William Roe (1795 - 1879)

Born 1 Feb 1795 in Detroit, Upper Canada

Ancestors

Husband of Unknown (Unknown) Roe — married about 1820 in Upper Canada

Husband of Sarah (Ruston) Roe — married 1854 in Georgina, York, Canada West

Descendants

Died 1879 at about age 83 in Ontario, Canada

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Biography

Private William Roe served for Canada in the War of 1812
Service started: 1813
Unit(s): 3rd Regiment of York Militia
Service ended: 1814

William was the grandson of one of General James Wolfe's officers,^[1] and the son of Walter Roe, one of Upper Canada's first lawyers.^[2] William was born in British Detroit in 1795^[1][3] and was only five or six when his father died.^[2] The year after his father's death, William was baptized at St. John's Anglican Church in Sandwich, Upper Canada, at the same time as his siblings.^[3]
By the time he was sixteen, William was working as a clerk in the office of the Receiver General Prideaux Selby in the capital York.^[1] Selby had moved to York from Amherstburg in 1808^[4] and was a friend of William's father.^[1]

During the War of 1812, William Roe served as a private in the 3rd York Militia. On Apr. 27, 1813, he was captured at Fort York while serving in Captain Duncan Cameron’s Company. ^[5]

When the Americans attacked York in April 1813, they threatened to burn the whole town down if they did not receive the entire provincial treasury. All the paper money was handed over to them, but a plan was hatched to hide the gold. First it was stashed in a keg which was hidden on a cart, covered with vegetables. Then young William Roe, all of seventeen, was dressed up as an old market lady and instructed to head out the Kingston road. He successfully fooled the American sentries and delivered the gold to the Robinson farm on Kingston road where it was buried. And the Americans left town without any of Upper Canada's gold.^[1]
As Roe was working in York when the war broke out, it makes sense that he would have mustered with the 3rd Regiment of York and in the autumn of 1813 he is shown briefly as a Private in Capt. Thomas Hamilton's Company of the 3rd York.^[6] He is also listed with the 3rd York in a list of prisoners captured during their April raid.^[7] This list, if accurate,^[8] leaves us to speculate as to whether his capture was before or after his exploits with the gold. Either way, he must have been paroled quickly, as he does not appear on the American lists of prisoners.^[9]

From July 17 to 24, 1814, he served in Captain Stephen Heward’s Co. ^[10]

After the war, William established himself as a fur trader at the Trading Tree^[1][11] in the 'New Market" north of York. His grandson Ned would later write: It was a sight to see the colourful Indians group there with their trade furs and Roe's trade goods dangling from nearby shrubs and bushes.^[12] The trading post soon became a store and Roe built a large home on Main street in the growing village.^[1]

On May 6, 1817, William Roe, a merchant of Whitchurch Twp., made a land petition for Lot 91, Con 1, west of the road from Kempenfelt Bay to Penetanguishene. He was the son of Walter Roe, a barrister and clerk of the peace in the Western Dist. The petition was granted. ^[13]

On Jan. 9, 1826, William Roe and Andrew Borland of Whitchurch made a land petition. They had been connected with James G. Chewett in the survey of Mara Twp. and requested that their acreage for doing the survey be issued to James. The petition was recommended. ^[14]

In 1837, he was named the first postmaster of the village.^[1][15] By this time, he had also been appointed as a Coroner of the Home District, based in Newmarket. This was a position that he shared with other War of 1812 veterans, Col. George Duggan and Col. David Bridgford.^[16] Years later, he would join these men in a photo of surviving War of 1812 veterans which was taken on the lawn in front of Sherriff Jarvis' home in Rosedale in 1861.^[17]
In 1841, he would run unsuccessfully for Parliament, representing the Tory party. He was defeated in a by-election in the 4th York riding^[18] by Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, the Reform candidate who Baldwin had parachuted into the riding following his defeat in Quebec.^[19][20]
William's first wife died young, leaving him with three young children, a boy William Jr. and two girls Sarah and Julia. His mother Ann moved from Sandwich to Newmarket to help him raise the children. William Jr. would die in a fall from a horse when he was only twenty-one.^[21]
William remarried in 1854 to a young English woman, Sarah Ruston, in a ceremony at Sibbald Church in Georgina.^[21] She would give him eight more children.^[21][22] By the time that his youngest daughter Minnie was born, William was in his seventies.

In 1875, William received a War of 1812 Veteran's Pension.

