Loyalist Trails UELAC Newsletter, 2007 Archive

In this issue:
- "At The End Of The Trail", UELAC Conference 2007, May 31st-June 3rd, Windsor
- Did You Know? - more about Windsor Area
- Manifest of First Loyalist ship Landing in New Brunswick Rediscovered
- Ye Inns and Taverns of Old New England
- Caldwell Manor Plaque, Noyan, Quebec
- UEL Genealogy Workshop Hosted by Bay of Quinte Branch on 14 April 2007
- Book: "Palatine Hill" by Charlotte Fielden
- Looking for old, rare, out-of-print books? Try abebooks.com
- Queries
      + Response re Military Definitions and Details About Paul Trumpour
      + Responses re "Kindler and Gentler" Nation

"At The End Of The Trail", UELAC Conference 2007, May 31st-June 3rd, Windsor

Only one week left to take advantage of the Early Bird special. The Conference starts in 71 days so get your Registration forms printed and sent in. They are available here.

There are Hotel Rooms available at the Holiday Inn Select and reservations can be made by calling Toll-Free: 1-800-465-4329. Be sure to give them the code LOY for your special Conference Room rate.

We look forward to seeing you soon!

...Kimberly Hurst UE, 2007 Conference Chair, Bicentennial Branch

Did You Know? - more about Windsor Area

- Cadillac and his party reached the Detroit River in 1701.

- The first name given to Detroit was Fort Ponchartrain du Detroit.

- The very first crop planted in the Detroit area was winter wheat. This placed Fort Ponchartrain (Detroit) on its way to self-sufficiency. It is the first wheat ever to be sown in present day Michigan.

- It was King Louis XIV that signed a contract giving Fort Ponchartrain and Frontenac operations to the Company of the Colony of Canada.

- Madame Marie Therese Guyon Cadillac and Marianne de Tonti are the first non-Native American women to visit and live in Fort Ponchatrain du Detroit.

Manifest of First Loyalist ship Landing in New Brunswick Rediscovered

The manifest of the Union, thought lost for more than 100 years, has been rediscovered. The Union brought the first Loyalists to Saint John in 1783; luckily, a transcription of its passenger list (its manifest) was published in an 1889 booklet edited by New Brunswick historian Rev. W. O. Raymond.

Historians and genealogists pored over Raymond’s list for decades, hoping some day to see the original. The last person to own the manifest (as far as anyone knew) was William Fyler Dibblee of Woodstock, a grandson of Fyler Dibblee, the compiler of the manifest. William Fyler died in 1903, but no one knew what became of the precious document of which he was so proud.

By asking the right questions of the right people, writer and amateur historian Audrey Fox of Toronto (Fyler Dibblee’s 4x great-granddaughter) discovered that the manifest was in The New Brunswick Museum Archives on Douglas Avenue. The archives’ staff knew it was there, of course, but no one else did.

Click here for a short item and clear transcription of the original.

[submitted by Audrey Fox UE]

Ye Inns and Taverns of Old New England

Histories of the settlement of New England all stress the fact that religion was so dominating a factor in the lives of the early colonists, that the forming of a church and erection of a Public house of worship or Meeting House was the first thing done by them, after providing themselves with homes. Histories also reveal that almost coincident with the building of a Meeting House and second only in importance was providing a house of public entertainment to which the name of ordinary was given.

These early taverns were not for the convenience of travelers only but for the comfort of the townspeople and were the community center, where the people met for interchange of news and friendly gossip accompanied by one cheering glass of hot toddy or flip.

The Ordinary and Meeting House were usually close companions and licenses were often granted with the proviso that the tavern must be near the Meeting House. When we consider the possibility of the Meeting House, being poorly built, without heat in Winter, and growing more damp and icy cold with each succeeding week, we can understand how gladly the worshipers welcomed the solace of the warm tavern at the noon hour and also as an opportunity to thaw out before the cold ride home later in the day.

The General Court of Massachusetts, early on took control of these ordinaries, and no one was allowed to “keep without license a common victualling house under a penalty of twenty shillings.” The same court passed a law requiring all innkeepers within a mile of the Meeting House to clear their houses during the hours of worship due to the number of those who frequented the tavern rather than the church; and the court also made towns liable to a fine for not sustaining all Ordinary, so necessary and important were they considered.

Taverns, however, where the stages stopped to change horses were called stage taverns, giving them a little prominence above others. The “blowing of the horn” announced the arrival of the stages and their departure. It was always a signal for the gathering of the people, who were interested in the arrival of travelers and the mail. They were often the popular gathering places for groups of men who had seen much of the world. It was their delight on stormy days or of an evening to assemble about the fireplace and narrate their hair-breadth escapes. There they would sit until the innkeeper pulled the bell-rope announcing nine o'clock.

