The Islands: Early Settlers: Wolfe Island

Early Settlers

Wolfe Island

This page will list early settlers and any information
I can find about them.
It will also list the first settlers of any surname, regardless of date.

Also see MAPS/DIRECTORIES section of this website!

Please SUBMIT your early or first settlers, or any
information you have on any of the persons, and their family,
listed below. Approximate dates are fine, as long as you state that.
Please list sources if possible (Where you found the information.)

*Many of the early settlers were Empire Loyalists (UE).
*The Island was first seriously settled in 1823, at this time only 15 families made up the entire population of the island.
*By 1826 the population was 276 and peaked in 1861 at 3601.
*The largest influx is said to be between 1840 and 1860 when large numbers of Irish immigrated.
*A century later came a large number of Dutch families.(See seperate section below)

BARRETT, Isaac T., 1816
BENNETT (UE), Alvhy
BREDEN, William
BUSH, Ely, 1831
CADIEUX, Felix Joseph was born May 24, 1841 on Wolfe Island. Son of Leon Cadieux & Thaisse Huot (Yotte) Thaisse Huot was born May 11, 1821 Terrebonne, PQ and died before 1851 either on Wolfe or Howe Island. She married Oct 29, 1838, St Jerome PQ Leon Cadieux born Apr 12, 1816, Rivere de Nord PQ and died 09, Jul 1899 House of Providence, Kingston and is buried on Lot 12, North Shore, Howe Island. Vital stats no. 009307
CONE, Darius, 1817
COOK, Daniel, 1837 settled the "Ridge".
COM(M)ERFORD, James Michael , b. 1815, Ireland; Wife, Bridget Hawkins b. 1820, Ireland; lived con. 7, lot 6 south of baseline; occupation, farmer. Arrived on Wolf Island about late 1830's or early 1840's. Lived in Kingston possibly before moving to Wolf Island.
COOPER, Lewis, 1817
CRAWFORD, Ezra (1828-1888) of Kingston and wife Ann O'DONNELL (1823-1915). Arrived Wolfe Island between 1849 and 1851, living on Division Street, Marysville. Ezra was a mariner, a Captain on the Lakes.
DAVIS, Richard(UE),supposedly a drummer in Sir John Johnson�s regiment
DAWSON, John B. (1797-1882) and his spouse, Mary McCALLUM (1798-1873) were born in Ireland. They moved to Wolfe Island prior to the birth of their second child in February 1826. The 1851 census shows John running a hotel in Marysville (now owned by the Woodman�s). The DAWSONS had nine children--two who served as Wolfe Island reeves.
FERGUSON, John, 1813, crown land agent
GARRETT, William
GREENWOOD, Maxim, 1830's from Three Rivers, QUE. Married Elizabeth YOTT. Died 1904.
HADLEY, William, 1816
HINCKLEY (UE), Samuel from USA
HITCHCOCK (UE), Samuel from USA
KIRKPATRICK, James born 12 July 1820 in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Ireland, left for North America at the age of 21. It is not known which ship he travelled on or where he landed. It is assumed he landed in the United States and found his way to Wolfe Island, Canada. He married 20 May 1840 to Julia Emily Brown born 23 August 1821. They lived in a shanty, and worked on a farm in lot (2) two, concession (3) three, south of the baseline. They raised (10) ten children;
John 18 May 1841, Michael 14 Feb 1843, Margaret-Ann 24 Feb 1845, Mary-Ann 18 Apr 1847, William 23 July 1849, Catherine Jane 9 Jan 1852, Julia Emily 6 Aug 1854, Sarah Hanna 30 Dec 1856, Victoria Cornelia 31 Aug 1859, James 14 July 1863,
Julia Emily Brown died 5 March 1881 in Wolfe Island, Kingston Ontario.
LEFLEUR, Peter, 1817, french naval captain.
MACDONALD CLAN of Glengarry; abt 1820 founded the "Scotch Settlement".
MARTIN(UE)
McAVOY, Patrick (1824-1888) and his wife, Catherine DAWSON (1832-1905) were early Wolfe Island settlers. Catherine was born on the Island (daughter of John B. DAWSON), while Patrick emigrated from Ireland to Wolfe Island around 1848. Patrick was a blacksmith in Marysville. The McAVOYS eventually purchased property on concession 8-2 SBL to farm and raise their twelve children.
MOSIER (MOSHER), Nicholas, Lewis & Reuben(UE), Loyalists from Landsdowne who were originally french hugeunots.
RATTRAY, James, wife Elizabeth LOW, 1830
ROGERS, James (1801-1864) and his spouse, Margaret McGUIRE (1807 to 1887) were born in Ireland. They were first recorded as living on Wolfe Island with the birth of a child in November 1836. James was a farmer and they lived on lot 8-3 SBL. The ROGERS had twelve children who grew up on the island.
SLUMAN, Thomas (1788-1857) of Launcells, Cornwall, England and wife Mary PARSONS. Arrived on Wolfe Island about 1836. Son Gilbert SLUMAN was a General Merchant on Wolfe Island with a store on Main Street, Marysville, Wolfe Island 1878.
SPOOR (UE), wife Olive TOFT, children Sarah Ann and Morey.
STALEY (UE), Martin
WILDER, Artemas, (c. 1814-1889), (brother to John Wilder, below) born Montreal, Quebec and his spouse, MARY MAXWELL (c. 1825-1923), born Ireland. According to the 1851 Agricultural Census, they had a one-storey log house and farmed 90 acres on Concession 10, Lot 1. They were Episcopal Methodists, probably came to the Island around the time of their marriage in 1848, and raised ten children: James (1849-); Betsey Sherburne (1852-1948); George (1853-); Martha (c.1856-1930); Henry (1857); Laura (c. 1859-1930); Joseph Edward (c.1861-); Charlotte (1862-1966!); Emma (1867-1948); John (1868-); Jonas (c. 1864-1922). According to an article in the Kingston Whig Standard, 22 September 1962, on the occasion of Charlotte�s 100th birthday, they left the Island around 1871.
WILDER, Betsy (c. 1808-1894), born Lancaster, NH (sister to Artemas and John), came with their parents, first to Kingston, where their father, Artemas, died of cholera in 1832 and then to Wolfe Island, where she lived with her brother Artemas and his wife, Mary Maxwell. Their gravestone is in Cataraqui cemetery, Kingston, Lot 27, Section Old C and simply reads: �Betsy Wilder/ Artemas Wilder/ His wife/ Mary Maxwell/ their children/ Jonas, Laura/ Martha, Emma/ Charlotte/ Wilder�.
WILDER, Catherine Sherburne, (1779-1858), born Portsmouth, NH. She and her husband, Artemas Wilder, Sr. (1776-1832), left Lancaster, NH, towards the end of 1812, going first to Montreal, Quebec, where their son, Artemas Jr. was born, and then to Kingston. Her husband died of cholera in 1832; another son, Jonas had died in 1823 at the age of 18; and she moved to Wolfe Island, with her son John around 1838. She died on the Island twenty years later.
WILDER, John, (1812-), born Lancaster, NH (brother to Artemas, above) and his spouse, MARY HARVEY(1815-), born England. According to the 1851 Agricultural Census, they had a one-storey log house and farmed 50 acres on Concession 10, Lot 3.5. He was a Methodist and she was an Anglican. They had eleven children, the first two born in Kingston, eight on Wolfe Island, and the last in Armada Township, Michigan: John W. (1836-1861); Henry L.(1837-); Catherine H. (1839-); William H. (1841-1874); Jonas W. (1843-); Phebe E. (1845-); Samuel S. (1847-); Artemas Taylor (1851-); Albert P.(1853-); Almira (1856-1874); Isaac R. (1860-1861). According to an article on �Macomb Co. Pioneers�, published in 1882, John and his family left Wolfe Island for Michigan in 1858, probably on the death of his mother, Catherine Sherburne Wilder.
WILSON (UE)

