Loyalist Trails UELAC Newsletter, 2007 Archive

In this issue:
- Fund to Help Restore St. Paul's Stained Glass Windows in Birchtown NS
- Hawkeye: a King's Man
- Gov. Simcoe Branch Bus Trip to Prince Edward County and Adolphustown
- Abercorn Monument Described
- Email problem with Loyalist Trails
- Link to King's Rangers, Ruiter's Company
- Heritage Canada Foundation Announces 2007 Award Winners
- Queries
      + Information on Parents of Elizabeth Everett
      + Drawing of Loyalist Settler's Shanty
      + Response re Johns / Burritt Connection

Fund to Help Restore St. Paul's Stained Glass Windows in Birchtown NS

This week I was able to report to the Black Loyalist Heritage Society that we have received sufficient donations to fund the restoration of one and a half stained glass windows in the former St. Paul's Anglican Church in Birchtown. They were delighted with the news. As reported in the Loyalist Trails 2007-27 on 15 July 2007 and posted to Dominion Projects, you have an opportunity to assist UELAC in this fund raising venture. Donations, marked "Black Loyalist Windows" should be sent to UELAC, 50 Baldwin St., Ste 202, Toronto, ON, M5T 1L4 by September 1. A tax receipt will be returned to you.

Before we report back in two weeks, lets see if we can double the number of windows to be restored and thus further strengthen our ties with the Black Loyalist Heritage Society in Nova Scotia.

...Fred H. Hayward UE, Senior Vice President, UELAC

Hawkeye: a King's Man

The heading of an article by Peter Shawn Taylor in the 23 July 2007 issue of Maclean's Magazine (Canada's "national" magazine) gave the gist: "Losing the Last of the Mohicans: Hawkeye, that icon of American fiction, is back. Turns out he's one of ours." The article was to promote James Fenimore Cooper's famed hero of the Leatherstocking Tales in a new Marvel comic book. The fictional Hawkeye was a scout for the British army during the French-Indian Wars.

Turns out the author of the Maclean's article declares that Hawkeye was really "distinctively Canadian." He has support, among them an Ontario historian, who asserts Hawkeye represents an "early Canadian, pre-Confederation identity." Therefore, says Taylor, "Canadians should have an equal claim on him as a literary figure." The 1992 movie starring Daniel Day-Lewis, reappearing so often on TV, where Hawkeye was "a pre-revolutionary figure bristling under a British yoke," [italics mine] has probably contributed to the popular image of an American hero. Taylor and others insist that "Hawkeye and his literary adventures belong as much to Canadians as anyone else." The original author Cooper is said to have consistently depicted his hero as "a loyal British subject." It is also argued that because Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans was published in 1826, despite its colonial setting, it represented Cooper's own feelings about the American Revolution as a civil war. Certainly the writings portray so many geographic sites related to what we know later in history as the Northern Command.

Apparently Hawkeye never wavered in his loyalty to the British King ... and The Last of the Mohicans has never gone out of print since 1826! I wonder if Cooper's ancestry reveals family division during the Revolutionary War? The father of James Fenimore Cooper founded the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY (that's another disputed claim, about where baseball really began!).

...Brenda Dougall Merriman, CG, Toronto

Gov. Simcoe Branch Bus Trip to Prince Edward County and Adolphustown

The annual bus day-trip will be Saturday August 18 to Loyalist Prince Edward County and Adolphustown area. We will explore the sailing and steam history at the Mariners Park Museum, some military history at the Legion museum, and the architecture of Picton before crossing to Adolphustown. Bay of Quinte Branch will host us for a walking tour of the Loyalist Cultural Centre's heritage features and a bus tour of heritage sites such as the Loyalist Churches and Old Hay Bay National Historic site. We welcome guests to join us for the day from our pickups in western and central Toronto, or along the route. Visit the Governor Simcoe Branch events page or email Doug Grant for more information.

Abercorn Monument Described

In our Monuments and Commemoratives section, another monument, the Abercorn Pioneers Memorial-Plaque – Abercorn, has been posted.

We would like to add all the monuments to Loyalists that we can find. If you know of a monument which is not posted now and can help us get details etc., please help.

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

Email problem with Loyalist Trails

One of the subscribers to Loyalist reported a problem this week. "Each issue of Loyalist Trails arrives twice and has junk mail attached and it also puts something in my address book."

We tested it with just a short regular message, and the same problem occurred, so it appears to be nothing related directly to Loyalist Trails, perhaps just to emails from me.

If you are receiving two copies of Loyalist Trails from me instead of the one copy you would expect, could you send me a note. I will check to see that I don't have you twice in my address book and we can test to see if we can figure out why you are getting two copies.

...Doug Grant

Link to King's Rangers, Ruiter's Company

We have a small section about reenactments, where we welcome the addition of a link to the King's Rangers, Ruiter's Company.

