P5637

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Details

ID Number

P5637

Item Name

Image

Title

Matthew Elliott House / Maison Matthew Elliot

Title (Fre)

Maison Matthew Elliot

Date

1922

Description

Black and white photograph of the north side of the Matthew Elliott House in Amherstburg, Ontario; the house is two storeys with a large stone chimney in the centre of the front of the house; there is one window on either side of the chimney on the second storey and a door to the left of the chimney on the main floor; there is tall foliage growing up around the house and covers the bottom portion of the photograph; the house appears to be abandoned and there are white marks (either on the photo or the building) around the chimney and on the main floor

History

Matthew Elliott was born in Ireland in 1739. He moved to Pennsylvania with his family in 1761 and spent a number of years as a trader with Native tribes. In 1779 Elliott was employed by the British Indian Department in an effort to sway Natives to the British side in the event of a war. In 1784, Elliott and several other men of the British Indian Department were ceded a tract of land along the east bank of the Detroit River by the Wyandot Indians. Elliott's land was located opposite the south end of Bois Blanc (Boblo) Island. In 1796 he was appointed Superintendent of Indian Affairs but was dismissed in 1798. From 1798 - 1808 Elliott served as a representative of Essex County in the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada. He was reinstated to the Department of Indian Affairs in 1808 when the threat of war became more imminent. Elliott was very active in the War of 1812 on the side of the British. In 1813 the British evacuated Amherstburg and Elliott and his family moved to Burlington. During his absence, Elliott's farm, now consisting of over 4000 acres, was ransacked by Americans. Elliott became ill and died on May 7, 1814. Matthew Elliott lived for many years with a Shawnee woman and had two sons, Alexander (1790) and Matthew Jr. (ca 1793) by her. In 1810 he married Sarah Donovan of Detroit, and had two more sons, Francis Gore (1812) and Robert Harriot Barclay (1813). The Elliott family were one of the first pew holders at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Amherstburg, built in December 1831.

Place made

Canada - Ontario - Amherstburg

Collection Name

Museum Windsor

Subjects

Abandoned buildings / Édifices abandonnés

Amherstburg (Ont.)

Buildings / Immeubles

Chimneys / Cheminées

Elliott, Matthew / Elliot, Matthew

Houses / Maisons