Francis and Elizabeth Crooks

Upper Canada Land Petitions (1763-1865):

Source [Page 771 - Microform c-1609]

Bottom of the Fort of Niagara at present occupied by them, Francis and Elizabeth Crooks...also a lot in the Town of Newark (Lot Number One) with a dwelling house, stables...occupied as a tavern by Thomas Hind...Lot Number 63...First Concession of First Township...[Year of 1795]

"In 1791 James Crooks immigrated from Scotland to join his half-brother Francis, who about 1788 had established a mercantile concern at Fort Niagara (near Youngstown, N.Y.) at the mouth of the Niagara River.... . As a result of British plans in 1795 to improve the defensive works at Fort Niagara, the company’s premises were apparently expropriated, forcing the Crookses to move across the river to Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake), Upper Canada, where they resumed business. After Francis died in the West Indies in 1797, the brothers formed W. and J. Crooks... ." [Source]