Loyalist Trails UELAC Newsletter, 2006 Archive

In this issue:
- Map of the Province of New York, dated 1779
- Loyalist Mural at Jarvis Collegiate Toronto
- Shelburne NS Meeting: Loyalist Landing 2008 Celebrations (held June 22)
- Loyalist Gazette Index
- Sir Guy Carleton Branch donates Gazette subscription
- Capt. John Saunders, Queen's Rangers, Chief Justice New Brunwsick
- Canadian Heritage Gallery
- Brock conquers Hwy. 405; Province honours war hero by naming highway after him
- Note about Hazel Smith-McKay
- Died This Day, Benedict Arnold, Globe & Mail, June 20, 2006
- Queries
      + Response re Loyalist Foods
      + Response re Bernard Snell

Map of the Province of New York, dated 1779

Kingston and District Branch UEL, P.O. Box 635 Kingston Ontario K7L 4X1 still has for sale reprint copies of a very detailed Map of the Province of New York, dated 1779, which does show Patents and which you might find very useful - size about 22" x 28". Cost is $15 (includes mailing cost) must be prepaid with order, cheque to "Kingston and District Branch UEL". (Due to the size and shape of the mailing containers, the mailing cost is higher than expected)

...Sharon Cadieux

Loyalist Mural at Jarvis Collegiate Toronto

Just a couple of days ago, I had a note from one of our members who has a hobby in old papers and the like. In a 1931 issue of the monthly magazine "The Canadian" he found an article titled "Interpreting the Pioneers", in this issue featuring the Dean of Canadian Artists, George Agnew Reid.

On page 4 of the article is a picture "United Empire Loyalists ascending the St Lawrence 1783 from the murals in the Jarvis Street Collegiate Institute, Toronto". Without indicating when they were painted, the article indicates that after he retired as Principal from the Ont College of Art, he undertook to paint a series of murals to decorate the Assembly Room of the Jarvis Collegiate.

We wondered if you might know if these murals are still there and visible, or if not, if they have been archived, stored, moved?

...Doug

I am sorry that you didn't know about the Jarvis murals. They are spectacular and cover all of the walls of the auditorium at Jarvis. I have led tours there for ROM volunteers along with visits to the murals at Rosedale Public School and the Lismer mural at Humberside. I have never looked at them from the UEL perspective and that is interesting.

Perhaps you could set up a tour sometime so a group could see them.

......Nancy Mallett, Archivist. St. James Cathedral

Shelburne NS Meeting: Loyalist Landing 2008 Celebrations (held June 22)

WHO: Committee Chairs Alan Delaney (Town of Shelburne), Kim Walker (Shelburne County Genealogical Society) and Committee, His Worship Parker G. Comeau, Mayor of Shelburne, Mrs. Paulette Scott, Warden, Municipality of the District of Shelburne, Mr. Sterling Belliveau, Warden of the District of Barrington and newly-elected Member of the Legislative Assembly, His Worship Darian Huskilson, Mayor of Lockeport, His Worship Leigh Stoddart, Mayor of Clarks Harbour, Ms. Elizabeth Rhuland, President, Shelburne & Area Chamber of Commerce, Mrs. Lynne Perry, Executive Director of South Shore Tourism Association, Mr. Timothy Gillespie, President, Discover Shelburne County Tourism Association, Rita Jenkins, Director of the Grand 1983 Loyalist Bicentennial Celebrations and Various and Sundry other Illustrious Guests, plus up to 200 Interested Citizens of the Shiretown and surrounding Regions...

Plus a Wealth of Characters from the 18th Century in Full Dress and Regalia, the Town Crier, a Representative of His Majesty's Forces, Soldiers and Militia, fifers, a Representave of the Brigade of the American Revolution, &tc., Various Ladies & Gentlemen, Lords & Ladies, Wenches and Workmen, &tc., &tc.

The Grand Celebrations Planned for the Summer of 2008 begin on this June 22 evening in 2006. They will culminate in weeks of Festivities throughout the Land of New Scotland, with a sure Concentration on Shelburne and its Neighbors, with 300 to 500 costumed reenactors, Long Boats and Tall Ships, the creation of an 18th Century Town, where once stood North Americas fourth largest City, replete with the persons and items necessary for that effect. Joining this in 2008 will be from 3,000 to 10,000 visitors from throughout Nova Scotia, Canada, North America and the World, plus Various Illustrious Guests. An invitation to HRH Prince Charles has been sent and well received and we are inclined to believe that he will recall his assurance in 1983 that he would return to this place he enjoyed so much.

When more than 30 ships sailed into Port Roseway Harbour on May 4, 1783, they carried thousands of displaced Loyalists, filled with anticipation and hope for a good life in a new land. This circumstance set in motion events which would resonate in Canadian history for centuries. For the more than 12,000 Loyalist men, women and children who would arrive within months in Shelburne and other parts of Nova Scotia, it would change their lives forever.

