James B. Secord

James Secord was born on July 7, 1773, in New Rochelle, Westchester, New York. He was the youngest child of James Secord Sr. and Madelaine Badeau, and his father served as a lieutenant in Butler's Rangers. When James was 5, the family moved to Niagara, where his father and two brothers served in Butler's rangers, among the first loyalists to move to Upper Canada.[1] James was the great-grandson of Ambroise Sicard Sr. and a member of the wealthy Secord family, although he himself was not wealthy.[2] When he married Laura Ingersoll in 1797, he had 200 acres of land in Saint Davids, which he received for being a United Empire Loyalist.[1]

After their wedding, the Secords moved to James's house in Saint David's. James's soon after opened a general store in Queenston, which was a much more important center of business than Saint Davids.[3] James's brother-in-law Richard Cartwright, who married his only sister, became Secord's adviser and chief supplier of goods.[3] Eventually, Secord became deeply in debt and had to mortgage his saint David's farm to Richard so his creditors could be paid.[4]

the restored Secord house in Queenston

Sometime after his daughter Harriet's birth in 1803, James moved his family to their new house in Queenston. James's business picked up through the years. In 1810 James was able to write that he was "in easy circumstances." and had 2 black servants.[5]

During the War of 1812, Secord was a sergeant in the 1st Lincoln Militia under Isaac Brock. He fought at the battle of Queenston Heights where he was part of the group that carried Brock's body off the battlefield after he was killed in the first attack. During the third and final attack, James Secord was shot through the shoulder and the knee, and when word was conveyed to Mrs. Secord she rushed to the spot. Some sources suggest that just as she arrived, three American soldiers came up to James, prepared to club him to death, but Laura Secord rushed between them telling the Americans to kill her and spare her husband. Captain John E. Wool intervened, calling the Americans cowards, and sending them to a court martial. Captain Wool reprimanded the men and he and Secord remained friends for the rest of Secord's life.[6] This story may have been a later embellishment that originated with their grandson, James B. Secord. Laura spent the next several months nursing her wounded husband back to health.[7]

The Secord family lived in poverty following the war. Secord was granted an 18-pound annuity for his wartime service.[8] In 1828 Secord was appointed a registrar of the Niagara Surrogate court and was promoted to judge in 1833. After two years he resigned from his judgeship to become the customs collector at Chippawa.[9] He died of a stroke in Chippawa on February 22, 1841.[10]

• Leavey, Peggy Dymond (2012). Laura Secord : Heroine of the War of 1812. Toronto: Dundurn. ISBN 978-1-4597-0368-1. OCLC 772686027.