Early Life
DeCew was born in 1766 in the British colonies which would, after the War of American Independence, become the United States. The Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online indicates that he was born in New Jersey, whereas a plaque located in Thorold, Ontario indicates that he was born in Vermont He was the eldest son of Jacob DeCew and Elizabeth Bloome. With his family, who remained loyal to Britain after American independence, he immigrated to Upper Canada in 1787.
In 1788, he served on a survey crew, and around the same time, acquired a site for a mill at what is currently known as DeCew Falls on Beaverdams Creek. He constructed one of the first sawmills in the region, and later constructed a grist mill. He became an officer in the 2nd Lincoln Militia in 1797. In 1798, DeCew married Katherine Dockstader, daughter of Frederick Dockstader of the Butler's Rangers. The couple had 11 children (5 sons and 6 daughters). In 1800, DeCew was a founding member of the Niagara Library Board, the first circulating library in Upper Canada. He also held various local offices in Thorold township, including the positions of assessor, collector and warden.
Read more about this topic: John De Cew
Famous quotes containing the words early life, early and/or life:
“... goodness is of a modest nature, easily discouraged, and when much elbowed in early life by unabashed vices, is apt to retire into extreme privacy, so that it is more easily believed in by those who construct a selfish old gentleman theoretically, than by those who form the narrower judgments based on his personal acquaintance.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)
“The shift from the perception of the child as innocent to the perception of the child as competent has greatly increased the demands on contemporary children for maturity, for participating in competitive sports, for early academic achievement, and for protecting themselves against adults who might do them harm. While children might be able to cope with any one of those demands taken singly, taken together they often exceed children’s adaptive capacity.”
—David Elkind (20th century)
“The more the development of late capitalism renders obsolete or at least suspect the real possibilities of self, self- fulfillment and actualization, the more they are emphasized as if they could spring to life through an act of will alone.”
—Richard Dean Rosen (b. 1949)