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Sketch of Peter Teeple,
Loyalist and Pioneer (1762 - 1847)
by W. B. Waterbury
(read Before the County
of Elgin Historical Society, at St. Thomas, Ontario)
Published in 1899 by the
Ontario Historical Society
(Pictures have been added
to this presentation as available)
(Text
in Blue was added when published in The Aylmer Express on Dec. 7, 1933)
CAPTAIN
PETER TEEPLE was born near
Trenton, New Jersey, July 14th, 1762. Bordentown is believed to be the
locality.
His parents were settlers from Holland in New Jersey,
and he was the youngest son of a well-to-do and fairly numerous family.
He had at least three brothers, John, James, and George, all of whom were
in the Continental Army under George Washington in the war of Independence
which raged from 1776 to 1783. After the close
of the war some of John's descendants came to Norfolk and Elgin counties,
the late Lyman Teeple, barrister of St. Thomas, being of that line.
About
the year 1779, Peter was still living at the old home, and then in his
18th year. Being possessed of a very handsome horse, he kept it carefully
hidden from view of the contending armies, rightly fearing it might be
confiscated for war purposes. One day, however, whilst leading it to water,
he was surprised by the Patriot cavalry, and forced to give it up.
He afterwards stated that, being at that time unable to speak English (his
family, as stated before, being Hollanders) he was taken at a great disadvantage.
The occurrence so angered the boy, who prided himself on the possession
of so handsome a horse, that he immediately tied up a bundle of clothing
and started on foot for New York, then occupied by the British, which he
reached safely, and there joined the British Cavalry. Having a good education
and being naturally bright and intelligent, he soon acquired a fluent use
of the English language, and being of tall and commanding presence, and
a good soldier, he rapidly rose to the rank of Captain: and was placed
in command of a troop of cavalry, being a part of the corps known as the
"New Jersey Volunteers."
He took part in several notable engagements, and
many times had an opportunity to forage for supplies for his troop among
the supporters of though Patriot army which had deprived him of his beloved
steed. On one occasion while scouting in Virginia, a bullet from the rifle
of an American sharp-shooter killed though charger upon which he was mounted.
At the close of the war in 1783, Captain Teeple's
cavalry troop was disbanded at Halifax, and, owing to his fine physique,
being six feet four inches in height, he was offered great inducements
to proceed with the British army to England and accept, a commission in
His Majesty's Life Guards. He declined the offer, and later expressed
misgivings as to the wisdom of his choice. He then left Halifax, proceeding
with a large number of other disbanded soldiers, and many refugees, to
New Brunswick, where Loyalist settlements had been established at Saint
John, and at a place called Waterborough, situated on Grand Lake about
sixty miles up the River Saint John.
From being a captain of horse, he now became captain
of a trading vessel plying between Saint John and New York. At Saint
John he met and married, in 1785, Lydia Mabee, one of the five daughters
of Frederick Mabee, a prominent Quaker refugee from New York, whose father,
Simon, a Hollander, and his mother, Marie Landrine, a French Lady, had
settled near Sing Sing in the State of New York.
FREDERICK MABEE.
was a United Empire Loyalist, whose home had, at the British evacuation
of New York, been confiscated, and himself and family subjected to indignity
by many of his formerly kind neighbors, because he declined to swear allegiance
to the new Republic, holding, as he no doubt conscientiously did, that
the grievances of the colonists should be settled by constitutional means
rather than by the sword.
Having heard of the wonderful fertility and natural
advantages of the Long Point (or as it was first called, the Turkey Point)
country in Upper Canada from his cousin Peter Secord, a U.E. Loyalist who
had accompanied him to Saint John from New York, and who, being an old
hunter, had already penetrated the wilds of Upper Canada with one George
Ramsay, an Englishman, on a hunting and exploring trip, he resolved to
form a small colonization party to open a permanent settlement at Turkey
Point. Gathering many of his relatives together, including his son-in-law
Captain Teeple, the "Mabee party," as they were afterwards called, set
out in the fall of 1792, but they wintered at Quebec, and did not reach
Turkey Point until some time in 1793.
