Peter Secord Sr. UE (1726 - 1818)

Born 15 Sep 1726 in New Rochelle, Westchester, New York

Ancestors

Husband of Abigail (Fowler) Secord — married about 1746 in Cortlandt, Westchester, New York

Husband of Rebekah (Brown) Secord — married 24 Jan 1807 in Charlotteville, London Dist., Canada

Descendants

Died 14 May 1818 at age 91 in London District, Charlotteville, Norfolk, Upper Canada

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Stacy Norsworthy [send private message]

Biography

Pte. Peter Secord Sr. UE served with United Empire Loyalists during the American Revolution.

Peter Secord was a United Empire Loyalist.
UEL Status:Proven
Date: Undated

Peter Secord and his twin sister Rachel were baptized in New Rochelle, New York, on 25 December 1726. Their parents were Daniel Secord and Catherine Mabie.^[1]

During colonial times, Peter Secord lived in Cortlandt Manor, Westchester County, New York. During the seven year war he enlisted in the 5th Company Upper Battalion of Westchester County Militia under Captain Annonias Rogers.

He sold his farm in Cortlandt Manor in 1774 and moved to Walpack Township, Sussex County, New Jersey, where he was listed in the Tax Rateables List of 1773-74.5 Walpack Township runs along Route 209 and the Delaware River near the northwest corner of the state

When the American Revolution broke out, Peter Secord was loyal to the British cause and took his family to the British stronghold in Fort Niagara near present Youngstown, New York at the confluence of the Niagara River and Lake Ontario. He served in Butler’s Rangers from 1777 until receiving his discharge in 1780.

He was in Ft Niagara serving in the Indian Dept before March 1777 for 3 months. Served with Butler's Rangers from 1777 to 1780 (Sgt) after which he came with his family to Newark, Canada (afterwards called Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario).

Following the war he settled in Niagara Township, Lincoln County He was the first farmer in the province according to his 1781 Land Petition.

At the end of the American Revolution in 1783, the Niagara Frontier on the west shore of the Niagara River in present Ontario, Canada was an unbroken stretch of wilderness. It became the logical refuge for the displaced Loyalists forced by their refugee circumstances to find a new home. Many of the patriarchs were veteran soldiers who had served in Butlers Rangers, The New Jersey Volunteers and the Indian Department to name three. The families predominantly came from New York and Pennsylvania but many originated further afield in New England, New Jersey and Maryland.

The initial search for farmland, starting as early as 1781, ranged along the Niagara River in the eastern part of Niagara and Stamford Townships and then further south into Willoughby and Bertie Townships. Villages of merchants and tradesmen grew up around Fort George (Niagara-on-the-Lake) in the north, Fort Erie in the south and Queenston and Chippawa in between. The settlements were joined by the Portage Road winding along the cliffs overlooking the Niagara River gorge.

The grants of 200 acres or more to the new settlers soon depleted the available land in these townships. During the late 1780’s and early 1790’s their grown sons looked further west to the newly surveyed second tier of townships—Grantham, Thorold, Crowland and Humberstone.

A census of Niagara in 1782 by Col. Butler gives: Peter - 7 persons, 4 horses, 6 cattle, 14 hogs, 30 acres of cleared land, 80 bu wheat, 60 bu corn, 6 bu oats, & 100 bu potatoes.

The family with exception of Isaac, Silas and Daniel were listed in Niagara census for 1783.

A Grist Mill was erected, by Peter, on the Creek called Four Mile in 1789.

On October 8, 1796 he was granted 200 acres more at Newark (besides the 150 he applied for on May 17, 1796 at Long Point, Lake Erie, Canada). He settled at Long Point in 1793 along with the Mabies.

In 1796 moved to Charlotteville Township, Norfolk County following his son Silas who was one of the earliest settlers in Norfolk. Includes five generations of descendants in Norfolk, Elgin and Oxford Counties, and in Michigan and elsewhere. Descendant surnames included: Beers, Neville, Ladd, Jones, Neidrauer, Laur, Kilmer, Hilton, Purdy, Loveday, Lazarus, Brannon, Winchell, Kontner, McCormick, Thomas, Chase, Harris, Couse, Lamport, Clarke, Smith, Putnam, Mills, Russ, White, Dingman, Earle, Decker. The biography of Peter Secord is in The Long Point Settlers Journal, Vol. 7, No. 3

A Stephen Secord sometimes appear as a s/o of Peter, he was s/o Abigail Emmett's 1st marriage. Word has it that Peter, Abigail & Rebecca are buried in a cemetery in a pasture in Longpoint on Lake Erie along with the Mabie Family. The gravestones were used to line a well as well as foundations for a barn. Efforts are underway to investigate this.

