Loyalist Trails UELAC Newsletter, 2011 Archive

In this issue:
- The Loyalist Alumni of Yale, Part Three: Bound for the Maritimes -- by Stephen Davidson
- Horsfield Ancestry: First Generation in America © George McNeillie
- Exploring New Areas of Research for Loyalist Studies
- President's Travels: Bay of Quinte Branch
- The Tech Side: Did You Do A Backup? – by Wayne Scott, UE
- Last Post: Kenneth Beaton Turner, CD, UE
- Queries
      + Details about the ship Industry
      + Articles for The Toronto Project

The Loyalist Alumni of Yale, Part Three: Bound for the Maritimes -- by Stephen Davidson

At the outbreak of the American Revolution, nineteen of the divinity graduates of Yale University identified themselves with the loyalist cause. Four of those clergymen died before 1783, never knowing how the war ended. Twelve loyalist pastors decided to remain with their patriot congregations. Three Yale alumni decided to minister to loyalist refugee congregations in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Their names were the Rev. Samuel Andrews, the Rev. James Scovil, and the Rev. Roger Viets.

Samuel Adams graduated with the Yale class of 1759 when he was 22 years old. Within two years' time, he had sailed to England to be ordained. The Bishop of London licensed Andrews as a missionary to New England where he was responsible for three Connecticut parishes. Busy though he was, Andrews found time to court and marry Hannah Shelton. He was 27; his bride was 23.

Andrews' ministry was described as being "strong and useful" until he "offended public sentiment by his declared sympathy with the mother country." When one of Andrews' sermons was published in 1775, it angered the local patriots. The Anglican minister was eventually "placed under heavy bonds" and kept under house arrest for the duration of the Revolution.

With the war's end, Andrews' income from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel was cut off. At 49 years of age and with children to feed, the minister's only option was to leave Connecticut for a loyalist parish. In May of 1786, the Andrews family moved to St. Andrews, New Brunswick where Samuel became the town's first Anglican minister. All was well for a year, until Andrews suffered a stroke. Despite this crippling handicap, he ministered to his congregation for 31 years. Several of his sermons were considered worthy of publication, including one delivered in Kingston, New Brunswick at the funeral of his friend, James Scovil.

Hannah Andrews died in 1816 at 75 years of age. Samuel died two years later at the age of 81. It was said of the Rev. Andrews that he "maintained throughout life an enviable character for piety and benevolence". The only known portrait of this loyalist alumnus of Yale is in the United Kingdom. Despite his political leanings, many of Andrews' sermons are preserved in the Library of Hartford, Connecticut's Trinity College.

The Rev. James Scovil had been a weaver, but while recuperating from a leg injury, a pastor encouraged him to enter the Anglican ministry. He graduated from Yale in 1757. After his ordination in London's Westminster Abbey, Scovil became the pastor for the Anglican Church in Westbury, Connecticut. Three years later Scovil married Amy Nicols. The couple had nine children, all but one of whom left Connecticut with their parents following the Revolution. Despite having a "grave and becoming deportment", Scovil was described as being "agreeable to children".

During the Revolution, it was no secret that Scovil was a loyalist. However, despite the fact that a rebel sniper had once shot at him as he made his pastoral rounds, Scovil would have been content to stay in the new United States after 1783. But his only hope for a regular income was to serve in Kingston, New Brunswick, a new loyalist settlement. Many of his new parishoners had been on the first ship to bring loyalist refugees to the colony; most, like Scovil, were originally from Connecticut.

In 1788 the minister's family and their four enslaved Africans arrived in Kingston. It would be another year before there was actually a church building in the village. When it was built, the sanctuary had a pew placed at its back for the minister's slaves. They did not sit with their master's congregation. Today, Trinity is the oldest Anglican church in New Brunswick. Its pastor for its first twenty years of ministry was the Rev. James Scovil. His son, Elias, succeeded his father as Trinity's pastor, tending to the Anglicans of Kingston for forty years.

The Rev. Roger Viets was the last loyalist clergyman to graduate from Yale and settle in the Maritimes. The grandson of a Dutch immigrant,Viets went to college (at age 13!) to become a Prebyterian minister, but by the time he graduated in 1758, he felt led to serve within the Anglican Church.

