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IV. ROBERT HAMILTON,
THE FOUNDER OF QUEENSTON.
The warning which that royal scapegrace Prince Hal
gave to his boon companion Falstaff, “List if thou canst
hear the tread of travellers,” might well be taken for their
motto by those who would revive the memories of the past
and reproduce the scenes of centuries that are fled; for
though we may not share the optimistic faith of Shakespeare,
who tells us by the false Duke of Milan’s lips that “travellers
ne’er did lie,” yet without their aid historical research would
ofttimes fail and old-time landmarks be forgotten. In this
respect our Niagara frontier is fortunate, for the world-wide
fame of the great cataract led many early travellers hither
to tell their stories, each in his own way, and very often to
our edification and advantage.
So it happened that in 1795 a French nobleman, the Duke
de la Rochefoucault Liancourt, visited Niagara, aiid jour-
neying from Fort Erie northward to Newark or West Ni-
agara, a cluster of 100 houses on Mississaga Point where
N xagara-on-the-Lake now stands, he paid his respects in
passing to the little village of Queenston, which had sprung
up at the beginning of the portage on the British side of the
river leading around the falls to Chippewa.
He writes under date of June 22, 1795: “The roads from
Fort Erie to Newark are tolerably open and lie for the most
7374
ROBERT HAMILTON,
part over a sandy ground which renders it more easy to
keep them in repair. The frequent passage to and fro in this
part of the country does not destroy them. Such com-
modities as are destined for the upper country are unshipped
in Queen's Town, and goods expedited from it are em-
barked in this place. The different buildings constructed
three years ago, consist of a tolerable inn, two or three good
storehouses, some small houses, a block-house of stone cov-
ered with iron, and barracks which should be occupied by
the regiment of General Simcoe, but which are now unoc-
cupied, the regiment being quartered in another part of the
province. Mr. Hamilton, an opulent merchant, who is con-
cerned in the whole inland trade of this part of America,
possesses in Queen's Town a very fine house built in the
English style, a distillery and tan-yard. This merchant
bears an excellent character; he is a member of the Legis-
lature of Upper Canada, but at present in England.''*
Concerning the Honorable Robert Hamilton, who is thus
introduced to us, Dr. William Canniff states in his “History
of the Province of Ontario" (p. 598) that it is said he
“died leaving an estate worth £200,000."
It seems a curious fact that so little should remain upon
record concerning this founder of Queenston, a man who
was of such importance at the time in which he lived, who
was so intimately concerned in the politics of Upper Canada,
whose business was so extended and prosperous, and who
accumulated such extraordinary wealth for that early day.
Some old letters from his pen which have lately come to
light awakened a desire to know something more concern-
ing him who wrote them, but the results of a careful re-
search seem far from satisfactory and give but a meagre out-
line of his story.
He was the son of a Scotch clergyman, the Rev. John
Hamilton of the old Dumfries family, born 1714, died 1797,
who was minister of Bolton, Haddingtonshire, Scotland. A
cousin had emigrated to America and was a hose-maker
"“Travels through the United States of North America,” etc., in the years
1795, j796 and 1797, by the Duke de la Rochefoucault Liancourt. English
edition, London, 1799, p. 214.THE FOUNDER OF QUEEN ST ON.
75
somewhere in New England, and it was to join him that
young Robert Hamilton crossed the Atlantic at some time
between 1760 and 1770.
Concerning his early career there is no record whatever,
nor can we learn whether he went to Canada before the out-
break of the Revolution. Possibly, as in the case of his
friend and associate Richard Cartwright, his loyalty to the
Crown led him to leave rebellious New England when trou-
bles threatened, for in June, 1779, we find him established
as trader or factor at Carleton Island at the eastern end of
Lake Ontario. In May, 1778, British troops detached from
the garrisons at Niagara and Oswegatchie had taken pos-
session of what had formerly been called Deer or Buck
Island, changing its name in honor of General Guy Carleton,
establishing a military post known as Fort Haldimand and
building wharves and storehouses. Carleton Island then
became the point for reshipment for stores of all kinds
brought in bateaux from Montreal for the supply of the
western posts during the continuance of the war. Here we
have our first glimpse of Robert Hamilton in a letter written
by him June 29, 1779, to Francis Goring, trader’s clerk at
Fort Niagara, informing him that the General had refused
to allow passes for the merchants’ goods going to the upper
posts.*
Niagara was a busy place in those days, for almost all
goods for the upper posts had to pass that way and Lt. Col.
Bolton, then in command, complained bitterly that the fort
itself was “quite lumbered with merchandise” and that even
the officers’ barracks were filled with goods, causing him
apprehension that this might be a temptation to the enemy
to attack his isolated post.
Isolated it certainly was and Hamilton’s correspondent,
Francis Goring, who had lived there from August, 1776, as
clerk for Edward Pollard, the leading trader and for his
successors, Captain Thomas Robison and George Forsyth,
wrote September 23, 1779: “This is a place which you may
say is almost out of the world, in the woods, and frequented
by nothing but Indians except the people of the garrison.
^Transactions Canadian Institute, December, 1895, p. 303.76
ROBERT HAMILTON,
... At this place is carried on a great business which
consumes every year £30,000 Sterling worth of merchandise
of all sorts, which is mostly retailed to the Indians/'*
At this time there would seem to have been some busi-
ness connection between these correspondents. Francis
Goring had been in Edward Pollard's employment and al-
though that successful trader had by 1779 accumulated a
fortune that permitted him to return to England, some of his
interests were doubtless still committed to Goring's care.
