Rachel Fane: Countess of Bath

Lady Rachel Fane
by Sir Peter Lely (1618-1680)
Oil on canvas, 49 5/8 x 39 5/8 inches

In the south chancel aisle of St Peter's, Tawstock, beside the monument to Henry Bourchier, 5th Earl of Bath, stands a white marble statue that commemorates the life of Lady Rachel Fane, Countess of Bath (1613-1680). Although the statue is a copy by Benjamin Burham of Thomas Burham's statue of Mary Cavendish, the Countess of Shrewsbury, the Latin inscription reads as follows:

Rachel
Comitissa Henrico digna, vix altera e sexu
vel animo, vel virtute aequipollens
Rebus demisticis civilibus sacris, ingenio
pluaquam virili, at materno
(quo suo tempore vix maius dabatur in terris)
Ecclesiae Anglicanae Filia humilis, et devota,
et iniquis temporibus eiectorum Patrum mater
et hie pene unica fautrix
Unicum Lugendum quod in se perjisset nobile
Bourchieri nomen, ni sat illa habuit virtutum
vel illu immortale reddere
Er liset improlis plus mille liberorum Parens,
quos liberalissime educavit, doravit,
sacravit, et nobilitavir
Adhuc vivit et nunquam moritura dum his
Regionibus supersunt grata pectora¹

Statue of Rachel Fane
at St Peter's, Tawstock

Lady Rachel Fane was the fifth daughter of Francis Fane (1580-1629) and Mary Mildmay (? - 1649), and the granddaughter of Anthony Mildmay (? -1617) and Lady Grace Sherington (1552 - 1620). Rachel was baptised at Mereworth, Kent on 28 January 1612. By the time of Rachel's death on 11 November 1680, she had outlived all twelve of her siblings as well as both her husbands.

Rachel was four when her maternal grandfather died and her family moved to Apethorpe, Northumberland to live with Rachel's grandmother. Anthony Mildmay was knighted by Elizabeth I and was appointed ambassador to the court of Henry IV of France in 1596. In 1621, Rachel's father, Francis Fane, had the South Chapel of St Leonard's, Apethorpe built to accommodate a spectacular monument to his wife's parents.

Francis Fane (1580-1629)

Francis Fane was created Knight of the Bath on 24 July 1603, the day before the coronation of James I in 1603. He was Member of Parliament for Maidstone from 1604 to 1621. On 29 December 1624, when Rachel was 11, Francis was created Earl of Westmorland. Rachel's older brother, Mildmay Fane (1602-1666), succeeded his father as 2nd Earl of Westmoreland. Mildmay was a politician, playwright and poet who authored over 900 poems in English and Latin, as well as eight masques and stage plays. One of Rachel's younger brothers, Anthony Fane (1614-1642) became a colonel in the Parliamentary Army and died from his wounds following the siege of Farnham Castle. Another brother George Fane (1616-1663) was a Royalist officer while her brother Francis Fane (1611-1681) also supported the Royalists.

Apethorpe Palace is a Grade I listed country house dating from the late 15th century, and was the principal seat of the Mildmay and Fane families for over 350 years. Notable features are the Great Hall, the impressive Long Gallery, and a series of state rooms including the King's Chamber. Apethorpe hosted both Tudor and Stuart royality, notably James I who visited eleven times. In the early 1620s, Sir Francis Fane built the state rooms and Long Gallery at the request of James I.

Apethorpe Palace

At Apethorpe, Rachel received an unsusual education in the classics as evidenced by the collection of her notebooks held at the Kent History and Library Centre in Maidstone, Kent. Her grandmother, Lady Grace, expressed in her own writings that her granddaughters should be educated but conform to conventional feminine characteristics of chastity, modesty, and silence. Rachel became fluent in French and also studied Latin and Spanish. A number of Rachel's masques also survive in manuscript form as does a collection of recipes that contains one of the earliest set of instructions for making meringue.

The Long Gallery may have been the venue for various entertainments including masques, but it is unlikely that any of the courtly entertainments written by Rachel to amuse her family were ever performed for the King. As a young adolescent, Rachel wrote a number of pastoral masques that were performed by her brothers, sisters, cousins, and the children of servants. Her works are quite sophisticated and contain a number of Shakespearean elements. In The Girlhood of Shakespeare's Sisters, Jennifer Higginbotham describes them as "vivacious and imaginary works" quite a odds with the platitudes copied into her notebooks.

Several portraits of Rachel exist including the portrait painted by Peter Lely after her first marriage. Anthony Van Dyck painted at least two portraits of her. The first was commissioned sometime before her first marriage and bears the inscription, "Rachel, daughter to Francis E. of Westmoreland." The Sedelmayer Gallery's Illustrated Catalogue, published in 1913, describes this portrait as follows:

Against a background formed by a brown column and a green drapery, the radiant figure of the young sitter is brilliantly relieved. Dressed in a rich court gown of white brocaded satin, she appears standing, full-length, live-size, turned very slightly to the left, her face almost full to the spectator. Curling chestnut hair ornamented with an orange bow enframes the youthful oval of her face. Round her neck is a string of large pearls, with a pendant of rubies, terminating in a single pearl. Another necklace, of emeralds, fastened in front and at the shoulders, and a deep lace collar, adorn the very low bodice. Orange ribbons with bows are fastened round her waist, and round her puffed sleeves. Her left hand, on the wrist of which is a bracelet, hangs by her side. In her right she holds, with a dainty gesture, a rose plucked from a cluster of rosebushes and large-leaved plants beside her. Behind her is a vase ornamented with masks and containing an orange-tree, bearing a few oranges among the dark foliage.

Rachel Countess of Bath
by Anthony Van Dyck
Oil on Canvas, 1641

The second Van Dyck portrait was painted shortly before the artist's death in 1641. The National Portrait Gallery and the British Museum hold several copies of a line engraving based on the portrait. Another portrait, possibly by George Geldorp, was painted shortly after Rachel's marriage to Henry Bourchier. Yet another was painted about 1630 by Cornelius Johnson. A miniature painted by David Des Granges in 1656 is in the Fitzwilliam Museum, while another miniature is attributed to Richard Gibson.