William died in 1879.^[21] William Roe Boulevard in the Town of Newmarket is named after him.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7} Newmarket: the Heart of York Region, 1994, by Robert Terence Carter, pp. 16-19.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} D. R. Farrell, “ROE, WALTER,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 5, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed October 22, 2016, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/roe_walter_5E.html.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} "Ontario Births and Baptisms, 1779-1899," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XLG9-QQT : 5 December 2014), William Roe, 01 Feb 1795; citing ; FHL microfilm 928,968.
4. ↑ Carl Christie, “SELBY, PRIDEAUX,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 5, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed October 22, 2016, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/selby_prideaux_5E.html.
5. ↑ Collections Canada, War of 1812: Upper Canada Returns, Nominal Rolls and Paylists, Microfilm t-10383, pages 1148-1155
6. ↑ Library and Archives Canada, War of 1812: Upper Canada Returns, Nominal Rolls and Paylists, RG 9 1B7, Mikan Number: 183676, Microform: t-10384, pp. 644-646 and 697-699.
7. ↑ Library and Archives Canada, War of 1812: Upper Canada Returns, Nominal Rolls and Paylists, RG 9 1B7, Mikan Number: 183676, Microform: t-10383, pg. 1148.
8. ↑ Note that it has 1814 listed which is the wrong year!
9. ↑ American Register of Prisoners was checked by Fred Blair, 28 Oct. 2016.
10. ↑ Collections Canada, War of 1812: Upper Canada Returns, Nominal Rolls and Paylists, Microfilm t-10384, pages 1187-1189
11. ↑ History of the Newmarket Chamber of Commerce.
12. ↑ Quoted in Newmarket: the Heart of York Region, 1994, by Robert Terence Carter, pg. 18.
13. ↑ Collections Canada, Upper Canada Land Petitions (1763-1865), at http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/microform-digitization/006003-110.02-e.php?&q2=29&interval=50&sk=0&&PHPSESSID=npfo6qij0n1rpue06msk2mqnj1, Microfilm c-2742, pages 719-731
14. ↑ Collections Canada, Upper Canada Land Petitions (1763-1865), at http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/microform-digitization/006003-110.02-e.php?&q2=29&interval=50&sk=0&&PHPSESSID=npfo6qij0n1rpue06msk2mqnj1, Microfilm c-1627, pages 669-670
15. ↑ A Brief History of Newmarket, Tuscan Lodge.
16. ↑ The City of Toronto and the Home District Commercial Directory and Register, 1837, Part III, pg. 34, PDF pg. 272.
17. ↑ Canadian Survivors of the War of 1812.
18. ↑ Michael S. Cross and Robert Lochiel Fraser, “BALDWIN, ROBERT,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 8, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed October 22, 2016, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/baldwin_robert_8E.html.
19. ↑ Newmarket: the Heart of York Region, 1994, by Robert Terence Carter, pg. 7.
20. ↑ Jacques Monet, “LA FONTAINE, Sir LOUIS-HIPPOLYTE,” in [http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/la_fontaine_louis_hippolyte_9E.html Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Volume 9, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 1976.
21. ↑ ^{21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3} Roe arrived after War of 1812, by Edward Roe, 4 June 1975 The Era (Newmarket).
22. ↑ 1871 Census of Canada, Newmarket, York North, Ontario; Roll: C-9965; Page: 21; Family No: 78.

• The War of 1812 Militia Rolls and Payrolls can be accessed online

See also:

• "Ontario Marriages, 1869-1927," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FMJQ-551 : 10 April 2015), William Roe in entry for Edward Herbert Irving and Emily Florence Roe, 24 Sep 1879; citing registration , Newmarket, York, Ontario, Canada, Archives of Ontario, Toronto; FHL microfilm 1,869,506.
• "Ontario Marriages, 1869-1927," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FMJ5-WQG : 10 April 2015), William Roe in entry for Thomas Owen Townley and Frances Maria Roe, 01 Sep 1886; citing registration , Newmarket, York, Ontario, Canada, Archives of Ontario, Toronto; FHL microfilm 1,870,215.
• "Ontario Marriages, 1869-1927," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FMVL-M37 : 10 April 2015), William Roe in entry for W A Bremton and Minnie Roe, 23 Apr 1890; citing registration , Newmarket, York, Ontario, Canada, Archives of Ontario, Toronto; FHL microfilm 1,870,308.
• "Ontario Deaths, 1869-1937 and Overseas Deaths, 1939-1947," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JKX1-VRZ : 11 December 2014), William Roe in entry for Minnie Laughton Brunton, 25 May 1935; citing Toronto, , Ontario, 004283, Archives of Ontario, Toronto; FHL microfilm 2,413,413.