After receiving lands in the Grand River in 1784, the Six Nations Indians invited Captain Hendrick Nelles, a loyalist from the Mohawk Valley, to settle there with five of his sons. He and Robert, the eldest, established farms in what is now Seneca Township and built houses in which they lived until Captain Nelles's death in 1791 and Robert's removal to Grimsby. Their grants, confirmed in 1787, were later changed to 999-year leases and John Nelles leased 325 acres across the river. William, Warner and Abraham Nelles received Crown patents in 1836 for the original "Nelles Tract" in Seneca granted to their father and brother in 1787. The "Nelles Settlement" contained about thirty families in 1828.

Location

On the grounds of St. John's Church, Highway 54 and Nelles Road, within the area of the former settlement, York

Themes

• Communities
• First Nations