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|The South Marysburgh Mirror 9) St. Philip’s Roots ‘n Wings The First House In Marysburgh (Continued from last month’s issue of the Mirror) “A great deal of the ploughing was done with a crude wooden plough called a “hog-plow” with an iron share a wooden beam and mold board and one trailer handle.” The grain was drawn in on sleighs-called jumpers-- manu- Jactured by the farmers there being only three or four wag- gons(sic) in the whole Township. Travelling was mostly done on horseback there being so few waggons and a car- riage or buggy was an unknown thing till he was a grown up man. They would have been entirely useless as there were no roads only narrow tracks through the woods and the bridges were simply logs thrown across the stamps and swampy ‘places made by the freshlets in the spring called 1s”. Mail once a month in that manner a Il the way from Picton, that being the nearest Post Office. There was a weekly paper published at Kingston at that time which was subscribed for a few in that locality and read bya great many.....This part of the County was settled by U.E. Loyalists or discharged soldiers from the British Army. The last of whom drew a pension for serving in the Militia of 1812 up to the hour of his death, died a very short time ago at a ripe old age. In that war my informants father carried dispatches on horseback from this place (Prinyer’s Cove) to the Carrying Place (Consecon) starting from home in the evening and returning the same night for fear of being intercepted and losing the papers. Many such a perilous trip he and his noble trusty thoroughbred “Cooligan Jack” made through the dismal woods constantly on alert for the foe. Those were the times that tried men’s souls and proved of what metal they were made; they were not drawing room soldiers not knowing the smell of powder. His father also served in the war and had not often heard tell of an amusing incident when he captured some Americans who came spy- ing no doubt endeavoring to take Col. McDonnell whom they would consider a rich prize as they could exchange him for a number of private soldiers. The Colonel ordered him to take a canoe, man it with Aa- ron Dougall, Samuel Bums and several other men about the place and “arrest those donmed Yankees”. They stopped the canoe this side of the Point- being favoured in the expe- dition by a dark night- his father taking Col. Dougall with him and placing the others behind trees at short distances ordering them to keep whooping like Indians at intervals after he reached the enemy. Reaching them he asked “What are you doing here?” One retorted, “What do you want?” He replied, “I want you villians to surrender instantly every Yankee of you and give up your arms or I wont be able to keep my Indians off you. You hear them?” The whooping as going on in the woods all the time, fill- ing the Americans with terror knowing that an encounter with them probably meant losing their scalps, so they yield- ed up their arms which he sent by one man in a canoe to the Colonel’s residence, while the men were taken in their own oat to the same place. The supposed Indians continuing the whooping to keep up the illusion. They were retained there as prisoners till they were sent to the fort at Kingston. When asked how he captured so many of the enemy with so few to help, he would reply, “Oh I surrounded them”. He remembers when he was quite small that the Indians were very plentiful coming by the hundreds in their birch bark canoes down the back lakes, congregating at what was then called the Indian Woods later on Mill Point and now Deseronto. They had paddled down to Kingston to receive their rations or “presents” as they called them, such as flour, groceries, blankets, clothing and ammunition. Before reaching Kingston, they again congregated at Col. McDonnell’s Cove, where they held a general “pow-wow”. He remembers being taken by the Col. one day-having been invited by the chief-to see them getting their dinner. The Col. held him up to look into the large iron cooler in Continued on page 12 Free Tutoring at the Picton Branch Library internet and more. A quiet place to study . Free to all students who need help with homework, assignments and research. Access the library’s resources including reference books, word processing, Performed by a qualified teacher. Help available Sun from 1-4pm, Tues 4-8pm and Sat. 12-4pm. Don’t forget to bring your homework Drop in or call 613-476-5962 for more information