Papers : 1792-1893.

Abraham Nelles/Nellis was born in Tryon County, New York, the son of Hendrick (Henry) William Nelles (1735-1791), the descendant of a Huguenot refugee family who fled from France to the German Palatinate after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, then to England and finally to New York in 1709. Henry served in the Indian Department during the American Revolution, and because they were Loyalists, the Nelles family lost all their property and possessions. At the end of the war, the family came to Forty Mile Creek (Grimsby, Ontario), in the Niagara area of Upper Canada. Here they were given large grants of land, and Abraham, with his brother Robert Nelles (1761-1842), operated a grist mill and a store at Forty Mile Creek. A third son, William (1769-1830), also settled in the area. Abraham served in the 1st Flank Company of the 4th Regiment of Lincoln Militia in the War of 1812, and later was Lieutenant-Colonel of the Gore Militia. He was a land surveyor, a member of the Grimsby Town Council, the Treason Commission, and the Legislative Council, 1832-1839. For many years the Nelles family formed part of the local elite and were prominent in the Niagara area.