[submitted by Horst Dresler, OC, Ruiter’s Company, King’s Rangers]

Heritage Canada Foundation Announces 2007 Award Winners

Ottawa, ON July 27, 2007 – The Heritage Canada Foundation today announced the winners of its2007 National Awards Program, Canada's most prestigious recognition for achievement and excellence in the field of built heritage conservation.

This year's recipients include the City of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, winner of the Prince of Wales Prize for Municipal Heritage Leadership, an award created with the support of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales to encourage and reward sound conservation policies and practices at the municipal level; Mr. Jacques Dalibard, C.M., of Ottawa, Ontario, winner of the Gabrielle Leger Award for Lifetime Achievement in Heritage Conservation for his contribution to the practice and management of heritage conservation in Canada; Andrex Holdings Limited of Ottawa, Ontario, winner of the Corporate Prize, in recognition of the restoration and adaptive reuse of several historic Ottawa landmarks; Mr. Morris Flewwelling, C.M., of Red Deer, Alberta, winner of the Lieutenant Governor's Award for Outstanding Achievement in Heritage Conservation at the Provincial/Territorial Level for his lifetime leadership and commitment to heritage conservation in Alberta; and Mr. Ted Jones of Fredericton, New Brunswick, winner of the Journalism Prize for his dedication to researching, writing and teaching about the history of the people, places, buildings and events that have helped to shape the province of New Brunswick, and in particular the greater Fredericton area.

The award winners will be honoured at a special ceremony to be held at the Foundation's annual conference on Friday, October 12, 2007 at the historic Government House in Edmonton, Alberta.

The Heritage Canada Foundation is a national, charitable organization dedicated to the preservation of Canada's built heritage and historic places. Click here for more information.

Information on Parents of Elizabeth Everett

I am searching for the father of Elizabeth Everett (1772-1841) who is reported to be the daughter of a Loyalist. According to LDS records she married Loyalist Andrew Miller (1766-1843) in 1790 at Welland, Ontario.

No living Everetts that I can find have any knowledge of her except one William Everett who recalls that his (several greats) grandfather, named Jacob Everett, was her brother.

Any information about this family would be greatly appreciated.

...Marguerite (Miller) Hanratty, UE, Col. John Butler Branch, {mhanratty AT sympatico DOT ca} how do I email her?

Drawing of Loyalist Settler's Shanty

Is there someone who could suggest a web-site that I can visit to see a drawing or simple rendering of a Loyalist shanty which the early settlers crudely constructed during the first couple of years following their arrival in Upper Canada?

...Robert Putnam {rtputnam AT golden DOT net} how do I email him?

Response re Johns / Burritt Connection

Minerva BURRITT, was born 2 March 1836, da. of Anson BURRITT and Huldah BAKER. She was christened on the 27 October 1854, Wesleyan Methodist, by the Rev. A. Hurlbert, at Elizabethtown. Records can be obtained to prove her birth.

Minerva had at least 5 brothers and sisters, all were christened by Wesleyan Methodists ministers.

At that time, the church usually required Christening before a marriage so she would have m. Alden/Aulden JOHNS sometime after that and before 1858, as Mary Louisa was 19 years old when she married Thomas MEEHAN.

Since Mary Johns is shown in her marriage record as living in Fairfield, I maintain my last comments to you that she was most living with a relative at Fairfield. So check the 1871 Federal Census from the record I sent you.

Minerva died before the 10 April 1861, as that is the date when Alden JOHNS re-married to Amarilla Keeler, sister of his first wife, Elizabeth.

Alden/Aulden JOHNS,

1) m. Elizabeth KEELER, 1 February 1843.

2) m. Minerva BURRITT, c1856-1858 (NO RECORD).

3) m. Amarilla KEELER, 10 APRIL 1861.

4) m. Catherine McLaughlin, before his death on the 25th February 1872.

I found that Alden and Elizabeth Keeler had at least 4 children before she died possibly in childbirth after or on 28 September 1856, so these were Mary Louisa's step-brother and sisters.

Children:

Albert Johns, b. 11 Dec. 1846; Hamilton Johns, b. 14 May 1850; Charles

Justice Johns, b. 1 Dec. 1853; Elizabeth Ann Johns, b. 28 Sept. 1856.

AND Ontario Marriages 31 December 1877...

#005565-77 Thomas MEEHAN, 22, Farmer, England, Elizabethtown, s/o William & Lucinda MEEHAN, married Mary JOHNS, 19, Canada, Fairfield, d/o Aulden & Minerva JOHNS; witn Mrs. MULLEN & Mary COLBORNE, both North Augusta, 31 Dec 1877.

...Donald J. Flowers, UE, Toronto Branch

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.