HAGERMAN, Nicholas: 1761 - 1819
The Hagermans were of Dutch ancestry and Nicholas' pioneer parents appear to have arrived in Canada around 1759 at the time of the conquest of Quebec. The family moved south and settled on 2,000 acres of land in Dutchess County, on the east bank of the Hudson River near Poughkeepsie, New York.
Nicholas Hagerman, commemorated on this tile, was born December 10, 1761 in New York. Described in muster rolls as being from Albany, he was under suspicion by the Commission for “Detecting and Defeating Conspiracies” and went over to the British in 1778. In preparation for resettlement after the American Revolution, Nicholas Hagerman signed with Captain Alexander White’s company of Associated Loyalists destined to settle in Cataraqui (Kingston). However, Nicholas eventually settled under Major Van Alstine in Adolphustown in 1784. He received a land grant and cleared the land on what became known as Hagerman’s Point, now the western section of the Adolphustown United Empire Loyalist Park. He built a house which was “situated a short distance west of the road leading from the wharf up to the village.”(1) The exact site of the Hagerman home is not known but it is thought to be close to the present location of the U.E.L. Museum in the former Allison house in the park. The Church of England missionary preacher, Reverend John Langhorn, often held services in the home of Squire Hagerman when he served the community from 1790-1813.(2)
Nicholas Hagerman married Anne Fisher (1765-1847), the sister of Judge Alexander Fisher. Nicholas Hagerman is listed in the 1796 Adolphustown census as the head of a family of eight: three adult males, one adult female, two male children and two female children. The children of Nicholas and Anne were: Eliza (born 1786), John (baptized 1789), Maria (baptized 1790), Christopher A. (born 1792), Daniel (born 1795), Jane (born1800) and Joseph N. (born 1805).
Nicholas was a man of some education and is said to have studied law before leaving New York. At all events he became one of the first appointed lawyers in Upper Canada and continued to live and practice law in Adolphustown and Kingston until his death.(3) Nicholas was Captain of the local militia and at the outbreak of the War of 1812, his son Christopher went as a lieutenant with a company from Adolphustown to Kingston. Christopher served with distinction and rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the militia.
Three of Nicholas and Anne Hagerman’s sons served as members of parliament. Their son, Christopher Alexander Hagerman, studied law and later joined his father’s firm and practiced law in Kingston. “The father and son were sometimes employed by opposing clients; at one time in Kingston, the son won the suit, much to the annoyance of the father. The father exclaimed, ‘have I raised a son to put out my eyes.’ No replied the son, ‘to open them father.’”(4) Christopher later served as Solicitor General and Attorney General of Upper Canada.
Nicholas Hagerman died march 19,1819 in Adolphustown and was buried in the old United Empire Loyalist burying ground which is now located in the U.E.L. Park. The exact location of his gravesite is not known.
1. William Canniff, The Settlement of Upper Canada (Toronto: Dudley & Burns,1869), p. 653.
2. Ontario Historical Plaque, Loyalist Memorial Church, Adolphustown.
3. Canniff, 653.
4. Canniff, 653.