Rachel married Sir Henry Bourchier, 5th Earl of Bath, on 18 December 1638 at St Bartholomew the Great, London, when he was 45 and she was almost 26. Henry, the fifth son of Sir George Bourchier (abt 1535-1605) and Martha Howard (abt 1555-1598), was born in Ireland about 1587 and attended Trinity College, Dublin University. He was knighted by James I in 1621. He succeeded to the title of 5th Earl of Bath on the death of his cousin Edward Bourchier in 1637. Henry and Rachel lived at No. 53-4 Lincoln's Inn Fields in the Parish of St Giles in the Fields, London and at Tawstock Court in North Devon, and also held manors in Armagh and Limerick in Ireland.

Although Rachel and Henry had no children, their marriage was apparently a happy one. In his letters to Rachel, Henry frequently call her "my Girle," my sweet girl," and even "my dear wench." In one letter he wrote, "according to promise I must again remember my wench whom I have not forgotten one hour together since I left her."

On 28 September 1642, Henry, a Royalist during the English Civil War, was arrested at Tawstock Court and detained in the Tower of London. He was released on 4 August 1643 and was later appointed Commissioner for the Defence of Oxford. On 22 January 1644 he was appointed Lord Privy Seal, a post he held until his death. In June 1645, 15 year old Prince Charles (later Charles II) visited Henry and Rachel at Tawstock Court. In December 1648, Henry was declared delinquent and was forced to pay a fine to order to retain Tawstock Court and his other estates.

Henry died at Tawstock on 16 August 1654 and was buried the following day. His funeral rites were solemnized on 21 September 1654.

Monument erected at St Peter's, Tawstock
by Rachel Fane to her 1st husband
Henry Bourchier, 5th Earl of Bath (1587-1654)²

The inscription on her statue describes Rachel as "parent to more than a thousand children." Although an exaggeration, Rachel paid for the education of a number of children, both boys and girls. Jonathan Pikard, an orphan that Rachel had "adopted" in 1645, was sent to grammar school in Barnstaple in 1652, while others were taught at Tawstock. At least ten children were fostered by Rachel at Tawstock. Rachel also made significant donations to Emmanuel College, Cambridge and to Trinity College, Dublin.

In the inscription, Rachel is described as "mother" to the "ejected fathers." This has often been interpreted as Rachel aiding Puritan clergy during the Great Ejection that followed the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. Rachel's memorial, however, was a gift of the Diocese of Bath and Wells, so it seems more likely that Rachel aided persecuted clergy loyal to Charles I in the 1640s and 1650s.

Rachel's second husband was Lionel Cranfield, third Earl of Middlesex (1625-1674), whom she married in May 1655, nine months after the death of her first husband. Lionel was 12 years younger than Rachel. Within two months of the marriage there were rumours of "a little breach between the late married couple, the Earl of Middlesex and his lady... it seems he does not well brook some of her servants."³ In August 1657 Cranfield banished Rachel to her old house in Lincoln's Inn Field. A letter written by Lady Rachel Newport and dated 13 July 1658 reports that Cranfield had "sold all her plate, most of the household stuff, and all Lord Bath's library: all goes in play and rioting."

In March of 1661, Rachel obtained a royal warrant to retain her precedency as Countess of Bath. Another letter written by Lady Rachel Newport provides some details: "Our cousin Lady Bath hath got her place of being Lady Bath again, it cost her £1,200... her lord is very angry at her changing her title; he says it is an affront to him." Later that year Rachel started proceedings to divorce her second husband. She was granted a legal separation by the Court of Arches, on the grounds of cruelty and desertion, in June of 1661.

After the death of her brother, George Fane (1616-1663), Rachel became the guardian of her nephew, Henry FANE (1650-1706). She purchased Basildon Park in Berkshire for him in 1656 and secured his knighthood at the coronation of Charles II in 1661. On his marriage to Elizabeth Southcott (1650-1724) in 1668, Rachel settled upon him the Bourchier estates in Armargh and Limerick. Inside St Peter's, Tawstock is a monument to Rachel's grandnephew, George Fane (1668-1668), the son of Henry Fane and Elizabeth Southcott.

Lady Rachel Fane, Countess of Bath, died at St Giles in the Fields on 11 Nov 1680 and was buried at St Peter's, Tawstock on January 20th. The inscription on the breastplate of her coffin reads:

Depositum Proenobilis Rachaelis
Henrici Bourchier nuper Bathoniae comitis Relictae
Franciscie Fane Westmorlandiae pridem comites filiae quarto genitae
quae obiit undecimo diae Novembris A.D. 1680 aetatis suae 68

Sources:

Bowden, Caroline. "Fane, Lady Rachel." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.

Gray, Todd. Devon Household Accounts, 1627-59, Part II, Henry, Fifth Earl of Bath and Rachel, Countess of Bath, 1637-1655, Exeter: Devon and Cornwall Record Society, 1996.

Higginbotham, Jennifer. The Girlhood of Shakespeare's Sisters. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2013.

William, Deanne. Shakespeare and the Performance of Girlhood. London and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.

---

¹An English translation of the inscription is found on a framed plaque at St Peter's, Tawstock:

Rachel
A Countess, really worth of Henry,
who had scarce an equal of her sex
either in spirit or in virtue
In Domestic, Civil and Religious affairs
she had a genius exceeding that of a man,
and such a Motherly Disposition
that scarce a greater then existed in the World.
She was a humble and devote Daughter
of the Church of England
and in times of Persecution a Mother to
the Distressed Fathers
in these parts almost their only Protectress
This alone was worthy of our tears, that in her
the noble name of Bourchier would have
been extinct if she had not been endowed with
Virtues sufficient even to render it Immortal
And, tho she was childless, yet she was
parent to more than a thousand Children
whom in a very genteel manner she brought up,
gave them portions, consecrated and even ennobled.
She still lives and never will die
While any sparke of gratitude
Remains in this Country.

