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Loyalist Trails UELAC Newsletter, 2020 Archive

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“Loyalist Trails” 2020-12: March 22, 2020

Articles

UELAC Conference 2020: Covid-19 Virus Update

UELAC and Manitoba Branch are monitoring the Covid-19 situation closely and will respond to any direction from the Federal or Provincial Governments. We are working with the Conference Committee in Winnipeg and will advise our members through the website and other conference communications channels of any developments as soon as we are aware of them. Decisions about the conference and AGM will need to be made in a timely manner and we ask our members and others interested to monitor this site and watch for other communications for further information. Communique No. 4 was distributed on Friday 13 March.

A Notice from Wendy Hart and Mary Steinhoff, 2020 Conference Co-Chairs:

As we monitor the COVID-19 situation during March, please be assured that for registrations arriving by mail for the next while, we will record the registration details but will delay depositing the cheques until decisions have been made. Thank you for your patience.

According to the Marriott Hotels COVID-19 policy, if you've already booked your room, you have until April 30 to change or cancel without charge. If you haven't yet booked but want to do so, any bookings made between now and April 30 for ANY date, can be changed or cancelled up to 24 hours prior to the arrival date (whatever it may be).

Read the Marriott's COVID-19 policy.

UELAC Dorchester Award

The UELAC Dorchester Award, established October 2007 by Dominion Council, exemplifies Volunteer Excellence and Participation, by conferring recognition on recipient(s), for their lengthy contribution to the United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada. Exclusive to the UELAC membership, this Award salutes the "best in volunteerism" amongst our members within the Association.

Congratulations to the person most recently honoured with this award: Peter Johnson, UE, Bay of Quinte Branch – learn more (PDF).

Hazardous Assistance: Stories of the Loyalist Underground (Part 3 of 4)

© Stephen Davidson, UE

The persecution and threats of violence against colonists loyal to the British crown forced many to become refugees long before the end of the American Revolution. Some took to the sea and found refuge in nearby Nova Scotia, while others decided to seek sanctuary in Great Britain. A third option was for Loyalist refugees to follow the rivers and forest trails of New York. Some headed south to find sanctuary in British-occupied New York City. Others went northward to the British colony of Canada -- a territory that had once been known as New France.

At first these Loyalists were men escaping imprisonment or execution at the hands of their Patriot neighbours. Later, the Loyalists' wives and children followed when they could no longer bear the persecution of rebels or following the confiscation of their family's property. What has largely been forgotten is the role played by those who offered assistance to these Loyalists -- often at a great risk to themselves-- as the refugees made their way to safety.

The transcripts of the Royal Commission on the Losses and Services of American Loyalists (RCLSAL) provide a record the services of the Loyalists, including those who made up the refugee underground. By studying their testimonies, we can gain a better understanding of those who provided shelter and guidance for Loyalists on their long treks to Canada or New York City.

Albany, New York , situated on the Hudson River, was a crucial juncture as refugees made their way north. Not surprisingly, it was also the site of a number of homes willing to harbour Loyalists. William Philips was put in the Albany jail as early as 1777 on account of his allegience to the British crown. Three years later he served the royal army in Canada as a hunter. But while at home in Albany, Philips testified that he "had frequently given assistance to Loyalists, harboured and protected them at this own expense". He also produced accounts from several refugees who he had helped.

John Woodcock, a Loyalist farmer, was eventually banished from his land in Albany County for being "an enemy to the States". In addition to his own testimony that he had "assisted Loyalists to get away", two of the witnesses at his hearing verified his role in helping refugees. Eve Pencel recalled how Woodcock had "helped Loyalists with provisions", while John Cornelius testified that Woodcock "supported Loyalists and spies and scouts".

Stephen Tuttle had been New York's surveyor-general and a justice of the peace before the revolution pitted Loyalist against Patriot. His testimony before the RCLSAL noted that he "took every opportunity of assisting the Loyalists and British prisoners" and that he "furnished arms and ammunition to the Loyalists early in the war". In fact, Tuttle had mortgaged his property to furnish supporters of the crown with arms and "necessaries".

