Of the Loyalists who settled in the Flamboroughs and saw action during the War of 1812, the family of Col. George Chisholm Sr. is the most noted. Born in Scotland in 1745, he and his brother, John, left for the American colonies in 1773.
During the Revolutionary War, the brothers fought for the British, John in the Indian Department under Capt. Joseph Brant and George with General Burgoyne.
After the war, George settled on a farm near Shelburne, Nova Scotia with his wife and daughter, Mary Christina. In the Maritimes, the family experienced severe hardship. After seven years, they moved to Upper Canada to join George’s brother, John Chisholm at Niagara.
After proving his claim as a United Empire Loyalist and receiving a grant of land, George Chisholm chose instead to purchase a large tract of virgin property on the north side of Burlington Bay in 1793, becoming a neighbour of Joseph Brant, who had settled east of the East Flamborough Township line on land still in the ownership of the Mississauga First Nation and would later become Wellington Square (present day Burlington).
In 1796, George Chisholm was appointed a Magistrate for the Flamborough-Nelson Township by Lt. Governor John Graves Simcoe. In the following year, he became one of the commissioners overseeing the operations of the first bridge over the Burlington Bay and his name also appears as one of the commissioners, working on behalf of the British Government dealing with Indian matters. His most important contribution was recognizing the importance of attracting settlers to the Head-of-the-Lake area and petitioning the provincial government about the need for roads.
George Chisholm’s service during the American War of Independence resulted in his involvement in the early development of an Upper Canada militia. Aged 67 when war began, Chisholm served as a captain of the 2nd York Regiment with his three sons, William, John and George Jr. during the first year of the hostilities, before retiring and returning to East Flamborough Township.
George Chisholm Sr. died in 1842 and was buried on a point of land jutting into Burlington Bay, later called Filman’s Point. About 1950, the burial ground was abandoned and the graves moved to the Greenwood Cemetery, with those of the Chisholm family being reinterred in the Chisholm plot in the Town of Oakville.
Sylvia Wray is the former archivist with the Flamborough Archives. She can be reached through the Archives at archives@flamboroughhistory.com.
This article was originally published in the Flamborough Review, 17 May 2012.
