Loyalist Trails UELAC Newsletter, 2016 Archive

In this issue:
- Loyalist Scholarship Fund Challenge 2016: Week Two Update
- Conference 2016
- Loyalist Valentines, by Stephen Davidson
- Robert Young, UEL, by Jay Young
- Four Day Celebration in Deseronto in 1929
- Borealia: Recovering "The Losers" of the American Revolution (Part I)
- JAR: Two Years Aboard the Welcome – The American Revolution on Lake Huron
- The History Education Network: Primary Sources and Teaching Links
- A "Complete" Genealogy of the United Empire Loyalist Abraham Marston
- Where in the World is Ruth Nicholson UE?
- Region and Branch Bits
- From the Twittersphere and Beyond
- Additions to the Loyalist Directory
- Queries
      + John Avery of Nova Scotia: Which One is He?
- Last Post
      + Catherine (Cathy) Leone Hughes Thompson, UE, RN
      + Michael Bernard Joseph Furlong, UE

Loyalist Scholarship Fund Challenge 2016: Week Two Update

We have raised $1,390.00 toward our goal of $5000.00. Thank you for donations received this past week. Keep them coming!

UELAC Central West Region Councillor, David Kanowakeron Hill Morrison shares these words, "Joseph Thayendanegea Brant could not have achieved his fame or prominent position had it not been for his formal education as provided by Sir William Johnson. This gift is given on behalf of the Haudenosaunee Loyalists who wish to support knowledge and enlightenment, so that their valuable contributions to Canada are always preserved, protected and celebrated. Haudenosaunee history and heritage is inextricably bound with that of the United Empire Loyalists."

This week we invite you to meet our 2008 scholarship recipient, Dr. Catherine Cottreau-Robins. Catherine graduated from Dalhousie's interdisciplinary PhD program in October 2012. For her dissertation project, Catherine drew from three disciplines to help explore the master-slave relationship among the Loyalists during the last quarter of the eighteenth century in Nova Scotia. The methodologies used to accomplish this included archaeological excavation, historical research and the description and comparison of physical landscapes in Nova Scotia and Massachusetts. Grounding these three streams of research is a case study: the home of the prominent Loyalist, Brigadier General Timothy Ruggles, of Hardwick, Massachusetts, who established a cider-producing farmstead in rural Nova Scotia with the help of family, hired hands and slaves.

Dr. Cottreau-Robins is Curator of Archaeology for the Nova Scotia Museum and works regularly with students at the undergraduate and graduate level as an Adjunct Professor in the Anthropology Department at Saint Mary's University, Halifax. You can learn more about Catherine here.

Please give so we can all benefit from the academic excellence supported through the UELAC Loyalist Scholarship. Give now.

Are you on Twitter? Follow this project using the hashtag #UEscholars.

...Bonnie Schepers, UE, Scholarship Committee

Conference 2016

The 2016 UELAC Conference in Summerside PEI will be hosted by the Branches of the Atlantic Region: Abegweit, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia on July 7-10. Information about the conference is now available – read here.

A "welcome" stands by the gate to the Loyalist Country Inn.

Loyalist Valentines

© Stephen Davidson, UE

The belief that birds chose their mates on St. Valentine's Day goes back to the Middle Ages. Centuries before Christianity, Romans believed that Cupid, the god of romantic love, made couples fall in love when he struck them with his arrows. By the 1700s, both birds and Cupid were common decorations on the cards sent to one's lover. Lovers exchanged gifts as well as handmade cards on February 14th in both Great Britain and North America. However, one would look in vain in loyalists' diaries to find any references to Valentine's Day. It may have been celebrated during the American Revolution, but it did not merit mentioning in one's correspondence or journals.

For example, in a rather long letter that Captain Alexander McDonald wrote to a friend in 1777, the loyalist mentions his wife's insatiable desire for some New York oysters. Although he ordered "two or three thousand of the best oysters properly packed up in casks" to be sent to Nova Scotia, the good captain failed to make any mention that he was making the request for the love of his life on Valentine's Day.

Even when the diary writer was a young bachelor like Henry Nase, there are no wistful notes about finding one's true love for either the Valentine's Day of 1780 or 1781. The diaries of loyalist women are no better. If Valentine's Day was significant to loyal Americans, it was clearly kept very private, so private that it was not even mentioned in their most personal writings.

The only valentines that were sent to British North America in the latter part of the 18th century were loyalists for whom Valentine was their surname or first name. And as it turns out, there were quite a number.

