Loyalist Trails UELAC Newsletter, 2009 Archive

In this issue:
- Connecting the Dots with One Loyalist Family -- © Stephen Davidson
- "Thanksgiving: Closing Words": A Native Loyalist's View
- FDYP Fundraising Campaign Progresses - over 40%
- Silas Raymond (1748 - 1824) - Fifth Generation in America: Part XIV - © 2009 George McNeillie
- UELAC Dominion Conference News Update
- Long Island: Be Careful What You Think
- Uncle Cy's War - Book Launched
- 3X Olympian & Associate Member
- Loyalists and the First Recorded Baseball Game
- Fall 2009 Gazette
- Carry The Olympic Torch
- Additions to the Loyalist Directory
- Last Post: Kay McNairn
- Queries
+ Descendants of Jasper Leslie, Loyalist
+ Family of Dr. James Stuart/Jeane Grant

Connecting the Dots with One Loyalist Family -- © Stephen Davidson

Loyalist history never fails to amaze and astonish. Try to imagine a story of just one family that would eventually connect Quebec City, New York, Nova Scotia, England, the Indian city of Seringapatam, and a golf club in New South Wales, Australia. On top of that, try to imagine that this family's fortune was founded on the spoils of piracy in the East Indies, a fortune amassed by an associate of the infamous Captain Kidd. Too ridiculous? Beyond all credibility? Then follow closely this brief history of the Antill family of New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Giles Shelley was a sea captain who traded with pirates that plundered ships in the East Indies. The authorities suspected that Shelley was working with Captain Kidd, and almost succeeded in having him hanged in 1698. However, a lawyer by the name of Edward Antill managed to get Shelley acquitted. Out of gratitude, Shelley adopted his lawyer's son and bequeathed his fortune to him. When the young Antill died in 1770, he left his children thousands of acres of land in New York.

The American Revolution divided this wealthy family as it divided so many others. Only one of Antill's three sons was a loyalist.

Edward Antill III, the oldest son, had settled in Quebec City. He joined the patriot army when it attacked the former capital of New France in 1775.

Edward's brother Lewis was a doctor who also joined the Continental Army. He died during the Battle of Brandywine in 1777 --one of the thousand rebels who were killed trying to prevent the British army's advance on Philadelphia.

John, the third Antill brother, married Margaret Colden in 1770. Although trained as a lawyer, John worked with his father-in-law as a postmaster in the years preceding the revolution. After British forces arrived to quell the rebellion, Antill left everything to become a major in the Second Battalion of the New Jersey Volunteers. This loyalist battalion, famous for their green uniforms, was based on Staten Island.

Eventually, the British had captured so many rebel prisoners that they were forced to use derelict ships as floating prisons in New York harbour. Major John Antill happened to be inspecting one such prison ship, when he recognized his older brother Edward. Despite their different political loyalties, John was able to arrange for Edward's release. His patriot brother survived the revolution and returned to Montreal where he died in 1789.

John, the sole loyalist in the Antill family, was a witness at the 1778 trial of two women charged with plundering a farmer's home. Antill arrested the women as they came out of the farmhouse, their aprons loaded with booty. One of the women was cleared of the charges, the other was found guilty based on Antill's eyewitness account. She was sentenced to 100 lashes on her bare back.

Two years later, Antill was dismissed from the army for making "false returns and drawing provisions for more men than the effective strength of his battalion". But within four months, this embezzlement was forgiven, and Antill took command of his battalion once again. By this time Antill and his wife Margaret had two young sons: Jack and Henry.

When the revolution came to an end, Antill considered settling his family in Nova Scotia. However, during his trip to the colony in 1783, he put forth such unreasonable demands that he made an enemy of Governor Parr.

In the fall, Antill took his oldest son Jack to England with him to receive compensation from the British government. He received over 3,000 pounds sterling and was granted a major's pension and half pay. Thus compensated, Antill returned to the United States, gathered up Margaret and their children, and moved to Canada. His second son, Henry, was just four years old.

