Brockville: The River City

By Russ Disotell

Brockville’s origins reach back to the resettlement of Loyalists following the American Revolution and the threat of American encroachment. Following the War of 1812, Brockville, along the St. Lawrence River, benefitted greatly from the rapidly expanding colonization. A centre for the political activity of the day and a focal point for the Orange movement, Brockville was often immersed in controversy.

The end of the 19th century was the golden age of patent medicine business and Brockville was home to two of the most successful, the W. H. Comstock Company and the G. T. Fulford Company. "Pink Pills for Pale People" were sold worldwide. Today, Brockville retains the charm of its heritage mansions and is home to a number of prominent industries.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dundurn
• Release date: Oct 15, 1997
• ISBN: 9781459713291

Russ Disotell

Russ Disotell, born in Cornwall, Ontario, in 1952, has lived in various locations across Ontario. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Toronto. Prior to entering the field of freelance writing he had a long career in the retail wine trade, where he earned certification for his wine knowledge from the Independent Wine Education Guild based in Great Britain. As well as being a wine enthusiast he is a "passionate" curler, cross-country skier and golfer.

Book preview

Brockville

The Arrival of the Loyalists

Brockville’s roots are firmly anchored in the American Revolutionary War. Her founders were United Empire Loyalists, those residents of the Thirteen Colonies who remained loyal to the British Crown and consequently were displaced from their homes after the American victory. Unable or unwilling to return to their place of origin, many were relocated temporarily to refugee camps on the banks of the St. Lawrence opposite Sorel, Quebec. Here they were essentially wards of the Crown.

Frederick Haldimand, Governor of Canada, given the responsibility of resettling the refugees, dispatched surveyors to find land capable of supporting new settlements. Having determined the first area, the Gaspé Peninsula, to be unsuitable, Haldimand sent the next team to explore the northern shores of the St. Lawrence near the Cataraqui River, the land he had purchased from the Mississauga Indians in 1783. The very enthusiastic reports from the surveyor led to the decision to resettle the Loyalists here.

Within the surveying crews was one Justus Sherwood, Deputy Surveyor John Collins’ assistant. His reports, some of the most optimistic ones received, demonstrated his great faith in the success of any settlements established along these shores.

Born in Newtown, Connecticut on March 7, 1747, Justus was one of the ten children of John Sherwood and Hannah Patrick. His father sent him to nearby Stratford which, unlike Newtown, had a grammar school. There he studied surveying. While the school offered Latin and Greek, this expensive curriculum was beyond the means of the Sherwood family. For a lesser fee Justus would study mathematics, writing and practical subjects.

In 1768 he purchased a twelve acre parcel of land including a house for fourteen pounds from his brother Ebenezer. It appears that he must have been a successful surveyor as he bought an additional six acres with frontage on Cranberry Pond for fifty pounds in 1769. In 1771, with his brother Daniel he acquired an additional six acres for another fifty pounds.

By October of that same year he had decided to move to the frontier and sold his holdings to Daniel. The reason given for the somewhat sudden move was his desire to escape the Congregational Church, dominant in Connecticut at that time. That winter and the spring of 1771-2 found him in the New Hampshire Grants.

The New Hampshire Grants (Vermont), an area between the Connecticut and Hudson rivers, had been claimed by both New York and New Hampshire. In 1764 the British government had settled the dispute in favour of New York. Consequently, settlers with New Hampshire Grants were required to pay quit rent, money paid in lieu of service, to New York for their land. As many of these New Englanders refused to pay, New York arbitrarily awarded their lands to new settlers.

When Justus arrived in the Grants the troubles were still in progress and he proceeded to add to the turmoil. By March he had clashed with a local New York magistrate and had a bounty of fifty pounds on his head. As well he had joined Ethan Allan’s Green Mountain Boys, essentially an illegal army bent on frightening off New York settlers. Their methods, while usually nothing more than scare tactics, could turn quite violent. Before long Justus Sherwood became a trusted associate of Ethan and Ira Allen.

With the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, Justus decided to remain loyal to the Crown, believing that Vermont would be granted independence for remaining loyal. The New Englanders in Vermont had petitioned the Continental Congress for independence, but New York was opposed and the petition was denied.