²Art historian Nikolaus Pevsner describes the monument as "a splendid, relatively restrained free-standing monument of while and black marble." In A New Survey of England: Devon, local historian W. G. Hoskins describes it as "massive and ugly"

³Letter, dated 14 Jul 1655 from George Ayloffe to John Langley

The General: Cyril Aubrey Blacklock (1880-1936)

Cyril Aubrey Blacklock (1880-1936)

Dominating Knowles Cemetery in Walsingham Township, Norfolk Country, Ontario is the gravestone of Major-General Cyril Aubrey Blacklock. 

Blacklock, the second son of Joseph Herbert Blacklock (1855-1935) and Julia Corser (1855-1935), was born at Highlands, Tadmarton, Oxfordshire, a few kilometres west of Banbury. He was baptised at St. Nicholas, Tadmarton on 7 Nov 1880. The family was living in Tadmarton at the time of the 1881 Census but by 1888 had moved to Overthorpe House in the parish of Middleton Cheney, Northhamptonshire, a few kilometres east of Banbury.

Blacklock in 1917

Blacklock was educated at Eton College and afterwards joined the militia as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. On 5 Jan 1901, during the Second Boer War (1899-1902), Blacklock was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 4th Battalion of the Kings Royal Rifle Corps. He was promoted to Lieutenant shortly after the 4th Battalion had sailed from England on 9 Dec 1901. Upon arrival in South Africa, the battalion was sent to reinforce Lieutenant General Leslie Rundle's command in the Orange River Colony. The 4th operated mostly in the Harrismith area until the end of the war.

Blacklock returned home in Oct 1902 and on 23 Apr 1904 resigned his commission. He then emigrated to Canada where in 1911 he was employed as a miner in South Porcupine, Ontario. A few years later he was in Seattle, Washington where he married Rowena Kathleen Vincent on 29 Mar 1913. Rowena had been born at Bracebridge in the Muskoka region of Ontario. Their daughter, Julia Audrey Elizabeth Blacklock (1914-1948), was born in Seattle the following year.

When WW1 broke out in August of 1914, Blacklock decided to rejoin the British Army. He likely brought Rowena and Julia to Canada to live with her parents, then sailed to England. He arrived at Liverpool on 31 Oct 1914, rejoined the Kings Royal Rifle Corps on 4 Nov 1914, and was immediately promoted to captain. Blacklock was assigned to the 10th (Service) Battalion.

High Street of Guillemont, 3 Sep 1916

When the 10th Battalion was sent to France in July 1915, Blacklock was already a major, having been promoted the previous December. In Oct 1915 he was appointed second in command of the 10th. Blacklock was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel and appointed Commanding Officer of the 10th in Dec 1915. He was mentioned in dispatches as early as January 1916, and received the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in June 1916, although the circumstances of his award are not known.

Blacklock served as the commanding officer of the 10th Battalion until wounded at the Battle of Guillemont on 3 Sep 1916. His actions during the battle earned him a Bar to the Distinguished Service Order. The citation for his bar reads as follows:

When in command of the left attack of the brigade, considerable bodies of the enemy emerged from underground defences in rear of the brigade. He at once detached parties to deal with the situation, thereby enabling the attack to be successfully carried out. Later he captured and consolidated five consecutive objectives, displaying the greatest courage and initiative.

Having recovered from his injuries, Blacklock was promoted to the temporary rank of Brigadier General in Feb 1917 and given command of the 186nd Brigade. A month later he was transferred to the 97th Brigade, part of the 32nd Division. The 32nd Division saw extensive action during the Battle of Passchendale.

In A Moonlight Massacre: The Night Operation on the Passchendaele Ridge, 2nd December 1917, Michael Stephen LoCicero describes Brigadier Blacklock as:

One of a small number of “exotics‟ who managed to reach generals’ rank despite their civilian status at the start of the First World War.... The latter favoured calculated aggression, and was a proponent of “careful planning and proper preparation against facsimile objectives before carrying out attacks." To this end, “special measures were taken to ensure that every officer and man not only understood the object of the scheme of operations, but also knew the definite part he himself had to play”.

On 1 Jan 1918, Blacklock was invested as a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George. A year later he was invested as a Companion of the Order of the Bath, and was awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French in August 1919.   

Recruitment Poster for the
Royal Naval Division

On March 30th, 1918 Blacklock was promoted to Major-General. He was appointed commanding officer of the 39th Division, after briefly serving as commanding officer of the 9th Scotish Division. The 39th Division suffered heavy losses during the Battle of the Lys in April and was afterwards reduced to a training cadre.

On August 30th, 1918, Blacklock was transferred to the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division, and commanded the division during the Hundred Days Offensive.

Blacklock retired from the British Army in 1920 and returned to Canada. For a few years he lived with Rowena and Julia on Indian Road in the Parkdale neighbourhood of Toronto. In 1924 the family moved to Port Rowan on the north shore of Lake Erie in Norfolk County.

Blacklock died in hospital in Simcoe, Ontario on 14 Oct 1936, two weeks after surgery for a gangrenous appendix. His wife Rowena survived him by three years.

The Strange Case of Julian Haverfield Rowland

Proceedings of the Central Criminal Court, 9 Jan 1899

In the summer of 1883, Sarah Jane Pittaway (1859-1932), a sister of my gg-grandfather Joseph Snow Pittaway (1852-1927), married Julian Haverfield Rowland in the Camberwell district of South London. Like many young women from Watchet, Somerset, Sarah Jane had gone into service in London. In 1881 she was a housemaid in the home of Richard Cross, a draper in Deptford. At the time of her marriage Sarah was with child, as her daughter Maud was also born in the summer of 1883.

