Loyalist Trails UELAC Newsletter, 2004 Archive

In this issue:
- Conference 2004 update
- New Web Site for Chilliwack Branch
- Library and Archives Canada note
- Newsletter Name
- "Family History Adventure 2", at the Hyatt Schoolhouse
- A Small World, A New Subscriber, and more Loyalist History
- Rebels and Redcoats: How Britain Lost America
- McNab Connections
- The British Campaign of 1777, The St Leger Expedition

Conference 2004 update

Due to the overwhelming response for our reception on Thursday, we have had to change the venue to the Canadian Canoe Museum. Starting a 6:45 p.m. a shuttle bus will start transporting people to the museum where we have arrange for a guided one hour tour, followed by a wine and cheese reception in the education room from 8:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Upon registering, make sure that you sign up for the shuttle bus. All seats are on a first come basis. Once the bus is full, it will transport everyone to the museum and then return for another load.

For those late arrivals, I will be at the hotel until roughly 8 o'clock to assist you in getting to the museum. (It would be helpful for anyone who knows that they will be arriving late to let Pam Dickey know in advance).

New Web Site for Chilliwack Branch

Chilliwack Branch has gone live with their new web site.

Library and Archives Canada note

Wayne Hovdestad, new President of Calgary Branch, has done some digging about Loyalist records and introduced me to Michael Eamon, Virtual Exhibitions and Partnerships, Library and Archives Canada. Michael just happens to also be an unproven Loyalist. Michael notes that Library and Archives Canada continues to increase the amount of information which is available on the Internet, while also increasing and improving non-Internet access too.

Michael notes "The Evidence Web" educational web site which will be launching in time for the new school year in September. This new type of Web interface will have three curriculum-based themes for research, showcasing over 100 documents. One of the educational themes is the Loyalists entailing digitized nominal rolls, paintings, etc. It really only is the tip-of-the-iceberg, but it is a start for students. Other educational themes and digitized documents will be added in the future.

The raison d'être of any archives is to appraise, acquire, describe, preserve and present documents in context to ensure their authenticity for this and future generations. Normally, for digitized material, this means attaching the documents to their archival description available through our main Web database ArchiviaNet. See our War Diaries. In some cases, we will attach the digitized images to other types of finding aids and indices, granted that they also give reference to the proper archival description, or citation. See the First World War Attestation database. We look forward to more discussions with Michael to see if the UELAC could play some role in further dvelopments.

Newsletter Name

I started this newsletter using what I thought was a neat name "Loyalist Lines". Since then I have discovered that Manitoba Branch uses the same name, so it is on to something else. I am using the rather bland "Loyalist News" this time. Do you have a suggestion for a new, catchy, meaningful name? Welcome your suggestions.

"Family History Adventure 2", at the Hyatt Schoolhouse

"Family History Adventure 2", at the Hyatt Schoolhouse, Milby, Wed. May 19, 2004.

The session began with a coffee hour and meeting of friends. The welcome was given by Phyllis Emery Skeats who introduced Beverly Loomis as leader for the day. Six participants and story tellers were introduced and the storytelling began. Phyllis Skeats began with her presentation on the Leavitt family, followed by Mary Jean Bean who spoke on the Reed family. The story of the Warner family was told by Edson Warner and Gwen Conner McKnight gave an interesting narration on the Stocks family.

A luncheon hour consisting of a potluck meal and interesting conversation was enjoyed by all. The afternoon presentations began with Russell Nichols remembering the Doak family from the Hillhurst area which included mentions of various forgotten cemeteries which were revived and cared for after years of neglect. Cemeteries tell many stories about the lives of the first settlers in the Eastern Townships. Beverley Loomis was the final speaker who read excerpts from "Lifelines", a book of letters written between members of the Stacey family. These mini stories told of family members who left England and settled in the Ascot area of the Eastern Townships in the middle of the nineteenth century. All of the stories talked about the struggles, hardships and accomplishments of the early pioneers.

The session ended with a welcome visit from Donald Patriquin, his wife and two members of the cast of an upcoming musical based on the "Lifelines" letters. The musical, "Louisa", will be premiered in the last two weeks of April and the first week of May, 2005. Donald Patriquin is a well-known musician who teaches, composes, performs, accompanies and conducts. Born in Sherbrooke, Donald is proud of his French and English ancestry and is working on this project with the rising Canadian theatre director Sunil Mahtani, recently appointed director of the Townships Stage at the Piggery. It is their hope that "Louisa" will further interest in Quebec's heritage, and that it will eventually be translated and presented in French. It is also their hope that it will be presented at the Piggery during another season. The short preview of this new musical was enjoyed by all present in the historic Hyatt schoolhouse. It proved to be a fittin g ending to the oral presentations of early settlers in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, reflecting as it did the struggles and strengths of a pioneer family in Pre-Confederation Lower Canada.

...submitted by Phyllis Emery Skeats, via Bev. Loomis

PS: We have been granted a summer student to man the school for 6 weeks this summer, 30 hours/week. We shall be having the same girl as last year which will make it easier for us as she is familiar with the set-up. The Milby Woman's Institute are using the school for their June meeting which is actually booked for June 3rd.

A Small World, A New Subscriber, and more Loyalist History

Hi Doug: Just received a copy of your UEL newsletter. .... As a matter of interest, I just finished a book "My Help Comes From Above" a history of the Blakeney/Blakley family and in particular my ancestor, Chambers Blakley and his brother David , Loyalists from South Carolina. I also noticed Saskatchewan (Regina Branch) has a special UEL (Cairn) Project. Allan Blakeney, the former premier of Saskatchewan, is a cousin and direct descendant of Chambers Blakley. Best Regards, Ray Blakeney, UE

Rebels and Redcoats: How Britain Lost America

With vivid dramatizations of battles, eyewitness accounts, original documents and paintings, Rebels and Redcoats: How Britain Lost America tells the story of the American Revolution from an unusual point of view - that of the British losers. Presented by renowned British military historian Richard Holmes, this four-part series airs on PBS Wednesdays, June 23-30, 2004, 9:00 p.m. in two-hour segments.

