[COYNE] DAVID RAMSAY AND LONG POINT 123 



Development of the Ramsay-Troyer Legend. 



Troyer's settlement at Long Point seems to have been as early 

 at least as 1792. At that time Ramsay had been familiar with the 

 north shore of Lake Erie for nearly thirty years. His fame or notoriety 

 as trapper, trader, Indian-killer, smuggler and guide, was firmly 

 established and wide-spread. He still acted as guide to travellers in 

 Upper Canada along Lake Erie and was no doubt personally known 

 to the McCalls and others among the first settlers. Immigrants re- 

 porting at Fort Niagara before proceeding westward would carry 

 away with them stories of his adventures, recited by himself or re- 

 peated by soldiers at Fort Niagara, settlers on the River banks, or 

 Indians of the various tribes. 



The combination of two such romantic characters as Ramsay 

 and Troyer was sure to have an important psychological effect upon 

 the Long Point pioneers. Among the latter were people of Dutch 

 descent as the Ryersons and Ryerses, of German as the Troyers and 

 Dedricks, of Highland Scotch origin, as the McCalls, Munroes and 

 MacQueens. Their ancestral folk-lore would be gradually interwoven 

 into their own personal experiences and reminiscences. It was at 

 Kettle Creek, and Long Point in the near neighbourhood, that Ramsay 

 had crowned his career by the killing and scalping of the Indians. 

 The development of the legend is then not difficult to understand. 



Strange Happenings in Baldoon. 



Troyer's fame also extended to the remotest parts of Lake Erie 

 and northward to Lake St. Clair. It reached Lord Selkirk's ill-fated 

 Baldoon Settlement, where strange things were happening in 1829 

 and following years. Witchcraft was at., work among the Highland 

 Settlers, to their great discomfort and peril. John McDonald's house 

 stood on the banks of the Chenail Ecarté. In or about November, 

 1829, his troubles began. Stones and bullets crashed through the 

 windows and on to the floor. Mysterious fires started up in different 

 places in the house; when one was extinguished, another would appear 

 in a different room. No one was hurt, but many were badly frightened. 

 At last his buildings were burned in January, 1830. He then removed 

 the family to his father's house. The breaking of windows began 

 afresh, until all were destroyed. From a corner cupboard with glass 

 doors bullets pierced their way through to the floor. The bullets 

 were gathered up, marked, and put in a leather shot bag. A string was 

 tied around the mouth of the bag, and the bag itself hung up on the 

 chimney. Immediately the same bullets came back through the win- 

 dow. 



