Jerusha Peers 1771 - 1813

Jerusha Peers, my third great grandmother lived through a period in history that changed the future of North America.  She was born in Westchester County in the province of New York, British North America in 1772 to Alexander Peers and Mary Bolding.  Family lore has it that Alexander came to America in about 1765 with his brother, Henry.  Mary, on the other hand is thought to have come from the south; likely from North Carolina or Louisiana.  They were married in Long Island City, New York in 1766 and went on to have a family of six children with Jerusha being the older of two daughters.

The family made a comfortable living, farming on a 123 acre plot of land at Philipse Manor in what is now called Brooklyn in the city of New York. While they owned 7 acres where their home and outbuildings stood, the remaining land was leased from the family of Frederick Philipse.  The Philipse Patent, as it was called was made up of hundreds of these small land holdings and together the inhabitants made up a bustling, thriving community.

Philipse Manor today

It was a busy life, with much to do.  For the men, there were animals and crops to be cared for, improvements to be made to their buildings, fences to mend and  daily chores to be seen to.  The women, on the other hand had children to tend, meals to prepare, washing to do,  wool to be carded, spun and woven into fabric for the family’s clothing and other domestic duties. 

Descriptions of these early Peers’ have been handed down through the generations.  Alexander was said to be quite tall for the times and lean with a hawkish nose and hollow cheeks.  He would have worn a course woolen shirt, breeches, buckled shoes and a tricorn hat.  With his strong British accent and staunch Church of England ways, he was undoubtedly a man of high moral character and one who accepted adversity with some stoicism. He was a Tory and fiercely loyal to his native land.

The women in the family would have dressed in homespun dresses and sported a lace or woolen cap.  Mary, with her southern accent  and southern Methodist upbringing was most likely a hard working, no-nonsense sort of woman. 

When Jerusha was just four years old, the first shots in the Revolutionary War rang out at the Battles of Lexington and Concord.  Life for a loyalist family soon became difficult as they tried to carry on.  Many of their neighbours were Patriots, tired of the heavy hand of their British Rulers.  They wanted to live in a free country where they could write their own laws and collect and keep the taxes .  Often mobs of patriots would set upon a loyalist farm, burning buildings, stealing livestock and assaulting the inhabitants.

By the following year, Alexander and Mary, fearing for their family's safety  had quickly moved the children away from their home to relative safety behind British lines.  Alexander, by this time, had joined a British Militia unit and was glad to have his family settled at Morrisania.

Winter Camp at Morrisania

Life in the camp, however, was difficult.  The Peers family moved into a dingy log hut with a dirt floor and no windows.   Having had to abandon their possessions when they fled, the family had little in the way of tools and household staples.  Women and children were given only half rations, although they could earn a little extra in the way of food, blankets and the like, by cooking, washing and cleaning for the soldiers.  Children could earn a loaf of bread for hauling water or gathering firewood.  Winters were bleak and cold and summers brought extreme heat, humidity and biting insects.  Sanitary conditions were abysmal, with a shortage of clean drinking water and little or no sewage treatment.  Disease ran rampant among the soldiers and their families and many children died before the age of 5.

Jerusha likely learned to sew and made a little extra to help feed her family for taking in mending.  There were no schools in the camp and it is likely she did not learn to read and write. There was certainly no time for a little girl to play.

Towards the end of the war, Jerusha’s older brothers, Ezekiel and Ephraim also joined their father in the Militia.  They were assigned to the regiment commanded by Col. James DeLancy, known as Delancy’s Cowboys or The Westchester Refugees.

By July 1873, the war had drawn to an end, the British defeated and the Loyalists in fear for their lives.  They were pushed back until they reached the ocean, where Governor Guy Carleton had ships waiting to transport them out of America and on to new lives in Canada, England, and the Caribbean.

