I have a story about Isaac Ferris that I wonder if there's a way to verify. He was a private in the 1st Flank Company of the 1st Regiment of the Essex Militia. William Caldwell was the Captain. His brother, John Ferris, was a Corporal. From the Amherstburg Echo (Oct. 22, 1875): Isaac Ferris, Potleg; age eighty-two; enrolled at Amherstburg, 1812; Colonel Elliott's battalion; Captain Caldwel's company; discharged 1813. Engaged at the battles of Detroit, Raisin and Miami siege; not wounded; received medal. John Ferris, Colchester; age eighty two years; enrolled at Malden, 1812; Colonel Elliott's battalion; Captain Wm. Caldwell's company; discharged 1815. Engaged in the battle of Brownstown, Mich., not wounded. From the Amherstburg Echo (Sept. 7,1934): "...Mr. Ferris (Isaac) was a soldier during the war of 1812, a member of the troop at Fort Malden commanded by General Sir Isaac Brock. One night General Brock told his soldiers that there were some spies on Bois Blanc and asked for volunteers to swim the river in the dark and surround them. Mr. Ferriss along with one other volunteered to undertake the task and did it so well at the risk of their lives by drowning and by rifle fire, that they both received beautifully engraved medals from Queen Victoria when she came to the throne. His medal is still a treasured possession of the Ferriss family at Harrow." Isaac Ferris is on the "List of Militia of Upper Canada who Received the General Service Medal for Fort Detroit in 1847" (Soldiers of the King: The Upper Canadian Militia 1812-1815" by William Gray) Interesting story. Would there be any documentation for the reason he received the medal? I also found a reference that Isaac Feriss applied for a claim from the US House of Representatives. It was the 22nd Congress, 1st Session, Private Land Claim, pg 173 of the Journal. The nature of the claim : Benefit of acts for the relief of Canadian volunteers. Anyone know what I'd request at the Archives to obtain this record or be able to look it up for me? Thanks, Linda

Linda, I thought I'd better break up my response into two parts, the brief part, and the verbose part about British/Canadian records. This particular accession from NB looked particularly relevant to your question about medals awarded to 1st Essex (Canadian militia) and Isaac Ferris for service at Detroit. Archives of Ontario Loyalist Collection at the University of New Brunswick HARRIET IRVING LIBRARY http://www.lib.unb.ca/collections/loyalist/index.html MIC-Loyalist FC LSC .O5A7H5C6 Militia Prize and Pay Lists of soldiers who served in the capture of Fort Detroit, including 1st Essex Militia, 41st and 49th Regiments of Foot, Newfoundland Fencibles and the Staff at Fort Detroit * * * In reply to your first e-mail; being a descendant of a British civilian who emmigrated to Montreal in 1812, I too search the British & Canadian records, scanning for clues of my ancestor's four years in Montreal during the war and subsequent land grant to Perth. I've been subscribing to the list for about a year and a half, maybe longer. I think that although this list posts mostly questions about American Wof12 records, that there are so many good researchers and bibliographic references cited that it should make subscription worthwhile. Whereas American descendants have to cast a wide net for published material, an ideal use for listservs, British/Canadian records are a little bit more centralized early on in the search. There certainly are some Canadian records buried deep somewhere though, so we need help in latter stages. War of 1812 history can be pretty important for descendants of political type emmigrants and non-conformists, because they were the buffer zone that was created to protect early Canada from the U.S., and their only reward was land grants - some of the land was worthless and there were many transactions up to about 1822 when military supervision was lifted from the settlements, followed by many patent issues into the early 30's. Land was granted for military civilian settlement under military provisions until 1826. While British records for troop command are held almost entirely at Canada NA Record Group 8, including troop counts and correspondence of command (Provost), there may be Canadian militia records and history acquired to provincial archives with the same point of origination. I've noticed that people that are familiar with RG8 at NA are pretty familiar with militia research at provincial level as well, because it's a hot topic. British