Philip Adam Fox\Fuchs

  Noted events in his life were:

• Moved, Fall 1776. ^{461,462,463,464,465,466,467} I was concerned that Maryland would be heavily involved in the War effort, so in an attempt to protect my family we moved to Little York, Pennsylvania. The move to Little York was fortuitous for me because I made a dear friend in Johannes Wigle whom I met while living in the Pennsylvania colony.

John Wendle Wigle hailed from Frankfurt, Germany where he was born in 1753. He was orphaned in his native land at an early age obliging him to shift for himself. He was a mere boy when in May of 1772 he made his way to the seacoast of Rotterdam., From Rotterdam he sailed to an English port where having neither means or friends, he hid himself on board a sailing vessel named the “Crawford” which was about to leave for the Pennsylvania colony. He was discovered after the ship sailed by the Captain, who proved himself a most cruel man and immediately upon arrival in America bound young Wigle out to service for seven years to pay for his passage. .. He made a living as a weaver. At the age of twenty-one years, John made his home at York, Pennsylvania, where in 1776 he was married to Julianna Romer.

John was a pacifist just like myself and refused to serve in the Continental Army. As a result, he was suspected of being a Tory. He hid under the floor in his house when the Continental Army conducted searches. At one point, the army 't want to live in hiding or in fear.

• Moved, 1786, Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan. ^{466,468,469,470} In 1786, John Wigle and I learned that the British Court was offering land exclusively to loyalist who would settle the land with the condition that it bear certain improvements within a year and that it not be held or used for speculation. We decided to travel together to the British fort “Detroit” through Ohio with packhorses and drive our cattle ahead of the horses. We spent several years near Detroit on Grosse Ile, as the British government had not yet acquired the land from the Indians.

Frenchman Antoine Laumet de la Mothe Cadillac originally built Fort Detroit in 1701, naming it Fort Pontchartrain. The French hoped to use the fort to befriend the Indians in the Ohio valley and to protect their interests in the region from the British. The fort was built along the Detroit River at the gateway between Lake Erie and the western Great Lakes. It consisted of a small town surrounded by a stockade wall. Fort Detroit soon became a center of the fur trade between the French and local Indians.
The French surrendered the fort to the British in 1760 as a result of the French and Indian War. The British named it Fort Detroit and reinforced the defenses around it. Indians attacked Fort Detroit during Pontiacs Rebellion in 1763, but even after a five-month siege they were not able to overcome it.
During the Colonial war against the crown, the British used Fort Detroit as a base to plan and launch Indian raids into the Ohio Country. Henry Hamilton, known for paying Indians for American scalps, was the fort's governor during the Revolution. In spite of the Treaty of Paris in 1783 that ended the Revolution, the British continued to occupy Fort Detroit to promote unrest between the natives and American settlers.

It was during our stay on Grosse Ille that my friend John Wigle and I became well acquainted with the Tofflemire's and Scratch's. My friend Leonard Kratz (Scratch) has quite the tale to tell of his journey to the Detroit area. Leonard was a native of Teutonhofer near Frankfort-on-the-main, Germany. In 1776 at the age of twenty years, he was brought to the colonies against his will as a Hessian soldier serving with the Hanau Regiment. In October of 1777, he was captured in Saratoga as part of the Burgoyne army. He was held as a prisoner of war in Virginia until the end of the war. He concluded he was fortunate to be in this new land and decided to stay in the United States.

It happened that in 1779, emigrants from Virginia and Pennsylvania were pouring across the mountains to Kentucky. Leonard was a trail guide for Pennsylvania Germans that were migrating to Kentucky. During one of Leonard's expeditions into Kentucky, he met a young woman, Mary Munger, with whom he fell in love. Mary consented to marry him, however her parents upon being consulted raised strenuous objections. Whereupon, Leonard issued an ultimatum to the effect that unless they accepted him as a son-in-law, he would serve them no longer as a guide. This placed the matter in a new light, for in the midst of the wilderness a guide was essential even though a son-in-law might not be. Accordingly, Mary's parents yielded, the marriage was performed, and the journey was resumed until it ended at Ruddle's Station.

