HomeMy WebLinkAbout728Photocopy of a newspaper article, taken from the Pickering Bay News, March 1990.
"13.
Our freedom martyr
by Richard Matthews Jr.
This is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Peter Matthews, late of Pickering Township,
Ontario.
He was born in Belleville, in the Bay of Quinte Region of Upper Canada in the year
1790.
He was the first born child of Captain Thomas Elmes Matthews, a United Empire
Loyalist, and Mary Ruttan Matthews, a United Empire Loyalist herself.
His grandfather was Captain Peter Ruttan of Adolphustown who was a Loyalist as
well as a descendant of French Huguenots.
Childhood
Peter was of the first generation to be born in the new country of Canada following the
""American Revolutionary War"". He spent his childhood working on the family farm
with his father and brothers.
The first 10 years were hard ones for the family, as the farm was unspoiled virgin land.
Peter married Hannah Major while they were both in their teens.
Volunteered
They were always known by friends and neighbors as good Baptists.
When the War of 1812 came, the Matthews men were eager to defend their new
country. The father and oldest sons volunteered.
The father served as a lieutenant in the 3rd Regiment of York (Township,
Upper Canada) Militia.
Peter and his brothers Thomas and Daniel served and fought in various battles in the
Niagara region. This was a sad time for the family, as two the sons were killed.
Battles
Thomas fell at Lundy's Lane and Peter helped bury him near where he fell.
Daniel died in service in the Niagara region also.
Peter and his father returned home safely after the war to work the famly farm.
Peter's wife Hannah dies young, as life was difficult in those early days.
Peter later married for a second time, and as a result of the two marriages had
eight children.
The family was unhappy with the services provided to the rural inhabitants by the
government in Toronto. Peter got involved in local reform politics in a small way,
and was drawn into the events preceding the Rebellion of 1837.
He was active in the political union movement in the summer and fall of 1837 which
was designed to pressure the British government to grant reforms.
Rebellion
The organizer and leader of the rebellion, William Lyon MacKenzie, chose Peter as his
captain from the ""Home District Area"". Peter led the men from Pickering and nearby
townships who joined.
December 7, 1837 came, and the rebellion was crushed. Peter and 10 of his men
escaped for a couple of days.
But he was captured on December 10, 1837 at the farm house of John Duncan in the
third concession of East York. Like many of the rebels, Peter was defended by the
ex-patriot Robert Baldwin. Peter was advised to plead guilty.
Hanged
Pleading guilty played into the government's hands and sealed Peter's fate.
He was convicted and sentenced to hang in Toronto on April 12, 1838.
The 12th of April arrived, and the hangman was ready for his two victims,
Peter Matthews and Samual Lount
The other political prisoners-were called to the gratings of their cells to witness the
executions which were to take place in front of the goal.
With head erect, with calm eye and firm tread, each of the doomed men mounted the
scaffold steps.
Liberties
The last words they had spoken to their comrades were full of hopefulness for the
liberties of Canada, and they gloried in the sacred cause for which they were about
to die.
Two noble hearts were stilled forever. Their wives were widowed, and their children
were made orphans on that fatal day.
Let those call them rebels who will, but surely the Canadian people, whom they loved
so well, should only think of them as patriots in life, and as martyrs in their cruel death.
National Archives of Canada collection
REBELS MARCHING DOWN YONGE STREET
The Bay News, March 1990."