Loyalist Trails UELAC Newsletter, 2010 Archive

In this issue:
- Madame Sarah Paine: Part One -- © Stephen Davidson
- Samuel Jarvis (1698-1779), Third Generation in America. Part 4 of 6 - © 2009 George McNeillie
- Letters from General MacLean to General Haldimand, from Niagara, 1783
- The Tech Side: "Working with Photos" by Wayne Scott
- Another Connection to Peter Warren
- Loyalist Directory Challenge Until May 31
- Wishes for a Good Rehabilitation for Shirley Bjarnason
- Book: The Hessians and the Other German Auxiliaries of Great Britain in the Revolutionary War
- Queries
      + Emma Louisa Benson
      + Response re Alexander Plato, son of James

Madame Sarah Paine: Part One -- © Stephen Davidson

Were it not for the memories that her family had of her, Sarah Chandler Paine, would have become just another of the thousands of forgotten loyalist women.

Thankfully, in 1903, Elizabeth Orne Paine Sturgis decided to write a family genealogy titled A Sketch of the Chandler Family in Worcester, Massachusetts. While it is largely an account of the men in this prominent New England family, Mrs. Sturgis felt it was important to put down on paper the stories that her family had told and retold of their loyalist ancestor, Sarah Paine. What has been recorded for posterity is a wonderful series of stories that gives us a strong sense of the type of loyalist women that occupied the upper strata of Massachusetts' society during the Revolution. It's time we all met Sarah Chandler Paine.

Sarah was born on Thursday, January 11, 1725, the fifth child in a family that would have fourteen children. She was one of seven daughters who would become known in Worcester as "the seven stars". When her mother Hannah died, Sarah's father then married a widow with children of her own. Although the care of so many children might seem daunting for Sarah's new stepmother, the former Mrs. Nathaniel Paine had married into one of the wealthiest of the local families and had a number of slaves to help her run the household.

Sarah's father owned a great deal of land around Worcester, Massachusetts. A public-spirited man, he served at various times as town treasurer, clerk and selectman as well as a judge of probate, a militia colonel, and a representative to the colony's governing council. Sarah's maternal grandfather was also well to do. His gift of 50 pounds sterling to his favourite granddaughter when she was just 13 was remembered by every other sibling and step-sibling in the Chandler household. Sarah alone received such an inheritance

One of Sarah's new step-brothers was Timothy Paine, a boy five years her junior. Despite the age difference, these two were married on Thursday, July 17, 1749 in Worcester's South Church. The bride was 24 and the groom was just 19. Sarah's biographer gives this thumbnail sketch of the loyalist's husband: "Solid talents, practical sense, candor, sincerity, ability and mildness were the characteristics of his life."

Timothy had graduated from Harvard a year before marrying Sarah. Like his stepfather, he was very active in the local politics of Worcester. He served as clerk of the court, a member of Massachusetts' executive council, a selectman, and a representative to the general court. In 1774, Sarah's husband was appointed a member of His Majesty's Mandamus Council. Given the rising patriot sentiments in Massachusetts, this was a very dangerous position to hold.

Sarah and Timothy Paine had nine children; two of them of are most interest to Canadians. William, who would one day settle in New Brunswick as a loyalist doctor, was born a year after his parents' wedding. Born in 1754, Samuel Paine fled Boston and went to Halifax with the British Army when he was 22.

Up to this point, Sarah Paine has received the usual treatment given to most women in loyalist history. They were only considered noteworthy because of their fathers, husbands and sons. Thankfully, we know much more about this Massachusetts loyalist. Well into the early years of the 20th century her descendants remembered her in this fashion: "Mrs. Timothy Paine, or Madam Paine as she was styled from respect to her dignity and position, was a woman of uncommon energy and acuteness. She was noted in her day for her zeal in aiding, as far as was in her power, the followers of the crown, and in defeating the plans of the rebellious colonists. In her the King possessed a faithful ally. In her hands his dignity was safe, and no insult offered to it, in her presence, could go unavenged."

