Ancestral Lines of Chester Everts Howell - (PDF ... - Adkinshorton.net

About 1774 possibly forseeing a situation in which he would not be willingto join the Colonies in a War against England, Joseph Corwin moved fromHunterdon County to Allamuchy, a remote spot in northwest New Jersey, now inWarren County. In thi s place he was in a community formed mostly ofQuakers. Then sometime during the War of the Revolution he and his wife andyounger children went by some unknown route to Upper Canada where he establisheda home a short distance from Niagara Falls on the Canadian side.Joseph and Elizabeth Hixon Corwin had fourteen children, all of whom wereborn in New Jersey. Unfortunately some of these children were married andhad settled homes by the time of the move to Canada and so were for variousreasons left behind. These were Keziah who had married Isaac Reed andAmelia who had married Moses Reed both of Orange Co. N. Y. ; Sarah who marriedJonah Bell and Mary who married Levi Cook. The children who went withtheir parents were: Naomi who had married Timothy Hixon & who married afterhis death Henry Johnson in Canada; also married in Canada were Esther to JohnSilverthorn; Ann to Adam Spencer, Rachel to Alexander Fletcher and the sonsBenjamin, Joseph Jr. and Samuel. There were two other sons, Bartholomewwho was killed by an accident in New Jersey and George who had died early.A map of 1791 of the Canadian Niagara Falls region shows that before thatdate Joseph Corwin had received 400 acres of land just west of the River andthe Falls. Such grants as this were issued by the King's Council only uponpresentation of proofs that the applicant had given unfailing adherence to theKing's cause. Smaller porticas of land were also granted to sons and daughtersof such Loyalists under like circumstances.To visit in Niagara Falls the place of Joseph Corwin 1 s grant one shoulddrive west along Lundy's Lane (a continuation of Ferry St.) to Beaver DamsRoad. This runs off of Lundy's lane toward the northwest at a point just westof Montrose St. Drive then on the Beaverdams Road to its intersection withGarner Road. The western boundary of the Corwin grant lies north of thiscorner and Garner Road. In 1791 when the town was called Dorchester, thelot numbers of the grant were 86 and 89, Town #2. Later maps, after the townshipname had been changed to Stamford, give these same lots as 99 and 104.The spot at the present time would be described as being in the township ofStamford, County of Lincoln, Ontario, of which St. Catharines is the county seat.A stone house was built by Joseph Corwin on the land he received as aLoyalist. In 1940 when we located this place only one portion of the house wasstanding. We were told that not long before a part had burned exposingstructural timbers of a remarkable size. As originally built the house, it issaid, had 14 rooms. It was here that in 1805 Joseph died and that his wifeElizabeth, living until 1815, saw the place used in 1812 as Officer Headquartersduring the Lundy's Lane Battle. The house was also used as a meeting placeearly in the century when the Corwin family became members of the WesleyanMethodist Episcopal movement in Canada.122