From book "Descendants of James Stanclift of Middletown, Connecticut and Allied Families", By Robert C. and Sherry [Smith] Stancliff
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(39) STANBROUGH PERIGRINE4 STANCLIFF FAMILY (James3, William2, James1)
(1)Son
of James and
Mary [Lewis] Stanclift born Simsbury, Hartford County, CT Dec. 18, 1762(2),
died McArthur, Athens County, OH, now Vinton County, sometime between March and July 1820(3), married Simsbury, Hartford County, CT at "Hopmeadow"
by the Rev. Roger Viets May 5, 1784(4) his cousin SIBBEL
DAVIS daughter of Jacob Junior and Elizabeth [Lewis] Davis born Simsbury, Hartford County,
CT Aug. 16, 1765(5), died probably in Athens County, Ohio
after July 1819(6).
He was named after his great grandfather, Perigrine Stanbrough of Saggaponack, Long Island, NY, and that name has helped to identify him in many records. There were not two men of this name. In the Biography written by Perry Stancliff a grandson of Stanbrough, Perry says that Stanbrough served in the Revolutionary War and was with General George Washington at Valley Forge. He also said that Stanbrough was wounded and partially crippled as a result(7).
The next chronological record found for this family was in The St Johnsville Dutch Reform Church in Palatine, Montgomery County, NY, late in the year 1792. Four children were baptized in Dec. of that year which suggests that shortly after their marriage this couple had moved to an area without a church.
After the Revolutionary War Ontario or Upper Canada was very sparsely settled. There were many more settlers in the province of Quebec or Lower Canada and the strong French influence made the predominantly British population of Ontario uneasy. The leaders of the newly emerging province felt an intense and immediate need to open the vast wilderness and establish communities within their boundaries. Towards this end they decided to extend a welcome to the Americans, but not without grave reservations on the part of many in the Government. The revolution against the crown was fresh in everyone's memory. Gen. Anthony Wayne had repeatedly threatened the border. Indeed Ira Allen, brother of Ethan Allen, had let it be known that Vermont alone was willing to undertake the conquest of Canada. Even more unsettling, it seemed that the French were ready to join the conspiracy. There was a problem acquiring enough suitable settlers to the area as the British Empire had years earlier developed a society comprised of people with special skills. There were candle makers, farmers, weavers, butchers and other specialists, but Canada needed settlers who possessed in some degree all of these skills, and so she turned to the American frontiersmen.
The Indians of Canada, with different concepts of territorial rights and borders than the white man, engaged in skirmishes with the Americans along the border and demanded support from the government of Upper Canada. Is it any wonder that many in Canada questioned the wisdom of allowing these Americans to come to their new land, and yet here was a unique group of people, possessing the experience and many skills needed to turn the wilderness into a productive community. While the eastern and the western parts of Ontario were settled first, it was now left to these pioneers to move into the area along the north shore of Lake Ontario. Stanbrough Perigrine Stancliff settled at Hamilton Township, Northumberland County, Ontario, Canada in 1797.
The government of Ontario determined to grant the land and not sell it, in order to retain control over the settlement procedure. Hamilton Township was an "Associated Township". It was settled by a group of persons or associates who petitioned the Council of Upper Canada for that privilege.
In their haste to see the New Province of Upper Canada settled, the Council of that Province allowed whole townships to be petitioned by small groups, usually four in number. These associates agreed to pay all fees attendant to the grant and surveys thereof, to find and bring to the area able and loyal men of good character, and to promote the settlement and improvement of the township. The associates were never given title or warrants to the land, that was granted directly to the settler by the Crown usually after the fact of his settlement. How the associates located the settlers and induced them to settle the township was up to the associates, some even promised livestock and provisions to get the pioneer family through the first difficult months.
Family history states that David Stancliff, son of Stanbrough was born 1795 "near Niagara Falls". It is very probable that the family had left Palatine, NY and were traveling to Canada to make a home. The seat of the Ontario Government was at that time located at Niagara and there were tent cities near the area, as prospective settlers waited for the land to be surveyed and the promised acres granted to each family.