Margaret died within the Antills' first decade in Canada. John married Jane Colden, his wife's sister. His son Henry turned 17 in 1796, the year Antill died. Whether it was to seek adventure or to visit relatives in England, Henry decided to leave his stepmother and siblings and sailed for England. He would never see the land of his childhood again.

Henry became an ensign in the 73rd Highland Regiment and, within three years, was dispatched to India. He was one of 50,000 soldiers amassed to fight in the final battle of the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War. As the 73rd Regiment stormed the walled city of Seringapatam, an enemy bullet seriously wounded Henry's shoulder. The British government later awarded him a medal for bravery.

During his eleven years in India, Henry Antill became friends with Captain Lachlan Macquarie; a relationship that would change the direction of his life. In 1807, the 73rd Regiment returned to England, and within a matter of months, it set sail for Australia. Antill's friend Macquarie was now both the commander of the regiment and the recently appointed governor of New South Wales. The new governor made Henry Antill his aide-de-camp.

Over the succeeding years, the loyalist's son toured much of southeastern Australia. He married Eliza Wills in 1818, and by 1825 had established a 2000-acre estate where they raised their six sons and two daughters. Antill became a justice of the peace, a police superintendent, and a magistrate. In 1844 he subdivided his estate to create the town of Picton. The family's property changed hands many times over the years. It is now the site of the Antill Park Country Golf Club.

Henry Colden Antill had had a most amazing life. Until four years of age, he had lived in British-held New York. For 13 years he was a loyalist settler in Canada. After eleven years of service with the British army in India, he settled in Australia where he spent the remaining 45 years of his life. This son of a loyalist soldier died on August 14, 1852.

Click here for the Antill Park Country Golf Club web site.

"Thanksgiving: Closing Words": A Native Loyalist's View

To secure permission to reprint this article, contact the author at {stephendavids AT gmail DOT com} how do I email him?

Thanksgiving: Closing Words": A Native Loyalist's View

"Closing Words

We have now arrived at the place where we end our words. Of all the things we have named, it was not our intention to leave anything out. If something was forgotten, we leave it to each individual to send such greetings and thanks in their own way.

Now our minds are one."

We admit our fallibilities and limitations as human beings and we admit the individualities of each person. Each of us have things we're grateful for - family, successes, blessings - and giving thanks for what we have instead of cursing that which we don't is a gesture of humility and gratitude. It would have been far easier for the original Loyalists to wallow in despair at that which was lost instead of cherishing that which they gained through an inviolable allegiance. Giving thanks and appreciation, even in the darkest and most challenging of times, carries and sustains us into the best of times as well.

...David Kanowakeron Hill Morrison UE

[Editor's Note: Read the full Thanksgiving Address. For details, visit Four Directions Youth Project.]

FDYP Fundraising Campaign Progresses - over 40%

The Four Directions Youth Program fundraising campaign continues to attract supporters. By the end of this past week, we had raised over 42% of our goal. Personal donations, small or large, will help ensure UELAC meets the target of $5000 by the year's end.

This week you can read about our Honorary Vice-President and leader behind the FYDP, Zig Misiak in the fall issue of The Loyalist Gazette Vol. XLVII - People Behind the Scenes. Then show your support by choosing one of the methods suggested in UEL Charitable Trust Donations. Help UELAC meet our commitment to the youth of our country.

...FHH

Silas Raymond (1748 - 1824) - Fifth Generation in America: Part XIV - © 2009 George McNeillie

[Part 1, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII, Part IX, Part X, Part XI, Part XII, Part XIII]

Doubtless the sum of two hundred pounds sterling received from the British Government by Silas Raymond, about the year 1788, in recognition of his losses in the war, helped him to build his new house. This may be said not only to have replaced the old log cabin in which the family spent the first five years at Kingston, but also the house destroyed by fire in Norwalk. In this new house the old mother Mary passed the last five years of her existence, the house was then considered a large one. The main part was 30 by 32 feet with basement. The ceilings were low, that of the main floor 7 feet 4 inches, and that of the basement, or cellar kitchen, only about 6 feet. The kitchen had an old-fashioned fire-place, 6 ½ feet long and 4 ½ feet high, where the baking was done.

