Jacob Anguish at Fort Erie
Final Chapter in the Life of a Soldier During the Revolutionary War
Despite having lost a leg to gangrene, this reluctant soldier of the American Revolution lived many years, leaving many United Empire Loyalist descendants around Niagara.
After having been recorded as serving in several key incidents in the history of the notorious Butler's Rangers, the name of Jacob Anguish appeared on November 30, 1783 in a "return of persons under the description of Loyalists in Capt. George Dame’s company of the Corps of Rangers at Niagara". He was then age 63.
Anguish, who had by this time lost a leg to gangrene due to the privations suffered in a dungeon in Hartford, Connecticut, was living with his wife Elizabeth, age 54, his sons Jacob (20) and Henry (18) and his daughters Anna (16) and Elizabeth (10). This is most likely the same family that had previously been listed as living at Machiche (Quebec), and who had apparently been ransomed or otherwise rescued from earlier Indian captivity.
It also seems very likely that the girl referred to in the list as "Anna" is actually "Hannah" Anguish, who was married rather young to one Henry Putman, a man who had served alongside Anguish in Butler's Rangers for some years. Perhaps the marriage was partly motivated out of kindness, given that Putman would have been able to support the young woman as his wife at a time when she would otherwise have been a burden on her impoverished parents, who were living on what was probably a fairly small pension.
A Loyalist victualing list for Fort Erie covering the period from December 25, 1784 to September 24, 1785 lists Jacob Anguish as the head of a family who personally receives provisions. He was living with one women and one boy under ten years old, while Hannah was already married to and living with Henry Putman. The next Loyalist victualing list for Fort Erie, covering the period from September 25, 1785 to December 24, 1786 lists Anguish once again, still living with his wife and young son.
It is not clear exactly when Jacob died, but on 11 February, 1800, a deed of sale was written up for "a half proprietor's right, late the property of Jacob Enguish, deceased, being 300 acres in Plymouth on the Shawana Flats, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania". It mentions seven children, including Hannah (wife of Henry Putman), Jacob Jr., Henry, Barbara (wife of Frederick Garrison) and Elizabeth (wife of Peter Law[r]), who were all living in Lincoln (now Welland) County in Upper Canada. It also mentions John and Maria (wife of Peter Eigenbradt), who were living in Montgomery County, New York. The children of Jacob Anguish who lived in Canada were given land grants by the British to allow them to settle in the Niagara region after the end of the fighting, and the Anguish name still persists in the Niagara area.
Sources:
- An Annotated Nominal Roll of Butler's Rangers 1777-1784 with Documentary Sources by Lt-Col William A. Smy (2004)
- Butler’s Rangers, The Revolutionary Period by E.A. Cruikshank (Lundy’s Lane Historical Society, 1893, reprinted in several later editions)
- Early Settlers in Niagara (Ontario Genealogical Society)
- Luzerne County Deeds, Vol. 7, page 130 (in Luzerne County Clerk's Office; accessed at Bill Putman’s genealogy site)
- Petition of Jacob Anguish to Lt-Col. De Peyster (No 99 in the collection of MSS "Susquehanna Settlers" at Hartford, Connecticut. Copy in the archives of the Niagara Historical Society Museum at Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ontario)
- Register of St. Paul’s Church at Fort Erie, 1836-1844 (Ontario Historical Society Papers and Records, Vol. 27, 1931)
