Marshville Heritage Society's Heritage preservation

In the early 1800s you could expect a drafty, cold house with no glass in the windows and one or two rooms. This house has one room that was used for all functions, including mending the harness, sharpening and oiling your tools, spinning, and weaving, cooking and relaxing in the evening.

If you had a loft you might find two beds. One bed for the parents and the baby, and the other bed is for everyone else. Half the heads on the pillows at the “head” of the bed and half the heads on the pillows at the “foot” of the bed. (Remember most families in those days had many children - up to 20 in some cases. Unfortunately many didn’t survive childhood. ) Your mattress will be a piece of thick cloth (ticking) that is stuffed with straw or corn husks or something like that. If you were lucky you had a featherbed that goes on top of you to keep you warm.

In the early days of the community, nothing was ever wasted or thrown away. As clothing and blankets wore out, women saved every scrap of cloth to use as either linings or tops for quilted comforters. Quilt patterns were designed and passed on through generations. 

HISTORY

Morgan-Neff Log Cabin

The first white settler in Wainfleet was David Morgan Sr. He arrived by canoe from Pennsylvania with his son David Jr. after the American Revolutionary War and settled on the lakeshore circa 1778. His wife died in Pennsylvania.

Morgan took up 2200 acres of land south of the existing railroad line and built a house on what is now called Morgan’s Point. David Sr. died of pneumonia while visiting friends in Maldon.

David Jr. inherited the farm and married Ruth Van Norman. There 11 children were each allotted 200 acres of land. David Jr. died at 86 years of age. His daughter, Mary, was married to Jacob Neff in 1841 and they built the log house across from Morgan's Point Church. They lived in this cabin until their 13-room house was constructed.

The log house was moved to Chippawa Park in Welland in 1924. In 1984 the log cabin was given back to the Society. On April 14th 1984, a group of volunteers began taking the cabin down log by log, carefully numbering the logs as they went. It was reconstructed in Wainfleet, becoming the first building in the Marshville Heritage Village.

The building is a 1/2 story log house, 18 feet by 20 feet, constructed of hewn (shaped) logs with filled interstices. The wood stove and furnishings seen in the house are representative of items used circa 1840.

The Morgan Family (As compiled by Jennie May Neff Willford – the 5th generation)

David Morgan Sr., with his wife and son, David Jr., 9 years old, came from Holland to Pennsylvania, where the mother died. David Sr., with his son David Jr., crossed Lake Erie in a canoe with a peck of corn and a peck of potatoes to land by Compass on Morgan's Point in 1776-68. He was the first white man to settle in Wainfleet Township, the land being solid forest and wild animals.

They cleared a spot of ground and planted their corn. The potatoes they peeled and ate and planted the peelings with the eyes. He took up 2200 acres of Crown land south of the now existing railroad to Lake Erie and built a good sized house on the point. When they harvested their crop of corn they went with their canoe down the lake to the Niagara River to Chippawa, left their canoe there and carried their bag of corn around Niagara Falls to Queenston. As a custom, a canoe was left there for travellers. They journeyed on to Lake Ontario, crossed the lake to Kingston, had their corn ground into cornmeal and returned home to Morgan's Point the same way.

Their food was wild game, wild berries, wild apples, fish and birds’ eggs. In a space of time a grist mill opened up in Fort Erie and they took their wheat they had harvested by a bag on the horses back through a trail in the woods, to Fort Erie to have it ground into flour. In another space of time, Mr. Simcoe came from England and formed a government to give deeds for Crown land and opened up roads. David Jr. had grown into a man and married Ruth Van Norman. They had a family of seven girls: Mary Neff (my grandmother), Sophia Zavitz, Tena Zavitz, Phoebe Dickhout, Sally Disher, Charity Schooley, Christine Zavitz; and four boys: John Morgan, David Morgan. George Morgan and Ephraim Morgan.

As a custom, David Sr. left for a trip by trail through the woods to visit friends in Malden, Ontario in the winter when the harvesting was over. David Sr. took ill with pneumonia while there, and died having no way to return him home, he was interred in Malden Cemetery.

David Jr. gave each of his 11 children a 200-acre farm. When David Jr.'s daughter Mary Morgan and Jacob Naff were married in 1841, they built a log cabin on the main road across from the Morgan’s Point Church to live in until they could get the 12-room house built, where the remains are left. The old fireplace still stands across from the church. The log cabin was moved to Chippawa Park in Welland by the Historical Society - Louis Blake Duff - for a historic mark in 1924. Clarence Neff and his brother Romain, sons of Jacob and Mary Neff, were born in that log cabin. Clarence Neff was my father.

In 1842, church was held in people’s homes. Mary Morgan Neff gave the ground for the Morgan’s Point Church and a portion of the old cemetery. In 1852, the people of the community built a church. In 1911, the people built the present church and the church that was built in 1852 was moved to the Bonisteel farm down near the lake.

David Jr.’s son, John Morgan, has the farm West of the Creek on the north side of the road. The farm is now owned by Sharpe’s. In 1799, John Morgan sold 50 acres of his farm to a rich Spaniard. He received a great sum of Spanish money in payment, and he used the coins in trade at Gravelly Bay, the former name of what is now Port Colborne. Uncle John had no children when he died. Aunt Hannah lived there a number of years alone and when she died lots of money was found all over the house. Some of it had moulded. Everything was divided among her people, the Minors, her nephews and nieces.