Phelps Family Papers [photocopy]

Oliver Phelps, son of Noah and Sarah (Adams) Phelps, was born in 1779 in Connecticut. In 1800 he married Abigail St. John, daughter of Lt. Samuel St. John and his wife Lois Hamilton. They had 9 daughters and 7 sons. Oliver Phelps came to Canada as a contractor on the first Welland Canal. In addition, he became a land owner and mill owner in partnership with William Hamilton Merritt. Oliver Phelps died in 1851 in Cayuga, Ontario along the Grand River. Some correspondence originates from a place called “Deep Cut”, an earlier name for the village of Allanburg, Thorold Township, Welland County.

The Phelps Family Papers include seven items of correspondence and one handwritten chapter on the building of the Welland Canal. Five items of correspondence originate from Oliver Phelps, the other two from his son, Oliver Seymour. Also included are two estimates to canal work being conducted on the deep cut, an area between the villages of Port Robinson and Allanburg. Ont. All items are photocopies, with some transcriptions of correspondence. Originals are located in the Oliver Seymour Phelps Papers, St. Lawrence University Library.