September 14, 1779, the latter wrote to Hamilton: “To-
bacco is a very scarce article at Detroit and sells at from
eight to ten shillings a pound. I have made out another In-
dian account for £5808 17s. 9j^d., which is now gone to the
Indian country to be certified,"t and Edward Pollard wrote
to Goring from London, 27th March, 1780: “By this con-
veyance I send Mr. Douglas to assist you. He supplies the
place of Mr. Hamilton who leaves you in June."t
Among the Haldimand papers is a memorandum of
“Goods belonging to Forsyth & Dyce, Merchts, Detroit, now
laying at Carleton Island, April 20th, 1780, under charge of
R. Hamilton."§
It was probably about this time that he entered into part-
nership with Richard Cartwright, a young man of excellent
education, born at Albany in 1759, whose thoughts had
turned to the ministry, but who had accompanied his parents
to Canada at the outbreak of the Revolution “and for a time
attended Colonel Butler of the Rangers as his Secretary."
Bishop Strachan in his sketch of Cartwright says: “At the
solicitation of a near and worthy relation he formed a con-
nection with the Honorable Robert Hamilton, a gentleman
of such varied information, engaging manners and princely
hospitality, as to be justly esteemed an honour to the Prov-
ince. His memory is gratefully remembered by thousands
whom his magnanimous liberality rescued from famine.
The connection subsisted with great satisfaction to both
^Transactions Canadian Institute, September, 1893, p. 274.
■{•Transactions Canadian Institute, December, 1895, p. 304.
^“Buffalo and the Senecas/' Wm. Ketchum; Vol. II., p. 122.
§Canadian Archives, Haldimand Col., B. 127, p. 136.THE FOUNDER OF QUEEN ST ON.
77
parties for several years, when, on account of the extent of
their business, a separation took place by mutual consent,
Mr. Hamilton going to Niagara, and Mr. Cartwright re-
maining at Kingston; but their mutual regard and friend-
ship was only dissolved by death.”*
In 1782 the settlement on the north shore of Lake On-
tario at Cataraqui (Kingston) was in progress. A wharf
was built and permanent buildings were being erected and
apparently at this time the business of Hamilton and Cart-
wright was transferred from Carleton Island, as under date
of November 2, 1782, Robert Hamilton gave an obligation
to the Canadian Government “not to consider the house he
has built (at Cataraqui) as private property, but subject to
demolition if required by the King’s service or to forfeiture
in event of bad conduct.”!
The records do not show just when Robert Hamilton re-
moved to Niagara. It is probable that the general trading
and forwarding business in which Hamilton and Cartwright
were engaged made it advisable that one of the partners
should be at Niagara while the other remained at Kingston.
A letter written by a Miss Powell during a journey from
Montreal to Detroit in May, 1785, says: “Fort Niagara is
by no means pleasantly situated. It is built close upon the
lake which gains upon it so fast that in a few years they
must be overflowed. There, however, we passed some days
very agreeably at the house of a Mr. Hamilton, a sensible,
worthy man. Mrs. Hamilton is an amiable, sweet little
woman; I regretted very much she did not live at Detroit
instead of at Niagara.”
Robert Hamilton was first married to Catherine Askin,
widow of John Robertson, and their eldest son was born at
Fort Niagara, in 1787. This was the first year of the “great
famine” among the loyalists who had emigrated to Canada
after the close of the war, and it is doubtless to his generous
benefactions to those in distress at this time that Bishop
Strachan so feelingly alludes.
*“Life and Letters of the late Richard Cartwright,” Toronto, 1876, p. 14.
•{•Canadian Archives, Haldimand Col., B. 126, p. 72.
$“Buffalo and the Senecas,” Wm. Ketchum, Vol. II., p. 90.78
ROBERT HAMILTON,
Inasmuch as the British continued to hold possession of
the western posts until 1796, thirteen years after the signing
of the definitive treaty of peace, under which they should
have been delivered over to the United States, the route of
western travel remained unchanged for many years and pro-
visions and stores for the British garrisons at Detroit and
Michillimackinac, as well as the Indian goods and general
supplies for the fur traders, continued to pass over the Ni-
agara portage as, they had since the capture of Fort Niagara
by the British in 1759. The goods, securely packed for
rough handling, were brought to the landing at Lewiston by
small sailing vessels or by bateaux and were hoisted to the
top of the “mountain” by Montresor’s “cradles,” then carted
over the long portage road to Fort Schlosser and sent by
boats to Fort Erie, where they were finally reshipped to their
destination.
When it became evident that sooner or later the posts
must be given up to the Americans, who would then control
the old Niagara portage, the British traders and forwarders
appreciated the need of a new road upon the Canadian side
by which they could pass the falls on their way to the west-
ern lakes and as early as 1789 Robert Hamilton obtained
permission to erect wharves and' storehouses on the west
side of the river as well as at Chippewa and Fort Erie. Ac-
cordingly a wharf was built on the west bank of the Niagara
opposite the time-honored landing at Lewiston and a road
laid out to Chippewa, which now supplanted Fort Schlosser
as the point of transfer on the water route to Fort Erie.
