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one of the most prosperous and well-respected families in the area. The Secords were shopkeepers in nearby St. Davids, a village whose original name had been Four Mile Creek. A number of major creeks in the area were named according to their distance from the Niagara River.
Much of the stock for Secord’s store would arrive by ship at Queenston, and occasionally James would be the one to come to the landing to collect the shipment. A stop at the Ingersoll Tavern before heading back seemed to be in order for the young man who had been immediately attracted to the vivacious girl with the expressive brown eyes — Laura Ingersoll, daughter of the owner.
James Secord had been born in New Rochelle, in the colony of New York, on July 7, 1773. His parents were James Secord Sr. and Madelaine Badeau. He’d been just five years old when he and his family came to Niagara from the United States in 1778. His father, Lieutenant James Secord Sr., and two older brothers were members of Butler’s Rangers, among the first Loyalists to come to Upper Canada.
Organized by Colonel John Butler, the Rangers had fought on the side of the British during the American War of Independence. Colonel Butler had been aware that many Loyalists who had tried to return home after the war had been either banished, thrown in prison, or murdered, and he arranged for his Rangers and their families to have a home on the west side of the Niagara River.
Another account has Mrs. Secord and four other women, accompanied by thirty-one children, including James, arriving by wagon at Fort Niagara “in a starving state.”
The group had fled through the wilderness, escaping for their lives from a band of ruffians who were intent on driving Loyalists from their homes on the banks of the Hudson River and the Mohawk Valley. After nearly a month of hardship the refugees, guided on the journey by friendly Natives of the Iroquois Confederacy, arrived at Fort Niagara with only the clothes on their backs.
Land grants were made to Butler’s Rangers around 1784, after the lots had been surveyed. Until then, all new arrivals squatted close to Fort Niagara, where they were given tents, food, and clothing. Nearly everyone had to depend on the generosity of the government. The food rations they received consisted of flour, pork, a limited amount of beef, and a bit of butter. For a period of three years, or until they could provide clothing for themselves, the refugees were supplied with coarse cloth to make their own trousers and dresses, with Indian blankets to be made into warm coats, and with shoes.
Once they received their land grant the Loyalists were given some basic tools, some seed grain to cultivate, and possibly a cow that they would share with one other family. As well, the government saw that gristmills were shortly erected to aid the settlers.
However he got there, James Secord grew up on the Niagara Peninsula, and at the time of his meeting with Laura Ingersoll, he owned two hundred acres at St. Davids, land he’d received as a United Empire Loyalist.
The Secord family came originally from La Rochelle, France, where their name was D’Secor (or Sicard). One of the men in the family had converted to Protestantism and his descendants followed suit. Those of that particular branch of the family who survived the persecution of the French Huguenots (French Protestants) in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries included five brothers who eventually immigrated to America, settling in Westchester County, New York. They founded the town of New Rochelle and became successful lumbermen.
When the American War of Independence divided the family’s loyalty, those who sided with the British changed their surname to the more anglicized Secord.
Although the exact date and location of Laura Ingersoll’s wedding to James Secord is not known, it was most likely in June 1797. The marriage records have been lost. The couple may well have been married by James’s older brother, David, who was a justice of the peace in St. Davids. All his records were lost when the town was burned by the Americans in July 1814.
Only clergymen of the Church of England (Anglican) were permitted to perform weddings at the time. Except for circuit riders or saddlebag preachers, clergy in Upper Canada were scarce. For this reason, magistrates were commonly called upon to perform marriage ceremonies.
Because James Secord’s family was wealthy, one can imagine that the wedding of Laura and James would have been quite lavish, complete with ribbon-tied, handwritten invitations. Had Laura’s family come from Oxford-on-the-Thames to attend the happy event? Her sisters Elizabeth and Mira were young adults of seventeen and fifteen respectively. The Ingersolls’ daughter was marrying well, and it seems likely that Thomas and Laura’s stepmother, Sally, would have been there to give the young couple their blessing.
It was usual at that time for the wedding ceremony to be held in the evening and for the bride to wear white, with “something borrowed” for good luck. It was customary for the groom’s parents to give an elaborate supper for the many guests, and this would be followed by dancing — or cards for those who desired a less strenuous activity.
After the wedding, Laura went to live in the house in St. Davids that had been built for James. The front half of the ground floor of the house was taken up by James’s store; the merchandise — everything from bolts of printed calico, pudding dishes, and brass candlesticks to casks of rum, men’s hats, and snuff boxes — was displayed in the front windows so that people passing by in the street could see what was for sale. The rest of the house was their private home.
Laura would have been a willing and capable assistant in James’s store, accustomed to helping her father Thomas in his business, and the tiny community of St. Davids, four miles west of Queenston, welcomed the shy new bride into their midst. Laura’s closest friend and confidante in the village was her sister-in-law, Hannah (or Annatie) DeFreest Secord, wife of Stephen (or Etienne). The Stephen Secords lived at the northeast end of the village, where they ran a mill.
Hannah may well have been at Laura’s bedside to assist her when she delivered her first child, Mary, born in St. Davids in 1799.
More than anything, James wanted to provide Laura with many luxuries, but he’d fallen into the habit of extending credit to his customers and was having trouble getting paid enough to make ends meet. During the early years of the Secords’ marriage, finances were often strained.
Hoping to remedy the situation, James made the decision to establish a general store in Queenston, a much more important centre of business than little St. Davids. He opened the store near the wharf in Queenston and bought land near what was then the end of town, below the Niagara Escarpment, a short walk from his business. There he would one day build a house for his family.
In the meantime, he commuted between Queenston and their home in St. Davids. Daughter Charlotte arrived in 1801, and two years later, on February 10, 1803, Harriet was born.
The restored Secord home at Queenston, now an interpretive centre.
Source: Wikipedia. Author Ken Lund.
Richard Cartwright (1759–1815), the husband of James’s only sister, Magdalene, was one of the most successful businessmen in Upper Canada. He became James Secord’s adviser. He was also James’s chief supplier of goods for his store.
Based at Niagara, Cartwright, a committed Loyalist, had served as secretary for John Butler’s Rangers until 1780. Subsequently, he became a merchant involved in the provisioning trade and was for ten years in partnership with the wealthy shipping agent Robert Hamilton, the founder of Queenston.
After moving to Kingston in 1785, Cartwright built up the largest retail outlet in the town. As well as being a justice of the peace and a judge in the Court of Common Pleas, he was a member of the first Legislative Council of Upper Canada. Before Simcoe returned to England, he commissioned Cartwright lieutenant-governor of Frontenac County.
James Secord had the idea that he would like to establish a potashery. Potash was first produced when the settlers were clearing their land and burning the hardwood trees. The product was obtained by leaching the ashes left from the fire and then catching the runoff to be evaporated in iron pots.
The result was caustic potash, which the settlers