(Enjoyed the piece on "Forbidden Delights" in the last issue of Loyalist Trails. Having an ancestor, Charles Glidden, who immigrated from Devonshire in 1660, receiving a license in October of 1686 to operate a "Publick House" in the town of Exeter, New Hampshire, I thought you might like a little further information on the old inns of New England.)

...Bill Glidden

Caldwell Manor Plaque, Noyan, Quebec

A Province of Quebec plaque commemorating Loyalist settlement in Caldwell Manor was mounted on a boulder which in turn was embedded in a raised cement base in MacCallum Park, Noyan, Quebec in 1971. See here specifically - posted in our monuments section.

[contributed by Adelaide Lanktree UE, President, Sir John Johnson Branch]

UEL Genealogy Workshop Hosted by Bay of Quinte Branch on 14 April 2007

The Bay of Quinte Branch will be presenting a Workshop to help people find their Loyalist Roots on Saturday April 14th, 2007 at the United Empire Loyalist Heritage Center and Park in Adolphustown Ontario on old Highway #33. We invite all UEL members who are doing research on a Quinte area ancestor to come out for help with their links, and also to bring along any other individuals who may be interested to find their Loyalist Connections. A flyer is on the last page of this edition of the Muster.

The program starts at 10:00AM and runs throughout the day until 3:00PM. Those in attendance will receive several handouts, including application forms for Loyalist Lineage Certificates, a list of UEL names for the Bay of Quinte area, examples of acceptable proofs and where to find them, and a certificate of Participation. There will also be tours of the Museum and the park including a visit to the UEL Cemetery and site of the first Loyalist Landing in 1784.

There will also be short talks on researching your links by Dominion President Peter Johnson, researcher Linda Corupe, and our branch President Brian Tackaberry, who is also a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists. Our branch genealogist Eleanor Moult will be on hand to assist with research, along with several other branch members. There will also be books for sale to help with Loyalist Research.

We will also be doing the official launch of the Dr. H. C. Burleigh database which our museum director Brandt Zatterberg has been working on. This may give many of you a family link to other lines which belong to our branch members both past and present.

The Cost for the day is $10 which will include coffee and tea and people are asked to bring along a bag lunch. Pop will be available for sale at the day. If you wish to attend the workshop, please let one of the executive members know or email {btacka AT trytel DOT com -- how do I email him?} so we have some idea of how many people will be attending.

...Brian Tackaberry UE, President, Bay of Quinte Branch btacka@trytel.com

Book: "Palatine Hill" by Charlotte Fielden

I came across a wonderful book Palatine Hill, which parallels the lives of my ancestors from Germany through to landing in the new country - New York/Penn....... I met the author, Charlotte Fielden in Toronto at one of her writing classes... One of Charlotte's closest friends is a descendent of the Servos family. The story is about two families, the Secords(Laura) and the Servos which are intertwined through the whole book.....Palatine Hill is where Niagara on the Lake is today... These families ended up in the Niagara region whereas my ancestors ended up in Prince Edward County. I am sure if I check further they were at the same time in the same places. I couldn't put the book down for almost three days. I highly recommend it - It is in the Toronto library. It also talks about the underground railway.

...Gail Frey

From the CFM Books web site: "In 1970, Secord descendants June and Lois literally stumbled upon their family history in St. Mark’s cemetery, Niagara-on-the-Lake. They started a genealogical search and ended up with the epic story of Palatine Hill. Three remarkable pioneer women ­Elizabeth Servos Johnston, Laura Ingersoll Secord, and Euretta Servos Secord tell the story. Fact and fiction blend seamlessly. Palatine Hill is about ordinary men and women roused out of their quiet, comfortable lives to perform heroics in extraordinary events that shaped both Canada and the United States of America. The Palatine Hill property grew out of the wilderness to become an important part of idyllic Niagara-on-the-Lake. The Servos and Secords survived contagion, revolution, and war, and when Euretta Servos and John Courtland Secord fall deeply in love and marry, the rival families are finally united. Historians and genealogists are still at work unearthing biographical data about the Servos-Secord family, but Palatine Hill will always remain a story replete with passion and spiritual yearning, the finality of death and the emergence of life."

Looking for old, rare, out-of-print books? Try abebooks.com

Try your luck on a fabulous website started by a Victoria , B.C. couple. The site lists more than 80 million books, sold by more than 13,000 booksellers in nearly 60 countries.

I have used the site several times over the years; I’ve been pleased with the service, punctuality and response of every bookseller.

You can search by author, by title or by keyword; you can rank your findings from the cheapest (maybe you just want a reading copy) to the most expensive (maybe you collect only signed first editions). Be sure to check if the book is available in your community; I have, more than once, picked up a book in my home town, saving the shipping cost (which is often more than a cheap old book!)

