Burwell

(submitted by Alex McLaren)

James Burwell (1754–1853) and Hannah Frazee (1770–1836) came to Upper Canada in 1796, when he was placed on the United Empire Loyalist (UE) list for having served in the American Revolution for seven years. In 1810, the family moved to the Talbot Settlement, “having received 200 acres for himself and each of his children.”

His son William Burwell (1803–1858), one of eleven children, was born in Southwold Twp., Elgin County, near Fingal. William operated a tavern in Fingal. In 1827 William married Sarah Bissell (1809–1864). When the Egremont Road was surveyed (through and Plympton Twp.) in 1831 from Caradoc Twp. to the shore of Lake Huron, William took advantage of the grant of crown land (Lot 10, Con. 1 NER) near Village and moved there with his family in August 1832 — the first settlers in the village. Shortly after, a son, Elijah, was born, the first white child to be born in Twp.

By 1835 William had chopped eighteen acres, then cleared and fenced seven acres. He had erected two log buildings. The second building was a 32 x 18 foot tavern. Burwell's Tavern became a stopping place for the London to Sarnia stagecoach.

William and Sarah had several children. Their son, Elijah, went to the California Gold Rush in 1860 and remained there. Another son, Robert G., apprenticed to Mr. Dale in his store in Wyoming and later operated his own drug business in Port Huron, Michigan. Their daughter, Hannah (1846–1927), married William Peter McLaren (1848–1908), a Watford druggist. Another daughter, Mary (1840–), wed David Ross, a local farmer, in 1866. David Ross was later Watford's postmaster. In the 1851 census Charles Burwell held property in Lot 10 south of the Egremont Road in the Town Plot.

Back