Loyalist Trails UELAC Newsletter, 2015 Archive

In this issue:
- A Loyalist “Treasure Island” Story, by Stephen Davidson
- Anthony and Andrew Westbrook (Part 14), by Doug Massey
- Toronto is an Iroquois Word: History Goes Way Back
- The History of the Vanevery Family in the War of 1812
- Resources: Post-Graduate Theses About Loyalists
- Re-Writing the American Revolution: Kathleen DuVal's Independence Lost
- Where in the World?
- Region and Branch Bits
- From the Twittersphere and Beyond
- Additions to the Loyalist Directory
- Last Post
      + Harold William Merkley, UE
      + Robert Charles Orr, UE
- Queries
      + Burial Site of George Henry Loyd, UE

A Loyalist “Treasure Island” Story, by Stephen Davidson

The more one looks into the stories of the loyalist refugees, the more likely one is to find parallels to some of the greatest stories in English literature. For example, New Brunswick has its own Treasure Island story – minus the pirates and treasure map.

A story that was featured in the Family Herald's May 6, 1931 edition had the startling headline, "Gold Found While Ploughing". The reporter then went on to relate how, twenty years earlier, an Apohaqui, New Brunswick farmer named Hanford McKnight sent his hired man home after finding "something" while ploughing in one of his back fields. McKnight and his wife Margaret dropped everything and went to New York City the next day. Upon his return to New Brunswick, the farmer built himself a costly mansion. His excuse? A "farmer deserved as good a home as those in the city".

Naturally this prompted a lot of speculation in McKnight's neighbourhood. The accepted theory among the Apohaqui's gossips was that McKnight must have unearthed a pot of gold on the day that he had been ploughing. During an economic recession, the farmer pulled down good barns and put up a brand new one that, with all of its modern conveniences, cost between $20 and $30,000.

The secret of McKnight's treasure remains a mystery to this day. One theory is that it was gold that dated back to the loyalist era – that it was, in fact, the famed treasure trove of Major Gilfred Studholme.

If you know a bit about the history of loyalist settlement in New Brunswick, Studholme's name will be a familiar one. Born near Dublin, Ireland in 1740, Gilfred Studholme was stationed in North America when he was just seventeen years old. With the outbreak of the American Revolution, Studholme was sent to Nova Scotia where his men were among those who helped to force Fort Cumberland's rebel enemies into retreat. Their efforts secured Nova Scotia for the rest of the revolution.

However, New England rebels had destroyed Fort Frederick at the mouth of the St. John River. The Irishman could either rebuild the burned out fort or construct a new one. Studholme felt that the high hill that overlooked the harbour of the future Saint John was a more strategic vantage point, and that was where he had the new Fort Howe built.

Fort Howe brought a sense of security to the New England Planters who lived along the St. John River, helped to sway the local Native groups to side with the crown, and was a vital link in communications between Halifax and Quebec. Its construction earned Studholme the praise of both civilians and government officials.

In 1782, Major Studholme was a forty-two year old bachelor who needed to begin making plans for life after the American Revolution. As a veteran of the Seven Years War, he received 2,000 acres of land in what was then Nova Scotia's Sunbury County. This was followed by a 5,000-acre grant on the Kennebecasis River.

But by the spring of 1783, Studholme's own plans had to be put on hold. As the commander of Fort Howe, he was the man in charge of dealing with the tens of thousands of refugees who were being evacuated from New York City to the St. John River. From May to November, bewildered loyalists were disembarking from scores of ships. Clutching what few worldly goods they had brought with them, the loyalists were in desperate need of land, tools, and food. Where would these loyal Americans and disbanded soldiers make their new homes?

Studholme quickly appointed four representatives of the loyalists and the river's New England setters, charging them to determine who had legal claim to the land along the St. John River. The major also appointed magistrates from among the refugees, providing oversight to the loyalists' settlement – and employment for some of the better educated refugees.

Although the loyalists would come to despise Nova Scotia's Governor Parr, they were always grateful to Studholme and maintained a positive relationship with him for the rest of his life. When Sunbury County was partitioned from Nova Scotia to become New Brunswick in 1784, the loyalists were happy to see that Studholme had been appointed to the new colony's first Executive Council.

Although Major Studholme enjoyed the favour of those he served, he was involved in a number of disputes with absentee landowners and debtors who failed to repay their loans. His health failed him, and he was often confined to his home. At fifty years of age, he was "very hard drove for money" with "neither child nor wife to cheer his solitude".