David Valentine was a loyalist land surveyor. When he died in 1774, he left behind his wife Sarah and their seven children. Sarah Valentine kept bread on her family's table by operating a shop and boarding house in New York City. By 1783 she married a loyalist named Drummond Simpson. He was the warrant officer on board the Camel, a ship that took Quakers to what is now New Brunswick. Four of the Valentine children stayed behind in New York; three little Valentines settled in Charlotte County.

They were not the only loyalists bearing that name in Charlotte County. Abigail Valentine settled in the Quaker community of Beaver Harbour as did her sons George and Philip Valentine. Both boys were listed as being "over ten" in July of 1784. George must have turned 21 by 1785 for he is listed on a petition along with six others who were requesting land in that year.

Newspaper records indicate that the Valentine name would persist in New Brunswick for at least the next hundred years, but whether they were descendants of Sarah or Abigail Valentine is not clear. A Benjamin Valentine settled in Kingston, New Brunswick with fellow loyalists. In 1841, a William Valentine placed an ad in the St. John Morning News to let the citizens of the Loyalist City know that he was offering Daguerreotype miniature portraits. This is the first known reference to photographic services in the Maritimes. In March of 1884, a George W. Valentine died in New Brunswick at the age of "92 years, 2 months and 6 days". He would have been born in 1792, making him the child of loyalists.

Not all Valentines settled in New Brunswick. Ensign John Valentine and his son James, an adjutant, made their new home in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia at the end of the American Revolution. They had both served in the Kings Royal Regiment of New York during the war. While the father had been born in America, he obviously travelled to Ireland at some point in time for that is where James was born.

Robert Valentine, while not a loyalist, gives us clues as to the source of the Valentine name among the refugee community. He was a famous Quaker minister, who was born in Ireland and immigrated to Pennsylvania with his parents in the early 1730s. Although persecuted and imprisoned by patriots for his pacifism, he was not compelled to leave the United States, as were the Valentine families that established New Brunswick's first anti-slavery community. It would seem that these Valentines had both Irish and Quaker roots.

Valentine is a Celtic name (Vailintin) meaning "healthy", so it is not uncommon to see it as a man's first name in the records of the American Revolution. Valentine Cryderman and his wife Catherine had eight children before the outbreak of the war. Although he was too old to fight, his sons Michael, Joseph and John took up arms for their king. Valentine Cryderman was "terribly used" by his patriot neighbours, and he never recovered his health following his imprisonment. His widow and his sons eventually fled north and settled in Upper Canada.

The name Valentine also belonged to two Black Loyalists. Valentine Godfrey was 17 years old when he escaped his master in Virginia and joined the British forces. Five years later, he stepped off the Clinton as a free man in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. James Vallentyne was born a free African American; he carried a General Birch Certificate with him when he boarded the Spencer in the fall of 1783. The 33 year-old Virginian was noted as being healthy, but his pockmarks betrayed the fact that he had survived smallpox, a disease that killed hundreds of Africans during the revolution. Vallentyne settled in Shelburne, Nova Scotia.

The only other Valentines recorded in The Book of Negroes were a patriot slave owner in South Carolina and a white loyalist who settled in Shelburne, Nova Scotia.

Unfortunately, loyalist history sheds little light on the 18th century's traditions surrounding Valentine's Day. Nevertheless, hiding within its dusty ledgers and fragile diaries we can discover the stories of those living Valentines that came to British North America to "begin the world anew."

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

Robert Young, UEL, by Jay Young

I first found Robert Young on Muster Roll of Queen's Rangers dated 25 Dec 1779 to 23 Feb 1780 where he is Noted as Sick in G. Hospital or on Long Island. At that time he was in Captain David Shank's Coy, but later documents show he was previously in Captain John McGill Coy. There is a Thomas Young next this Robert Young on that Muster Roll [they may be related]. This Thomas Young may have stayed on his allotment at St John NB after the Queen's Rangers were dis-banded there in 1784.

In her Land Petition [1796] as daughter of UE Allen McDonell King's Royal Regiment of New York, Flora McDonell states that she married Robert Young Queen's Ranger in 1782 at Long Island NY. v

There is an online Memorial for the above mentioned Captain John McGill , on behalf of himself and other Queen's Ranger officers, as they seek to find better lands on which to settle in St John NB [than the lands they were allotted]; they are told there are no more lands available, and basically to settle with their men and make the best of it. Many of these Queen's Rangers, including this John McGill decided to follow their Commanding Officer in the Queen's Rangers named Sir John Graves Simcoe who had been appointed first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, serving 1791-1796 [he died 1806].

