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 Mohawks (Kanien’kehá:ka) 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 Mohawks 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.