Wallace Bay - formerly the Remsheg

Alexander and Mary, thankful to have their family still intact and safe, elected to go to Nova Scotia, where grants of land were promised to the Loyalists by a grateful British Monarch.  After wintering at Fort Cumberland that first winter, the Peers family made their way to the Remsheg, a place now called Wallace Bay in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia.  Jerusha, at this time was 12 years old.

Again, the family had to begin with nothing but within a few years had established a thriving farm and a good life.  Because they had fought in the war, Jerusha’s older brothers also received grants of land and a bustling community grew up around Wallace Bay.

Daniel Teed was the son of another Loyalist family.  His father died during the war.  We don’t know for sure what happened to Daniel Sr. but the conjecture is that he succumbed to Typhus or some other deadly disease caused by the poor living conditions.  As a young man, the younger Daniel joined the British in their defence of British North America.  Like the Peers family, Daniel came to Nova Scotia in 1783 and claimed his father’s grant land.

In February of 1790, Daniel Teed and Jerusha Peers were married near his home in Malagash.  The couple went on to have 11 children, including my Great great grandmother, Hannah.  Over the years they created good life and a happy family.

Jerusha died in Wentworth in 1813, at the age of 41 and Daniel lived on  until 1869.  It is believed that they were buried in the old cemetery at Wentworth, but no trace of their graves can be found.

Jerusha certainly had adventures during her life and many new beginnings.   I hope she’d be glad to be remembered almost 200 years after her death.

Darker Sides of our History

Like every family, ours has had its darker side - slavery and bigamy to mention a few.  Here are the stories of some infamous ancestors.

Esther Angevine was a slave owner.  She was born about 1860 in North Castle, Westchester County, New York, British North America.  Her parents, Lewis and Phoebe, were wealthy landowners in the area  Much of the labour on their land was performed by slaves, purchased from the south.  During her teens, Esther lived through the tense times leading up to the Revolitionary War and at the age 22, she married Sgt. Gabriel Purdy of the Westchester Loyalists.  Gabriel was born on the 18th of May 1754 in White Plains, New York and served from November 1779 to the end of the war in various British Loyalist Infantry divisions, including the famous DeLancey's Cowboys.  As a Loyalist and to escape from Patriot soldiers, Gabriel hid in a barrel filled with tow, which is unwashed hemp, flax or fleece ready for processing into rope or wool. A Patriot officer thrust a sword into the barrel, cutting a gash into Gabriel's head, and he had to wear a silver tube thereafter to drain the wound.  

The couple fled to Nova Scotia in July of 1783 with many of their neighbours in Morrisania, New York and began a new life.  Esther brought two of her slaves with her.  

Esther died in October of 1803 at Westchester Station, Cumberland County, Nova Scotia and Gabriel followed her in March 1841. Both are buried in the Rose Cemetery in Westchester Station and it is noted that at the bottom end of the grave site of Esther (Angevine) Purdy, in Rose Cemetery, one finds two granite field stones that were identified in August 1998 by the caretaker of Rose Cemetery as being the gravestones for two coloured slaves of Esther.

John Teed  UE was the son of Daniel Teed our Loyalist ancestor who died behind British Lines in the middle of the Revolutionary War. His wife was Hannah Covert  from Westchester County, New York, British North America.  The two also fled New York in 1783 and after a brief stay in Nova Scotia, finally settled in New Brunswick.  Below is an excerpt of his claim to the Loyalist Claims commission in St. John, New Brunswick some years after the war:

Daniel Teed. United Empire Loyalist Claims, Report of the Bureau of Archives, Ontario Vol 2. Isaac Teed p-783-784 - 

New Claim of John Teed and wife Hannah late of N.Y Nov 2 1786. Sent Claim to Col. Delancy.Lived in Westchester.

Joined British in 1777, joined Maj. Holland.Served all of the war except when Prisoner. 

Then served with Col. Delancy. 

Now settled at Ramsback(Remsheg) 

Lost a Negro who was given to wife by her uncle Isaac Covert, 

Claimant lived in Cortland Manor had 2 horses, 1 yoke of Oxen,4 Cows, 4 Cattle,16 Sheep. Left all these behind when he went away. They were taken by the Americans because he went into the British Lines. They sent his wife after him. 