This now became “Fort Chippewa” and was protected by a
small garrison. The new landing on the lower Niagara was
at first called the “West landing,” or more frequently “Land-
ing of Niagara,” until 1792, when under date of November
26th, we find one of Mr. Hamilton’s letters dated “Land-
ing—now Queenston.” Doubtless the new name given in
honor of Queen Charlotte was adopted at Robert Hamilton’s
suggestion. A stone blockhouse had been built, two or three
good storehouses erected and gradually the route of travel
around the falls was changed to the Canadian side of the
river and Queenston became for half a century or more aTHE FOUNDER OF QUEEN ST ON.
79
busy spot of commercial importance, through which western
traffic flowed and in later years the tides of western emigra-
tion, until with the building of railroads westward all this
was again changed and of the once thriving village there re-
mained only the sleepy and somewhat ruinous vestiges that
we know today.
In 1800, when the English artist John Maude visited Ni-
agara, he tells us that there were but two houses at Lewiston,
one being the ferry house, but he was much impressed by
what he saw at Queenston. “There is a portage,” he says,
“from this place to Chippewa, which employs numerous
teams, chiefly oxen, each cart being drawn by two yoke of
oxen or two horses ; I passed great numbers on the road
taking up bales and boxes and bringing down packs of pel-
tries. Fourteen teams were at the wharf waiting to be
loaded. Here were also three schooners.”
Maude, however, had his own blunt British opinion of
what the Duke de la Rochetoucault Liancourt had with fine
French politeness called in 1795 “a tolerable inn.” He says:
“I sat down to a miserable dinner at Fairbanks Tavern, and
after dinner sent my introductory letter to Col. Hamilton
from his friend, Mr. Bache of New York, which procured
me an invitation to supper. The goodness of the supper
made amends for the badness of my dinner. Col. Hamilton
has a good house and garden.”*
Besides the wharf and storehouse, the farm, the distillery
and the tanyard which Robert Hamilton had established at
Queenston, he had erected a handsome stone residence “in
the English style” on the high bank overlooking the river,
the site of which may still be marked on the pleasant grounds
of “Halcyon,” the summer residence of Richard K. Noye of
Buffalo. This was apparently completed and occupied in
1791, for Captain Patrick Campbell, who visited Niagara
in that year, writes, under date of December 8th:	“Mr.
Robert Hamilton, a gentleman of the first rank and property
in the neighborhood, and now one of the Governor’s council,
came also to wait on me, and invite me to his house, an
honor I readily embraced. He and Mrs. Hamilton were so
*“Visit to the Falls of Niagara in 1800,” by J. Maude, London, 1826, p. 160.80
ROBERT HAMILTON,
very obliging as to go along with me in their own slea, to
see the Grand Falls of Niagara,” and he again notes, Feb-
ruary 16, 1792, “Called at Mr. Hamilton’s and arrived in the
evening at Niagara.”*
One of the earliest glimpses of this new home comes to us
from the diary of Mrs. Simcoe, who writes at “Niagara, 30th
July, 1792: “We stopped and breakfasted at Mr. Hamilton’s,
a merchant who lives two miles from here at the landing,
where the cargoes going to Detroit are landed and sent 9
miles to Ft. Chippewa. Mr. Hamilton has a very good stone
house, the back rooms looking on the river. A gallery, the
length of the house, is a delightful covered walk, both below
and above in all weather.”
Such a residence was a landmark on this new and wild
frontier and was made the more beautiful and noteworthy
from the generous hospitality with which its friendly doors
were opened. It became an added pleasure to those often-
times distinguished people who journeyed far to visit the
great American cataract if they might be entertained at
Queenston by Robert Hamilton, and here and there we find
its acknowledgment, as we have already seen, in their pub-
lished volumes of travel.
When the Duke of Kent, the father of Queen Victoria,
visited Niagara in August, 1792, upon his return from the
Falls, he was entertained at luncheon by Robert Hamilton,
as we learn from the manuscript memoirs of Colonel John
Clark, who calls him “our greatest man next to Simcoe.”
A pleasant picture of festivity in that early day on the
Niagara frontier as well as of its literary aspiration is the
account of a wedding in the fine old house, on the night of
St. Andrew’s Day in 1799. Of this the following notice ap-
peared in the Toronto Constellation, November 23, 1799:
“ Married at the seat of the Hon. Mr. Hamilton at Queens-
ton, on Sunday last, Mr. Thomas Dickson, merchant, to the amiable
Mrs. Taylor, daughter of Captain Wilkinson, commanding Fort Erie.
“ For thee, best treasure of a husbands heart,
Whose bliss it is that thou for life art so ;
That thy fond bosom bears a faithful part
In every casual change his breast may know.”
^“Travels in the interior inhabited parts of North America in the years 1791
and 1792,” by P. Campbell, Edinburgh, 1793, pp. 174, 215.THE FOUNDER OF QUEENSTON.
81
The Upper Canada Gazette also pays tribute to the
charms of the bride to whom the epithet “amiable” is again
applied, and although this dignified journal does not “drop
into poetry” as did its starry rival, it gives the added news,
that upon this occasion “Hon. R. Hamilton gave a most
elegant dinner; 30 Scottish gentlemen and 12 others; no
dinner given in Canada has been equal.”