As Kingston had now become the shire-town of King's County, where had been located the Parish Church and the Rectory, the Gaol and Court House, and the parish school, the place was now a considerable village, with mills, post-office and country store. It was moreover a convenient stopping place on the main road from St. John to Fredericton and accommodation was much desired by travelers. In consequence, Silas Raymond for a number of years furnished entertainment at his house for the travelling public. This, with the time required for his farm, necessitated his ceasing to be a carpenter. Grandfather told me the last work of this kind he undertook, after the war began in 1776, was the erection of Kingston Church and the building of his own house in 1788.

Very much of the burden of the household care devolved upon his energetic and capable wife and daughters.

The largest room in the Raymond house was fitted up as a Masonic Lodge Room. In Bunting's History of Free Masonry in New Brunswick, p. 39, there is an account of the steps taken to organize "Midian Lodge" in Kingston. Of this Lodge I believe Silas Raymond was the first Worshipful Master.

Important national events were commonly celebrated by the Kingston folk at the house of Silas Raymond. Among such events may be mentioned the victories of Trafalgar and Waterloo. The dinner and usual festivities at the house of Silas Raymond were, as a matter of course, preceded by attendance at Divine Service in the neighbouring Parish church. Old time newspapers describe several such celebrations at the old shire-town a century or more ago.

About the year 1892 I paid a pleasant visit to Kingston with Mr. L.A. Holman¹, the artist, and an American friend, and Mr. Holman made a pencil sketch of the old Raymond House which was reproduced, along with an excellent article on the Loyalists, by the late Dr. James Hannay in the New England Magazine². At the same time, Mr. Holman took a photograph of the old Raymond House as then standing and I insert it below as a matter of record (click here). His pencil sketch is in possession of my daughter Winifred at 92 Madison Ave., Toronto.

At the time of my visit in company with Mr. Holman in mid-summer, the cinnamon roses along the fence in front of the old house were in full bloom, and the foliage on the trees was very beautiful. The house was without a tenant for a good many years. [Editor's note - Raymond states in the photo caption in his journal that the house was taken down about 1903].

[1] The year must have been 1891 or earlier and Raymond may be referring to James Henry Holman, a New Brunswick artist who moved to Boston and died there in 1891.

[2] Hannay, James, 'The Loyalists', The New England Magazine, vol. 10, issue 3, 3 May 1891, pp. 297-316

Excerpt from Book of Family History written by The Ven. William Odber Raymond, LL.D, FRSC. © 2009 George McNeillie - all rights reserved [published here with permission; see footnote]

...George McNeillie {ggm3rd AT sympatico DOT ca} how do I email him?

UELAC Dominion Conference News Update

Early last evening in the midst of a chilling downpour, I opened my front door to find an unsolicited package. To my surprise it contained a note from the 2010 UELAC Conference Planning Committee along with - and here I pause with the weight of my discovery - the sacred mascot of the Beyond the Mountains 2010 Conference - Ogopogo. For those who may not know, Ogopogo or Naitaka (Salish: n'ha-a-itk, "lake demon") is the name given to a lake monster reported to live in Okanagan Lake, in British Columbia.

As newly appointed Dominion Conference Chair, I find I am charged with the serious duty of care giver and keeper of Ogopogo until his return to the 2010 UELAC Conference in Vernon B.C. I do not undertake this task lightly, but I am sure all will be well.

This morning I found him settling in with the local newspaper (see photo) and I heard this afternoon he was seen at the Dougall Avenue Starbucks! No doubt he is spreading the news of the upcoming 2010 Dominion AGM and Conference taking place in the beautiful North Okanagan city of Vernon, British Columbia, Thursday, June 3 - Sunday, June 6, 2010 presented by the Pacific Region chapters of Chilliwack, Vancouver and Victoria and hosted by the Thompson-Okanagan branch of the UELAC.

