Abel Stevens
Text from the plaque
Born at Quaker Hill, New York, about 1750, Stevens served as a British agent during the Revolutionary War despite being enrolled in the rebel militia. After the war he lived in Vermont where, as an ardent Baptist, he became a deacon in 1786. Attracted by Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe's offer of land in Upper Canada, he moved to the province and settled in this area in 1796. A vigorous colonizer, Stevens within two years of his arrival had encouraged some 100 families, many of them Baptists, to locate in Kitley and Bastard Townships. He built mills and laid the foundation for the establishment of ironworks at present-day Lyndhurst. Stevens remained a leader in the Baptist Church in which he had been ordained a minister in 1804.
Transcribed from the marker, not summarised.
Find the place
The United Counties of Leeds & Grenville
The Township of Elizabethtown-Kitley
At the cemetery at Bellamy's Lake on the south side of Road 8
just west of its intersection with Lake Eloida Road
about 3 km west of the town of Toledo
Also recorded for this place: Elizabethtown-Kitley
N 44 43.475 W 76 01.337
Recorded July 2007. Check current access before visiting.
Where it stands
Visitors' notes
December 1, 2016
I started doing some research for my son's girlfriend and it led me back to Abel Stevens. I googled him and found your site. How exciting! She had very little information about her family until now :) Thanks for the photo of the plaque. Margaret Sandlier
April 20, 2014
I have a list of the "enticed settlers" that came with Abel Stevens. Apparently someone in the family signed all names as the handwriting is different for each family. Some of the names are hard to decipher. If you contact me at with a name I will search the document. If you would like a copy I will mail one for $10.00 which also covers printing and mailing within the U.S. Sharon Pratt Patton
June 23, 2013
My husband is descended from Abel Stevens Jr. through his daughter Lucinda. We tried to find this memorial one time and couldn't. I thought it was closer to Delta. My husband is deceased but I would still like to see it and hope the map will help me. Great site.
June 8, 2013
This is my ancestor! Abel Stevens! Too bad he was a British spy though...
March 25, 2012
My ancestor Daniel Phelps was "axeman on the Kitley township survey." He was also "on Abel Stevens list" of settlers. What was the role of axeman, like a surveyor? or a surveyor's helper? Do you have "Abel Stevens list?"
May 31, 2010
Those of you who put this site together are to be commended for a job well done. I am very thankful to have an opportunity to view this plaque as I am descended from Abel Stevens and I think it serves his memory very well. I had no idea of his story until today. Linda Pearson, Missouri