One wonderful example of Sarah Paine's wit and political acumen is remembered from a supper served in her home. The minute details reveal the story as one that must have been passed on by Sarah's female descendants. The main meal of the day in the Paine household was served at noontime; tea parties were at three or four o'clock. Dinner guests arrived at five and went home by sundown. Enslaved blacks served the meals using the family's fine china service and silverware.

On this particular occasion the Paines were entertaining a group of colonists that included Whigs --those with rebel political views. In this party was John Adams who would one day be the second president of the United States. However, in the early 1770s he was simply a Latin teacher for Sarah's son William. As the wine was served, Sarah's husband stood up and gave a toast to the king. The Whigs around the table were not going to join in, but Adams whispered that they should comply. He had his own toast to propose.

Following Paine's toast, Adams stood and proposed a toast to the Devil. Timothy Paine saw this as a snub against King George III, but Sarah calmed him down and turned the tables on her Whig guests. "My dear, as the gentleman has been so kind as to drink to our king, let us by no means refuse, in our turn, to drink to his".

The encounters between Whigs and Tories would not always be so amusing as we will see in next week's issue of Loyalist Trails. There you can read the conclusion of the story of Sarah Chandler Paine, a loyalist of Massachusetts.

To secure permission to reprint this article, contact the author at {stephendavids AT gmail DOT com} how do I email him?

Samuel Jarvis (1698-1779), Third Generation in America. Part 4 of 6 - © 2009 George McNeillie

(See parts one, two, and three.)

We learn further from the statement of David Pickett before the Commissioners on Loyalist Claims at St. John, N.B., on February 2, 1787, that he left Stamford in September, 1776, and joined the British on Long Island. He had already been advertised as an enemy of his country, after a trial by a committee, in consequence of having signed a paper to manifest his loyalty. This was the reason of his quitting home. His wife was "turned off" eleven days after he went away.

Isaac Bell on being called to substantiate Mr. Pickett's evidence, says that he remembers Pickett's being advertised as an enemy to the state. Bell was obliged to assist the family privately and was a witness to Mrs. Pickett being turned off the premises when their effects were seized. He says that "Mr. Pickett was an honest, good man", who from the first declared his loyalty and suffered as much as anyone. He was a weaver and carried on a good deal of business. He had two or three looms going.

About the time Munson Jarvis, Fyler Dibblee and David Pickett were banished, and their property confiscated - or a very little later - Samuel Jarvis was similarly treated.

The Stamford historian adds that "When it seemed necessary that the Jarvis family should be sent over the line, Capt. Samuel Lockwood of Greenwich was appointed to execute the order, which he did with the ready zeal of a Revolutionary Patriot, and of course his officiousness alienated the two families, though afterwards a grandson of Lockwood's married a granddaughter of Samuel Jarvis."

Samuel Jarvis was transported to Long Island but removed from thence to New York, where he found an asylum from the vengeance of his countrymen. He died there on September 1st, 1780.

We shall speak of those of the family who came to New Brunswick at the close of the war. The eldest son, Munson, was one of these. He was born in 1742, at which time his mother was only sixteen and his father twenty-one years of age. Munson, with his brothers, John and William, and sister Polly (the wife of Fyler Dibblee) all came to St. John in 1783, I believe.

Munson was a grantee of Parr-town and took an active part there in civic, political and ecclesiastical matters. At the organization of the City of St. John on May 18, 1785, he was a member of the first City Council, and from 1803 to 1810 one of the Representatives from the City and County of St. John in the Legislature of the Province. At the opening of Trinity Church in 1791, he was one of the Vestry and afterwards, and for many years, a churchwarden. He established a hardware business on the South Market Wharf, which he carried on successfully for more than forty years in conjunction with his sons Ralph M. and William under the firm name of "Munson Jarvis & Co.". Another of his sons, Edward James Jarvis, was afterwards the Chief Justice of Prince Edward Island. Munson Jarvis died in St. John at the age of 83 years. His brother, John Jarvis, lived for a time in the Parish of Kingston where he had a pew in the Church in 1810. He returned later to St. John and died at Portland (now St. John, North) in 1847, at the patriarchal age of 95 years.

