Edward Mays (1784-1872): A Veteran of the Eighth (King's) Regiment of Foot on the British Frontier of Canada

ISBN-13: 9781546457954 / Angielski / Miękka / 2017 / 54 str.

Michael T. Tracy

Opis

Edward Mays was a young Irishman residing in Ballinderry, County Antrim, Ireland when he decided to enlist in the Eighth or The King's Regiment of Foot in 1804. This regiment already had an illustrious history dating back to 1685 during the Monmouth Rebellion by the illegitimate son of King Charles II against King James II. Mays would marry in about 1810 and served for the next five years on the British frontier of Canada and fought in many battles during the War of 1812 against the Americans. Among these battles were Queenston Heights where he received a slight wound in the nose; Fort George; Stoney Creek and the Siege of Fort Erie. Shortly before the Battle of Waterloo, Mays and the First Battalion of the Eighth (King's) Regiment] were ordered to the West Indies, where he took part in various engagements, and later got a slight wound at the Island of Martenace, near Gibraltar. Mays and the regiment embarked to Ireland staying there for at least two years before being ordered to Fort George in Halifax, Nova Scotia and the Canadian frontiers of Upper Canada during the War of 1812. Edward Mays was subsequently discharged in 1821 and returned to Ireland and apparently settled in County Tyrone where some of his children were born. Mays never forgot his time in the military spent in Canada and he decided to go back and settle in Ontario upon receiving a military land grant for free land with his family. The members of the Mays family left Ireland in about 1831-32 and first settled in Adjala Township, Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada. The family did not stay on their farm for very long as they relocated a short distance to nearby King Township in York County purchasing over 100 acres of farmland in 1834. Edward Mays and John Corbett, who married his eldest daughter, Jane, were neighbors. After his wife's death, Edward relocated to Tecumseth Township in Simcoe County where he continued working as a farmer with his sons. By 1871 the old veteran relocated once again further west with his son, Edward, to Luther Township, Wellington County, Ontario. This then is the narrative of the adventurous life and times of Edward Mays.