I wonder what else Ogopogo has been up to?

...Bonnie L. Schepers UE, Dominion Conference Chair, UELAC

Long Island: Be Careful What You Think

There has always been a question in the back of my mind about one of my ancestors, Captain Lemuel Wilmot of the Loyal American Regiment. A document about him indicates that "he came to New Brunswick in 1786 from Long Island." Since his home was given as Duchess County, New York, (southern third became Putnam County after the war) and he was listed on a 1772 tax report there, why was he living on Long Island for three years after the end of the war?

As a Loyalist Captain, he would have been in danger there. Was he possibly in jail, or perhaps in hiding? The pattern did not fit. Because if he was not in danger, how could a good a Loyalist have been tolerated on Long Island, NY?

Finally years later a clue to a possible answer.

The background of this clue comes from Global Genealogy - one of their free articles on Canadian sources and list of reprinted and new books, maps and CDs.

1. My Wilmot grandmother was born in Nova Scotia, and from census and death records, I found her mother, Rebecca Anna Smith, born in New Brunswick. I knew the Wilmot line was in Clarke Township, Durham, Ontario, for previous generations. R.A. SMITH, no father's name, went to the back of the line.

2. Until I read one of Global's New Brunswick articles on locating vital statistics before governments began keeping records. An author had gone back through local newspapers and copied marriage and death notices. And there was the marriage notice from several newspapers: Rebecca Anna Smith, 4th daughter of Robert Smith, Esq., of Youghal, Bathurst to Asa Wilmot. So began the search for Smith ancestors in New Brunswick.

3. I just bought the reprint of the Dominion of Canada Atlas from Global Genealogy and began thinking of other early atlases and maps. Using Google search I found free online maps of Canada; I was looking for land ownership maps of Bathurst. One of the first things to stand out was the similarity of town names from old England.

4. That is when I wondered about Long Island, it certainly is not a unique name, in fact it is so common that I wondered why I had not thought of a different "Long Island" in a different place long ago. Patterns, we are stuck with them. Until a clue stares us in the face.

5. There is a Long Island in Nova Scotia, Loyalists went there, and many moved on to the other half of Nova Scotia - New Brunswick. Now to read Nova Scotia local histories, some old ones will be online and free. Maybe I will find some evidence, even proofs.

...Ellen

Uncle Cy's War - Book Launched

2009 November 26 marked the release of Uncle Cy's War: The First World War Letters of Major Cyrus F. Inches by the University of New Brunswick's The Gregg Centre for the study of War and Society and Goose Lane Editions. Part of the New Brunswick Military Heritage Project (NBMHP) book series, this fourteenth volume was written and edited by Valerie Teed, newsletter editor for the New Brunswick Branch UELAC.

Earlier the author was interviewed by Sandy Rinaldi of CTV. This video interview will provide further details on the content and development of this interesting addition to our knowledge of the life of our World War One soldiers. (Readers may need to scroll down under the video screen and click on "CTV News Channel: Valerie Teed, found letters."ed.) Further details regarding the release of Uncle Cy's War have been provided by the Telegraph Journal.

Loyalist Trails readers can look forward to an upcoming issue when Valerie will share some of the Christmas anecdotes of her husband's great uncle wartime activities.

...FHH

3X Olympian & Associate Member

In the last issue of Loyalist Trails, I asked for information on any Olympic/World Record medallist who is a descendant of a United Empire Loyalist. Our first Olympian is Dr. Frederick Munroe Bourne of Rothesay, New Brunswick.

Munroe was born in Victoria, BC in 1910; received a BA in English and political science. While editor of the McGill Daily, he captained their track, swimming and water polo teams and won two university championships in the mile.

