Individual Details
EBENEZER RIDER
(19 Sep 1771 - 17 Apr 1853)
[Map of land lots]
This map of Browns Flats, about 12 miles up river from Saint John New Brunswick, shows lot 37, granted to Ebenezer Rider in 1784, one month after he died. His son Ebenezer inherited a two-fifths share of that grant, but appears not to have lived on it, purchasing instead lot 32, also shown on this map, where he first farmed and married his wife Ann.
Early life
Ebenezer was four when the American Revolutionary War broke out, and twelve when it ended, so he, of course, did not play an active part in it. But he must have been much affected by it. The family homestead was confiscated by the fledgling American Republic, and Ebenezer spent much of his boyhood living behind British lines on Long Island. He lost his mother, Bethiah, on Long Island, when he was eleven, and his father a year after his arrival in Canada, when he was thirteen.
After the father died in 1784, the young orphaned family was cared for in Saint John by the eldest son, Stephen. But when Stephen returned to the United States before July 1789, Ebenezer, aged only about 18, remained behind. His life at this time is now obscure to us. He inherited a two-fifth share of lot 37, the land granted posthumously to his father in Greenwich Parish, some twelve miles upriver from Saint John. However, he may not have farmed that lot, having purchased lot 32 a short distance downriver. It was there he married his wife Ann. On 30 July 1796 he sold his share of lot 37, and at an undetermined date sold lot 32, this latter presumed to be in preparation to moving to New Canaan.
The move to New Canaan
About 1799, when Ebenezer was about twenty-eight and already married with three children, he sought out a homestead along the upper waters of the Canaan River, and there settled on lots 27 and 28, a homestead of 330 acres along the banks of the Canaan River, in the New Canaan grant. But as a local history points out, Ebenezer and the other settlers did not bother with ownership for several years:
The settlers seem not to have made any effort to secure title to their land until several years after thier arrival; at least the grant first made bears the date October 15, 1809. It is supposed that the settlers did not give the matter much thought until the settlement began to grow and encroachments began to be made upon one another's property. Steps were then taken to secure legal titles. The settlement was then quite well advanced in the arts of life and a social standing of a high order for those days was established. A school was in existence very early in which the textbooks used were Dilworth's spelling book and the New Testament. In 1805 the New Canaan Baptist Church was organized through the instrumentality of the Reverend Thomas [Joseph] Crandall. The number who obtained grants in 1809 was seventeen and the names were as follows: Elisha C. Corey, Edward Coy, Seth Bryant, who was a justice of the peace, Henry Kitchen, Gideon Corey, Oswald Alward, Benjamin Alward, George Webb Price, Melanchthon Thorne, Richard Thorne, William Humphrey, Daniel Keith, William Perry, Ebenezer Rider, John Keith, Jacob Jones, and John Price. It is not certain that these were the first settlers, but they were the first who applied for and obtained grants.
[Map of Ebenezers property along Canaan River]
The New Canaan Grant, showing the names of the original settlers. Ebenezer's grant can be easily located on maps - the Queens/Kings County line crosses both the river and the road on his property.
[Picture of Settlers Stone]
The Memorial to the First Settlers, raised in New Canaan in 1990. Blois Corey is a descendant of Gideon Corey; his wife is a descendant of Elias Clark. Of the settlers, Seth Bryant, Henry Kitchen, and George Webb Price, had all served as Loyalists with Ebenezer 6 Rider on Long Island during the Revolution.
[Picture]
The Baptist Meeting House served the religious needs of the New Canaan community from the early Nineteenth Century until 1961.
[Picture]
The Havelock Baptist Church served a similar need to many Rider families who moved to adjoining Havelock Parish. It is still standing today with few changes, but without the steeple.
These men and their families and their descendants were to form the core of the community for the next 200 years. There were after all only a few surnames to choose from, and the families intermarried and are still intermarrying to the present day. We can note also the mention of the Baptist Church early established in the community. This is the first mention of the Baptist faith, which sustained the Rider family, and was very much in the forefront of their lives throughout the nineteenth century.
Last years
After the move to New Canaan, Ebenezer's long life appears to have been relatively uneventful. He lived on the farm, raised his children and saw them married and settled on their own farms nearby. With nine sons he had difficulty placing them all on land, but he did the best he could. He divided his two lots and sold them to Reuben, Henry, Joseph, and Benjamin. He purchased lots 38-39 for Stephen and Benjamin and Thomas. Indeed, he seems to have settled his land so completely that there was no need for a will - at least none has yet been found for him.
His marriage to Ann about 1793 was both long-lasting and most fruitful. Ann was probably only about sixteen or seventeen when she married Ebenezer, and she was still alive in 1849. And together Ann and Ebenezer had fourteen living children, and possibly two more, as explained below.
