3. Matthias Lampman and Eve Bowman

There are very few references to Matthias Lampman in original source records from the late 1700’s and early 1800’s. One page from Matthias himself has been found. This page was found in a petition regarding a land dispute from his brother Frederick Lampman Jr. read in Council 11 March 1819. 

In his petition, Frederick Lampman Jr. made two statements relevant to this discussion:

“That your petitioner with his father Frederick Lampman and his brother Matthias Lampman came to this Province in the year 1783 and settled upon Mount Dorchester before the land was surveyed / afterward called Township No. 2 and now called Stamford...” (petition pg.1)

 and

“That your petitioner’s brother Matthias after living about two years upon Lot 82 .... removed to the Township of Ancaster where he drew his lands and where he now resides.” (petition pg.2)

Matthias Lampman wrote his own account of the matter in a one-page note that accompanied Frederick’s petition (petition pg.3). Matthias wrote:

“Know all men by these present that I Matthias Lampman of the Township of Ancaster and District of Gore came into this Province in the year 1784 and settled on Mount Dorchester, since called the Township of Stamford, my father Frederick Lampman and brother Frederick Lampman accompanying me...”

“....that finding my lot to be too small for a farm, I removed to the Township of Ancaster where I received a grant of (left blank) acres of land from government.”

Matthias Lampman was also mentioned as a party in several other petitions but he never submitted any other documents on his own. He did not petition for land for himself nor on behalf of his wife on the grounds that she was the daughter of a Loyalist.

Contemporary documents from the 1784-1819 period identify Matthias as the son of Frederick Lampman Sr. and brother of Frederick Lampman Jr. of Stamford. They confirm that Matthias first came to Stamford in 1783/4, stayed about two years then moved to Ancaster Township. Apart from that, they say nothing about his wife nor his family. They offer no help with the “Eve Bowman problem”. If Matthias Lampman married before going to Ancaster, then his marriage date must have been earlier than 1787.