James HUMPHREY, Sr. (~1757-18xx)+
Charlotte ???? (1750-18xx)

Nancy Agnes (177x-18xx) — m. Mattheus Johannes Boice about 1796

James, Jr. (~1780-26 Aug 1862) — m. Mary McDougall

Elizabeth ()

Margaret (~1784)

Samuel John, Sr. (31 Jan 1788-28 Jan 1862) — m. Lucinda Woolery about 1811

James was a Tory from New York. He first appeared in 1781 as Private James Humphrye of Jessup’s Rangers, a Tory militia formed in Albany, New York. He was 5'9" tall. After the American Revolution, the men of Jessup’s Rangers were given land on the north bank of the St. Lawrence River opposite Ogdensburg, New York, where they founded the town of Prescott, Edwardsburgh Township, County of Grenville.

Charlotte was reportedly from Matilda Township, Leeds, Ontario, a remote inland area some 50 miles west-southwest of Prescott.

A 1785 record showed James Umphry among the settlers in Township #6 below Edwardsburgh. Before this, James might have resided in the area of Hay Bay on the northern side of Lake Ontario, as there are family accounts that son James was born there. The 1800 census for Edwardsburgh listed James Humphrie Sr. with a wife and one daughter, probably Margaret. Son James, Jr. was living nearby.

Children

Nancy Agnes Humphrey (177x-18xx)

Nancy, called Ann in some records, married Mattheus Johannes Boice (19 Jul 1748-26 Jun 1844) from New Utrecht, Kings County, New York about 1796. (Mattheus’s surname has various alternate spellings, including Boyce, Buys, and Bice.) They had at least five children:

Samuel (1800-1858) — m. Pennsylvania Mattison

Charlotte () — m. William Peek, Jr.

Delilah (~1808-????) — m. Stephen Nichols; m. Charles McCall in 1853

Hamilton (6 Jul 1811-10 Feb 1891) — m. Esther Thompson

Maria (18 Feb 1818-14 Aug 1890) — m. John Graham

At least some of the children moved to Michigan.

James Humphrey, Jr. (~1780-1862)

James, Jr. was born probably in the US before the end of the Revolutionary War, or possibly at Hay Bay, Ontario. The 1800 census for Edwardsburgh listed the household of James Humphrie, Jr. as a single man. He applied for a land grant in Edwardsburgh Township in 1801 as the son of a loyalist soldier. That strengthens the claim that he was born around 1780, rather than in 1786 as one source says. He married Mary McDougall (1789-26 May 1863). Known children:

Hugh (1810-11 Dec 1866)

Susannah or Susan (8 Sep 1814-26 Mar 1884) — m. Louis Poupor

Norman (1828-1 Dec 1847)

Alexander (1829-30 Nov 1882) — m. Lecty Robertson

Duncan (1833-15 Mar 1868)

James remained in the area, settling in Cardinal, on the river a couple of miles northeast of Prescott. He died in 1862, and is buried with Mary and their five children of record in Presbyterian Churchyard Cemetery, Cardinal, Leeds and Grenville United Counties, Ontario. His tombstone implies year of birth 1778.