An Imprudent Marriage: Sarah Stephenson (1782-1836)

Gravestone of Sarah Stephenson at St George's Anglican Church

Sometimes the most unassuming of gravestones leads to the most interesting of stories.

The gravestone in 1983

One such gravestone is found at St George's Anglican Church in St. Catharines, Ontario. Lying flat on the ground and almost completely obscured by grass, is the monument to Sarah Stevenson, wife of William Dummer Powell. Anyone familiar with the history of Upper Canada will recognize the name. William Dummer Powell (1755-1834) was Chief Justice of Upper Canada from 1816 to 1825, and was also one of three judges at the Bloody Assize of 1814. He was a member of the York elite, a group usually referred to as the Family Compact. William Dummer Powell, however, did not have a wife named Sarah. This is the grave of his daughter-in-law, the wife of his son, William Dummer Powell (1778-1803). Her story is both romantic and tragic.

Sarah Stephenson (1782-1836) was the daughter of Captain Francis Stephenson (1750-1807), formerly of the Queen's Rangers, and his wife Eleanor Townsend (? -1830). After the American Revolution, Captain Stephenson initially settled in New Brunswick, but was later granted land in Louth Township, to the west of present-day St Catharines.

Where and how young William and Sarah met is uncertain, however, William's father and his wife Anne Murray (1755-1849), were not at all impressed with eighteen-year-old Sarah. Their disapproval resulted in an elopement. William and Sarah were married at Niagara on 25 Jul 1801 by Rev. Robert Addison.  In a letter from Queenston dated three days later, William thanked Robert Nelles of Grimsby and his wife for their help:

Dear Sir:—I should be unpardonable if I lost any time returning the hearty thanks which are so justly due from me to you for your kind and friendly assistance in rendering me one of the most happy of men. After leaving your house on Friday night we had as uncommonly fatiguing ride to Runchey's and arrived at Niagara on the following morning where, by Mr. Addison's assistance we were soon out of fear of pursuit. Mrs. Powell joins with me in her professions of gratitude to yourself and Mrs. Nelles and requests that you will take the trouble of apprising her sister, Ellen, of her love and obligations to her for the part she took in forwarded our escape. Believe me dear Sir, your obliged and obedient servant, W.D. Powell, Jr.

Portrait of Anne Powell, 1834

Justice Powell's biographer, William Reddick Riddle, described the "runaway marriage" as "one of the romances of the time." Anne Powell described it as marrying "imprudently." Ironically, Anne's marriage to William Dummer Powell Sr. had also been an elopement.

Sadly, the marriage between William and Sarah was not to last. William drowned on 29 Sep 1803.

William and Sarah had two daughters. Mary, likely born in 1802, and Anne, born after the death of her father. Sarah was considered unfit to raise the girls, so both were legally adopted by her husband's parents. In a letter Anne Powell wrote of Sarah: "Surely it is not unjust to say she feels not maternal affection. She left them without a tear." Sarah was, however, given an allowance of 25 pounds a year.

William and Anne Powell's concern for their grandchildren may have been justified. A few years later, in a letter to her brother, Anne wrote:

Her neglect even of her children would in any other character by surprising. Not a line has she written for months, & when she did write, no one was mentioned with any marks of an affectionate remembrance. Unfortunate marriage! In what difficulties has it involved me.

Unfortunately, we only have Anne Powell's side of the story. It is clear, however, that Anne wanted the best for her granddaughters, and that the best did not include their mother:

The children are better when she is at a distance. The imbecility of her mind prevents her from seeing what is best for them and produces frequent disgusts.

Years later another scandal arose. Sarah, now in her thirties, fell in love with young man of seventeen. She pursued him even after he rebuked her. He told her that she was old enough to be his mother, and that he hated her. Sarah's sister-in-law, Mary Powell, became involved and convinced Sarah to stop acting so foolishly.

Sarah lived quietly in St. Catharines for the rest of her life. She died at the age of 54 in 1836. It is likely that she was buried at the First Anglican Chapel Burial Grounds, but was later reinterred at St George's Anglican Church.

Sources:

McKenna, Katherine. A Life of Propriety: Anne Murray Powell and Her Family, 1755-1849. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1994. Print.

Riddell, William Reddick. The Life of William Dummer Powell, First Judge at Detroit and Fifth Chief Justice of Upper Canada. Lansing: Michigan Historical Commission, 1924. Print.