After years of running a parish school and serving as lay-reader, Viets was ordained in 1763 in England. Due to his parish's poverty, the loyalist had to farm in the summer and teach in the winter to make ends meet. Viets married Hester Botsford, and before her death in 1800, the couple had two sons and six daughters.

In the years before the Revolution, Viets accumulated one of the best private libraries in Connecticut. He was known for his scholarship and "refined tastes". However, the Revolution soon upset this genteel lifestyle.

As some Connecticut loyalists were fleeing patriot persecution, they begged Viets to shelter them. Fearing the repercussions of such aid, Viets only offered the refugees some food. When Patriots caught wind of his actions, they sentenced the loyalist pastor to a year in jail for aiding "the escape of prisoners and of holding treasonable correspondence with the enemy". After serving five months of his sentence, Viets was able to persuade Connecticut's general assembly to set him free, but he was confined to the town limits of Simsbury for the remainder of the year.

At the close of the Revolution, financial concerns compelled Viets to move to Digby, Nova Scotia. The Rev. James Scovil of Kingston, who graduated from Yale the year before Viets, assisted in his 1786 induction service. A year later Viets' family moved to Digby, but its Anglican Church was not erected until 1791. Two years after Mrs. Viets' death in 1800, the sixty-five year old vicar married Mercy Isaacs. Roger Viets died in his 74th year. The pulpit he left vacant was, like that of James Scovil in Kingston, filled by one of his sons.

To secure permission to reprint this article, email Stephen Davidson.

[Editor's Note: While the story of "Block House in Bergen Wood" may have been published as early as 1965 in the Loyalist Gazette, readers will remember a more recent article about the same events: "A Loyalist Victory of Note" by Stephen Davidson, from March 2010. It was his 150th submission to be run in this publication.]

Horsfield Ancestry: First Generation in America © George McNeillie

When Israel Horsfield died on Oct. 24, 1772, his real estate, including a well-built brew-house, malt-house, with a very convenient dwelling-house, built and constructed after the English plan, with much other property was advertised to be sold by his son Thomas Horsfield.

William Horsfield, our ancestor, the brother of Israel Jr., and of Thomas Horsfield, was associated in their business. They sold English Ale, Table and Ship-beer, and their business was considered, not only remunerative, but highly respectable. William kept on sale the products of the Brooklyne Brewery at his store, "opposite to that of Lot & Sons in the City of New York." The present Midhaugh [sic: Middagh] Street [in Brooklyn Heights] was in early times known as "Horsfield Street." William Horsfield advertised in 1778: "For Sale: about 800 weight of excellent fresh ship-bread at Brooklyne Ferry." His brother Israel Horsfield Jr. occupied above time a large new brick house at Brooklyn Ferry and was living there after the war had closed in 1783. He joined St. Ann's Church in Brooklyn in 1790, and his death, in Oct. 1805, is mentioned in the records of the church.

Thomas Horsfield, the eleventh child of the family, was quite a wealthy man, and despite his losses in consequence of the Revolution brought some of his fortune to New Brunswick. He drew lot 92 in Germain Street, a little south of Church Street, and his son, James, drew a lot nearly opposite. Thomas was a prominent member and benefactor of Trinity Church. He was one of the first Wardens. A marble tablet was placed in the wall of old Trinity Church, on the right hand side of the chancel, by the corporation, as a tribute to his memory. It was destroyed with the church in the great fire of 1877, and has not been restored in the new church. We shall have more to say of Thomas in connection with his sister Sarah, who married Richard Carman, and was one of our ancestors. She seems to have been his favourite sister and of her I must now write.