Much of the following info concerning my Robert Young Queen's Ranger has been drawn from a series of letters that he exchanged between himself and his former Captain John McGill who had followed Sir John Graves Simcoe onto the Executive Council at Toronto circa 1796-1818. Years ago a cousin provided me with copies of these letters which they had located at Archives [I can not now remember if it was Toronto or Ottawa] but since many were OC [Order in Council], then perhaps others with greater computer skills then I, might be able to access them online.

Many former Queen's Rangers chose to move westward, perhaps wishing to re-join former family and friends, such as Flora Ardnabie McDonell's family of McDonell and others from the Kingsborough Patent NY, who settled in Glengarry.

Robert Young was a Presbyterian, and his wife Flora was Catholic; each chose to retain their own religions. Their eldest daughter Elizabeth Young born prior to 1790, and youngest Christy Young being born after 1800 have not been located in Church records, as they may have been baptised Catholic like their mother Flora, and many of the earliest Catholic records were destroyed by fire.

Robert Young and Flora McDonell's sons lived and died Presbyterian, having been baptised and buried at St Andrews Church, Williamstown, Glengarry. Eldest son Allen Young b. 1791, William Young 1793, George Young 1796 [my line – William and George served Flank Co. Glengarry War 1812], and Robert Young Jr b. 1800. I have yet to determine birth or accurate death dates on Robert Young and Flora McDonell, though Flora's Will dated 1821 shows she is widowed and same Will seems to have been Probated 1826. Where they are buried is also unknown to me, but it seems to me that Flora held a "death bed conversion " of Robert Young and had him interred at St Raphaels Glengarry where her father Allen Bhuide McDonell was buried in 1807.

When Robert Young first came to Upper Canada circa 1790 he was apparently issued a certificate for 200 acres on the St Lawrence River between Mallorytown and Gananoque which is in the scenic Thousand Island area. These islands are mostly old baldie outcroppings of granite rock in the St Lawrence River, while on the mainland the hills are just as bald but between them is swamp. When Robert Young located his Plot, he found it occupied by a Squatter named LaRue. This LaRue had chosen this particular Plot because his plan was to dam up a small creek that flowed between two of these hills [into the St Lawrence River] and use the mill pond formed behind this dam as the power source for a grist and saw mill. This land was of little use as a farm, and as it was already occupied, Robert Young returned to Flora in Glengarry. If you Google – William Billa LaRue LaRue Mills – you should find several articles on this very interesting man, well worth looking up, but too long for this article.

On McNiff's Map 1786 may be found the name Alex. McDonell holding both halves of Lot 12 Front and 2nd Concessions Charlottenburg Glengarry [400 acres]. Since Alexander McDonell was a very common name in Glengarry, most probably had a nick-name attached when spoken of, or in other documents, but space constraint on this map only allowed for Alex . McDonell. Therefore, it is difficult for me to determine 230 years later if this Alex. McDonell is 1 , 2 , 3 or even 4 different men sharing a very common name. Since most of these first early settlers received 100 acre plots in varied locations throughout Glengarry, and many traded plots between themselves, the trail is very difficult to follow. There was a Land Board established at Cornwall to facilitate the transfer of land, and issue Certificates for Plots of land taken up by the original grantee, and Certificates for vacant land to new arrivals of UE or those direct from England, Ireland, Scotland etc.

In 1791 Robert Young UE received a Certificate for east half Lot 12 Con 2 Charlottenburg from the Cornwall Land Board, and he set about carving out a home for Flora and their children in the bush.

Many years later the Big Bishop McDonell arrived in 1804. One of his first acts was to urge his parishioners to put in fresh claims on any lands that they might hope to obtain. An Alexander McDonell put in such a claim on Robert Young's east half Lot 12 Con 2 Charlottenburg, saying it had first been issued to his father also Alexander McDonell. A simple showing of his Cornwall Land Board Certificate should have been enough to support Robert Young's claim, however the Cornwall Land Board powers seem to have been consolidated at Toronto at this late date. Both these men required an Advocate to represent their claims before the Executive Council Toronto. Either by happenstance or outright deceit, both men chose one D'Arcy Boulton, who made the case for Alexander McDonell's claim, and said nothing on Robert Young's behalf. Hearing no opposition the Executive Council ruled for Alexander McDonell, and in 1806 Robert Young and family were evicted from their home [without compensation for fifteen years of improvement]. What followed was a series of ever more frantic letters between Robert Young and his former Captain John McGill who was then on the Executive Council. Long story short, McGill had Robert Young compensated with 700 acres. Where that land was located [or for that matter where were his son's and daughter's lands located, obtained either as children of a UE or for their own military service War 1812], it is obvious to me that they were just too far away for an old soldier to start anew in some far off bush lot. These Young are instead to be found in a small grouping near Cashion's Glen on the Indian Lands, Charlottenburg Glengarry, where they were tenant farmers of the St Regis Indians.