Hazards of Gravestone Photography

 

Over the years I have photographed thousands of gravestones. Sometimes it can be quite challenging. I've dealt with gravestones obscured by encroaching grass, day lilies, wild grape vines, or lilac bushes. I've excavated half-buried gravestones. I've dealt with numerous lighting issues: gravestones in heavy shade, gravestones that face north, gravestones that can only be read when the sun shines perpendicular to the stone. But I've never had to deal with a wasp's nest on a monument. I'll think I'll wait for freezing temperatures, or use a telephoto lens.

An Ocean Apart: The Voddens of Esquesing

Gravestone of Thomas Vodden (1814-1816)

It is the quite the distance between the parish of St Giles in the Wood in Devon, England, and the hamlet of Walsh in Norfolk, Ontario. These two places, however, are linked by the gravestones of two brothers.

Thomas Vodden the son of Laurence Vodden (1782-1855) and Ann Manning (1781-1873), was baptised at Burrington, Devon on 9 Jun 1814. When Thomas died two years later he was buried at St Giles in the Wood. Why his parents choose to bury him there might baffle the researcher, as St Giles in the Wood is several kilometres from Week in Burrington where Laurence was a yeoman farmer. Laurence, however, was living in St Giles at the time of his marriage, and his father and grandfather were both born there. Laurence's great-grandfather, Laurence Vodden (?–1733), is the common ancestor of numerous Vodden lines in North Devon.

Ann Manning (1781-1873)

Laurence, the son of Thomas Vodden (1747–1810) and Judith Mill (1750-1827) was baptised at Beaford, Devon on June 23, 1782. Laurence married Ann Manning at South Molton on April 7,1808. Ann, the daughter of  Charles Manning (1752–?) and Elizabeth Hill (1756–?), was baptised at Burrington in December 1781.

It is possible that Laurence and Ann had a child between the time of their marriage and the birth of their son Laurence in 1811, however, no record of this child has been found. Thomas was their second child, followed by Elizabeth in 1816, Ann in 1818, Grace in 1820, Rose in 1822, and Rebecca in 1825. All of their children were baptised at Burrington.

The 1838 Tithe Apportionment shows two farms with the name Week in Burrington: Higher Week and Week Park. Both farms are small: Week Park at 16 acres and Higher Week at 26 acres. In 1838 Higher Week was owned by Robert Chichester and occupied by John Manning, possibly the brother of Ann. The Higher Week farmhouse dates from about 1600 and is Grade II listed.

Higher Week Farmhouse, Burrington, Devon

According to an 1895 article in the Acton Free Press, written to celebrate their daughter Rebecca Vodden's fiftieth wedding anniversary, Laurence and Ann emigrated to Canada about 1829, part of a group from Burrington that included Laurence's brother Robert (1785– ?), his wife Sarah, and their three children. After spending a few years in Northumberland County, New Brunswick, both families moved to Esquesing Township, Halton County to the west of Toronto. 

 

Laurence Vodden
(1811-1884)

A few years after their arrival in Canada, their son Laurence married Mary Ann Hutchinson, the daughter of another English emigrant. The younger Laurence had ten children, five of whom were born in Esquesing.

By 1852, Laurence had relocated to Walpole Township in Haldimand County. Between 1861 and 1871, he moved to Charlotteville Township in Norfolk. When he died in 1884, he was buried in the Walsh Cemetery.  Laurence has two grave markers: a plain slab with his name and dates as well as the name and dates of his wife and two of his children. Nearby is the original gravestone, broken into five pieces and lying flat on the ground.

Vodden-Kennedy Monument
Greenwood Cemetery, Georgetown

The older Laurence died in 1855. At the time of the 1861 and 1871 Censuses, his widow Ann was living with her daughter Ann and son-in-law John Kennedy (1821-1886) in Georgetown. Ann died in 1873. Laurence and Ann's names are inscribed on a monument in Greenwood Cemetery, although there is evidence that they were buried at the Wesleyan Methodist Cemetery, then moved to Greenwood in the 1890s.

