Lavinia Pelham [38726]

   Other names for Lavinia were Hilton and Mabee.

  General Notes:

From the Maybee Society files.

  Birth Notes:

daughter of William Pelham

  Noted events in her life were:

• Census, 10 Jul 1784, Belle Hill in Beaver Harbour, , Ontario, Canada. ⁴¹¹⁸ Lavinia Pelham and Frederick Mabee appeared on the census of 10
Jul 1784 Belle Hill in Beaver Harbour, Ontario, CanadaRoll of
Loyalists Settled at Belle Hill in Beaver Harbour has an entry:
Frederick Maybee, wife Levina, children above 10: Lydia,
Elizabeth, Oliver, children under 10: Mary, Sarah, Simon,
Frederick.

• Census, 1792. ⁴¹¹⁶ The Mabee party, it is said, started for Upper Canada in the
fall of 1792, but they wintered in Quebec and did not reach
Turkey Point until some time in 1793. They drove twelve cows,
rode horses, and employed an Indian guide to pilot the way
through the wilderness
Some members of the family claim that the settlement was made
as early as 1791, while others say it was not made before 1794;
but Mrs. Mabee and her family were living there in a
comfortable log-house at the time of Governor Simcoe's visit in
1795. The grave of Frederick Mabee was there also, and a piece
of ground known as the "Indian fields" had been cleared of its
light growth of timber and cropped; all of which makes it
appear quite reasonable that the family may have settled there,
at least as early as 1793.
The Mabee party consisted of Frederick Mabee and wife; Oliver
Mabee, their eldest son, aged about nineteen; Simeon, the
second son, aged about seventeen; Pellum, the youngest son,
aged about twelve - at least, these were the ages of the sons
at the time of the Governor's visit; two single daughters -
Polly and Sally; and two married daughters - Nancy and Lydia,
with their respective husbands - John Stone and Peter Teeple.
It is said that Peter Secord, also, came with the Mabee family

• Immigration, 1793, Turkey Point, Norfolk County, Ontario, Canada. ⁴¹¹⁹ Frederick Mabee was a United Empire Loyalist, whose home had at
the British evacuation of New York, been confiscated, and
himself and family subjected to indignity by many of his former
neighbours because he declined to swear allegiance to the "New
Republic", holding as he no doubt conscientiously did, that the
grievances of the colonists should be settled by constitutional
means rather than by the sword. Having heard of the wonderful
fertility and natural advantage of the Long Point (or as it was
first called, the Turkey Point) country in Upper Canada from
his cousin. Peter Secord, a U.E. Loyalist who had accompanied
him to Saint John from New York and who, being an old hunter,
had already penetrated the wilds of Upper Canada with one
George Ramsay, and Englishman, on a hunting and exploring trip,
he resolved to form a small colonization party to open a
permanent party at Turkey Point. Gathering many of his
relatives together, including his son-in-law, Capt. Teeple, the
"Mabee Party" as they were afterwards called, set out in the
fall of 1792, but they wintered at Quebec and did not reach
Turkey Point until some time in 1793. They brought some
household goods, drove several cows, rode horses and employed
an Indian guide to pilot the way through the wilderness. The
men drove the animals along the shore, the women came in boats,
going ashore at night to camp. During the journey through the
wilds they sustained themselves largely on cornmeal and milk
from the cows.

The party consisted of Frederick Mabee and Lavinia (nee Pelham
or Pellum), Oliver Mabee, their eldest son, aged about 19;
Simon, the second son, aged 17; Pollum, the youngest son, aged
about 5; three single daughters, Polly, Betsy and Sally, and
two married daughters, Nancy, with her husband, John Stone and
Lydia, with her husband, Capt. Peter Teeple, and their four
children. His cousin, Peter Secord and Thomas Welch, also came
with the Mabee party. Frederick Mabee at once erected the first
log cabin ever built at the new settlement, at the foot of the
hill overlooking Turkey Point. Their corn was pounded in the
stump of a walnut tree, the beetle being attached to a "sweep"
like the "Old Oaken Bucket".

One year after the arrival of the party he died of apoplexy,
and was buried in a hollowed-out walnut log coffin. He was the
first white man buried in the new settlement, and a large
boulder marks his tomb near Turkey Point. His widow
subsequently married Lieut. William B. Hilton, a New York
Loyalist of the Kings American Dragoons, but he died three
years after the marriage. Large numbers of other Loyalists
poured into the settlement shortly after, but the "Mabee Party"
came in advance of the rest and became "squatters" until the
lands were apportioned by the Crown to all the Loyalists.