Bachelor though he was, Studholme did have a housekeeper and several hired hands who worked on his estate near present-day Apohaqui. His housekeeper had once told neighbours how hard it was for her to move a "peculiarly shaped and strongly bound iron box" that the major kept under his bed.

Rumours about Studholme's financial situation began to fester, asserting that far from being practically penniless, he was actually "rich beyond computation". Stories were told that one morning after an unusually long stay in his bedroom, the major silently stole out of his house. He did not return until after sunset. No one knew where he had been. They would never find out, for the next day – October 10, 1792 – he was taken seriously ill and died.

When Studholme's servants looked into the box under his bed, they discovered that it was empty. What had once been in it that had been so heavy? Where were the contents now?

The Royal Gazette and the New Brunswick Advertiser's obituary for Studholme recalled his "amiable manners, universal benevolence and liberal spirit" that "most justly endeared him to all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance." In the years following his death, the rumours about Studholme's iron box – rather than the major's reputation – became the talk of the town.

Of course, the gossips were convinced that the iron box must have contained a treasure in gold. Some said that Studholme had put the contents of the iron box at the bottom of the grave that had been dug for him before he finally succumbed to his illness. Others said that the grave was guarded by Studholme's ghost. Hadn't it been seen riding on the major's old white horse?

A report in the April 15, 1892 edition of the Kings County Record dismissed all the stories of the Studholme treasure as being "utterly without foundation". Perhaps they were. If so, what was it, then, that Hanford McKnight found in his field fifty years later?

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

Anthony and Andrew Westbrook (Part 14), by Doug Massey

© Doug Massey, UE

Then Beardslee proceeded to destroy this claim by drawing attention to Adrian Leiby's statement, based on careful research, that all memory of Loyalist support in Dutch communities was erased after the Revolution. Moreover, Leiby concluded that a significant minority of principled Dutch Calvinists in Bergen County New Jersey "were not able to see 'rebel' governments as representing their country", and urged his countrymen to "...face the fact of Toryism among our forefathers". [84] These "Dutch Tories" were overwhelmingly farmers, not "rich magnates" - men such as Anthony Westbrook, his son Alexander, his brother Joel, or their kin Joseph Westbrook. [85] Sharing the Westbrooks' support for the King from the Mackhackemeck Dutch Reformed Church were Benoni Krom (Crumb), William Krom (Crumb), James (Jacobus) Middag, Daniel Cole (Cool), and possibly Brient Hamel (Hamett), Levi Decker and Jacob Decker. [86] More interesting still is the fact that all of these men, with the exception of Joseph Westbrook, served in Brant's Volunteers, one small corps of Loyalists. [87]

Many of these men, including Anthony Westbrook, were certainly in the battle of Minisink in 1779, a battle in which neighbour fought neighbour. During that engagement, Daniel Cole, or "Cool" as Joseph Brant called him, was mistaken for Brant. The following words are those of an old veteran describing an exchange that transpired just before the battle at Goshen: A militiaman named Daniel Myers commanded, "Who are you? Answer, Captain Brandt! You lie you are little Han Cole he knew him and he was a Tory show your face and I will put another hole in it." [88] Ludowick Shiely, who also served with Brant throughout the war, fought there that day. Shiely, a staunch, conferentie Calvinist, was a member of the Dutch Reformed Church at Kingston New York. [89] The Patriot militiamen of Goshen were equally warm Calvinists, Presbyterians, now inspired by the "Great Awakening" to support independence.

Significantly, Adrian Leiby claims that between one third to one half of all Dutch Reformed congregants in Bergen County, New Jersey were Loyalists. What of the Mackhackemeck congregation? Alice Kenney points to the importance of the dominie in each church, concluding "like pastor, like people". [90] During the revolution, the Dutch Church at Kinderhook New York was strongly Loyalist and the area around it was a huge threat to Patriots. The same was true of the church at Kingston and its vicinity. The common factor in both churches was the great Loyalist pastor J. C. Fryenmoet. He also had a huge presence in Mackhackemeck Church in 1773. In February of that year he left Kinderhook to christen a large batch of children in Kingston. On Oct. 17, 1773, he baptized an even larger assembly of infants in Minisink. The fifty-eight adult people there that day, parents and witnesses, were like their conferentie pastor, and most likely Loyalist. They absolutely refused to accept the services of the coetus minister J. H. Hardenburgh in 1772, waiting a year in some cases for Fryenmoet. Can we then quantify the religious and civic breakdown in the Mackhackemeck congregation like Leiby does for Bergen County? No. The data is insufficient and unclear. (See Appendix 1: Mackhackemeck Records) But it is fair to conclude that there was a significant minority of conferente adults, and therefore potential Loyalists in the congregation, a conclusion supported by the number of men in the church who joined Brant's Volunteers. Over the years the people of the Minisink region erased the memory of the Loyalists in their midst. But their church records testify to the fact that the men and women of the Mackhackemeck congregation did not rise up as one in support of independence.

