Friday, July 16, 191(3?)7 The Halifax Herald, Halifax, N.S. AT WINDSOR
WINDSOR, July 15 – Mrs. D. O. Collier (Flora Sivwright) of Sycamore, Illinois, accompanied by her cousin, Mrs. Herman Rand (Alice) Sivwright of Chicago are spending several weeks in Windsor, guests of Mrs. J. Watson Maxner. They are interested in visiting the scenes of the homes of their ancestors.
Their grandfather Alexander Sivwright, born in Windsor Feb. 21, 1800 – and his wife Mary Kilcup Sivwright – were pioneer settlers to Illinois in 1848 – when the land where the city of Chicago now stands, was selling at one shilling per acre.
Their great-grandfather, James Sivwright, was a Scottish soldier in His Majesty’s L. V. Regiment of Foot. He was taken prisoner of war at The Battle of Bunker Hill, Boston, in the American Revolutionary War 1775. His honorable discharge from the Army is dated, Antigua, West Indies Jan. 1st. 1784.
The original document is now in the possession of John Sivwright, Mason City, Iowa.
Above is Alexander “Sandy” Campbell Sivwright Family. He was born in 1800 and died in 1886.
James Sivwright came to Windsor in 1784, and purchased land from Loran DeWolfe at Three Mile Plains. He married Susan Dalrymple who had come to Windsor in 1766, from the North of Ireland, with her parents, who were of French Huguenot descent.
Early Settlers
These early settlers are buried in the Old Parish Burying Ground, Windsor.
Mrs. Rand, through her mother, traces her ancestry back to Peregrine White, the first white child born at Plymouth, Mass, 1620, whose parents came over on the Mayflower.
A large silver watch, the property of Peregrine White’s father, which was brought over from England – and other documentary proof – are cherished family heirlooms.
The house where Alexander Sivwright lived, prior to moving to Illinois, was situated on the property, known as “Wavelands”. It was a very old house built of logs, and the boards were three feet in width. It was torn down about 40 years ago by Harry M. Pemberton, who at that time owned “Wavelands”.
The old house was always called “the Old French House”. This district was settled by the French before 1755, when Windsor was known an Piziquid.
Handwritten Notes from the Sivwright Family
In the cemetery at Mayfield Illinois, fairly near together where the headstones of the two brothers who had come there from Nova Scotia, one is to the memory of
Alexander Sivwright
1800 – 1886
And
James Sivwright
1804 – 1878
My grandfather, Joseph (1810 – 1880) chose to spell his name Sivright, leaving out the W. Later then my sister Muriel and I were studying some old papers. We decided to put the “W” back in but our eldest sister Fanny did not approve and always held to Sivright. Susan Sivwright, Daughter of James I and Susan Dalrymple, who married John O’Brien and moved to New Brunswick, always spelled her name Sievewright.
Susan Dalrymple
Susan was born in Ireland of French Huguenot parents. We believe it was her grandparents who had fled from France because of religious persecutions and found a home in Ireland. Whether they settled in a neighborhood where most of the people were named Dalrymple and they assumed that name in order to hide their identity, we do not know.