They brought some household goods, drove several
cows, rode horses, and employed an Indian guide to pilot the way through
the wilderness. The men drove the animals along the shore, the women
came in the boats, going ashore at night to camp. During the journey
through the wilds they sustained themselves largely on cornmeal, and milk
from the cows. The party consisted of Frederick Mabee and wife Lavinia
(born Pellum, or Pelham); Oliver Mabee, their eldest son, aged about 19;
Simon, aged 17; Pellum, the youngest son, aged about 5; three single daughters,
Polly, Betsy, and Sally; and two married daughters, Nancy, with her husband
John Stone, and Lydia, with her husband Captain Peter Teeple and their
three children. His cousin, Peter Secord, and Thomas Walsh, also
came with the "Mabee party." Frederick Mabee at once erected the
first log cabin ever built in the new settlement, at the foot of the hill
over-looking Turkey Point. Their corn was pounded in the stump of
a walnut tree, the pestle being attached to a "sweep" like the "Old Oaken
Bucket"
One year after the arrival of the party he died
of apoplexy, and was buried in a hollowed-out walnut log coffin.
He was the first white man buried in the new settlement, and a large boulder
marks his tomb near Turkey Point. His widow subsequently married
Lieut. Wm. B. Hilton, a New York Loyalist of the "King's American Dragoons,"
but he died three years after the marriage. Large numbers of other
Loyalists poured into the settlement shortly after, but the "Mabee party"
came in advance of the rest, and became "squatters" until the lands were
apportioned by the Crown to all the Loyalists.
Polly and Sally Mabee, two daughters who came to
Turkey Point single, married respectively Captain David Secord, of
"Butler's Rangers," and Silas Montross, U.E. Loyalists. The
former was a miller at Niagara, but later settled
on Catfish Creek, west of Orwell; the latter lived at Turkey Point.
The Mabee, Teeple, Secord, Montross, and Stone families became prominent
factors in the early days of the settlement, but now their descendants
are very widely scattered.
More than a hundred years have come and gone since
Frederick Mabee and his sons and sons-in-law made the acquaintance of the
wild, painted, and befeathered savages of the north shore of Lake Erie;
and where they were surprised and startled by the bedlam of discordant
sounds, which daily rent the air, from the throats of the myriad of wild
turkeys, geese, and duck, as these sturdy pioneers staked out their new
homes at Turkey Point. Today their great-grandsons are found in the
ranks of busy men, scattered all over the American continent, and their
great-great-grandchildren occupy seats in nearly every schoolhouse in the
land. In fact, these descendants have become so numerous and so widely
dispersed that they meet as strangers, never dreaming that the old pioneer
mother who pounded corn in the hollow of a walnut stump on Turkey Point
more than a hundred years ago was their common maternal ancestor.
CAPTAIN PETER
TEEPLE and his brothers-in-law, Captain David Secord
and John Stone, were the first young married men that settled in Charlotteville
as Turkey Point afterwards came to be officially named; and when the settlement
was surveyed Peter Teeple was granted Lot 8, in the broken front, near
Forestville. His wife Lydia also was granted 106 3/4 acres by the
Crown, being part of Lot. 9, lake front, Charlotteville. Near by
still stands to-day an old tree known as the "Aunt Lydia Apple Tree," which
yet bears fruit. It was the favorite apple of Lydia Teeple.
There are trees in this orchard 100 years old, and near the old house is
still standing a walnut tree which must be very ancient indeed. It
measures nearly twelve feet in circumference and four feet in diameter.
It is an interesting relic in itself with its immense spread of branches.