During the War of 1812, the young British officer, Lt. John Le Couteur, had the chance to go hunting game with some American officers. In his journal he would record that incident, stating, "How uncomfortably like a civil war it seemed when we were in good-humoured, friendly converse...", and then remarked how unnerving it was to realize that their names were "the very names of Officers in our own army" [91] They were like kin! The American historian Alan Taylor found both that quote and its author quite to his liking as he researched his book The Civil War of 1812, and rightly so. Taylor argues that the War of 1812 was "a civil war between competing visions of America: one still loyal to the empire and the other defined by its republican revolution against that empire." But his statement begs the question: Did not this 'republican revolution' begin in 1776, compete for the allegiance of the peoples of North America – native, settler and immigrant - and not end until 1815? Were not the American Revolution and the War of 1812 two stages of the same civil war between republicanism and monarchy that became "a myriad of political, religious, racial and moral divisions" that split regions, civilian populations, even families? [92] Taylor argues that distinctions between the United States and the British Empire were "ill-defined" – due to the fact that the two had the same language, a shared history and unmatched levels of trade and commerce. Furthermore, he makes the point that nowhere else were the demographic lines more blurred than along the borderlands between Canada and the United States, between New York State and Upper Canada. Certainly this was also the case in the thirteen colonies in the years leading up to 1812.

NOTES:

[84] Ibid. (John W. Beardslee, in "The American Revolution," ed. James W. Van Hoeven, op cit., pg. 17. ) See also pg. 19.

[85] Phillip H. Smith, Legends of Shawangunk, Smith and Company, Pawling New York, 1887 pg. 133; Vosburgh, op cit., pg. 143.

[86] R. W. Vosburgh, op cit.: Benoni Krum - pg. 140; William Krum - pg. 135, 143, 145, 151; Daniel Cole - pg. 145, 151; James Middag - pg. 142; Brient Hamel - pg. 143; Levi Decker - pg. 134; Jacob Decker - either born 1747 (pg. 113) or born 1751 (pg. 124).

[87] Isabel T. Kelsay, op cit. - B.Krum, W. Krum, D Cole, J Middag, Jacob Decker, Ludowyck Leley (Shiely) pg. 190, 192; Kenneth Scott, op cit., - B Krum, W Krum, J Middag, B Hamel, Levi Decker.

[88] Isabel T. Kelsay, op cit., pg 251, fn 57.

[89] R. R. Hoes, op cit., pg. 372.

[90] James W. Van Hoeven ed., op cit., pg. 26.

[91] Donald E. Graves, ed., Merry Hearts Make Light Days: The War of 1812 Journal of Lieutenant John Le Couteur, Carleton University Press, 1993, pg. 135.

[92] Ivan Lett, "There Can Only be One."

...Doug Massey

Toronto is an Iroquois Word: History Goes Way Back

At many gatherings in Toronto, people acknowledge that they are on "Mississauga territory." That didn't happen 20 years ago, and that makes it a good thing – non-Aboriginal people are beginning to understand the history of Canada from another perspective, and Aboriginal peoples are regaining a sense of their own history, as well as the strength necessary to share that history.

However, when we acknowledge Toronto as "Mississauga territory," we commit a grave error in inclusive practice: we superimpose a Eurocentric frame of reference on what is included, not included, and valued in the discussion.

Toronto has been the site of human habitation for over 10,000 years, and archaeological digs have identified many pre-contact Aboriginal settlements and burial grounds within what we now know as the city of Toronto.

Read the two-page article about the earlier history of Southern Ontario up to the Loyalists.

...Barbara Purin

The History of the Vanevery Family in the War of 1812

David Vanevery was a sergeant in the Butler's Rangers during the American Revolution. For his service he was awarded 800 acres in East and West Flamborough. David was among the earliest settlers to enter the township.

During the years prior to the War of 1812, David had continued his association with the local militia. In 1806 he was promoted to Lieutenant in the 2nd Regiment of the York Militia. When the Americans declared war on Britain, the British Officers and their aides were quartered in the Vanevery home.