A witness at William Agnew's compensation hearing testified that he had been "supported" by Agnew for "five months when on a scouting party". He also mentioned that the Tryon County settler "used to give assistance to Loyalists".

John P. Johnson lived in Poughkeepsie in New York's Dutchess County until 1776. Later in the revolution, he served in the Guides and Pioneers, but initially he demonstrated his loyalty to Great Britain by harbouring Loyalists on his farm as they made their way along the Hudson River. Speaking on Johnson's behalf in 1787, John Wiggins testified that he had "sheltered himself there for some time" because Johnson was known to be "a friend to government".

However, the days of finding sanctuary at Johnson's home were numbered. By the end of 1776, he was "confined by the rebels for harbouring Loyalists". While on a march with other prisoners to a jail in New England (probably New Haven, Connecticut), Johnson escaped. For the next seven years, he served the crown as a member of its fighting forces. He and his family eventually settled near Gagetown, New Brunswick.

Further down river from Johnson's home was Abraham Smith, a native of White Plains in Westchester County. Despite the fact that his farm was in a no man's land "between the lines" of territories controlled by Patriots and the British, he did not have to find sanctuary in New York City for his family until 1780. Smith did not serve the crown as a combatant, but he "protected and harboured Loyalists". This brought down the wrath of his rebel neighbours who plundered his farm on numerous occasions "for harbouring refugees".

Jacob Van Wart was a Westchester County farmer who once lived in nearby Courtlandt Manor. At the beginning of the revolution, he served as an officer in the local rebel militia, but had a change of heart sometime after 1777. His renewed loyalty to the crown was credible enough that Loyalist refugees sought out his farm as a sanctuary while making their way south to the safety of New York City. Van Wart later testified that "he had harboured Tories, and the rebels distressed him for it".

Archelaus Carpenter is the only owner of a safe house who quantified how many Loyalists he sheltered in North Castle, Westchester County. During his hearing at the RCLSAL in Saint John, New Brunswick in 1787, he testified that he had used his farm to harbour as many as "200 Loyalists at a time and victualled them". Francis Flewelling, Robert Thorne and Carpenter's son Coles gave evidence that Carpenter carried victuals "to Loyalists in the Woods an abundance of times" and assisted Loyalists by providing food for "great numbers".

These New York Loyalists who provided safe houses for fleeing refugees are just a handful of names drawn from the transcripts of the RCLSAL's hearings, and represent many others whose names and deeds have long been forgotten. The details of how they hid individuals and families have also been lost. The fact that the transcripts indicate that Loyalist refugees were harboured on a regular basis indicates that those providing safe houses must have been known to Loyalist sympathizers within New York. Refugees did not just chance upon the safe houses; they knew where they were to be found.

Did the householders at one location along the "underground" tell the refugees where they could find their next safe house? Was there a tried and true route that refugees followed to New York City or to Canada? Was this loyalist underground haphazardly formed or was it organized along the lines of the 19th century's underground railroad for escaping slaves? While the brief testimonies of those who harboured Loyalists suggests some form of connection from one safe house to the next, there is no solid evidence of an organized network of "harbours" for the refugees of the revolution. It is a chapter in Loyalist history that deserves further study.

This portion of the underground series has focused on those who sheltered civilian refugees. In the next edition of Loyalist Trails, we will a look at those who maintained safe houses for spies and scouts as they passed through Patriot territory.


To secure permission to reprint this article, email Stephen Davidson.

More on Rev. Dr. Jonathan Odell

I am enjoying "Stories of the Loyalist Underground" especially the March 15th piece that included the hiding of the Loyalist poet and spy, the Rev. Dr. Jonathan Odell, and his escape from his Patriot pursuers who had orders to take him dead or alive. The article noted that the home of Margaret Morris, where Jonathan Odell was hidden in a secret room, was previously owned by the William Franklin, New Jersey's last royal governor and estranged son of Benjamin Franklin. William Franklin was Jonathan Odell's patron and close friend and the namesake of his son William Franklin Odell.