Peter Teeple was one of the first five
Justices
appointed, having that honor conferred upon him By virtue of the first
General Commission of the Peace for the newly organized "District of London,"
dated at York, now City of Toronto, January 1st, 1800. He was also
one of the original three, appointed at the same time, to act as Commissioners
for administering oaths prescribed by law to the officers of the Government
of Upper Canada. On the 2nd day of April following, he was sworn
into once at the house of Lieut. James Munroe at Turkey Point, which house
is still standing (Jan., 1899) and is now known as "Fort Munroe."
On 8th April, 1800, the first session of the first Court held in that vast
new "District of London" was convened at Fort Munroe, Simon
Mabee was sworn in open court as High Constable for Walsingham, and
Squire Teeple was one of the sitting Justices. At
a later date the famous Col. Talbot sat with him as an Associate Justice.
His position then was about equivalent to that of a Justice of
the Court of Common Pleas now, and he came to be regarded as a thorough
jurist.
In addition to the above mentioned offices
he was also appointed on 12th April, 1800, a Justice of the Court of Requests
and Commissioner of Highways for that Division of the DIstrict of London,
comprising the townships of Charlotteville, Walsingham, Houghton and Middleton.
He left a very large law library, and a complete
register of the hundreds of civil marriages he performed. An amusing
incident was related by his youngest son, Pellum, in connection with one
marriage ceremony he performed about 1825. The laws or custom of
that place required that where no regular license had been procured, the
ceremony might be performed at some public cross-roads, at the hour of
midnight, the contracting parties appearing in their night-clothes, the
justice and one or more others acting as witnesses. In company with his
son, Pellum, the Squire repaired to the spot, a lonely cross-road, on a
very dark night. Presently two groups approached from opposite directions,
one with the bride, the other with the groom. Upon meeting, and the two
principals clad in white robes stepping forward at the hour of twelve,
they were duly married according to law. Pellum, then a young man of sixteen,
said it made a lasting and weird impression on his memory.
But few years had elapsed after the Squire,
as he was then called by virtue of his legal office, settled at Turkey
Point, when the war of 1812-1815 broke out. He had attained a goodly
degree of prosperity, and he and his sons donned their swords to defend
their new-made homes. The settlers formed volunteer companies,
and in recognition of his previous military rank and experience he
was chosen a captain of militia, being then about fifty years of age.
With his command he met the invading American troops at Queenston Heights
and Lundy's Lane. His valuable flour mill was burned during this war by
a party of American scouts.
Squire Teeple and his wife were two of the constituent
members of the old pioneer Baptist church organized at Vittoria by Elder
Titus Finch in 1804; and when the acre of land was purchased for £2.
10. 0. "New York Currency" from Deacon Oliver Mabee in 1807 upon which
to erect a "meeting house," Mr. Teeple became one of the first trustees,
the other being one Lawrence Johnson. The church was a commodious
edifice for those times, and superseded the old log structure, and it was
furnished with a three-sided gallery. The young people who used to
attend the singing schools in that old meeting house have long since passed
away, but they were full of rugged piety and simple faith.
In January, 1851, a new church was built near the
same site, and among the records of the members of the construction committee
we find the now locally historic names of Mabee, Teeple, Young, and Ryerse,
sons of the original pioneers. A few years before his death in 1847,
a pen-and-ink portrait of the Squire was obtained under peculiar circumstances.
There came in that community (Centreville, Oxford Co., Ontario) a quadroon
who had been a slave in the United States, and who had a talent for drawing,
which his mistress allowed him to cultivate, and even procured for him
some instruction in the art. The Squire's son, Pellum Cartwright Teeple,
learning this, brought the escaped slave home one day and got him to execute
a portrait of his father. It was drawn upon the fly-leaf of a book,
and he was portrayed sitting with Pellum's child, Charles, an infant, on
his lap. The original is still in the possession of the grandson
Charles, who lives at Marengo, Illinois, and the writer is happily possessed
of a photographic copy. The drawing is quaint but well executed,
and is said by those who remember the old Squire to be a faithful likeness,
the only exception taken being that the chin is too pointed. He continued
to reside not far from Long Point (Centreville, Oxford Co.) during the
remaining years of his life, and was finally laid to rest in the old Baptist
cemetery near there by his son Pellum. He was methodical, dignified
in bearing, of a commanding aspect, a strong advocate of temperance, and
was erect and soldierly to the last.