David's father, McGregor Vanevery had a close relationship with Joseph Brant during the American Revolutionary War. It seems that David continued this connection with the natives as Tecumseh stayed with him while he (Tecumseh) recruited local braves to the British cause.

(Above detail and excerpts were taken from the Waterdown-East Flamborough's Heritage Society-'From West Flamborough's storied past'.)

The insights contained in the book 'from West Flamborough's storied past' lead to a totally new insight of our ancestors. With this knowledge that David Vanevery had been promoted to Lieutenant and by searching government records we have proved David's connection with the 2nd Regiment of the York Militia. We now know that the Vanevery family were active participants in the War of 1812. This information was available at, Library and Archives Canada, R1022-11-6-E, Upper Canada Militia Records, and Volume 16.

The 2nd Regiment of the York Militia was a functional fighting unit throughout the War of 1812.The were considered to be a skirmishing body of light infantry. Their main directive was to join / lead the natives in probing attacks on the American forces to outline for the main British force exactly where the American line was formed. Many battles have been won or lost by a force being able to outflank or maneuver around an enemy's main force. The 2nd regiment had a uniform of a red jacket with green facings (trim). The British Officers referred to them as the York Volunteers to differentiate them from the other poorly motivated militia units.

The 2nd Regiment was with Isaac Brock when he captured Fort Detroit and they were also with him at Queenston Heights when he fell. In an Oct. 12, 2012 special remembrance of the battle of Queenston Heights and Brock's death, the Toronto Star reported that when Isaac Brock recognized that the Americans were in control of the "Heights', he quickly rounded up the Light Company of the 49th foot, as well as the Fifth Lincoln and the 2nd York Militia for an uphill attack on the Americans. Brock was mortally wounded during this attack. You may have heard the legend of Brock's final words, 'Push on brave York Volunteers'. Some have discredited this report of Brock's last words and his appreciation of the loyalty and tenancy 2nd Regiment of the York Militia. There is no question however that the 2nd Regiment was not with him when he died.

In June, 1812 a call was made to form 'flank' Companies. These troops would engage the enemy in close formation with the British 'Regulars' to ensure that their right and left flanks were protected from American flanking maneuvers. There were 27 men from Flamborough West who volunteered. Two of whom were Michael Vanevery and William Vanevery. After the Battle of Queenston Heights, Major Thomas Evan in his official report of the day to Sir George Prevost clearly stated that the 2nd Regiment's Flank force under Capt. Wm. Applegarths was present with the 49th foot at the Battle of Queenston Heights. Pay records also indicated that both Michael and William were present and paid for this pay period.

David and Andrew Vanevery, our direct ancestors were listed on Muster Rolls and pay lists as of 1812. It seems that there was a 'coming together of the family in 1813. On the 25 April 1813 muster roll listed Andrew, Michael, Peter, William Jr and William Senior all serving in the same company lead by Captain Samuel Ryckman. This may have been a self defense tactic as the war was going against the British at this time. The battles of 1813 included: the capture of York (April), capture of Fort George (May), Battle of Stoney Creek (June), Battle of Beaver Dams (June), Battle of the Thames (Oct).

There were two Vanevery sons not with Samuel Ryckman. For some reason John Vanevery and Peter A Vanevery were in separate companies.

1813 was an unfortunate year for many but it appears that the Vaneverys all lived to see 1814. The Battles of 1814 were the most bloodied of the War. Chippawa fought on July 5th, had no clear victory. Lundy's Lane on July 25 was a night time battle where it was said that due to darkness and smoke from musket fire they were fighting in virtual zero visibility. It was reported that the main ranks of both sides at times were firing at each other at a distance of no more than 8 feet. No clear victory was the outcome.

Finally the Siege of Fort Erie started in August. An August 15 attack resulted in the death of a thousand British with the explosion of an American powder storage room. The British had climbed the walls of the fort. A canon was captured; the British reversed the canon to fire on the interior defences of the fort. The very first canon shot caused a six hundred pound gun powder magazine located under the canon platform to explode. The British retreated and the Americans maintained control of the fort. On November 5th, 1814 the American artillery and troops withdrew to Buffalo. With the signing of the Treaty of Ghent on December 24, 1814, hostilities finally ended. Canada once again was safe!

