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From: John Helmut Merz <>
Subject: Re: {not a subscriber} The Story of White Peter
Date: Sun, 11 Apr 1999 21:29:25 -0700

Thanks, Diane, for a great contribution, John.

Diane Davison wrote: mailto:

THE STORY OF WHITE PETER
Perhaps the most colourful of the earliest settlers was the man known
as "White Peter". There is a lot of material about him, some of it
contradictory, but this is his story as I make it out.

He was a white boy who was captured by the Indians when he was nine
years
old, during the American War of Independence (1776-1783). He was treated
pretty badly by them until an old squaw took pity on him and adopted
him.
He became greatly attached to her. When he reached the age of 21, he was
given his freedom and married an Indian girl. Later on he left the band
and, apparently, married a second wife, also an Indian girl. If he did
have a first wife she may have refused to leave the band. Anyway, he
came up into this country with Molly and settled in Nanticoke. He seemed
to have been attracted to this spot by the wonderful catches of sturgeon
he caught in Nanticoke (or Waveney) Creek. It would later appear that he
first settled on Lot 4 of the First Concession and later on Lot 6. The
latter he bought and on it he built his first house and barn and lived
there until his death in 1855.

Two stories are told of him. They had no family and one day a stranger
approached Molly asking if she would like to adopt a child. They had no
family so she said she would. The stranger handed her a bundle he was
carrying and departed. When Molly went into the house and undid the
bundle she found he child was a negro. They were shocked, but kept her
and she became their beloved daughter, Sally. The other story tells how
Mr. Hoover, from Selkirk, came to visit them and recognized Peter as one
of the Klingersmith family (there are various spellings) from his old
home in Pennsylvania. He persuaded Peter to go with him to the old home,
Montoursville, and he was immediately recognized as belonging to that
family, who had lost a child. He was welcomed and urged to stay but he
refused, saying: "If my Molly was a white woman I would stay, but she is
Indian, so I go back."

Peter performed a useful service for Canada during the war of 1812.
Possibly because of his connection with the Indians, he heard of attacks
to be made on Canadian military leaders and, according to a contemporary
letter, "he was instrumental in saving the lives of Col. Talbot, Salmon,
Nicols and others…by warning them of their danger on several occasions
to
the imminent danger of his own pate" (head).

His grave in the Public Cemetery at Nanticoke was marked by a crab-apple
tree. When this was accidentally cut down, a large boulder was placed
there with a plate bearing this inscription: "White Peter, first settler
of Nanticoke, captured by Indians 1765, died 1855." This was erected by
the Nanticoke Women's Institute. (Note – The date given, 1765, was
before the American War of Independence but two witnesses say that he
was captured "during the Revolution.").

>From the book Walpole Township Centennial History

Diane Davison
Norfolk County, Ontario

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