London, Bartholomew and Mary (Osborn)

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: Robert Lochiel Fraser III, “OSBORN, MARY (London),” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 5, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/osborn_mary_5E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Convicted murderer; b. c. 1773 in Bedford, Pa; m. Bartholomew London, and they may have had one child; d. 17 Aug. 1801 in Niagara (Niagara-on-the-Lake), Upper Canada.
    • In the late summer of that year the attention of the Niagara peninsula was riveted on the trial of Mary London and George Nemiers (Nemire) for the murder of her husband. The trial was sensational in appeal, exposing the adultery of young lovers, the betrayal of an old husband, the role of unnamed accomplices and confidants, and clandestine trips to obtain poison.
    • In 1789 Bartholomew London, a small farmer from New Jersey who claimed to have been imprisoned during the American revolution because of his loyalty to the British, entered the province with four children and four grandchildren. Drawing on the support of a fellow New Jerseyman and local office holder, Nathaniel Pettit, he obtained a grant of 200 acres in Saltfleet Township.
    • An older man, he appears to have been unmarried upon his arrival in the colony. At some point he married the young Mary Osborn, an emigrant from Pennsylvania whose family still resided there in 1801. About 28 years of age and from Carlisle, Pa, Nemiers likely worked as a labourer on the London farm. By December 1800 Mary London and Nemiers were lovers. When Bartholomew London died on 17 Feb. 1801, Mary, then four months pregnant, and Nemiers were arrested and charged with felony and murder.” and “The execution was attended by a “large concourse of people” and was marred when “a female (it is to be regretted it was one of that sex)” mocked the cries and gestures of Mary London.
  • Wife of Proven United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=4768
  • Find a GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/234585257/bartholomew-london
  • https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/234585540/mary-osborn_-_london