Dr. Odell's role in passing secret messages between Benedict Arnold and Major John Andre is a story told in The Scarlet Coat – a 1955 Hollywood blockbuster in which the part of Dr. Odell is played by George Sanders, a British born actor who had a long and successful film career. The movie takes historical liberties but critics remarked on its even handedness toward both sides.

The real Jonathan Odell is depicted in this miniature portrait. Jonathan Odell was a cousin of my great times five grandfather, Daniel Odell, Loyalist farmer from Dutchess County, New York who is buried in Smith's Cove, Nova Scotia.

...Dan Odell, Cohoes, New York

St. Patrick's Day, Boston Evacuation Day and Størmerlige Films

Størmerlige Films, which is making the The Good Americans documentary, noted that St. Patrick's Day in Boston is Evacuation Day and made this short video clip which highlights the Boston and Nova Scotia relationship:

Watch on Facebook, or

Download and play the .MOV file.

Little Hyatt One-room Schoolhouse: Looking Back and Reaching Out

Located at 2185, Mcvety road in the hamlet of Milby, the Little Hyatt One-Room Schoolhouse has made a name for itself over the years through the hard work of Patrimoine-Ascott-Heritage. After closing its doors in 1948, the schoolhouse passed through many hands before landing in those of the Little Forks Branch of the United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada. They established a non-profit organization and decided to restore this important piece of the area's history. After 24 years of hard work, the majority of the renovations are now completed but Patrimoine-Ascott-Heritage is still facing some challenges.

Read more.

Addendum to Nelles Manor

In last week's Loyalist Trails, there was reference to Nelles Manor Museum website. I am most grateful for anything that promotes this wonderful heritage building, or Grimsby generally.

Robert Nelles UEL was my great, great, great, step-grandfather. Re the line that reads "Nelles Manor was built from 1788 to 1798 by the Nelles family and ship builders, who would've been contracted by Robert Nelles himself".

Francis Waddell, a skilled Scottish stone mason British Army recruit, and son-in-law, Bombardier, Samuel Bingle, who descended from a long line of Canterbury Kent shipbuilders, were the men contracted to oversee this job, according to Dorothy Turcotte in "Legacy The Nelles Story" (see extract). Both Waddell and Bingle family members were awarded Crown Land Grants for their service in "The Canadas", so although they were not refugees from the American Revolution, I like to think my British Military ancestors were also Loyalists of a kind.

Francis Waddell's home in Niagara-on-the-Lake was burned in 1813 by Americans. His son-in-law, Samuel Bingle's grave marker in St. Marks Anglican church was probably one of the stones desecrated by Americans who butchered meat on the gravestones savagely during the War of 1812-14 occupation there.

In 1814 the beautiful widow Bingle, twenty-two years younger than Robert Nelles UEL, became his second wife. She had at The Manor, two young Bingle children, and four Nelles step-children ranging in age from 14 to 4, to care for right away. Subsequently, she gave birth to 6 more Nelles children in The Manor. The grandchildren of Captain John Moore UEL and his wife Dina Pettit-Moore, of "The Forty", were the four ranging in age from 14 to 4 plus three more by this time grown and away from The Manor. It could easily be stated therefore that Nelles Manor is in addition to the ancestral home of the Nelles family line, also that of Moore, Pettit, Waddell, Bingle, Millard, and Rutherford families as well.

I mention this only because it seems to me that if more UELAC members descended from Moore or Pettit families knew they had a connection here, it might make this heritage treasure of a building seem even more like something to cherish and support.