In 1849 his son Joseph bequeathed "my father Ebenezer Rider the sum of 1 pound per year during his natural life." Ebenezer died 17 April 1853, aged 81 years, 7 months, 28 days. Presumably Ebenezer is buried in the New Canaan Wesleyan Methodist Cemetery, but there is no headstone for him there now. It's very likely that there was one at one time, of the small homemade variety that is so affecting. But the earliest stones seem now to have been lost.
Unity of Empire
All Ryder's descending from Ebenezer6 and Ebenezer7 are entitled to Canada's only hereditary rank - "Unity of Empire" - and can place "U.E." behind their names. To date, no Ryder seems to have joined any United Empire Loyalist Association, but it is to be hoped this book might inspire some to do so. It would at least give an "official" recognition to the fact.
Ann Goldsmith
Very little is known about Ebenezer's wife, Ann [Goldsmith]. She married Ebenezer, presumably by 1793, though the record has not been found, and is listed in land documents of 1795 and 1796 as his wife. She appears similarly in land records at New Canaan as late as 1849, at which time she would have been in her 70s. There is little to go on in determining her age. It must be presumed that she married very young. If Benjamin were born at the end of her childbearing period, at the age of forty-five or forty-six, this would give Ann a birth date of 1777-8 and marriage at the age of sixteen or seventeen. Given the large number of her children, this date is most likely.
The surname Goldsmith attributed to her appears in Fremont Rider's prestigious A Rider (Ryder) Genealogy of 1959. Fremont's source was Nellie Rider's, A Rider Genealogy, a manuscript work compiled about 1900-20. And her source is "Miss Julia E. Rider, Bristol, VT." It would appear, then, that we are in the domain of family tradition in recording Ann's surname. And Miss Julia (born 1860) was reporting in the 20th century events and names from the 18th century. And as any genealogist knows, there is much room for error when names are recorded from that distance.
In searching for possible "Ann Goldsmiths" in New Brunswick, the only one found is from the family of Henry Goldsmith, an officer in the British Army, who served in the Revolutionary War, and moved to New Brunswick about 1784. He was well known in military circles in Saint John during the '80s and '90s, and operated a mill in Saint Andrews NB. Henry had fourteen children. One of them was Ann Goldsmith, born in 1788 and died in 1832. This Ann was obviously too young to be Ebenezer's wife of 1794, and died too early to be Ebenezer's wife Ann of the 1840s. Ebenezer's wife may have been surnamed Goldsmith, but this would still appear to be an unproven point of genealogy.
Lost children
Ebenezer and Ann may have had two more children than those listed below. Nellie Rider assigns and unnamed "child, died" born about 1820, between Caroline and Benjamin. As well, the four-year gap between the birth of John and the twins Stephen and Mary suggests a child, which may have been born about 1796, about whom little information survives. A Richard Rider, born 1796, and who later lived in Hampton Parish, may be this child, but few links beyond the birth date connect him with the New Canaan Riders. However, in the 1840s, Nathan Rider farmed in Hampton, a very short distance from Richard, and it may have been the presence of a brother there that attracted Nathan to the area. It is to be hoped that further information may come to light in the future to confirm the relationship.
References: Rev J.W. Brown, An Historical Sketch of the Early Settlement of New Canaan and the Histories of the New Canaan, Havelock, and Albert Baptist Churches, nd LDS 0856140 it 3; Land Resources Information Services Saint John NB, Index Kings D1-326, E1-177, I1-242, Queens #3740, 3876; Kings County Probate Record, Will of Joseph C. Rider; Wilfred E. Myatt, The Autobiography of Oliver Goldsmith, Lancelot Press 1985, p.165; NBarchives, Grant Petition of Stephen Rider, NBcensus 1851, 61, Parish of Brunswick; Land Grant index, Brunswick Parish Queens 22 Sep 1809, Bk D, 510.
This map of Browns Flats, about 12 miles up river from Saint John New Brunswick, shows lot 37, granted to Ebenezer Rider in 1784, one month after he died. His son Ebenezer inherited a two-fifths share of that grant, but appears not to have lived on it, purchasing instead lot 32, also shown on this map, where he first farmed and married his wife Ann.
Early life
Ebenezer was four when the American Revolutionary War broke out, and twelve when it ended, so he, of course, did not play an active part in it. But he must have been much affected by it. The family homestead was confiscated by the fledgling American Republic, and Ebenezer spent much of his boyhood living behind British lines on Long Island. He lost his mother, Bethiah, on Long Island, when he was eleven, and his father a year after his arrival in Canada, when he was thirteen.
