Collection search - Joseph Willcocks fonds [textual record]

Record information – Brief
1
Joseph Willcocks fonds [textual record]

Hierarchical level:

Fonds

Date:

1799-1803, 1822, and [ca. 1884].

Reference:

R2809-0-9-E, MG24-C1

Type of material:

Textual material

Found in:

Archives / Collections and Fonds

Item ID number:

99952

Context of this record:

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Joseph Willcocks fonds
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Record information – Details
Fonds includes:

2 lower level description(s)
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Date(s):

1799-1803, 1822, and [ca. 1884].

Place of creation:

Ontario

Extent:

4.6 cm of textual records (212 p.).

Language of material:

English

Scope and content:

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The fonds consists of a bound journal that includes both a diary and letterbook of Joseph Willcocks (1773-1814), and typescript notes about Willcocks by Linus Woolverton. The front part of the journal contains Willcocks' memorandum of events from the time of his departure from Ireland, 1 December 1799, and includes his diary, 12 February 1800 to 1 February 1803 (130 pages). The back part of the book contains his letterbook, 26 April 1800 - 15 September 1802. Starting from the last page, it is paginated with the letter "a" following all the page numbers, to distinguish them from the page numbers of the diary. Also, at the end of the letterbook, there is a transcription of a Masonic certificate of Samuel S. Moore, 10 June 1822, written by J[onathan] Woolverton, of Union Lodge No. 15, of Ancient York Masons, Grimsby, Upper Canada, in whose family Willcocks' memorandum and letterbook book was preserved (74 pages).

In addition to the journal, the fonds includes typescript notes on Joseph Willcocks and his diary, undated, but ca. 1884 or later, by Linus Woolverton (1846-1914) of Grimsby (8 pages).

Provenance:

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Willcocks, Joseph, 1773-1814

Biography/Administrative history:

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Willcocks, Joseph, 1773-1814 : Joseph Willcocks (1773-1814), journalist and politican, was born in Palmerston, near Dublin, Ireland, the second son of Robert Willcocks [d. 1800] and his wife Jane, née Powell. He left Ireland in 1799, and arrived at York, Upper Canada, on 20 March 1800. He stayed for a short while with his cousin, William Willcocks (1735-1813), and then obtained work in the Office of the Receiver General, Peter Russell, another kinsman. In 1803, he was appointed Sheriff of the Home District but was dismissed from the Office in 1807, by Francis Gore, because of his political opposition to the government.

Willcocks then founded the Upper Canadian Guardian, or Freeman's Journal, the first party newspaper in Upper Canada, and carried on a conveyancing business at Niagara. In 1807, he was elected to represent West York, 1st Lincoln and Haldimand, in the Legislative Assembly of the Province. He was almost immediately jailed for contempt of the House, but was re-elected in 1808, and served until 1813.

At the outbreak of the War of 1812, he responded to Brock's request for his cooperation in securing the allegiance of the Six Nations Indians, whose reserve was in his constituency, and served as a volunteer at the battle of Queenston Heights. In July 1813, however, political disillusionment led him to join the Americans. With them, he commanded the Company of Canadian Volunteers at Fort George (Niagara-on-the-Lake) and Fort Erie until 4 September 1814, when he was killed in action. He died unmarried.

Finding aid:

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Textual records (Paper) An indexed list of the recipients of the letters in Joseph Willcocks' letterbook is available with the book and the names have also been incorporated in the General Index. (90: Open)
http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/genealogy/Pages/general-index.aspx

Additional information:

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Custodial history:

Acquired in 1937.

Availability of other formats note:

The journal, containing the diary and letterbook, is available in digitized format. The digitized extent is 208 pages, instead of 204 given above for the journal, because it includes digital copies of the front and back covers, and flyleaves. The notes by Linus Woolverton were not digitized.

Associated material note:

A study of Joseph Willcocks: Sheriff, Member of Parliament and Traitor by the Hon. William Renwick Riddell, is available in the Ontario Historical Society's Papers and Records (Toronto: 1927), Volume XXIV, pages 475-499 (PAAP FC3052 05, v. 24, Ref.). A transcript of Joseph Willcock's diary was published with introduction and annotations, as Appendix "B" in The Province of Ontario - A History, 1615-1927, by Jesse Edgar Middleton and Fred Landon (Toronto: 1927-1928), Volume 2, pages 1250-1322 (PAAP FC3061 M5 P7).

Related material:

Additional material, including copies of Willcock's newspaper, will be found in the records of the British Colonial Office (MG 11, C.O. 42).
Subject heading:

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Journalists, Canadian, 1799-1803

Politicians, Canadian, 1799-1803

Freemasons - Canada, 1822
Source:

Private

Former archival reference no.:

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MG24-C1
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Textual records

[Consultation90 Open]

Volume [MG24 C 1] 1

[Consultation 90 Open]

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Date modified:: 2024-04-09