Working and Leading

During the war in Niagara, women became heads of their households and sole providers for their families when male family members were killed in battle or by other causes, absent in service as regular soldiers or militia that required them to retreat with their respective units, or imprisoned as potential militia. With fathers, husbands, and older sons absent, women had to work harder to make up for the lost labor, take on additional responsibilities at home and in commercial activities, and in some cases even cooperate with occupying forces to ensure the survival of their families. Women living in the frontier society of Upper Canada played a significant role in household and public economies before the war but when placed under the additional pressure of invasions, plundering, and occupation without the support of male family members, the women of Niagara rose to the challenge of preserving their families and communities.

In the first months of the war, women’s contribution to farm work in both Upper Canada and New York increased due to the higher number of male relatives being called to serve in the militia. Military commanders tried to balance defending the province with planting and harvesting necessary to feed both inhabitants and soldiers. Days after war was declared, officers in Niagara assigning leave to militia members were ordered to “give a preference to those whose presence on the farms are most required to bring in their harvest.”²⁰¹ While the men were away, women on the farms tended to animals, planted seeds, and harvested crops, all in addition to cleaning and heating their homes, laundering and mending clothes, and feeding and raising their families. Recognizing that men serving in the militia were unable to tend to their farms, officers suggested that women take up the slack, with “encouragement being given for that purpose.”²⁰² This proposal demonstrates the officers’ own patriarchal views of women’s work and limited understanding of frontier farm life. Women who lived on farms were no strangers to the labor involved and had little need of encouragement to keep providing for their families even when the men were away.

While some women were fortunate to have additional help when their male family members were granted leave from the militia, other women who lost family members in battle or from other causes continued to maintain their homes and property even amid turmoil. Although records of women’s work during this period are scarce, evidence in the claim records submitted after the war demonstrates that women in both lower and upper social circles were compelled to take on new or expanded roles in the management of their families and farms. Ann Butler of Newark lost her husband, Thomas, when he died of disease in December 1812. At the age of fifty-one, Butler was suddenly solely responsible for managing and overseeing a substantial farm that included a barn, buildings for grain, two wagons, a carriage, a sleigh, cows, horses, sheep, and hogs. Her fields covered at least fifty-eight acres and were planted with hay, wheat, oats, peas, corn, and potatoes. For seven months, she continued to manage her household, care for her large family, and take responsibility for the farm, which in her case was likely less about doing manual labor than overseeing work done by others. As the wife of a prominent Loyalist, Butler had at her disposal means and connections that made the burden of responsibility relatively lighter. She was also a daughter of the Ten Broeck family that had settled throughout the region and likely had the means to employ farm hands to work the fields and tend the animals. However, her management of the family estate was cut short in July 1813 when a battle between American-allied and British-allied native warriors led to her house and farm being burned, depriving Butler and her family of their home, resources, and livelihood. Women like Butler who had substantial resources at their disposal were better prepared to cope with the loss of fathers and sons but were still required to take on new responsibilities and labor to support their families.

Other women in the Niagara District were similarly burdened by the additional responsibilities of farming when their husbands died but had fewer connections and resources upon which to rely. In Grantham Township, Sophia Hainer and her six children—five aged 16 or younger—were left to tend to their farm without aid after Zachariah Hainer died of disease in early 1813. Within a year of her husband’s death, Hainer was plundered by American soldiers, who took a firearm, bushels of oats and hay, and fence rails.²⁰³ A neighbor, John McComb, signed a witness statement on her behalf, swearing that he was familiar with her farm and believed the values assessed to be accurate. It is possible that Hainer relied on nearby farmers like McComb for help with her land, but more likely depended on her own labor and that of her children to plant, tend, and harvest their crops. Elizabeth Skinner, another widow who suffered looting during the war, also relied on her son David to help cultivate her farm, which was damaged during the Battle of Lundy’s Lane. In her claim for damages, he stated “that they had growing there three Bushels growing of Buck Wheat, & six acres or about of Corn, all of which was destroyed at the time of the battle, also two Bushels planted of Potatoes, which at and about that time were dug and destroyed by the Troops.”²⁰⁴ While the battle was raging, Skinner abandoned her house along with Martha Cook, a relative who had been staying with her. Cook later stated that when they returned two days later, “the things were all taken away, the Garden destroyed and some of the windows taken out of the House.”²⁰⁵ By the time compensation for her losses was finally distributed in 1824, Skinner had already passed away and David was left to collect the partial payment of £9/13s on a claim approved for over £38 in damages. Like many women in Niagara, Skinner had little choice but to take on the additional responsibilities left when her husband died and do whatever she could to ensure the survival of her family. In the end, her efforts were successful, even if she did not live to see them come to fruition.