Loyalist Trails UELAC Newsletter, 2006 Archive

In this issue:
- Thanks for Lt. Jeremiah French Dedication in 2005; plans for 2009
- Prince Edward County Web Site
- Descendants Search: Battles of Queenston Heights and Plains of Abraham - Progress Report
- More Loyalist Monuments Added to UELAC Web Site
- Description of Branch Projects Updated
- Died This Day 27 July, 1812, Richard Cartwright - Globe & Mail
- Queries
      + Dr. James Macnab
      + Edward Oxnard
      + Capt. Thomas Spragg, and sons Richard and Elijah

Thanks for Lt. Jeremiah French Dedication in 2005; plans for 2009

I still enjoy reading your newsletter and my nephew is still offering to build a cabin for me on his property in Parish, NY. If I ever take him up on that I would seriously like to become more involved with your many activities.

I read with interest the note in the current newsletter about Jim Brownell, MP. Regrettably I never thanked him properly for his involvement in the Lt. Jeremiah French Dedication last year as well as for promoting the census bill in your parliament that would have precluded a great amount of genealogical activity. I would imagine he was formally thanked by your organization. He seems to have a keen interest in Loyalist affairs. Is he a member?

I am still working on the "BIG ONE", the first ever full French Family reunion in Manchester, VT in 2009. I already contacted Gavin Watt about having his re-enactors there and have communicated with some of their counterparts on the Patriot side. Still haven't found a compatible date - but hope to do so soon. As you may recall I am working on the 3rd edition of the French Family genealogy. I am hopeful of having a delivery date at or about the date of the "BIG ONE".

I hope to include several of the fine articles written about Lt. Jeremiah French in the new edition and I guarantee much more prominence will be given him and his descendants. I will be certain to include a note about the extra efforts made by the UEL in the Dedication last year of which I am still very proud of having been apart.

My very best to you all in all you do for your wonderful organization.

...Bill French, Houston {wcfrench AT hal-pc DOT org}

Prince Edward County Web Site

If your Loyalist ancestors settled in Prince Edward County, Upper Canada (now Ontario) in the Adolphustown - Fredericksburgh area, take a look at the books and articles available from the South Fredericksburgh Heritage Committee.

The site includes cemeteries, obituaries, 1851 census records, as well as Articles of local interest. I found information about families such as the Roblins, Huffs, Dorlands, Ruttans, even my non-Loyalist ancestor, Peter Swade, who was a township officer in 1802.

The book sold by the Committee, "Front of South Fredericksburgh" contains a signature of my Loyalist ancestor, Andrew Denike, who was one of the petitioners for St Paul's church.

...Nancy Conn, U.E.

Descendants Search: Battles of Queenston Heights and Plains of Abraham - Progress Report

In June we carried an item regarding a one-hour documentary special about the Battle of Queenston Heights, to be broadcast on history Television later this year. The show is to be part of a larger three-part series exploring historic Canadian conflicts (Plains of Abraham, Queenston Heights, Louis Riel) through an investigative, genealogical process. Yap Films Inc. will document the search for living descendants of veterans of these conflicts, assisted by internationally recognized historians and genealogists. The film will be very much about the process of this search, as any new information adding to the larger story of these conflicts will surface through the quest for these unique family narratives.

This week, David Ricketts UE of the Hamilton Branch reports that he has had a phone conversation and a video-taped interview with Robin Waite from YAP Films Inc. All seems to be a go with regard to the film. Waite needs to show the tape to his folks, but based on the interview yesterday, it appears to be a good fit to him. They have only found 2 people so far and production starts soon ...they would have liked to have 3 people.

As a descendant of someone who fought at the Battle of Queenston Heights,Ricketts found it helpful to be able to show some of the research done to prove my UEL. He says he put in a plug for the organization and will again if they go to production. "I know we have to do our own research but it helps if we have others how would you say it Gloria [Oakes] ...guiding us along. George Hamilton( 3rd Great-Grandfather) was the person in my lineage who along with his brother Alexander (3rd Great- Uncle) fought at Queenston and Lundy's Lane in the Niagara Light Dragoons. It will be interesting to find out what they did in the War of 1812."

...David Ricketts, ON, UE, CIP, CPD

More Loyalist Monuments Added to UELAC Web Site

Check out the recent additions to the Loyalist Monuments section, including:

• Loyalist Rock with Plaque in Loyalist Plaza - Saint John: A plaque embedded in a granite boulder on raised base. Erected by the Government of Canada in 1923 – now part of Loyalist Plaza.
• UEL Plaque - Fredericton: A granite monument with 150th Anniversary Plaque commemorating the arrival of the United Empire Loyalists in Fredericton in 1783. Dedicated 1933.
• Loyalist Plaque – Winnipeg, Manitoba: A UEL Plaque, 1967, in the Manitoba Legislature Building by the entrance to the Archives. Unveiled 29 May 1968.
• Loyalist Cairn – Regina, Saskatchewan: Cairn with plaques commemorating the Loyalist pioneers who partly settled Saskatchewan. Erected by Regina Branch in 2005.
• Young Commemorative Plaque – Indiana, Ontario: A plaque on large granite stone located at Young Cemetery, Seneca Township, Haldimand County, Ontario (between Cayuga and York)– dedicated to Adam Young and his family 12 September 1998.