On Sept. 1, 1797 Stanbrough P. Stancliff received confirmation of a 200 acre grant of land from the Crown(8). The land was the 14th Lot in the 1st Concession, broken front(9). in Hamilton Township, Northumberland County. On the map today this land is located in the South East corner of the present town of Cobourg, Northumberland County, Ontario, Canada, a delightful resort town on Lake Ontario. Stanbrough was one of the seven original landholders of land that now comprises the Town of Cobourg(10). In 1797 there were no roads leading into this wilderness on the north shore of Lake Ontario, the only access was by boat. In that year Stanbrough Stancliff and his family began the arduous task of clearing the land and establishing a home. The area was isolated and primitive, and in order to have grain ground and obtain provisions, it was necessary to travel by boat all the way to Kingston, Ontario, Canada. By 1799 Stanbrough had cleared three or four acres of land(11), this was still short of the requirement to build a house and clear five acres. Stanbrough evidently satisfied the conditions of the grant and the land was signed over to him from the Crown on May 17, 1802(12).
The first Hamilton Township meeting was held in 1802 and the census was taken every year beginning in 1804. Stanbrough appears in those census records 1804 through 1808. From 1805 through 1808 the name of his son, Thomas, who had reached the age of an adult male also appears on the census.
There were rumblings of conflict between America and The British Empire and the American Colonists living in Canada grew uneasy. The June 27, 1807 "Chesapeake Affair" had a tremendous impact on American settlers in Canada(13). The American Frigate Chesapeake was surprised, attacked, and boarded by the British man-o-war H.M.S. Leopard off the Virginia capes. The U.S.S. Chesapeake's Captain, James Lawrence(14) was killed, and several of the American crewmen were taken aboard the British Ship and hung. The British officers claimed that the sailors were subjects of the King "once a subject, always a subject". The incident was spoken of as "the first shot of the second Revolution", and another war with England seemed inevitable.
Coincidentally on the same date that the Chesapeake incident occurred, June 27, 1807, Stanbrough wrote a deed for the sale of one half of his two hundred acres of land for the sum of �100-00-00(15). On July 14, 1807 Stanbrough P. Stancliff sold the remaining 100 acres of his land, again for the sum of �100-00-00(16). The family appears in the March 1808 Census, but since no Stancliff appears in the March 1809 Census, they probably left Canada between those dates.
At the time of the official outbreak of the War of 1812 Stanbrough Perigrine Stancliff had already abandoned his home on the north shore of Lake Ontario in Hamilton Township, Northumberland County, Ontario, Canada. He is quoted as saying "I fought to free this country, and will not stay in Canada and fight against it."(17)
By 1813 he was established in a frontier area of Ohio, in Athens County. In May of that year he served as an election official, in Elk Township then Athens County and now Vinton County, for the election of a Representative to Congress(18). It is of particular interest that he chose to locate in this area. The son of a quarryman and a stonemason, he grew up in Southbury, Connecticut on a homestead that had a quarry on the premises, where his father and at least two older brothers quarried stone for the gravestones and other stone work that comprised the family business. It is safe to assume that Stanbrough P. Stancliff was an experienced stone worker.
On Nov. 25, 1815 the town now known as McArthur was surveyed and platted. This location
for the town was chosen because the trails from the Burr-stone quarries intersected here.
One of the early settlers wrote a diary describing life at McArthurtown in the very early
days, she wrote in part-
"When we first came here there were perhaps fifty families in and around this settlement, most of them quarrying and making millstones. There were no persons making a business of farming. All had their patches of garden, but making millstones was the principal business....Trading was done principally at Chillicothe. There was no store closer than Chillicothe or Athens....I was not used to backwood's life, and the howling of the wolves, with nothing but a suspended bed-quilt for a door, coupled with the other discomforts of border life, made me wish many a time that I was back at my good old home.... On the 14th day of January, 1815, the chimney was built; my husband had got some plank and a sash, and made the door and the window. The hinges and latches were of wood. Our cabin was the only one in the whole country around that had a glass window...."(19).