REBELS AND REDCOATS focuses on the military struggle - the soldiers, the leaders, the tactics and the strategy of this grand conflict, but it also explores the painful conflicts within the American people themselves. It takes viewers inside the vicious struggles of brothers, friends and families forced to choose sides between loyalists and rebels.

The series traces the ups and downs of this drama from the beginning of the insurrection in Boston to the surrender of the British forces to Washington in Yorktown. REBELS AND REDCOATS puts the war in the context of the world events that so affected its outcome, and that helped to put a powerful new player, the United States, on the world map.

- as posted in the Southsider® News, published by Mel Jenkins, Columbia, SC. Mel notes that he has some third-hand personal interest in the UEL

McNab Connections

There was a Dedication of a Memorial to the MacNab Family at Hamilton Cemetery by The Head-of-the-Lake Historical Society -May 15, 2004. This is the 40th anniversary of this historical group. When the group was compiling information for a book about Hamilton City streets they came across Inchbury St. which went back as the name of the burial plot Sir Allan MacNab set aside at the time of his 11 year old son, Robert's death, from a hunting accident in 1834. The private burial ground, on the grounds of Dundurn Castle estate was named "Inchbuie" after the ancestral burial ground of the MacNab family in Scotland.

As per the Loyalist lineage, Sir Allan Napier MacNab's father was Allan MacNab Sr (1758-1835) b. in Scotland, served as Lieutenant with the Queen's Rangers during the Am Rev, settled in Upper Canada at the end of the conflict. He served in various capacities in the provincial government, including sergeant-at-arms.

His son, Sir Allan Napier MacNab (1798-1862) was b. in Newark and was known as a boy hero during the War of 1812. In 1821 he married his first wife, Elizabeth Brooke and started to practise law in York. In 1826 Elizabeth died leaving three small children to raise. Allan then moved to Hamilton and in 1831 married his second wife, Mary Stuart with whom he had 3 more children. In 1832 the construction began on Dundurn Castle. During the Rebellion of 1837 MacNab took an active part in quelling the rebel forces led by Wm. Lyon Mackenzie, in the process gaining international renown. Queen Victoria knighted him in 1838 for his service to the Crown.

MacNab brought the Great Western RR to Hamilton, established the town's first bank, the Gore Bank and represented the Gore District in parliament for 30 years, in the end serving as premier of the United Canadas from 1854-56.

MacNab's 2nd wife, Mary and David, his elder brother, both died in 1840. Sir Allan's sister-in-law, Sophia and sister to his late wife, Mary, moved into Dundurn to take care of the remaining children. She was a strong Catholic and she insisted that on his death bed, Allan converted to Catholicism. Thus he was buried in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, just east of Dundurn. With him are the remains of his second wife, Mary, his sister-in-law, Sophia and other RC members. The Protestant family members were disinterred in 1909 and moved from Inchbuie, on Dundurn grounds,to across the street at the Hamilton Cemetery because the property was sold for a gravel pit that never materialized. The graves of MacNab's parents, his son, Robert, his brother, David, 2 of his brothers sons who died in infancy, and 2 unidentified infants were moved to Plot # 257 Sec N. Their graves didn't have a marker until yesterday. The Head-of-the-Lake past president Margaret Houghton, current president, Paul Kuzyk U.E. (our branch's VP last year but no current office this year) and David Beland, chair of the burial stone committee were the main proponents of this memorial. - submitted by Ruth Nicholson

The British Campaign of 1777, The St Leger Expedition

The British Campaign of 1777, The St Leger Expedition, The forces of Crown and Congress - SECOND EDITION, by Gavin K. Watt and James F. Morrison

The authors provided your name as a potential outlet for their new book and other books that we publish on related topics, including the American Revolution and United Empire Loyalists. For a description of the book please see here. For list of other titles from Global Heritage Press see here.

As is often the case in historical publishing, the authors of 'The British Campaign of 1777' learned of additional and conflicting information after publishing the first edition of their work. This new SECOND EDITION is a revised and expanded edition that addresses those changes, additions and corrections.

This edition was published by Global Heritage Press Inc. of Milton, Ontario and is available to approved booksellers at a trade discount of 40%. The discount is based on a minimum order of 6 copies (can be any combination of our titles). Initial orders can be paid for by credit card (Visa, Master Card, Amex). Subsequent orders can be invoiced on a net 30 day basis.

The recommended retail price for the book is: $49.95 Canadian dollars (minus 40% discount for booksellers) $36.95 USA dollars (minus 40% discount for booksellers)

Order fulfillment for booksellers is done by our sister company GlobalGenealogy.com Inc.

To order copies of the book for your store, please contact us toll free at 1-800-361-5168 Monday to Saturday 9-5 and on Sunday 11-5. You can order online too. All Global Heritage books that are in print are listed here. This specific title is listed here.

Our customer service associates intercept bookseller orders and process them with your discount. We ship to Canada via Expedited Parcel (from Campbellville ON), and to the USA via Fed Ex Ground (from Buffalo, NY). Anticipate wholesale orders will be delivered within one week of your order.

Rick Roberts, Publisher, Global Heritage Press Inc. Milton, Ontario, Canada. - submitted by George Anderson