MIKE ATHEY
CLARENDON Nov. 11, 2020
A young man from Clarendon was hired to perform research into the life of a prominent Pontiacer and former land agent, James Prendergast.
Charles Wickens, 20, was asked by a historical society representing the 100th Regiment of Foot to look into his history.
“He joined up with the 100th Regiment of Foot in Ireland,” explained Wickens. “Because he was a member, they wished to learn more about him. So I came here and did some research.”
This led him to . . .
visiting the Pontiac Archives in Shawville on Nov. 5 to see if he could dig up anything more for his project.
Wickens, who joined the historical society after a friend encouraged him to do so, became interested in the life of Prendergast after learning that he had once owned the land where Wickens’ home in Clarendon now lies.
He explained that Prendergast was awarded land to manage in Clarendon. This was in part due to his heroics during the Battle of Crysler’s Farm in 1813 where he managed to capture a cannon emplacement from the Americans and turn it on the invaders.
Wickens is a first-year history and political science student at the University of Ottawa. He said history is important because we make plenty of mistakes in our past and we’re expected to learn from them.
“They often say history repeats itself,” Wickens said, “and that’s only whenever we forget about it, [then] we make the same mistakes as the people in the past.”
