Captain Peter Hare (1748-1834)

Gravestones, Snure Cemetery, Louth, Lincoln, Ontario

In Snure Cemetery near the village of Jordan, Ontario can be found the gravestone of Peter Hare (1748–1834). Nearby are the gravestones of several of his descendants. 

Captain Peter Hare was a company commander in Butler's Rangers, a Loyalist provincial regiment during the American Revolution. Hare was born near Fort Hunter in Tryon County, New York on 17 May 1748, the son of John Hare. His first marriage, to Elizabeth Petree, produced two daughters. Seven children resulted from his second marriage to Catherine Greenwalt, including Major Peter Hare (1794-1856) of the Lincoln Militia, and Deborah Hare who married Joshua Beebe, son of Sergeant Adin Beebe of Butler's Rangers (and nephew of my gggg-grandmother Charlotte Beebe). Peter Hare's third marriage was to Margaret Bowman, the widow of Solomon Secord, a cousin of Adin Beebe. 

Butler's Rangers were based at Fort Niagara, located on the east side of the Niagara River where it empties into Lake Ontario. When the regiment was disbanded most of the Rangers were given land in the Niagara Peninsula. Hare received 3200 acres of land although he only farmed 150 acres near Jordan. 

Hare joined Butler's Rangers as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1777 and initially served under Captain William Caldwell. He was present at both the Battle of Wyoming and the Cherry Valley Massacre in 1778, and the Battle of Newtown in 1779. He was promoted to Captain in 1779 and give command of his own company. Many years later he served as Colonel of the 4th Regiment, Lincoln Militia. Hare died at his home on 6 Apr 1834.

Also at Snure Cemetery are the gravestones of his son Peter, his daughter-in-law Magdalene Secord (1794–1846), and six of his grandchildren.

Updated December 28, 2022

Cemetery Transcriptions: Ontario and Devon

Fairfield United Cemetery, Stephen, Huron, Ontario

Those of us with ancestors who emigrated in Ontario have the good fortune of being able to access gravestone transcriptions for hundreds of cemeteries. The wealth of printed transcriptions is the result of the Ontario Genealogical Society (OGS) undertaking to transcribe existing gravestones in cemeteries throughout Ontario. The availability of these transcriptions, which can be purchased from the various OGS Branches, has saved me valuable research time on many occasions.

Walk into the local branch of a public library and you will more than likely find copies of the transcriptions for nearby graveyards. Larger regional libraries often have a more extensive collection. The Canadiana Department of the North York Central Library in Toronto has the most complete collection of transcriptions, and also houses the library of the OGS.

Unfortunately a master index to the transcriptions does not yet exist. The closest to a comprehension index is the Ontario Cemetery Finding Aid. The OGS has also been indexing transcriptions but the project is far from complete.

Some Ontario transcriptions are also available through Interment.net.

Another very useful cemetery resource for Ontario researchers is the CanadaGenWeb Cemetery Project. A notable feature of the Cemetery Project is the availability of photographs. Volunteers undertake to photograph every gravestone in a cemetery. The photographs are submitted to the Cemetery Project, indexed and then uploaded to the website.

In comparison to the wealth of resources available online and in print for Ontario cemeteries, there is very little available for cemeteries in Devon. There does not seem to have ever been a major effort to document gravestones and make this information widely available. Some churches have printed guides available. Other churches have made this information available online. But in most cases determining whether ggg-grandfather has a gravestone requires a graveyard visit. Difficult if you don't live in Devon and time-consuming even if you do.

However, all is not lost. The Gravestone Photographic Resource Project was started by Charles Sale in 1998 to photographically record grave monuments and make the information they contain publicly available via the Internet. 825 English cemeteries have been photographed to date and North Devon is particularly well represented. I have been making extensive use of the Project's resources as I prepare for my trip to Devon this summer. I recently received photographs of three gravestones connected to my MOCK ancestors at St Brannock's, Braunton, and have been using the project to develop an index of pre-1813 monuments at St Peter's, Tawstock.

Every year gravestones are lost due to vandalism or become unreadable due to weathering. Any effort to transcribe inscriptions or photograph gravestones should be encouraged.

The Snow Has Melted

Hick's Bible Christian Cemetery (Abandoned), Stephen, Huron, Ontario

A lot of snow melted this week, so I decided to visit some of the cemeteries near Exeter, Ontario, and hopefully cross some gravestones off my "to be photographed" list. It was quite blustery and not as sunny as had been forecast, but it was warm for mid-March. Most of the snow had melted, and there was some puddles and mud to avoid, but I did find most of the gravestones I was looking for.