From the year 1789, when the West landing was built
and the new portage begun, Robert Hamilton controlled the
Canadian transfer business' on the Niagara and prospered
therein. Besides the storehouses and other structures at
Queenston he had erected similar buildings at Chippewa and
others at Fort Erie. In 1795, when the Duke de la Roche-
foucault Liancourt visited the latter place he was but poorly
impressed with its defensive worth. He says there were a
few rude wooden blockhouses surrounded with rotting pali-
sades, occupied by officers and soldiers; four of a like sort
outside the palisades used by the workmen and “a large
magazine or storehouse belonging to the King.” Standing
apart from this he describes a storehouse “belonging to a
private gentleman in which are housed the goods for Detroit
and the West, as well as those coming from thence for Ni-
agara, Kingston, Montreal or Quebec.” This was Hamilton’s
warehouse and a passage in the description indicates in a
measure the extent of his forwarding business. “The owner
of the storehouse hires at times about twenty Canadians for
the shipping and unshipping of the goods, for carrying
them into the magazines and transporting the boats by land
to the lower country.”
It would appear that four years later, in 1799, Mr. Hamil-
ton made further important and costly improvements at Fort
Erie to meet the necessities of commerce. A letter from R.
Hamilton & Co., Queenston, April 24, 1805, addressed to
James Green, Esq., Military Secy., York, shows that the
firm had been requested to execute papers that would, if
need compelled, place all this frontier property at the dis-
posal of the Government. Against this Mr. Hamilton pro-
tests, reciting the permission he had received in 1789 to erect
these buildings and that no restrictions were then imposed,82
ROBERT HAMILTON,
but he relied upon just treatment and the encouragement of
commerce. “On the faith of this Permission we did at a
very considerable expense erect wharves and storehouses
along this communication and through them we have for the
length of fifteen years, carried on the transfer business of
the country without question or any interruption or interfer-
ence on the part of Government, or of any of the Military
Commandants of the Posts'.”
He adds:	“We do not object to signing the papers re-
quired for the stores at this place, and at the Chippewa, where
our erections are of Wood, and consequently of less value.
But what can we do with those at Fort Erie, where seven
years ago, in the firm faith of what is before stated, in the
view and with the perfect knowledge of the Engineer and all
the Military in these parts, we have erected a wharf and
stone storehouse in a situation, where a store of other ma-
terials could not properly stand, at the expense of not less
than four thousand dollars, and we are now called upon to
declare under our hands that in so doing we have forfeited all
right to the permission granted us of possessing a lott there.
Surely a concession so unreasonable will never be required
of us.”*
There is nothing to show that the exigencies of the times
required any destruction of these valuable properties until
the War of 1812 swept the frontier, which was after Mr.
Hamilton’s death.
By proclamation, dated July 24, 1788, Lord Dorchester,
Governor General of Canada, divided Upper Canada into
four districts:	Lunenburgh, extending from the Lower
Canada line to the river Thames; Mecklenburgh, from the
Thames to the Trent; Nassau, from the Trent to Long
Point on Lake Erie, and Hesse, covering the remainder of
Western Canada, including Detroit. He appointed a judge
and a sheriff for each district and made Robert Hamilton
Judge of Nassau, while his old friend and partner, Richard
Cartwright, became Judge of Mecklenburgh. As military
law had hitherto prevailed, these were the first courts of jus-
tice and the first magistrates in the province and concerning
^Canadian Archives, Series C, Vol. 272, p. 124.THE FOUNDER OF QUEEN ST ON.
83
them Canniff says, “The Judge seems to have been clothed
with almost absolute power. He dispensed justice according
to his own understanding or interpretation of the law, and a
Sheriff or Constable stood ready to carry out the decision,
which in his wisdom he might arrive at.”
When the separation of the provinces occurred and the
Government of Upper Canada was first organized in July,
1792, by Colonel John Graves Simcoe, the pioneer Lieuten-
ant Governor under Lord Dorchester, a Legislative Council,
consisting of nine members, was summoned, Robert Hamil-
ton and Richard Cartwright being of the number. During
his administration Governor Simcoe acknowledged his in-
debtedness to Mr. Hamilton for much valuable information
received from him respecting matters of commerce, par-
ticularly regarding the Indian trade, but both Hamilton and
Cartwright found themselves much at variance with the
Governor, whom they thought extravagant in his caprices,
desiring measures “inapplicable to the state of society in this
country.” This awakened his lively displeasure and caused
him with great injustice to represent both as being “inimical
to Government” and to denounce Hamilton as an “avowed
Republican.” Concerning this Mr. Cartwright wrote Octo-
ber 1, 1794, “I will not hesitate to assert that his Majesty
has not two more loyal subjects, and in this province none
more useful, than Mr. Hamilton and myself, nor shall even
the little pitiful jealousy that exists with respect to us make
us otherwise. And though I hope we shall always have for-
titude enough to do our duty, we are by no means disposed
to form cabals, and certainly have not, nor do, intend wan-
tonly to oppose or thwart the Governor.”*
Dr. Canniff states that prior to 1799, when Dr. Strachan
came to Kingston, the only able teacher in Upper Canada
was the Rev. John Stuart of that place. “Hon. Robert
Hamilton of Queenston had at that time a brother living in
Scotland and it was- through him that an offer was made
first to the celebrated Dr. Chalmers. He did not desire to
come and- mentioned the name of his friend, Strachan, to
*“Life and Letters of Richard Cartwright,” p. 59.84
ROBERT HAMILTON,
whom the offer was then made and who^ decided to come.”
