A Family that Fled to Canada and then Migrated Back to the U.S.
Van Schoonhoven ~ Benoit ~ Oliver ~ Springer ~ Treanor ~ Rouse ~ Webber
by Laura Stolk 6-15-2022
Guert Hendrikse Van Schoonhoven was an early Dutch settler to North America. He migrated to Albany in 1681. His wife was Marite Cornelie. Guert was a successful carpenter and he and Marite had a daughter named Hendrikje Van Schoonhoven, who was born in Albany, New York in 1675.
Hendrikje Van Schoonhoven married Pierre Benoit, who was of French descent. They continued to live in Albany, New York and had six children. Their daughter Martha Benoit was baptized on 3 Aug 1707 in Albany, Albany, New York.
Martha Benoit married Richard Oliver on 29 Oct 1734 in Albany, New York. They had a daughter named Margaret who married David Reynolds Springer. David and Margaret’s family would eventually flee to Canada.
These families had been living in the North American Colonies for 100 years by the time the American Revolution unfolded.
British Loyalists were not people all cut from the same cloth. Rather, they were British settlers who believed the American Patriots were too dangerous by wanting war, they were indigenous people, they were enslaved people, and they were new immigrants who did not speak English. Many thought supporting the British would result in better conditions for themselves, whether it be in the form of land, freedom, or safety. Instead, they found themselves in danger of imprisonment by the American Patriots and suffered for having supported the British once the Americans won the Revolution of 1775-1783. So, a vast many of them fled to Canada and would later become an influential part of Canadian or Nova Scotia history. (Here you can watch a brief video about Patriots v.s. Loyalists to learn more.)
So, when Martha Oliver, whose family had been a part of the American Colonies for over a hundred years, married David Reynolds Springer, their story took an unintended turn. David was a known British Loyalist and he was killed at the Battle of Normanskill. There are details about his role in the battle, which can be found on his FindaGrave.com Memorial Page.
When he died, David left Margaret as a widow with nine children. Their children were also British Loyalists and her eldest son, Richard, was imprisoned for a time. When he was released in 1786, he and his brother, David, helped Margaret escape to Niagara, Ontario, Canada. Margaret’s other children followed.
In 1793, Margaret Springer applied for a land grant from the British Crown and was awarded 400 acres in Ancaster Township, at Copetown. Her children were also awarded land and the family remained in Canada.
The youngest daughter of David and Margaret Springer was Martha Springer who married John Treanor in Ontario, Canada in 1794. They had a son named Oliver Treanor who was born in 1807. Oliver married Mary Rouse and they had ten children. Their oldest son was Wellington Treanor who was born in 1840 in Canada.
Wellington migrated to the United States between 1840-1850, with his parents and siblings, about sixty years after his grandmother had fled to Canada. He married Emily Webber in Douglas, Oregon on the 28th of January, 1871.