Julian Haverfield Rowland, the son of James Rowland and Ann, was born in 1844 in Deptford, however, the family moved to Gloucestershire before 1851. Julian was baptised at Cromhall, Gloucestershire on 1 Jan 1851, and was living in that parish at the time of the 1851 Census. By the 1861 Census the family had moved to Wooton under Edge, Gloucestershire.

Julian then disappears from the record until his marriage to Sarah Jane Pittaway. Their daughter Lillie May was born in the spring of 1885, and their daughter Florence Ada was born a year later. Both births were registered in the Woolwich district of London.

The family appears in the 1891 Census living at 51 Barking Road, West Ham, Essex. Julian, however, has been replaced by Joseph E. Nugent, a general practitioner. Sarah Jane and her three children are recorded as having the surname Nugent. Did Julian die and Sarah Jane remarry? The answer is no. Until he was convicted for manslaughter and perjury in 1899, Julian Haverfield Rowland had for several years impersonated Dr. Edward Joseph Nugent.

Kelly's 1887 Directory

The Kelly's Directory of Kent, Surrey & Sussex for 1887 lists Julian Haverfield Rowland as a surgeon in Woolwich, suggesting that Julian impersonated a doctor for over ten years. He is again listed as a surgeon in Woolwich under his own name in the 1891 Directory, but by the date of publication had moved to 51 Barking Road. Evidence at his trial suggests that Julian had at one time been employed as a doctor's assistant but by 1891 was acting on his own as a medical practitioner and using the alias Nugent.

Julian's undoing was the death of a patient. In the evening of November 29, 1898, he was called to attend the delivery of Jane Elizabeth Smith's second child, having been present at the birth of her first. The labour seemed to proceed naturally and the child was born close to midnight. Shortly afterwards, "grave symptoms appeared—great pain in the back, the colour of the face became waxen and yellow, the lips were clenched, and the eyes were staring." Julian attributed Jane's condition to afterpains and left without examining her. Jane's conditioned worsened. Julian relectantly returned early the next morning and upon examination discovered that Jane was suffering from uterine inversion, a rare complication of vaginal delivery. Julian sent for a Dr. Richard John Carey who reduced the inversion or as he described it, "remedied the matter within two minutes." Julian stayed with Jane after Dr. Carey left, however, she died shortly afterwards from haemorragic shock.

Barking Road, West Ham, Essex

At the coroner's inquest Julian swore that he was Dr. Edward Joseph Nugent but refused to answer a number of questions about his background. Expert medical testimony showed that had Julian examined Jane immediately after her symptoms appeared, he would have discovered the inversion and her life would likely have been saved. As a result Julian was indicted for manslaughter.

A police investigation revealed that Julian was not Edward Joseph Nugent. As a result he was further charged with committing perjury at the coroner's inquest.

One of the witnesses at Julian's magistrates' court appearance was Armanda Nugent, the wife of the real Edward Joseph Nugent. She testified that her husband had left England for Australia in 1895, that he had given his medical diplomas to Julian, and that Julian, who she knew as John Rowland, paid her 3s 6d a week. Other witnesses confirmed that Julian was not Nugent. Dr. Carey testified that he had known Julian as Dr. Nugent for eight years. The case was sent to trial and Julian was released on £300 bail.

John Charles Darling

Julian's trial was held on 14 Jan 1899 before Justice John Charles Darling. During the trial Dr. Carey stated that Julian "was well known and well liked by the poor in Barking, who he had attended professionally." The jury, however, found Julian guilty after ten minutes of deliberation. Darling sentenced Julian to three years in prison.

The case was widely covered in British newspapers and generated articles in both the Lancet and the British Medical Journal. Articles also appeared in newspapers in New South Wales and New Zealand.

But who was Edward Joseph Nugent? Edward, the son of James Nugent and Anna Marie O'Donahue was born in Ireland about 1850. In 1866 he became a licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and in 1872, a licentiate of the King and Queen's College of Physicians in Ireland. In 1884 he married a cousin, Armanda Nugent, in Dublin. Two children were born in Ireland. About 1889 he brought his family to London where his son Joseph Ignatius was born in the winter of 1890. At the time of the 1891 Census, Edward was living with his family in Deptford.

Edward fell into financial difficulty and departed London on the SS Aberdeen for Sydney, Australia on 16 Jan 1895 leaving his wife and children behind. He was certified as a medical practitioner in New South Wales later than year. Armanda and her children joined him in Australia about 1900.

In Apr 1906, Edward was admitted to the Liverpool Asylum for the Infirm and Destitute. He was discharged in May 1907, readmitted in Mar 1909 and discharged again in June 1912. Edward Joseph Nugent died on 27 Dec 1915 and was buried in the Rookwood Catholic Cemetery in Sydney. His wife, Armanda, died on 19 Aug 1939 and was also buried at Rookwood.

And what of Julian Haverfield Rowland? At the time of the 1901 Census, Julian was in Parkhurst prison. Sarah Jane was still living in West Ham with her daughters. In directories from 1902 onwards Julian is listed as an artificial teeth manufacturer, although his daughter Lillie May describes him as a dentist on her 1907 marriage certificate. In 1911 Julian, now a "mechanical dentist" and Sarah Jane were living in Willesden, Middlesex with two of their grandchildren. Julian Haverfield Rowland died in 1913. Sarah Jane returned to Watchet where she died in 1932.

A Hub of Trade and Industry (Part 2)

James Easton Abbey 1823-1863

Another name closely associated with the early history of Port Robinson is that of Abbey. In the late 1830s, Robert Abbey, a boat builder by trade from Grangemouth, Scotland, arrived in Upper Canada and established a shipyard at Port Dalhousie at the northern terminus of the Welland Canal. At his shipyard, Robert and his sons built mostly yawls and sailing yachts, and later small steamers. The 1842 launch of their first large vessel, the schooner Scotia, was recorded in the St. Catharines Journal:

Launch.—We owe an apology for not sooner noticing the launch, which took place on the 7th instant [7 Jun 1842], of a fine large schooner, named the "Scotia" by the enterprising owner, Mr. Abbey, at Port Dalhousie. An eye witness has informed us that she moved off in fine style into her destined element, and that the "happy meeting" was greeted by much "tremendous cheering" from a large concourse of people, who had assembled from the surrounding country to witness the happy event, being the first that had taken place at the port. In the evening, the young "bloods," to celebrate the occasion, gave a splendid ball at Mr. Thomas Read's, and which is said to have passed off very agreeably.