At a later d&y he became the first Bishop of Toronto.
Mr. Hamilton’s first wife having died in 1796, he was
again married to Mary Herkimer, widow of Neil McLean.
He had five children by his first wife and three by his second.
He died at Queenston, March 8, 1809. The York' Gazette
of March 22, 1809, says :	“His public utility, benevolence
and conciliating disposition will render his death long and
feelingly regretted.”
The letters which follow are selected from a considerable
number recently found, covering Robert Hamilton’s cor-
respondence at intervals from 1789 to 1799 with Mr. Por-
teous, a merchant at Little Falls, N. Y. John Porteous, a
native of Perth, Scotland, had come to America about the
year 1761, and had been associated with James Sterling and
Phyn & Ellice of Schenectady in the fur trade at Detroit
and Michillimackinac until the beginning of the Revolu-
tionary War. While the British army occupied New York
he was engaged in general merchandizing there, but after the
evacuation went to Nova Scotia, where he remained until
about 1788, when he returned to the State of New York and
still retaining a connection with James Phyn and Alexander
Ellice of London, took up lands at the Little Falls on the
Mohawk River, where he built a flouring mill and carried on
a trading business until his death in 1799.
When the correspondence began Hamilton and Cart-
wright were the leading merchants at Fort Niagara; the
loyalist emigration from the United States had settled the
Canadian border; there was a small village on the western
bank of the Niagara River opposite the old fort, largely
settled by officers and men who had been enrolled in Butler’s
Rangers; the three years of famine and destitution were
about ended; the British held the western posts with un-
yielding tenacity in despite of all negotiations for their ces-
sion, and exerted every endeavor to keep the Indians as their
allies and to maintain a firm grasp upon the western fur
trade.
At this time Hamilton was seeking permission to build
his wharf and storehouse at the West landing, and his let-THE FOUNDER OF QUEENSTON.
85
ters are of interest as giving occasional glimpses of life and
its doings on this distant frontier, of some of the men con-,
cerned therein and of his own habit of thought and prudent
judgment in public as well as private affairs.
In September, 1789, John Richardson, who had formerly
been intimately associated with John Porteous at New
York,* now engaged in the Indian trade at Montreal and
later a member of the first Legislative Council of Quebec,
visited the western trading posts and wrote: “Col. Hunter
has left Niagara and is succeeded by Col. Harris. . . .
The forts in the Upper Country are all undergoing a repair
this year, so that there appears no idea of delivering them
over to Jonathan, and to take them by force would not be an
easy business for him, were he so inclined.” At Niagara he
had made the acquaintance of Robert Hamilton, whose let-
ters now begin.
Niagara, 28 Oct. 89.
Dear Sir :	The enclosed, from my friend Mr. Richard-
son was intended to recommend me to your Kind Civilities.
I have occasion instantly to put these to the test, by troubling
you to Recover for some persons here, a sum of money due
by a Capt. Bend Frey, late of this place, but now residing in
your neighborhood. He is intitled to half pay as Captain in
Col. Butler’s Rangers. I now inclose a power of Attorney
by which he constitutes Mesrs. Phyn & Ellice irrevocably
as his Agents. Also an Assignation of this half pay, by
which he proposes to pay his Creditors and an obligation
to put the Voutchers for this regularly into your hands as
they become due. Lest these should fail he has granted a
Bond also payable to you for same sum, by which we pre-
sume you may inforce the other, should he prove backward
in delivering the Voutchers. These when obtained will you
be so oblidging to take to your own Account and have the
Goodness to answer my drfts for the Amount, which shall
only be given when you inform me you are in Cash for the
same. My principal wish in settling it in this way is to pro-
vide a little fund to answer occasionally small demands due
by persons with you. The terms of Agency I leave intirely
*See “A British Privateer in the American Revolution/’ ante, p. 47.86
ROBERT HAMILTON,
to yourself. I will Account with the other Creditors here for
the separate Amounts due them. For all this trouble I can
only plead your Goodness, and my own willingness to serve
you whenever Occasion shall put it in my power.
With Sincere Respect I remain, Dear Sir,
Your most humble Servt.,
Mr. John Porteous.	Hamilton.
This Captain Bernard Frey, sometimes called Barent
Frey, was a member of a prominent family in the Mohawk
Valley which had become bitterly divided at the outbreak of
the Revolution. His brother, Major John Frey, became an
officer in the American army, while another brother, Colonel
Hendrick Frey, who had fought bravely in the French war,
retained his loyalist sympathies throughout the struggle
for independence, but took no active part on either side.
When the war broke out Bernard Frey, with his nephew,
Philip R. Frey (son of Col. Hendrick Frey), went to Canada
and himself became a captain in Butler’s Rangers. He
fought at the battle of Oriskany and later in all the fierce
border forays at Wyoming, Cherry Valley and on the Mo-
hawk, and Stone’s life of Brant publishes the extraordinary
statement of an eye witness that when Major John Frey was
made captive, Bernard attempted to take his brother’s life
and was only restrained by force. He received a large grant
at Whitby from the Crown, and lived until 1813 when he
was killed at Newark by an American cannon ball from Fort
Niagara. By the assignment and bond which were en-
closed with this letter it appears that he then owed Hamil-
ton & Cartwright £243, Street & Butler £156 18s. 9j4d.,
John Burch £109 9s. nj^d., John Thompson £10 I2d. and
Philip Stedman £5 10s., New York currency, all of these
parties being named as merchants at Niagara.