Isaac Teed, 

Witness. John Teed Claimant

Henry Burnett Teed is probably more of a tragic than infamous character.  Born in 1850 in St. Stephen, New Brunswick to Peter Bigney Teed and Lucy Brown, he married Emma J. Broadstreet at the age of 20.  Emma died in 1879 and the following year, he married Bertha Martha Dumphy of Shubenachadie in Colchester County, Nova Scotia.  Unfortunately, some 22 years later, he married again - without benefit of divorce or the death of his spouse.  Here is how the Boston Journal tells the story:

Item from Boston Journal 1902-03-26 

 Mrs. Teed No. 1 Forgives Her Recreant Husband for Having Married His Niece - 

Henry Burnett Teed who was arrested Monday for polygamy in marrying his niece, Jennie A. Richards, was forgiven by Mrs. Teed No. 1 yesterday morning and the charge against him was not processed. The case against Miss Richards was disposed of in the same manner, but the girl was sent to the House of the Good Shepherd. Mr. and Mrs. Teed left for their home in Dartmouth, opposite Halifax, N. S.

This, however, was not the end of trouble for Henry and on the 21st of February - just one year later, he committed suicide in Halifax.  His death certificate states: Committed Suicide while temporarily insane.

More on our Ulster Scots Heritage

Presbyterian Church
Aghadowey, Londonderry
Northern Ireland

The Ulster Scots who make up a large part of our family background, moved to Northern Ireland in the early to mid 1600s seeking religious freedom.  They were staunch men and women!  Staunch in their Scottish Heritage and staunch in their Presbyterian faith.  They maintained their Scottish language and took great umbrage at anyone who referred to them as "Irish".  When the opportunity leave Ireland behind and begin life anew in America, they jumped at the chance.  The first group of immigrants arrived in Londonderry, New Hampshire in 1720 and went about making a new life for themselves.  Times were hard but the canny Scots were resourceful and were soon successfully farming and providing for their daily needs.  


One shortage, however was adequate footwear. Hard as they tried, they failed to come up with shoes of the sort they were accustomed to back home.  This being the case, John Fisher wrote back to Ireland requesting a shipment of brogues.  Unfortunately (or fortunately for us) the letter sustained some water damage on its voyage and when the family in Ireland finally read it, it seems the B was missing from the name of the shoes.  Thinking the new colony was in need of rogues and having two young men they wanted rid of - they quickly bundled them up and shipped them out on the next passenger ship.

Grave of William James Fisher

So in 1743, William James Fisher, a young man of 33 left Aghadowey Parish, County Londonderry for the new world.  Along with a number of others from the area, William wanted nothing more than to put the Irish soil and his meddlesome family behind him.  With him travelled his brother, Samuel.  The brothers did not have an easy voyage, however.  They traveled to America on "Starved Ship". The vessel was so scantily provisioned and the voyage so unusually long, that before it was nearly completed, the rations had to be divided among the passengers and crew, each person receiving one pint of oatmeal and a small quantity of fresh water. Samuel Fisher later recalled going to the mate with a tablespoon to obtain some water, which was refused him, there being but two-thirds of a bottleful on board on which to survive. Samuel Fisher's custom was to take a spoonful of meal, moisten with seawater, and eat it raw. The passengers and crew, having subsisted in this manner for 14 days, were at length reduced to the necessity of eating the bodies of those who had died. Even this resource failed them, and, at length, Samuel Fisher was selected to give up his life to preserve the lives of the rest.


But Providence provided a solution for his rescue and the salvation of the others. A sail appeared in the distance, their signals of distress were kindly heeded, and all aboard were saved. 


So deep an impression did the horrors of this passage make upon the mind of young Samuel that, in later life, he could never see, without pain, the least morsel of food wasted, or a pail of water thrown carelessly on the ground. He always afterward had more than ample supplies of food stored in his root cellar. 