My rare book buy: For a couple of years I checked ABE every few months for a book with a very limited print run, a book about the little town of Minto, New Brunswick. One day I found a copy -- and it was in Cobalt, Ontario. I contacted the seller who mailed it directly to my mom in N. B., including a note that it was an early Mother’s Day gift from her daughter. Great Service!

Check it out at abebooks.com

...Audrey Fox UE

Response re Military Definitions and Details About Paul Trumpour

The hierarchy of ranks in rising seniority from junior to senior is Ensign/Cornet, Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Lieutenant-Colonel, Colonel...

An Ensign is the junior, commissioned rank in the Infantry. Cornet is the same in the cavalry.

Lieutenant, Captain, Major and LCol are the same in either branch of the service.

First thing to do is put your various references to Paul's military career in chronological order. Paul's ranks should increase in seniority as time goes by. Now, that isn't always the case. For various reasons, a fellow might step down a grade when he transferred from one regiment to another. For example, in Canada, when Captain Jeremiah French of the Queen's Loyal Rangers had a serious dispute with his commanding officer, LCol John Peters, he transferred to the 2nd battalion, King's Royal Yorkers as a 1st Lieutenant.

When Paul ranked as a Cornet, he was a junior officer of Horse, or cavalry. Of course, that was during the Revolution. That he became a captain of Horse, i.e. a squadron commander, in the War of 1812 makes sense, as he had prior related service.

I'm not the expert on the Central Department units, but I believe that Delancey's Horse was a sobriquet for the four Light Dragoon companies of the regiment, Delancey's Refugees (sometimes the Westchester Volunteers,) led by LCol James Delancey. Dragoons were a type of cavalry composed of mounted infantry armed with both sabre and carbine.

Delancey's Brigade was formed of three infantry battalion's (1st, 2nd & 3rd battalion's of Delancey's Regiment) commanded by Brigadier General Oliver Delancey, I believe a brother of James. A battalion is nominally 600+ men and formed of ten companies, each commanded by a Captain. So, a brigade would have thirty companies, each commanded by a LCol and/or a Major.

In the British system, a regiment could have multiple battalions, as did Delancey's noted above. Another example, Skinner's New Jersey Volunteers Regiment at one time listed six battalions.

As to having served in two regiments - yes, quite common. However, in both at the same time - very unlikely. Although, when a man transferred from one to another, the paperwork in the regiment he had just left sometimes didn't catch up with his transfer and his name was listed on two muster rolls of the same date. For example, in the north, Ralfe Clench was returned on the rolls of the

2nd battalion, Royal Yorkers at the same time as Butler's Rangers.

...Gavin Watt Honorary Vice President

Responses re "Kindler and Gentler" Nation

The September 2004 issue of The Chinook Loyalist, Calgary Branch's newsletter, contained an article titled "Our Modern Loyalist Heritage". It provides an indication that the Canada of 1800 as formed by Loyalists and the USA as formed by their Republic had distinct traditions that continue to the present day.

Alternate history might have seen a united North America under the Crown forming an Imperial Federation with representation later extended to India after the end of slavery and less wars and revolutions as such an entity would have likely led to a more stable and far less violent world than actually existed in the 20th century.

Hence, to the degree Canada’s political tradition is kinder and gentler then it is attributable to the Loyalists. However, this is not a popular topic of research at present although recent actions by Archives Canada to put Canada’s Loyalist archives online are belated recognition of this tradition. As well, being practical, such research requires indexing and computerized archives for fully supportable sociological analyses and in fact, as anyone who has went through Ontario’s 1800-1870 records to prove a Loyalist ancestor, that is far from the case at least at present.

In my opinion, the Loyalist heritage would be better served by working on how to organize and communicate Canada’s Loyalist heritage more fully to the general public in cooperation with Archives Canada than what seems to be the current issues of import inside the organization.

...Wayne R. Hovdestad UE, President, Calgary Branch, {wrhovdestad AT shawlink DOT ca} how do I email him?

(Article available on request)

I heard a radio program late at night last year describing the sources of the Canadian accent and idiom. It was report on the research of a "think tank" group. I didn't hear the beginning of the program so I can't tell you who did this work.

The basic idea was that the Canadian accent and manner of speaking is from the Americans who came to Canada in 1783 from New York , New Jersey and maybe the New England states. I would have thought we have a Scottish/Irish accent from so many immigrants coming here in the 1800s. But no, this commentator called it a Loyalist accent. And it spread all across Canada. It was isolated in the 1800s from the American influence on such things.

We had thousands of Quakers coming into Canada after the American Revolution and many of them intermarried with the earlier Loyalist settlers. I would suggest you study the ideas and work of the Quakers in Dutchess County NY, for example, in the 1700s to find the origins of the Canada as a"kinder, gentler" nation.

Hope that helps. I'm not a history educated person. These two ideas fascinated my imagination. You might like to ponder the Quaker source of the Canadian identity. Good luck with your writing.

...Jean Norry

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