Tag Archives: Queenston Heights

Veteran

Henry Lewis Smith
2nd Flank Company
5th Regiment Lincoln Militia

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Private Henry Lewis Smith

Henry Lewis SmithHenry Lewis Smith was born 28 Jul 1786, in Sussex County, New Jersey, and died 18 Apr 1859. He married in 1808 Elizabeth Vandecar, daughter of Alexander Vandecar, United Empire Loyalist, born 11 Apr 1789, died 11 Mar 1863. His family had been members of the New Jersey Volunteers, and had served consistently for the British during the American Revolution. Henry died April 1859 in his 72nd year.

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2nd Flank Company
5th Regiment Lincoln Militia →

Veteran

Lewis B Smith
2nd Regiment Lincoln Artillery

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Gunner Lewis B. Smith

Lewis B SmithLewis B Smith born 10 Jun 1764 in Amwell, Sussex, New Jersey, USA and his wife Phoebe Huffman born 30 Sep 1772 , married in 1785, at Johnsonburg, New Jersey, U.S.A. Shortly there after, they headed to Upper Canada to escape persecution.

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2nd Regiment Lincoln Artillery →

Veteran

Daniel McAfee
Flank Company
5th Regiment Lincoln Militia

Daniel McAfee was born 4 Aug 1791 in New York State, the son of Lieut. Dudley McAfee.  By  1812 he had crossed the Niagara River and was living in the Niagara Peninsula.  He served as a Sergeant, serving under Captain Samuel Hatt’s Flank Company, 5th Regiment Lincoln Militia, from 1812 to 1814.  Daniel was at the taking of Detroit and at the Battle of Queenston Heights.  He was taken prisoner by the Americans while conveying prisoners down the lake to Toronto and confined at Greenbush, near Albany, digging himself out and escaping.  He was discharged at Queenston.  His service is well-documented in 1812 Upper Canada Returns, Nominal Rolls and Paylists, RG 9 1B7. In 1876, when the  Dominion of Canada presented the veterans of the War of 1812 with an annuity, Daniel is 84 years old and applied for this annuity from Galt in Waterloo County.

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Flank Company
5th Regiment Lincoln Militia →

Veteran

Joseph Clement UE
1st Regiment Lincoln Militia

Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Clement UE, 1st Regiment Lincoln Militia (1790-1867)

Joseph Clement was born in Niagara Township on the 24 Aug 1790. He was the son of United Empire Loyalists, James Clement and Catherine (neé) Crysler, daughter of Loyalist, Adam Chrysler. James appeared on the muster of the Lincoln militia as early as 1797 according to A Holden papers at the Mayholme Library. The History of that Branch of the Crysler Family who Settled in the Township of Niagara by John M Crysler indicates that James was a despatch carrier and held the rank of Lieutenant during the War of 1812.

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Veteran

Walter B Dittrick UE
Flank Company
4th Regiment Lincoln Militia

Walter Dittrick was born on the 31 May 1793 on the family farmstead, 12 Mile Creek St. Catharines, Upper Canada as recorded in the family bible (St. Catharines Public Library, Special Collections). He was the fourth son of Sergeant Jacob Dittrick, former Butler’s Ranger, and Margaret Pickard. She was the daughter of William Pickard who along with two of his sons were also members of Captain Bernard Frey’s Company of Butler’s Rangers.

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Flank Company
4th Regiment Lincoln Militia →

Veteran

James Dittrick UE
Flank Company
4th Regiment Lincoln Militia.

Captain James Dittrick, commanded the Flank Company in Colonel Robert Nellis’s 4th Regiment Lincoln Militia. Of all five brothers who served in the flank companies of the Lincoln Militia during the War, James’s career is the most thoroughly documented. His “Reminisces of the early years of settlement in Niagara and St. Catharines” was published in the “Loyalist Narratives” compiled by British author George Coventry in 1860 and reprinted many times since; most recently by the Champlain Society. He was also interviewed by Benson Lossing who reported this meeting in the Pictorial Field Book of the War of 1812 published in 1869. Being a contemporary, and neighbour of William Hamilton Merritt, he is mentioned several times (often competitively) in the Biography of the Honouable William Hamilton Merritt, authored by Merritt’s younger son. James is also recorded in the ”Merritt Papers” preserved by the Archives of Ontario.

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Flank Company
4th Regiment Lincoln Militia. →

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Jacob Dittrick UE
Flank Company
1st Regiment Lincoln Militia

Jacob Dittrick was born on the 12 Mile Creek at the family’s farmstead on the 12 Feb 1791 in St. Catharines. He was the son of Sergeant Jacob Dittrick of Captain Walter Butler’s Company (and later Captain Peter Hare’s Company) Butlers Rangers. Before the Revolutionary War Jacob senior was a Ranger in John Butler’s Colonial Indian Department, living along the Mohawk River in New York where their farm of several generations was located. Writing in the Loyalist Reminisces published in 1861 brother James reported the farm was situated 30 miles east of Utica New York.

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Flank Company
1st Regiment Lincoln Militia →

Veteran

William Wintermute
Niagara Light Dragoons

William Wintermute, (1795-1871) was born in Bertie Township, Ontario  and served in the Niagara Light Dragoons during the War of 1812. His father, Peter Wintermute, was a corporal in Mckinnon’s Company, Butler’s Rangers. The Wintermutes made a hasty retreat to Canada with Colonel John Butler after the Wyoming Massacre which was fought in front of their stockade (Fort Wintermoot) in July, 1779. The Union flag which flew over their fort on that fateful day (225 rebels were killed with only slight Ranger losses) was brought back to Niagara and eventually stored in the Butler residence in Newark.

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Niagara Light Dragoons →