Applegarth Family Tree

Documentation: Joanna Curtis:

BIRTH: REGISTER OF BIRTHS OF THE PEOPLE CALLED QUAKERS BELONGING TO THE MONTHLY MEETING IN THE COUNTY OF DURHAM.
MDCCLXXIV; LDS Film #812199. Witnesses: Eleanor Applegarth, Midwife; Deborah Applegarth, Ann Wood

See file article: "Looking over Western Ontario", L.N.Bronson, London Free Press, 11-30-1983:
"The story of Joshua Applegarth, London area pioneer, has been renewed as a result of a family history research project by two Indiana women, descendants of the man who once tried growing hemp for the British navy on the flats near the forks of the Thames. His experiment there in the early 1800's was years before the development of the London townsite.
While the new research has yielded additional information on his family, it does not clear up completely the story of the pioneer.
In 1856 he sold property in Middlesex West, but the date and place of his death remain a mystery. Whether he died on his way to the "promised land", in Minnesota, which homesteaders of the era sought, or whether he died after reaching the territory remains unsolved. It is clear, however, his name does not appear in Minnesota census records for 1857. He was one of the thousands who sought new homes on the frontier -- some made it, others died en route.
The visitors, Clara Winegardner of Rochester, Ind., and Dorothy Gustin of Peru, Ind., cousins, spent some time in London. They visited the regional collection in UWO's Weldon Library, the Lawson Museum, and in private conference spent some hours with Daniel Brock, a London teacher.
It is due to Brock's research on the early history of London Township that much of the Applegarth story became known, particularly through a series of articles he contributed to The Free Press in the early 1970's.
For instance, when Archie Bremner compiled the turn-of -the-century work "Illustrated London", he make only casua; mention of Applegarth. Bremner wrote (dealing with the London West story):
"There a Mr.Applegarth had erected a very comfortable log house, plowed some 10 acres of the river flats and undertook to raise hemp for the English market, a bounty being paid at that time to encourage it's growth. For some reasons, never explained, Applegarth left, and the land with its improvements came the property of Walter Dixonj."
The Brock research showed Joshua Applegarth was born Oct. 11, 1779.
Various members of his family settled in the Hamilton area. Joshua, after his hemp-growing project did not meet with success, moved into Westminster Township, where he once was convicted ot illegal operation of stills. While living on the flats he had been first clerk of London Township - that was some years before settlement began on the London town site. One reason given by the London teacher for Applegarth's move across the river was the climate on the flats caused him to suffer from ague.
Much of the Brock research covered the history of Applegarth's familiy. However, when dthe tow Indiana women wrote to London and were
given the teacher as a contact in their genealogical research, it turned out that there was one daughter, Frances, of whom nothing was known. She married a man named Dowling (or Dowlin) from Middlesex West, and was with the family when it trekked to the United States.
Joshua Applegarth was married twice. His second wife was Elizabeth Tiffany , linked to the family of that name, prominent in the early history of the Deleware area.Of the unsolved mystery of where Joshua Applegarth died, Brock wrote in 1971:
"As the name Joshua Applegarth is not to be found with his wife's in deither 1857 or 1860, it can be presumed that he had died in 1857. He was known to be alive by Sept. 6, 1856, according to a release of the mortgage on behalf of his wife and himself, who were then living in Caradoc Township. Like so much of his live, Joshua's exact date of death is unknown. Did he die while still in Caradoc Township? Had he expred upon reaching his hew home in Minnesota? Or, had he died on his way to the 'promised land'"
While Clara Winegardner, speaking on behalf of the visiting women, was unable to solve that mystery, her trip here and the research material she provided enable historians piece together the story of one of his children - the daughter - and her descendants. It added another chapter in the genealogical story of the pioneerd."