...Catharine Bingle-Gonnsen, UE

JAR: The Slings and Arrows of Outrageous Misfortune: The Fall of Fort Motte

By Jeff Dacus 19 March 2020

The Revolutionary War in the Carolinas after the fall of Charleston was a great arena of war with hundreds of small battlefields. Some were battles involving a few dozen men, Tory or Whig Americans fighting each other or Whigs fighting British regulars. Other engagements involved hundreds of men, with dozens of casualties. Today, most of the names are unknown or even meaningless except to local citizens or historians. Often these battles did have significance, sometimes out of proportion to the numbers that fought or died there. One such encounter took place on the Mt. Joseph plantation about ninety-five miles from Charleston.

After the fall of Charleston on May 12, 1780, British general Charles Lord Cornwallis went about a conquest of South Carolina. Defeating American forces at the Battle of Camden on August 16, 1780, Cornwallis established posts to protect British gains at various small outposts between Camden and Charleston. These posts served both as protection for supply lines and as symbols of British presence to encourage Loyalists to rally to the King's colors.

One of the posts was at St. Joseph plantation, a farm owned by Rebecca Motte. Originally owned by her brother Miles Brewton, she inherited the property upon his death in August 1775. Elected to the Second Continental Congress, Brewton was lost at sea with his wife and children en route to Philadelphia. Motte, whose husband died in 1780, was a well-known Whig sympathizer with a son-in-law, Whig Thomas Pinckney, recovering from wounds with her daughter in Charleston. She was at her plantation home with three other women in late January 1781 when the British came.

Read more.

JAR: Trading Generals

By William M. Welsch, 17 March 2020

During the American Revolution, many players were removed from the chess board of war as a result of capture. From individual soldiers and sailors to entire armies, captives fell into the hands of the enemy, the largest numbers usually after defeats. Negotiations to repatriate these men varied from fairly successful to complete failures. In fact, no general exchange cartel or comprehensive agreement was approved until Article 7 of the Treaty of Paris in 1783.

Howard Peckman, in his seminal book The Toll of Independence, offers that 15,542 Americans spent some time as prisoners of war. The more fortunate of these unfortunate soldiers and sailors were paroled or exchanged quickly, while many others languished in prisons for long periods. For some, death was the final release. Officers generally fared better than enlisted men, although their exchange could be a more confusing issue. Fourteen of these officers were, or became, Continental Army generals.

While captures often occurred at almost every battle and skirmish, there were major defeats or actions that resulted in large caches of prisoners.

Read more.

The Junto: Interview with Brooke N. Newman

Brooke's research focuses on the intersections of race, sexuality, and gender in the context of slavery and abolition in the British empire, focusing on the Caribbean. Newman is an Associate Professor of History at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Read more.

Canadian Heritage Matters: Blurred Lines: History, Heritage and Authenticity

Historic sites are inherited physical places that inform contemporaries about the past. Being able to see and experience historic buildings instills pride in one's history as well as acting as a place of social exchange between community members, drawing people closer together. Heritage refers to the way history is presented when visiting historic sites. It is dynamic in the sense that elements of the past are added and/or removed to adhere to modern day sensibilities. If heritage is only seen through the eyes of its contemporaries, is it possible to have an authentic historical experience? This post will provide a discussion to showcase how heritage is socially, politically and economically constructed. The argument will be made that heritage only offers a simulacrum of the past; thus an authentic historical experience is not something that can be totally realized.

Read more.

Book Review: Tea in 18th Century America

Tea in 18th Century America, by Kimberly K. Walters. Review by Timothy Symington, 18 March 2020.

Walters, in her introduction, reflects upon her own life and learning about British tea from her father. He also instilled in her a passion for Revolutionary-era subjects, such as dining and tea-drinking. Walters then starts to describe the historical importance of tea to the British colonists of the Thirteen Colonies. It is an interesting and sometimes fascinating look into the cultural life of the eighteenth century. Walters offers the reasons for drinking tea and how the beverage was used to delineate social classes. Tea became a political issue due to the Tea Act of 1773 (included in its entirety in the book) and then the Boston Tea Party. All the important political figures of the era, such as Washington and Adams, participated in the tea ceremony and made efforts to acquire the best tea equipage.