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

...George McNeillie

Exploring New Areas of Research for Loyalist Studies

Last May, the Congress 2011 of the Humanities and Social Sciences was held at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton with a theme of "Coasts and Continents, Exploring Peoples and Places". With such headliners as Alan Taylor, James Bartleman and Michaëlle Jean attracting participants from far and wide, UELAC Honorary Vice-President Todd Braisted was pleased to be asked by the Canadian Historical Association to speak on the theme "New elements to understanding the recruitment of Provincial Regiments during the American Revolution." In his introduction, he asserted that "The American Revolution was as much civil war as anything, but more complex than the conflict of 1861-1865. Not only were neighbors against neighbors, family against family, but it is becoming clearer that thousands of men served on both sides at one time or another, some more than once. This is not a new revelation. What is becoming more apparent however is the scope of the situation, as reflects geography, numbers and periods of time."

Using the Philadelphia Campaign of 1777-1778, he provided several examples to show the complexities of allegiance and recruitment. We are fortunate that Mr. Braisted has agreed to publish his full address, The American Vicars of Bray, Exploring New Areas of Research for Loyalist Studies in this issue of Loyalist Trails.

Access can also be gained in a new folder, Making the Loyalists on our dominion website.

...FHH

President's Travels: Bay of Quinte Branch

On Wednesday, 03 July 2011, Grietje and I attended the the annual picnic of the Bay of Quinte Branch. We were joined by seven other members of the Kawartha Branch, Branch President, Doreen Thompson UE; Frank Lucas, Branch Sales Chairperson; Joan Lucas UE, Branch Genealogist; their granddaughter, Emily Lucas UE; Shirley Lowes UE, Branch Treasurer; Elaine Gillespie UE, Branch Social Convenor; and Pam Dickey UE, Branch Secretary; attended (see photo of group), Despite the rain, everyone who attended enjoyed each other's company while Brian Tackaberry UE, Bay of Quinte Branch President, showed his guests around the United Empire Loyalist Heritage Centre and Park at Adolphustown. Our sincere thanks to Brian for being a gracious host.

Seizing opportunities to network enriches the experiences of all. Some members researched ancestors in the Heritage Centre and met an enthusiastic "new" loyalist from the United States who was discovering his family's Loyal roots for the first time. His infectious enthusiasm couldn't help but ignite our willingness to teamwork with him to find written records of his family in Ontario. Teamwork encourages active members once again!

...Bob McBride, President, UELAC

The Tech Side: Did You Do A Backup? – by Wayne Scott, UE

Experts tell us that we should schedule a backup of our computer at least once a month. Pick a day - the first of the month is easy to remember. If you would like a more frequent backup, set up a weekly schedule, e.g. Sunday 5PM.

A lot has been written regarding the need to back up our data. Where would you be if your hard drive suddenly crashed?

A short reminder is in order as to what a backup is. USB external drives can hold over 2 terabytes of information. This should be more external storage than you'll need for years to come. If your computer is running Windows Vista or Windows 7, there is a built in backup manager, found in the Accessories folder. You can choose where to back up your data to. Often a backup manager will suggest a full system image be created initially. After the image is complete, the backup manager will do incremental backups: that is, backing up only changed or new files. Sounds easy -- and it is. In addition, a schedule can be set up to have the computer automatically perform the backup. If your computer does not have a resident backup manager, a Google search will find many, some of which are quite good and free. Check out some examples and reviews on cnet.com.

If you are performing a manual backup, note that your system disks that came with your computer (or are on a small system partition on your hard drive) contain your operating system and don't need to be backed up. A rule of thumb is to back up any file that has information that you have created, like program files, e.g. Family Tree Maker.

That is really all that you need to know about backups, well, almost. How do you know that the computer is actually doing the scheduled backup? After all, the schedule was set so that the backup will be performed when you are away from the computer. You say that when you have checked, a red or a green light was flashing and a message appeared on your computer saying that the backup was successful. How do you know that your external drive is not mal-functioning? The process is not too difficult.

Under the ‘My Computer' icon in the start menu is a listing of all the storage devices on your computer. The backup drive is usually listed on the same line as your ‘C' drive, sometimes referred to as a ‘Local' drive or disk. If you started with an empty drive, there will be a notation under the drive icon to tell you how much space on the drive is used. It the notation says that there is 450 GB free of 450 GB, your backup attempts are failing. Most often the numbers won't match, indicating that information is being stored.