Excerpt from Book of Family History, written by the Ven. William Odber Raymond, LL.D, FRSC. © 2009 George McNeillie, all rights reserved [published here with permission; see footnote]

...George McNeillie {ggm3rd AT sympatico DOT ca} how do I email him?

Letters from General MacLean to General Haldimand, from Niagara, 1783

" Meanwhile the situation of the Loyalists had been considered by the British ministers and a royal instruction was prepared directing the governor of the province of Quebec to offer them grants of land on a certain moderate scale, to be held as tenants of the King as their feudal seigneur in accordance with the customary tenure of lands in that Province, free of rent for the first ten years and afterwards at an annual quit rent of a half penny per acre. Besides the usual oaths of allegiance, the new settlers were to be required to make and subscribe a declaration that they would maintain and defend the authority of the King in His Parliament as the supreme legislature of the Province."

".........and you shall allot such parts of the same as shall allot such parts of the same as shall be applied for by any of our said Loyal Subjects Non-Commissioned Officers & Private Men of our Forces reduced as afore said, in the following proportions; that is to say

To every Master of a Family One Hundred Acres, and Fifty Acres to each person, of which his Family shall consist.

To every single Man Fifty Acres.

To every Non-Commissioned Officer of our Forces reduced in Quebec Two Hundred Acres.

To every Private Man reduced as aforesaid One Hundred Acres.

And for every Person in their Family Fifty Acres."

The said Lands to be held under Us Our Heirs & Successors, Seigneurs of the Seigneurie or Fief in which the same shall be situated, upon the same terms, acknowledgements and services, as Lands are held in our said Province under the respective Seigneurs holding and possessing Seigneuries, or Fiefs therein; and reserving to Us our Heris and Successors, from and after the expiration of Ten Years from the Admission of the Respective Tenants, a Quit Rent of one half penny P Acre."

"It is our further Will and Pleasure, that every person within the meaning of this Our Instruction, upon their making application for Land, shall take the Oaths directed by Law, before you or our Commander in Chief for the time being, or some Person by you or him authorized for that purpose, and shall also at the same time make and subscribe the following declaration, Vizt. "I A.B. do promise and declare that I will maintain and defend to the utmost of my Power of Authority of the King in his Parliament as the Supreme Legislature of this Province," which Oaths and declaration shall also be taken made and subscribed by every future Tenant before his, her, or their Admission, upon Alienation, descent, Marriage, or any other wise howsoever, and upon refusal, the Lands to become revested in Us our Heirs and Successors.

And it is our further Will and Pleasure, that the expence of laying out and surveying as well the Seigneuries or Fiefs aforesaid as the several Allotments within the same, and of the Deed of Admission shall be paid by the Receiver General of Our Revenue in the said Province of Quebec out of such Monies as shall be in hishands, upon a Certificate from you or Our Commander in Chief for the time being in Council, Oath being made by our Surveyor General to the Account of such Expence; Provided however that only one half the Usual and accustomed Fees of Office shall be allowed to our Surveyor General or any other of Our Officers in the said Province entitled thereunto upon any Survey or Allotment made, or upon Admission into any Lands by virtue of this our Instruction." (Pg.57)

Extract from a Letter from Brig. General Allan macLean to General Haldimand, dated Niagara, 8th August, 1783

"In spite of all my Efforts, I am sorry to inform Your Excellency that there has been a much larger quantity of Rum Expended than I could wish, in about Sixteen days, not less than 422 Gallons, sixty Gallons of that quantity, Colonel Butler carried with him to the Missisaga Country, where he is gone with presents for 500 Missisaga Indians.