Polly and Sally Mabee, two daughters who came to Turkey Point,
single, married respectively Capt. David Secord, of Butler's
Rangers, and Silas Montross, both U.E. Loyalists. The former
was a miller at Niagara, but later settled on Catfish creek,
west of Orwell; the latter lived at Turkey Point. The Mabee,
Teeple, Secord, Montross and Stone families became prominent
factors in the early days of settlement, but now their
descendants are very widely scattered.

More than a hundred years have come and gone since Frederick
Mabee and his sons and sons-in-law made the acquaintance of the
wild, painted and befeathered savages of the north shore of
Lake Erie, and where they were surprised and startled by the
bedlam of discordant sounds, which daily rent the air, from the
throats of the myriads of wild turkeys, geese and duck, as
these sturdy pioneers staked out their new homes at Turkey
Point. Today their great grandsons are found in the ranks of
busy men, scattered all over the American continent, and their
great-great grandchildren occupy seats in nearly every school
house in the land. In fact, these descendants have become so
numerous, and so widely dispersed, that they meet as strangers,
never dreaming that the old pioneer mother who pounded corn in
the hollow of a walnut stump more than a hundred years ago, was
their common maternal ancestor.

Title: Emails from Barbara Millar, Compiler Address:
[email protected]
Abbrev: Barbara Millar
Author: Barbara Miller
Page: A sketch by W.B. Waterbury, published in the Southern Counties
Journal, St. Thomas, in 1899,

• Census, 1793, Turkey Point, Norfolk County, Ontario, Canada. ⁴¹¹⁹ 1793 Lavinia Pelham and Frederick Mabee immigratedto Turkey
Point, Norfolk County, Ontario, Canada

• Census, 3 Apr 1823, Charlotteville, Norfolk County, Ontario, Canada. ⁴¹²⁰ Lavinia Pelham left a will 03 Apr 1823 Charlotteville, Norfolk
County, Ontario, Canada. "Will of Levinah Hilton, of
Charlottesville, dated 3/4/1823, mentions sons Pellum Mabee,
Oliver Mabee, son-in-law John Stone, grandson William Stone,
Gabriel Mabee, and other sons and daughters, but not
identified."

• Will, 3 Apr 1823, Charlotteville, Norfolk County, Ontario, Canada. ⁴¹²⁰ Will of Levinah Hilton, of Charlottesville, dated 3/4/1823,
mentions sons Pellum Mabee, Oliver Mabee, son-in-law John
Stone, grandson William Stone, Gabriel Mabee, and other sons
and daughters, but not identified.

Lavinia married Frederick Mabee [39223] [MRIN: 551604063], son of Simon Mabie [39295] and Marie Landrin [39214], in 1765.³² (Frederick Mabee [39223] was born in 1734-1735 in Yorktown, Westchester County, New York,³⁶⁸³ died in 1794 in Turkey Point, Norfolk County, Ontario, Canada ⁴¹¹⁹ and was buried in Turkey Point, Norfolk County, Ontario, Canada ⁴¹¹⁹.)

  Noted events in their marriage were:

• Census, 10 Jul 1784, Belle Hill in Beaver Harbour, , Ontario, Canada. ⁴¹¹⁸ Roll of Loyalists Settled at Belle Hill in Beaver Harbour has
an entry: Frederick Maybee, wife Levina, children above 10:
Lydia, Elizabeth, Oliver, children under 10: Mary, Sarah,
Simon, Frederick.

• Anecdote, 1792. ⁴¹¹⁶ The Mabee party, it is said, started for Upper Canada in the
fall of 1792, but they wintered in Quebec and did not reach
Turkey Point until some time in 1793. They drove twelve cows,
rode horses, and employed an Indian guide to pilot the way
through the wilderness
Some members of the family claim that the settlement was made
as early as 1791, while others say it was not made before 1794;
but Mrs. Mabee and her family were living there in a
comfortable log-house at the time of Governor Simcoe's visit in
1795. The grave of Frederick Mabee was there also, and a piece
of ground known as the "Indian fields" had been cleared of its
light growth of timber and cropped; all of which makes it
appear quite reasonable that the family may have settled there,
at least as early as 1793.
The Mabee party consisted of Frederick Mabee and wife; Oliver
Mabee, their eldest son, aged about nineteen; Simeon, the
second son, aged about seventeen; Pellum, the youngest son,
aged about twelve - at least, these were the ages of the sons
at the time of the Governor's visit; two single daughters -
Polly and Sally; and two married daughters - Nancy and Lydia,
with their respective husbands - John Stone and Peter Teeple.
It is said that Peter Secord, also, came with the Mabee family

Lavinia next married in 1798 in Turkey Point, Norfolk County, Ontario, Canada.⁴¹¹⁹