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From "Memoirs Garden" by Annie (Shoup) Brewe, a tribute written by Rev. Willis Shoup in 1944
A Short Biographical Sketch of the Life of Sarah (Miller) Shoup
Great Grandmother Wagonner
Her maiden name was Sarah Miller - daughter of Jacob Miller. She was born in 1793, in the little town of Hagerstown, Maryland. She came to Canada with her parents shortly after the War of American Independence. When the thirteen New England States declared war on England, many settlers did not assume arms against Britain. They remained loyal to the British Crown and the British flag.
In large measure the govenment of these Colonies confiscated the lands of the Loyalists, and refused to allow them to collect any debts due them. Thus, many families who had been fairly [well] to do, were reduced to abject poverty. These people migrated to Canada and as a recognition of their loyalty, were given a Royal grant of land by the Imperial Government. They became known in history as "The United Empire Loyalists." In honor it is an evidence of nobility, then these settlers can be truly classed among the first aristocracy of Canada. For a more honorable class never settled any land.
Mr. Kirby in his "Annals of Niagara" says that every one of the United Empire Loyalists had a military bearing, an air of dignity, and a kindly spirit of comradship, derived from the dangers and hardships which they shared together.
Many United Empire Loyalists settled in New Brunswick, in Quebec and Ontario, along the shores of the St. Lawrence River, Lake Ontario, and theNiagara Peninsula. The journey of emmigration lasted as much as three months. Some walked all the way through the State of New York which was at that time almost an entire bush wilderness, driving their sheep and cattle, and carrying their household goods and effects on their backs or on pack horses. Their hardships and sufferings have never been told. As one author has written of these "None will ever know, because none have ever been told all that these brave pioneers of Canada have undergone for their devotion and loyalty to England."
Today, yet, we see on the outskirts of old settlements, little mounds, moss covered stones, that mark the last resting place of our forefathers, but these do not tell us of the hearts laid low by hunger and exposure, or of the babies and little children who perished for want of food and raiment. They do not tell us of the courageous mothers and wives, also the daughters who bore themselves bravely as the men, toiling by their sides in the field, and banishing from their lives all regret, as they recalled all the comforts that might have been theirs, had they remained and cast in their lots with the revolting states.
No great monument has been raised to their memory; nor is one needed, because a true love is enshrined in the life of every Canadian citizen who admires fidelity to principal, devotion and self-sacrifice.
"Broad lands, ancestral homes, the gathered wealth
Of patient toil and self-denying years
Were confiscated and lost ....
Not drooping like poor fugitives they came
In exodus to our Canadian wilds,
But full of heart and hope, with heads erect
And fearless eyes, victorious in defeat."
(William Kirby)
It was once said by the chief constable in the city of Winnipeg "A United Empire Loyalist needs no credentials." Theirs was so great a credential that there never was a finer race of people.
The Imperial government gave grants of land to these settlers, sometimes as great as 800 acres, and when they heard of the sufferings and privations of these subjects, they sent aid which was indeed late in reaching Canada, and was a mere pittance when it came, but was nevertheless very acceptable. This class of settlers did much toward laying a sound foundation for citizenship. These people were physically strong and abounded in courage.
Among these early settlers were the Millers and the Shoups. They settled in the Niagara Peninsula and along the Niagara River front.
Sarah Miller was 18 years old at the outbreak of the War of 1812. At one time, her home was between the opposing armies. During the war, she baked bread for the British soldiers, giving them one hundred pounds of bread for the same weight in flour. In this way, she managed to have enough over and above the soldiers' allowance for the use of their family. In her declining years, she enjoyed relating these stories to her grandchildren. One of these stories was of the time she baked a baking of bread and concealed it under the bed until such time as she could deliver it to the army. It was quite evident that the enemy was hiding somewhere near, for soon after some enemy soldiers came, went directly to the bed and carried it off. On another occasion, the soldiers tried to steal her chickens. She stood with her back to the hen house door and defied them. Thinking to intimidate her, they threatened to shoot her. She would not yield to their threats until her mother persuaded her to give them one. She selected a good tough old one, and they took themselves off.
At one other time, the British soldiers commandiered a beautiful team of horses, wagon and harness belonging to her father, Jacob Miller. Nothing was heard of them for over a year and a half. One day a man reappeared with them in good condition, and paid for every day they had been away.
On January 10, 1816, Sarah Miller was united in marriage to Benjamin Shoup by magistrate. At that time only an Anglican minister could marry anybody. If there were no clergyman within 18 miles of the parties wishing marriage, a magistrate could legally perform the ceremony.
Their first home was located on Lot 14, in the 1st Concession of Willoughby on the Niagara River.
After thirteen years of married life, Benjamin Shoup died, leaving his wife with a family of seven young children, the eldest child, Jacob, was only twelve years old. It was never known with sureness just how Benjamin died. Grandfather once told of the morning he last saw his father. He said, "I can see him now as clearly as if it were yesterday. He was a very handsome man, tall and well built, with a great shock of curly black hair. I saw him go away with his gun presumably to shoot ducks. That was the last I saw of him. Next day, we found him lying in a foot of water by his flat-bottomed boat, drowned." These were Grandfather's own words.