John Kennedy was the son of land surveyor Charles Kennedy (1792-1854) who mapped out the north half of Esquesing in 1819, and built a sawmill on Silver Creek. Ann Street in Georgetown is named after Charles's daughter-in-law, Ann Vodden. In 1845, John Kennedy built Cleave House, named after the subsequent owners. In 1871 he built and moved into a Victorian cottage now known as the John Kennedy House. Ann died in 1886, ten months after her husband.

Laurence and Ann's oldest daughter, Elizabeth Vodden, married James Walter (1809–?) in New Brunswick in 1834 and had ten children. They were among the first settlers in Arran Township, Bruce County, after living in Esquesing for a number of years. Although James died before 1861, Elizabeth remained in Arran with her children until the 1880s when she moved to St Thomas in Elgin County. Elizabeth died in St Thomas in 1898.

James's brother George Walter (1807-1892) married Elizabeth's cousin Betsy Vodden (1816-1884) in New Brunswick in 1836 shortly the families moved to Esquesing.

Grace Vodden married Miller Hemstreet (1807–1885) and had five children. Grace and Miller emigrated to the United States before 1870 and settled near Cleveland, Ohio. Grace died in Cleveland in 1897.

Rebecca Hemstreet
née Vodden 1825-1920

Rose Vodden married Samuel Snell (1813–1878) of Chinguacousy Township, Peel County. Like Rose, Samuel had been born in Burrington, Devon, and had emigrated to Upper Canada via New Brunswick, along with his parents. Rose and Samuel had a daughter, Martha born in 1841, and a daughter Mary, born on March 26, 1843. Rose died in October of that year and was buried at the Zion Cemetery in Chinguacousy.

Laurence and Ann's youngest daughter, Rebecca, married Richard Hemstreet (1818-1908), the brother of Miller Hemstreet. Rebecca died in 1920 a few days before her 95th birthday. Richard was born in New York but had come with his parents to Upper Canada at the age of three. At the time of his death, Richard and Rebecca had been married for 63 years. Rebecca and Richard had seven children and were buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Milton, Ontario.

Revised November 15, 2022

The Book Cemetery

Book Cemetery, Ancaster, Wentworth, Ontario

The Book Cemetery is one of several old family cemeteries in the Ancaster area of Ontario. Unlike the nearby Shaver Cemetery, time has not been kind to the Book Cemetery. Many monuments are weathered, toppled or broken, and there is evidence that vandalism has been a problem in the past. A number of very old monuments, however, survive in situ, including two from 1815.

The cemetery is located at Lot 45, Concession 4, Ancaster on land that John Book (1754-1827) was granted in 1801. Johannes Buch, later anglicized to John Book was born in Heidelburg, Germany. About 1774 he married Anna Gertraute Zimmerman (1752-1829), who adopted the name Charity when she came to North America. In 1786, the couple and their seven children emigrated to the New Jersey, where their eighth child was born. Two years later they relocated to Canada. By 1789 they were one of 22 families squatting in the Ancaster area. John and Charity eventually had 12 children, nine of whom are buried at Book Cemetery. One of their daughters, Mary Catherine, married William Shaver (1771-1846) and is buried at Shaver Cemetery.

Book House in 1960

In 1811, John Book began work on a two-and-a-half story red brick house, but construction was interrupted by the War of 1812 when John's sons George, John and Adam served with the 5th Regiment Lincoln Militia. The Georgian style house, was completed shortly after the war and featured a five-bay symmetrical design with chimneys at the gable ends. The sash windows originally would have been 12-over-12, and the door had sidelights and a half-moon fanlight over the door. The house, surrounding farmland, and cemetery remained in the Book family until 1907. The building was the oldest brick house in Ancaster until it was destroyed by fire in 2005 in a suspected case of arson.

Mary Book 1759-1815

While oldest gravestone in the Book Cemetery is that of Henry Book (1795-1815), tenth child of John and Charity, far more interesting is the red slate gravestone of Mary Book (1759-1815), possibly an unmarried sister of John. John and Charity's gray slate gravestones are also extant as are their footstones.

Completing a photographic inventory of this cemetery was a challenge. The 1985 Ontario Genealogical transcription is incomplete as at least six gravestones were not listed. It also contains numerous errors, and does not appear to have been completed in any sort of systematic fashion. This made it next to impossible to identify the several unreadable gravestones based on their location. Fortunately an 1890 transcription is also available, as is a cultural heritage assessment report prepared in 2010.
 