In the spring of 1780 there had been a lot of rain and the settlers at Fort Ruddle were not expecting an attack from the North. They did get a warning of potential Indian trouble and Monday June 30, 1780 everyone gathered in Ruddles Station. Tuesday, some of the boys were sent across the creek to drive some stray cows into the Stockade. Heavy rain had fallen the night before, so they thought it would delay any attack. Unfortunately, McKee, his Indians and cannon had landed at Falmouth arriving early that morning. The boys were making I of noise. One of the boys, Joseph Conway was climbing up the opposite bank when he was shot and scalped. The wound was not fatal and after an hour or two managed to crawl across the creek and into the Stockade.

The attack resumed at 1:00 p.m. when Col. Henry Byrd and the rest of the British and Indians arrived. They defended themselves vigorously. After two shots from the cannon broke the forts walls in, it was clear they could not hold out. They just couldn't fight against Six hundred men-with six pieces of artillery. Col. Byrd demanded that Captain Ruddle surrender the fort to His Britanic Majesty's forces. They were promised that they would not be killed if they surrendered. The settlers surrendered, and the Indians promptly set on them tomahawking and scalping, especially the old people and infants. Everything in the fort was stolen or destroyed and by 4 p.m., the remainder of the captives began the long walk to Fort Detroit.
The next morning, Joseph's scalped head was bleeding badly. A woman noticed and reached down into an old tree stump and got a handful of spider webs and matted them on the wound, which stopped the bleeding and saved the boy's life...
Leonard and his young wife and baby fell into the hands of different Indian masters, causing them to be separated from each other. Leonard's master forced him to carry a huge copper kettle strapped on his back all the way to Fort Detroit. The marks of the kettle were permanently imprinted into his back. He was deprived of sleep, as he coulnd't lie down at night with the kettle strapped to his back. His master furthered his torture by not feeding him. He was saved from starvation through the compassion of a squaw who pitied and befriended him. On reaching Detroit he was purchased by the British authorities. The British cared for him until he recovered from his suffering sufficiently to enable him to go to work.

However, Leonard was tormented by the thought of what might be the fate of his wife and child. Daily he went to the wharf to meet the canoes that came in, hoping that sooner or later he would learn something of them. Although prisoners were being brought in from time to time, he could learn nothing of his missing ones. One day, he gazed upon a woman and was turning sadly away when she cried out, “Leonard! “Don't you know me?” It was his wife. She was so altered in appearance by the terrible hardships she had endured that he had failed to recognize her.

Mary related to him the fate of their baby Peter. She had stumbled and fallen forward while struggling up a bank with Peter in her arms, striking Peter's head on the root of a tree and killing him instantly. She hastily buried Peter, after which she was compelled to resume the weary march, which finally ended at Fort Detroit.

The Tofflemire's recounted a similar story that on the march north to Fort Detroit, one of their young women was carrying a baby in her arms. While she was crossing a stream on a log, the baby became frightened and began to cry. One of the Indians killed the baby with his tomahawk so that nearby settlers would not hear its cries. Henry Tofflemire, who was 12-year's-old at the time, grabbed a rifle from a pack and shot the Indian. He wasn't punished for his actions as it was considered Indian justice. Two of Martin Tofflemire's 6 children were left with the Indians. He was able to redeem one with payment “to the amount of one hundred Pounds” and the other was returned to “Kentuck” within a few months..
On August 4, 1780, the Tofflemire's, and Kratz's arrived at Fort Detroit with Col. Byrd. There were about 150 prisoners, mostly Germans who didn't speak English. Nearly 200 more prisoners, who were mostly women and children, arrived later by canoe. Some of the prisoners were taken to Niagara and Michillimackinac. Local businessmen and families ransomed some of the prisoners. Ransoms were paid in blankets, rum or commodities. The Macomb family ransomed some of the prisoners by making them indebted to them for their redemption and gave their “note of hand” covering the ransom value. Macomb then offered them tenency on Hog Island (Belle Isle) or Grosse Ile where they could farm on shares and thus repay their debts.