Robert, the son of Alexander Abbey and Ann Mitchell, was born in 1788 in Bothkennar, Scotland on the Firth of Forth. He married Mary Powell (1793-1851), daughter of John Powell in 1812 at South Lieth where his two oldest children were baptised. About 1816 he moved his young family to Grangemouth in Stirlingshire, part of the parish of Falkirk where seven additional children were baptised.

Robert and Mary brought at least seven of their nine children with them to Canada, as well as two nephews, the sons of Robert's brother Alexander. It is not known whether Robert's son William, born in 1826, or his daughter Ann, born in 1832, lived long enough to make the journey.

John Powell Abbey 1820-1877

Census data shows that Robert's two oldest sons, Alexander (1813-1896) and Robert (1817-1885) were boat builders in Port Dalhousie, presumably working with their father. Brothers John Powell Abbey (1820-1877) and James Easton Abbey (1823-1863), however, moved to Port Robinson and founded a shipyard there. After the locks on the First Welland Canal were replaced during the construction of the Second Canal, the Abbey brothers converted the old locks into a dry dock.

The Abbey Brothers' shipyard at Port Robinson built wooden sailing ships, side-wheel and propeller steamers, barges and scows. While most of the Abbey Brothers' vessels plied the Great Lakes, the barque E. S. Adams, launched in 1857, made at least one voyage to England. In 1868 the ship sank in Lake Erie after a collision with the barque Constitution, eight kilometres east of Point Pelee. One sailor off the E. S. Adams was lost overboard and presumably drowned.

An account of the launch of the E. S. Adams appeared in the St. Catharines Constitutional:

The E.S. Adams is owned by Messrs. Norris and Nelson of St. Catherines: she is a three master of about 400 tons. Of the excellence of the workmanship, and of the materials of which she is built, it is unnecessary for us to say anything, as the testimony of several gentlemen connected with the marine merchant service, given at the dinner to the Messrs. Abbey the same evening, is sufficient to show that she is not inferior to any vessel on the inland waters of North America. On the water she appears a most beautiful model.

Only six or seven years ago Messrs. Abbey commenced their career without any means of their own, and without friends to assist them. By perseverance, sobriety, and honest industry, they attained the enviable position they now hold among the first shipbuilders in Upper Canada. They recently built a dry dock at an expense of about $10,000, and so rapidly is their business increasing, that they begin to feel the want of another. They have now in their employ from seventy to eighty men, and yet they have more work than they can readily manage to perform. On the day the E.S. Adams was launched, there were no fewer than four schooners and five or six scows lying in port waiting for repairs.

The St Catharines Post published an account of the launch of an earlier vessel in 1854:

Another Launch at Port Robinson—Those well-known and enterprising Shipbuilders, Messrs. J. & J. Abbey, will launch the clipper brig Napier, from their their shipyard, Port Robinson, on Saturday, 16th inst., at 4 o’clock, P.M. The Napier is a fine vessel of about 300 tons measurement, and was built for Messrs. Norris and Nelson, of this town, and is the second vessel launched from the above yard the present season. We are informed they have done a very large amount of repairing and refitting the present season; the proximity of their yard and dry dock to the Welland Canal rendered it very convenient for vessels requiring repairs to take advantage of their skill in such matters. We are happy to learn that the Messrs. Abbey have always as much work on hand as they can attend to, and that their business is constantly increasing, which is always the result where men of skill and integrity have charge of an establishment.

Another notable vessel was the two-masted schooner China built by the Abbey brothers in 1863. In November 1883, China was bound for Parry Sound when she strayed off course in a snow squall, and ran on to a reef to the west of Tobermory on the Bruce Peninsula. The wreck is one of over twenty frequented by scuba divers at Fathom Five National Marine Park. The wreck is close to shore but badly broken up.

An account of the shipwreck was included in Patricia Folkes's Shipwrecks of the Saugueen:

On November 20,1883 the schooner China, Edward McGowan master, was wrecked on what is now called China Reef, above Cape Hurd, during a fierce snowstorm. She was bound, light, from Buffalo to Parry Sound where it was intended to load lumber. Early in December the Detroit salvage tug Balize, engaged in yeomen service on Lake Huron, arrived at the wreck and left a man to strip her.

The China was launched at Port Robinson on the Welland Canal in April of 1863 by J. & J.P. Abbey for E. Browne of Hamilton. Browne owned her until 1874 when she was purchased by Thompson & Company of Hamilton who sailed her through 1878. At the time of her loss she was owned by M.B. Proctor of Sarnia. Ironically, Captain McGowan almost lost the China in 1879 when she stranded near Lyon's Head and had her rudder carried away. A.N. Moffatt of Port Huron, Michigan, is reported to have owned her on this occasion. Four years later she was not as lucky and broke upon the China Reef, pieces of her floating into the shallows between Wreck Point and China Cove.

The Abbey Brother's shipyard also suffered from a number of set backs, notably a fire in 1861 and the death of James Easton Abbey in 1863. This article about the fire appeared in the St Catharines' Journal:

Fire at Port Robinson: Abbey's Ship-yard Destroyed

We understand that the workshops in Messrs. J.P. and J. Abbey's Ship Yard, Port Robinson, were set fire to last night, and completely destroyed. The loss is not stated, nor if there was any insurance. It is supposed to have been the work of incendiaries, and three men, members of the Ship Carpenters and Caulker's Union, have been arrested, charged with the crime.

