Military
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Beginning in 1807, James McClew was among the first handful of non-Native American settlers in this area, where before 1812 only a few pioneers lived near Hopkins Creek, Eighteen-Mile Creek, or the Lake Ontario shoreline by their mouths. During the War of 1812, British ships anchored at the mouth of Eighteen-Mile Creek so soldiers could row upstream in small boats to seek out and attack pioneer settlers. Local families lived in fear of British soldiers from Canada and accompanying Native Americans, hiding belongings in shelters built in thickets out of sight for weeks or months. Archaeological evidence suggests that parts of the farm's barn foundation predate the wooden structure built in 1850, indicating an older barn once stood there, and the concealed room beneath it may have begun as a secret refuge for the McClew family and their provisions before later being used to hide people escaping slavery in the United States and seeking freedom in Canada. Four generations of the McClew family farmed this land and found dignity, responsibility, and satisfaction in hard work on the soil.
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Newfane, New York · United States