Online, may be found the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, which has articles on both the Big Bishop McDonell and D'Arcy Boulton. I would invite you to read these articles, and form your own opinion of the character of these two men.

...Jay Young

Four Day Celebration in Deseronto in 1929

Last week a photograph of a 1929 cairn in Deseronto was discovered on eBay. The challenge to discover the details about those involved in the dedication has been somewhat lessened by the revelation of a replicated article of the Deseronto Post of June 20, 1929. The report leads off with "Deseronto's four day U.E.L. celebration has passed into memory as one of the most outstanding events ever staged by such a small community in Eastern Ontario." Daily parades, athletic events and pageants involving 256 characters would definitely mark an occasion. The overall depiction of activities has a similar style to the transcription of the celebrations of 1884 posted several years ago in Loyalist Trails but the importance of this discovery begins in the second column of the second page with the details honouring those who settled there in 1784. The actual dedication ceremony will be transcribed later and posted in Loyalist Monuments, Memorials and Commemoratives when everything has been received for the current state of the monument. Amanda Hill of the Deseronto Archives has granted permission to use its vintage photograph of the memorial while we wait for someone to submit a current image.

...FHH

Borealia: Recovering "The Losers" of the American Revolution (Part I)

This week at Borealia Taylor Stoermer, who teaches Public History at Harvard University, begins a series on putting Loyalists (and "pesky" Canadians) back into the story of revolutionary North America. Here's a taste of his essay:

For me, the overlooked people who are most interesting are the loyalists, and properly defining them, as my work seeks to do, along with that of other historians with similar interests, can reveal a whole new revolutionary history, one that not only breaks down our understanding of the period's freighted language, like "patriot" and "tory," but that might make us entirely redefine what we mean when we say "the American Revolution." By exploring the experience of the loyalists, we can arrive at a clearer understanding of just what they believed, how they shaped the fight for independence, and, more to the point, just what happened to them. They were not "the losers," as Bernard Bailyn wrote, and they did not all flee as American exiles, although many certainly did, as Maya Jasanoff has shown us.

But we can only see that if we, essentially, throw out the labels foisted upon then by both their contemporaries and generations of historians. It is in this sense that distance can be a partner to proximity, for the former allows us to disassociate ourselves from the passions of the period that led to the sometimes violent purge of the loyalist experience from the American story, almost from the very start, while the latter can help us accept the emotion that infused the struggle with a personal intensity that has been largely lost.

The first historians of the revolution largely kept the loyalists out of their heroic narrative, except as royalist caricatures, and their nineteenth-century successors, from Emerson to Bancroft, fully erected the historiographical barrier that kept them out of the story of the exceptional birth and growth of the democratic American nation-state, distinguishing that pesky problem of Canada--thought by some as the America that might have been--by its very silence. But by recovering the loyalist experience--in every town, colony throughout the British, and then American, empires--one might see, as I have begun to see, that the transformative event that we call the American Revolution was, in fact, comprised largely of the loyalist purge that reshaped America's body politic and political culture, every bit as much as it helped construct American identity by providing a fictional counterpoint to it.

You can read the rest here. As always, you can follow Borealia on Twitter @earlycanada.

JAR: Two Years Aboard the Welcome – The American Revolution on Lake Huron

By Tyler Rudd Putman, February 8, 2016

In the spring of 1775, the fur trading post at the junction of Lakes Michigan and Huron looked much as it had for years. Fort Michilimackinac, significantly larger than when the French founded the site in 1715, comprised a tall stockade wall surrounding streets of privately owned row houses, a church, a soldiers' barracks, officers' quarters, storehouses, privies, and workshops. The community, having long since outgrown the tight confines of the stockade, now included dirt streets with rows of small houses running eastward from the fort. Everyone lived close to the water. The Great Lakes provided news, transportation, and livelihoods.