Mr. Currie, of St Catharines has gone up to watch the proceedings.

The following particulars we learn by telegraph from Port Robinson this morning.

About two o'clock on Sunday morning June 16 a fire was discovered in an old building, used by Messrs. Abbey's as a joiner shop, in which was stored at the time some lumber, two buggies, and nine chests of tools belonging to the joiners which were all consumed.

Three men, Gus Lennon, Mike Cature, and John Dorrington, belonging to the "Union men" of this place, have been arrested, on suspicion of having fired the building. The "Union men" were discharged from Abbey's employ two weeks ago. It is the general opinion here that those men have done it in revenge. The trial commenced yesterday, and was adjourned until tomorrow. Nothing has, as yet, been made out against them to condemn them but it appears they are holding guilt.

City of St. Catharines
(Bowling Green State University)

The last large vessel built at Port Robinson was the steamer City of St. Catharines, constructed by John Powell Abbey in 1874. In the following years the ship had several Canadian owners. In 1880 while sailing from Montreal to Chicago, the ship collided with the George H. Morse in Lake Huron off White Rock, Michigan. Although the ship sank in 15 minutes there were no fatalities.

The City of St. Catharines sank in 27 metres of water, but in September of 1882 it was raised and eventually towed to Detroit. There it was rebuilt and refitted and in 1883 renamed Otego. The ship burned and sank at Duluth in 1895. 

John Powell Abbey married 19-year-old Elizabeth Coulter in 1849. Their son Robert was born a year later. Seven other children followed. John Powell Abbey closed his shipyard in 1876 and died at Port Robinson the following year. He is buried along with his wife and three of his children at St. Paul's Anglican Church Cemetery in Port Robinson.

His brother, James Easton Abbey, married Marion Stark (1833-1876) in 1850. James and Marion had three children. The oldest, Robert (1852-1890), became a Presbyterian missionary and died in Nanking, China. James is buried with his wife and youngest son at Port Robinson Presbyterian Cemetery. A death notice appeared in the St. Catharines Constitutional:

Died.—At Port Robinson, on the 22nd instant [22 Jun 1863], in the 30th [sic] year of his age, Mr. James Easton Abbey, of the firm of Messrs. J. & J. E. Abbey, shipbuilders, a native of Grangemouth, Stirlingshire, Scotland. The deceased was a gentleman highly respected by all who know him. His death was very sudden and unexpected. He retired to rest in apparent good health on Sunday night, and was found dead in his bed on Monday morning. He leaves a wife and three children to mourn his loss.

When Robert Abbey's brother Alexander and sister-in-law Janet Shepherd both died in 1835, Robert became the guardian of his nephews Alexander and James Sheppard Abbey. Alexander and James came with their uncle's family to Port Dalhousie, but later moved to Port Robinson where they worked as ship carpenters, married, and raised families.

Alexander Abbey and his wife Ellen Bell (1838-1921) are both buried at St. Paul's Anglican Cemetery in Port Robinson. 

Steamer Ada Alice (Toronto Public Library)

James Sheppard Abbey survived his wife Sally Ann by 44 years. He died in 1910 and is buried at Drummond Hill Cemetery in Niagara Falls.

James and Sally Ann's daughter Ada Alice Abbey (1857-1920) had a small steamer named after her in 1879. The Ada Alice was built in Port Dalhousie by Ada's cousin Alexander Abbey, and operated for many years as a Toronto Island ferry. In 1911 she was shipped north by railway flatcar to Muskoka. Ada Alice was seriously damaged by fire in June 1915. Although she was repaired, Ada Alice was abandoned in 1919 and for many years was a  derelict hulk at the Gravehurst dockyards.

After the death of his wife Mary in 1851, Robert Abbey retired to Port Robinson and was living there in 1861 with his son John Powell Abbey. He died at Port Robinson in 1866 and was buried at St. Andrew's United Church Cemetery in Port Dalhousie. While the original gravestone has not survived, the gravestone of his wife remains in situ.

Sources:

The History of the County of Welland: It's Past and Present. Welland Tribune Printing House, Welland, 1887.

Folkes, Patricia. Shipwrecks of the Saugeen 1828-1938. Privately published, 1970.

Jackson, John N. The Welland Canals and their Communities. University of Toronto Press, 1997.

Tatley, Richard. "Ada Alice," The Real Muskoka Story. Issue 94. Summer 2015.

Thompson, John H. Jubilee History of Thorold Township and Town. Thorold and Beaverdams Historical Society, 1897.

"Five Little Ferry Boats," The Scanner. Vol. 30, No. 8 (May 1998)

"Encore for the Ada Alice," The Scanner. Vol. 30, No. 9 (August 1998)

A Hub of Trade and Industry (Part 1)

Survey Map: Second Welland Canal at Port Robinson
(Brock University Archives)

Port Robinson, a small community west of Niagara Falls, owes its existence to the Welland Canal. When the First Welland Canal opened in 1829, boats were able to bypass Niagara Falls by sailing from Port Dalhousie on Lake Ontario to the Welland River, then down the Welland River to where it meets the Niagara River at Chippewa. Port Robinson, named after John Beverley Robinson, chief justice of Upper Canada, grew where the canal met the Welland River. In the years following the canal was extended to Lake Erie, but for many years Port Robinson was a hub of trade and industry.

John H. Thompson’s Jubilee History of Thorold Township and Town, published in 1898, describes Port Robinson during the 1840s:

A great deal of business was done there, for a large number of people were constantly coming and going, as this was the central point for travellers. A steamboat made daily trips between Buffalo and Port Robinson, carrying hundreds of passengers during the navigation season; a line of passenger packets plied daily during the open season between Port Robinson and Dunnville; a daily stage coach was laden with passengers on each trip to and from St. Catharines; and mail coaches cane to the village from Wellandport and way stations, and from St. Johns West and North Pelham. A four-horse stage coach also carried passengers and the mail between Port Robinson and Hamilton.