Our ancestors were there each time the Americans entered our land. Virtually in every battle they were out-numbered. Even when the British retreated and left them to their own defenses, they did not waver. The Canadian Officers had recognized the incompetence in the British Officer Core but remained loyal to the Crown. It may have been their Loyalist roots that many of the men carried, that drove them to protect this land at all costs.

Our ancestor David survived the war and was nominated for a promotion to the rank of Captain in May 5th, 1816. William Vanevery who volunteered for flank company duty was made a sergeant on July 4th, 1814. David's son Andrew Vanevery, our ancestor, also survived the war.

...Wayne Winterburn UE, Col John Butler Branch

Resources: Post-Graduate Theses About Loyalists

A collaboration between Library and Archives Canada and Canadian universities offers access to post graduate theses. A link for searching the collection based on various criteria such as "United Empire Loyalist" (with the quotation marks) is available at the LAC website. Click here.

...Nancy Connm, UE, Gov. Simcoe Branch

Re-Writing the American Revolution: Kathleen DuVal's Independence Lost

Review by Christopher F. Minty

When most people think about the American Revolution and its cast of characters, names like Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and George Washington spring to mind. On the British side, people might think of John André, Benedict Arnold, John Burgoyne, and, sometimes, Lord Dunmore. Though some of these people appear in Kathleen DuVal's latest book, Independence Lost: Lives on the Edge of the American Revolution (New York: Random House, 2015), most of DuVal's narrative centers around people who seldom feature in books or articles on the American Revolution. It is not the American Revolution that most people know. Indeed, "The American Revolution on the Gulf Coast," DuVal writes, "is a story without minutemen, without founding fathers, without rebels. It reveals a different war with unexpected participants, forgotten outcomes, and surprising winners and losers."

Wonderfully published by Random House and filled with some thought-provoking illustrations, Independence Lost is structured into three parts. Part I, "The Place and Its People," focuses on the Gulf and the characters within it. Usefully, DuVal provides brief biographies of each character. Parts II--IV cover the Revolutionary War and its varying consequences on the Gulf Coast. Like some recent, successful books, DuVal uses a small number of people to "stand in for larger peoples but also illustrate that imperial relationships were almost always personal and that the most complete history is a multi-perspectival one." These people are: Payamataha, Alexander McGillivray, Oliver and Margaret O'Brien Pollock, James and Isabella Bruce, Petit John, and Amand Broussard.

Read the full review.

Where in the World?

Where is Carl Stymiest of Vancouver Branch?

To participate, submit a photo of yourself in UELAC promotional gear at a place of some note and tell us where it is. If you are a member of a branch, please indicate that as well – send to Jennifer Childs.

Region and Branch Bits

From the UELAC branches, news and events of interest to others.

• Do you drive in a province/state which requires only one licence plate? What do you put on the other spot?
  Brian McConnell "Ordered (a) Loyalist Licence plate and love(s) it."
  Ordering information: Little Forks Branch UELAC, 5955 Rte. Gilbert Hyatt
  PO Box 67, Stn. Lennoxville, Sherbrooke, PQ J1M 1Z3. Email to mbloomis@live.com The cost is $20 each, plus postage.

From the Twittersphere and Beyond

• William Howe was the Commander-in-Chief of the British Army during the American Revolution
• Brandywine Revisted: In the recent "From the Twittersphere and Beyond" there was an article on the Battle of Brandywine which referred to it as a "pivotal defeat". Really? It's another fine example of perspective. From a Loyalist perspective, Brandywine was not a defeat but a great victory! It's also commemorated in a fine Period fife & drum tune which I've had the pleasure to play at many re-enactments. Peter W. Johnson UE
• The Model 1776 Ferguson is a .65 calibre, breech-loading rifle that shoots a .615 calibre cartridge. The rifle was designed around 1770 by Patrick Ferguson, a Scottish officer in the British military. A small unit armed with the rifle saw action in some battles in the American Revolution. More information.
• The Queen at the Council Fire by Nathan Tidridge. A commentary by Carolyn Harris, Historian and Author. Nathan explores the impact of the 1764 Treaty of Niagara on Canada's history. While much less known to non-indigenous Canadians than the Royal Proclamation, this gathering of First Nations at Fort Niagara accompanied by a treaty symbolized by the Covenant Chain Wampum is viewed as the birth of modern Canada by the country's first peoples.
• The Art of Absconding: Slave Fugitivity in the Early Republic Aug 24 by Christopher F. Minty. A "very ingenious artful fellow" appears a peculiar description of a runaway advertised for recapture. The advertisement, for Harry or Harry Johnstone, featured in Baltimore's Federal Gazette newspaper, on May 2, 1800, at the request of Nicholas Reynolds, overseer of criminals for Baltimore County. Harry had absconded from Gotham gaol, near Baltimore. Reynolds described Harry as a "tolerable good blacksmith" and a "rough carpenter." A "very talkative" slave, he was a man of "great address." On first impression a relatively congenial description; in actuality, Reynolds's use of the term "artful" condemned the runaway. Read Chris' consideration of literacy as a contributor to escape.
• Working at and managing a museum is a history buff's dream. A member of UELAC, William Adams seems to love western Canada - and now maybe the wild west. He has just taken over as executive director and curator of the Museum of the Cariboo.
• Oh my. What a coat. Royal court finery from c.1780s (Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art)
• What should I wear today? Metallic Embroidered Velvet Court Suit, late 18th - early 19th Century
• What will I wear today? The re-enactor's dilemma.