From C.W. Grant Account Book of Land Sales:

Thomas Brooks, 1839, no. 1, 8th Con. (W. half)
Thomas Bannister, 1838, no. 1, 8th Con. (E. half)
Ezil Cook, 1838, no. 7, 5th Con.
James Grame, 1837, no. 9, 5th Con.
D.A. Hitchcock, 1839, no. 3. 7th Con.
Hiram Lathrop, 1835, no. 10, 6th Con.
Uriah Lidford, 1840, no. 12, 6th Con.
Martin Staley, 1840, no. 23. Line 7
Donald McDonnell, 1836, lot 12, 13th Con.
James Smith, 1838, no. 5, 11th Con.
William Randal, 1840, lot 2, 10th Con.
William Abbott, 1841, 8th Con. S. of Base Line
Terence Conley, 1840, no. 5, 4th Con. (110 acres)
James Conley, 1840, no. 5, 4th Con. (84 acres)
William Dawson, 1839, no. 9, 5th Con. (E. half)
Michael Baker, 1840, no. 4, 8th Con.
Donald Cameron, 1838, no. 1, 10th Con.
William Grimshaw, 1834, no. 2, 2nd Con.
James Coyle, 1839, no.2, 8th Con.
Joseph Huot, 1840, no. 1, 1st Con.

Cosgrove notes that most of the transactions involved the purchase off 100 acres at 125 pounds. Info from Queen's Archives, Kingston. An example is given for William Abbott, who paid 125 pounds for 100 acres. I'm assuming that the names above without acres listed bought 100 acres, but I could be wrong. :)

Dutch

29 famlies immigrated.

BROEDERS
deRUITER
HASSELAAR
POSTHUMOUS
SJONGER
VANSTRIEN
VOLLERING

SOURCES:
-Wolfe Island Past and Pressent, by Winston M. Cosgrove,1973; with permission.
-County of a Thousand Lakes: the hitsroy of the County of Frontenac 1673-1973
-Chris Morrell (Sluman & Crawford)
-Barbara (Commerford surname) Her Sources: 1851 & 1861 Census and Sacred Heart Baptism transcriptions.
-Pat McAvoy-Costin (Rogers, Dawson & McAvoy surnames) Sources:1851 Wolfe Island Census Sacred Heart Baptism Records
-Kirkpatrick info from Patricia O'Reilly
-Wilder info from Beverly Straub Watkins

The Islands: Early Settlers: Wolfe Island