An 1815 Court case placed a value of two hundred dollars on a pair of these burr-stone mill wheels. That is a handsome sum when the price of a town lot in the new town of McArthur at this same time was only fifty dollars. The erection of a mill to grind grain and corn, was generally one of the first needs of a new community. This was the frontier and the demand for pairs of these stones was steady. The quarry business flourished, and "McArthurtown" came into existence. Stanbrough P. Stancliff purchased three of the original 112 inlots(20), lots #41, #42, and #87, in the emerging town. In 1815, he built the first house in McArthur.
Perry Stancliff, grandson of this man, said that Stanbrough was the first Justice of the Peace in the town and because he was a cripple as a result of wounds received in the War of the Revolution, he spent many years as a school teacher.
The early records of the township no longer exist and there is no way to know if he truly was the first Justice of the Peace, but he was elected to that office by May 26, 1817. At that time he posted a performance bond with the Elk township Trustees, Jacob Hawk, Moses Dawson and Robert Palmer. Signing that bond with him were Joel Sage proprietor of the local Tavern, and John Phillips, owner of the local store. The witnesses to that bond were sons-in-law Daniel Duhadway and Elijah Gillet Throckmorton(21).
There is some conflict on the extent of Stanbrough's handicap. This man had cleared land in compliance with the homestead act in Canada, at a time when his sons were still very young. He arrived in Elk township before the time when the pioneers who settled there were seeking a school teacher, and he built the first house, all indications of a vigorous man. Perry says "he was wounded in the leg" and he no doubt did walk with a limp, but he seemed to lead an active life. A second conflict is the name that appears in the early histories of the area, "Among the first teachers was J. Stanclift, who was a man of more than ordinary ability for his day"(22), and another account which says " Phillips and Wimser about the year 1817 opened a store on the lot now owned by Dr. A. Wolf.(23) At that period James Stancliff, the first Justice of the Peace, started the first School"(24) and "A Mr. Stanclift, a teacher of reputed ability, taught in a hut on a lot where Dr. Wolfe later built his residence"(25). It is believed that the name James and the spelling of the surname with an "ft" was an error in the earliest printed History and quoted by subsequent histories, and that Perry, the grandson of this man, was correct in identifying the teacher and Justice of the Peace as Stanbrough Perigrine Stancliff. Stanbrough's family members are the only individuals named Stancliff in Ohio records at this date.
Perry Stancliff said that Stanbrough was a preacher for the Methodist-Episcopal Church, but not a Circuit Rider. The records of the Methodist Church(26) covering the Ohio Conference(27) revealed only one Methodist Preacher named Stancliff. This was Russel Stancliff, son of Stanbrough's brother James, who lived in Washington Township, Erie County, Pa. and never appeared in the records as living elsewhere. There was a Methodist Episcopal Church organized in McArthur in 1814, meeting at the various homes of the members until the church building was erected 1818 to 1820. It is probable that given the frontier nature of the community in the early days, that members of the church acted as lay leaders at those meetings when an ordained preacher was not available. Under those conditions Stanbrough Stancliff probably did preach from time to time. Unfortunately no records from this church can be found extant today.
The frequency with which Stanbrough Stancliff appears in the Athens County records indicates that to spite his wounds, he was able to make the 20 mile trip from McArthur to Athens without a great deal of trouble. He was on the grand Jury many times and in 1818 he was elected as one of the three Commissioners of Athens County, which necessitated his presence in the town of Athens for several days during each of the four Court terms or sessions, held each year. He acted as inspector of the road to Galliopolis in 1818. He was paid by the County for cut stone in 1819, during the period that materials were being acquired for the building of the new Court house(28). He must have been a fairly robust man at this time for on March 3, 1820 he, along with nine other persons, including his son, David, was indicted for engaging in a breach of peace against the State of Ohio, an affray involving fisticuffs. Stanbrough P. Stancliff died between March 1820 and July 1820. The Court case against him was dismissed for this reason. David Stancliff and most of the others pleaded guilty and sustained a fine(29). One of those indicted was Thomas Wren, proprietor of the local tavern, allowing for some interesting speculation on the nature of the "affray". The legal definition of affray, as it was termed in the indictment, is "a fight or riot in a public place"(30), or a Brawl!. A private fight is not so termed.
