Loyalist Trails UELAC Newsletter, 2006 Archive

In this issue:
- Petition for State Funeral for Last Veteran of WWI
- Remembrance Day 2006
- Halifax/Dartmouth Branch Donates Award
- Loyalist Fifes and Drums Receive Boost
- Biography of Nathaniel A. Garfield, by Roger Reid, UE
- Died This day, 11 November 1838, 80 Rebels
- Queries
      + Information on Sherwood, Woodrow, Hastings, and McLeod Loyalists of New Brunswick

Petition for State Funeral for Last Veteran of WWI

I am emailing to encourage you to sign an online petition calling on the Prime Minister to offer a State Funeral to the family of the last veteran of the First World War resident in Canada. Only three Canadian veterans of the First World War remain. They are 106 and 105 years of age.

To sign the online petition, click here.

For more information on the campaign for a State Funeral for the last Great War veteran visit www.dominion.ca/petition/background.php

Please forward this message on to friends and family!

...Karen Windover, U.E., Toronto Branch President UELAC

[I received several copies of this request from various people; I too signed the petition -- Doug]

Remembrance Day 2006

Remembrance Day has traditionally been an occasion honoured by members of the UELAC. I am sure that this year was no exception, as members attended ceremonies across the country. I received an invitation to attend the ceremony at Queen's Park in Toronto, and it was the first time for it to be held at the new Veterans' Memorial. As Remembrance Day is so frequently on a weekday, until my retirement I was at work on that date, although always doing my part to make sure the Veterans were honoured at the school. This year then was rather special, and it offered me an opportunity to place a wreath on behalf of the UELAC, which was an honour. The ceremony was followed by an invititation to visit the Lt. Governer's Suite, and as my youngest daughter was with me, it was a wonderful opportunity for her to view a special place not always open to the Public.

...Peter W. Johnson UE, President, UELAC

Several members of Little Forks Branch participated in the Remembrance Day celebrations held last Sunday, Nov.5th. here in Lennoxville. Members Edward Hyatt U.E., Veteran-WWll and George Beaulieu U.E.,Vice-Pres. A.N.A.F. placed a wreath at the cenotaph on behalf of our Branch.

Many towns celebrated last week-end in order to allow more people to attend to-morrow's activities being held in Stanstead and Sherbrooke.Edward Hyatt will once again be doing the honors in Stanstead as he is a member of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch in Stanstead.

...Bev. Loomis UE, President Little Forks Branch

Halifax/Dartmouth Branch Donates Award

In a letter from UELAC President Peter Johnson it states " Congratulations on being the first branch to register with Dominion Office a membership equal to 125% of year-end 2005 membership." The Halifax-Dartmouth Branch did this with very little effort. Imagine what we could do if we tried. The $150 plus the previous $100 that we received [on attaining 110%] will be donated to the Black Loyalists Heritage Society through the 'buy a book" program run by the Whirligig Book Shop in Shelburne.

Attached is more info on the 'buy a book" program.

...Lew Perry UE, President Halifax/Dartmouth Branch

[From the Tuesday October 31, 2006 edition of The Coast Guard, with a photo of Betty and Bill Camp and a number of Society members:]

"Heritage Society Receives Book Donation" by Timothy Gillespie.

After having put in place a program to have local citizens collaborate in the rebuilding of the reference library for the Black Loyalist Heritage Society, Bill and Betty Camp presented almost 70 titles to the group during a short ceremony in Birchtown recently.

"I can't really imagine how we would have done it without this incredible effort, " explained Society Registrar and Ethno-historian, Deborah Hill. "I don;t think it would have been replaced anytime soon."

The camps, and their customers at the Whirligig Book Shop, used posters, flyers, word of mouth and the shop's web site to promote the "buy a book" campaign in the months since the disastrous arson fire which destroyed the library at the society's office.

"We didn't know what to expect when we put the idea together, but people have been very generous and the response has been great," said Betty Camp.

Some titles have yet to be located. Anyone wishing to help rebuild the society's library can contact Deborah Hill at 875-1310.

Loyalist Fifes and Drums Receive Boost

The Loyalist Fifes and Drums (UELAC Bay of Quinte Branch) capped a successful first season with the announcement of an $8,000 grant from PELA Community Futures Development Corporation. The fund will be used to purchase new instruments and uniform materials. A previous grant by Dominion allowed the Fifes and Drums to be goodwill ambassadors at events throughout Ontario and the United States; including twice at Fort George, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Fort Henry, Kingston, and Yorktown, Virginia. To find out more about the Loyalist Fifes and Drums please click here to visit their website.