I was Very Glad that Colone Buttler made this Proposal as it will prevent their Coming here, and save a quantity of Provisions: Colonel Buttler Carried two of his own People with him that he can depend upon, to leave in that Country, to this Proposal I Consented only Untill your Excellency's further Pleasure Should be known, which I request that I may have Soon, I also Request that you may be pleased to Signify to me for my Guidance, what may be thought a reasonable quantity of Rum Monthly for the Six Nations for it appears to me that the People at the head of Indian Department Seem to vie with each other who Shall Expend most rum, and the Great Chiefs are Striving who shall drink most Rum." (B. 103, pp. 319-20)

"A general census of the Loyalists residing at Fort Niagara, of the Farmers already settled, and of the Officers and Men of Butler's Rangers with their families and dependents was finally completed about the beginning of December in compliance with the governor's instructions.

Source: "Ducit Amor Patriae" NIAGARA HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. No. 38. RECORDS OF NIAGARA, A Collection of Documents Relating, To The First Settlement 1778 to 1783, Collected and Edited By BRIG.-GENERAL E.A. CRUICKSHANK, Published by the Niagara Historical Society 1927

...Beth

The Tech Side: "Working with Photos" by Wayne Scott

Photography is a useful skill for genealogists. Whether you are photographing documents, graves and burial sites or living relatives, you rely on good equipment and computer software. It is difficult sometimes to keep up with the latest advances in this field.

Photo editing software can be very expensive. Adobe Photoshop, one of the key competitors in the high end field, produces a ‘lite’ version, Photoshop Elements, for the home market. This version doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of the full program, but will give the user a number of options and tools to do a credible job. One caveat is the price. Photoshop Elements 8 is selling for about $100.00 on sale. Another consideration is the learning curve for the home user.

There are some quite good free alternatives to consider. A Google search will come up with quite a few. GIMP is an open source program that has been popular for some time. It consistently gets high ratings, but can be somewhat tricky to use for a beginner. Picasa also has a legion of followers. Both programs have a bevy of tools, filters and output options.

A new kid on the block is Photoscape. This program, in addition to a large number of tools and filters, is more user friendly and easier to navigate around. In addition to the standard tools such as: Viewer, Editor, Batch Editor, Colour Picker, it has tools that can split a photo into several pieces, or a Combiner which will put two or more pictures together, such as in a panorama. Another feature I particularly like is the Screen Capture. Not everyone likes the Microsoft version in Vista.

Check out your local school board’s night school programs. They often offer photography and Photoshop courses. Going online you will find hundreds of tutorials both fee based and free. Be sure that you select tutorials that use the program version you are using. Be sure to also check your software’s website for tutorials and other useful downloads.

Mac users have more options than Windows users. Because the Mac computer is more graphically oriented, it is the system of choice for serious photo editors. Many of the Mac stores and Mac dealers offer courses, as do some of the camera shops.

Many experts recommend that you do your practising and editing on ‘copies’ of your photos. Never work on an original. We all know how easy it is to lose or delete something accidentally. Remember to save your photos in ‘jpeg’ format. Jpeg was designed to use over 16 million colours. Colour information is stored in a smaller file size than ‘gif’ format which makes jpeg better suited for posting on the internet on sites like flickr, on websites, or for sharing by email.

Using your photo editing skills often helps keep them sharp. It is often handy to keep notes on how you create your desired photo effects. Finally, make sure to save your work often. Photo editing can be time consuming and you don’t want to lose hours of work because you forgot to save your work along the way.

Wayne Scott can be contacted at: {mail4wayne AT cogeco DOT ca} if you have suggestions, comments or questions. how do I email him?

[We also recommend IrfanView. -- Editor]

Another Connection to Peter Warren

Congratulations to Mr Warren Bell, on becoming the President of the Vancouver Branch of the U.E.! I was delightfully surprised to see that he is descended from Sir Peter Warren. It is a wonderful history and contains some very interesting inclusions about the Hudsons Bay Company, a vitally important part of Canada’s history. I noted the connection as "personal physician to Sir William Johnson".