The next step would be to go to a folder in your documents. Rename the folder by adding an ‘A' after the name and save the change. Navigate to the backup file on the external drive. Navigate to the file that was just renamed. Restore this file. (Usually you will have to click on the file or box beside it to select the file. There will be a ‘Restore' icon -- click on it.) When the file is restored, it will be easy to compare the renamed file with the restored file. They should be the same. Now you can be confident that your backup strategy is working on your computer.

Copies of your Documents, Pictures and Genealogy files need to be backed up on portable media (i.e. DVD's, flash drives, portable, or usb hard drives) and stored away from your home. Don't forget to distribute to family members or close friends. You cannot have too many backup locations. These backup copies will need updating on a regular basis also. An adage to remember: It isn't if your hard drive will crash, it is when it will. All hard drives have a life, and it cannot be measured, so be prepared.

You can email Wayne Scott to get in touch with questions or comments.

Last Post: Kenneth Beaton Turner, CD, UE

Peacefully at the Heritage Green Nursing Home on August 1, 2011, in his 102nd year. Predeceased by his beloved wife Constance Claire Smith in 1993. Dear father of his daughter Elizabeth Jane (husband Robert Dunn), his son K. John (wife Nancy), his daughter Mary Constance (husband Michael Murray), his son David William (wife Trina), and twelve grandchildren and eighteen great-grandchildren. Survived by his sister Katherine. Predeceased by three sisters and two brothers.

Ken was a veteran of the RCAF from 1942 to 1959, retiring with the rank of Squadron Leader, his last post as Chief Budget Officer in Ottawa. Worked for several trust companies both before and after the war, including the formation and operation of Lincoln, Astra and Effort Trust.

Ken was a member and past president of the Brougham Union Masonic Lodge in Claremont and the Murton Lodge of Perfection (1961) Hamilton. Ken belonged to the Rotary Club of Niagara Falls (42 years of perfect attendance, served as President), the Dundas Rotary Club and the Dundas Valley Sunrise Rotary Club. which was formed in 1999. He was also a Paul Harris Fellow of the Rotary Foundation and a Rotary Benefactor. Ken was a former member of the Scottish Rite, was active in his church activities throughout his lifetime and also volunteered at McMaster.

In 2003, Ken received his Certificate of Loyalist Lineage for James Cowell Turner as a member of the Hamilton Branch UELAC.

Cremation has taken place. A memorial service will be held at the Dundas Baptist Church on Saturday, August 27th at 11 a.m. Donations to the Cancer Assistance Program or a charity of your choice would be appreciated by the family. www.catteleatonandchambers.ca

Details about the ship Industry

While doing more research and preparing for future articles, Stephen Davidson came upon "The Report on American Manuscripts in the Royal Institution of Great Britain". The manuscripts are the correspondence that crossed the desk of Sir Guy Carleton as he supervised the evacuation of the loyalists as well as British and German troops from April to November of 1783.

In the correspondence for August 5, 1783, there is a reference to a manifest being submitted for loyalists who were "on board their own ship".(In other words, as opposed to the ships that made up the spring, summer, and fall evacuation fleets, this one was not funded by the British government.) This ship is NOT in the UELAC directory. Its name: Industry. Its destination: Canada. Does anyone out there in UE land have a written record or an oral tradition that their ancestors came to Quebec on the Industry? or have any more information about it? We would like to add more details to the list of ships involved in the evacuation of New York, in our Migration by Ship section.

Please respond to the editor.

Articles for The Toronto Project

The Toronto Project, which is an online museum of the history of Toronto and its' people, will launch publicly on October 12th at The Art Gallery of Ontario. Amongst a number of initiatives, The Toronto Project is creating a wiki history of the city. This will eventually be an interactive forum open to everyone's contribution. Prior to the public launch of the wiki history, The Toronto Project is looking for contributions of some core articles with which to seed the wiki.

We have been asked to submit stories of our Loyalist ancestors and their contributions to the city of Toronto and the area around. Please submit your story to torontouel@bellnet.ca. We will review and edit, if necessary, and forward them on to the project co-ordinators.

...Karen Windover UE, President, Toronto Branch