At its heyday in the mid 19th century, Port Robinson had a sawmill, carding mill, two grist mills, a shipyard and dry dock, four hotels, six saloons, several blacksmiths, numerous other shops and four churches. Two of the churches are still standing, however, all that remains of the Port Robinson Presbyterian Church are the concrete steps that once were the entrance to the church.

According the brass plaque mounted on the steps, the congregation was formed about 1825 and closed in 1947. The surrounding cemetery is thought to contain about 130 burials and is now in the care of the City of Thorold. For CanGenWeb's Cemetery Project I was able to find and photograph 75 gravestones, many of which lie flat on the ground and have become encroached with grass. The Ontario Genealogical Society transcription lists several additional gravestones that I was unable to locate.

The most frequent name found on the gravestones is Elliot. Andrew Elliot (1775-1857), his wives Jane Scott (1786-1819) and Ann Hume (1812-1892), and eight of his fifteen children are buried at Port Robinson, as well as several grandchildren.

Ten years before the opening of the canal, Andrew Elliot brought his family from Albany, New York to the Niagara Peninsula. Andrew was born in Hawick, Roxburgshire, Scotland about 1775 but had emigrated to the United States before 1790. His wife, Jane Scott, was also born in Hawick and had emigrated with her parents probably at the same time as Andrew. Andrew and Jane were married in 1803. Andrew was a sawyer who operated a sawmill in Albany. Why he decided to come to Upper Canada is not known.

Robert Elliot House

Andrew and Jane had eight children. Only the youngest, Robert, was born in Upper Canada. Robert became a merchant and owned a general store in Port Robinson. In 1845 he married Maria Darling. Maria died in 1849, shortly after the death of her two month old son Andrew. In 1851 Robert married Susan Caniff. The year after his second marriage he built a 2 1/2 story brick house which still stands and is a designated property. Robert was elected Reeve of Thorold Township in 1857 and was also a charter member of the Port Robinson Division of the Sons of Temperance.

His brother, James Elliot (1811-1879) was a sawmill foreman at Port Robinson, and later a farmer in Crowland Township. The Gazetteer and Business Directory of Lincoln and Welland Counties for 1879 records him at Lot 10 Concession 1 in Crowland, as does the 1862 Tremaine's Map of the Counties of Lincoln and Welland, Canada West. Another brother, Andrew Elliot (1817-1878), was a butcher in Port Robinson. In April of 1849 he and his wife Elizabeth Darby (1821-1889) lost three children, presumably to disease.

Their mother, Jane died in 1819 at the age of 33, shortly after her arrival in Upper Canada and the birth of Robert. Her gravestone is the oldest at Port Robinson Presbyterian. Many years later her husband Andrew remarried. Ann Hume was 28 years younger than Andrew. In fact she was younger than Andrew’s two oldest children.

Andrew Elliot 1775-1859

Andrew and Ann had seven children. Their names and dates of birth are recorded in a farm account book housed at the Brock University Library in St Catharines, part of the Andrew Elliot family Fonds. The youngest child, Jane, was born in 1851 when Andrew was 76 years old. The deaths of two of Andrew and Ann’s children are also recorded in the account book and their gravestones can be found at Port Robinson Presbyterian.

Andrew's death on 26 Jan 1857 was recorded in the account book and on his gravestone. Ann's funeral was recorded in the diary of Melvin Byron Misener on Monday, May 16, 1892: "We were at old Mrs. Elliot's funeral in forenoon." The diary also records the funerals of Robert in 1874, Andrew in 1878, and James in 1879.

Descendants of Andrew Elliot continued to live in the Port Robinson area into the 20th century, but with the completion of the Third Welland Canal in 1881, the importance of Port Robinson as a commercial centre quickly declined.

Orphaned Gravestones

Hazen Cemetery, Walsingham, Norfolk, Ontario

According to its official website, Norfolk County in Southwestern Ontario has 111 documented cemeteries and burial sites. Settlement of this area on the north shore of Lake Erie began more than two centuries ago, so it is common to find gravestones dating from the early to mid 19th Century. One name that appears on a number of these gravestones is Secord.

In genealogical circles there is considerable interest in the Secord name, primarily due to the connection with War of 1812 heroine Laura Secord. Laura’s husband, James Secord (1773-1841), was the son of James Secord (1732-1784), a Loyalist refugee during the American Revolution and brother of my ggggg-grandmother Mary Beebe née Secord (1736- ?). While none of James Secord’s children or grandchildren settled in Norfolk County, many of his cousins were pioneers in what was known as the Long Point Settlement.

The largest collection of Secord gravestones is found at Hillcrest Cemetery in Charlotteville Township. Other graveyards in Norfolk, however, contain only single Secord burials. This post looks at four of these “orphaned” graves.

Mary Elizabeth Secord (1884-1897)

Mary Elizabeth Secord
(1884-1897)

Mary, the oldest daughter of William Gourley Secord (1864-1946) and Ada Maria Lemon (1861-1920) was born in Simcoe, Ontario on 15 Sep 1884. While her parents are both buried at the Oakwood Cemetery in Simcoe. Mary was buried at Walsh Baptist in Walsingham Township after her death at the age of 12. The official cause of her death was “congestion of brain” which could describe a number of conditions. Several years ago a descendant of William Gourley Secord posted online that Mary died “of blood poisoning from a cut by a rusty fence.”

William Gourley Secord was the son of Abraham Wartman Secord (1832-1904). William’s grandfather was also named Abraham Wartman Secord (1795-1852). The Wartman name comes from Susannah Wartman (1758-1842), the wife of William’s great-grandfather John Secord (1757-1830).

John Secord was born in Westchester County, New York. A few years before the start of the American Revolution, John’s father had settled his family on the Susquehanna River near what is now Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania. During the Revolutionary War, John’s father choose to abandon his farm since he and his son remained loyal to the British. They first moved up the Susquehanna to Tioga Point and later to Fort Niagara.