Now, with the 225th anniversary of that momentous period in our history, a little more than two years away, we have begun the task of preparing a celebration of that time and people - and the history that they created and set into motion. Shelburne is the absolute epicentre of Loyalist history and there remains much about the Town and surrounding area which speaks of that proud history.

Contact: website / News Release / Programme

Loyalist Gazette Index

Information about past issues of the Loyalist gazette is now posted on our web site.

As part of this a rudimentary index has been created. In order to give more details, a somewhat more comprehensive index of the latest two issues, Fall 2005 and Spring 2006, has been developed. These indices are posted there as individual issue indices and the larger index of all issues includes the same data.

Sir Guy Carleton Branch donates Gazette subscription

Sir Guy Carleton Branch has donated a subscription to the Loyalist gazette to Nepean Centrepointe Library. Thanks to Sylvia Powers and the Executive Team there.

Capt. John Saunders, Queen's Rangers, Chief Justice New Brunwsick

In the journal of the Company of Military Historians, MILITARY COLLECTOR AND HISTORIAN, Vol. 58, No. 2, Summer 2006, page 110 - 116, an article appears titled " Capt. John Saunders of the Queen's Rangers: The Portrait and the Man" by Gregory J. W. Urwin. Urwin states:

"John Saunders seemed to possess all the qualities necessary to secure a place among America's Founding Fathers.----- Saunders was only twenty-one when the War of Independence erupted in 1775, but he proved to be a man of strong character - one who clung to his convictions regardless of the consequences.----Saunders would accept a commission in what became the most elite Loyalist regiments raised by the British Army, and he proceeded to distinguish himself as a leader of both light infantry and light dragoons. Though not honored and relatively unknown in the land of his birth, he became a prominent figure in the development of British Canada".

The article ends, "Chief Justice Saunders died at Frederick, New Brunswick's capital, on 24 May 1834, just a week short of his eighty-first birthday.(Born on 1 June 1753, in Princess Anne County, Virginia) ----John Saunders had dedicated nearly six decades of his life to defending the prerogatives of the British crown as either a soldier or in a civil capacity. While Virginia has not admitted him to its heavily populated pantheon of heroes, he is remembered as one of the founding fathers of New Brunswick".

[submitted by Bill Glidden]

Canadian Heritage Gallery

With objectives to promote the accessibility, knowledge and research of Canadian Heritage by publishing via the Internet an extensive collection of historical photos, original documents, Canadian artwork, maps, and illustrations, fully documented and researched for historical authenticity, and presented in a "user friendly" format; And to advance dissemination of materials and information pertaining to the Heritage of Canada by providing printed or digital reproductions of selected images and caption information, as published on this Site.

The reproductions are available at a charge. Within their overall scope, they have a number of images for Loyalists, for Atlantic Canada and for Upper Canada & St. Lawrence

[submitted by Donna Magee]

Brock conquers Hwy. 405; Province honours war hero by naming highway after him

Niagara Falls Review, 22 June 2006 - Niagara drivers will have a frequent reminder of the War of 1812 when they drive along the General Brock Parkway this fall after the Ministry of Transportation formally renames Highway 405. Niagara Falls MPP Kim Craitor said Wednesday Ontario's Liberal government made the decision to honour Maj.-Gen. Sir Isaac Brock, a hero of the war, by naming the highway after him. That news couldn't come soon enough for Lt.-Col. Bernie Nehring, a former commanding officer of the Lincoln and Welland militia regiment, who is trying to raise awareness about Brock's role in Canadian history.

"I'm trying to push the thing here with Maj.-Gen. Sir Isaac Brock as a real genuine Canadian hero - one who hasn't received his due," said Nehring, a Niagara Falls resident. Nehring began last year urging the Ministry of Transportation to rename the highway, which runs past the battlefield where Brock died, in Brock's honour.

Though Brock was born on Guernsey in the English Channel in 1769, his military career was closely linked with Canada where he led the British and Canadian soldiers in Upper Canada when the United States declared war in 1812. He led the capture of Detroit and the Battle of Queenston Heights on Oct. 13, 1812. With the bicentennial of the war looming, Nehring wants the public to make a bigger deal of Brock's historical legacy.

Ontario has a process for renaming public highways. It requires letters of support from the municipalities through which the road passes. "It was an exercise in diplomacy and political action for me. I thought this was going to be easy," Nehring said. Other highways in Ontario are named after historic or public figures, including the Queen Elizabeth Way, Hamilton's Lincoln Alexander Parkway and the Veterans' Memorial Highway south of Ottawa.

Highway 405, the stretch of road between the Queenston-Lewiston bridge and the Queen Elizabeth Way, will become Gen. Brock Parkway Oct. 13. That's the anniversary of the Battle of Queenston Heights, in which Brock perished trying to take back the high ground from American invaders who crossed the Niagara River from Lewiston.

