Leeds County, Ontario, Canada was first surveyed in 1792 in preparation for the United Empire Loyalists settlers. In 1850, Leeds County merged with Grenville to create the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville.
John Hagerman, Sr. was born about 1747 in Dutchess County, New York.
He married Phoebe Ferguson in Dutchess County, New York. Phoebe was born about 1756 at Rombout, Dutchess County, New York. Her prents were Richard and Rachel Ferguson.
John and Phoebe's children included:
Sarah Hagerman(1767),
John Hagerman, Jr. (1770, married Mary (Polly) LaRue daughter of Henry LaRue),
Margaret Hagerman (1771, married John Whitley),
Richard Hagerman (1772, married Eliza Dwyer),
Abigail Hagerman (1775, married William LaRue),
Zachariah Hagerman (1778 married Hannah Griffin), and
Mary Hagerman (1784 , married Joseph Buck).
John Hagerman served as a Private soldier in the Loyal Rangers. He served in the Royal Standard previous to 1783 and discharged in 1783 and removed from the Province of Lower Canada to the Township of Elizabethtown.
United Empire Loyalists were Americans who remained loyal to King George III and the British Empire. They moved to Canada after the American Revolution.
Brockville, Ontario was called Elizabethtown. The area was first settled by English speakers in 1785, when Americans who had remained loyal to the crown fled to Canada after the American Revolution.
Brockville
1840
The first European settlements in Ontario were after the American Revolution when 5,000 loyalists left the new United States.
John Hagerman, Jr. was born about 1770.
He married Maria LaRue in about 1805 in Elizabethtown (now Brockville), Leeds and Grenville County, Ontario.
Maria and John's children included:
John Hagerman
Norman Hagerman
Henry LaRue Hagerman (1806, married Maria Manhard),
Richard F. Hagerman (1808),
Charles N. Hagerman (1811),
William Hagerman (1816),
Rachel J. Hagerman (1818), and
Mary Ann Hagerman (1822, married Reuben Fields).
The Battle of the Windmill was in November, 1838. Loyalists defeated an invasion attempt by Hunter Patriots, led by Nils von Schoultz, who were attempting to overthrow British rule. The battle was at a windmill two miles east of Prescott.
On February 7, 1813, the American army raided Elizabethtown (present day Brockville, Leeds County, Ontario). The Americans crossed the frozen St. Lawrence River and seized equipment, freed American prisoners, and captured Canadian men.
from Hagerman: Hageman, Haggerman, Hegeman
John Hagerman Sr. (1725-1813) married Phoebe Ferguson and lived near Poughkeepsie, New York. He and at least one of his sons served with the British army during the Revolutionary War, and in 1784 the family immigrated to Canada as United Empire Loyalists. They settled on land grants in Elizabethtown Township, Leeds County, Ontario.
A sawmill was an important developmental step in a community. Before sawmills, boards could only be sawn by two men with a whipsaw. In a sawmill, the circular motion of a water wheel was changed to the back-and-forth motion of the saw blade with a pitman arm.
from the History of Leeds and Grenville, Ontario
Reuben Fields
Mr. Fields is descended from United Empire
Loyalist stock, his grandfather having married
Mary, a daughter of Truelove Butler, one of the
first settlers of Elizabethtown.
His father, Nathaniel Fields, was born in Elizabethtown in 1800, and died in 1831. His wife was
Elizabeth, daughter of John Anthony, an emigrant
from Vermont. Nathaniel spent his life in South
Elmsley, leaving behind him three chilren Reuben,
William, and Charlotte. William resides in Fulton
County, Ohio; Charlotte is the wife of Mr. Potter,
of Fulton, N ew York.
The subject of this sketch resides in the Village
of Mallorytown. He was born in 1824, in the Town
ship of South Elmsley, Leeds County; and married
in 1849, Mary Ann [Hagerman], daughter of the late John
Hagerman, Esq., by whom he has seven children,
five of whom are now living. One daughter is the
wife of Marcus Greir, of Yonge. One son, Norman
H. Fields, resides in Mallorytown.
Mr. Fields was for many years a member of the
Township Council of Escott, serving most of the
time as Reeve. In the year 1869, he was elected
Warden of the United Counties, filling that impor
tant position with credit to himself and the Counties.
Mr. Fields received a unanimous nomination at the
hands of the Liberals of South Leeds at the last
general election for the Local Legislature, but was
defeated in consequence of Yonge Front and Rear
being attached to Brockville Riding. During the
past two years he has served as License Inspector
for Brockville and South Leeds.
