Thomas Ingersoll was born in Westfield, Massachusetts in 1750.
He moved to Great Barrington, Massachusetts in 1774 and married
Elizabeth Dewey in 1775. One of their four children was Laura
Ingersoll, who later became the heroine Laura Secord after the
family moved to the Niagara District in Canada and she met her
Captain. After Elizabeth died Thomas married a widow, Mrs. Mercy
Smith. They had no children and she died in 1789.
His third wife was Mrs. Sara Whiting Bacus and they had six
children including James who was born in the log cabin his father
built (near the present day gazebo in downtown Ingersoll).
Following the American Revolution John Graves Simcoe, anxious to
created settlements in undeveloped land issued a number of charters
for Upper Canada. Thomas Ingersoll and several others were among
those who received such a gift. Based on information given by
Joseph Brant of the Six Nations, he laid claim to land along La
Tranch (Thames River) and that was the beginning of the Oxford
settlement. Unfortunately Governor Simcoe was recalled in 1805 and
much of the land that had been granted to settlers was taken
away.
Ingersoll had spent a great deal of his money building roads,
including one from the Govemor's Road to the Thames River, and
clearing trees from large tracts of land. He also served as an
officer in the Oxford Militia. He was discouraged when so much of
the land was taken from him.
He moved his family to a settlement at Etobicoke in present-day
Toronto. Thomas Ingersoll died in Port Credit (now part of
Mississauga) in 1812. He left a legacy on which his sons built when
they returned to the Oxford Settlement after the War of 1812.
In 2000 an 8-foot tall basswood statue of Thomas Ingersoll was
unveiled in the Ingersoll Town Centre, carved by Ingersoll artist
Neil Cox.
The cache is now a small size and has room for a bit of swag and
trackables. Congratulations to thunderingspirit for the FTF
honours.