Loyalist Trails UELAC Newsletter, 2006 Archive

In this issue:
- Canadian Census - May 16, 2006
- Test Your Loyalist Knowledge!! (If you didn't find the quiz two weeks ago)
- Proving Loyalist Descent from First Nations People
- Why the nation needs a Queen of Canada: Globe and Mail, 25 April 2006
- Niagara Historical Society & Museum Plans Centennial of Memorial Hall
- Last Post: George Casselman
- Queries
      + King's Rangers under Major James Rogers
      + Loyalists from North Carolina

Canadian Census - May 16, 2006

For the first time in the 340 years that censuses have been conducted in what we now call Canada we will be asked for "CONSENT" to release our information - 92 years from now. Only if you mark YES to this question will your personal information be available publicly to future genealogists. If you answer NO or leave the answer blank this information will never be made publicly available.

Be sure you answer YES and advise your family and friends to do the same so our descendants will have access to this information in 2098.

...submitted by Rod Craig

Test Your Loyalist Knowledge!! (If you didn't find the quiz two weeks ago)

The War Museum's website has a nice little quiz, Revolution Rejected. Test your knowledge. You have to answer ten multiple choice ("multiple guess") questions and see how you manage. The results are posted. The ten questions concern the 1775 invasion of Quebec. I don't want to brag, but I got a 10 out of 10, (although I had to guess on one question, and it was a lucky guess).

It took some digging, as they had changed the location apparently. To get to the test:

1. Go to www.civilization.ca/indexe.asp.

2. Once there, look for Military History / go to www.civilization.ca/milhist/milhiste.asp

3. At the bottom under "See Also", look for Revolution Rejected: Canada and the American Revolution

4. At the left side, go to "Test Your Knowledge" and the quiz is there.

...Peter Johnson UE

Proving Loyalist Descent from First Nations People

You need to be able to prove the child-parent relationship in each generation back to the Loyalist ancestor...Joseph Brant. Just as you have started, begin with the children and work back to the ancestor.

Do the status cards give just the name of the individual? You will need to start by proving the children were the children of the father...birth records (registration or baptismal or even a notice in the newspaper). The status cards will prove their native heritage but not likely their parentage.

Then you follow that process by proving the parentage of each child back to the ancestor,( the father to the grandfather etc) in the direct line only.

You need to use primary documented sources of information such as birth, marriage, death certificates, wills, Dominion Census Returns and some other documents that show the child-parent relationship.

You may find help in the local Anglican diocese records as many first nation people were church of England.

You may need to look as the "Draper Manuscripts" as found in the Woodland Culture Centre near Brantford. These manuscripts are an oral history of Native families as taken by Lyman Draper in the late 1700s-early 1800s.

What sources do you already have?

Were your grandchildren's native families associated with either the Tyendinaga or Grand River reserves? The Band Administrator at either reserve may be able to help as well.

...Joan Lucas, Dominion Genealogy Committee, UELAC

Why the nation needs a Queen of Canada: Globe and Mail, 25 April 2006

JOHN IBBITSON - The Globe and Mail 25 April 2006

The Queen's 80th birthday has re-ignited a debate about the future of the monarchy in Canada. The editorial board of this newspaper, echoing the sentiments of many Canadians, has argued for the abolition of the monarchy when her reign ends.

The editorial board is wrong. Here is why: The board argues that the monarchy should be transferred to Canada, by making the governor-general the head of state. This means Canada would become a republic, although the editorial board does not seem to accept that reasoning.

Many of the world's strongest democracies are republics. Nonetheless, it would be a mistake to try to turn Canada into one, simply because it isn't possible. The editorial in The Globe unintentionally proved this thesis, by recommending that the governor-general be chosen by the companions of the Order of Canada. Several years ago, I suggested that senators should be chosen from the ranks of the Order of Canada, in order to remove the patronage element from the process.

I was wrong then, and the editorial board is wrong now.

The Order of Canada is awarded to citizens who make signal contributions to the Canadian community through public service, the arts, business, sports and the like. Asking the companions, the elite of this elite, to choose a head of state for the country would instantly politicize their roles. Factions would form, arguments public and private would break out, political parties and interest groups would seek to influence the debate.

A distinguished composer, say, would suddenly become a pawn or player in a political game. This is the very opposite of what the Order of Canada is supposed to be about.

If not appointed, then, the governor-general would have to be elected. But his or her powers are largely symbolic, and electing a symbol is a waste of a ballot.

The only way to solve that problem is to vest the governor-general's position with real powers, and then to elect him or her.

But what should those powers be? What powers, if any, should the prime minister lose? Should the powers of governor-general and prime minister be combined in the role of president? Wouldn't the president then have to be elected separately from the House of Commons? Some people claim to have answers to all these questions. What they do not have, and are unlikely ever to have, is a way of convincing the House of Commons, the Senate, 10 provincial legislatures and, in all likelihood, the majority of the population through a referendum, of the wisdom of their answer.

There is no realistic hope of amending the Constitution to replace the monarchy with the governor-general.

