Veteran

Jesse Page
1st Regiment Middlesex Militia

Jesse Page
Unveiling of Private Jesse Page’s plaque by members of St Mark’s Masonic Lodge #94: L to R Bro. John Skidmore, Historian, Bro. Donald Cousins and Worshipful Master Robert Kenney. Jesse Page’s gravestone bears the insignia of the Freemasons, however lodge records only go back to the 1860s so no history on Jesse Page’s membership exists.

Jesse Page was born the 30 August 1771 in Goochland,  Virginia, the son of Joseph Page and Mary Robbins.  He was the eldest son, but second of five children born to Joseph and Mary.  At some point, Jesse emigrated to Wainfleet  Twp.,  Welland County where he met and married  Elizabeth Parker on the 20 February 1810.  Elizabeth was born the 2 Jan 1776 in  Northumberland County, Pennsylvania.  Jesse and Elizabeth were members of the Society of Friends and became one of the original families who followed Jonathan Doan to Yarmouth  Twp., Elgin County when the Quaker  colony was being established there.

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Veteran

Richard Lanning
1st Flank Company
1st Regiment Norfolk Militia

Richard Lanning
Richard Lanning is second from the left. his son, Tom (uniform) on far left, grandkids across the front and wife, Noreen Lanning on right was our piper. The blue cards were made up for the after event, each telling briefly the story of each vet. These are now in the Old Forge Museum in Sparta.

The Lanning name has morphed many times over the years, with spelling varying from Lanon to Lanion-Lanyon-Laneine back to the 12th Century spelling of DeLinyeine.  Genealogists have identified the family as originating in Madron, Cornwall, England, dating back to the 12th Century.

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1st Flank Company
1st Regiment Norfolk Militia →

Veteran

Seth Preffer
1st Regiment Middlesex Militia

Seth PrefferSeth Preffer was born the 9 July 1795, likely in Wainfleet Twp., Lincoln County, Upper Canada to Jacob Preffer and Elizabeth (Betsey) Parker, who had come into this Province in 1805.   The Preffers lived in the Sugarloaf area, west of Port Colborne  and were members of the Pelham  Black Creek Meeting.  Jacob was a blacksmith by trade.

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1st Regiment Middlesex Militia →

Veteran

John Stoneburgh
1st Regiment Prince Edward Militia

John Stoneburgh was born c1788 into a family with Loyalist roots in lower New York and Bergen County New Jersey. He was the eldest son of Loyalist Peter Stoneburgh Sr. and Hannah Nix.  John was  also the grandson of Loyalist Harmanus Nix Sr.  who died during the Revolutionary War while serving in the New Jersey Volunteers.

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Veteran

Ira Bearss
3rd Regiment Lincoln Militia

A Quaker in the militia?  Pacificism is one of the basic tenets of the Quakers.  Moreover, during the War of 1812 Quakers, Mennonites and Tunkers could be exempt from the usually compulsory military duty thanks to Sir John Graves Simcoe and the Militia Act of 1808.  Yet Ira Bearss, 1789-1874, a Quaker, served with the 3rd Regiment Lincoln Militia during the War of 1812.   Ira’s brother Daniel Bearss, 1788-1850, served in the same regiment as did a third brother,  Josiah Bearss, 1791-1879.  Josiah’s grave in Zion Cemetery, Ridgeway, Ontario, has already been commemorated with a War of 1812 veterans marker.

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3rd Regiment Lincoln Militia →