We are looking for more monuments, cairns, plaques etc. that have a Loyalist theme or context to them. If there is one or more in your area, and you can get a good photo, digital or traditional, please help us make this section of our web site more comprehensive.

...Fred Hayward, UE {fhhayward AT idirect DOT com} how do I email him?

Description of Branch Projects Updated

The current status of the Dufferin Heights Settlers Monument project, assisted by the Little Forks Branch and UELAC has been updated in the Branch Projects portion of our UELAC web site.

Died This Day 27 July, 1812, Richard Cartwright - Globe & Mail

Businessman, judge, militia officer and writer born in Albany, N.Y., on Feb. 2, 1759.

A committed Loyalist, he was expelled from New York a year after the start of the U.S. War of Independence. He served as secretary to John Butler's Rangers, an irregular militia regiment in the British Army that was known for its savagery. After the war, he settled in Kingston, went into commerce and became a business and political leader. A dedicated churchman, he influenced Bishop John Strachan and held Yankee attitudes that often clashed with the decidedly British views and anglophile policies of lieutenant-governor John Simcoe. Later, he came to support the Upper Canada Conservative status quo.

Dr. James Macnab

I am seeking information on Dr. James Macnab (McNabb/MacNabb) in an effort to prove he was a U.E Loyalist. Family legend states that he, his wife and two sons immigrated to Virginia after 1761, and with the outbreak of the conflict leading to the American Revolution, he joined Lord Dunmore's Regiment, American Loyal Legion in 1774, raised in Princess Anne and Norfolk Counties, VA.

At some point he moved his family to Vermont (to the New Hampshire grants) and had served with McAlpine in the Burgoyne campaign, then to Quebec where he served in Capt. (later Major) Daniel McAlpine's corps of Invalids. He and his family (wife and now 4 sons and at least one daughter) were at Machiche, Quebec by 1779 perhaps earlier. James may have been an assistant surgeon with McAlpine. James died early in the new year 1780 (Jan 1780?).

He had been dead 9 years before the list of Loyalists was ordered to be made, and another 7 before it actually was made. His name was removed in 1804 "because he was deceased". His sons received land in Upper Canada as SUEs. It is from the petitions of his three younger sons that claim Dr. James Macnab died at Machiche in 1780 and a letter signed by Dr. Robert Kerr, surgeon in the Indian Department in which Dr. Kerr stated that he "Was well acquainted with Dr. James McNabb when he acted as assistant surgeon to the loyalists during the first war with America, and that he (Kerr) had attended him in his last illness at Machiche in Lower Canada where he died about the beginning of the year 1780. Signed at York 23 Feb. 1818". This original letter is now lost although it is referred to in Wm. Caniff's "The Medical Profession in Upper Canada".

Did the American Loyal Legion actually exist? Possibly in the Central or Southern Command?

Did James Macnab actually serve with McAlpine in the Burgoyne Campaign?

Did James Macnab and family escape with McAlpine and come to Quebec in the closing days of the Burgoyne campaign?

Does anyone know of the Loyalist hospital established at Three Rivers by Daniel McAlpine, in 1779?

Any help would be most appreciated.

...Joan Lucas, UE, Genealogist, Kawartha Br.

Edward Oxnard

I am doing some research on the above person who was a loyalist during the Revolutionary War.

I have very little information about him. I became interested because I acquired a set of books ("The Works of Alexander Pope") which are signed by Edward Oxnard in each of the ten volumes. I have looked at his signature on a few documents and are pretty certain they belonged to him. The books are a 1757 edition, and his signature is dated 1784.

I am wondering if you have any further information on him or documents I may be able to get hold of. I know he has some journals somewhere.

...Nancy Van Dreal {n_vandreal AT yahoo DOT com} how do I email her?

Capt. Thomas Spragg, and sons Richard and Elijah

I'm trying to document the movement of the Loyalists from Long Island to St. John, NB; particularly Capt. Thomas Spragg and his sons, Richard and Elijah, farmers who were forced into exile.

I hope you can recommend some accurate Internet sites or books I could read about this era in this area. I have read much War of Independence / Loyalists general history but now I need details.

...Elizabeth Drake McDonald, Chase, BC, {elizabeth_mcdonald AT cablelan DOT net} how do I email her?

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