In 1783, after the Treat of Paris, the British gave them several choices. They could return to their former homes or give allegiance to Great Britain and be allowed to petition for land grants in Canada.

The Tofflemire's didn't have the means to return to Kentucky, so they remained on Grosse Ile indebted to the Miamis Company for the 100 Pounds worth of ransom he had needed to redeem his child from the Indians.

Note:

It is not known if this latter child was ever reunited with the family.

Historians believe that the child returned to Kentucky was never reunited with the family as they could not afford to make the return trip and records that have been found do not list the missing child.

• settled, 1787. In about 1790, loyalist were settling in the newly surveyed Townships of Malden, Colchester, Gosfield, River Canard, Petite Cote, L'Assomption, Pike Creek, Puce and Belle River. The first settlers along this stretch included many of the Hessians who fought for the British against the American rebels and many Pennsylvania Dutch Mennonites. I settled my family in Petite Cote, Ontario, Canada settling on lot 53. I marked out the boundaries of my land and then began to chop through one of the thickest walls of forest in North America to reach the soil. I soon developed a dislike for the hard work it took to clear the land, so I tried different methods to cut down the trees. I discovered I could make more headway by setting fire to the trees or by cutting a deep gash around the circumference of the tree to prevent it from being nourished causing the tree to gradually die. I struggled to clear at least five acres as stipulated for our first year improvement and continued to labor to clear the land as I enlarged our farm as each year went by

• Moved, 1792. ^471,472 Our friends, the Kratz's, Munger's and Wigle's moved to the Township of Gosfield. I decided to move my family to Gosfield, Ontario to be close to friends. I settled my family on Lot #10 on the Gosfield Lake Shore, where I farmed until the time of my death. Lot #10 was next to the Wigle farm and tavern. My sons, Jonas, Philip, Michael, George, Henry, Adam, Jacob and John, subsequently established farms in the Township and contributed to its development and wealth. Our family multiplied and soon there was a saying that a stranger traveling through south Gosfield might with reasonable assurance of avoiding mistakes of identity, accost any young man whom he met as Mr. Wigle, when should the party addressed plead misnomer, it was in order for the stranger to remark, “Oh, I beg your pardon; Mr. Fox, then.

Our friends, the Kratz's and Munger's soon returned to Fort Detroit because of trouble we were having with Indians. When Leonard Scratch settled in Gosfield in 1792, he located on Lot 9. Leonard's family returned to Gosfield when our troubles with the Indians calmed down, settling on Lot 2, E. D. where he continued to reside during the balance of his life.

My friend, John Wigle took up Lot 6, E. D. John's sons, John, Windel, Christopher, Joseph and Michael Wigle, were individuals of high repute in the community. The Wigles became numerous and mighty in the entire region around.

The Malotte brothers, Peter and Theodore, were good neighbors, as well. Peter settled on Lot 4, W. D. and Theodore on E. D. Joseph and Peter, the sons of Theodore, have been active participants in the Township.

The four Townships known as Gosfield North and South; Colchester North and South were purchased in 1787 from the Indians and was renamed the “New Settlement” to distinguish it from the “Old Settlement” of Sandwich and Amherstburg.

The New Settlement extended from the boundary of Malden Township to Mill Creek, which was later changed to Kingsville. The Township of Gosfield fronted on Lake Erie to the south extending from the lake to the northern boundary of the entire southern tier of Townships in Essex County. The Townships of Maidstone and Rochester border Gosfield to the South, Mersea on the east and Colchester North and South on the west. Gosfield covers 50,000 acres, of which 49, 020 acres are owned by residents and 21, 284 cleared and under cultivation. The general features of soil and surface area are substantially level relieved by a slight ridge of narrow extent, along which Talbot Street runs from the center to the north west corner of the Township. Numerous small streams flow through different localities, those toward the south coursing between banks of considerable prominence, the gullies thus traversed forming about the only variety of surface. Although, in some localities a decided roll is observable, while in others there is a considerable proportion of semi-swamp land. The soil is of a generally loamy consistency, the factors of gravel, sand and clay succeeding each other at intervals throughout its extent, while in some situations a decidedly stubborn but fertile clay forms a salient feature of soil composition. Grains, roots, and fruits known to this climate flourish here. The Village of Kingsville is a neighboring Township to Gosfield situated on an attractive and advantageous high plain about a mile from the shore of Lake Erie