One cemetery I had not visited before was the Hick's Bible Christian Cemetery in the southeast corner of Stephen Township. While the cemetery was quite easy to find, I was less than impressed with what I found.

Abandoned pioneer cemeteries in Ontario have suffered a number of different fates. Many have been subjected to "restoration." Sometimes the stones are set closely in a row. Sometimes a cairn is built and the stones placed in the cairn. If done carefully the stones are still readable if no longer in situ. At the Hick's Bible Christian Cemetery a concrete pad was poured and the stones placed so as to take up the smallest area possible. Makes it easier to mow the grass I suppose, but it certainly does not make the stones easy to read and photograph. The cemetery has also been subjected to some vandalism with several of the outer stones damaged.

Fortunately, the two stones of interest to me were still intact and fairly accessable. As well a transcription made by the Huron Country Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society was done before much of the vandalism occured. Still, I will attempt later this year to photograph all the remaining stones for the CanadaGenWeb Cemetery Project.

Waiting for the Snow to Melt

Woodlawn Cemetery, Guelph, Wellington, Ontario

A Canadian cemetery in winter is a special place, especially after a recent snowfall. Of course, finding a gravestone while wading through a foot of snow can be an interesting challenge. Transcribing an inscription while avoiding frostbite is also quite the thrill. A cemetery visit in winter can be aesthetically rewarding, but for genealogical research it's probably best to wait for spring.

Early spring is an excellent time for cemetery visits. Gravestones do not yet lie in the deep shadow of trees. The sun is still low in the sky for most of the day, creating better contrast for reading inscriptions and photography. Flowers, shrubs and grass which can obscure gravestones in summer have yet to make an appearance.

The gravestone of my ggg-grandmother Elizabeth LEWIS née STEVENS (1815-1885) is an excellent example of the advantage of cemetery visits in the early spring. I first visited her gravestone at Exeter Cemetery near Exeter, Ontario, several years ago at the end of June. Her gravestone and that of two of her children, was completely surrounded by a mass of orange day lilies. Quite picturesque, but I don't think anyone would have appreciated my stomping of the lilies to get close to the stone. A few months later, I did wade through the decaying remains and was able to take some adequate photographs. But it wasn't until a visit two years ago this month that I finally got the photograph I wanted — the complete stone, every carved word and symbol cleanly and clearly detailed. As usual, research during the winter months has generated a long list of gravestones to photograph, but here in Ontario we're still waiting for the snow to melt.

Researching SMITH

Inevitably, anyone with English ancestors will discover that one of their ancestors bore the name of SMITH. In my case I have two great-grandmothers named SMITH: Rose Broom SMITH (1866-1934), whose photo is to the right, and Edith SMITH (1868-1953).

Rose Broom SMITH was born in Greenwich, Kent, England, the daughter of William Broom SMITH (1834-1908) and Elizabeth Ann WALL (1837-1909). According to census data, William Broom SMITH was born in Lambeth, Middlesex. William joined the Royal Navy and was an engineer serving aboard HMS Ajax when he married Elizabeth Ann WALL in 1857 in Stoke Damerel, Devon. According to his daughter's obituary, William later served aboard the cable-laying ship SS Great Eastern. Three of their six children were born in Stoke Dameral and the other three in Kent. According to his marriage certificate, William Broom SMITH's father was also named William Broom SMITH, but I haven't been able to trace this line back any further.

On the other hand, Edith SMITH's father, Henry SMITH, was born in Dolton, Devon in December of 1834. He was the son of Thomas SMITH (1807-1841) , a cooper, and Mary Field BULLEID (1809-1894). After Thomas SMITH died, Mary Field BULLEID married William HALLS (1813-1893), a builder from Merton, Devon. In 1873, Henry SMITH, his wife Elizabeth Tucker BUDD and four small daughters left Devon for Ontario, Canada and settled in the hamlet of Elimville in Usborne Township, Huron County.

But why did Henry SMITH choose Elimville?

Henry SMITH's father was baptised in Merton, Devon in 1807. As I researched the SMITH's of Merton, I made an interesting discovery. It appears that Mary Field BULLEID second husband was the cousin of her first.

Thomas SMITH was the son of Thomas SMITH (1779- ?), a cooper, and Elizabeth SCRIGGINS (1779- ?). Both Thomas and Elizabeth outlived their son. Thomas was the second youngest of the five children of John SMITH (1744-1815) and Mary FRAINE (1743-1810). The youngest child was Jenny SMITH (1787-1846), who married Philip HALLS (1791-1846) in 1810. Of their six sons, only the second oldest, William HALLS, stayed in Devon. The rest emigrated to Canada during the 1840s. Three of them settled near Elimville in Usborne Township, Huron County, to be joined many years later by their step-nephew, my gg-grandfather, Henry SMITH.