His wife Lydia was a very worthy woman, and they
both lived long, she dying in 1845 at the age of 75, and he in 1847,
aged 85. It is related of her that whenever she lost her temper and
spoke sharply to anyone she would soon after be found alone, pacing to
and fro with clasped hands, murmuring to herself /or a time, "Lord have
mercy, Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy!"
Squire Teeple had thirteen children, of whom nine
were sons, namely, William Bullard, Luke, Edward Manning, Frederick, Stephen
Henry, Oliver Mabee, Lemuel Covel, Simon Peter, and Pellum Cartwright;
and four daughters, namely, Louvina, Susannah, Mary, and Phebe. Some of
these children met with stirring adventures during the war of 1812-15,
and the Canadian Rebellion of 1837. A few details of these will be
given here as follows:
WILLIAM B. TEEPLE,
the eldest son, was born 18th January, 1788, and was, like his father,
an enormously big man, and a captain of Provincial Militia at the battle
of Lundy's Lane. At the latter engagement he had as an orderly a
French Canadian of rather small stature who used to say to his towering
commanding officer, "Capt. Teeple, you are a very big man, and when the
fighting gets hot I am going to get behind you." In actual warfare, however,
the little French Canadian exposed himself so fearlessly that he was mortally
wounded early in the battle.
A portion of the scarlet uniform worn 'by Capt.
W. B. Teeple in that engagement, made up in the form of the quaint "knitting
sheaths" of the period, is still in the possession of the writer, one of
his grandsons. On the 4th January, 1818, he was married to Jemima
Leek at Malahide at Temperanceville, (now Orwell),
by Mahlon Burwell, J.P., and soon after settled on 200 acres of land, being
Lot 1, Con. 8, in the Township of Malahide County of Elgin, the land being
a grant from the Crown for military services rendered. He died on
the 8th April, 1857, leaving a goodly estate. His children in order
of birth were Jared Topping, Susan Celestia, James Jackson, Symantha J.,
Temperance Ursula, Lydia Ann, Stephen William, and Sarah. Of these Lydia
Ann was married to James F. Waterbury, also of the U.E.L. descent, on the
22nd of June, 1852, by Rev. Caleb Burdick at Malahide Temperanceville.
At this date, 1899, she resides at Cambridgeport, Mass., and is the mother
of the writer of these annals.
LUKE TEEPLE,
second son of Captain Peter Teeple, born 12th September, 1791, went
to New Jersey on a visit to an uncle just before the war of 1812 broke
out, and he was ordered to take the oath of allegiance or quit the
country. His uncle had a mail route from New York to some point in
New Jersey, believed to be Bordentown, and he put young Luke on this route
thinking that while thus employed he would not be molested. He was
arrested, however, in the following February, and cast into prison
with about a hundred other British sympathizers. These Loyalist political
prisoners were sorely tempted
to desert their first love and join the American forces. One
by one they weakened until only fifteen remained, Luke being one of the
faithful few. At the close of the war they were liberated, and the
uncle, although a patriotic American, gave Luke a present in token of admiration
of his pluck and endurance. When he returned to Canada he, on the
26th of December, 1816, married Nancy, second daughter of Elder Titus Finch,
already referred to, and settled at Vittoria, near Simcoe, purchasing the
two-story frame house built by Caleb Wood (also a "Jerseyite" Loyalist
as the New Jersey refugees were called in those days) and which house still
stands, dark and windowless and vacant, in front of the Baptist burying
ground, fit companion to the weather-beaten, mossy old grave stones which
mark the background. |
The home of Luke Teeple as it appeared perhaps
in the middle of this century. It was described in 1899: "... which
house still stands, dark and windowless and vacant, in front of the Baptist
burying ground, fit companion to the weather beaten, mossy old grave stones
which mark the background." (The photo from which this artistic impression
was made was taken by Charlie and Edith Teeple of Port Dover, Ontario.