Chapters in Walters's book includes information about different types of tea, tea utensils and equipment, the tea ceremony, and the social aspects of drinking tea. Several chapters include primary-source text about recipes (called "receipts") for food to eat with tea, specific drinks and various desserts.

Read more.

Resource: Nova Scotia Archives Land Papers, 1765-1800

Are you curious about early Crown Land Grants? We have digitized our earliest papers and made them available online. This searchable database covers the years 1765-1800 and contains over 11k names! Brian McConnell UE.

This is a searchable database for petitions made to government by individuals or groups of people seeking grants of Crown Land for settlement purposes in early Nova Scotia. The database contains 11,464 names, and will link from the petitioner's name to the fully digitized document file created for that particular land grant --- 1890 files, containing 9259 image scans. If you're searching for online information about early land settlement in Nova Scotia, you've come to the right place!

Read more.

Loyalist Quarterly Newsletter, March 2020, by Paul J. Bunnell, UE

Published since 2004, the March 2020 issue is now available. At nineteen pages, it features:

• Editor's Comments

• Loyalists and Canada's First Residential School Part Four: Indigenous Apprentices © Stephen Davidson

• Birchtown And the Black Loyalist Experience By Stephen Davidson

• Sad News - the Passing of Elizabeth Sewell UE

• Support Loyalist Trails

• "Eyes on the Heart of the Continent"

• Grand Bay-Westfield Black Loyalist Land Grands

• Smallpox and Fear of Inoculation

Vol. 17 Part 1 March 2020 Quarterly Issue "In Publication since 2004"

Editor: Paul J. Bunnell, UE, Author, Koasek Abenaki Chief

BunnellLoyalist@aol.com; 978-337-9085, 49 Pleasant St., #106, Alstead, NH 03602

The Only U.S. Newsletter Devoted to The study of The American Loyalists

Subscription Rate: $21 U.S. $24 Can. $5 each copy -- (March, June, September, December issues)

Where in the World?

Where is Malcolm Newman of New Brunswick Branch?

To participate, submit a photo of yourself in UELAC promotional gear at a place of some note and tell us where it is (if you are a member of a branch, please indicate that as well). Send your submission to the editor at loyalist.trails@uelac.org.

Region and Branch Bits

From the UELAC branches, news and events of interest to others.

  • There have been several email notes about UELAC Branches cancelling meetings. Given our country-wide situation trying to contain the Covid-19 virus and minimize the impact of the pandemic through social distancing and self-quarantining, please assume that all meetings and events are cancelled until and unless you hear otherwise.

