Procuniar/ier Chronicle Volume III Issue VI July 1999

The Procuniar/ier Chronicle

Volume III Issue VI July 1999

by David C. Procuniar

Copyright 1997-1998-1999-2000-2001

Volume III Issue VI July 1999

Here it is July already and with summer upon us our eyes settle on relaxing and planning our vacations. My wife Susan and I had done just that. Our first week of vacation for this summer was planned for the week of June 14th to go visit near the town of Port Clinton along the shores of Lake Erie. However I knew that just across Lake Erie due north was Port Rowan and Long Point in Ontario Canada where I knew that Peter Procunier JR located in 1802 after traveling from his home in Hundingdon County, Pennsylvania. Peter JR’s flight to Canada did not sit well with his family. Peter’s father and uncles had served in the Militia and fought in the Revolutionary War against the British. However Peter felt that to betray the oath he took to the Crown and join the Americans in the Revolution was a sin. So despite his family’s strong feeling of patriotism to the Americas, Peter and two of his married sisters (Margretha Brockunier Boward and Elizabeth Brockunnier Etenauer and their families) uprooted from their comfortable homes in Pennsylvania and headed for Walsingham Twp. Norfolk County, St. Williams, Ontario Canada to start a fresh life in Canada. Peter was not completely alone there in Norfolk County. There were a lot of family friends and family who had the Procunier lineage that also decided to remain loyal to the Crown and trekked to Canada as Peter JR did. Some of these families were Baumbaugh, Werner-Warner , Cope & Rohrers just to mention a few.

Peter JR did well in Canada buying land and working in that community and establishing himself as a loyalist with the British who lived there. Peter's first record in the Long Point Settlement was his appearance as a Petty Juror of the London District Court on 10 Mar 1803. He served again in that capacity on 14 and 15 Mar 1804.

On 1 May 1806, Peter purchased from William Cope, 50 acres in the north part of Lot 24, Concession 1, Walsingham Twp. at the southwest corner of the village of St. Williams. He received the relinquishment of dower rights on this lot from Frances Cope on 12 Mar 1804.

On 25 Mar 1809, Peter Prockunier was among the signers, "Inhabitance of Long Point" and elsewhere, of a certificate for Christian Troyer "that he has caused all those to Settle in this province."6 Christian Troyer, formerly of Somerset County, Pennsylvania traveled to Upper Canada in 1789, settled land in Walsingham Twp., then returned to Pennsylvania on frequent expeditions to bring settlers to Norfolk, Haldimand, and York Counties.

After Peter's son Peter Prockunier, JR (III) died the father filed for Letters of Administration over the son's estate and for the guardianship of grandson David Sands Procunier to be given to the boy's uncle David Procunier. Another son, Adam Procunier was also mentioned.

Children:

2 i. Susannah Procunier, born at Huntingdon Co., Pennsylvania on 24 Mar 17918, died at Walsingham Twp. on 16 Mar 18138

* 3 ii. Henry Procunier, born 11 Oct 1792; mar. Frances Manuel

*4 iii. Peter Procunier, born 17 Nov 1795; mar. Deborah Sands

*5 iv. Adam Procunier, born 25 Apr 1798; mar. Desire Neal

*6 v. David Procunier, born 4 Feb 1800; mar. Sarah Ann Overbaugh

7 vi. Margaret Procunier, born 24 Sep 1803 (twin); ?mar. John Becker? See also the John Becker genealogy

*8 vii. Elizabeth Procunier, born at Walsingham Twp. on 24 Sep 1803 (twin), died at Charlotteville Twp. on 5 Jul 1836. She married Jacob Cope (son of William and Frances (Sands) Cope), born at Queenston, Niagara Township, Lincoln County, Upper Canada on 15 Apr 1790. Elizabeth was buried in Hillview Cemetery, Forestville. See the Cope genealogy for the continuation.

*9 viii. Sarah Procunier, born at Walsingham Twp. on 13 Feb 1806, died at Walsingham Twp. on 4 Dec 18138

*10 ix. Isaac Procunier, born 31 Aug 1809; mar. Amy McClish

*11 x. Catherine Procunier, born 2 Jun 1811; mar. Francis Emerick

Sources: 1. Gravestone in Johnson Cemetery, St. Williams: the stone is faded and age at death is hard to make out; 2. Procunier Family Bible; George A. Wolf, "Division Of The Names, Blair County Historical Society, Pa., 1951; 3. Pennsylvania Archives, 3rd Series, 25:751); 4. Minutes of the London District Court, p. 43, 57, 87; 5. Abstracts of Deeds Register of Walsingham Twp; 6.Upper Canada Land Petition of Christian Troyer T10/45; 7, London District Surrogate Court, Inst. No. 209; 8.

Prockunier Family Bible. Peter had ten children with the last five being born in and around Norfolk County, Ontario, Canada. During my research I knew that Peter bought land in the town of St.Williams, Ontario and farmed that land until his death in August of 1847. Peter died at the age of 82. Peter’s wife Mary Elizabeth died 29 days later aged 77. For those of you who have a computer or can go to their local library and get onto the Internet you can view my research on Peter JR on my web site at http://www.infinet.com/~dpro Go to the Biographies and then select Peter JR bios. You will also find links to a site called “Long Point Settlers” by Robert Mutrie who is an historian in the Norfolk County, Ontario area.