Gosfield Township and its neighboring Townships witnessed its first influx of pioneers prior to 1788. The presence of white settlers in the forests however, proved unacceptable to the Indians then owning the land by right of occupation. The hostility that developed between the Indians and settlers resulted in the return to American soil of some of the pioneers. The remaining settlers each secured the convenience of a frontage on lake Erie, however the downside was that their land wasn't symmetrical proportionate. Beginning at the center of Gosfield to the eastern boundary of Gosfield the survey was sensibly made, the width of the lots being placed at three furlongs each. These two surveys are divided by what is called the Division Road and are respectively known as the eastern and western divisions of the Township front.

The Scratch's, Wigle's, Malott's and my family constituted about the only settlement along the lakeshore for many years. A settlement was formed to the rear of Gosfield, which was settled at an early date by the Toffelmire's, Brunner's, John and Thomas Whittle and Stewart's. Stewart was a Baptist elder that held services in Gosfield. A Methodist elder named Case would also hold services from time to time. This settlement was commonly referred to as the “Back Settlement.”

In about 1840, the prevalence of bog iron ore in the vicinity led to the establishment of a smelting furnace on the farm of George Brunner. The American firm that mined the ore became financially

Our nearest market town was Detroit, until Amherstburg sprang into existence. We would travel to market in canoes with our produce to sell or grain to be ground. Finally, Charles Stuart built a mill at the mouth of what was called Mill Creek, just west of Kingsville. However, his mill didn't prove successful, so Peter Scratch erected a windmill on Lot 5, E. D. Owing to the capriciousness of the weather this means of motive power was unreliable. Peter later built a mill that could be run by horsepower machinery, which became a great success. Settler came to the Scratch Mill for miles and miles around. Each man furnished his own horses and milled his own grain. The Scratch's were determined to keep abreast of the times, so when steam power was introduced, they built a new mill. A store was built near the mill that was run by Josiah Strong.

In 1800, an Irishman named Robert McMurray leased and settled on lot 5, E. D., where for many years he kept a private school. When the law compelling teachers to pass examinations, he presented himself at Sandwich for the examination, but on being questioned in regard to some rules of grammer, he replied, “Gentleman, I know nothing at all about grammer, as I pretend to only have a plain English education.” Doctoring was supplied by people in the community who admitted to skill in this art. Mrs. John Wigle officiated as the only midwife.

Ministers were in short supply, so when there wasn't an ordained minister within eighteen miles of either the bride or the groom, they could have their marriage sealed by the Justice of the Peace. For example, Squire McCormick married Julianna Wigle and Peter Malotte, Jr. who were both from Gosfield in Colchester.

• Property, 1797. ^473,474 I drew lots with my son Jonas drawing lots 7, 8 and 9 near Ruthven, Ontario, Canada.

Philip married Catherine Lamer (Lamarche) on 27 Apr 1772 in Richen, Baden, Germany. (Catherine Lamer (Lamarche) was born on 8 Apr 1752 in Burringa Township, Baden, Baden, Germany, died on 15 Sep 1802 in Gosfield, Essex County, Ontario, Canada and was buried in Lake Shore Cemetery, Gosfield, Ontario, Canada F/B Plot 10 ⁴⁷⁵.)

  Noted events in their marriage were:

• Following Wedding Ceremony. ⁴⁷⁶ Following our wedding, we traveled to England where we boarded a ship in Liverpool that was headed for Baltimore, Maryland. We were on the ship for 14 weeks before we finally arrived in Baltimore where we settled for four years. It was during our adjustment to colonial life that we as a family decided to change our name from Fuchs to Fox.