This was the first of two petitions that Christopher Lake made. This one was a family claim, and the one in 1807 was a military claim. This brief 1797 petition names three of his six then-unmarried children. The 1807 petition gives information about his military service and capture during the Revolutionary War.

Here are links to the images of this 1797 petition and to the image and transcription of his 1807 petition.

• 1797 - Christopher Lake - Ernest Town Township - Microfilm C-2125 - Bundle 8 - Petition 30 - I
• 1807 - Christopher Lake - Ernest Town Township - Microfilm C-2125 - Bundle 8 - Petition 18 - I - T

• Sheet numbered 30

  To His Honor Peter Russell Esquire Resident administering the government of Upper Canada ?etc? etc? ?etc?
  In Council
  Christopher Lake an ?active/actual? Settler & U E Loyalist having drawn no Land prays for Land for self, Wife & three Children viz: John, Sarah & Aaron.
  [signed] Christopher Lake

• Sheet numbered 30a (see note below)

  I do hereby certify that Petitioner Christopher Lake has a Wife & three children & that the three children were born before the year 1789.
  Kingston 3d Octr 1797 [signed] Robt. Clark ?C. P.?

• Sheet numbered 30b

  Christopher Lake Petition UE
  30 Bundle No. 8
  ________________
  Certificate insuff. for family lands
  Pet. himself res?
  for 200 acres
  [initialed] JE

  Entered in Land Book C page 270
  Confirmed P. R.
  Warrant 29 ?Jany? 1798
  See also his Petition L 18 Bundle No. 8

NOTE on sheet 30a
The word “six” is crossed out in both cases and replaced by “three”. His oldest daughter Mary had married three months earlier on 13 Jul 1797. So the other three (besides John, Sarah and Aaron) children then living were Hannah (c 1792-c1808), Ada (c 1794) and Henrietta (c 1795 – believed to be the first to be born in Canada). So the change from six to three is puzzling; it may be that these later children were not considered eligible since they were born so long after the Revolutionary War ended.