Getting back to our vacation ... My wife Susan and I decided this year to go to Lake Erie again for a week of vacation in June and at the same time drive up through Detroit Michigan, then on through Windsor Canada, then trek the north shores of Lake Erie and end up in Port Rowan and St. Williams where Peter JR and his family settled. This was our first trip ever to Canada and while we were there we wanted to visit the Johnson Cemetery in St. Williams where Peter Jr. and his family were buried. We drove on Route #401 east to Route #3, then down through Tillsonburg and finally to Port Rowan. We did our site seeing and went to the Long Point park, then returned to St. Williams and looked for the Johnson Cemetery. The cemetery entrance is hidden from view while traveling the main street, but a little road sign saying Johnson Cemetery popped up that was on a gravel driveway leading back to where we found the cemetery after passing by several houses. The cemetery is nice and clean and fenced. The grass is cut and the cemetery stones all seem to be free from vandalism. We found the Procunier cemetery stones on the far left front of the cemetery. All in a group so to speak, with Peter JR's stone in the center of the row and other family to his left, right, head and toe. Even though the stones appeared to be in good condition, all were very difficult to read due to the crust that forms on cemetery stones over the years. To give you an example look at the picture of Peter & Mary’s stone on page 180. As you can see it is very hard to read with the black hard crust all over the stone, especially when the stone is laying down and cemented into the ground. The left & right side of the stone reads ....

Peter Procunier Elizabeth

died Wife of

Aug 8, 1847 Peter Procunier

Aged died

82y 8m 21dys Sept 7, 1847

Susan and I took pictures of all the Procunier stones we could find, and then tried to write down all legible inscriptions on all the Procunier stones. There were stones for David Procunier and his wife Sarah Ann, Peter, son of David & Sarah, David Sands, Clinton son of _______ & Emily, another David & wife Katherine Van Wagnoner, Margaret Matilda, Maude, Mary and some stones of family who married into the Procunier clan such as Price, Cope and Mabee.

We then left St. Williams and went to the library in Port Rowan since we knew that that library had information on the Procunier's in their genealogy section. After the library we were going on to the Eva Brook Donly Museum in Simcoe Ontario right after that because we were told they had many histories of pioneers from that area in their genealogy section and that we might find something new on the Procunier surname. We arrived at the library in Port Rowan about noon on June 15th and I found information there supplied by Robert Mutrie. Suddenly without warning I experienced severe vertigo and spun to the ground in the library while using one of their computer terminals. The hearing in my right ear was gone and the right side of my face became numb and the use of my right arm diminished. I was rushed to the hospital in Simcoe about 40 miles away. We were told by the emergency physician to take me back to Ohio and to a hospital there. So my wife Susan who was in shock by then had to drive me back to Ohio (7 & one half hours) to the hospital in Dayton, and I spent the next week in the hospital unable to get up due to severe vertigo. It was determined that my right inner ear was attacked by a viral infection resulting in the loss of my right inner ear and the loss of hearing in my right ear. I also experienced a lot of pain, vomited and dry heaved for the next 15 hours. I am now at home and just spending a few hours on the computer each day and trying to stay straight up in my chair. Hopefully my brain will adjust to the loss of my right inner ear and my balance will come back along with some hearing in my right ear. Time will tell.

One good thing happened during this medical problem though, when I was rushed to the hospital in Simcoe, Ontario. While the emergency room was trying to find out if I was having a stroke, my wife was taken to the admitting office to pay for my treatment. The woman asked my name, Susan said Procuniar, and the woman behind the desk, Rose Barber, spelled it "Procunier". Susan said no Procuniar! Rose Barber said that her mother's maiden name was Procunier!! Anyway, they exchanged email addresses and Rose Barber and I have exchanged email and found out that I already had Rose in my family tree on the Internet but I did not have her husband and children's names on there yet. Rose is my 5th Cousin Twice Removed.

Monday while in Canada I looked in the phone book and wrote down four or five Procunier's that I found there and wanted to call them and ask if they wanted to meet a lost cousin, but never got the chance, due to becoming sick and having to go right back to Dayton, Ohio. Rose Barber says that her mother is their family genealogist and has been keeping the family history for her lineage. Rose looked at my web site and said that I have what her mother has collected and then some, so they can only add their immediate family to the Procunier tree. But that is how research works, a little bit of information at a time adds up! I am sure all of the Peter Procunier JR descendents will be interested in the personal stories of Peter’s children that I hope to someday get and publish right here in the Chronicle and on my website.

Rose Barber West from the Procunier's at Port Rowan and St. Williams writes to say that “Robert Edward Procunier is my grandfather. I have never met him, he and my grandmother were divorced when my mother was a young child. He never had much to do with us. My Procunier 1st cousins have talked to him as late as two years ago, but he has never tried to contact anyone from my immediate family. We do see his half brother Wayne at some family functions, he lives in St. Catherine's, Ontario, but he has not spoken to his brother in over 20 years.

Yes my parents used to have a general farm of 500 hundred acres and 1000 pigs and two hundred head of cattle. They got out of farming about 15 years ago. They still own all of the land though, which is on the lakeshore road between St. Williams and Port Rowan.

Yes I am married in 1989 to Mark Wayne West, I kept my name of Barber though. We have two children, Shawn Wray Gordon West born Feb 6/90 and Terra Michelle West born Feb 24/94.

As to the Family tree my mother has, I was looking at it and it goes no farther back than what you already have. I was mistaken when I said the 1600's, it had been many years since I had looked at it. My mother acquired it when they had the big sermon at the Neal Memorial Church in Port Rowan in 1981. We used to have a Procunier Reunion every year around the Port Rowan area. It is a shame that we still don't have them. It got so no one wanted to organize them anymore. My mother has a picture of Robert Allen Procunier and his wife Martha and my grandfather when he was a baby, but I think that is the only old picture of her family she has. Write more later, Rose Barber.”

David Charles Procuniar July 1999

END with page 221

Other Sources:

David C Procuniar 3598 Harry Truman Drive, Beavercreek, Ohio 45432

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