(submitted by Dr. Stan Freer, with additions)
Colonel Arthur William Wellington Freear (Freer, c.1790–1844) came from Ireland. The Colonel joined the army at age 18 as an Ensign in the 2nd Battalion of the 30th Regiment of Foot. According to correspondence with Lieutenant Colonel E. J. Downham, Regional Secretary of the Queen’s Lancashire, dated June 12, 2002, the Colonel was involved with the following events:
… in April, 1810 he was with a detachment of five companies of the 30th, 15 officers and 300 men, to fight the French who were threatening Tarifa. In June the battalion was sent to Cadiz, then later on to Lisbon under the Duke of Wellington. He also participated at Aldea do Obispo on the Portuguese Frontier. He was promoted to Lieutenant on June 24, 1811.
Freear remained in the Iberian Peninsula until 1813. He was also at Antwerp until Napoleon’s first abdication and at hand when Napoleon escaped from Elba. He served in the No. 7 Company under Captain James Finncane in which they particularly distinguished themselves. He then took part in the occupation of Paris. His pistol, sabre and medal from the Napoleonic Wars are part of the Strathroy Museum collection.
In 1815 the 30th were quartered in Limerick. It was here that they celebrated the first anniversary of Waterloo. It was at a social event here that Freear may have met his first wife, who is said to have been from the Butler family of Kilkenny Castle. The Butler family was in direct line with the Duke of Ormonde who ruled Ireland for the King of England.
The Colonel married his first Warwick wife, Alicia Butler,on August 24 of 1821 at St. James Church in Dublin and had the following three children with her: Arthur Freear, born August 20, 1822; Anna Freear, born October 29, 1824; and John Freear, born January 29, 1827. He lived for the first five years after retiring at Edenvale, Enniscorthy, in Wexford County, Ireland.* The reason given on his official military record is that he took half-pay rather than go to India because of his rheumatism which caused him great pain. He probably got it from the Peninsular and Continental War. He exchanged his position with a Lieutenant Edward Macready in 1817.
The Colonel arrived in Warwick Twp. in the fall of 1832. He received Lot 5, Con. 1 NER and the front part of Lot 23, Con. 7 in Plympton Twp. as a military grant due him because of his rank of Lieutenant on the half pay of the 30th Regiment of Foot with 23 years of service. A. W. Freear was listed on the 1832 paylist for road labourers. In 1836 his name was on a petition that a new District be formed and that the County Town be Warwick. Then, in 1838, he was listed on the February paylist of Warwick Volunteers. Before his death in 1844, he was assigned the title Lieutenant Colonel of the 3rd Kent Militia for his contribution to combating the Rebellion of 1837.
After settling in Warwick, Freear returned to Ireland for his wife and children. His wife died before travelling to Upper Canada, so the Colonel returned with his three children and the nanny Eliza Ganford. In June, 1833 Freear purchased Lot 11, Con. 1 NER which was sold “subject to the erection of a saw mill which is to be in operation by the first day of September next.” Freear had his saw mill erected on Bear Creek by the deadline and shortly after he also erected a grist mill. It meant that farmers no longer had to make a 44 mile trip to London. At the time it was the furthest western saw/grist mill in southwestern Upper Canada. There is some doubt about the success of the grist mill.
In 1836 the Colonel married Eliza Ganford. In the same year he built a substantial house on Lot 5, 1 NER. He may have built a home on Lot 11 as well.
The Colonel and his second wife had three sons: William (1837–), George (1838–1871), and Henry (1841–1930). Some say William went west to California during the Gold Rush and others say to Vancouver. George moved to Adelaide Twp. Henry married Mary Foster (1842–) in 1866, built a substantial farmstead in Kerwood and became a local councillor. Henry and Mary Foster had 11 children: Albert Wellington (1867–1950), George William (1869–1937), Eliza Jane (1870–1872), Emma Mary (1872–), Edna Albertha (1874–1955), Thomas Henry (1876–1928), Eliza Mary (1879–1963), Anna Laura (1881–1958), Arthur Nelville (1883–1956), Dora Arena (1885–1985) and John Alexander (1888–1965).
Each of these individuals had families in the area. The author of this piece is a descendant of Albert Wellington Freer, who is his great-grandfather. It appears the Colonel’s children of his first marriage eventually moved away from the Warwick area.
Colonel Arthur Freear died accidentally when he fell off a horse. After the Colonel’s death, his widow married Barnabus Knight and moved to Middlesex County. The saw mill was then sold to John George Clark, a past worker at the grist mill, for rights to the mill.
Chapter 24 of 25 - Freear Family
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