It is provided courtesy of Anne Rahamut and her Teeple People Newsletter.)
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On the flat opposite this house he built a tannery
which was operated by his son Alexander, after his death in 1849.
He had seven sons -- Alexander, Jerome, Albert Gallatin,
Thermos, Lysander, Titus Ridley, and Peter Latimer; and four daughters
Mabro, Mobra, Clementine, and Almira. Alexander was accidentally
crushed to death in 1867 while excavating a large boulder on his property.
PELLUM CARTWRIGHT
TEEPLE (originally spelled Pelham), thirteenth
and youngest child, and ninth son of Peter Teeple, was born 28th November,
1809, and was a participator in the Upper Canadian Rebellion of 1837, or
"The Patriot War," as it was then often called. He was the leader
of a band of young Canadians opposed to the long misgovernment of the country
by an irresponsible body of men known as "The Family Compact," who ignored
the statutes passed by the parliamentary representatives of the people,
and frustrated their will; and when it was determined to fight, he was
chosen a captain; but on the flight to the United States of the two principal
leaders, William Lyon Mackenzie and Hon. John Rolph, all those who had
been leaders under them were compelled to follow them into exile or forfeit
their lives.
Pellum, on attempting to flee, fell in with a party
of soldiers who made him their prisoner. The story of his capture
and escape is thus told by his nephew, Luke, son of Simon Peter Teeple,
who heard it from his own lips:
"The price set upon his head by the Canadian Government
was $600 dead or alive.' He was determined to leave Canada and was
then on his way to the western frontier line. He was riding a horse,
and had reached a point some seven or eight miles westerly from London,
Ont., on the road leading from that city along the southern side of the
River Thames. His brother, Edward Manning Teeple, lived on this road
some two or three miles from London, and he was making for his house. On
turning a bend in the road he came in full view of a sergeant and six men
advancing towards him. He could neither retreat nor conceal himself,
so he rode steadily on and met them. The sergeant halted him and
plied him with questions; and as his answers were unsatisfactory he was
taken in charge, faced about, and obliged to go with them towards London.
They dismounted him, and the sergeant rode the horse. Plodding along
for some time, darkness overtook them before they reached the city.
They stopped at a tavern and the soldiers ordered a meal, which was at
once prepared. They then asked him to come and eat with them, but
he assured them he was not hungry, and they left their arms in the bar-room
and went into the next room and sat down to eat.
He also went with them into the same room, and asked
the waitress for a drink of water, he was on the side of the table next
to the outside door, and as the girl gave him the drink of water she flung
this door wide open. In an instant he was through it and running
for the woods. The men sprang for their arms, and came rushing out,
firing after him. He could hear the orders given to surround the cluster
of tavern buildings, and see lights moving, but he made good his escape
into the adjoining forest. There was snow on the ground and running
was difficult., yet for the fear of being overtaken he kept it up until
almost exhausted. Taking what he supposed to be a course between
the public road and the river, he at length came upon the latter, but he
did not know whether above or below his starting point. Going down
to the water, which was frozen over, he followed along until he espied
an airhole; into this he threw a stick to see which way the water ran,
then going down the stream, he finally came upon a house. By this
time he was excessively fatigued, and very, very hungry from his long fast-
He went up and knocked at the door, and a man appeared and began talking
with him. He had no means of ascertaining whether this man was a
'Patriot' or not, so he feigned himself an urgent despatch-bearer of important
official papers which must be delivered in London with utmost haste; he
said he had given out in travelling, and insisted upon the man's acceptance
of and conveyance of them to London forthwith, as he was utterly unable
to go on himself. The man demurred; so, after an earnest discussion
Pellum said, 'Well, if I could rest a few minutes and get some food to
eat, I might try to go on.' He then heard the man's wife getting
up, and she protested that her husband could not go, but said she would
get Pellum something to eat at once, which she did. While eating
he became satisfied they were ' Patriots,' and revealed his true position.