Several letters now passed between Mr. Hamilton and
his correspondent with reference to Captain Frey’s affairs
and the following alludes to another similar case:
Niagara, Deer. 10, 1790.
Gentlemen :	I am favored with yours pr Mr. McEwan
and have charged him Two pounds five shillings and nineTHE FOUNDER OF QUEEN ST ON.
87
pence York agreeable to your request, which sum is at your
Credit with me. When Leisure permits I will thank you to
mention if Capt. Frey has given his six months Voutchers
to June to you or if there is a Chance of getting those to
24th Inst without trouble.
Permitt me also' to mention that another of our Captains
—Andrew Bradt—is now down with you and' may perhaps
be induced to raise money on his Voutchers. He has As-
signed* over the whole of his half pay to the Creditors here
for some years to come, which Assignation is lodged with
his- Agents, who are apointed irrevocably, so that his Voutch-
ers can not serve, but thro their hands. This for your
Guidance should he apply to you—I would not, however,
wish his Situation generally known.
The present will be handed you by Lieut. Gillespie of the
65th Regt who has resided at this post for some time and
who now passes your place in his Rout to New York. You
will Confer a particular favor on me by showing him any
Civility in your power. Should any Circumstance occur
that might induce him to apply for pecuniary Assistance you
may depend on his Bills on Canada or London being duly
honor’d as( should those on me should he think proper to
draw.
Excuse this trouble and believe me Gentlemen,
Your most humle Svt.
R. Hamilton.
.Messrs. Porteous & Pollard.
The next letter touches upon public affairs and was writ-
ten from the new “Landing of Niagara,” whither the
changes in his business matters frequently called him at this
time.
Landing of Niagara, May 22d, 1791.
Dear Sir:	I am this day favored with yours of 10th
March and 2nd Inst, and take the earliest oportunity of re-
turning my thanks for your kind attention to Capt. Freys
Business. The Intelligence of the fate of his Bills comes
most oportunely to help me to settle the affairs of a Major
Nellis lately deceased in this Province and who has left con-88
ROBERT HAMILTON,
siderable property, part of it to his two sons residing in your
Neighborhood. Another son he has had at the School of
Schenectady for some time and for his Expenses I have
valued on you at 30 days for Forty-five pounds, Ten Shil-
lings—In favor of John H. Nellis. I have also valued on
you for £20 positively and for thirty-two pounds Ten—
when you shall be in Cash for the Voutchers before men-
tioned to 24th Dec. A third son (name unknown) has from
the same Estate to Receive £190 York. For any part of
which should, it suit you as a Merchant to deal with him, I
shall be happy in securing you, prior to his coming here- to
settle the Business. I directly forwarded Mr. Burchs Letter
as you desire. He lives 10 miles from this and Fm afraid
may not hear in time of the present oportunity to Embrace it.
Our lattest Accounts from Britain say nothing as yet
about giving up these posts. Our present Care in repairing
them with the utmost diligence seem to point out the wish
of making them worth something as Military posts when
given up. Should such an Event take place the Pleasure of
hearing from, perhaps Occasionally seeing our friends from
your Quarter would in part recompense the Chagrin it might
otherwise Occasion. Do me the honor of Accepting my
Drafts and Believe me
Dear Sir Your most hum. Servt.
R. Hamilton.
John Porteous, Esq.
Major Robert Nellis, to whom the foregoing letter refers,
had been an officer of Butler’s Rangers and from the docu-
ments found with the letter it appears that the drafts in
favor of his children were duly accepted and paid. The
next letter, written on the eve of Colonel Simcoe’s arrival to
take up the reins of government in the newly-created Upper
Province, is* of much interest as indicative of the thoughtful
judgment of one of its leading men deeply concerned for the
best welfare of his country.
Niagara, 2nd1 August, 1791.
Dear Sir:	The Oportunity which hands you this, has
been delayed for a Month waiting a return boat to yourTHE FOUNDER OF QUEENSTON.
89
place: during all that time we have not had one come this
way. I was duly favored with yours of 2nd June covering
the different papers which Mr. Burch and his wife had to
sign. Fortunately Mr. Richardson from Montreal was here
at the time and took on himself the whole charge of seeing
them executed, a Circumstance I was much pleased at, as he
from his particular acquaintance with this Business, obvi-
ated some difficulties I should otherwise have been hampered
with. You will now from Mr. Douglas the Bearer hereof,
receive all these papers settled I trust to your satisfaction,
if any thing remains undone I will be gratified on Receiving
your further Commands.
Mr. Douglas is a young man who has resided with us
for some time past, he is now called home h> Scotland on
some family Business. He will be thankful to you for your
advice in the best mode of getting from Schenectady to New
York, where he has acquaintances. I believe the Rout no
way difficult but he is rather a Stranger to travelling.