On July 4, 1820 during the July Court term and the day after David was fined for the fight, David Stancliff was appointed by the Court to be Administrator on the Estate of Stanbrough P. Stancliff, deceased: Noah Miles and Thomas Miles his sureties to give bonds in the sum of $100.00. David Doughty, Daniel Rowell(31), and James Lucky were appointed appraisers(32). That very same day David Stancliff obtained a License to marry Amy Miles, daughter of Noah and sister of Thomas Miles.
The appraisal of the estate of Stanbrough P. Stancliff was recorded on October 24, 1820(33). While the results of the sale are recorded(34), there was no date given. Those who purchased items were Isaac Hawley and Daniel Duhadway, sons-in-law of Stanbrough Stancliff; David B. Stancliff, his son; Noah Wilcox, married to sister of David's wife Amy, who purchased a pair of spectacles; Noah Miles, Amy's father who purchased Cooper's tools and Daniel Rowell, who purchased household goods along with the family members. The papers filed in File Box 173 at the Athens County Probate Court, were in a protective envelope and on the outside it says " Stambrough Stancliff decd. John Winters or John Minton Adm. Jan 21/1826". If the name is Winters then this is a son-in-law. There was no explanation as to why David was no longer listed as administrator or why the date 1826 was on the file.
There did not seem to be a "return to Court" record during the January Court term.
Sibbel [Davis] Stancliff was not mentioned in any of these papers as the widow. The only date on which her name appeared at all in Athens County Records was when she was paid for being a witness at the July 1818 Session of the Athens County Court of Common Pleas.
By tracing the three inlots at McArthur purchased by Stanbrough P. Stancliff we found that at the time of his death the property had already passed into other hands. In 1839 in a Court Action brought by Samuel K. Wills and designed to clear the title upon those lots, the living children and heirs of Stanbrough P. Stancliff were named and the heirs of Stanbrough's deceased children were also provided(35).
The first four children of this couple were all baptized the same date in St Johnsville, Montgomery County, New York. The birth dates were part of the baptism records and not listed under births. This suggests that Stanbrough and Sibyl had lived in an area that did not have a church or minister available during those years between their marriage in 1784 and 1792. Perhaps during this time they were in Ballston Spa, Albany County, NY with others from both of their families. At that time of the baptisms Stanbrough and Sibyl were "of Palatine", a nearby town(36). While living in Canada, the family appeared in the Hamilton Township Census taken each year 1804 through 1808. These census records counted both males and females below the age of 16 and from 16 to 60. Males over 16 listed by name. These records combined with the U.S. Federal Census records allow for an analysis of the children in this family and an estimate of their birth year.
CHILDREN: Stanbrough P. and Sibbel [Davis] Stancliff, one female still missing.
+ 82- 1. MARY STANCLIFF "Polly" born Feb. 15, 1786, baptized Dec. 30, 1792, married in Canada by 1804, DANIEL TRIPP.
83- 2. THOMAS STANCLIFF born August 27, 1788, baptized Dec. 30, 1792 sponsored by Johannes and Anna Snell. Perry Stancliff said he died during the War of 1812 in the service of the United States.
+ 84- 3. ELIZABETH STANCLIFF "Betsy" born October 8, 1790, baptized Dec. 30, 1792, died in Jackson County, OH in 1835, married 1. ____ PORTER, married 2.DANIEL DUHADWAY.
85- 4. PERRY STANCLIFF born Aug. 20, 1792, baptized Dec. 30, 1792 sponsored by Conrad and Margaretha Zimmerman of Manhiem, Montgomery County, NY, died during the War of 1812.