John served under John Butler in the Indian Department and later in Butler’s Rangers. He was likely present at the Battle of Oriskany during the Saratoga Campaign in 1777, and at the Battle of Wyoming in 1778. A certificate attached to John Secord’s 1798 Upper Canada Land Petition gives some more details about his activities during the war:

These may certify that Mr John Secord Junr when in the late Corps of Rangers commanded by Lt Colo John Butler, in many instances behaved himself as a brave man, having after the Battle of Wyoming, when the Loyalists were retreating towards Niagara (and found it necessary to have a better supply of Provisions) returned by desire of the commanding officer to Wyoming, with only eight men and brought from the Enemy, One Hundred and forty head of Cattle – upwards of ninety Head were drove to Aughquaga, and there issued to the troops, and the others used for an immediate Supply – and in all other instances he behave with a manly spirit in opposing the Enemy &c – Given under our Hands – [Signed] Peter Hare, Andrew Bradt, Benj: Pawling, John Turney, Bernard Frey, Jesse Pawling, P Ball, D. Servos, R. Clench Lt B Rangers, Saml Thompson

John was often known as "Deaf John" because of the hearing loss he suffered during the war.

Drusilla Aramenta Secord (1860-1864) 

Drusilla Aramenta Secord
(1860-1864)

Determining Drusilla Aramenta’s parentage was a bit of a challenge since her father’s initials were obscured on her gravestone in Bell Mill Cemetery in Middleton, Township. Eventually, research led to Sarah Rebecca Secord née Buck (1832-1921) and her husband, John Lampman Secord (1824-1912). Drusilla Aramenta was the fifth of Sarah and John’s seven children.

Like several of his brothers, John later emigrated with his wife and family to the United States. In the 1885 Iowa State Census, John is shown as a farmer in Highland Township in Green County. Sometime after 1900, John and Sarah moved to Crookston, Polk, Minnesota and later retired to Twin Falls, Idaho where both are buried.

John Lampman Secord was the brother of Abraham Wartman Secord and thus the great-uncle of Mary Elizabeth Secord. The Lampman name comes from his mother, Elizabeth Ann Lampman (1794-1832).

Almira Secord née Fuller (1834-1854) 

Almira Secord née Fuller
(1834-1854)

Almira Secord née Fuller was the first wife of Robert Addison Secord (1826-1909), brother of Abraham Wartman Secord and John Lampman Secord. Almira was the daughter of Stephen Fuller (1802-1881) and Elizabeth (1801-1888), and married Robert in 1852. She is buried at Clear Creek Cemetery in Houghton Township where her parents are also buried. Almira likely died from complications of childbirth. Her daughter, Marilla Amelia Secord (1854-1928) was raised by Stephen and Elizabeth.

After Almira’s death, Robert emigrated to the United States and settled in Cordova, Rock Island, Illinois He married Lucy Ann Ormstead in 1858. A daughter, Emma, was born the following year. Eight other children followed.

Robert served in the 126th Illinois Infantry during the Civil War from 1862 until 1865. His unit participated in the Siege of Vicksburg in 1863. For most of the war, however, his unit was part of the Union’s occupation force in Arkansas.

A few years after the Civil War, Robert moved with his wife and four children to Tama County, Iowa. A decade late they moved to Otoe County, Nebraska. Robert and Lucy are buried in Wyuka Cemetery in Nebraska City.

Robert was named after Church of England clergyman Robert Addison (1754–1829) who baptised him in 1827.

Janette Secord (1858-1860)

Janette Secord (1858-1860)

Janette, the oldest daughter of Asa Secord (1833-1898), a lumberman, and Mary Ann Laforge (1840-1915) was buried at Hazen Cemetery.

Commercial lumbering was a major industry in Norfolk Country during the mid 19th Century. Like many of his generation, Asa worked as a lumberman for several years then emigrated to Michigan.

Asa was the son of Asa Secord (1795-1877) and Jeanette Brown of Oakland Township in Brant County. Asa was the fourth oldest of 18 children and was only a few years younger than his father’s second wife, Sarah Elizabeth Darling. Asa’s grandfather was John Secord (1762-1817), a cousin of James Secord.

Mary Ann Laforge was the daughter of Peter Laforge (1805-1872) and Mary Gumberson. Her father was French Canadian and her mother was English.

Peter Laforge was born in Detroit shortly before a fire destroyed most of that settlement. As a child he may have experienced the Siege of Detroit during the War of 1812. His father, Louis Basile Laforge (1768-1839) had been born in Berthier, Quebec while his mother, Jeanne Archange (1768-1806), had been born in Detroit. Detroit has been part of New France until its capture by the British in 1760 during the French and Indian War. Detroit remained a French community and society for many years thereafter. During the American Revolution, Detroit served as the base for a detachment of Butler’s Rangers. In 1795, the Jay Treaty transferred ownership of Detroit to the United States but it was not until the following year that the Americans took possession.

Mary Gumberson is something of a mystery. Her last name only appears on the marriage registrations of two of her children. She is shown with her husband and six children including 12-year-old Mary Ann in the 1852 living in Walsingham, Norfolk. The census lists her place of birth as England and her age as 26, however, it is unlikely that Mary gave birth to her oldest daughter Caroline when she was 11.

Other “Orphans”

There are several other orphaned Secord gravestones in Norfolk County. For example, Abraham Wartman Secord (1795-1852) is buried at Sipprell Cemetery in Walsingham Township, however, the cemetery is located on private property. At Port Royal Cemetery in Walshingham is the grave of John Secord (1787-1869), a cousin of Asa Secord (1795-1877). Regretably, with the exception of the graves of Laura Secord nee Ingersoll and her husband James Secord at Drummond Hill Cemetery in Niagara Falls, and of James's brother Solomon Secord (1755-1799) at Homer Cemetery near St. Catharines, the burial spots of the older generation of Secords remain unknown.