GEORGE ROBERT ERSKINE BURGAR

LATE GEORGE R. E. BURGAR

WELLAND’S OLDEST SETTLER

[Welland Tribune, 23 May 1890]

Mr. George R.E. Burgar, the father of Mr. J.H. Burgar of Welland and Dr. Burgar of Niagara Falls, sank quietly to rest at the residence of the latter on Saturday last, at the advanced age of 84 years. We append a sketch of his life learned from his own lips for the county history. He was probably the oldest native resident of the town of Welland up to the time of removing with Dr. Burgar to Niagara Falls, a few months ago. In politics he was a sterling Reformer; in faith and practice a Christian in the truest sense of the word. Governed by the purest principle and adorned with charity and good-will, he was indeed one of nature’s noblemen, and one in whom there was no guile. As a fitting sequel to a well-spent life, death came peacefully and naturally- a mere stoppage of the well-worn wheels of life in the full and confident faith of renewal on that bright resurrection morn of which we are assured. The funeral took place on Tuesday; citizens of Welland very generally attending at the G.T.R. depot, from which the funeral took place at 11.17 to Dawdy’s cemetery, Pelham. Rev. Mr. McCuaig rendered fitting services. The pall bearers were Messrs. David McEwing, J.H. Price, Alex Reid, F. Swayze, G.C. Cowper and John Coulson.

Whilst his sterling qualities won the true esteem of all who knew him, his warm and loving nature endeared him to those near to him in no ordinary degree, to whom their loss, though in the full fruition of time, is a most sore and distressing bereavement. May comfort and peace be theirs in the blessed assurance of a happy and never-ending reunion in the life to come.

Biographical Sketch

GEORGE R.E. BURGAR was born in Thorold township on the 26^th day of January 1806. His parents, Joseph and Annie (Rowland) Burgar were natives of New Jersey, of English and Irish descent. His paternal grandmother was a cousin of Lord Nelson, the great English admiral. Joseph Burgar, accompanied by his family,  came to Canada as a U.E. Loyalist during the latter part of the eighteenth century. After spending a couple of years along the Niagara river, they settled in Thorold township, on Lots 238 and 239. Born at that early date and reared on a farm adjacent to the territory now occupied by the town of Welland, our friend now deceased was an observer of the gradual transformation of the wilderness of eighty years ago into the beautiful farms and live town of to-day. He remembered when the territory lying to the south of the Welland river was a solid block of wilderness denser than where the busiest part of the town of Welland is now situated. Within the memory of Mr. Burgar the site of the present town abounded in wolves, bears and other wild beasts, whose howling frequently made night hideous. Our subject remembers well the hardships endured by the early settlers. When a young man he frequently went to Street’s mill at the Falls with a grist. The means of getting there by boat to Chippawa, and from there overland to the mill. The trip was a difficult one, especially returning, when the heavily-laden boat had to be rowed the long distance between the mouth of the Chippawa and Mr. Burgar’s home, often against a strong current. Although young at the time, Mr. Burgar had a distinct recollection of the war of 1812, in which his father, Joseph Burgar, took an active part. During one winter a portion of a company of British regulars was quartered at his farm. Mr. G.R.E. Burgar was himself an active participant in the troubles of 1837-38, in the loyalist ranks. He lived in Norfolk county for a few years, and for a time in the state of Ohio, but the greater portion of his life was spent on the farm on which his father settled in the early days. He married Rachel, a daughter of Andrew Smith, a U.E. Loyalist, and one of the early settlers of Norfolk county. Their family numbered four, of whom two survive-J.H. Burgar, ex-Warden of the county of Welland, and Dr. Burgar, now of Niagara Falls.

Died: 17 May 1890
Married: 31 August 1835-Rachel Smith

Hillside Cemetery
26 January 1806-17 May 1890
Old Age
Father: Joseph Burgar
Mother: Annie Rowland