86- 5. LUCINDA STANCLIFF born 1793 probably in NY, married Athens County, OH April 27,1820 ISAAC HAWLEY, License dated Feb. 21, 1820, Athens County. It is possible that this is Isaac Hawley son of Richard and Hannah [Bellamy] Hawley, born Southbury, CT July 18, 1799, as the migration patterns of members of the Hawley family parallel closely those of the Stancliff family. They were living in Hocking County, OH in 1839 and both Isaac and Hannah signed the subpena demanding their presence in Court at that time. Isaac was one of those who purchased items from Stanbrough Stancliff's estate sale. See Appendix A: HAWLEY II
+ 87- 6. DAVID B. STANCLIFF born 1795 "near Niagara Falls", died Ross County, OH Feb. 13, 1849, married 1. Athens County, OH July 20, 1820 AMY MILES, married 2. Hocking County, OH November 1, 1829 LEAH BURCH, married 3. Athens County, OH Oct. 22, 1839 MARY [LANE] TAGG.
+ 88- 7. SARAH STANCLIFF probably called "Sarah Jane" born in Upper Canada 1797 or 1798 about the time the family was moving to Hamilton Township, Northumberland County, Ontario, Canada, married before 1817 ELIJAH GILLET THROCKMORTON.
+ 89- 8. HANNAH STANCLIFF born Hamilton Township, Northumberland County, Ontario, Canada 1800, married 1. Athens County, OH Sept. 14, 1819 NATHAN LOVELESS, married 2. by 1839, ANDREW McPHEETER.
+ 90- 9. OLIVE STANCLIFF born Hamilton Township, Northumberland County, Ontario, Canada either 1802 or 1807, married ____ TRIPP.
91- 10. FEMALE CHILD born Hamilton Township in 1804 and probably the female child who died there in 1805.
92- 11. ANN STANCLIFF born Hamilton Township, Northumberland County, Ontario, Canada either 1802 or 1807, married 1. Jackson County, OH July 6, 1825 GEORGE GRANT, married 2. Jackson County, OH by John Breed J.P. Oct. 8, 1835, JOHN WINTERS(37). Her name appears in Jackson County Records as Ann Grout or Gront. The large Ledger book written in many different hands, some more legible than others. The absence of any other record containing that name in Jackson County and the ease with which one could mistake the cursive letters "an" for "ou" points to Ann Grout being Ann Grant. There are many records for the Winters family in Jackson County and they are the same family found in McArthur, Vinton County, OH. The information at this time, however, is confusing and contradictory. Part of the land belonging to Elijah Throckmorton was by 1876 property of J. Winters(38).
+ 93-12. JAMES STANCLIFF born Hamilton Township, Northumberland County, Ontario, Canada 1807 or 1808, married HANNAH ____.
See Appendix A: DAVIS
____________________________________________________________
Footnotes:
1. .Signature taken from 1807 Deed, Instrument Number 132, at the Cobourg Registry Office, Ontario, Canada.
2. .Simsbury Vital Records, Vol. TM4, page 183.
3. .ATHENS COUNTY COMMISSIONERS JOURNAL, page 103, lists Stanbrough P. Stancliff among the Grand Jurors for the March 1820 session of Court. Athens County, Ohio Court of Common Pleas, July Term 1820, page 210, On July 4, 1820 David Stancliff, son, appointed administrator on estate of Stanbrough P. Stancliff, deceased.
4. .RECORDS OF REV. ROGER VIETS, RECTOR OF ST. ANDREWS, SIMSBURY, CONN., Page 59
5. .Simsbury Vital Records,TM4, page 176.
6. .ATHENS COUNTY, OHIO COMMISSIONER'S JOURNAL, page 75, Sybille was paid for being a witness before the Grand Jury at the July 1819 Term.
7. .THE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF BUREAU, MARSHALL, PUTNAM & STARK COUNTIES, ILLINOIS 1897, page 657.
8. .Ontario, Canada National Archives, Ottawa, Canada, microfiche call number MG9 D4, Stanbrough received a grant from the Crown according to Orders in Council July 3, 1797.
9. .Official Documents Office, Toronto, Canada, Crown Grant registered Liber HA, folio 249, . In the United States the land is laid out in Range and Townships grids, in Ontario they are called Lots and Concessions. The "broken front" meant that it was on the uneven shore line and not a square measurement.