The brothers landed at Roxbury, N.H. and were bound over to a Captain for payment of their passage. They eventually came to Londonderry, New Hampshire and joined the family of Matthew Taylor. Samuel  married Matthew Taylor's daughter Sarah. He later became a  ruling elder in the church in this place during the ministry of the Rev. David McGregor, and remained in this office until he was no longer able to perform its duties on account of his age.  

Mr.Fisher married three times, and had twelve children, eleven of whom arrived at adult age, and ten of whom survived him. Ten of his children were married, and most of them lived to an advanced age. The average age of four of them was ninety-one years. His descendants, in the year 1850, were nine hundred and fifteen, and are scattered through nearly all the States of the Union, through out Nova Scotia and Canada. Some of them are ministers and some elders in the church. It is estimated that three-fourths of those over twenty years of age are professors of religion."

William Fisher was among
the group known as the
Cobequid Planters

William Fisher left Londonderry in 1762 and moved to Truro, Nova Scotia where he met and married Eleanor Archibald.  The couple had twelve children.  William died in 1777 and is buried in the Robie Street Cemetery in Truro.

William and Eleanor were the parents of Ruth Fisher, wife of my 3rd great great uncle, Matthew Johnson.

Our Military Heritage

Family Members who served in the Military:

There is a proud history of military service in our family, going back almost 300 years.  Here are just a few who risked their well being over the centuries:

French Indian War or The Seven Years War - Conjures up images of Wolfe and Montcalm on the Plains of Abraham, George Washington, Battles on Lake Champlain and the expulsion of the Acadians from Nova Scotia.  It ended in 1763.

• Lieutenant John Johnson

American Revolution. (1775 - 1783) 

The American Revolution, also known as the Revolutionary War, began in 1775. British soldiers and American patriots started the war with battles at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts. Colonists in America wanted independence from England. The British government attempted to pass some laws, enforce several taxes, and increase control over the colonies. The colonies strongly objected to these laws and taxes.  They wanted England to have no control over them.

Some American born individuals, however, stayed loyal to the British Crown - and as a result were treated with great hostility by their former neighbours.  They had their land and possessions confiscated from them and at the end of the war, were given grants of land in the existing British colonies of Nova Scotia and Ontario.  Our ancestors were among those Loyalists who took up land in Nova Scotia.

• Alexander Peers - DeLancey's Brigade
• Ephraim Peers - DeLancey's Brigade
• Ezekiel Peers - DeLancey's Brigade
• Henry Peers - DeLancey's Brigade
• Daniel Teed Sr. - DeLancey's Brigade
• Daniel Teed Jr. - DeLancey's Brigade
• Charles Teed - DeLancey's Brigade - Prisoner of War
• David Teed - DeLancey's Brigade
• Joseph Treen - DeLancey's Brigade
• Joshua Vincent - DeLancey's Brigade

Fenian Raids

The Fenian movement sought to bring about Irish independence from Britain. At the end of the American Civil War, Fenians in the United States determined to recruit veterans of the war, invade and capture Canada, and force Britain to negotiate the independence of Ireland. There were a number of alarms in 1865, 1866 and 1870. In 1912 the following of our ancestors were given $100 bounty by the government for his participation in the defense of Canada.

• Charles Bragg - 5th Cumberland Regiment
• Robert Bragg- 5th Cumberland Regiment
• William Gamble - 2nd Colchester Regiment
• Edward Gamble - 2nd Colchester Regiment
• Stephen Swallow - 4th Wentworth Regiment
• Charles Swallow - 4th Wentworth Regiment
• John Swallow - 4th Wentworth Regiment
• Adams Archibald, Sir
• William Beattie - 1st Cumberland Regiment
• Andrew McKim Peers - 3rd Cumberland Regiment
• Harris Tingley Peers - 4th Cumberland Regiment
• James Buckley Peers - 5th Cumberland Regiment
• Rufus Freeman Peers - 5th Cumberland Regiment
• Rufus Webb Ripley - 1st Cumberland Regiment
• Anthony Taylor - 8th Cumberland Regiment

