I have just started researching my ancestors and am trying to find the pieces of a very
fascinating story. In the late 1600's two families, the CASLERS and the SCHELLS, left
the Palantine region of Germany , immigrated to North America, and eventually settled in
the Mohawk Valley region. Place names mentioned are - German Flats, Little Falls, Schells
Bush and Rankins Lock.
In the late 1700's the McCOLLUM family left Argylshire, Scotland and settled in Cherry
Valley, in the same region. Did they know each other? Well, in 1771 a petition was sent to
the New York Provincial Legislature requesting the creation of a new county - Tryon
County. The signatories included - Jacob Casler and James and John McCollum.
In 1793 James McCollum (1752-1819) immigrated to Canada with his family as United Empire
Loyalists and settled first in the Niagara region.
In 1821 Richard Casler (1774-1870) and his wife Anna Eve Schell (1780-1867) and their 10
children moved to Canada and eventually settled near Streetsville, ON (just west of
Toronto).
The families grew and branched out and eventually Charles Howard McCallum and Jennett
Caslor (note spelling changes) met at the small hamlet of Boston Mills, ON and married
about 1893. They are my grand parents.
Any information that you might have would be very much appreciated. Bruce McCallum