Descendants of Henry Proctor
The
first known Proctor ancestor was Henry Proctor. He was probably
born in Chelmsford Mass. about 1770 and died abt 1827. He married first
Betsy -Unknown. abt 1795 in Windsor Co. Vermont she died
abt. 1811 . He married second
in abt 1812 Elizabeth Dunham Emes widow of Thomas Emes daughter of
He married third abt. 1826 Sarah Shaw
Timothy
Rogers had come to Canada the year before and scouted out land and secured 40
grants of 200 acres, and had made arrangements with the Town of York
that he would return the next year with 40 families He had previously
visited Canada in 1795 and had found out that Governer Simcoe of Ontario was
offering free grants of land for settlement in Ontario. He had presented his
idea of . a Quaker Settlement in Canada at the Quaker Meetings in Windsor
Co.Vermont where he lived.
The
names of the heads of the first 27 families are found in a letter in the
Archives of Ontario the letter is from James Talman expressing regret that only
27 of the 40 names could be supplied when the "Petition of Timothy
Rogers" was read by the local land committee of Executive Council on April
1 1801 . In the Minutes of the comittee for that day preserved in Land Book D pg
629-630. The following is found Timothy Rogers, Obidiah Rogers,James
Rogers,Rufus Rogers,Wing Rogers,Asa Rogers. Isaac Rogers, Bethuel Huntley, HENRY
PROCTOR, Obidiah Griffin Nathaniel Gage, Isaac Griffin,Zebulon Smith ,William
Huff, Obidiah Huff, Henry Crones,
Ephriam Talbot, Bela Clark, Theodore Winn, William Howard, Nathan Farr, Humphrey
Finch, Nehemiah Hide, Stephen Howard, Joel Bigalow, Jacob Johnson , Abraham
Lepard N.B. A number families more on the way ,which will not come forward in
some months ,but Mr. Rogers expects possible 20 good families next winter.
Henry
Proctor applied to the gov’t for a grant of land shown in the Upper Canada Land Petitions, P5/6
The
petition of "Henry Procter" late of the State of Vermont but now of
the township in which his lot lies in the said Province [Upper Canada]. Your
Petitioner has come into this Province with a View of Settling therein and hath
taken the Oath of Allegiance - prays for a portion of waste lands.
He
received his grant shown in the gov’t land records
Received
7 April 1801. Recommended for 400 acres. Henry Procter is a member of a group
led by Timothy Rogers [the Quaker]. He has four children, and is worth $1,000.
The
new settlers were expected to clear 6 miles of land,within the first 12 months
including a section of Yonge St. and build a home 12 X 16 feet Governer Simcoe
had the street surveyed in 1793 He wanted it built in anticipation of an
American invasion. . Simcoe says the road will assure military access to the
northern Great Lakes
The
land grants included the former King and Whitechurch Townships that ran North of
Yonge St. from Aurora to Holland Landing and included the North Western part of
Whitechurch and the southwestern part of East Gwillumbury . East Gwillumbury is
where Henry Proctor 's land grant was located Lot 100 on Concession 1 later he
bought land on Concession 2 Lot 5.In 1815 Henry bought lot 98 on the 1st
concession in East Gwillimbury This was the property Edwin was living on in 1834
and also in the 1837 Toronto and Home District Directory. Harrison Proctor ,
Edwins's brother bought this land in abt 1840
by then it was known as Proctor's farm. his son and grandson lived here
so eventually 5 generations of Proctor's lived on this land in East Gwillumbury
Governor
Simcoe was especially interested in enticing Quakers to settle in Ontario, since
they were known to be industrious, hardworking and honest. In addition due to
their peaceful nature they were known to establish warm relationships with the
local Aboriginal tribes The Quaker immigrants to Upper Canada were a "plain
folk" much like the Mennonites and Amish. They are perhaps best known now
for their conscientious objection to war, and their struggle to end slavery.
Among other things, the Discipline called on Friends to dress in the "plain
style" and avoid adornamentation in their clothing, houses, meetinghouses
(churches) and worship services. Plainness in all things meant that their
meeting houses were bare of all religious symbols, and of music in their
services.
The
Quaker pioneers who settled on Yonge Street were experienced in pioneer life
from settling the wilds of Vermont, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.. Generally they
were well educated and could be expected to promote education in the new
province
One
of the first things the new settlers did was build a bark covered log room on
Yonge Street. Which served as a place of worship and as a school until the
proper school was established in 1804. The meeting house was not built till
between 1810 and 1812
1809
the community was hit by an epidemic of typhus ,there were many deaths in the
community. This may be when the first Mrs.Proctor died or who she was except for
one reference to her on a land record and one in the Quaker records both give
her as “Betsy” . Samuel was probably her youngest son and he was born in
1808, Henry Sr. remarried in 1812 so we can safely place her death somewhere
between these 2 dates .. The
Proctor’s must have become non practising Quakers shortly after their
emigration to Canada as they did not apply for membership at Yonge Street
meetings , there is only the one reference to Betsy in 1804 ,many joined
different Christian organizations . There are very scarce records of birth
deaths and marriages for this time period
Henry
Proctor was in Montpelier, Caledonia, Vermont in 1800 on the census it shows
he
According
to Gersham Proctor's obituary Henry Proctor had 13 children .I do not know the
names of all of Henry Proctor's children or their order of birth .He had 2 wives
one was Elizabeth Dunham and the other was Sarah Shaw .I don't know which mother
belonged to which children . We know that Elizabeth (Betsy was the first and had 7 children Henry Jr,
Isa, Edwin, Enoch ,Samuel, and a
daughter who was married to John Grant the 7th may have been Thomas
Proctor but the only record we have of him is the mention brother Enoch’s will
Isaac , Gersham, Harrison and a daughter Henrietta
were children of the second wife ,this means we are missing 2 children if
it is true Henry Proctor had 13 children , they could have died
Without birth certificates and Henry Proctor Sr's will is is almost impossible to prove all Henry's children especially the girls .If Harrison Proctor's obit is right then I have all 12 children but Harrison being the youngest with over 20 between him and the oldest children he may not have been aware of some of the older children who died years before his birth. There are still many questions unanswered
Edwin Proctor ***
Children
of Henry Proctor and second wife
Elizabeth Dunham Emes (widow of Thomas Emes)
Brick Walls and Mystery Proctors
It has
not been established for sure if Thomas was child of wife #2 or wife #1 when we
find a record for him and establish age we will better be able to place him
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