Nehring said a naming ceremony involving Royal Canadian Legion branches from Niagara and historical societies will be held. "I'm going to have a really fine show here, I think," he said.

It's fitting to have Highway 405 renamed after Brock because it runs past Brock's Monument, the column with a stone statue of the general towering over Queenston Heights park, Craitor said. "There are not too many that have the parkway and the monument right there," Craitor said.

While Nehring was pushing ministers and bureaucrats in the Ministry of Transportation to make the change, Craitor had introduced a private members bill at Queen's Park last year with the same objective. "Everything seemed to be supportive," said Craitor, who also lobbied Premier Dalton McGuinty and cabinet ministers. Craitor's bill received first reading in the legislature, but Transportation Minister Donna Cansfield granted the request this week before the bill proceeded.

[submitted by Ed Scott]

Note about Hazel Smith-McKay

Talk about co-incidences! I read of the passing of Hazel Smith-McKay and it dawned on me that she was indeed the Hazel McKay whose husband Carl worked for me as a real estate salesman from 1955 until he died sometime in the seventies ( I don't have the exact date). Hazel moved west after "Mac" died and I lost touch with her. I had presumed that she had died years ago.

...Peter Davy UE, Kingstn Branch

Died This Day, Benedict Arnold, Globe & Mail, June 20, 2006

Soldier born at Norwich Conn. on Jan 14, 1741 or 1742.

After being apprenticed to an apothecary, he preferred the excitement of military life and joined a New York militia during the Seven Years War and fought for the British Army against France. When the U.S. War of Independence erupted, he switched sides, formed a small army of militia and took Fort Ticonderoga. Promoted to General, he was part of a disastrous, ill-planned invasion of Canada but distinguished himself through acts of cunning and bravery. The revolutionary cause began to lose its appeal when the Continental Congress voted to join an alliance with France, which he hated. In the previous war, he had suffered at the hands of the French. He was passed over for promotion and also felt wrongly accused of corruption. Put in charge of the garrison at West Point, N.Y., he planned to turn the fort over to the British but the plot was exposed and he fled to England. He was rewarded with 6,315 Br Pounds and a pension. In 1786, he settled in Saint John. He remained only five years and left under a cloud. In 1798, he was awarded a large grant of land in Upper Canada but never again left England.

Response re Loyalist Foods

I am going to send a very complete description of food types, recipes and preparation prepared by Elizabeth McAnulty of the Company of Select Marksmen and the Royal Yorkers. Elizabeth is the reigning expert on these questions.

The recipes that she mentions were in constant use by the military when the ingredients were available. It doesn't take too much imagination to figure out what foods the loyalist settlers had with them in the new settlements. They certainly were not picking fresh fruits or vegetables out of gardens. Perhaps some berries.

From the paintings of the early settlements, it is very clear that the loyalists supplemented their salt meats with fresh fish. And it is known that they at times hunted for animals and birds to go in the kettles, or they purchased same from native hunters in the area.

Elizabeth McAnulty and the Company of Select Marksmen

1. Food and Cooking

2. Fire

3. Shelters

Mess group leaders are responsible for the care and feeding of their troops. It is the most important responsibility in the hobby. It is your job to make sure that everyone is warm, dry, fed, and watered. Here’s how.

"The Company of Select Marksmen" has a web site; in this site, under the "Food and Provision" heading, you will find three categories, the first and third being the most relevant to the query.

Mess Duties

Provisions Lists

Period Food Recipes

...submitted by Gavin Watt, Honorary VP

Response re Bernard Snell

Barnett aka Barnard Snell did not make a claim before the Land Loss Commissioners!

Archives of Ontario, Land/Losses Commission- See Index page 1427 -170.

Claim No. 99, dated 19 July 1786.

I will paraphrase the content of this entry…

Evidence of Claim by George SNELL, Late of So. Carolina, who states that he was the son of Barnett Snell. George stated that his father had died in 1781, on James River (South Carolina).

George was apparently 17 years of age in 1786 when he appeared before the Commissioners.

George Snell states that he came with his “Brothers-in-Law, Adam Fralick and John Thornton to this country in 1781”. He now resides in Rawdon.

George produced his father’s UNDATED Will, which names Barnet Snell’s children. According to this Will, the beneficiaries included George Snell, Nancy Fralick of Rawdon and Mary Thornton of Saint John.

Based upon this evidence, it would be possible for the UELAC Genealogist to approve a descendant’s claim. However, the Branch Genealogist must assure that the applicant’s proof sheet contains all the information known and a copy of this page from the Archives of Ontario Volume 2.

Other supporting evidence should be submitted. Is there a marriage record of Nancy Snell to Adam Fralick?

...Loyally, Donald J. Flowers, UE, Former Genealogist -Toronto Branch

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