Barbara Fox

  Noted events in her life were:

• Misc. The fact that Theodore had these individuals vouch for him suggests that Theodore was raised somewhere around Amherstburg. Then just who was this Theodore Malot, Milot, Melot, or Malott whose lands sprawled over the Mersea-Gosfield townline? Mrs. Mary Burch who wrote "A Family Record" in 1880 has Chapter XIX on the Malotte Family. She tells that this family was taken prisoner by the Indians and named Peter, Theodore and David as the sons of the family captured. In her Chapter XXI on Grandma Malotte she also names Catherine and Delilah as daughters. She initiates the story that Peter Malotte's father had died in the state of Maryland, leaving a widow and five children, Peter, David, and Theodore; the girls, Catherine and Delilah. Perhaps she wasn't aware that their father had returned to Maryland and remarried while his wife Sarah was in Detroit. Perhaps that is what the family wanted Mary Burch to think or perhaps they didn't know what happened to him.

The Commemorative Biographical Record of the County of Essex, Ontario J. H. Beers & Co., Toronto 1905 Page 476 gives this fanciful tale about the Malott family. "The record of this family in the Dominion of Canada begins with the migration of three brothers and two sisters, Peter, Theodore, David, Catherine and Delilah Malott, who made their way to Canada soon after the Revolutionary War, in 1783. Their Father had died in the state of Maryland." (This sounds like it was copied from Mary Burch's book. MHM) These two source books have allowed descendants to pass on impossible stories to their children which have been repeated as truth ever since. Mary Burch's book merely relates stories in her book as they were told to her. (Nevertheless it is a valuable work as it is the earliest record of families in South Essex.) The Essex Biography was written by many different persons who paid to have their individual families story printed in the same manner in which they submitted it. The biographies of families are as accurate as the knowledge of the family member who submitted what he or she chose to write about his own family. Thus it is a flowery and often inaccurate version of the families. First of all the Malotts did not migrate to Canada and certainly not after 1783. Their intention was to settle in Kentucky but the Indians picked off part of the family and eventually released them at Detroit for a ransom(this is a big part of what this book is about.) the father of the captives did die in Maryland but not until the year 1806. He was along on the Kentucky adventure but escaped and returned to Maryland innocently presuming his family was dead. Because this incident occurred in 1780, Theodore was not part of it. His gravestone, moved from the lake front cemetery on his farm land to Greenhill Cemetery, Kingsville, Ontario, has imprinted upon it "Theodore Malott, died March 25, 1836 aged 53 years," which should make him born 1783. Theodore Malott seems to have arrived in Gosfield township by the last half of 1798, or at least by 1799, as his eldest child, Sarah, is listed as born in Gosfield in 1799. Theodore married Katie Wigle, daughter of the respected John Wendele Weigele but her birth date remains unknown to me. Both were wilderness children born into troubled times with no opportunities for formal learning. But skilled they were in tactics, in ingenuity and the performance of strenuous and tedious tasks. It would appear they married and were given land at about the age of 16(not uncommon in this troubled period of time.) They persevered, toiled unceasingly and thrived as they raised their family of twelve children. Theodore's name appears in both church and community involvement. Theodore cannot be named a brother of Catherine Malott who married Simon Girty and Peter Malott who married Mary Jones. Catherine and Peter were born in the 1760-92's or a previous generation. Archival Materials bear out the fact that they were captured in 1780 and both Peter and Catherine are recorded by first names. Their mother was Sarah Malott, born 1733 and their father, Peter Malott was born 1727, as sworn in testimony given by different descendants and supported by Draper MSS.

That Theodore was part of Peter and Catherine Malott's family I am certain. His very name Theodore was given for the Theodores Melott, Malott who came from N. J. to settle along the Conococheague Creek in Western Maryland sometime before 1750. I presume that Sarah Malott, Peter and Catherine's mother, likely had much to do with raising Theodore while she resided on Grosse Ile, and when she came across to Amherstburg after the American take-over of Detroit in 1796. I have searched to figure out the puzzle of Theodore's identity. I am now convinced that Theodore Malott was a grandchild of Sarah Malott and that his father was Joseph Malott, brother of Peter and Catherine, that some sort of tragedy happened to Theodore's mother after which Joseph left Theodore as well as a sister Delilah for Sarah to raise. Joseph Malott born 1759. may be found on tax lists in Madison County, Kentucky in 1789 and he married Katie South in 1789. At least two children were born of this marriage. By 1805, Joseph was married again, this time to Mary White, a woman at least 30 years younger than he was and had seven more children, six of whom appear to be at home when the 1830 census was taken. Joseph died in Platte County, Missouri in 1833. The 1830 Missouri Census discloses that he was between 70 and 80 at this time with a wife between 40 and 50 and a daughter yet between 5 and 10. This Joseph Malott, Landowner in Missouri, I presume to be the father of Theodore Malott of Gosfield. I feel it is highly unlikely that Joseph born 1759 without a partner in that decade before he married Katie at the age of thirty. That was not the pattern for that time period when people were apt to marry very young. I think that Joseph Malott's earliest partner, whoever she was, was Theodore Malott's mother. Notice that Theodore names his oldest son Joseph. We know that Peter names his oldest son Joseph, probably for his brother Joseph who probably had close connections with him. By written accounts, Joseph Malott appears as an early explorer of the far reaches of the Ohio River and its tributaries. Many American researchers, including Palmer, Waites and Lois Hall placed the Canadian Malotts as children of Joseph Malott from Maryland. Joseph who went to Missouri certainly could have been father to Theodore and Delilah and David(if there ever was a David here). Certainly this Joseph was not the father of Peter and Catherine as he was only five or six years older than they were. Peter Malott and Catherine Malott both told their families that their father's name was Peter as I think I have proven he was. Because both Peter and Catherine were teenagers when they were seperated from their father, I am certain they passed on the correct name for their father. When Dr. Draper was interviewing descendants Catherine Girty was still living with her daughter Sarah Munger and Sarah Munger said Catherine's father was Peter Malott. There is another Joseph Malott whom American researchers have named as father to the Canadian Malotts. He owned lands on Conococheague Creek at the same time his brother but, when he took out his lease in 1765, no wife was named, and if he had one at the time she would have been named, just as Peter Sr. named his wife Sarah when his lease was recorded. Peter Jr. and Catherine were born 1765 or before. This Joseph Malott has no wife until after 1765. I do not believe this older Joseph who must have been born before 1744, was the father to Theodore born 1783 or any other Malott. There is another mention in The Commemorative Biographical Record of the County of Essex, Ontario J. H. Beers & Co., Toronto 1905 Page 497

Malot or Malet means: Taken from Last Name Meanings: This name has been ascribed by some to a place so termed in Normandy, and by others to the courageous blows of the family in battle. Malleus, Maule, Mall, and Mallet was one of the offensive weapons of a wellarmed warrior, being generally made of iron, and used to destroy by pounding or bruising the enemy through or under the armor, that could not be penetrated by edged or pointed weapons, Edward I. was called Malleus Scotorum. All the families of this name in England trace their descent from the renowned William Lord Mallet de Graville, one of the great barons who accompanied William the Conqueror.

Barbara married Joseph James Malott on 5 Oct 1820 in Gosfield Township, Essex County, Ontario, Canada. (Joseph James Malott was born on 1 Jun 1801 in Gosfield Township, Essex County, Ontario, Canada and died on 7 May 1878 ⁴⁵⁶.)