< Ryerse

Chapter 36
McCall

Munro >

The McCalls were of a Scottish clan from Argyleshire. Donald McCall came to America in the year 1756 with the regular British troops who were sent over against the French at the beginning of the Seven Years’ War. He was a private in Montgomery’s Highlanders, and took part in the capture of Louisburg in 1758, and served also under Wolfe at the battle of the Plains of Abraham and the taking of Quebec. With a detachment of his regiment he was afterwards sent up the lakes. From the Niagara River the party came along the north shore of Lake Erie in batteaux, and when near Turkey Point had an encounter with a party of French and Indians. Their enemies fired at them from the shelter of the woods, but the plucky Highlanders promptly ran their boats ashore, defeated and chased them inland as far as where the village of Waterford now stands. On their way back they encamped for the night on what is now lot 18 of the 4th concession of the township of Charlotteville, near the present residence of Simpson McCall. In the morning the soldiers improvised some fishing tackle, and in a short time had caught out of Young’s Creek all the speckled trout the party could eat.

In 1763, after the treaty of Paris, being discharged on the breaking up of his regiment, he settled in the State of New Jersey, where he lived till the breaking out of the Revolutionary War. He immediately joined the King’s Regiment, and did not retire from military life till after the surrender of Yorktown.

When he returned to his New Jersey home he soon found that he was regarded as an alien and shunned by his neighbors. Not caring to remain, in 1783 he made his way to New Brunswick and settled on a small allotment there.

In 1796 a party from New Brunswick, led by Donald McCall, came west to the Long Point settlement. He was selected as the leader because he had previously visited the country. Among the party were the loyalists Lieut. Jas. Munro and Peter Fairchild. They landed at the mouth of Big Creek on July 1st, 1796, and took up land in various localities.

The old leader, remembering his adventures with the French and Indians, and the episode of the speckled trout fishing alluded to above, made his way inland to the identical spot where the camp fires of his Highland regiment had been lighted forty years before.

His family consisted at that time of five sons and three daughters — John, Duncan, Daniel, James and Hugh, and Catherine, Elizabeth and Mary. Duncan, being already married, settled near his father, on Lot 23 of the 5th concession. On the 26th July, 1796, a son was born to him, the first white child born in the county of Norfolk. This child (Daniel) served afterwards in the War of 1812, taking part in the Battle of Lundy’s Lane and in a skirmish at Malcolm’s Hollow (Oakland), where the British were outnumbered and driven back by General McArthur. Until his death he received the pension voted by Parliament to the veterans of 1812. Duncan McCall, his father, was elected to the Upper Canada Parliament, and remained a member till his death in 1833.

In this connection mention must be made of Simpson McCall, also a grandson of the original founder. This gentleman now resides on the lot which his grandfather chose. His father, James McCall, was a lieutenant during the War of 1812. Mr. Simpson McCall was born in 1807 and died in 1898, at the ripe old age of ninety-one. He had also the singular honor of attending for some time the District School of Dr. Egerton Ryerson, late Superintendent of Education of Ontario. For thirty-four years he was Postmaster at Vittoria (1834-68), and in connection therewith had a general store. For four years he was Warden of the County, and has been a justice of the peace since 1845. He was elected a member of Parliament in 1867, and held the position for two terms. He was an Independent in politics, though he inclined to the support of the Conservative party.

In the respect and veneration of the whole community, Mr. McCall in his old age received his reward for the sterling honesty which was the predominant feature of his whole life, and the unflinching justice and impartiality which were his most notable traits of character.
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Transcriber's Comment concerning the accuracy of this McCall sketch.