From the Twittersphere and Beyond

  • Impressive Monument in St. Paul's Anglican Church at Halifax, NS to Loyalist leader Lord Charles Greville Montagu, who commanded Corps of Carolinians during American Revolution. He died on 3 Feb. 1784.
  • This Week in History
    • 19 Mar 1770. Boston town's meeting approved "A Short Narrative of the Horrid Massacre"---with revisions---as an official government report. The final version would include testimony & conclusions added later.
    • 20 Mar 1770 A sailor named Robert Patterson testified that the British soldiers at the Boston Massacre reloaded before shooting him in the arm. How can we fit his testimony into all the other evidence? Read more... J.L.Bell
    • 21 March 1770: Ben Franklin writes to Joseph Galloway on the Parliament's retention of the tea tax. Read more...
    • 14 Mar 1776 Alexander Hamilton receives commission as Capt. in NY artillery company, leading with great distinction.
    • 16 Mar 1776 British naval commanders learn that Americans are loading military supplies at three Spanish ports.
    • 17 Mar 1776 British forced out of Boston following Washington's fortification of Dorchester Heights over city. British forces were forced to evacuate Boston after American troops constructed fortifications and placed artillery on Dorchester Heights. Abel Scott's powder horn features a detailed view of Boston as the forces eyed one another. After an 11 month siege, the British evacuated Boston. Bostonians celebrated with songs like this one preserved by @MHS1791 "Then hilter skilter they ran in the street, sometimes on their head and sometimes on their feet!"
    • 18 Mar 1766 Parliament accedes to American resolve and repeals Stamp Act, but later goes on to pass Townshend Acts.
    • 20 March 1776. Evacuating redcoats blew up and then burned Castle William on Boston's Castle Island British engineer Archibald Robertson sketched the destruction after helping lay the 63 mines used.
    • 19 Mar 1781 Spanish General Bernardo de Gálvez's armada follows him into Pensacola Bay despite heavy British fire.
    • 20 Mar 1782 Prime Minister North becomes only the second British PM in history drummed out of office, over loss of American Revolution.
    • 15 Mar 1783 Washington persuades Continental Army officers at Newburgh, NY to abandon uprising over unpaid wages.
  • Townsend's
  • Clothing and Related:
    • The Age of Undress: Neoclassicism, Fashion & "Living Statues". In the spring of 1793, a strange fad swept London: women began to wear belly pads under their dresses. A satirical engraving by James Gillray features a girl in a white round gown and a pad being lectured by her mother or mistress, who thinks she has made what was known in the period as a "faux-pas,"---that is, become pregnant out of wedlock. In fact, the pad itself was sometimes known as a "faux-pas" as noted in the London paper the True Briton: "The pad, alias the faux-pas, is said to have originated with some young Ladies of Fashion. Whatever their age might be, their ideas were perfectly matured". Read more...
    • This is one of my favourite dresses from @ROMtoronto. it's an 18th Century Robe à la Française from c.1750's - what great inspiration to dress up and feel amazing!
    • 18th Century dresses, two Robe à la Françaises. In China the colour yellow was associated with the Emperor, as the fashion for chinoiserie grew in popularity so did the colour within fashion, c.1775
    • 18th Century Robe à l'Anglaise, a linen day dress. These gowns were very sensible, as they could be laundered often and still retain a fresh appearance. They were often decorated with embroidery, usually stitched by the wearer herself. 1730-1750
    • Rear of 18th Century Robe à la Française, 1760's, showing sack back detail & pattern produced by a technique of resist-dyeing. Its shadowy effect obtained by arranging specific warp threads in groups (or branches, hence the name chiné à la branche)
    • 18th Century Court dress, 1780-1790, Silk woven with silver-gilt threads, trimmed with silver-gilt lace, sequins & tassels via @colonialwmsburg
    • 18th Century waistcoat or vest, silk with images of a water deity, he is shown in the style of those found on Roman mosaics. Italy and its Roman sites were popular stops on a young gentleman's Grand Tour, 1790's
    • Pocket detail of 18th Century men's Court coat, striped brown silk of the coat has been appliquéd with undulating bands of pink silk, embroidered with leafy sprays worked in coloured silks, glass paste and spangles, 1790's
  • Miscellaneous:
    • After linen was used to make adult undergarments, then cut down into children's clothes, or accessories, then became rags, it was made into paper. Jane Austen's manuscripts and all the Regency fashion plates rest on the ultimate end of the clothing lifecycle.

Additions to the Loyalist Directory

As time permits, we add information to the Loyalist Directory. The latest additions and updates are as follows:

  • Gerald Hartley UEL – by Gerald King Hartley UE

Please help us build the directory by contributing information. Contact loyalist.trails@uelac.org for guidance.

Last Post

Shirley Jean Fellowes, UE

The Hamilton Branch is grieving the passing of Shirley Jean Fellowes U.E. on Sunday, March 15, 2020 in Burlington. Shirley was on my calling list and I have had many good fun conversations with her. She was predeceased by her husband George Taylor Fellowes in 1987. Shirley was a loving mother to five children and grandmother to many grandchildren.