10. .EARLY COBOURG by Percy L. Climo, 1985, page 18-20. Percy Climo, a noted Historian in the Cobourg area, was of great help in the research of Stanbrough during his years in Canada. Mr. Climo, in turn, was delighted to learn about Stanbrough P. Stancliff as Stanbrough was the only man among the seven first settlers who did not leave records of his family in Canada.
11. .Ontario, Canada National Archives, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Microfilm #C-10229
12. .Hamilton Township Deeds, Abstract of Lot #14 Concessions A&B, Cobourg Registry Office, Cobourg, Ontario
13. .UPPER CANADA, THE FORMATIVE YEARS by Gerald M. Craig, 1963, pages 43,68
14. .NAVAL CUSTOMS, TRADITION, AND USAGE by Leland P. Lovette, page 199 it was Capt Lawrence who after being wounded, lay below decks admonishing his crew "Fight her till she sinks and Don't give up the Ship". This resolution became the slogan of Oliver Hazard Perry who named his flagship after Lawrence.
15. .Cobourg Registry Office, Instrument No. 858. Registered Nov. 5, 1821.
16. .Cobourg Registry Office, Instrument No. 132, registered Jan. 16 1808.
17. . THE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF BUREAU, MARSHALL, PUTNAM AND STARK COUNTIES ILLINOIS, 1897, The Biography of Perry Stancliff, page 656
18. .ATHENS COUNTY, OHIO COMMISSIONERS' JOURNALS, Volume 1808-1813, page 149.
19. .THE HISTORY OF HOCKING VALLEY, Personal Recollections of Vinton County Sixty Years Ago written by Charlotte E. Bothwell at McArthur July 5, 1874. pages 1210, 1211.
20. .Land and Property Records of Athens County, Athens County Court House, Athens Ohio
21. .Athens County Court of Common Pleas, Record Volume I, page 242, Winters et al (Elk Twp Trustees) vs Phillips October Term 1821
22. .HISTORY OF HOCKING VALLEY, OHIO, 1883, page 1225
23. .On May 13,1816 Stanbrough P. Stancliff sold lot #42 in McArthurtown to John Phillips. This same lot was owned by Dr Andrew Wolf by Dec.11,1847.
24. .HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF OHIO, Henry Howe and Sons 1889-1891, Vol. 2, page 737.
25. .A BRIEF HISTORY OF VINTON COUNTY, OHIO by Louise Ogan Biggs, 1950, page 89
26. .United Methodist Archives Center, Beegley Library, Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware Ohio.
27. .The Ohio Conference in this year covered Ohio as well as portions of Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
28. .ATHENS COUNTY COMMISSIONER'S JOURNALS, Volumes 1803-1808; 1808-1813; 1813-1817; and 1817-1824.
29. .Athens County Ohio Court of Common Pleas Minutes -Vol.1
30. .BLACK'S LAW DICTIONARY, Fifth Edition, 1979, page 56.
31. .When Stanbrough's estate was sold,this man purchased a number of household items. He is the only one on the list of purchasers who's relationship to Stanbrough P. Stancliff is unknown.
32. 5. Daniel Rowell David Dotty, James Lucky and Noah Miles were all in Lee Twp. Athens Co. along with David Stancliff in 1820 census.
33. .Athens County Probate Court Testamentary Record, Will Book B, page 9.
34. .Athens County Probate Court Testamentary Record Will Book B, page 22.
35. .Athens County Court of Common Pleas; Minutes Vol. 4, pages 295 and 301; Chancery Records Book 5, pages 254 and 261.
36. .Records of the St. Johns Dutch Reform Church, St. Johnsville, Montgomery County, New York. Vol I Baptisms and Births 1788 to 1794; Records written in German. Vosburgh Collection- Early New York Church Records compiled by Ralph Woodward Vosburgh
37. .Jackson County, OH Marriage Records Book I, page 53, Record 622
38. .ATLAS OF VINTON COUNTY, OH by D. J. Lake, published 1876, page 23
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