After the father died in 1784, the young orphaned family was cared for in Saint John by the eldest son, Stephen. But when Stephen returned to the United States before July 1789, Ebenezer, aged only about 18, remained behind. His life at this time is now obscure to us. He inherited a two-fifth share of lot 37, the land granted posthumously to his father in Greenwich Parish, some twelve miles upriver from Saint John. However, he may not have farmed that lot, having purchased lot 32 a short distance downriver. It was there he married his wife Ann. On 30 July 1796 he sold his share of lot 37, and at an undetermined date sold lot 32, this latter presumed to be in preparation to moving to New Canaan.
The move to New Canaan
About 1799, when Ebenezer was about twenty-eight and already married with three children, he sought out a homestead along the upper waters of the Canaan River, and there settled on lots 27 and 28, a homestead of 330 acres along the banks of the Canaan River, in the New Canaan grant. But as a local history points out, Ebenezer and the other settlers did not bother with ownership for several years:
The settlers seem not to have made any effort to secure title to their land until several years after thier arrival; at least the grant first made bears the date October 15, 1809. It is supposed that the settlers did not give the matter much thought until the settlement began to grow and encroachments began to be made upon one another's property. Steps were then taken to secure legal titles. The settlement was then quite well advanced in the arts of life and a social standing of a high order for those days was established. A school was in existence very early in which the textbooks used were Dilworth's spelling book and the New Testament. In 1805 the New Canaan Baptist Church was organized through the instrumentality of the Reverend Thomas [Joseph] Crandall. The number who obtained grants in 1809 was seventeen and the names were as follows: Elisha C. Corey, Edward Coy, Seth Bryant, who was a justice of the peace, Henry Kitchen, Gideon Corey, Oswald Alward, Benjamin Alward, George Webb Price, Melanchthon Thorne, Richard Thorne, William Humphrey, Daniel Keith, William Perry, Ebenezer Rider, John Keith, Jacob Jones, and John Price. It is not certain that these were the first settlers, but they were the first who applied for and obtained grants.
[Map of Ebenezers property along Canaan River]
The New Canaan Grant, showing the names of the original settlers. Ebenezer's grant can be easily located on maps - the Queens/Kings County line crosses both the river and the road on his property.
[Picture of Settlers Stone]
The Memorial to the First Settlers, raised in New Canaan in 1990. Blois Corey is a descendant of Gideon Corey; his wife is a descendant of Elias Clark. Of the settlers, Seth Bryant, Henry Kitchen, and George Webb Price, had all served as Loyalists with Ebenezer 6 Rider on Long Island during the Revolution.
[Picture]
The Baptist Meeting House served the religious needs of the New Canaan community from the early Nineteenth Century until 1961.
[Picture]
The Havelock Baptist Church served a similar need to many Rider families who moved to adjoining Havelock Parish. It is still standing today with few changes, but without the steeple.
These men and their families and their descendants were to form the core of the community for the next 200 years. There were after all only a few surnames to choose from, and the families intermarried and are still intermarrying to the present day. We can note also the mention of the Baptist Church early established in the community. This is the first mention of the Baptist faith, which sustained the Rider family, and was very much in the forefront of their lives throughout the nineteenth century.
Last years
After the move to New Canaan, Ebenezer's long life appears to have been relatively uneventful. He lived on the farm, raised his children and saw them married and settled on their own farms nearby. With nine sons he had difficulty placing them all on land, but he did the best he could. He divided his two lots and sold them to Reuben, Henry, Joseph, and Benjamin. He purchased lots 38-39 for Stephen and Benjamin and Thomas. Indeed, he seems to have settled his land so completely that there was no need for a will - at least none has yet been found for him.
His marriage to Ann about 1793 was both long-lasting and most fruitful. Ann was probably only about sixteen or seventeen when she married Ebenezer, and she was still alive in 1849. And together Ann and Ebenezer had fourteen living children, and possibly two more, as explained below.
In 1849 his son Joseph bequeathed "my father Ebenezer Rider the sum of 1 pound per year during his natural life." Ebenezer died 17 April 1853, aged 81 years, 7 months, 28 days. Presumably Ebenezer is buried in the New Canaan Wesleyan Methodist Cemetery, but there is no headstone for him there now. It's very likely that there was one at one time, of the small homemade variety that is so affecting. But the earliest stones seem now to have been lost.
Unity of Empire
All Ryder's descending from Ebenezer6 and Ebenezer7 are entitled to Canada's only hereditary rank - "Unity of Empire" - and can place "U.E." behind their names. To date, no Ryder seems to have joined any United Empire Loyalist Association, but it is to be hoped this book might inspire some to do so. It would at least give an "official" recognition to the fact.
Ann Goldsmith
Very little is known about Ebenezer's wife, Ann [Goldsmith]. She married Ebenezer, presumably by 1793, though the record has not been found, and is listed in land documents of 1795 and 1796 as his wife. She appears similarly in land records at New Canaan as late as 1849, at which time she would have been in her 70s. There is little to go on in determining her age. It must be presumed that she married very young. If Benjamin were born at the end of her childbearing period, at the age of forty-five or forty-six, this would give Ann a birth date of 1777-8 and marriage at the age of sixteen or seventeen. Given the large number of her children, this date is most likely.