...Brandt Zetterberg, U.E. Executive Director, U.E.L. Heritage Centre & Park; (a preservation project of UELAC Bay of Quinte Branch)

Biography of Nathaniel A. Garfield, by Roger Reid, UE

There is confusion about the early years of Nathaniel A. Gaffield (alias Amherst Ferrol) as no male baby is mentioned in the Indian raid on 21 June 1755 at Bridgeman's Fort. He may have been included with Mrs. Howe's children or his mother, Unis Gaffield/Garfield, may have been pregnant when captured. Several sources (John Leslie Gaffield’s obituary and Perkins-Bull papers) state that he was taken as a babe and recaptured as a small boy in the raid on an Indian village.

We believe Nathaniel's parents, Benjamin Garfield and Eunice Cooley, were married in 1752. A daughter, also Eunice, is mentioned and may have been born at Bridgman's Fort. The story of the Indian raid as told by Jeremiah Howe to Rev. Gay appears in the book ‘New England Captives Carried To Canada’ by Emma Lewis Coleman. She describes an Indian raid in which Benjamin Garfield died by drowning in the Connecticut River attempting to escape the Indians. The families at Bridgman's Fort were; Caleb Howe, Hilkiah Grout and Benjamin Garfield. (Note: Nathaniel is always shown as Gaffield, although references to his parents are shown as Garfield). This account describes how the men were returning from hoeing corn when twelve Indians fired on them. Howe was on horseback with his two little sons, was wounded and left to die. The horse was killed and the children taken captive. Grout and Garfield were behind and attempted to escape. Garfield drowned crossing the river, Grout escaped and served as a soldier until the end of the war. Within the fort were the three wives and their children. They heard the guns and were alarmed. The Indians had watched the men return before and knew the signal they gave to be admitted. When darkness came, the Indians gave the signal, the women unbarred the gate and the Indians seized the defenceless women and children.

Click here to read more of this biography, about five pages, in our Loyalist Directory.

Died This day, 11 November 1838, 80 Rebels

At the end of the four-day Battle of the Windmill near Prescott, Ont., in November, 1838, 80 rebels led by Nils Von Schoultz had lost their lives. The rebels belonged to a secret hunters' lodge from New York that had plotted to overthrow the Crown and set up a republic in Upper Canada in the aftermath of the Upper Canada Rebellion. In all, about 140 rebels were taken prisoner. Von Schoultz, a Finnish-born soldier of fortune who had fought in the Polish revolution of 1830, and 10 others were hanged. The remainder were transported to a penal colony in Tasmania. The British and Canadian losses in the battle were put at 16.

Information on Sherwood, Woodrow, Hastings, and McLeod Loyalists of New Brunswick

I am descended from the Sherwood, Woodrow, Hastings, and McLeod Loyalists that emigrated from Long Island and mainland New York State in 1783 to New Brunswick. They settled in Saint John and Fredericton. Some of them fought in British Regiments as Loyalists.

My maternal grandfather, Ernest Elmer Hastings, descended from the Sherwood-Pickel side of the family, loved history. He was with the Canadian Army in WW I from 1914 to 1918 and fought at Vimy Ridge and the Somme. According to my Mother, Yvonne Hastings Aber, Grandfather Hastings told of his ancestors from Rye, New York that had witnessed or heard about a barn, burned to the ground by the Revolutionaries, that had been locked from the outside with women, children, and elderly inside. Can anyone substantiate this account for me?

I am also interested in making contact with any of your subscribers that are likewise descended from the aforementioned families.

...Jesse E. Aber, Helena, Montana, U.S.A. {jaber AT mt DOT gov} how do I email him?

(NOTE: Jesse and Yvonne are working with Manitoba Branch to complete their certificate applications. Yvonne's G-G Grandfather was Thomas Mcleod of St. John and he had a shipyard there from about 1815 to 1860 and built scores of ships. They have one solid cherry half hull working model above the mantel at their place in Montana where Jesse came to college in 1970 after being raised near Buffalo NY. The Hastings’ moved there in the 1920s from Saint John for work opportunities. Jesse has many old pictures of life around Saint John before WW I from Elsie Woodrow Hastings albums. Yvonne used to remind her children when they were acting up that Nana Hastings always said, "Never forget that you are descended from a long, long line of ladies and gentlemen!" Indeed, Jesse is the 13th generation in North America.)

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