Subscribe..
OLD WELLAND SITE WAS A PART OF QUEBEC
(Welland Tribune Date Unknown)
WELLAND (Staff)-Old Niagara was the gateway of entrance to the early pioneers, mostly disbanded Butler’s rangers and United Empire Loyalists, and of course the traders and merchants.
An interesting historical note: until 1792 Lincoln County was Township No. 9, District of Nassau, in the province of Quebec. It wasn’t until the British North America Act came into being that we became Upper Canada, then Canada east with the Act of Union and in 1867 we became known as Ontario.
So where does Welland fit in? At one point in history not one white man had set foot in our fair city-that is until David Price.
David was born about 1750 of Welsh parents in the Mohawk Valley. About 1771, while walking through a field near home with his brother, he was taken captive by a ban of Seneca Indians.
His companion was ransomed from the Indians by the British, but David was kept by his captors for two years, after which time, on his promise not to leave them, they gave him a gun and trusted him on many occasions with important missions. The chief of the band was called Little Beard and had adopted Price.
Although he was held captive and treated as such, he was allowed to go among the whites at the British forts. Price accomplished the Senecas on several occasions when they took prisoners to Fort Niagara and sometimes saved them from severe punishment.
After seven years with the Senecas, he finally severed his connection with the tribe at the British post of Oswego, where he remained a clerk and interpreter until the end of the war.
Price then moved to Niagara and stayed for a time at Fort Niagara.
When the War of 1812 broke out he moved to a farm in the present city of Welland, on Chippawa Creek (now the Welland River). Price died in 1841 and left his wife, Margaret; daughters Margaret, Neff, Catharine, Caroline and Juliann; and sons, David, Daniel and another whose name can’t be clearly read in Price’s will.
Add A Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.