The family found their way to Lower Canada, after a time, living upon the rations dealt out from day to day from the commissariat department. They, after a time, went to Montreal, and one son, when twelve year old, enlisted. For a time he acted as tailor to the regiment, but subsequently became a favorite with the Colonel and was promoted. The descendants of this William Williamsburgh now live in Belleville.
Sergeant Daniel Wright was born in the city of London, 1741. He was sergeant in the 74th regiment. Sergeant Wright was present at the battle before Quebec, when Montgomery was killed. He settled in Marysburgh in 1784. He was commissary officer for the fifth township, and was subsequently appointed magistrate and then registrar, which office he held for upwards of thirty years. Was Lieut. Colonel in the Prince Edward Militia. “Old Squire Wright” was a man of education and gentlemanly deportment, strictly religious, and noted for his urbanity; he obtained the soubriquet of “Squire civil.” It is said he was never known to smile. Unlike other retired officers, it is said, he did not seek to acquire extensive tracts of land. Died April, 1828, aged eighty-seven.
The following is from the Kingston Chronicle: “Died at the Carrying Place, 27th February, 1836, Robert Wilkins, Esq., in the ninety-fourth year of his age. He entered the army at the early age of seventeen, in the 17th Light Dragoons, then commanded by the late Colonel Hale. Soon after he joined the regiment it was ordered to Scotland. There it did not long remain; the “Whiteboy” conspiracy had been formed in Ireland. From Ireland he sailed with the same distinguished regiment for the British American Colonies, then raising the standard of revolt, landed at Boston, and a few days after bore a conspicuous part in the battle of Bunker’s Hill, on which occasion he had two horses shot under him. He was present at most of the engagements in the northern colonies. At the battle of White Plains, he was one of the forlorn hope, where he received a severe contusion on the breast, and lost the thumb of his right hand. After recovering from his wounds, he retired from the army, and entered into mercantile pursuits in the city of New York. There he carried on a prosperous business until peace was concluded; but when that city was evacuated by the British troops (in 1783) he was too strongly attached to his king to remain behind. He then accompanied them to Shelburne, Nova Scotia. In the improvements of that luckless place, he expended a large sum of money, but finding that the place would not succeed, he left, and in 1789, returned to his native country, from which, three years after, he was induced to follow Governor Simcoe to this colony, just after it had received its constitution, and became a distinct government. From that time he remained in Upper Canada, and most of the time at this place. Of Christian doctrine and Christian duty, he had a much deeper sense than was obvious to occasional visitors. His hospitality was proverbial, and never under his roof was the poor refused food or shelter. His remains were followed to the church, and thence to the house appointed for all living, by not less than 300 of his friends and neighbors.”
For an account of the son of the above, see notices of U. E. Loyalists.
Col. H. Young—His father was a native of Nottingham, England, and came to New York when eighteen years old, and settled at Jamaica, Long Island. He was a gunsmith by trade. Subsequently he removed to Husack, northern New York. He had four sons, George, Henry, William, John, and two daughters. His second son Henry, was born at Jamaica, 10th March, 1737. At the age of eighteen he joined the British army, as a volunteer. He was present at the battle of Tyconderoga, under General Abercrombie. He was also with the army under General Amherst, which went from Albany to Montreal, to join the army from Quebec, under General Murray. Continued in the army until 1761, when he returned home, married a Miss Campman, and lived in peace until the rebellion broke out. He again joined the British army as a private, and was at the battle of Bennington, but he so distinguished himself that he was promoted to an ensigncy in the King’s Royal Regiment, of New York. During the war he took part in seventeen battles, but escaped with one wound in the hand. In the year 1780, he was sent with Major Ross to Carleton Island. For three years he was at this place, or Oswego. In 1783 he was discharged on half pay, and received grants of land—3,000 acres, with the privilege of selecting the place. Immediately after his release he set out, sometime during the summer or autumn of 1783, to prospect for land. In a small canoe, he, with a brother officer, named, it is said, McCarty, proceeded up the bay Quinté, and into Picton bay to its head, thence to East Lake. Having decided to take land here, he left his son during the winter. In the following spring 1784, he brought his family from St. Johns, where they had been staying. (See settlement of Prince Edward). Colonel Young died at East Lake. 3rd December, 1820, aged eighty-three years and nine months.
Daniel Young was in the Engineer Department during the latter part of the revolutionary war. He died at East Lake, 30th September, 1850, aged eighty-five.
Henry Young was Lieutenant of Militia in the war of 1812. Went to Kingston on duty, where he died, latter part of December, 1812.
Among the first settlers of the Upper Province, especially upon the St. Lawrence, and who took part in the war, may be mentioned, Captain Thomas Frazer, Captain William Frazer, Lieutenant Solomon Snider, Lieutenant Gideon Adams, Captain Simon Covelle, Captain Drummond, Ensign Dulmage, Ensign Sampson, Lieutenant Farrand, Captain Amberson, Lieutenant McLean, Lieutenant James Campbell, Lieutenant Alexander Campbell, Sergeant Benoni Wiltsie, Ensign E. Bolton, Captain Justus Sherwood, Captain John Jones, Lieutenant James Breakenridge, of Roger’s corps.
Colonel Clarke, of Dalhousie, gives a “list of half pay officers who settled in the Niagara District after the rebellion of the colonies:”
Colonel John Butler, originator of Butler’s Rangers, an Irishman, a connection of Lord Osmore; Captain Andrew Brant, Butler’s Rangers; Captain B. Fry, Captain P. Hare, Captain Thos. Butler, Captain Aaron Brant, Captain P. Paulding, Captain John Ball, Captain P. Ball, Captain P. Ten Brock, Lieutenant R. Clench, Lieutenant Wm. Brant, Lieutenant Wm. Tweeny, Lieut. Jocal Swoos, Lieut. James Clements, Lieut. D. Swoos, all of Butler’s Rangers; Captain James Brant, Indian Department; Captain H. Nelles, Captain James Young, Captain Robert Nelles, Captain Joseph Dockater, Captain C. Ryman, Lieut. J. Clement, Lieut. W. B. Shuhm, Lieut. A. Chrysler, Lieut. S. Secord, Lieut. F. Stevens, Surgeon R. Kerr, Commodore T. Merritt, father of the late Hon. W. H. Merritt, all of the Indian Department.