Laura Secord Research Paper

On the 13th of September 1775, Elizabeth Ingersoll gave birth to Laura Ingersoll, a clever, beautiful baby. When Laura was eight, her mother died, leaving her and her three sisters, Myra, Abigail and Elizabeth. Her father remarried twice and had two children, named Nancy and Charles with his third wife. Her family was originally from Massachusetts, so in 1795 her family immigrated to Upper Canada where her father had obtained a township grant for settlement. Her father’s farm became the site of the modern town of Ingersoll. Within two years, in about 1797, Laura married James Secord, a young merchant of Queenston. He was the youngest son of a loyalist officer of Butler’s Rangers, who had brought his family to Niagara in 1778. James and Laura Secord had six daughters and one son. Early in the War of 1812, James, Laura’s husband, was a sergeant in the 1st Lincoln militia and was wounded in the battle of Queenston

FitzGibbon then persuaded Boerstler to surrender with 462 men to his own 50 men. In the official reports of the victory no mention was made of Laura Secord. After the war, the Secords lived in poverty until 1828 when James, received a small pension because of his war wound. In 1835 he became collector of customs at Chippawa. He died in 1841 leaving Laura without financial resources. She ran a school for children in her Chippawa cottage for a brief period. Overall, during the War of 1812, Laura was courageous, powerful and loyal and traveled 20 km to warn British officials that the Americans intended to surprise the British outpost at Beaver Dams and capture the officer in charge, Lieutenant James FitzGibbon. Her bravery has been honoured by many Canadian individuals and the story of Laura Secord is one of the most famous in Canadian