My family (the Robinson Family) too is descended from Sir Peter Warren, through a lady from a generation later than that of Mr Bell. As in Mr. Bell’s case, my family has at least 3 generations that have continued the name of Warren to the present day! Our line of descent comes from the late 1830’s to early 1840’s, when members of the Warren family - Ann Warren and her brother Peter - were travelling in Canada (and possibly the States as well). They were Grand-niece and Grand-nephew of Sir Peter Warren and had grown up in the Devonshire area of Southern England. They were at one stage (according to family history) staying or living in Dundas, ON.

Ann Warren married Dennis Moore, grandson of John Moore, U.E. and bore him four children. Dennis Moore was a wonderful Christian man who helped to found many of the charitable and educational institutions of the early days of Hamilton. He was President and owner of the Dennis Moore Stove Factory, in which he had become a partner with founder Edward Jackson. He was one of the founding Fathers of Hamilton. Dennis Moore had previously married Mary Tyson, but she died in 1843. He then married Ann Warren. Ann (Warren) Moore, (born 1822) “died in 1853, aged 31 years and 9 months” and is buried in Hamilton Cemetery, under the Dennis Moore Memorial stone.

Dennis Moore then married Mary Hunt of Ancaster (possibly originally from the East coast), who raised the four children of Dennis and Ann (Warren) Moore. The eldest daughter was Orpha (named after her Grandmother) and she married Mr Charles Black of Niagara; Mary Elizabeth (Matie) was “much loved by everyone, but often ill” and died young; Edward J. Moore married and had children; Lydia Ann Emeline Moore married William Aspley Robinson, who was the Superintendant of the Machine Shop of the Great Western Railway in Hamilton between the mid 1860’s and 1875. He later became the President of the Dennis Moore Stove Company.

I have recently found information on Peter Warren, her brother. It is from an article on the 96 year history of the Dennis Moore Stove Factory, Hamilton Spectator, January 1924, headed “D. Moore Co. Pioneer in Stove Founding". The name of the writer of the article is not printed.

"Dennis Moore added to the firm, Peter Warren, who was born in Devonshire, England, and who came to Ontario in 1840, and (Dennis Moore) later established the stove foundry business on Catherine Street which is now a household name from the Atlantic to the Pacific."

My parents took us to see the statue of Admiral Sir Peter Warren in Westminster Abbey, and we have photos and a sketch of this. It has an incredible plaque below the huge sculpture of the memorial.

...Judy Nuttall

Loyalist Directory Challenge Until May 31

A benefactor who is keen to see us present more of our Loyalist heritage, and thus help promote and preserve it, has instigated a challenge for the Loyalist directory, and has contributed some funds with that intent.

A raffle will be held at "Beyond the Mountains 2010"conference in early June. Tickets to the raffle can be earned by "contributing" information to the Loyalist Directory.

The basis of the challenge:

1. Provide a ticket in a draw for anyone who organizes and manages to get a loyalist certificate application (or equivalent amount of data) into the Loyalist Directory. The certificates could be new ones, or with the cooperation of the Branch genealogist, could be old ones from the branch which would entail getting permission.

2. Two tickets for each set of data: 1 for gathering including permission, and 1 for preparing the data for loading to the directory.

3. The winners can direct their prize to their choice of a branch or UELAC project (scholarship fund, etc.).

4. Prizes: three prizes, $125, $75, $50

5. Time Period: Information submitted or posted since 1 Jan 2010 and before May 31, 2010.

6. The draw to take place at Conference 2010 in June.

Volunteers are needed. In that light, several people who have Excel or equivalent and some basic knowledge of how to use it are needed to transcribe or copy information from the source to a spreadsheet before it can be loaded into the directory.

Any questions, please ask.

...Doug Grant {loyalist DOT trails AT uelac DOT org} how do I email him?