For many years Grandmother struggled bravely on to try to rear her family, and carry the responsibility of a heavily mortgaged farm. The mortgage was held by Judge Samuel Street, a very shrewd business man. Grandfather once said, Judge Street would exact the last penny, but unlike many, he insisted on paying the last penny. He was very exacting, but very just. He could have taken the entire farm under the mortgage but this he consciously refrained from doing. He would not leave a widow and her children homeless.
According to the law at that time, the eldest son became heir to all the father's possessions, if no will was in existence. In order to make life less strenuous for the widowed mother, Samuel Street released her of the mortgage and exchanged the farm in Willoughby for 100 acres of land in Walpole Township, Haldimand County near Lake Erie. There were 99 ½ acres in the Niagara farm. He gave the deed to the Walpole farm to Jacob Shoup, the eldest son, and he in turn gave his mother a Life Lease on it. The farm is located on Lot 14, Concession 3, Walpole township. In the fall of 1843, she moved all her effects to this farm. This was a long hard journey, and it seemed as if she were being separated from all that was dear to her and her children.
Her eldest daughter, Sarah, married Johnathan Beam, and lived on the north end of the farm. At that time, only a small log house and a few pens were the whole of the buildings. The house faced the south and had a door and a window in the front. There was a window at the west end and the fire-place with a chimney on the outside of the wall was on the east end. The house had a verandah across the front. This verandah was built by allowing the rafter of the south side of the roof to project and form the rafters of the verandah. When these verandahs were floored and roofed, they became quite cosy.
Grandmother was married a second time to a David Wagonner or Wagner, but this union was not a very happy one. Wagonner was a rather wicked, uncouth rough man. A few years after their marriage, he took a paralytic stroke, that left him a helpless invalid for years. He became a great care, and so trying at times that Grandmother used to say, "I have only one prayer, that I out-live him, that he might not be a care for anyone." She did so by between 30 and 40 years. He is buried in the Baptist Cemetery at Cheapside.
A large part of the east side of the farm had been cleared by Matlock, she lived on the farm prior to Great Grandmother's coming. The house and barns are located on the extreme southeast corner of the farm. The lines were first set about 40 rods east of the buildings, due to an error made in survey of the lines between the two farms. When properly surveyed, it was discovered the lines would intersect before they reached the next concession road.
On the Niagara farm, Grandmother Waggoner had many fruit trees. She brought apple and plum trees with her to the new farm. Many of the trees in the orchards of South Walpole were from seedlings which she grew. Some of these trees are still (1944) on the farm today.
Grandmother brought with her the old German idea of a flower and vegetable garden. The garden plot was near the house, and was surrounded by a picket fence to keep out the poultry, pigs or cattle which would have ruined her flowers and vegetables, were they left to run loose. A path ran around the garden, and several paths ran through the center. The beds in the center were usually devoted to flowers and the rest to vegetables and herbs. One cannot help wondering how our grandmothers found time to devote to such work, but their gardens were apparently their pride. It was always the custom to take the visitors out to "see the garden" before leaving for home. We can see these women now, with white aprons or kerchiefs tied over their heads, strolling through the garden, interested in looking at the flowers. In the spring of the year, our grandmothers would bring out the boxes in which were stored the seeds gathered the previous fall, each kind of seed wrapped in a separate package, some in folds of newspaper, some in brown paper bags or rags, all firmly tied and carefully marked. Also among these were the parcels of common vegetable seeds, such as lettuce, cabbage, onions, beets, beans, and cucumbers. Plants bloomed through the entire summer in the flower beds. There were crocuses, tulips, daffodils, in the spring. In the fall were the dahlias, phlox and asters. Some of grandmother's flowers were candy-tuft, mignonette, lily-of-the-valley, forget-me-nots, pinks, phlox, live-forever, sweet william, larkspurs, white and pink musk, bleeding hearts, bachelor buttons, ragged Sally, kiss-me-over-the-garden-gate, love-in-the-mist, and many, many more. A few stalks of tomatoes with its red fruit would be found, called "Love Apples," a hundred years ago. It was then cultivated only as an ornament, as the fruit was considered not fit to eat. In the corner of the garden would be found a bush of "Old Man" for use making bouquets. A grape arbor or trellis was to be seen in the garden, and a few hop-poles on which climbed the hop plant, the fruit of which was used in making yeast to make bread. There were beds for vegetables of all kinds, and beds for herbs, to be used for medicinal purposes, much asthyme, sage, fennel, wormwood, catnip, penny royal and horehound. Along the garden fence on the inside of the garden were hollyhocks, gooseberry and currant bushes. On the outside of the fence, roses, snowballs and lilacs. Along the house the stately hollyhocks and sunflowers were to be found.
Also in these yards were to be found El Campayne and Plantain for medicines and poultices. Add to this a bed of rhubarb for pies, and the old stand-by for sping tonic purposes, the horse-radish, burdock, and dandelion. These latter are classed among the weeds, but in the early days were considered number one tonics.
In these early days, women were frequently called into requisition as nurses when medical help was impossible or infrequent. Grandmother Wagonner was much in demand in cases of community sickness. She always possessed a good supply of herbs, ready to relieve the minor sicknesses, aches and complaints of the neighbourhood families. The herbs she collected at the proper season, and hung them up to the rafters or walls of the room, in bunches to dry, so they would be always ready when they were needed.
Grandmother Wagonner passed away in her 87th year. A small white granite stone marks her resting place in the Shoup family plot in the Baptist Cemetery, Cheapside.
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Rainham Builders
1794 - Abt 1829 (~ 34 years)