Papers : 1777-1893.

            The Nelles family came to New York in 1709 with a large group of Protestant refugees who had fled from France to the German Palatinate, thence to England and New York. Henry William Nelles/Nellis (1735-1791) was the father of the Canadian branch of the family. He served with the British Indian Department in the Seven Years War under Sir William Johnson and later was a Captain during the American Revolution. Because of his loyalty, he and his family were forced to flee from New York, and his lands and property were confiscated by the rebels. Henry and his three sons Robert (1761-1842), William (1769-1830), and Abraham (1775-1839) were granted lands at Grimsby in the Niagara District of Upper Canada in compensation for their losses and for their services to the Crown. The family had developed close ties with the Mohawk Indians in New York prior to the American Revolution, and this friendship continued throughout the war and later in the Grand River Valley of Ontario where the Mohawk Indians had settled. Here the Mohawk Chief, Joseph Brant, deeded several thousand acres on the Grand River to Henry Nelles and his sons. Several members of the Nelles family became active in Indian affairs, and in the church, militia, and public life of Upper Canada.            

            The Nelles Family Papers are arranged by three general categories of material:
 I. Official Documents;
II. Correspondence;  
III. Miscellaneous. 
The Papers have been microfilmed on three reels as follows:
 Reel 1.
Official Documents:   papers relating to the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada, 1814, 1819, 1830, 1838, 1841; militia papers, 1812-1815, 1866; records relating to Indian Affairs, 1800-1836
 Correspondence: correspondence from the Ridout family, 1814-1829; correspondence from Col. Colley Lyons Lucan Foster, 1814-1831. 
 Reel 2.
 Correspondence:   correspondence, War of 1812, 1812-1815; general correspondence, 1806-1841, 1851, 1878.
 Miscellaneous: legal papers, 1817-1841; Grimsby Election Papers, 1800-1816; land records, 1798-1837; indentures, 1792-1841, 1873-1874, 1890;  accounts, receipts, 1794-1845, 1849, 1856-1857, 1893; genealogical records; and other documents, 1777, 1808-1841, 1850-1859.
 Reel 3.
  Miscellaneous: commissions, 1815-1865.            

            An introduction, containing brief biographical information on several members of the Nelles family, has been microfilmed at the beginning of the reel.
A table of contents, and a combined table of contents and microfilm shelf list, are located at the beginning of the reel. The Table of Contents and the Table of Contents and Micofilm Shelf List are available in print.

See transcription in report of the Department of Public Records and Archives of Ontario, 1932 for 1800-1811 (HIL MCGDL FC 3051 .065 21st).            

The microfilm of the Abraham Nelles Papers, 1777-1893 is available in the Loyalist Collection and is shelved at: MIC-Loyalist FC LFR .N4A2P3.

The microfilm of the Robert Nelles Papers, 1759-1877, is available in the Loyalist Collection and is shelved at: MIC-Loyalist FC LFR .N4R6P3. Researchers may want to consult Andrew Nelles; A New Canadian, 1798 written by R. Robert Mutrie.