John Book (1754-1827)

The Prendergast Gravestones

Gravestone of Penelope Prendergast (1774-1845)
St. George's Anglican Church, St. Catharines, Lincoln, Ontario

Partially hidden by the barberry shrubs that grow in the courtyard cemetery of St George's Anglican Church in St. Catharines, Ontario, is a 19th century gravestone to Penelope and Jedidiah Prendergast. What is unusual about this stone is that there is another stone to Penelope and Jedidiah in the Prendergast Cemetery in Mayville, Chautauqua, New York.

Portrait of Jedidiah Prendergast
St. Catharines Museum

Jedidiah, a physician, was born in Pawling, Dutchess, New York on 13 May 1766. He was the fourth son of William Prendergast (1727-1811) and Mehitable Wing (1738-1812). Jedidiah married Penelope Chase, the daughter of William Chase (1754-1813), a Rhode Island merchant, and Catherine Rodman (? -1789). Penelope was born in Kingston, Washington, Rhode Island in 1774.

The year Jedidiah was born, his father was charged with leading an armed revolt against landowners in the Hudson Valley. When he was found guilty and sentenced to hang, his wife Mehitable rode over 100 kilometres on horseback from to beg the governor for a stay of execution. Eventually, William Prendergast was granted a full pardon by King George III.

Portrait of Penelope Prendergast
St. Catharines Museum

Almost four decades later, William and Mehitable departed New York for Tennessee, accompanied by most of their children and grandchildren. Tennessee was not to their liking, so they headed north to the Chautauqua Lake area of Western New York. It is unclear whether Jedidiah and Penelope went with them. What is know is that Jedidiah moved to Upper Canada and settled at St. Catharines, then know as Shipman's Corners. Jedidiah was the first non-military doctor in the Thorald and St. Catharines area.

When his father died in 1811, Jedidiah rejoined the rest of his family in Chautauqua, and became a merchant in partnership with his brother Martin Prendergast (1769-1835). Jedidiah would eventually go on to become a New York State Senator.

In the few years Jedediah and Penelope had been in Upper Canada they had become acquainted with the Merritt family, including young William Hamilton Merritt (1793-1862). William married Jedidiah’s daughter Catherine Rodman Prendergast (1793-1862) in 1815. William Hamilton Merritt was a soldier, merchant, and politician, and is considered the “father” of the Welland Canal. The numerous letters held at the Archives of Ontario, and the letters published in an 1876 biography, show that William frequently turned to his father-in-law for advice.

Gravestone of Penelope Prendergast (1774-1845)
Prendergast Cemetery, Mayville, Chautauqua, New York

Penelope Chase Prendergast died at St. Catherines on February 1, 1845 during a visit to her daughter and son-in-law, and according to the burial register was interred in the churchyard of St. George’s Anglican three days later. Jedidiah died in 1848 at his home in Mayville, Chautauqua, and was buried at the Prendergast Cemetery. When William Hamilton Merritt erected a gravestone for his mother-in-law at St. George’s, he also decided to commemorate his father-in-law Jedidiah. Apparently, Jedidiah’s relatives in Chautauqua had the same idea.

Drawing of the Prendergast Gravestone from
the 19th Century Tombstone Database Project

At Lundy's Lane: John Fletcher (1777-1842)

Engraving from Harper's Weekly June 1866

200 years ago today, one of the bloodiest battles of the War of 1812 took place in present day Niagara Falls. The Battle of Lundy's Lane pitted 3500 British regulars and Canadian militia against an American army of 2500. One of the participants was 37-year-old Sgt. John Fletcher of the 1st Regiment of Lincoln Militia.

Pay list
1st Lincoln Militia

Recently digitized War of 1812 pay lists from Library and Archives Canada show that John Fletcher was a sergeant in Captain George Ball's company for much of 1813 and 1814. John was a recent arrival in Canada, likely part of the wave of American emigration after the Revolutionary War.
 
In 1811, John purchased parts of Lots 13, 14, and 15, Broken Front and Concession 1 in Grantham, located on the shore of Lake Ontario at the mouth of Walker Creek. The 1876 Illustrated Historical Atlas of Lincoln and Welland Counties shows this land occupied by John's descendants. John Fletcher's property is now a residential area and parkland to either side of Vine Street in St Catharines.

