J.P. Radelmüller Arrives in Canada
Early German Settlement in Markham, Upper Canada (Ontario)
Jan 3, 2009
John Paul Radelmüller, best remembered as the ghost whose spirit is said to haunt the Gibraltar Point Lighthouse on the Toronto Islands, spent two years (about 1801-1803) as household steward to Sir John Wentworth, Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia. (Wentworth had previously served as Governor of New Hampshire before the British lost their foothold in the United States.) Radelmüller tried unsuccessfully to win a land grant near Halifax, as he was still pursuing his long-stated dream of retiring and becoming a farmer.
Since he thought he might have a better chance further west, on November 23, 1803 Radelmüller left for Upper Canada, arriving on January 1, 1804. By some mischance, and despite his long record of service to royalty, he arrived in his new home "without the least Recommendations or Character, except a Clear Conscience and a Burs ful of money" [sic].
He settled for a time in Markham, which had a large German population, teaching English and assisting his neighbours with English-language business and legal matters. On May 14, 1805, he took his formal Oath of Allegiance to the Crown, and on the following day he was awarded 200 acres of uncleared crown land as a settler in the Township of Reach (now part of Scugog). Unfortunately, it was a scrappy, undistinguished plot that has never been made usable up to the present day, and he clearly thought it insufficient to his needs, because he continued to petition for another.
On January 1, 1808, Radelmüller wrote to William Halton, Secretary to Lt-Gov. Francis Gore, elaborating on his services rendered to the British royal family, asking for land in Markham and volunteering to serve as a German interpreter for all of Upper Canada, since "half the inhabitance [sic] in this province are Germans, and very few are able to make themselves understood".
Perhaps as a result of this letter, on July 24, 1809, J.P. Radelmüller was appointed as keeper of a brand-new lighthouse on Gibraltar Point at the mouth of Toronto Harbour. His work included care of the facility, signaling duties and customs collection; he was important to the defense of the city of York (the early name for Toronto) in the War of 1812.
On March 20, 1810, Radelmüller married Magdalen Burkholder, a German Lutheran girl from Vaughan, Ontario. The Radelmüllers had one daughter, Arabella. Little must they have imagined that his life would end violently only a few years later.
Sources:
- Archives of Ontario, Court of Oyer and Terminer Minute Books, 1810-1835 RG 22-134, MS 530-12
- Archives of Ontario, Secord Heirt Devises Commission, Case File 40-0259 (July 15, 1816)
- Archives of Ontario, Upper Canada Land Petitions, Book F, p. 314 (May 15, 1805)
- Archives of Ontario, York County Surrogate Court Estate Files, "John P. Radelmiller, 1815", RG 22-305, MS 638-97
- National Archives of Canada, Upper Canada Sundries, pp. 2789-2796 (Jan 1, 1808). Available on microfilm at the Archives of Ontario.
- Toronto Island Archives, News from the Archives, Vol. 17, No. 2, June 1, 2008.
- Toronto Reference Library, Baldwin Room, J.P. Radelmuller’s Oath of Allegiance
- Malcomson, Robert, Capital in Flames, The American Attack on York, 1813, Robin Brass Studio, 2007, pp. 179, 347.
- Marriages at St. James Anglican, Toronto
- Burkholder family – genealogical notes
- Personal communication from genealogist Ruth Burkholder of Stouffville, Ontario
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