World War I

• Belden Treen (Killed in Action at Vimy Ridge) - 1st Canadian Mounted Rifles
• Burton Treen (Gassed at Hill 70) - Nova Scotia Rifles
• Stanley Treen (Killed in action) - Nova Scotia Rifles
• Walter Gamble - Nova Scotia Rifles
• Leo Dowd - 21st Alberta Hussars
• John Alexander McPherson - Major, Canadian Army
• Alexander Peers - Canadian Army

World War II

• Russell Mackie Bragg - #1 RCAF Fighter Squadron
• John Edwin Bragg
• Florence Laughlin Bragg
• Donald Nelson (Killed in Action)
• Douglas Waldo Peers (Killed in Action – 1944)
• George Bartlett - Canadian Army
• Carl Gamble - North Nova Scotia Regiment
• Douglas Lloyd Gamble - Royal Canadian Artillery - Gunner
• John Anthony Harrigan - US Army

Korea

• John Robert Gamble
• David Tanner Gamble – Killed in Action

Mighty Women

Elizabeth Feeley Teed

Imagine it's 1830, and she is living in Donegal, Ireland.  She is Elizabeth Feeley, a young widow with a 2 year old son.  Lonely and impoverished, she cautiously responds to a letter from a relative's friend with an offer of marriage and money for passage to Canada.  Wondering why a staunch Protestant would want an Irish Catholic wife, she embarks on the 6 week journey by sailing ship across the Atlantic Ocean.  The voyage is trying, with terrible north Atlantic storms, sea sickness and a wailing toddler but more frightening is the thought of the stranger, her future husband, waiting for her on the pier at Halifax.  David Teed, it turned out was a gentleman farmer from Wentworth in Cumberland County.  Elizabeth and David married in Wentworth in July 1831 and went on to lead a happy life with a family of 6.  While the tale had a good ending, it is so impressive to think of the courage it must have taken to leave family and home and leap into the unknown.  Elizabeth was my 2nd great great aunt.


Into the same family came Mary Garvin.  Tiny with black hair and eyes, she was the wife of Elizabeth Feeley's son, Charles.  She could neither read nor write but could add up a long column of numbers faster than you could do it on paper.  She raised hens and used the eggs to barter.  On one shopping trip to Wallace, the storekeeper added up her purchases and told her what she owed.  She, herself, had already added it up in her head and reached a different amount.  She told him he was mistaken.  When he explained that the difference was caused by a recent drop in the price of eggs, she said..."at that price, it wasn't worth the wear and tear on the hen's ass!"


Sarah Fulton was also from Donegal.  Born in 1755, she married James Crawford in 1790 and raised a family of 4 children.  In 1808, James died and in 11 years later, at the age of  64, Sarah emigrated to Canada with her son, John and his wife Jane.  Travelling with a group of neighbours, including Robert Gamble, Samuel Beattie, Robert Starritt and others, they settled in various communities along the shores of the Bay of Fundy.  The families were destined for Nova Scotia, but through some miscommunication ended up in Quebec City.  Robert Starritt had enough money to sail for Halifax and eventually returned with passage money for the rest of the group.  They sailed in a small schooner to Baie Verte, New Brunswick where they unloaded their possessions and carried them, through the heavy, bug infesting forests to the Economy, Bass River and Castlereagh areas.  Quite a feat for a woman of 64!  Sara died in 1835 in Pleasant Hills, Colchester County.  She was the grandmother of my first cousin, 4 times removed.