But it was in swimming that Bourne represented Canada internationally, participating in the British Empire Games and Three Olympic Games. At the Amsterdam Games in 1928, he won a bronze medal in the 4×200 m freestyle relay. (Johnny Weissmuller was on the gold medal USA team. ed.) He was the oldest Olympian to carry the torch at the 1988 Winter Olympics at Calgary.

Bourne's post-graduate medical training was in Montreal. During the World War II, he joined No. 14 Canadian General Hospital where he met nurse Margaret Fairweather; married in England in 1943. He went overseas in 1941.

Bourne practised medicine until 1983 and was an associate professor at McGill. He was Commander in the Order of St. John and active in many organizations before his death in 1992.

...Gail Pipes, Loyalist Gazette Vol. XXX, No.2. Fall 1992

Although he was not a UEL descendant himself, he was very involved in the family histories of his wife. The text and illustrations of a paper on "The Five Robinson Brothers" delivered to the New Brunswick Branch in 1987 in The Loyalist Gazette Vol. XXVI, No. 2 February 1989 are evidence of both his scholarship and support of the UELAC.

Recently Margaret Bourne UE shared one of her favourite Olympic anecdotes told by her husband. At his third Olympic Games held in Berlin in 1936, a member of the track relay injured his ankle and was unable to run. Munroe was asked to substitute. He later commented that they could have won if were not for Jesse Owens who was added to the gold-winning USA Team.

...FHH

Loyalists and the First Recorded Baseball Game

Beechville in Oxford County, Ontario claims to be the home of baseball where the first recorded game was played on June 4, 1838. Some of the players, perhaps more, were Loyalist descendants.

James Burdick, Loyalist, settled in Zorra township at Beechville with his family where he built the first mill in the area. His sons, as well as Silas Williams noted below, all belonged to the Oxford County militia.

James' daughter Rachel Burdick married Able Thornton. Able and Rachel had a daughter named Anna Thornton who married Silas Williams. They in turn had children, including John and Abel Williams.

Also, I think George Burdick is descended from James Burdick's son Caleb Burdick.

These three, John and Abel Williams and George Burdick all played in the first ever recorded baseball game in Beechville, Oxford County. Other names in the article are also interesting and may represent more Loyalist connections. Karn, Dolson, McNames, Dodge. The Dolson ( old Ned) is not a loyalist but married Silas Williams' daughter.

Many years later, Dr. Adam E. Ford who witnessed the game, wrote a letter about it for Sporting Life. It has been included as an appendix in a book which is available online, but has also been transcribed.

Journal of Sport History, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Spring, 1988), Appendix A

A Verbatim Transcription of Ford's Letter to Sporting Life, Published 5 May 1886

A Game of Long-ago Which Closely Resembled Our Present National Game.

Denver, Col., April 26. Editor Sporting Life.

The 4th of June, 1838 was a holiday in Canada, for the Rebellion of 1837 had been closed by the victory of the government over the rebels, and the birthday of His Majesty George the Fourth was set apart for general rejoicing. The chief event at the village of Beachville in the County of Oxford, was a baseball match between the Beachville Club and the Zorras, a club hailing from the township of Zorra and North Oxford.

The game was played in a nice smooth pasture field just back of Enoch Burdick's shops; I well remember a company of Scotch volunteers from Zorra halting as they passed the grounds to take a look at the game. I remember seeing Geo. Burdick, Reuben Martin, Adam Karn, Wm. Hutchinson, I. Van Alstine, and, I think, Peter Karn and some others. I remember also that there were in the Zorras "Old Ned' Dolson, Nathaniel NcNames, Abel and John Williams, Harry and Daniel Karn, and, I think, Wm. Ford and William Dodge. Were it not for taking up too much of your valuable space I could give you the names of many others who were there and incidents to confirm the accuracy of the day and the game. The ball was made of double and twisted woolen yarn, a little smaller than the regulation ball of today and covered with good honest calf skin, sewed with waxed ends by Edward McNames, a shoemaker.

