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Chapter 26
Dedrick
(The first Loyalist who settled in Norfolk County.)

Mabee >

The Dedrick family were of German descent, and early settlers in Pennsylvania. Lucas Dedrick was one of the Pennsylvania Loyalists, but remained in his native state till 1793, when he came directly to Long Point.

He built a log cabin on the high land overlooking the marsh, about a mile and half west of the present village of Port Rowan. He was, no doubt, the second white settler in Walsingham, his predecessor being the noted Dr. "Witch" Troyer (not a Loyalist), who had settled on the lake front in Eastern Walsingham. It was not till 1797, after the township had been regularly surveyed, that Mr. Dedrick received the patent for the land on which he had settled.

The creek which flows into the lake just west of Port Rowan is called Dedrick’s creek. Over it Mr. Dedrick built a rude but substantial bridge, the earliest engineering structure in the county.

One of his daughters, Hannah, was married to John Backhouse, a major of the Norfolk militia. She received in 1815 a grant of 200 acres near her father’s home in Walsingham.