William Kerby

Biography

William Kerby, son of John Kerby and Alison Donaldson was born 15 April 1791 at Fort Detroit, which was then part of the British colony of Upper Canada. [1]

It is said his grandfather went off to fight and die in the campaign to capture Quebec in 1759. His father, John Kerby (1754-1841), had been an appentice to a silversmith; later was a successful trader with the North West Fur Company in the "Great West", and spoke several native languages, where he married Alison Donaldson (1760- ) in 1781. He suffered an injury which ruptured him, and he turned to farming. He purchased 200 acres at Gross Point, near Detroit.

Detroit was under British control until 1796. He served in the militia as a Lieutenant of the 1st Gore Regiment between 1823 and 1831. [2]

William "for a great many years ran a grist mill which was located nearly opposite Kerby's Island." [3] John Aston Wilkes built a distillery in Brantford in 1830. "The next year, William Kerby built a competing distillery on the bank of the river near Church Street." - [4] He had received a land grant of 200 acres, probably to encourage those ventures.

William lived in Brantford until some time between 1866 and 1871. [5] [6] [7] In 1871, he was enumerated at the home of his daughter Mary Pruyne. [8] He died 1 March 1877 in Napanee, Lennox, Ontario. [9]

Sources

1 Descendants of Aurie Kanaghowende Hill, records of Margaret Smith (1791-1863), 6th generation
2 James G. Chewett, The Upper Canada Almanac (Stanton : York, Upper Canada, 1831) Canadian Institute of Historical Microreproductions; Militia, p. 72
3 History of the County of Brant, Reville, F. Douglas, v. 2, p. 255-256; digital images online. Our Roots / Nos Racines
4 Brantford : description of the city built at Brant's Crossing under William Kerby Residence
5 1851 Census of Canada West, Brant, Brantford, North Ward, p. 119; Ancestry.ca
6 1861 Census of Canada West, Brant, Brantford, Queens Ward, district 1, p. 75, lines 25-28; digital image, Ancestry.ca
7 “Brant County Directory and Gazetteer, 1865-1866” entry for William Kerby, page 106. "Canadian City and Area Directories, 1819-1906," database, Ancestry.ca
8 1871 census Canada, Ontario, Lennox, Napanee, M. William Pruyne household
9 Ontario, Death Register William Kerby registration no. 097518 (1877); digital image, Ancestry.ca
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Kerby-119