The infield was a square, the base lines of which were twenty-four yards long, on which were placed five bags, thus [see Figure 3]. The distance from the thrower to the catcher was eighteen yards; the catcher standing three yards behind the home bye. From the home bye, or "knocker's" stone, to the first bye was six yards. The club (we had bats in cricket but we never used bats in playing base ball) was generally made of the best cedar, blocked out with an ax and finished on a shaving horse with a drawing knife. A Wagon spoke, or any nice straight stick would do.

We had fair and unfair balls. A fair ball was one thrown to the knocker at any height between the bend of his knee and the top of his head, near enough to him to be fairly within reach. All others were unfair. The strategic points for the thrower to aim at was to get near his elbow or between his club and his ear.

When a man struck at a ball it was a strike, and if a man struck at the ball three times and missed it he was out if the ball was caught every time either on the fly or on the first bound. If he struck at the ball and it was not so caught by the catcher that strike did not count. If a struck ball went anywhere within lines drawn straight back between home and the fourth bye, and between home and the first bye extended into the field the striker had to run. If it went outside of that he could not, and every man on the byes must stay where he was until the ball was in the thrower's hands. Instead of calling foul the call was "no hit."

There was no rule to compel a man to strike at the ball except the rule of honor, but a man would be despised and guyed unmercifully if he would not hit at a[. . .] fair ball [. . .] he was out if the ball was caught either before it struck the ground or on the first bound. Every struck ball that went within the lines mentioned above was a fair hit, every one outside of them no hit, and what you now call a foul tip was called a tick. A tick and a catch will always fetch was the rule given strikers out on foul tips. The same rule applies to forced runs that we have now. The bases were the lines between the byes and a base runner was out if hit by the ball when he was off of his bye. Three men out and the side out. And both sides out constituted a complete inning. The number of innings to be played was always a matter of agreement, but it was generally 6 to 9 innings, 7 being most frequently played and when no number was agreed upon seven was supposed to be the number. The old plan which Silas Williams and Ned Dolson (these were greyheaded men then) said was the only right way to play ball, for it was the way they used to play when they were boys, was to play away until one side made 18, or 21, and the team getting that number first won the game. A tally, of course, was a run. The tallies were always kept by cutting notches on the edge of a stick when the base runners came in. There was no set number of men to be played on each side, but the sides must be equal. The number of men on each side was a matter of agreement when the match was made. I have frequently seen games played with seven men on each side, and I never saw more than 12. They all fetched.

The object in having the first bye so near the home was to get runners on the base lines, so as to have the fun of putting them out or enjoying the mistakes of the fielders when some fleet footed fellow would dodge the ball and come in home. When I got older, I played myself, for the game never died out. I well remember when some fellows down at or near New York got up the game of base ball that had a "pitcher" and "[. . .] 's" etc., and was played with a ball hard as a stick. India rubber had come into use, and they put so much into the balls to make them lively that when the ball was tossed to you like a girl playing "oneoldcat" you could knock it so far that the fielders would be chasing it yet, like dogs hunting sheep, after you had gone clear around and scored your tally. Neil McTaggert, Henry Cruttenden, Gordon Cook, Henry Taylor, James Piper, Almon Burch, Wm. Harrington and others told me of it when I came home from university. We, with "alot of good fellows more" went out and played it one day.

The next day we felt as if we had been on an overland trip to the moon. I could give you pages of incidentals but space forbids. One word as to the prowess in those early days. I heard Silas Williams tell Jonathan Thornton that old Ned Dolson could catch the ball right away from the front of the club if you didn't keep him back so far that he couldn't reach it. I have played from that day to this and I don't intend to quit as long as there is another boy on the ground.

...Yours, Dr. Ford

...Neal Shaw, UE, {nshaw AT cogeco DOT ca} how do I email him?

Fall 2009 Gazette

Issues started arriving at people's mailboxes earlier this week; mine arrived Thursday. If you have not received your copy, you should this week sometime. It looks pretty good to me. Enjoy!