Mr. Macomb with his large family and his boat which
we denominated the little Ark, as Containing some thing of
every thing, passed this and got safe to Detroit in perhaps
as short a time as that voyage was ever compleated in. He
found every thing there as he wished, and is now I believe
settled very much to his satisfaction. The English papers
which you see, Contain every thing new we have in the
Country. By these you will observe we are on the point of
getting a New Constitution, with a separate Government
for this new Country, which as not involving us in Canadian
Politicks promises to be of essential use. We have some
reason to hope that Colonel Simpcoe our proposed Governor
may come to this Country by the way of your Seaports, au-
thorized to settle with Congress the doubtful! line of division
which must be a pleasant thing to both countries. Capt.
Joseph Brant after having attended for some time the Coun-
cils of the Western Indians at the Miamis River, sett of a
few days ago for Quebec, attended with several of the Chiefs
from that Quarter. As they avowedly go to ask Lord Dor-
chester’s advice and as we well know his and Governments
strong desire for peace, we would gladly hope that it may90
ROBERT HAMILTON,
be the means of bringing on an Accomodation. Much will
depend upon the moderation of your side. You have
strength and power I doubt not to drive them to the last ex-
tremities—but when you consider that most assuredly their
next resource will be to accept the strong offers and press-
ing Instances of the Spaniards to settle on their side, and
that the only Motive for these offers is to form a barrier be-
tween you and them, which by restraining your frontier Set-
tlements, will keep you at a Distance from them, of which
they are so jealous,—when you consider the present ani-
mosity of the Indians, agravated by their loss of Lands and
every thing dear to them, Policy and humanity will perhaps
dictate an accommodation on Reasonable terms as preferable
to the greatest success which may probably entail a cruel
predatory war on the defenceless settlers of your Western
boundary, for many years. My wish for peace has led me
further into the field of Politicks than I had intended. I
now have done.
Inclosed please receive a draft on Messrs. Todd & McGill
for £20 York for four bills of 100/ each received by Mr.
Macomb from your Mr. Pollard, due 10th Oct. when the
paper money of this Country is payable. At your Leisure
will you have the goodness to favor me with a state of the
little transactions between us, that I may make our books
correspond with yours.. I have to thank you for your kind
Acceptance of my drafts in favor of Mr. Nellis.
With Sincere Respect I remain
Dear Sir Your most Obedient and very humble Servt
R. Hamilton.
John Porteous, Esq.
This letter gives expression to the feeling which was
common at this time among the better class of British traders
at the western posts. Aside from such high motives as we
may well believe influenced a man of Mr. Hamilton’s char-
acter, those of self-interest, led the fur traders to deprecate
a continuance of hostilities between the Americans and the
Indians. It was simply ruinous to their trade. The home
Government also wanted peace. So long as they could man-THE FOUNDER OF QUEENSTON.
91
age to retain the posts, His Majesty's ministers were earnest
in their desire not only to maintain a strict neutrality, but to
do all within their power to terminate hostilities. And yet
there was much smouldering bitterness of feeling which
was but poorly concealed. Three months after this letter
was written St. Clair met his crushing defeat by the Indians
at the Wabash and Captain Patrick Campbell, whose visit
to Fort Niagara was in the following month, December,
1791, tells of the jubilation with which the officers of that
garrison received the news.
Throughout the two succeeding years such feelings of
hostility as existed were for the most part suppressed or at
least were passive, but conditions changed very greatly with
the news of war between Great Britain and1 France in 1793.
British impressment of American seamen and British em-
bargoes upon American commerce aroused much resent-
ment; the arrival and ill-advised conduct of Genet was the
cause of much irritation, and by the spring of 1794 the re-
lations between Great Britain and America had become seri-
ously strained,' a state of affairs which was unfortunately
reflected in the imprudent action of Lord Dorchester, the
Canadian Governor, who, in an address to the Indians, Feb-
ruary 10th, expressed his belief that war would be declared
within the year and added, “our patience is almost ex-
hausted." In April Lieutenant Governor Simcoe went so
far as to build and garrison a fort in the heart of the Miami
country to the great encouragement of the hostile tribes and
to the great disgust of General Wayne, who found the
British rangers fighting with the Indians at the Fallen Tim-
bers, August 20, 1794, when he routed both so effectually as
to put a stop once for all to Indian hostilities and to bring a
lasting peace to the border. It is interesting at such a time
to note the attitude of Mr. Hamilton, who was then one of
the Legislative Council and evidently not in sympathy with
Governor Simcoe.
Dear Sir:	I have received several of your late favors
which my present time will not permitt me to Reply. I,
however, with you most sincerely deprecate a war between92
ROBERT HAMILTON,
Britain and America as an Event that both parties must
most essential lose by, and neither so far as I can judge have
the least chance of Gain.
I remain most Respectfully, Dear Sir,
Your most hum. Servt.
R. Hamilton.
Queenston, May 28th, 1794.