line regiment records as you probably know, are kept at the PRO Kew (England) for individual service records - I think it's safe to assume that your Ferris' records are not at Kew since they were militia. Regards to your second email, regards Isaac Ferris, the Essex (Canada) Militia (not to be confused with the British Essex) records would probably originate from Canadian National Archives RG-8 series C, but I'm guessing that they are actually held at provincial level (i.e. Ontario Archives) level, or records that were generated from provincial administration, or records that originate from Loyalist lists such as the NB list above acquired via OA. NA records tend to list troop returns and broader statistical and historical accounts. There is lots of reading about Amherstburg because it generated a lot of history. The 1st Flank company which your ancestor was a part of was a hand picked unit of about 60 men, chosen from (at that early stage) a largely untrained Essex (Canadian) Militia. They got busy pretty early. Some other factoids that I picked up googling the web; - Matthew Elliott (a colorful character) was the name of one of the leaders at/around/near Amherstburg according to some web resources. (matches your email) - As per http://www.collectionscanada.ca/military/h13-5019-e.html "Barbara Wilson's index to the Military General Service Medal rolls is a most useful guide." I'd be curious to find out how your ancestor was awarded a medal - was it listed as general service, was the entire unit awarded, and if it was in Flank company service - if you have success I hope you can share it with us. I'm also curious if he lived in the U.S., Canada, or both - perhaps Detroit prior to 1796. It's always interesting to see how accurate newspaper accounts are. Regards, Bill Thompson Washington State US ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tom and Linda Phillips" <tdlp@core.com> To: <WARof1812-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, September 05, 2004 2:02 PM Subject: Isaac Ferriss in the 1st Essex Militia > I have a story about Isaac Ferris that I wonder if there's a way to verify. He was a private in the 1st Flank Company of the 1st Regiment of the Essex Militia. William Caldwell was the Captain. His brother, John Ferris, was a Corporal. > > From the Amherstburg Echo (Oct. 22, 1875): > > Isaac Ferris, Potleg; age eighty-two; enrolled at Amherstburg, 1812; Colonel Elliott's battalion; Captain Caldwel's company; discharged 1813. Engaged at the battles of Detroit, Raisin and Miami siege; not wounded; received medal. > John Ferris, Colchester; age eighty two years; enrolled at Malden, 1812; Colonel Elliott's battalion; Captain Wm. Caldwell's company; discharged 1815. Engaged in the battle of Brownstown, Mich., not wounded. > > From the Amherstburg Echo (Sept. 7,1934): > > "...Mr. Ferris (Isaac) was a soldier during the war of 1812, a member of the troop at Fort Malden commanded by General Sir Isaac Brock. One night General Brock told his soldiers that there were some spies on Bois Blanc and asked for volunteers to swim the river in the dark and surround them. Mr. Ferriss along with one other volunteered to undertake the task and did it so well at the risk of their lives by drowning and by rifle fire, that they both received beautifully engraved medals from Queen Victoria when she came to the throne. His medal is still a treasured possession of the Ferriss family at Harrow." > > Isaac Ferris is on the "List of Militia of Upper Canada who Received the General Service Medal for Fort Detroit in 1847" (Soldiers of the King: The Upper Canadian Militia 1812-1815" by William Gray) > > Interesting story. Would there be any documentation for the reason he received the medal? > > I also found a reference that Isaac Feriss applied for a claim from the US House of Representatives. It was the 22nd Congress, 1st Session, Private Land Claim, pg 173 of the Journal. The nature of the claim : Benefit of acts for the relief of Canadian volunteers. Anyone know what I'd request at the Archives to obtain this record or be able to look it up for me? Thanks, Linda > > > ==== WARof1812 Mailing List ==== > WAR OF 1812 QUERY BOARD > http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USWARS/War1812/General > > > ============================== > Gain access to over two billion names including the new Immigration > Collection with an Ancestry.com free trial. Click to learn more. > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=4930&sourceid=1237 >