William Ira Mattice

William's first son Albert Nathanial Mattice, inlisted at Ogdensburg, New York in July 05 1862 to fight in the Civil War. He was in Company A, 11th Infantry. Almost a year later, July 03, 1863, he was killed in action at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. After the war, William searched for weeks trying to find information about his son. It has been suggested that, on his way back to Canada, he visited Albany, New York, to research the records which he heard contained an early history of the first Mattice settlers. One of the things he found was, the original spelling for the name "Mattice" was actually "Matthias". But several years before his Albany visit, between 1849 and 1853, he bought a large track of timber land in Ontario's Muskota district. It was recorded under the name Matthias.The actual ownership of this property came under question because of the difference beween the recorded name "Matthias", and William's actual last name, "Mattice". To avoid the long drawn out process of going through the courts to change his name, he instead remarried a second time (Margaret Hannah Brownell) under the name "Matthias", saving his ownership. His first wife, Rebecca Ronan, and their son Charles, died June 4th 1849. In 1870, he settled the town known today as Matthiasville H1>
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