Will dated Jun 19, 1813 mentions grandson William; son David; wife Rebecca and 4 children to receive 1/4 of the estate; witnessed by a Moses Secord among others.

A report of the Niagara Gleaner and the Ontario Register records his death. The report also says, “His longevity may in some measure be ascribed to his remarkable temperance. He was one of the first settlers and perhaps the oldest inhabitant in the province. He killed four wolves in the course of the last year and he walked twenty miles to make the necessary affidavit to entitle him to the wolf scalp bounty.”

Marriage and Children

Peter appears to have married three times. The name of the first wife is not recorded. They were married by about 1748. Their first known child, Abigail, was born about 1750. His next marriage was to a woman named Abigail who was previously married to a man named Emmett. She was recorded as age 40 in a 1783 census of Loyalists. The final marriage, on 24 January 1807, was to Rebecca Brown, who was living when he made his will in 1813.^[1][2]

Marriage: about 1746 Cortlandt, Westchester, New York Peter Secord 1726–1818 and Abigail Emmett Fowler 1730–1825

1. Thomas Secord 1752–Deceased • MS9G-MM5 ​​
2. Abigail Secord 1753–1821 • KZBD-KCL ​​
3. Sgt. Silas Secord 1755–1840 • LH3W-BVX ​​
4. Stephen Secord 1757–Deceased • KPWN-8R4 ​​
5. Fannie Secord 1760–1834 • KV24-CRL ​​
6. Elizabeth Secord 1762–Deceased • 2W7B-TWK ​​
7. Lucy Secord 1763–1801 • LZZ8-X66 ​​
8. Margaret Margery Secord 1764–Deceased • LZKY-H4F ​​
9. Peter L. Secord 1765–1844 • LZPQ-N41 ​​
10. Sarah Secord 1766–Deceased • 2W7B-YS4 ​​
11. Ann Secord 1768–Deceased • 2W7B-TPB ​​
12. Capt David Thomas Secord 1773–1827 • LZTC-D35

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Moulton, pages 306-307.
2. ↑ "Ontario Marriages, 1800-1910," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XLPP-4X2 : 10 February 2018), Peter Secord and Rebekah Brown, 24 Jan 1807; citing London District,Ontario; FHL microfilm 477,532.

• Moulton, R. Kirk. "Early Sicard-Secor Families of New York: Origins of United Empire Loyalist William Secord." New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Vol. 150 (2019), Issue 4, pages 302-311.

See also:

• Who were the Niagara Settlers
• Ontario Pioneers
• Niagara Soldiers
• Niagara Town, Lincoln County
• Niagara Township, Lincoln County
• Niagara Settlers Niagara Township Papers "R"
• The 1787 Census of Heads of Households of North Niagara
• Entry in Bird Family Tree
• Children of Daniel Secord and Elinor Archer
• Daniel Secord Family
• FAMILIES OF BONAVENTURE CO., GASPE, QUEBEC AND RESTIGOUCHE CO., NEW BRUNSWICK, CANADA
• Secord/Sicard Family Tree
• Nohr Family
• Wortman Family Tree, MyHeritage
• Wortman Etal Family Tree
• Geni
• A Sketch of Some of the Secords 1775-1866 by Mary M. Dunn
• The Creation of a Family - Secord by Jeanne Secord
• Victor Ward's Family Tree
• Nauheimer Family » Peter Secord
• Family Search
• Kempffer Family
• Cook Family Genealogy Pages
• Entry in Shunk Family Tree
• Millard Family Tree » Peter Secord
• Maybee Society
• Mabie-Mabee-Maybee
• Mabee Family Tree
• Donald Secor Family Tree
• Ancestry.ca
• United Empire Loyalists
• Loyalist Institute: Butler's Rangers Muster Roll
• PIONEER SKETCHES OF LONG POINT SETTLEMENT - Pages 39-40 by E. A. Owen 1898
• LOYALIST PLANTATIONS ON THE SUSQUEHANNA by J. Kelsey Jones
• The SMITH Family Their Genealogies and History. by R Steven Smith
• Hamilton OGS
• ROSTER OF BUTLER'S RANGERS

Acknowledgments

• Thank you to Stacy Norsworthy for creating WikiTree profile Secord-166 through the import of Norsworthy Fam Tree.ged
• Family sources and details supplied in part by Melissa McKay