John's neighbours to the south were the Darby family headed by George Darby (1763-1812), whose son Jacob Darby (1792-1866), was also a sergeant in Capt. George Ball's company. Jacob Darby married Mary Ann Goring (1794-1870), daughter of Francis Goring who I have written about previously.

It is uncertain where John Fletcher was born, and when and where he married. His wife Elizabeth (1773-1856) was a young widow with a son, David Wood. John and Elizabeth's first child, William Fletcher was born in 1798. Seven more children followed.

Unlike many in the Niagara District, John's losses during the War of 1812 were minimal. He did, however, make a claim for two horses, a wagon and harness lost in September 1814 during the Siege of Fort Erie. John's stepson, David, had been attached to his father's unit as a driver:

...he was sent with his team to bring water from the River, some firing took place which frightened the horses so much that they became unmanageable & got into the current where they were drowned before any assistance could be given.

The claim was rejected since it appeared "by the evidence that the loss arose from the carelessness of the Driver."

John died in 1842 and was buried at St George's Anglican Church in St. Catharines. His wife Elizabeth died in 1856. Their graves were among the small number that were subsequently moved to Victoria Lawn Cemetery. Unfortunately, Elizabeth's gravestone is now in two pieces, however, a photograph from 1983 shows both stones side by side at the corner of the Parish Hall.

Fletcher gravestones, St George's Anglican Church, 1983

Fletcher gravestones, St George's Anglican Church, 2014

Chequered Sheds and Thomas Perrin (1791-1870)

Mt Vernon Cemetery, Brantford, Brant, Ontario

Mount Vernon is a small community in Brant Country west of Brantford, Ontario. The village was established in 1829 by Thomas Perrin (1791-1870) along the "Military Road" built in 1810 between Brantford and London.

Thomas Perrin
(1756-1822)

Thomas Perrin was the son of Thomas Perrin (1756-1822), an American who brought his family to Upper Canada about 1804. He purchased 1000 acres in the Mount Pleasant area southwest of Brantford. In 1811 he bought the local gristmill.

During the War of 1812, the elder Perrin commanded a company of militia from the Mount Pleasant area. Perrin's company became part of the 5th Lincoln Militia and was present in a supporting role at the Battle of Lundy's Lane on 25 July 1814. It is claimed that Perrin became known as "Captain Barefoot" for his habit of drilling his men in their bare feet.

The younger Perrin served in his father's company.

Pay list
5th Lincoln Militia

On 6 Nov 1814, Perrin's Mill and several Mount Pleasant homes were burned during American Brigadier General Duncan McArthur's extended mounted raid into Upper Canada. The following day McArthur attacked and overwhelmed a force of a few  hundred militia at Malcolm's Mills (Oakland) south of Mount Pleasant. The Battle of Malcolm's Mills was the last land battle of the War of 1812 fought in Upper Canada.

Perrin’s Mill was rebuilt the following year. Thomas Perrin Sr. died in 1822 and was buried at the Mount Pleasant Pioneer Cemetery. In 1829, Thomas Perrin, Jr. sold the mill and sought his own area to settle. He laid out a village which was first called Springfield after his birthplace in Massachusetts. Locally it was known as Chequered Sheds because of the black and white chequered hitching posts. Finally it acquired the name Mount Vernon.

Mount Vernon Methodist Church

Mount Vernon grew into a productive village. The first sawmill was built in 1840 and a gristmill in 1845. By 1860, a woollen mill, a carding and fulling mill, and a barrel factory had been added by Thomas Perrin and Son Company.

In 1850, the Methodists built a large wood frame church on Mill Road. The church, which in 1925 became the Mount Vernon United Church, is now a pre-school, but was once the spiritual centre of a thriving community.

Footstone for
Walter B Swayze
(1833-1834)

The adjoining cemetery predates the church by a number of years. The oldest gravestone is that of a child, Walter B. Swayze, who died in 1834 at the age of 14 months. While the gravestone is not particularly remarkable, the survival of the corresponding footstone is. Another early gravestone is that of Eliza, the young wife of Charles Nixon, who died in 1844 at the age of 22.

The cemetery is still active and currently has just over 200 gravestones. Many of the older stones have been set in concrete and some have been repaired using metal frames.

Thomas Perrin, the founder of Mount Vernon, died on 15 Jul 1870. His monument is surrounded by those of other early settlers of the area.

Eliza Nixon, 1822-1844