Jeremiah Becker

(Posted By Jeff Coleman)

Source: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wingrove/p-b-jere...

Jeremiah Becker b. ca 1804 Ulster Co NY

                          Baptised at Katsbaan Reformed Church, 

                          Saugerties, Ulster Cty. New York 

                          on 8 July 1804

                      d. 1 Jan 1864 burial Mt Pleasant Cemetery

                         Walsingham ON

  s/o John and Elizabeth (Broodbeck) Becker

Hunter and trapper on Long Point, Norfolk Co., Ont., Canada.

Jeremiah was keeper of the Long Point Lighthouse for a time

He married first to Mary Ann Mabee 

    (daughter of Pelham and Mary (Layman) Mabee)

  Children of the first marriage:

   John Pelham Becker, born c. 1831, died 9 Sept. 1868. 

     John was a blacksmith, recorded in the 1852 census of

     Walsingham Twp. He was buried in Port Royal Cemetery.

   Edward Becker, born c. 1833

   William Becker, born c. 1836

   Oliver Becker, born c. 1839

   Margaret Becker, born 10 April 1843, died 6 Jan. 1914. 

    She married Henry Wheeler 

        (s/o James & Mary Slingerland Wheeler), 

        born 20 July 1831, died 7 March 1917. 

        They were buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Walsingham

       After Margaret died, Henry remarried to Hannah J. Brandow.

     Isaac Becker, born c. 1846

Jeremiah's second marriage  to Abigail Jackson

              At that time she was a slender girl

             of only seventeen years

    (d/o United Empire Loyalist Elijah and Marie (Grozaine) Jackson)

     who came from New York State and settled in the County of

     Frontenac, Ontario, during the exodus of British sympathizers

    after the American Revolutionary War

     Abigail was born at Portland Twp. Frontenac Co. near Kingston

     on 14 March 1831, died on 21 March 1905.  

    Abigail was buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Simcoe. 

    Children of Jeremiah & Abigail

    three girls and five boys

    Dwight Becker b. About 1850

On 7 April 1828, Jeremiah bought from Henry Brandow 100 acres in the North half of Lot 12,Concession 1, Walsingham Twp. On 18 May 1839, Jeremiah sold 75 acres in the South end to Augustus Franklin. Jeremiah sold the rest of his lot to Augustus Franklin on 11 Sept. 1841. He and Abigail continued in Walsingham Twp. recorded in the 1852 census, Jeremiah, aged 43 (sic).

Abigail was the famed heroine of Long Point who saved a crew of seven sailors of the schooner Conductor shipwrecked on Long Point Bay in November 1853. They were again listed in the 1861 census, Jeremiah, aged 49 (sic). After Jeremiah died, Mrs. J. Becker was listed in the 1867 Gazateer on Lot 16, Concession 7, Walsingham Twp., the home of Henry Rohrer to whom she later remarried.

Jeremiah Becker, made his living as a trapper and fisherman in the marshes of Long Point, Norfolk Co. Since Jeremiah spent so much of his time on Long Point, he decided to build a home there. In what came to be known as the breakwater, he built a rough cabin from the lumber that lay strewn along the beach. He eventually was the lighthouse keeper for a short time.

Abigial's marriage to Jeremiah brought with it an instant family of five boys and a girl; Abigail was to add to it by bearing him three girls and five boys.

Abigail's courageous rescue became known among the captains and crews of the ships that plied the Great Lakes, they spread the tale far and wide. She received a number of honours, many of them through the efforts of E.P. Dorr, a local captain. A banquet was given in her honour in Buffalo, at which she was given a purse of $500, most of it contributed by sailors. A letter signed by Queen Victoria herself acknowledged her feat and enclosed a gift of £50. In 1860 the Prince of Wales presented a further gift while he was duck hunting on Long Point. And the governor- general sent a belated congratulatory letter in the 1890s. "Presented in May, 1857 to Abigail Becker of Long Point, Lake Erie, Canada West, for extraordinary resolution, humanity and courage in rescuing from impending death the crew of the schooner "Conductor" lost November 1854." On the reverse is engraved a vessel foundering in the breakers, a beach on which a fire is burning with people near it, and, in the background, the Becker cabin among the dunes of Long Point.

Abigial Jackson Becker Rohrer

The money that Abigail received was invested in a fifty-acre farm in the Seventh Concession of Walsingham Township, north of Port Rowan. But Jeremiah was not a farmer, and their farming efforts did not prosper. John Backus has told of their coming to his grist-mill. When he presented their modest bill he was shocked to have Abigail offer him her gold medal as payment. Refusing it, he told them he would allow them credit for a while. But as their wagon rolled up the hill from the grist-mill, Mr. Backus reflected on the hard times that had fallen on the Beckers. It occurred to him that the medal would be offered to the next merchant or farmer to whom they owed money, and that creditor might not be as reticent as he to accept it. Calling after them, he ran up the road to say he would accept the medal after all, but only that it might be safely deposited in the mill office safe until Abigail was able to reclaim it.

Soon after this Jeremiah Becker returned to his trapping cabin on Long Point that he might augment their meager farm income by trapping. Their fortunes had begun to improve until, one cold January night, his line shanty in the marsh was flooded by a sudden storm. Jeremiah attempted to reach the safety of his permanent cabin, which no storm could flood out, but he froze to death attempting the three-mile trip. His remains were not found until sometime latter in the spring.

Abigail, with her young family, struggled on, trying to wrest a living from the farm. A few years later she married Henry Rohrer. Three daughters were born to them, bringing the total family circle of children to seventeen, and there were two small adopted children as well. In all, nineteen children grew up under her roof. This dauntless pioneer woman died peace-fully on her farm in 1905, aged seventy-four years. Today her remains was lie buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Simcoe having been transferred there from their original resting-place in the village cemetery at Langton. The plot is surmounted by a suitably inscribed tombstone.

A public subscription was taken at that time to erect a monument to her memory, but the final disbursement of the fund was to furnish a ward in the Norfolk General Hospital, a memorial perhaps more fitting for the warm-hearted, selfless heroine of Long Point.

On September 10th, 1958, a plaque was unveiled at Port Rowan, commemorating “The Heroine of Long Point."

              THE HEROINE OF LONG POINT

   In November 1854 the schooner "Conductor" was wrecked off this shore during one of Lake Erie's many violent storms. Jeremiah Becker, who resided nearby, was away on the mainland but his courageous wife, Abigail, risked her life by repeatedly entering the water while assisting the exhausted seamen to reach land. The eight sailors were housed and fed in her cabin until they recovered from their ordeal. In recognition of her heroism she received a letter of commendation from Queen Victoria, several financial awards, and a gold medal from the Life Saving Benevolent Association of New York.

    Source: Historic Plaques of Ontario

               Wayne Cook

It was erected by the Archaeological and Historic Sites Board of Ontario, thus constituting official government recognition of her heroic deed after the passing of more than a century. The heroine's name is also enshrined in the Abigail Becker Conservation Area, a ten-acre picnic ground established by the Big Creek Region Conservation Authority. A part of the former Walsingham farm owned by Mrs. Becker, this property contains a wonderful growth of dogwood, official floral emblem of Norfolk County.