Penelope (Macdonell) Beikie (aft. 1748 - abt. 1846)

Born after 1748 in Scotus, Knoydart, Inverness-shire, Scotland

Ancestors

Died about 1846 before about age 98 in Cornwall, Canada West

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Biography

Penelope was the daughter of Scottish immigrants John Macdonell and Catherine Macdonald. Her family originally settled in New York State. During the American Revolution, they remained loyal to the Crown and were forced to emigrate to Upper Canada. They settled on a land grant on the St. Lawrence River near Cornwall.^[1]

After Penelope married John Beikie, they lived in Cornwall, where John was named justice of the peace of the Eastern District in 1796. In May 1796 she wrote to her youngest brother, William, who had moved to Boston. She mentions three children in her letter: Kitty, Alexander ("speaks very well and knows his letters") and Donald ("safe over the smallpox"). They were her brother Miles's children. In his own 1796 letter to William, Miles refers to "our kind and affectionate sister Penelope in whom they have found the best substitute for their irreparable loss of a mother."^[2] Miles remarried and presumably his children began living with him again.

In 1801 the Beikies moved to York (Toronto) and lived on the north side of Front Street facing Lake Ontario. From 1810 to 1815, John was the Sheriff of the Home District.^[3]

Beikie house (middle) on Front Street W., about 1815

The War of 1812 began in June of 1812. On the morning of April 27, 1813, John stood at the Gibraltar Point lighthouse watching with growing alarm as the American fleet approached York. He was involved with the local militia in the initial skirmish with General Zebulon Pike and the American 15th Regiment, who had landed west of Fort York. Outnumbered, the British regulars and militiamen retreated towards the town. The British Army abandoned York, leaving the militia and civilians to negotiate its surrender. Before heading for Kingston, the British blew up Fort York's magazine, killing General Pike and 40 of his men. In retaliation the Americans burned several public buildings and looted some of the houses during their six-day occupation.^[4][5]

Some consider Penelope a heroine of the War of 1812 for defending her home against the American forces while her husband was detained elsewhere in the town. She wrote to her brother, John Macdonell, in April 1813: "I kept my castle when all the rest fled; and it was well for us I did so — our little property was saved by that means. Every house they found deserted was completely sacked. We have lost a few things which were carried off before our faces; but as we expected to lose all, we think ourselves well off."^[6]

John Beikie died in 1839 and Penelope about 1846 (probate date July 24, 1846).^[7]

Sources

1. ↑ Herbert J. Mays, “MACDONELL, MILES,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 6, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed March 8, 2017, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/macdonell_miles_6E.html.
2. ↑ The Onlooker, Toronto, June 1922, ed. James C. Hodgins, Forgotten Books online
3. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "John Beikie," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Beikie&oldid=707560698 (accessed March 7, 2017).
4. ↑ Fryer, Mary B. More Battlefields of Canada. Dundurn, 1996, p. 62
5. ↑ War of 1812, Sacking of York
6. ↑ Arthur, Eric. Toronto, No Mean City. University of Toronto Press, 2015 Google eBook
7. ↑ Ontario Probate Court Records MS 638, Reel 40

See also:

• Lorraine Chevrier, of the History and Archives committee for the Macdonell-Williamson House Title: Lorraine Chevrier, of the History and Archives committee for the Macdonell-Williamson House
• "Canada: A Portrait in Letters 1800-2000" Charlotte Gray. Letter #11 Mrs. John Beikie to her brother John MacDonall in Hawesbury pg.37-38