[siebert] loyalists AND SIX NATION INDIANS 115 



were penetrating to the Head of the Lake, as this locaHty was long 

 designated, the earliest of these pioneers being Richard Beasley and 

 Colonel Robert Land. Others followed during the succeeding years 

 in such numbers that by 1792 the shore from Niagara westward as 

 far round as Toronto, according to the testimony of the traveller, 

 Mr. P. Campbell, was "all settled and in some parts several conces- 

 sions deep." On his way to Burlington Bay Mr. Campbell saw much 

 rich land and "passed through many fine farms." He and the party 

 of gentlemen with him spent a night with Mr. Beasley, whose house 

 stood on a hill covered with large oak trees, known to-day as Dundon 

 Park. As Beasley was an Indian trader, he had a warehouse over- 

 looking the bay, or Lake Geneva as it was then called, in which he 

 stored the peltries that he obtained by barter from the hunters of 

 the Mississaugua and other tribes, who ranged the neighboring wilds. 

 The trader entertained his guests with generous hospitality, and showed 

 them his stock of skins, including one of a black fox with its soft 

 and beautiful fur, which was supposed to be worth five guineas. After 

 leaving Beasley's place for the Mohawk village on the Grand River, 

 Mr. Campbell saw only a few habitations, although he noticed the gird- 

 ling of the trees for a distance of several miles, indicating that the 

 land had been granted to prospective settlers. 



The Loyalist immigration to the Head of the Lake continued 

 at least until the year 1800, by which time 30 settlers had received 

 grants of land of from 100 to 900 acres, in recognition of their adherence 

 to the Crown, the largest grant going to Beasley. Lieutenant Caleb 

 Reynolds of Butler's Rangers and George Stewart received the next 

 largest grants, though these amounted only to 400 acres each. 

 Some of the grantees had lived for longer or shorter periods on the 

 Niagara frontier, including Daniel Springer, a refugee from New 

 Jersey, who appears to have removed to the Head of the Lake in 1798. 

 It may be noted in passing that several years before this Governor 

 Simcoe had had a public house, called the King's Head Inn, erected 

 at the junction of the Stony Creek and Head of the Lake roads, in 

 order to facilitate travel between Niagara and La Tranche, as London 

 was then called. In 1796 Mrs. Simcoe had put up at the inn, with 

 her children and servants, and had noted in her Diary that the Gover- 

 nor had recently had a road cut through the woods by John Green, 

 a Loyalist living at Forty Mile Creek, or North Grimsby.^ 



1 Niagara Hist. Soc, No. 26, 5-13; Journals and Transactions, Wentworth 

 Hist. Soc, 1908, 12; The Hamilton Spectator, Aug. 12, 1913, 2. 



2 Records of the Clerk's Office, Hamilton, Ont.; The Hamilton Spectator, Aug. 

 12, 1913, 2; Robertson, éd.. Diary of Mrs. Simcoe. The names of the original 

 patentees at the Head of the Lake are printed in Papers and Records, Wentworth 

 Hist. Soc, 1915, p. 65. 



