The Laura Secord Chronicles
I’m happy to say that I’m back to writing a bit of fiction, this time a story about Canadian hero Laura Secord. Not sure what this will become, but as usual, I’m tracking my progress and research here!
Based on some research I’m keeping in mind, here are some main characters:
Laura Secord (nee Ingersoll 1775)- daughter to Major Thomas Ingersoll
Major Thomas Ingersoll (nee 1749)
Elizabeth Ingersoll Pickett (nee 1779, married to Daniel Pickett)
Mira Ingersoll (nee 1781)
Harriet Ingersoll (nee 1783 from Sarah’s previous marriage)
Sarah (Sally) Ingersoll (nee Backus)
Charles Fortescue Ingersoll (nee 1791)
Charlotte Ingersoll (nee 1793)
Appolonia Ingersoll (nee 1794)
James Secord (nee 1773) a young merchant of Queenston and the youngest son of a loyalist officer of Butler’s Rangers.
And here are some major timeline things to keep in mind:
Ingersoll fought as patriot during the American Revolution and in Shay’s Rebellion in 1786 earned the rank of Major
Met Mohawk leader Joseph Brant in NYC in 1793 who convinced him to move to Upper Canada
Received 66k acres in the Thames Valley in a land grant from Simcoe
Ingersolls moved to Upper Canada in 1795 (when Laura is 20)
Thomas Ingersoll joined the local Masonic Lodge in 1796 and his tavern was one of two in the area that hosted the local Masons.
James Secord lived on a 200-acre farm that his family had received as a United Empire Loyalist grant given to sons of British Loyalists from America.
Laura marries James Secord in June, 1797
Secord gave birth to her first child, Mary, in St. Davids in 1799
27 May 1813, the American army launched an attack across the Niagara River, and captured Fort George. Queenston and the Niagara area fell to the Americans. Men of military age were sent as prisoners to the U.S., though the still-recuperating James Secord was not among them.
The Coloured Corps, a militia company of about 50 Black men, serves throughout the war, including during the Battle of Queenston Heights.
June 1813, a number of U.S. soldiers are billeted at the Secords’ home.
Laura Secord makes her trek to warn the British (specifically a military detachment camped in DeCew House) about the American invasion in June 22, 1813 (when she is 38 years old)