On the 26th of August, 1794, he again writes:	“Our
crops are now all in and we have great plenty most earnestly
praying for its concomitant Blessing Peace”
A fortnight later (September 6, 1794,) he writes:	“I
sincerely hope with you that all chance of warr between these
Neighboring Countries is now at an End. In that case I
have some hopes of paying you a Visit this ensuing winter
on my way to England/’
Fortunately his hopes were realized. Wayne had con-
quered peace for the borders and the successful negotiations
of Jay in England in that year resulted in the treaty with
Great Britain which bears his name. The numerous letters
which Mr. Hamilton had written during 1792 and 1793 re-
ferred, in the main, to transactions of business or courtesy;
the passing eastward of friends who were commended to his
correspondent’s kind offices; the non-arrival of Indian
messengers who had proven untrustworthy, etc. Prior to
the autumn of 1792 they are dated at “Landing of Ni-
agara,” but in November the name of Queenston is first used
and the letter is of interest as showing how isolated the Ni-
agara frontier was a century ago and how slowly the news
of the great world reached it.
Landing—now Queenston, Nov. 26, 1792.
Dear Sir:	I am favored with yours of 31st ulto. and
thank you for the news papers sent. The present very un-
settled state of Europe makes [us] wait with much Anxiety
for Accounts from home and as the communication by the
Lower Province is very tedious as well as uncertain we are
projecting with the profered aid of a Capt. Williamson of
the Genesee Country to establish thro that place a Post once
a Fortnight to New York. In the Event of this taking placeTHE FOUNDER OF QUEENSTON.
93
I have directed a New York paper to be regularly sent me
and I purpose getting a London paper now sent to Quebec
transferred to this Rout. Will you have the Goodness to
inform me if the post passes your place and of the Expence
that will attend the postage of a paper from New York to
your place, and to the Genesee. If it would afford the small-
est amusement to you I would most willingly direct the Lon-
don paper to be addressed to your Care.
Accept my best thanks for your attention to the Mill
stones ordered from Schenectady. Their Amount with the
charges on them shall be remitted by the earliest oportunity
after receiving the Account.
With much respect I remain,
Dear Sir, your very Humble Servt,
R. Hamilton.
Besides his store at Little Falls, John Porteous had built a
custom mill for Mohawk Valley trade and might very safely
be entrusted with the purchase of the pair of Esopus mill-
stones “four feet four in diameter” which Mr. Hamilton
had ordered for “a neighbor,” and also with the further
commission of February 5, 1793, “I will thank you for pro-
curing for me a Boulting Cloth of the best Quality for do-
ing Country work. To you as a Brother Miller I nead not
be more particular in my directions. I wish it by the earliest
boat.”
In a letter of January 27, 1794, he writes:	“Will you
have the goodness to inform me what you know of the prop-
erty in Land or otherwise belonging to the children of the
late Sir Wm. Johnson by Mary Brant, particularly of that
portion pertaining to the eldest daughter, Elizabeth, late the
wife of Robert Kerr. I am sorry to inform you that the
poor woman died some days ago in childbed.”
This refers to Dr. Robert Kerr, who had been a surgeon
in the British army and now resided near Niagara. His own
letters preserved with these, show that in 1795 he made Mr.
Porteous his attorney to sell the Mohawk river lands and
those in the Royal Grant which his wife had inherited from
her distinguished father.94
ROBERT HAMILTON,
The flourishing fruit orchards of the lower Niagara had
their beginning about this time, for March 9, 1794, Mr.
Hamilton wrote:	“I have this day sent a small sum of
money to our friend1, Mr. Alexander Macomb of New York
to be laid out in Fruit trees from the nursery of Mr. Prince
on Long Island on account of a Society established here for
the purpose of promoting Agriculture. I have taken the
liberty to desire these to be addressed to your care in Sche-
nectady. Will you have the goodness to> direct Mr. Miller
oblidgingly to forward these if possible by the very first
boat that may come to this place, as it is of much conse-
quence to have them here early in the season.”
Under the operation of Jay’s treaty Fort Niagara was
finally delivered over to the United States August 11, 1796,
but the only effect of this long anticipated and long post-
poned event which appears in Mr. Hamilton’s letters is a
reference to a claim against Philip Stedman sent him for
collection, concerning which he says that Stedman is now a
resident of the United States and difficult to reach by pro-
cesses of law. The letters from this time onward deal mostly
with personal affairs, though they contain frequent men-
tion of familiar names. His kinsfolk and associates, William
and Thomas Dickson, are commended to his correspondent’s
kind offices. Judge Powell carries a letter of introduction
referring to those civilities “which you so kindily show to
every body from this Quarter.” At another time he says:
“Our Chief Justice, Mr. Ellensley, has mentioned more than
once his sense of your Kindness while they were detained
at the Little Falls.” The boats that go down to Schenectady
must come back well laden, and scythes and axes, woolen
checks and tea, nankeens and casks of nails, indigo, candles
and French brandy snuggle together cheek by jowl when the
bateaux return and doubtless both of the thrifty Scotchmen
profit thereby.
It is certainly in a spirit of thankfulness that Robert
Hamilton closes his letter of Sept. 5, 1798, “Having nothing
new to offer from this remote corner, where however, thank
God, we enjoy more peace and as much plenty as falls to the
Lott of most of our Brethren of Mankind, I conclude,” etc.THE FOUNDER OF QUEENSTON.
95
A few months later, in, March, 1799, John Porteous died*
and although Robert Hamilton survived him for a decade, it
was perhaps fortunate that he did not live to see within four
short years his dreams of peace rudely shattered, contending
armies in bloody strife at his very door, his own home de-
stroyed and the beautiful Niagara border, the region that he
loved, devastated by the stern vicissitudes of relentless war.