Shirley was a very proud United Empire Loyalist proving her ancestry through Joseph Morden.

An active lady - attended St. Matthew on-the-Plain, volunteered with the Royal Botanical Gardens and Canadian Red Cross and was a member of the Waterdown-East Flamborough Heritage Society. Read Shirley's Obituary; at Kitching, Steepe and Ludwig Funeral Home where Public Visitation and Memorial Service details will be announced. Private Cremation has taken place.

...Pat Blackburn, UE

Douglas Kaye Hicks

Members of Colonel John Butler (Niagara) Branch UELAC are shocked and saddened to report the passing of Branch Vice President Douglas Kaye Hicks on March 10th 2020. Doug was a true Loyalist and served as Vice President of the Branch although he lived in Kitchener. He was delighted to follow in the footsteps of his great uncle John S. Hicks, a very active member of the Branch (then St. Catharines & District Branch) from 1948 -- 1965 who also serving as Vice President.

Doug was very proud of his Loyalist ancestor "Irish" John Wilson and spoke to CJB members about him at the February meeting when he received his Loyalist certificate. He will be missed.

Doug was the beloved husband of Kathy Hicks (Trobridge) for 49 years; the dear father of Erin Hicks of Kitchener and Kevin Hicks of Toronto and the cherished brother of Donald Hicks of Bancroft.

A memorial service will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations would be appreciated to St. Mary's Hospital Regional Cardiac Care Centre, 911 Queen's Blvd., Kitchener, ON N2M 1B2, or to London Health Sciences Centre - Multi-Organ Transplant Program, 339 Windermere Road, London, ON N6A 5A5. Online condolences can be made at Westmount Funeral Chapel.

...Bev Craig, UE

Queries

Proof that Mary Gage Horning is the Daughter of William and Susanna Gage

I'm trying to find proof that Mary Gage Horning is the daughter of William and Susanna Gage.

William Gage (b. 1747 Ireland, fought in American Revolution, died 1820 Wentworth, Ontario)

Susannah/Susanna Jones (b. c 1751 Wales, died 1827, Wentworth, Ontario)

Mary Gage (b. c 1777, New York, married Lewis Horning 1798 Wentworth, Ontario, died 1815-1818, Wentworth, Ontario)

Children of Mary Gage Horning and Lewis Horning:'Joseph (1799-1874)

• Susannah (1801-1873)

• Sarah (1803-1834)

• Mary Isabella (1805-1825)

• Elizabeth (1808-1855)

• William G (1810 - 1879)

• Deborah (1812-1872)

• Andrew (1814-1879)

Children of William and Susanna (suspected siblings of Mary):

• Elizabeth (1775-1821)

• John (1775-1821)

• Andrew Peter (1775-1827)

• Susannah (1781-1833)

• William (1781-1861)

• Sarah (1790-1854)

William Gage was born in Derry, Ireland. Came to the U.S. with his brother, James. The Gage Brothers married the Jones sisters (Susanna and Mary) in New York. Both brothers fought in the American Revolution. James was killed in action. After the war, the Jones sisters joined the rest of the Jones family in moving to Hamilton and Wentworth. Brother Augustus Jones had influence with land grants. Mary Jones Gage and her son, James, lived at what's known as The Battlefield House in Stoney Creek.

Mary Gage married Lewis Horning, a Mennonite from Pennsylvania. They had a number of children, and then Mary disappears from records. Lewis remarries in 1818, to an Eleanour Blau Bates. Their son, Lewis, was captured by Indians in 1832 and never heard from again.

I have the wills of William and Susanna, which don't mention Mary at all. However, having looked at other Gage families in Ontario, I can't imagine who else Mary would belong to!

I believe I've contacted all of the genealogy resources in the Stoney Creek and Wentworth area, as well as the Ontario libraries. I cannot link Mary to her parents or any children listed in William's or Susanna's wills. All suggestions appreciated.

...Robin Hurwitz