Wishes for a Good Rehabilitation for Shirley Bjarnason

Shirley and Logan Bjarnason were two of the hosts for the UELAC Conference in Regina in 2005, were part of the team who initiated and completed the Loyalist Cairn project and are working on the Centennial 2014 project about Settlers of Saskatchewan who had Loyalist ancestry. In the Fall, Shirley experienced medical problems, which eventually led to major cancer surgery in Regina. Although the cancer was addressed, they were unable to resolve the blood clots which had been forming in Shirley's legs. On Sunday, Jan 24, both legs, just below the knees, were amputated in order to save Shirley’s life. After the surgery, Shirley was returned to her room and said it was the first time in several months that she was pain free. Wed. January 27, she was able to sit, unaided, with her legs over the edge of the bed!!

The next steps will be getting her eating back to normal along with therapy and the fitting of the prostheses.

We wish Shirley and Logan the best as they work through these challenges.

Book: The Hessians and the Other German Auxiliaries of Great Britain in the Revolutionary War

The Hessians and the Other German Auxiliaries of Great Britain in the Revolutionary War, by Edward J. Lowell. (This historical reprint by Global Heritage Press)

The history of the German auxiliaries, who fought for Great Britain in the Revolutionary War, has not received from American writers the amount of attention which its importance would seem to deserve. Much of the original source material used by the author in 1884 was lost due to bombing during the Second World War. This circumstance heightens the the importance of this early work.

ISBN 1-894378-83-0. Click here for more information

Emma Louisa Benson

While shopping at a Value Village re-sale store in SW Ontario, I found a wonderful large plate/platter, about 15 1/2 inches in diameter. Not a collector, I simply thought it was a nice plate for a dining room centerpiece. The platter is very old and is marked on the back T&V and then some things I can not make out. Also, the plate is signed on the back in rather elaborate but very clear handwriting E.L. Benson and London is written underneath. She signed it with extreme care and that too caught my attention. I wondered who this woman was who loved this plate so much (you can tell it was well used and yet treasured too).

I have since uncovered this: Emma Louisa Benson was born in 1847 in Upper Canada. She lived with her widowed mom and at some point they moved to Port Hope. She married a Fuller - whose father was the Lord Bishop of Niagara. The name was Thomas Richard Fuller -- I am not sure if that was her husband or her husbands father at this point. There is a lot written on the Bensons of Port Hope, but I don't know if this has anything to do with the rather pretty plate.

In my searches I found your Loyalist Trails article Celebrating the Centenary of Loyalist Settlement in Upper Canada, Part 4 which includes the names Hon. J.R. Benson and also The Right Reverend Thomas Brock Fuller, Lord Bishop of Niagara.

If anyone has any further information about the lady and the plate, I would be most appreciative.

...Marilyn Gifford {mm DOT gifford AT sympatico DOT ca} how do I email her?

Response re Alexander Plato, son of James

David Moore U.E., who is a captain in my recreated regiment, the King’s Royal Yorkers, brought your recent article in Loyalist Trails about your ancestor to my attention. For some reason, I hadn’t see it on my own.

Unfortunatley, I can’t really add much to what you’ve found, other than to say fairly conclusively that Alexander was not at Oriskany in the Royal Yorkers. It might have been possible that he was with the rebel militia, but coming from the Hellebergh area would put him in the Albany County Militia brigade and they did not serve in that battle.

Why Alex waited till 1780 to join the King’s Service in the Royal Yorkers is a mystery, as is why he was then appointed sergeant, as he seems to have emerged from nowhere. Usually, it was long-service men who were promoted up from corporal to sergeant.

As the Royal Yorkers were deeply hated in upstate New York, why Alex felt confident enough to return to New York State is another mystery. Your thought that his brother James may have been in the Continental service is perhaps a clue, as he may have been able to offer Alex some measure of protection. Alex was quickly able to resume a normal life, marrying a local girl and starting a family. Very few Tories who had served in Butler’s Rangers or the Royal Yorkers could have done so. Most of those who dared to return home were beaten and hounded out. Some were secretly killed.

Normally, I’d be able to consult my NY records to see if any Platos served in the Continentals and Militia, but both volumes are with one of my publishers at present.

Your research has been helpful to me and I have made corrections to my Royal Yorker Master Roll which are being incorporated into its next printing. Many thanks

...Gavin Watt, Honorary V-P, UELAC