Object Record
Images
Metadata
Object ID # |
1961.027.020 |
Object Name |
Button |
Title |
CANADA MILITIA Button |
Lexicon category |
3: Personal Artifacts |
Date |
19th-century (1860s?) |
Artist |
Unidentified |
Made |
Unknown |
Place of Origin |
Unknown |
Description |
A CANADA MILITIA button likely made of jet and brass. It is round and convex, with relief decoration. There is a border of maple leaves and a vine around the outer perimeter. Inside this border are two banners, which have the words "CANADA" and "MILITIA" on them. In the center is a royal crown design. The edge of the button is flat and smooth. The reverse of the button is dull and has a raised ring edge. There is a thick brass wire loop inserted in it for sewing the button onto a garment. No maker's identification seen. |
Makers mark |
None |
Provenance |
Originally owned by William Sutton who was born in 1811 at Hornecastle, Lincolnshire, England [another source says Betchford, Lincolnshire]. His father was a mechanic, but he apprenticed as a cobbler. He emigrated to Canada in 1830, developed a religious life, and eventually he worked at the Credit Indian Mission in the Home District (near Lake Ontario), where he assisted the Ojibwa at the mission. The Credit Mission was a Methodist endeavour. William married a young Ojibwa girl there, Catharine Brown Sunego (Nahneebahweequay) on Jan. 9, 1839. The Suttons worked at the Credit for a few more years and then moved their family northwards in the mid-1840s to what would later be known as Sarawak Township, Grey County, in order to assist the Newash Band of Ojibwa. The Newash Band gave Mrs. Sutton and her heirs a quantity of land, which Mr. Sutton began to farm, while he and his wife also did missionary activities. When the button was donated, the museum was told that Mr. Sutton had worn it on the "St. Clair frontier". There is an illustration of Wm. Sutton present in the 1880 H. Belden Illustrated Historical Atlas. The atlas also has a brief biography of him, which says that he was in active service on the St. Clair frontier, but gave no details as to his unit or rank or the dates of his service. Was this service during the Fenian raid crisis of 1866? There were Grey County men who travelled to the St. Clair area then. Not too long later, the 31st Grey Battalion of militia was formalized, but in the 1850s, there was a militia presence and training in Owen Sound, Canada West. Mr. Sutton's wife died in September of 1865 and he stayed on at their residence at Lot 33, Con. 1, Sarawak Township and raised their younger children and a grandson. As a lay minister, he often preached at the Presque Isle church and also was involved with encouraging temperance. He died in 1894. It is not known exactly where he is buried. There is a portrait photograph of him in the archives. |
Collection |
First Nations, Sutton Collection |
Material |
Jet?/Brass |
Dimensions |
D-1.2 Dia-2.5 cm |
Found |
Brantford, Ontario |
People |
Sutton, Catharine Sutton, William |
Subjects |
Militia Buttons (Fasteners) |
Search Terms |
Sarawak Township |
Function |
An item of insignia for a volunteer soldier who participated with the Canadian militia. It likely was once on a tunic or coat long ago, with other matching buttons. |