two story frame house for his growing family, replacing a 1 1/2 story log house. By 1881, James and Mary had moved north to Durham Township in Grey County. Mary Ann died on December 30, 1894. James died 14 months later on March 24, 1896. Both are buried at Durham Cemetery.

James, the son of Aaron Abbot and Martha Draper, was baptised at Ringstead, Northamptonshire on December 31, 1820, the same day as three of his sisters. His parents were married at Grafton Underwood, Northamptonshire on August 5, 1809, and emigrated with six children including James to Upper Canada in 1823. The family appears on the passenger list of the Comet which departed from London and arrived at New York on March 6, 1823. The family took up passage up the Hudson River to Albany then travelled west on the newly built Erie Canal to Rochester. After crossing Lake Ontario to Hamilton, Aaron and his family spent the next few years living in nearby Dundas. In 1829, Aaron was granted 200 acres in Eramosa Township (Lot 17 Concession 6). By 1861 the property has been divided in two with Aaron farming the north half while James farmed the south.

The location of their farm suggests that James and Mary Ann's children were buried at Ascension Anglican.

The 1852 Census records Aaron and Martha's religion as Church of England, however, James and Mary Ann's religion were recorded as Disciples of Christ. The 1861 and 1871 censuses record James as Church of England and Mary Ann as Disciples of Christ.

Aaron and Martha's gravestone is found at Everton Cemetery in Eramosa Township. Martha, who died in 1852, and Aaron, who died in 1868 were buried on their farm. A headstone was erected but Aaron's name was never engraved upon it. In 1942 their remains were reinterred at Everton.

Alexander Moore (1779–1851), Martha Wilson (1791-1855) and Children

Alexander Moore, his wife Martha and their children likely came from Ireland to Eramosa Township during the Irish Potato Famine, arriving before the death of their eldest son, John Wilson Moore in 1845. The 1852 Census shows Martha living with her adult children. All were born in Ireland and all were Church of England adherents. The 1861 Map of the County of Wellington shows four members of the Moore family including Peter Moore occupying Concession 5 Lot 7 Eramosa. This location suggests the gravestones were from Ascension Anglican Church.

Susannah Bolton née Lush (1839–1881) and Ann Bolton (1800-1869)

Susannah Lush, the daughter of William and Mary Lush, was born in Eramosa Township about 1839. On March 9, 1864 she married Thomas Bolton who had been born in England in 1824 and had emigrated to Upper Canada with his parents about 1841. At the time of the 1871 Census, Thomas and Susannah were living with Thomas's father John and were adherents of the Church of England. Thomas and his father farmed the NE 1/4 of Lot 19 Concession 4 in Eramosa.

Susannah and Thomas had two children: Hannah, born on May 8, 1867, and Beatrice born on February 15, 1871.

After Susannah's death in 1881 from "inflammation of the lungs," Thomas and his girls continued living on their farm. Hannah married John Coker (1860–1934) in 1883. In 1896, Thomas and Beatrice were destitute and were admitted to the Wellington County House of Industry and Refuge. Thomas died there in 1910. Beatrice continued living at the House of Industry and Refuge until her death in 1945. She was buried at the Johnston Cemetery near her sister who had died in 1941.

The gravestone for Ann Bolton, wife of John Bolton and mother of Thomas, was also placed in the cairn at Rockwood. Ann and her daughter-in-law Susannah were likely both buried at Ascension Anglican.

Robert Nickle (1832–1866)

Robert Nickle, the son of John Nickle (1798–1886) and Sarah Perry (1796-1872), was likely born in Ireland. He married Lucinda (1836–1862) and had three sons: Robert William (1856-1917), Henry (1858-1914), and Benjamin (1859-1948). Henry was living with his grandparents in Eramosa at the time of the 1871 Census and was buried at Everton Cemetery, while his brother Robert William was living with his uncle Thomas Nickle. John Nickle farmed the east half of Concession 6 Lot 20 and identified as Church of England in the 1871 Census which suggests his son Robert was buried in Ascension Anglican’s churchyard.

Isabella Rae (1863–1865) and Alexander Rae (1862–1862)

Isabella and Alexander were the children of James Rae and Isabella Crocker, and the grandchildren of Alexander Rae (1787–1891) and Isabella Aitkin (1805-1873). James and Isabella married in Eramosa Township in 1859. Isabella, the daughter of James Crocker and Isabella Mennie, was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland in 1827, and died in Eramosa in 1906. James Rae was born in Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland in 1839, and died at Fergus, Ontario in 1918. Both were buried at Johnson Cemetery near James’s parents. The 1871 Census shows that James and Isabella had three additional children: Jane (1864–1955), William (1866–1931) and Isabella (1869–1959) who was named after her sister, mother, and both of her grandmothers. The family were Presbyterian and were living near James’s parents whose farmed the west half of Lot 20 Concession 5 Eramosa. The nearest cemetery is Ascension Anglican so it is likely the children were buried there.

Samuel Albert Morris (1866-1871)

Samuel Albert Morris, son of Samuel Morris (1825-1900) and Mary Ann Merrick (1831-1908), drowned at the age of five in 1871. His father Samuel had been born in Kilkenny, Ireland and in 1846 had emigrated to Canada with his parents, George Morris (1793-1876) and Ann Thompson (1796-1879) during the Irish Potato Famine. Samuel and Mary Ann had at least seven children. Samuel, a wagon-maker, moved his family to Guelph between 1872 and 1881. Samuel and his wife, along with his parents, are buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Guelph.

Samuel and Mary Ann were adherents of the Church of England and were living in Rockwood at the time of their son’s drowning. Samuel Albert would therefore have been buried in the churchyard of St. John’s Rockwood.

Othniel Gidley Madick (1815-1866)

Despite his unusual name little is known about Othniel Gidley Madick. Othniel, the son of Henry Maddick and Mary Binney was born in Buckfastleigh, Devon on 19 Mar 1815, and was baptised six days later. A marriage is recorded between Othniel and Mary Ann Belton in Eramosa on December 16, 1844. Although Othniel is not named as such in the 1852 and 1861 censuses, there is a John Maddock, farmer, born in England about 1812 with a wife named Mary Ann. Four children are listed in the 1851 Census, two of whom, Hannah, aged 14, and Hawkins, aged 13, would have been from a previous marriage. The 1861 Census only lists the two younger children, Mary Ann, aged 16, and Sarah, aged 12.

George H Prior (1835–1861)

Almost nothing is known about George H Prior other than his date of death since he died before the 1861 Census was taken. In the census there is a John Prior, aged 22, born in England and living in Rockwood who may have been George’s brother, but no other details about either John or George have been discovered.