| Notes |
- PELLUM CARTWRIGHT TEEPLE (originally spelled Pelham), thirteenth and youngest child, and ninth son of Peter Teeple, was born 28th November, 1809, and was a participator in the Upper Canadian Rebellion of 1837, or "The Patriot War," as it was then often called. He was the leader of a band of young Canadians opposed to the long misgovernment of the country by an irresponsible body of men known as "The Family Compact," who ignored the statutes passed by the parliamentary representatives of the people, and frustrated their will; and when it was determined to fight, he was chosen a captain; but on the flight to the United States of the two principal leaders, William Lyon Mackenzie and Hon. John Rolph, all those who had been leaders under them were compelled to follow them into exile or forfeit their lives.
Pellum, on attempting to flee, fell in with a party of soldiers who made him their prisoner. The story of his capture and escape is thus told by his nephew, Luke, son of Simon Peter Teeple, who heard it from his own lips:
"The price set upon his head by the Canadian Government was $600 dead or alive.' He was determined to leave Canada and was then on his way to the western frontier line. He was riding a horse, and had reached a point some seven or eight miles westerly from London, Ont., on the road leading from that city along the southern side of the River Thames. His brother, Edward Manning Teeple, lived on this road some two or three miles from London, and he was making for his house. On turning a bend in the road he came in full view of a sergeant and six men advancing towards him. He could neither retreat nor conceal himself, so he rode steadily on and met them. The sergeant halted him and plied him with questions; and as his answers were unsatisfactory he was taken in charge, faced about, and obliged to go with them towards London. They dismounted him, and the sergeant rode the horse. Plodding along for some time, darkness overtook them before they reached the city. They stopped at a tavern and the soldiers ordered a meal, which was at once prepared. They then asked him to come and eat with them, but he assured them he was not hungry, and they left their arms in the bar-room and went into the next room and sat down to eat.
He also went with them into the same room, and asked the waitress for a drink of water, he was on the side of the table next to the outside door, and as the girl gave him the drink of water she flung this door wide open. In an instant he was through it and running for the woods. The men sprang for their arms, and came rushing out, firing after him. He could hear the orders given to surround the cluster of tavern buildings, and see lights moving, but he made good his escape into the adjoining forest. There was snow on the ground and running was difficult., yet for the fear of being overtaken he kept it up until almost exhausted. Taking what he supposed to be a course between the public road and the river, he at length came upon the latter, but he did not know whether above or below his starting point. Going down to the water, which was frozen over, he followed along until he espied an airhole; into this he threw a stick to see which way the water ran, then going down the stream, he finally came upon a house. By this time he was excessively fatigued, and very, very hungry from his long fast- He went up and knocked at the door, and a man appeared and began talking with him. He had no means of ascertaining whether this man was a 'Patriot' or not, so he feigned himself an urgent despatch-bearer of important official papers which must be delivered in London with utmost haste; he said he had given out in travelling, and insisted upon the man's acceptance of and conveyance of them to London forthwith, as he was utterly unable to go on himself. The man demurred; so, after an earnest discussion Pellum said, 'Well, if I could rest a few minutes and get some food to eat, I might try to go on.' He then heard the man's wife getting up, and she protested that her husband could not go, but said she would get Pellum something to eat at once, which she did. While eating he became satisfied they were ' Patriots,' and revealed his true position. The man then said they could not keep him there, but that they would see that he was hidden and fed at a neighbor's over the hill. Pellum went with him to the neighbor's and was concealed there for a time. If there was any likelihood of capture one of the children at the first house was to come over the hill and notify him. He was alarmed one day by seeing one of the children come running over the hill; but it proved to be only a neighborly call. After a few days had passed, and he thought search for him had ceased, he worked his way through the woods at night up to his brother Edward's, and soon after went in the same way to the home of his sister Mary, wife of Andrus Davis, at Orwell, Ont. Several weeks were spent in this hazardous trip.
"Mary and Andrus Davis were known to be staunch Loyalists, and there is no account of any attempt to search for him at their place. There he was supplied with food for a short time, but the danger of recapture was so great that he did not remain all the time in the house but kept concealed sometimes in the woods.
"Still fearing arrest and execution, as some of his compatriots had thus suffered, his sister Mary Davis, nephew James Teeple, and sister-in-law Jemima Teeple, conducted him secretly in the dead of winter by sleigh from Orwell to the Niagara frontier; and his relative, Rev. Samuel Rose, of Lundy's Lane, though a political opponent of the Patriots, espoused his cause, and under the pretence of being the employer of Pellum, sent him on a message to friends in New York State, and at once hired a man to row him across at some point below the Falls.
"He, Pellum, grew very intense when relating this part of the narrative, and declared that had anyone ordered the boatman back to the Canada shore he would have thrown the man overboard and made the attempt to reach the American shore alone. But no difficulty arose; he was safely landed in New York State, and waving a parting adieu to this relatives, who sat in their conveyance and witnessed his crossing, he began his career in the United States."
Though the Patriot War thus came to so inglorious an end, it is now generally admitted in Canada that had it not been for that uprising by which the attention of the British Government was called to the intolerable grievances of the Canadians, and a just form of responsible government quickly conceded, it would in all probability have been many years before the people of Canada would have obtained that full measure of home rule which, they henceforth enjoyed.
We next hear of Pellum journeying down the Ohio River with a party intending to go to Texas, but becoming dissatisfied with the roistering habits of his companions, he left them and struck across the country to a place called Pekin, on the Illinois River. From there he eventually went to the city of Rockford, Ill., where on the 28th of March, 1841, he married Mary A. Gleason, who is still living.
His father and mother were now so old they were desirous he should come home to Canada and care for them the rest of their days; but he would not do this until a special amnesty was sent him by the Canadian Government for his part in the Patriot War. This was obtained and forwarded to him, and he journeyed to the old home in Oxford County, accompanied by his wife, son Charles, and Luke, son of Simon Peter Teeple, (who lived with them), in a two-horse buggy, there being no railroads, and remained there till the two old pioneers were laid away in the churchyard. Later he returned to Illinois and settled at Marengo, where he died on the 12th of December, 1878, and where his son Charles, above referred to, still resides. Pellum Teeple left six sons, viz. :--Charles Gleason, Addison Venelle, Levant, Jared, Lester, and Frank; and four daughters--Elmina, Elvira, Ruth L., and Lydia Mary.
Of the other descendants of Frederick Mabee and Peter Teeple little or nothing of special note is known to the present writer, except the dates of their birth and death, and that Oliver Mabee Teeple was also a captain at Lundy's Lane; but it is hoped that the survivors, should they read these lines, will, as speedily as possible, contribute their quota to these annals before it is too late; and above all, that they will prove worthy successors of those sturdy "Pilgrim Fathers of Canada" who, for the sake of what they believed, rightly or wrongly, to be their duty, were willing to undertake, not only the perils of war, but also the hardships and privations of hewing out for themselves, and for their children, in the wild forests of Turkey Point, new homes and habitations, destined after one hundred years to become an important part of a great and mighty state. [Sketch of Peter Teeple, Loyalist and Pioneer - W.B. Waterbury]
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1809 - 1878 (69 years)
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