From time to time the Historical and Museums Branch of the Archives of Ontario, acting on the advice of the Archaeological and Historic Sites Board of Ontario unveils another of the historic plaques that are now so familiar to travelers in this province. At the time of the unveiling, a brief history of the person, event or place is prepared, and this is released to the press. In FAMILIES, Vol. 11, Number 3, we used a story on Mrs. Simcoe. We hope this one will be of equal interest to genealogists. We publish them here, not without some forethought, because we think each, on its own merits, is a valuable little piece of genealogy or biography, and deserving of wide readership. We also feel and hope that each will serve to stir some genealogist or budding biographer to dig into the background, the social history of the time, and come up with ‚ who knows. An historical novel? A biography? Or just a connection that will tie his own ancestral tree more closely to the people and events of the day ...
The first Lutheran minister to settle in this province, Schwerdtfeger was born in Burgbernheim, Bavaria, and studied theology at the University of Erlangen. Emigrating to America in 1753, he served as pastor of congregations in Pennsylvania, Maryland and New York. Much persecuted for his allegiance to the Crown during the American Revolution, Schwerdtfeger moved to Canada in 1791. He settled here in Williamsburg Township and became pastor of a congregation of German Loyalists, which had been established in 1784, and by 1790 had constructed the first Lutheran Church in what is now Ontario. Its site now lies beneath Lake St. Lawrence. Within a few years he had organized Lutheran congregations in neighboring townships. He died in 1803 and was buried in the old church cemetery.
At the close of the American Revolution many people who had supported the losing side came to Canada to seek refuge in Canada. About 400 settled in Dundas County during the summer and autumn of 1784. Most of these were of German origin, having emigrated during the 1720's from the German Palatinate to New York.
They were predominantly Lutheran and one of their first concerns was the establishment of a congregation so that they could practice their religion. Even before they had completed their houses they began holding lay-conducted services in their tents each Sunday. In 1787 a member of the Congregation was sent to Philadelphia to secure the services of a pastor. Although unsuccessful in his quest, he did obtain a book of sermons to be read at the lay services.
The search for a pastor ended when the Reverend Johann Samuel Schwerdtfeger accepted their call. He came on a visit in 1790 and settled permanently in Williamsburg Township early the following year. He was the first Lutheran pastor to serve in Upper Canada. Just before his arrival the congregation had built a church, the first Lutheran Chapel in the province, on the centre commons of Williamsburg Township.
Schwerdtfeger was born 4 June 1734 in the town of Burgbernheim, Bavaria. He was the son of Guenther Johann Schwerdtfeger, a druggist, and Juliana Maria Koch. He entered the University of Erlangen to study theology but in 1753 he discontinued his studies and left for America.
He arrived in Maryland near the end of the year. News of the arrival of a trained theological student spread quickly and he as approached by several congregations. He was ordained and became pastor of a Lutheran congregation at York, Pennsylvania.
During the next few decades he served at churches in Pennsylvania, Maryland and New York. In 1786 he assisted John Christian Kunze and Heinrich Moller in organizing the New York Ministerium, the second Lutheran synod in the United States.
When the American Revolution broke out, he was serving churches in and around Albany, New York. He adhered to the Loyalist cause and was summoned several times to appear before the Commissioners for Detecting and Defeating Conspiracies. He was accused of "inculcating Doctrines tending to disaffect the minds of well disposed Persons." He was reprimanded, confined to the Albany district and forced to place in bond a sum of 100 pounds to ensure his good behavior. In recognition of his suffering the note "much persecuted" was placed beside his name on the list of United Empire Loyalists.
In 1787 the Rev. Schwerdtfeger and 444 members of the parish at Horick, New York, petitioned the Governor of Quebec for permission to settle in the Lake Memphramagog area. The petition was in read in Council on 20 March, 1787, but no indication was given regarding its outcome.
When Schwerdtfeger received the call from Dundas County he immediately petitioned for land in that area. His request was approved and he was granted 400 acres of land in the third concession of Williamsburg Township.
Schwerdtfeger served the Lutherans in Dundas County until his death. In addition to his work in the Williamsburg church, he organized congregations at Aultsville and Iroquois. He was highly respected and during his pastorate the congregation flourished.
He died in 1803 and was buried in the churchyard of the Williamsburg Township church.
In this time of uncertainty concerning our national unity, the threat of separation of the province of Quebec from the rest of Canada, and the constant squabble between the English and French speaking cultures in this great land of ours, we should not forget the third partner in the building of our Nation.