It is astonishing that advocates of reform refuse to address that fact.

There is a final reason to preserve the monarchy, which perhaps trumps all others.

This country now brings in a million immigrants every four years, mostly from countries that are not mature liberal democracies. Many of these new immigrants have an imperfect understanding of the underlying principles of Canadian political culture.

That culture is unique in the world: an amalgam of British and French, Catholic and Protestant, civil code and common law, founded on principles of respect and accommodation, majority rule and minority rights, individual freedom and collective responsibility.

Some immigrants may undervalue that achievement; some might not even fully accept it. But accept it they must. More than that: They must swear to celebrate it, uphold it and, if called upon, defend it.

Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, and her successors embody the history and legacy of the Canadian democratic experience. When we swear loyalty to her, we in fact swear loyalty to those values on which this nation was founded, for which its sons and daughters gave their lives, and to which each new arrival must commit unreservedly to become one of us.

Throw that oath away, without a consensus on what should replace it, and you risk throwing away everything that we are.

Niagara Historical Society & Museum Plans Centennial of Memorial Hall

As many of your members, may or may not know. The first Museum building in Ontario was erected in Niagara-on-the-Lake and is called Memorial Hall. It was decided in 1904 that the first memorial in the province of Ontario to the United Empire Loyalists was to take the form of a building. According to the founder of the Historical Society, Ms. Janet Carnochan, "Several names have been suggested: "The U.E.L. Memorial," "Memorial of War of 1812," but a later suggestion is to call it simply Memorial Hall, it would thus be in memory of the U.E. Loyalists who landed here, and whose names may be inscribed on the walls, it may be in memory of Regiments, British and Canadian which have fought here, whose names may also find a place on the walls, or it may be in memory of the early settlers of whatever kind, or of the business men who helped to make Niagara an important Town, and in short it may be a memorial of whatever great or good has been done here in the past." And Memorial Hall it is.

In 1907, this great building was opened and in June of 2007, we will be celebrating 100 years. The contents of the building are equally important to the history of Ontario, containing many important early artifacts and many related to the families that founded this province. To highlight this important event and the collection, the Society is developing a book and exhibition tentatively titled: "100 Years - 100 Artifacts". We are looking for 100 people to chose one artifact out of the collection and develop a write up about it. The Niagara Historical Museum contains one of Ontario's most important local history collections, with many artifacts connected to United Empire Loyalists. If you would like to contribute to this book, please contact Clark Bernat, Managing Director by email or by calling 905-468-3912.

...Clark Bernat, Managing Director, Niagara Historical Society & Museum, {nhs AT niagara dOT com} how do I email him?

Last Post: George Casselman

CASSELMAN, George "Arliss." Suddenly at home on Tuesday, April 25, 2006 George "Arliss" Casselman of Morrisburg, formerly of Iroquois. A private Graveside Service at Iroquois Point Cemetery, Iroquois. Memorial donations to the Iroquois United Church Cemetery Board gratefully acknowledged. Donations may be made at {parkerfh AT personainternet DOT com} how do I email this person?. In memory of Arliss do something kind for someone.

from doug: our trip west to Pacific Region

Many thanks to the people in the Pacific Region for a great seminar on Saturday at Fort Langley. Shirley Dargatz, Carl Stymiest and many others organized, prepared, participated in and enjoyed a really good day which included a tour of the Fort. Good presentations, prizes and lots of food kept the attention of about seventy guests.

Nancy and I really enjoyed our trip from Winnipeg to Vancouver and between the two UELAC Region weekend seminars we managed to see more history and a number of friends and relatives. That said it was somewhat of a busy trip and we are glad to be back home.

Now to focus on the upcoming Conference 2006 and our UELAC Annual Meeting June 1 - 4. Hope to see you there. Click here for details.

...Doug

King's Rangers under Major James Rogers

Would anyone know how I might find more information about the recruiting practices for soldiers in the King's Rangers under Major James Rogers (not to be confused with KRRNY). Is there an orderly book available (by Major Rogers or any of his men); where would I find pay records or any other correspondence? (I have muster rolls from Haldimand Papers.)

...Wendy Cosby Hallinan, Vancouver Branch {wendyhallinan AT shaw DOT ca} how do I email her?

Loyalists from North Carolina

I am a history major at Mount Olive College. I have been helping my history professor Mr. Dilda with historical information on the Town of Mount Olive, North Carolina. Do you have any information on American Loyalists from Wayne County, North Carolina or maybe Dobbs County, North Carolina? If you have information on other American Loyalists from the other 13 colonies I would be interested.

...Christopher Lawson, {Takfornot AT aol DOT com} how do I email him?

To protect the people who send in queries from unwanted spam email, the online edition of Loyalist Trails no longer uses direct hyperlinks for their email addresses. Simply rewrite "name AT website DOT net" as name@website.net and sent your email to that address. For example, "doug DOT grant AT insurance-canada DOT ca" is doug.grant@insurance-canada.ca. Contact Doug with questions, or to be put in touch with someone whose email address is not listed.