In the spring of 1776 he publicly voiced his opinions on the independence and received twenty lashes from the Grand Council of Safety. Angered by this treatment, he wrote to the British Governor of New York, offering his services. Regretably for him this information was leaked to local authorities and in August 1776 Justus was imprisoned by the Grand Council and sentenced to life imprisonment for spying. However, while being transferred to Simsbury Mines he escaped and joined the British at Crown Point, the southern tip of Lake Champlain.

As a Captain in the Queen’s Loyal Rangers he was involved essentially in guerilla warfare throughout the War and quickly gained a reputation as a courageous, clear headed commander. At the Battle of Bennington (August 1777) Justus was able to save most of his command (forty-six of sixty men) while the British in general lost a total of 1,220 men from an army of 1,500.

Such commendable actions as these soon brought him to the attention of the Governor of Canada, Frederick Haldimand. While the Rangers were part of his jurisdiction Haldimand generally had little regard for the Loyalists. Justus, however, was the exception and the Governor had absolute confidence in this colonial Captain. In the spring of 1779 Haldimand appointed him Commissioner of Prisoners and Refugees. This made Justus responsible for negotiating prisoner exchanges and aiding Loyalists in escaping the States. It also very quickly led to his supervision of secret negotiations with the Republic of Vermont.

Vermont had declared itself an independent Republic on June 17, 1778 in response to the Continental Congress refusal to make it the 14th state. Justus, on behalf of Haldimand, began negotiations with the Allans and Vermont Governor Chittenden in April 1780. Initially he hoped for a reunion of Vermont with Britain with promised independence from New York. However the New Englanders wished to maintain their neutrality and by September 1780 a truce between Vermont and Great Britain was arranged. It was Sherwood’s skilful negotiations that effectively prevented any attack on Quebec through the Connecticut Valley.

In June 1781 he was appointed head of the British Secret Service, Northern Department, in charge of all scouting and intelligence operations. On May 5, 1783 he received orders from Haldimand that would eventually result in the settlement of present day Brockville. When Haldimand directed him to explore the east coast along the Gaspé for lands suitable for resettling the Loyalists, he found that the land would support only a few settlers. Based on Sherwood’s report Haldimand ordered exploration of the land near the Cataraqi River. Justus was sent to assist Deputy-Surveyor John Collins.

His report, entitled Captain Sherwood’s Journal from Montreal to Lake Ontario, noting the Quality of the Land from the West end of Lake St. Francis to the Bay Kenty, describes his journey. At the Long Sault Rapids the party reported they had never seen such fine land for cultivation. Justus determined that the land from Lake St. Francis to above Fort Oswegatchie (Ogdensburg) would support at least twelve townships along the river. Describing the six townships nearest to Lake St. Francis, he wrote, I think there Cannot be better land in America.¹ In a letter sent to a friend in Quebec he says, The climate here is very mild and good, and I think that Loyalists may be the happiest people in America by settling this Country from Long Sou to Bay Quinty.²

Governor Haldimand decided on eight townships along the St. Lawrence, each with nine miles of waterfront and twelve miles deep. All townships would be divided into one thousand acre concessions which would be subdivided into one hundred acre farm lots and would have a townsite at their centre or midway along the waterfront. The lower five townships would be settled by the New York King’s Royal Regiment, while the upper three would be home to the New England Loyal Rangers.

Haldimand had received orders that the Loyalists were to be tenants of the Crown and not to own the land outright. They were to pay quit rent of one halfpenny per acre after ten years. This amounted to four shillings two pence per one hundred acres as compared to the hated New York rate of two shillings six pence. Fearing this would anger the settlers and effect the settlement he kept the orders secret.

Land grants were set at one thousand acres for field officers, seven hundred for captains, five hundred for subalterns, staff or warrant officers and one hundred for enlisted men. Civilian heads of family were to receive one hundred acres. In addition each family member was entitled to fifty acres. When the Rangers were disbanded on December 24, 1783, Justus found himself a half-pay officer. As a Captain he was entitled to a land grant of seven hundred acres plus two hundred