In The Ontario Moads – Part 1, I wrote about the reasons why William and Elizabeth Moad may have left England to come to Canada. I speculated that the couple spent some time in upper New York state before coming to Canada in about 1829. Soon I will write about the Moads after they settled in Kemptville, Ontario, but before that, I want to share a few records I found confirming that they first settled in Ogdensburg, New York.
First, we can now definitely say that they were here as early as 1822 as their third daughter, Margaret, was born 9 Oct 1822 in Ogdensburg, St. Lawrence County, New York, USA. This information is sourced from her obituary and her death certificate, both of which are below. (I will write more about Margaret Moad and her husband Charles Davis in another post). The exact year the Moads came requires further verification. We don’t know where in 1820, Margaret’s older sister Elizabeth, was born—here in North America, or in England.
The second piece of evidence is a land deed from 1827, indicating that the Moads bought 40 acres on the southern outskirts of the village of Ogdensburg, situated on the southerly side of Canton Road in the town(ship) of Oswegatchi. Specifically, the southern half of Lot number 42 lying between Lots number 9 and 10 in Section 5 of the Henry M Van Solingen tract. The land contract identified the purchasers as Elizabeth Whitehawk Moad, Margaret Moad, (H)Annah Moad, and Mariah Wilson Moad of St. Lawrence County, New York. This places the family in Ogdensburg, a small town on the southern bank of the St. Lawrence River. What’s most curious about this record is that the four names on the deed are the children of William and Elizabeth Moad. In 1827, Elizabeth Whitehawk Moad was seven years old, Margaret was five, Hannah was three, and Mariah Wilson Moad was just one year old.
I used Chat GBT to summarize my transcription of the entire deed: In 1827, Charles Lawton, a broker from New York City, and his wife Sophia, entered into an agreement with Elizabeth Whitehawk Moad, Margaret Moad, (H)Annah Moad, and Mariah Wilson Moad of St. Lawrence County, New York. The Lawtons sold a parcel of land in Oswegatchie, St. Lawrence County, to the Moads for $408.53. Charles Lawton promised to defend the Moads’ ownership of the land against any claims, and both parties signed and sealed the agreement. The agreement was acknowledged before a commissioner in New York City.
I am not entirely sure that they lived on this property. They obviously must have homesteaded elsewhere from 1822 to 1827 when they made this purchase. Since they left the US in 1829 (maybe as early as 1828), it is possible that they bought this property before they leaving as an investment and a source of income for their daughters. That would explain why the land was in the four daughters’ names.
Here is the approximate location of the Moad property on today’s Google Map.
I’ll share three maps that helped identify the parcel of land.
1) This section of the 1853 Wall & Forrest Map of Ogdensburg shows a property south of Old Canton Road, Section 5 (highlighed in yellow), where the southerly portion abuts sections 9 and 10.
This map tells us a few other things. Note that S. Gilbert owns the large tract to the west and a triangular property with a substantial building at the intersection of Old Canton Road and Canton Street (see purple circles)—Canton is the next biggest town directly south of Ogdensburg. Sylvester Gilbert held many public positions in Ogdensburg and was a merchant. An 1835 Deeds book has a schedule of debts due to Gilbert showing a lengthy list of customers including two entries for William Moad, for $5.75 and $45.66. The Moad family had moved to Kemptville by 1835 suggesting that William returned to Ogdensburg to make purchases. There could be several reasons for this. It might have been easier to travel across the river to Ogdensburg than to travel to Ottawa for whatever supplies he needed. Perhaps William took the opportunity to meet personal and business contacts while in town and since they still owned this parcel of land, perhaps he came to check on it, or to collect rent. Whatever the reason for his return trips, its likely that if the Moads did not actually live on this 40-acre parcel, they probably lived somewhere nearby and they patronized Gilbert’s merchant shop.
2) The 1897 Edgar Blankman Map showing partially the Van Soliyen tract just south of the city limits of Ogdensburg (highlighted in white), supports that we are likely looking at the correct Section number 5 since the deed states that the property was on the Van Solingen Tract. (I have not yet found any reference to Lot number 42 that is mentioned in the deed).
Henry Van Solingen was a doctor and landowner who received a medical degree from Queen’s College (now Rutgers University), one of nine colleges established before the American Revolution. He owned land in upper New York state as well as in northern Ohio, renting much of it, himself being based in New York City. Other than the 1827 land record purchased under the children’s names, I have not yet found an earlier land record to which William and Elizabeth Moad are party, so possibly they rented a farm from Van Solingen when they first arrived from England and then bought this certain parcel in their daughter’s names. The land transaction was between the Moad daughters and Charles Lawton, a broker based in New York City, so perhaps he was Van Solingen man of business.
Even though, the Moads moved to Kemptville by at least 1829, they retained this parcel of land in Ogdensburg. In May 1846, Mariah Wilson Moad (the fourth daughter listed on the original land grant), sells* a portion of land to Charles G Myers of Ogdensburg, for either $100 or $200 (the number is hard to read). The land is described as an undivided fourth part of Lot number 42 in Oswegatchie, bounded by specific landmarks, and containing approximately 40 acres. Mariah Moad guarantees the peaceful possession of the land to Myers against any claims and warrants to defend it. The document is witnessed by Levy Lander and Mariah W. Moad and acknowledged before L. Baldwin on March 25, 1847 (note L. Baldwin, Esquire… he becomes relevant in another post).
*This record may be a mortgage. One of the few ways to obtain money at this time was to get a loan from a private citizen, putting your land up for collateral. These transactions were recorded by the land registry offices and can make following who actually owned a piece of property a big confusing.
This must be the case because the land would have gained in value—the 40 acres was originally purchased by the Moads for $408.53 in 1827 and she received only $100 or $200 in 1846. Also, one year later on March 1, 1847, Alexander Ladieu and his wife Elizabeth Moad (I assume the first daughter listed on the original land deed), sold the same plot of land to the same Charles G Myers of Ogdensburg, New York, for $600 (and possibly wiping out the loan). The document is witnessed by Milo McCargar (make note of Milo) and attested by L. Baldwin Esquire on March 22, 1847. [This raises a bit of a conundrum for me because in my family tree on Ancestry.ca I have Elizabeth Whitehawk Moad married to someone else, not Alexander Ladieu! Which means I have more digging and researching to do to clear that up. Sometimes clues beget more questions!]
3) The final map is the 1865 Stone & Stewart map where a certain C. Myers owns the tract of land south of the parcel the Moads owned. Charles Myers is listed in the above-mentioned contracts between Maria Wilson Moad in the first instance and then Elizabeth Moad and Alexander Ladieu one year later. Since Myers bought the Moad parcel in 1847, it would seem he continued to expand his land holdings in the area.
I visited Ogdensburg back in 2016, long before the thought of doing ancestry research ever occurred to me. Who knew that as Marcus and I wound our way through the streets of the city looking at some of its architecture and reading historical plaques, we were travelling some of the same roads as my Moad ancestors! Here are a few photos from that trip.
I want to thank the members of the Heuvelton & Oswegatchie History Facebook page and Linda Johnson Wood, the town and village historian, for helping me locate the parcel of land in the town of Oswegatchie.
Researching my Ancestors 