The surname Goldsmith attributed to her appears in Fremont Rider's prestigious A Rider (Ryder) Genealogy of 1959. Fremont's source was Nellie Rider's, A Rider Genealogy, a manuscript work compiled about 1900-20. And her source is "Miss Julia E. Rider, Bristol, VT." It would appear, then, that we are in the domain of family tradition in recording Ann's surname. And Miss Julia (born 1860) was reporting in the 20th century events and names from the 18th century. And as any genealogist knows, there is much room for error when names are recorded from that distance.
In searching for possible "Ann Goldsmiths" in New Brunswick, the only one found is from the family of Henry Goldsmith, an officer in the British Army, who served in the Revolutionary War, and moved to New Brunswick about 1784. He was well known in military circles in Saint John during the '80s and '90s, and operated a mill in Saint Andrews NB. Henry had fourteen children. One of them was Ann Goldsmith, born in 1788 and died in 1832. This Ann was obviously too young to be Ebenezer's wife of 1794, and died too early to be Ebenezer's wife Ann of the 1840s. Ebenezer's wife may have been surnamed Goldsmith, but this would still appear to be an unproven point of genealogy.
Lost children
Ebenezer and Ann may have had two more children than those listed below. Nellie Rider assigns and unnamed "child, died" born about 1820, between Caroline and Benjamin. As well, the four-year gap between the birth of John and the twins Stephen and Mary suggests a child, which may have been born about 1796, about whom little information survives. A Richard Rider, born 1796, and who later lived in Hampton Parish, may be this child, but few links beyond the birth date connect him with the New Canaan Riders. However, in the 1840s, Nathan Rider farmed in Hampton, a very short distance from Richard, and it may have been the presence of a brother there that attracted Nathan to the area. It is to be hoped that further information may come to light in the future to confirm the relationship.
References: Rev J.W. Brown, An Historical Sketch of the Early Settlement of New Canaan and the Histories of the New Canaan, Havelock, and Albert Baptist Churches, nd LDS 0856140 it 3; Land Resources Information Services Saint John NB, Index Kings D1-326, E1-177, I1-242, Queens #3740, 3876; Kings County Probate Record, Will of Joseph C. Rider; Wilfred E. Myatt, The Autobiography of Oliver Goldsmith, Lancelot Press 1985, p.165; NBarchives, Grant Petition of Stephen Rider, NBcensus 1851, 61, Parish of Brunswick; Land Grant index, Brunswick Parish Queens 22 Sep 1809, Bk D, 510.
Events
| Birth | 19 Sep 1771 | Southeast, Putnam County, New York |  | ||
| Marriage | Ca 1793 | ANN GOLDSMITH | | ||
| Death | 17 Apr 1853 | New Canaan, Brunswick Parish, Queens County, New Brunswick | | ||
| Burial | New Canaan, Brunswick Parish, Queens County, New Brunswick | | |||
| Occupation | Farmer | |
Families
| Spouse | ANN GOLDSMITH (1777 - 1849) |
| Child | JOHN RIDER (1794 - 1866) |
| Child | STEPHEN RIDER (1798 - 1861) |
| Child | MARY RIDER (1798 - 1845) |
| Child | EBENEZER RIDER (1800 - 1849) |
| Child | JAMES RIDER (1802 - ) |
| Child | ELIZABETH RIDER (1804 - 1888) |
| Child | ANN R. RIDER (1806 - ) |
| Child | MERCY R. RIDER (1808 - 1820) |
| Child | HENRY RIDER (1810 - 1892) |
| Child | REUBEN RIDER (1812 - 1860) |
| Child | JOSEPH CRANDALL RIDER (1814 - 1849) |
| Child | NATHAN RIDER (1817 - 1896) |
| Child | CAROLINE RIDER (1818 - ) |
| Child | BENJAMIN RUFUS RIDER (1823 - 1894) |
| Father | EBENEZER RIDER U.E.L. (1746 - 1784) |
| Mother | ANN BETHIAH YOUNG (1746 - 1782) |
| Sibling | STEPHEN RIDER (1766 - 1850) |
| Sibling | MERCY RIDER (1767 - 1842) |
| Sibling | MARY RIDER (1769 - ) |
| Sibling | NATHAN RIDER (1773 - 1848) |
| Sibling | JOHN RIDER (1775 - 1829) |
| Sibling | (son) RIDER (1782 - 1782) |
Endnotes
1. RYDER GENEALOGICAL FILES.
2. RYDER GENEALOGICAL FILES.
3. RYDER GENEALOGICAL FILES.
4. RYDER GENEALOGICAL FILES.
5. RYDER GENEALOGICAL FILES.