Throughout this land, smaller and larger groups of German settlers carved out their farms and homesteads from the virgin wilderness of Lower Canada and Upper Canada, worked hard and lived in peace with all their neighbours, as Landboard records and Church books will attest to.
The following compilation of church data will show how families stuck together, how they intermarried, how they mingled with their neighbors and embraced others. It shows how young man and ladies met and later married, and how they assimilated and were absorbed into the life and culture of one or the other of the founding races. In many cases not even the original German names were preserved, they underwent gradual change as time went by, they "anglicized" as the church books will clearly demonstrate.
The following explanations are necessary to better understand the translation of this compilation, which is by no means a complete list of names of settlers attending church services. Family historians, Genealogists, and researchers should obtain this particular microfilm quoted, and look for additional material from the National or Provincial Archives.
The Reverend Samuel Schwerdfeger, know by historians as the "Saint of the St. Lawrence Seaway", whose church records are the basis of this compilation, was himself guilty of helping to anglicize German names, including his own, by omitting the "c" in all names beginning with "Sch". In his own handwriting he wrote Shäfer instead of "Schäfer, Shell instead of Schell, Shwerdfeger instead of Schwerdfeger, etc.; he did however write the German "Umlats" , ä, ö, and ü, but this has been changed by the compiler to the more familiar spellings to English readers of using ae for ä, oe for ö, and ue for ü, (Shaefer instead Shäfer).
No attempt has been made to trace the origins of these settlers or their history, before coming to the Lunenburgh District, which was later renamed "Eastern District".
It seems that most of the adult male settlers served with some of the Loyalist Provincial Regiments, the King's Royal Regiment of New York, commanded by Lt. Col. Sir John Johnson, in either the First or Second Battalion, or with the Royal Rangers, commanded by Major Edward Jessup, or the Butler's Rangers, commanded by Col. John Butler. Most of them had settled in the American colonies long before the outbreak of the revolution. They had remained loyal to the Crown and had joined the fight against the rebellious colonies.
Of the Hessian and Brunswick soldiers whose Regiments were hired by the English King George III to defend Canada against the American Rebels, and who stayed behind in Canada after their Regiments left for home in 1783, only a very few settled in the Lunenburgh District. Only two of them could be found in Reverend Schwerdfeger's flock. The majority of Hessians and Brunswickers who stayed behind, estimated to number about 2,400 soldiers, settled primarily in Lower Canada and married Quebec girls. They also assimilated very quickly into the French-Canadian culture.
The Lower Canada Land records RG1 L3L Vol. 175 (Film C-2560) contain a Petition by Samuel Schwerdfeger dated 10.April 1787 in Hosick, N.Y., in behalf of 115 men, their wives and children, in total 444 souls. The petition is signed or marked by all 115 names, however, through a comparison with the Matilda Church records it appears, that only nine names including Schwerdfeger's are listed after 1791 in the church records. It is not known by this compiler whether or not the Petition was approved or denied by the Landboard, but it appears to have been denied.
For more information on the "Lunenburgh or the Old Eastern District", one should consult the book of the same title, written by J.F. Pringle, with an introduction by William F.E. Morley, first printed in 1890, reprint by Mika Publishing, Belleville, in 1980. It does almost completely ignore the German element involved in the settlement of the District, and for that reason the contents must be taken with a grain of salt.
More useful is "The King's Royal Regiment of New York" by Brigadier General Ernest A. Cruickshank, with additions of an Index, Appendices, and a Master Muster Roll, prepared by Gavin K. Watt. B.A.Sc., C.M.H., editor, published 1931 by the Ontario Historical Society, reprinted 1984 in Toronto.
There is one more publication which could be useful to a researcher, it was published in 1993 by the Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, compiled by Norman K. Crowder, under the title of "Early Ontario Settlers, a Source Book"
A list of Settlers in the Eastern District, former Lunenburg parshes of Williamsburg, Matilda, Osnabruck, Edwardsburgh 1790-
copied from Microfilm M-1496 -MG 9 D7-23, Nat. Arch. Canada
United (Anglican) Mission of Williamsburgh, Matilda, Edwardsburgh
-This compilation will demonstrate how German names have changed or disappeared during a short period of time.
-This list also contains the names of someo f the early English, Scot, and Irish settlers of Lunenburg, acc. to Register
-covering the time period from 1790 to 1800 only. Compiled and researched by Johannes (John) Helmut Merz, 1991.
Actually, due to the great productivity of the settlers, baptisms are only covered for the period 1790-1793 = 4 years