Mercy Lawrason
ID # 2342
| Father | Thomas Lawrason |
| Marriage | Mercy Lawrason married Samuel Hammill. |
| Note | Our sources that state that Mercy Lawrason was the wife of Samuel Hamill are limited. Alexander Dingwall Fordyce in his Family Record of the Name of Dingwall Fordyce in Aberdeenshire, etc. 1888, Fergus, Ontario, on page cxxiv in the paragraph headed Lawrason, refers to Mercy as a sister of Miller and Lawrence Lawrason and states that she was married to a Hamill. Also in Vol. 5 of the Annals of the Forty, Grimby Historical Society, 1954, page 31, we are shown the presence of Samuel Hammill in Upper Canada as of 1788 with a wife and one child. Mercy is not mentioned by name. A petition of Samuel's is mentioned, however, stating that he came from New Jersey. See petition C-2043 Vol. 224, bundle H3, petn. 24 dated 24 May, 1796. Samuel is already in receipt of 200 acres, but prays for an additional 200 acres of family lands. He states that he is from New Jersey and that he came in 1788 with a wife and one child. It's interesting that he is vouched for by Nathanial Pettit. Nathanial's daughter Rachel was married to Lawrence Lawrason, Mercy's brother. Since Nathanial was a Justice of the Peace, and would have been approached to endorse the petition in any event, this by itself may not mean much. There is one other document, however, that we may fall back on, and, while circumstantial in nature, does lend strong support to Samuel's relationship to the Lawrason family. When the American army burned Niagara Town on December 10, 1813, they destroyed the land records office along with it. After the war, commissioners went around to the property holders and examined and recorded such records that they themselves had. These efforts are recorded in two volumes of the Commissioners Books and may be found on microfilm GSU 170143. In October of 2012, the Mayholme Foundation of St. Catharines produced a hardcover book that is essentially a precise of these transactions. See pages 83 and 84 of the Mayholme book. This shows the following transaction: Type: Bargain & Sale Parties: Warner Nelles and Elizabeth his wife of Grand river and Samuel Hammel, Yeoman of Ancaster Land: Lot 52, Second Concession, Ancaster Witnesses: Laurence Larrison and Charles Anderson Original Registration Date: 5 May 1809 New Registration Date n/a Registrar: Rolfe Clench Since Lawrence Lawrason is stated to be Samuel Hammill's brother-in-law, at least in the Annals of the Forty, the above record as found in the commissioners' books certainly strengthens the argument. We may add to that in that the Ontario Archives makes available an early map of Clinton Township dated 1811 at York. The map shows Miller 'Larrison' holding lot nbr. 23 in the broken front facing Lake Ontario and lot 23 on Concession 1. Daniel Corson holds lots 19, 20, 22 and 23 in the 3rd Concession. Samuel Hamel holds lots 21 in the 2nd and the 3rd Concessions. Three Lawrason family members at least were fairly closely clustered. Lawrence Lawrason held a grant in Gainsborough Township, the township immediately to the south of Clinton. |
Children of Mercy Lawrason and Samuel Hammill |
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| Last Edited | 10 Jun 2019 |