The man then said they could not keep him there, but that they would see
that he was hidden and fed at a neighbor's over the hill. Pellum
went with him to the neighbor's and was concealed there for a time. If
there was any likelihood of capture one of the children at the first house
was to come over the hill and notify him. He was alarmed one day
by seeing one of the children come running over the hill; but it proved
to be only a neighborly call. After a few days had passed, and he
thought search for him had ceased, he worked his way through the woods
at night up to his brother Edward's, and soon after went in the same way
to the home of his sister Mary, wife of Andrus Davis, at Orwell, Ont. Several
weeks were spent in this hazardous trip.
"Mary and Andrus Davis were known to be staunch
Loyalists, and there is no account of any attempt to search for him at
their place. There he was supplied with food for a short time, but
the danger of recapture was so great that he did not remain all the time
in the house but kept concealed sometimes in the woods.
"Still fearing arrest and execution, as some of
his compatriots had thus suffered, his sister Mary Davis, nephew James
Teeple, and sister-in-law Jemima Teeple, conducted him secretly in the
dead of winter by sleigh from Orwell to the Niagara frontier; and his relative,
Rev. Samuel Rose, of Lundy's Lane, though a political opponent of the Patriots,
espoused his cause, and under the pretence of being the employer of Pellum,
sent him on a message to friends in New York State, and at once hired a
man to row him across at some point below the Falls.
"He, Pellum, grew very intense when relating this
part of the narrative, and declared that had anyone ordered the boatman
back to the Canada shore he would have thrown the man overboard and made
the attempt to reach the American shore alone. But no difficulty arose;
he was safely landed in New York State, and waving a parting adieu to this
relatives, who sat in their conveyance and witnessed his crossing, he began
his career in the United States."
Though the Patriot War thus came to so inglorious
an end, it is now generally admitted in Canada that had it not been for
that uprising by which the attention of the British Government was called
to the intolerable grievances of the Canadians, and a just form of responsible
government quickly conceded, it would in all probability have been many
years before the people of Canada would have obtained that full measure
of home rule which, they henceforth enjoyed.
We next hear of Pellum journeying down the Ohio
River with a party intending to go to Texas, but becoming dissatisfied
with the roistering habits of his companions, he left them and struck across
the country to a place called Pekin, on the Illinois River. From
there he eventually went to the city of Rockford, Ill., where on the 28th
of March, 1841, he married Mary A. Gleason, who is
still living.
His father and mother were now so old they were
desirous he should come home to Canada and care for them the rest of their
days; but he would not do this until a special amnesty was sent him by
the Canadian Government for his part in the Patriot War. This was
obtained and forwarded to him, and he journeyed to the old home in Oxford
County, accompanied by his wife, son Charles, and Luke, son of Simon Peter
Teeple, (who lived with them), in a two-horse buggy, there being no railroads,
and remained there till the two old pioneers were laid away in the churchyard.
Later he returned to Illinois and settled at Marengo, where he died on
the 12th of December, 1878, and where his son Charles, above referred to,
still resides. Pellum Teeple left six sons, viz. :--Charles Gleason, Addison
Venelle, Levant, Jared, Lester, and Frank; and four daughters--Elmina,
Elvira, Ruth L., and Lydia Mary.
Of the other descendants of Frederick Mabee and
Peter Teeple little or nothing of special note is known to the present
writer, except the dates of their birth and death, and that Oliver Mabee
Teeple was also a captain at Lundy's Lane; but it is hoped that the survivors,
should they read these lines, will, as speedily as possible, contribute
their quota to these annals before it is too late; and above all, that
they will prove worthy successors of those sturdy "Pilgrim Fathers of Canada"
who, for the sake of what they believed, rightly or wrongly, to be their
duty, were willing to undertake, not only the perils of war, but also the
hardships and privations of hewing out for themselves, and for their children,
in the wild forests of Turkey Point, new homes and habitations, destined
after one hundred years to become an important part of a great and mighty
state.