Sixteen years after arriving in Canada, Henry and family headed west to Manitoba. By that time the family had grown to nine children — eight girls and one boy. Three of the four oldest girls stayed behind in Ontario. Eight of Henry SMITH's children married and produced 27 grandchildren. Most, however, never knew their grandfather, as Henry SMITH died in Hamiota in 1903.

Researching Gravestones

One of the features of my website is the photographs and transcriptions of gravestones and monumental inscriptions from the North Devon parishes of St Giles in the Wood, Yarnscombe, High Bickington, Atherington and Tawstock. With each photograph and transcription, I have included some basic biographical information. Surprisingly, the research required is usually fairly straightforward and actually takes only a few minutes.

Consider the photograph of the gravestone of Richard CONGRAM (1787-1858) of Atherington which was recently added to my website. The first step was to check the transcription of Atherington burials available online through Devon Heritage. The burial register usually confirms the information on the gravestone but sometimes there are descrepancies. For example the year on the gravestone may not match the year in the burial register. In Richard's case, he was buried five days after his death and was 71 years of age when he died.

The next step was to check census data to find out where Richard was born. According to the 1851 Census he was born in the neighbouring parish of Chittlehampton. Armed with a location and an approximate year of birth it was time to use the International Genealogical Index (IGI) to find a baptism. While the IGI can be accessed directly online, it was more effective to go through Hugh Wallis's website and search by surname and batch number. Sure enough I found a Richard, son of William CONGRAM and Margareth, baptised at Chittlehampton in 1787.

Whenever possible I also try to include information about the parents. Using the Deanery of Barnstaple CD published by the Devon Family History Society, I found a 1781 marriage at Chittlehampton between William CONGRAM and Margareth SQUIRE, but unfortunately was not able to learn much more. There is a baptism at Chittlehampton for Margareth SQUIRES in 1757, but I did not find a likely candidate for William CONGRAM. It also seems likely that both of Richard's parents died before 1813 since neither burial is listed in the Deanery of Barnstaple CD.

Richard's son, Thomas CONGRAM (1823-1903) is also buried at Atherington.

Thomas Moore (1782-1832)

The memorial to Thomas STEVENS (1782-1832) in Little Torrington, Devon only tells part of the story. Thomas, the son of the Reverend Thomas MOORE (1740-1802) of Bishops Tawton, was the grandson of Henry STEVENS (1698-1748) and Christian Maria ROLLE (1709-1780), aunt to John, Lord ROLLE of Stevenstone (1751-1842). Thomas changed his name to STEVENS as a condition of the will of his cousin Elizabeth CLEVELAND née STEVENS and it is this name that his monument bears. What the monument does not say is that Thomas committed suicide by cutting his own throat with a razor.

Newspaper accounts of his death were far less restrained. One death notice was printed in the 1832 Annual Register:

14 Jan. At his seat, Cross, near Torrington, Thomas Stevens, esq. recorder of Exeter, Barnstaple, and Torrington, and a major in the North Devon regiment of Yeomanry cavalry. Educated for the bar, he early displayed talents of a superior order, and in 1826 he was elected by the chamber of Exeter to fill the honourable and responsible office or recorder of that city. On Monday, January 9, Mr. Stevens sat in the court of quarter sessions in Barnstaple; and on Tuesday, at the quarter sessions in South Molton; and, on each of those days, he complained of indisposition in his head. A tumultuous assemblage of people at Torrington on the following days, called forth his active exertions both as a magistrate and an officer, and probably increased the excitement which disease had previously begotten in his mind. On Friday evening he wrote a letter to a gentleman, which bore strong indications of great mental agitation. In this perturbed state he retired to his room on the evening of Friday. In the morning was heard from the dressing room, which induced Mrs. Stevens to hasten thither; and, on entering she caught her husband in her arms, deluged in blood flowing in torrents from a wound inflicted in his throat, which caused his death within a very short period.

The diaries of Thomas's wife, Sophia LE MARCHANT (1798-1860) are held by the North Devon Record Office in Barnstaple. Unfortunately a large gap exists around the time of her husband's death.

Thomas's brother John MOORE (1784-1865) also changed his name as an inheritance condition, becoming John MOORE-STEVENS. John was the Vicar of Otterton and was apparently under the impression that, as the closest male relative of Lord Rolle, he was going to inherit the Rolle Estates. The estates, however, went instead to Mark George Kerr TREFUSIS (1835-1907), the six-year-old nephew of Lord ROLLE's second wife.