Mary Bolding Peers

In 1783, Mary Bolding, aged 38 was living with her 6 children as a refugee in Westchester, New York.  Her husband, Alexander Peers was a soldier in DeLancey's Brigade, a Loyalist Unit fighting the Patriots during the Revolutionary War.  The family had all their possessions confiscated by the new American government, and their lives were in danger if they stayed in the new country.  King George was offering land in Nova Scotia as his thanks for the Loyalists' service to the crown and so they had decided to go there.  Transportation, however was offered only to Officers and their families and since Alexander was a mere foot soldier, they were on their own.  So, with courage and determination, Mary and her family walked from New York, through dense forests, over mountains, across vast waterways and finally arrived in the Remsheg (now known as Wallace, Nova Scotia).  They arrived with barely the clothes on their backs but went on to build a successful life in their new home.  Mary was my 4th great grandmother.

A Guide to Cemeterying

Guide to Cemeterying .... It's an Art!

Some stones are
easier to capture
than others

Digging up the dirt on your ancestors can be a very satisfying adventure, but experience has taught me some valuable lessons I'd like to share.

Preparation:

• Check the Internet - many cemeteries can be found with partial lists of the inhabitants.  Find-a-Grave is one good site to try.
• Some cemeteries are listed with GPS coordinates - a gift you can be sure.  One cemetery I visited had a book near the entrance showing where everyone was buried - fantastic!
• If your genealogy software can do it, print a report showing who you think is in each cemetery.  
• Don't forget that many of your female ancestors were buried with their husband's families, so you would want to know the married name, as well.
• Speak to everyone you can find in the area -  everyone we spoke to was very helpful.  Cemetery staff are particularly helpful, if you can find them. 

Tools and Supplies:

Take a picture of the Cemetery Sign

• Your camera and plenty of batteries are the first order of business. If it's a rechargeable - make sure it's fully charged before you set out. A backup camera would be a good idea.  And your camera phone will do in a pinch.
• Bug spray - the older the cemetery, the more bugs and they can spoil your fun pretty fast.
• A full spray bottle with a touch of vegetable based food colouring.  The food colouring is helpful in reading the white stones - and it washes right away with the next rain.
• A soft bristled battery operated toothbrush - easy on the stone but very effective for removing lichens and mosses that can obliterate the words.
• Flashlight - sometimes the lighting needs a little help.
• A folding umbrella - sometimes there is too much light.
• Binoculars - for checking out distant stones.
• Newsprint and charcoal or a soft pencil.  You want to use them for getting dates and names - not for copying the entire stone.
• Scissors to trim away grass and weeds from the base of the stone.
• Sturdy knife for cutting away thick moss.
• Water for drinking.
• Pad and Pen for notes.
• Whisk broom for clearing away grass clippings.
• Masking tape for securing newsprint to the stone when doing a rubbing.

At the Cemetery:

Take a picture of the whole cemetery

• On arrival, take a photo of the sign at the entrance and a wide angle view of the whole cemetery.
• Plan your search by working row by row, but it you are searching only for old graves, you will want to begin at that end of the cemetery.  Don't forget, though, that people are not always buried where you think they might be.  So check newer graves, as well.
• Check your light.  If the sun is shining directly on the stone, use your umbrella to create a little shade.  If there's no sun, you will usually get a better photo and you can use your flashlight at an angle if you need a bit more light.
• Take at least two photos of the legible stones and at least three of the less clear ones.
• Take shots at several angles, if the stone is hard to read.
• For the difficult to read stones, use your newsprint and charcoal to try and get the information from the stone by doing a rubbing.  Also, make lots of notes about what you CAN read.
• Make sure your photos are of the tombstone only.  While the background scenery may be interesting, that's not what you are there for.
• Check all sides of the tombstone.  Some families are buried back-to-back or wagon-wheel style.
• Check your list to make sure you are not missing anyone you know should be there.
• Leave no stone unturned.

When you get home:

• Create a folder for each cemetery on your computer
• Export photos from that cemetery from your camera into its folder
• Using a tool such as Picassa, enhance the photos as best you can and rename them.  I use a naming convention which is Surname, First Name, Maiden Name, Death Date.

Above all, enjoy your self.  Cemeteries are often beautiful places and many (although I don't know why) have lovely views.

How many skeletons are in your closet?