Note: Three of the direct
descendants of this pioneer Teeple family reside in Aylmer, grandsons and
grand-daughter of George Teeple, who was abrother of Captain Peter Teeple,
the subject of this article. They are D. J. Teeple, John M. Hale
and Mrs. (Dr.) Cline. George Teeple's son, John, married Eliza Johnson
and they cleared land settled north of Kingmill. John's son, Stephen,
the father of D. J. Teeple married Eliza Corporon, and they went to Iowa
in the early days, along with the family of William Teeple, also a son
of George Teeple. Stephen fought in the American war of 1860-65,
and was killed in battle. He is buried in Savanah, Georgia.
John Teeple, D. J. Teeple's grandfather was one of the first to be buried
in the cemetery at Rogers' Corner, one of the historic landmarks of this
district. William Teeple, another son of George Teeple built the
house, a half-mile east of Orwell, now owned by Stanley Snelgrove, deputy-reeve
of Malahide township.
Phoebe Teeple, a daughter
of George Teeple, married Charles Tozer. John M. Hale and Mrs. (Dr.)
Cline are son and daughter of Mary Tozer, daugher of Phoebe Teeple, and
are therefore great-grand-children of George Teeple, brother of Captain
Peter Teeple.
John Teeple, grandfather of
D. J. Teeple, of Aylmer, is buried at Roger's Corner Cemetery. He
died in 1851, aged 47 years. Deacon W. L. Teeple, grandfather of
the late Jennie Teeple, of Aylmer, is buried at Orwell. He died in
1859, aged 72 years.
During the progress of the
war of 1812, McArthur's army made a raid through this country, and halted
at the home of Deacon William Davis, where they secured his red coat and
a large quantity of maple sugar which he had in barrels. He was conducted
to the farm of Deacon William Teeple adjoining, a half-mile east of Orwell.
This farm is now owned by Stanley Snelgrove and it is said that the house
was put up by barter, only $2 in actual cash having changed hands in the
whole tansaction.
Deacon Teeple was divested
of his red coat and while this was being done he retained a belt which
he wore around him, in which he carried a sheath knife, etc. An Indian
noticing this became possessed of envy and desired to see it and try it
on. He refused to return it and the Deacon who was slight, but wiry,
dashed the Indian to the ground and gave hime a severe choking. An
officer standing by ordered the Deacon to stop, but made the Indian return
the belt. Deacon Teeple and Deacon Davis were taken prisoners, later
being allowed to go on parole.
Other settlers on Talbot street
about that time were Samuel Harper, Onesimus G. Bradley, John VanPatter,
who owned the land in Aylmer now known as Walkertown; Summers Cascadens
and Laurs.
Deacon Teeple, before Deacon
became coupled with his name, had a cousin named William Teeple living
near where Kingsmill now stands. the Deacon was the lithe, active
little man, and his cousin, a big, stout man, so to distinguish them, one
was called little Teeple, and the other big Teeple.
As before intimated the Baptist
Church, at Aylmer, dates back to 1810, when the few settlers congregated
at Teacon Wm. Teeple's or Deacon Wm. Davis's. The settlement grew
as new settlers arrived and it became imperative that more suitable accommodation
must be provided. Isaac Ostrander provided the land at Rogers' Corner
and Deacon Teeple and Deacon Davis provided the lumber. The church
was also used as a school and continued there for 28 years. In 1844
a large frame church was erected in Alymer on the site of the present fine
brick edifice, which was constructed in 1871. |
Compiled January, 1899, by W. B. Waterbury, St.
Thomas, Ont.
(Blue text was published in
an extended article in the Aylemer Express, Thursday, December 7, 1933.
It was posted to this web site on February 11, 2000)
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