Augustus Jones was THE early surveyor of Upper Canada and Peter, the most famous of his sons, was responsible for establishing the Mississaugas on the New Credit Reservation.

Augustus Jones, although born about 1757 in the Hudson Valley in New York Province, was of hardy Welsh stock. He was trained as a surveyor in New York City and moved to the Niagara Peninsula after the Revolutionary War. In June 1787, he went to Fort Niagara where he got a job as a surveyor. The next year he was appointed assistant to the deputy surveyor of the district, Philip Frey, a former Butler's Ranger. Frey was not held in high regard and so Jones was appointed Acting Deputy Surveyor from 1789 to 1991, when Frey left Upper Canada and Jones became to Deputy Surveyor in his place.

As a surveyor, Jones was a bulldog. He was personally responsible for most of the early surveying of the Niagara Peninsula, working in all kinds of weather for months on end. According to his recollection, he surveyed the greater part of the Townships from Fort Erie to Niagara, the land along the Grand River, and the shore of Lake Ontario from Toronto to the Trent River. When Governor Haldimand established a reserve for the Six Nations, it was Jones who surveyed a line from the Head of the Lake (Burlington) to the supposed headwaters of the Grand River. Parts of this line still exist as the Jones Baseline Road. When you consider that he was working in the most primitive of conditions, in a wilderness, with no medical support to fall back on, the amount of work he did is astonishing. The up-side of this was that he was able accumulate vast amounts of land as payment for his services. It was Jones who surveyed Yonge Street and Dundas Street for Simcoe. In addition, he was the road builder for Yonge Street, completing the "road" from York (Toronto) to Holland Landing in forty-three days in the middle of winter.

As a surveyor, he mixed with the native people and had at least two native wives. His primary wife was Sarah Tekarihogen, daughter of Henry Teharihogen, hereditory chief of the Mohawks. Henry Teharihogen was the man who gave support to Joseph Brant, without which Brant might not have had the influence he later had. Jones' connection to Teharihogen and Brant paid off with a grant of land on both sides of the Grand River that amounted to ten square miles. This was in return for surveying the land of the Six Nations grant.

For some reason, Jones stopped working for the government in 1800. Like many Loyalists, he may have held views that the British considered Yankee insolence. He may also have fought with the Patriots in the Revolutionary War as did his brother-in-law James Gage (of Battlefield House) and brother Ebebezer. For seventeen years, he farmed his land at the south end of Burlington Beach with James Gage and Ebenezer. Then, in 1817, he moved his whole family to the Mohawk village near the Chapel of the Mohawks at presentday Brantford. In later years he moved to his land east of Paris, where he died in 1836.

In the early years of his marriage to Sarah Teharihogen, Augustus Jones also maintained a relationship with Sarah Henry (Tuhbenahneequay), daughter of a chief of the Mississaugas, a tribe of the Ojibwa or Chippewa nation. From this "marriage" came at least two sons, John (Thayendanegea named after Brant) and Peter (Kahkewaquonaby). Although he maintained an interest in them, the boys were raised as Mississaugas by their mother. The Mississaugas were migratory, moving from place to place following the animals they hunted. As hunting land and game diminished due to settlement, the tribe became impoverished. In 1816, Augustus came to the boys' aid, taking then into his home.

He sent the boys to a school near his home in Stoney Creek and there Kahkewaquonaby became known as Peter Jones. When Augustus moved his family to the Mohawk village, Peter went with him. There he learned to farm but, curiously, never learned the Mohawk language although he liked the Mohawk people and was adopted by them. When he was home, he spoke English, which he had learned at the school in Stoney Creek.

In 1823, an event occurred that changed his life. From curiosity, Peter and his sister Polly went to a camp meeting of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Over the five days, he listened to various preachers and was converted. He encouraged his Mississauga people to leave their migratory life and join him on the Grand River, and by the following spring had built a small chapel. In response to the conversion of the Mississaugas, Lieutenant-Governor Sir Peregrine Maitland built a small village for them on the Credit River in today's Mississauga and there Peter set up the Credit Mission in 1826.

In the following years, Peter, with help from his brother John as schoolteacher, began his missionary work, spreading the word among natives and non-natives alike. He and John translated books of the Bible into Ojibwa. He even took a missionary trip to England in 1831 and there met Eliza Field. After his return to Canada, she followed in 1833 and they were married. This was to be the high point of Peter's life for disappointment began to strike at him. First, the Methodists divided into Canadian Methodist and British Wesleyan factions, splitting Peter's followers. Then some of the Mississaugas began to show resentment toward Peter, feeling that they were being turned into "brown Englishmen". The band council began to consider moving the mission from the Credit River for several reasons including pressure from the non-natives. Finally, Peter persuaded the Six Nations to donate land for the Mississaugas to establish a new mission and in 1847 they moved to the southwest corner of the Six Nations land, where they remain to this day in the New Credit Mission.

Over the past few years, Peter's health had deteriorated from overwork. Although ordered by his doctor to retire, he continued to tour. He was able at last to build a home, Echo Villa, which is now in Brantford but in those days was in the country. He wasn't to enjoy it for long because, in December 1855, he felt unwell after visiting the New Credit Mission. He never recovered and died the following June.

Echo Villa