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Thomas Runchey (abt. 1798 - bef. 1861)

Thomas Runchey
Born about in Upper Canadamap
Husband of — married about 1819 in Upper Canadamap
Descendants descendants
Died before before about age 63 in Ontario, Canadamap
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Profile last modified | Created 15 May 2013
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Biography

His father served in the 5th Regiment of Foote of the British Army.

Thomas' birth date and place are both uncertain. Thomas' son, William, lists his father's birthplace as USA, leaving open the possibility that he may have been born in 1790-92 when his father's regiment was stationed in Detroit. Detroit was American territory at the time but the British army had not yet turned over administration of the area to the Americans. And the fact that he is referred to as the youngest son in his father's will would make a 1790-92 date more likely than the often quoted 1788. But he mustered with the 1st Regiment of the Haldimand Militia in 1828-29 as part of the 4th Company, commanded by his brother, Captain George Runchey, where he is listed as thirty years old.[1] This would give the birth date of about 1798. This later birth date would explain his absence from the War of 1812 muster rolls, where he should have been enrolled along with his brothers, if he were of age..

He appears in the 1842 census on the Grand River Indian Reservation. Among his neighbours were his wife's cousins William W. Nelles and Warner Henry Nelles, and her nephews John A Nelles and William H. Nelles, Also living nearby was Phillip Wintermute, and David Young, both first cousins of their eldest daughter's husband. The government had opened the area to settlement in 1832, but Thomas was apparently there before this date - one of the few non-native settlers allowed.

A 1905 history of Haldimand has the following passage: "Besides the United Empire Loyalists, who received grants of land from the Indians, there were others who came in later and settled mostly in Oneida, and on various pretexts, obtained small tracts of land from Brant.... Thomas Runchy got a mill site from Brant, and Mrs. Dennis a small grant of land. These were all in Oneida."[2]

And Russell Harper, writing in 1950, reported that: "the (Indians granted the) Ardross Block to Thomas Runchey who sold his rights to J.H. and J.M. McKenzie. Runchey had agreed to build a mill on the McKenzie Creek in return for a 200 acre grant, but he carefully worded the agreement so that he was to receive all of the land flooded in the building of the dam for the mill. He erected a dam so high that 800 acres were flooded, and when he established his title to this large area, he lowered the top of the dam to a level necessary for operation of his mill."[3]

Thomas Runchey's wife is listed as a widow in the 1861 census, so he must have died by this time.[4]

Sources

  1. Men of Upper Canada, militia nominal rolls, 1828-1829, pg. 84.
  2. County of Haldimand, Nelles, pg. 18.
  3. The Early History of Haldimand County, Harper, pg. 26.
  4. Entered by Dave Rutherford, 2013
  • Mentioned in Last Will and Testament of Robert Runchey, Louth, District of Niagara, Upper Canada, Microfilm MS8417 (Archives of Ontario) Lincoln County Surrogate Court Estate Files 1794-1859.
  • Men of Upper Canada, militia nominal rolls, 1828-1829; Ontario Genealogical Society, Toronto, 1995, pg. 84.
  • County of Haldimand, Rev. Robert Bertram Nelles, 1905.
  • The Early History of Haldimand County, by Russell Harper, 1950.
  • 1842 Census of Canada West, Gore District, Brantford, Grand River Indian Reservation.
  • Cited in Ontario, Canada, County Marriage Registers, 1858-1869, Microfilm Roll: 1030057.
  • Cited in Ontario, Canada, Deaths 1869-1938, Haldimand, 1922, pg. 117 of 153.
  • Nellis–Nelles, Immigrants From the Palatinate, 1710, Vol. 1, published in 1997 by The Nellis and Nelles Family Associations and the Herkimer County Historical Society #400, p. 100

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Dave Rutherford for starting this profile. Click the Changes tab for the details of contributions by Dave and others.





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DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Thomas by comparing test results with other carriers of his Y-chromosome or his mother's mitochondrial DNA. However, there are no known yDNA or mtDNA test-takers in his direct paternal or maternal line. It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with Thomas:

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