Iredell, Abraham

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: Daniel J. Brock, “IREDELL, ABRAHAM,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 5, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/iredell_abraham_5E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Surveyor and office holder; b. 29 June 1751 in Philadelphia County, Pa, third child of Robert Iredell and Hannah Luckens; m. Hester (Hetty) Marsh; d. without issue April or May 1806 in Chatham, Upper Canada.
    • Prior to the American revolution Abraham Iredell lived near Philadelphia. He owned more than 1,000 acres of land in Northumberland and Westmoreland counties, and was employed as a deputy surveyor in Northampton and Northumberland counties under the authority of Surveyor General John Lukens, who was probably a relative. Although of Quaker parentage, Abraham and at least one brother took an active part against the rebels after the outbreak of the war. Abraham joined the army in 1777, and both brothers eventually became lieutenants: Abraham in the Guides and Pioneers.
    • Apparently in 1784, he and his wife immigrated to New Brunswick, settling in Saint John. Here he was commissioned a deputy surveyor under George Sproule, surveyor general of the province, and received a grant of land along the Kennebecasis River.
    • With the relinquishment of control over Detroit by the British in the summer of 1796, the Iredells temporarily settled along the left bank of the Detroit River, but in December 1797 they removed to the town plot of Chatham. Nothing ever came of plans to build a naval arsenal in Chatham, and for many years Iredell and his wife were the town’s only legal residents. In 1798 they built a log house near the Thames River, on the southeast corner of Water and William streets, and soon afterwards they planted one of the first apple orchards in Kent County.
  • Proven United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=4154
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