Additions to the Loyalist Directory

As time permits, we add information to the Loyalist Directory. The latest additions and updates are as follows:

• Hunter, James - from James Hunter & Duncan Hunter with certificate application
• Rombough, Hans Jacob - from Allan Meny with certificate application

Please help us build the directory by contributing more information for it. Contact loyalist.trails@uelac.org for instructions and guidance.

Harold William Merkley, UE

Harold, 1932 - 2015, passed away after an 8 month battle with bone cancer on July 19, 2015 at the age of 83 years. He was predeceased by his wife Elisabeth and survived by daughter Beth (Ian), granddaughter Hannah and special friend Dianne. He was uncle to nieces and nephews in Canada and Germany. Harold graduated from McGill University (MacDonald College) with a degree in Agricultural Engineering followed by a Teacher's degree with additional certifications from Queens University and the University of Toronto. He was a beloved teacher at Ridgemont and Highland Park Schools specializing in Science and Special Education. Harold was a member and frequent volunteer with St. Peter's Lutheran Church and was active in the McGill Alumni group in Ottawa. At his request, a private family burial will be held at Pinecrest Cemetery. Donations may be sent to any charity of choice on his behalf. Harold was a charter member of the St. Lawrence Branch.

...Michael Eamer, St. Lawrence Branch

Robert Charles Orr, UE

Robert died peacefully with his family by his side on Thursday July 23rd 2015 at Peterborough Regional Hospital. He was in his 86th year. He was the son of the late Charles Orr, WW1 veteran and Flossie Ballantyne. He is survived by two daughters and two sons, 9 grandchildren and five great grandchildren. He is survived by his sister Jean Menzies, and Jim Orr. Predeceased by his wife Barbara Mary MacMillan and sister Marie Shadgett.

"Bob" was very pleased to learn that he was the descendant of the Loyalist, Thomas Varty, UE. Bob received his certification on 31st of October 2011 and was a member of Kawartha Branch.

...Doreen Thompson UE, Kawartha Branch

Burial Site of George Henry Loyd, UE

Some UEL Branches post a Loyalist Burial Plaque on the burial grounds of known/proven Loyalists. For me, I first have to find the final resting place of our George Henry Loyd UE, 1765-1834. I have searched through my documents and various other places for his possible burial location, but no luck.

George Henry lived in Fredericksburg, Lennox and Addington County (Ontario), where most of his children were born. He may also have had a land grant which he shared with his brother in the Kingston area (not confirmed). He may have received some land in Hastings County (unconfirmed) and some of his adult children died there.

His wife Katherine died later in 1853, but I have not found a burial site for her either. She may have been buried in Hastings County, around Fredricksburg Twp., Lennox and Addington or possibly in Prince Edward County. Nothing shows in my cemetery searching; it would appear that there is no marker.

I did find one son buried in Fredericksburg and possibly more children.

Across the 3 counties there a number of Lloyd surnames (over 200). However there are only 6 Loyd names in the Ontario Cemetery Finding Aid (OCFA) for Lennox and Addington, no Loyd names there for the other counties mentioned.

The Loyds I found in Lennox and Addington are in a small, very old cemetery called Big Creek Cemetery (I think is may also be called Close's Mill). There are some photos online but there are only about 15 burials indicated. The location of this cemetery would seem to fit what I believe is the proximity of where George Henry and his family lived.

If I can find a possible burial place, I would like to place a Loyalist Plaque for George Henry. Any suggestions and assistance would be welcomed.

...Paul R. Caverly, UE, PLCGS