Abraham Dafoe

The Dafoe Family includes Abraham Dafoe, born in the United States but who joined his father in going north to Canada after the American Revolution.

	Born	11 May 1755 at Albany, New York Province
	Died	1815 at Fredericksburgh, Lennox and Addington Co., Ontario
	Married	1777 to Katreen (unknown maiden name)

Parents:

• Father: John Ernst Dafoe
• Mother: Maria Keller

Chidren:

1. Mary Dafoe; b. 1776
2. Jacob Dafoe; b. 1780
3. Elizabeth Dafoe; b. 23 March 1786
4. George Dafoe; b. Jan 1787
5. Lucy Dafoe; b. 11 Dec 1791

The Parents of Abraham

His father was born in the States in 1726 and died some 58 years later, likely of malaria picked up from his years as a courier-spy for the Loyalist side of the Revolutionary War. His mother came from New York Province in the States and lived for 60 years, passing away in Fredericksburgh in Upper Canada (now Ontario).

Abraham and Katreen

This son married one Katreen before the Revolution.

Peterborough's Joan Creighton Lucas U.E. is descended from Abraham Daloe/Defoe and Katreen. She has been Kawartha's Branch Genealogist for some years and does excellent family research. She said:
"As a pioneer settler in Fredericksburgh, Abraham's farm faced onto 'The Gap', an open stretch of water between two islands that led into the Bay of Quinte from Lake Ontario. It was through this Gap that a British ship escaped from three U.S. ships during the war of 1812 and made it safety within the guns of Kingston at the eastern end of the waterway. I can picture old Abraham with a front row seat to the naval battle cheering the Brits on. Lilacs now grace the shore where Katreen would have drawn the water for the family or perhaps where Abe watched the great escape!

The Final Years for Abraham

The Lennox Power Station has been built on Abraham's property in the first concession of South Fredericksburgh. In 1917, Madoc's Dr. W. A. Dafoe said that Abraham lived to be very old. His five remaining children married into the nearby families of Kemp, Silts. Phillips and Sharp. Joan's ancestors Elizabeth Dafoe and Henry Sharp farmed in Fredericksburgh: their farm stayed in the family until as recently as the 1990's.

Footnotes

For information on Daniel Thevou and his line, see The Beacon; 2002 Annual Issue No. 5, page 11.

-- JimBenedict - 31 Dec 2005
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