magistrate of high repute, and occupied a foremost position in the
militia, in which he held the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel at the time of
his death. This event took place on the 9th August, 1886, at which date
he had been Registrar for the County of Oxford fifty-two years.

That Mrs. Secord should be brave, ready, prompt in action, and fervent
in patriotism is not surprising, seeing that all the events of her
childhood and youth were blended with those of the settlement of Upper
Canada by the U. E. Loyalists, in whose ranks her family held so
honourable a position, and whose character and sentiments were at all
times to be depended upon.

The family of Secord, of which she became so distinguished a member, was
also a notable one. Family documents exist which show that in the reign
of Louis the Tenth of France a certain Marquis D'Secor was a Marshal of
His Majesty's Household. A son of this Marquis embraced the Protestant
religion, as did younger branches of the family. During the persecution
of the Huguenots many of them suffered at the stake, and the family
estates, situated at La Rochelle, were confiscated. The survivors
escaped the massacre of St. Bartholomew by flight to England along with
many other noble families, among whom were the Comte de Puys, the
Baudeaux, and a Holland family, the Van Cortlandts.

Eventually five brothers emigrated to America where they settled in New
Jersey, purchasing large tracts of land, founding New Rochelle and
engaging in lumbering. On the breaking out of the Revolutionary War the
family divided, the Loyalists changing their patronym to Secord by
placing the prefix "d" at the end of their name. These brothers after,
as King's men, losing, in common with all the Loyalists, their property
and estates, emigrated to New Brunswick, again engaging in lumbering and