Meyers, John Walden

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: Robert J. M. Shipley, “MEYERS (Mayers, Mires, Myres), JOHN WALDEN (Walten, Walter) (baptized Johannes Waltermyer) (Hans Waltermeyer),” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 6, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/meyers_john_walden_6E.html
  • DCB profile:
    • Army and militia officer, businessman, jp, and office holder; b. 22 Jan. 1745/46 (Old Style) in Albany County, N.Y.; m. there c. 1765 Polly Kruger (Cruger), and they had seven children; m. secondly c. 1817, probably in Belleville, Upper Canada, Sophia Davy; d. 22 Nov. 1821 in Belleville.
    • John Walden Meyers was probably of German descent. At the outbreak of the American revolution, he was a farmer of modest means living with his family near Albany. His father decided to stand with the rebels, but in July 1777 Meyers himself set off to meet the army of Major-General John Burgoyne, then advancing through upper New York. Tradition relates that on his trek Meyers was accompanied by his wife’s brother and by a faithful dog which became so fatigued that Meyers had to carry it. When his brother-in-law commented on this dedication to the pet, Meyers informed him, in the German accent he never lost, “We may have to eat him yet.” That is the earliest of the stories concerning Meyers, who became as much a legendary as an historical figure.
    • Upon joining Burgoyne’s army, Meyers enrolled in the King’s Loyal Americans. Absent on a recruiting assignment, he missed the battles that led to Burgoyne’s surrender at Saratoga in October 1777. After this calamity for the British cause, Meyers made his way to New York City. During the next few years he continued to act as a recruiting agent. His principal contribution to the British war effort, however, lay in the gathering of intelligence and in the carrying of dispatches through hostile territory.
    • In the late 1780s the government was encouraging the construction of mills, and in January 1788 Meyers petitioned for a mill-site in Sidney Township in the hope of adding a saw- and grist-mill to his already flourishing farm. Although he was turned down, he seems to have purchased another site in Thurlow Township. By 1790 he had built the district’s first dam and mill near the mouth of Meyers’ Creek (Moira River). This fledgling industry formed the nucleus of a community that bore Meyers’s name until it became known as Bellville (Belleville) in 1816. Soon Meyers began fur trading and, to the mill enterprises, added a distillery, an inn, and a number of vessels, including a small schooner that carried cargo to Montreal.
  • Proven United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=5823
  • Find a Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/153294394/john-walden-meyers