Carry The Olympic Torch

By December 7, the Olympic Torch will be somewhere between Trois Rivieres and Longueuil, Quebec. Approximately 12,000 people will have the opportunity to carry the Olympic Torch as it travels from Ancient Olympia towards Vancouver, BC, site of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. If you visit www.carrythetorch.com you can follow the Canadian route, look ahead to when it will be near your community or check the names of those lucky enough to be winners of the contest run by Olympic sponsors. Although some of those names appear from time to time on lists of United Empire Loyalists, it is a bigger challenge to discover if any fellow member is part of this run. If UELAC is going to be successful in showing its every day relevance to fellow Canadians, we need to hear more about the involvement of our members in this special 106 day event. If you are part of this pre-Olympic Games activity or now of a fellow member who is, please share your story on Loyalist Trails. For further information on the relay, go to http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-torch-relay.

...FHH

Additions to the Loyalist Directory

As time permits, we add information to the Loyalist Directory. The latest additions and updates are:
- Clock, Jacob Conrad [not a UE Loyalist] - from Sylvia Vanhaverbeke
- Cline (Clyne), Elizabeth - from Don Brearley
- Lampman, Peter Sr. - from John C. Haynes
- Rose, Mathias Sr. - from Marvin Millis, UE
- Rose, Patience - from Marvin Millis, UE
- Switzer, Philip - from Marvin Millis, UE

Last Post: Kay McNairn

McNAIRN, Kathleen - Peacefully at the Cornwall Community Hospital McConnell Site on Sunday November 29, 2009 age 90 years. Kathleen McNairn nee-Nelson (Registered Nurse) of Chateau Cornwall and formerly of Long Sault. Wife of the late Stanley McNairn U.E., second President of St. Lawrence Branch. Mother of Nelson McNairn (Sandra Mitchell) of Cardinal. Grandmother of Mitchell, Stanley and Anne. Sister of Jessie Nelson of Northern Ireland and Iris Hooley of England. Predeceased by her parents Hugh and Nancy (Rock) Nelson and by numerous brothers and sisters. Cremation. A Service in Celebration was held in St. Andrew's-St. Mark's United Church Long Sault on Wednesday December 2, 2009. Committal at St. Lawrence Valley Cemetery. Donations to St. Andrew's-St. Mark's United Church or the Lost Villages Historical Society would be appreciated by the family.

...Lynne Cook

Descendants of Jasper Leslie, Loyalist

Jasper Leslie arrived in Port Mouton in 1783 with the 'remnants of Tarleton's Legion.' He was granted 100 acres at Bells Point. Some say he might have come from North Carolina, and others, Westchester County, New York where a 'Gosper Leslie' joined the British Forces in 1778. Many of his descendants are still in Queens County and others (like my grandmother, Iva May Leslie) moved to the Boston, Massachusetts area at the turn of the 20th century.

I am looking for the ancestors, family and background of Jasper Leslie before he joined the British Forces. Where did he come from? Is he of Scot or German descent? I am also interested in hearing from any descendants as I am compiling a genealogy of the 'Descendants of Jasper Leslie, the Loyalist.'

...Linda Hart UE, P.O. Box 1631, Cotuit, MA 02635 USA {HartsofCotuit AT comcast DOT net} how do I email her?

Family of Dr. James Stuart/Jeane Grant

Thank you to those who provided information re: Dr. James Stuart/Jeane Grant (UEL) and their family who lived in the Cornwall area for several generations. I am a direct descendent of their third son, Henry.

In this query I am looking to other researchers who could confirm James Stuart's birth date and parents, which I have as Born 1711 to John Stuart and Helen Ross (Abernethy and Kincardine Parish, Invernesshire, Scotland). Also, there are several references to a claim that James Stuart descended from James Stuart, Earl of Moray (The Good Regent) and a natural son of King James V and half-brother to Mary, Queen of Scots. Are there any researchers who could confirm this or provide more detailed information?

...Elizabeth Stuart {stubro AT shaw DOT ca} how do I email her?