Past the village, near the beach of sand and pebbles, a small work crew clamored around the skeletal frame of a ship under construction. This was a peculiar sight. It was the first large sailing vessel ever built at Michilimackinac, and one of the largest seen in the Mackinac region since French explorer La Salle's Le Griffon almost a century before. John Askin, who owned the unfinished vessel, had walked down to survey the work. A forty-five-year-old Irish-born British army veteran and fur trader, Askin settled at Michilimackinac in 1764 and by 1775 was one of the most prosperous merchants in the region. Above all, he hoped that his latest investment would pay off. The vessel would be a small sloop, a type of single-masted vessel, and measure only 47 feet at the keel, the long timber at its base, but it was costly. The following year, as the vessel wintered in the Cheboygan river east of Michilimackinac, Askin counted "the Sloop Welcome with everything belonging to her," worth £700, as the most valuable entry in the inventory of his real and personal property.

The Welcome proved more valuable than Askin ever imagined, but for very different ends than he intended. Read “Two Years Aboard the Welcome.”

The History Education Network: Primary Sources and Teaching Links

This collection of online archives, websites and databases of primary sources on significant topics in Canadian history is designed to help student-teachers, teachers, social studies educators and historians locate significant online collections of primary sources for a wide range of topics in Canadian history. The repertory is organized into three sections:

• Repertory of General Databases for Canadian History

• Repertory of Regional and Provincial Databases for Canadian History

• Repertory of Online Collections of Primary Sources: Specific Topics in Canadian History

There could be some interesting material referenced here for general research, or for the development of presentations, displays etc. Visit Primary Sources and Teaching Links

A "Complete" Genealogy of the United Empire Loyalist Abraham Marston

Researched and Compiled by Stephen Bolton, UE.

Abraham Marston served in the Kings American Regiment during almost the complete duration of the Revolutionary War, and, on the close of that conflict, settled with his Regiment near what is present day Meductic, York County, New Brunswick.

Nothing is known of his colonial origins or of his marriage but he is known to have had one son, Jeremiah, born in 1789 in New Brunswick. Through Jeremiah, Abraham has left many descendants who have spread out over the world. It should be mentioned that while the Marston name is spelled variously as Marsten, Mastin, Masten, and Madsen, only the Marston spelling is used in the tree. To do otherwise would partially defeat the utility of search engines.

Current day Marston descendants approached the author, who is also a descendant, and provided many genealogical materials for safekeeping as well as their own partial family trees. The decision was finally made to construct, as fully as possible, a complete Abraham Marston Family Tree on Ancestry.ca. That site could act as a permanent repository for images of many of the family records, photos, and memorabilia where they can be accessed by all researchers. That work is now fairly complete, but of course as with all genealogical works, it will never be actually complete. The discovery of Jeremiah's bible (in a pile of garbage in a shed) and its family member page has provided the names of daughters who were previously unknown, and whose marriage or death records have yet to be discovered.

The "Abraham Marston Family Tree" as it is titled on Ancestry, is a Public Member Tree and as such is accessible to all with an Ancestry account. The author has entered many currently living descendants but those names will not be publicly displayed as Ancestry policy. The Tree contains almost 2400 people, however not all individuals are blood descendants as also recorded are spouses, in-laws, and the path back to passengers aboard the Mayflower provided by several Marston marriages. Every attempt has been made to fully reference the individuals in the tree. The author invites additions, correction, and general comments which may be forwarded as messaging in Ancestry.

Finally, the Tree has been dedicated to five Marston descendants, identified so far, who have made the ultimate sacrifice serving with American and Canadian forces during war and in peacetime.

...Steve Bolton

Where in the World?

Where is Branch member NAME?

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 your submission to the editor at loyalist.trails@uelac.org.

Region and Branch Bits

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

• A Merry Christmas wish to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II brought a reply letter to Nova Scotia Branch
• OGS Conference 2016: Genealogy on the Cutting Edge, June 3 to 5, 2016.  Toronto. Earlybird discount until March 15. One page poster.
  Three days of inspiring lectures, workshops, displays and other learning opportunities for family historians presented by the Ontario Genealogical Society's Toronto Branch. Details: www.ogs.on.ca/conference/
• Old Hay Bay Church Roots 2016 will be held  August 26-28, 2016.  Check the Old Hay Bay Church website for program details, which include:
  Are you interested? We are planning two guided bus tours. Details are not finalized, but we could provide a bus and guide for an approximate two-hour tour Saturday morning and another Saturday afternoon.  The tour covers most of Adolphustown and South Fredericksburgh townships. There will be a cost of $10.00 per person.  An optional tour book, "Old Sites – New Sights" will be available at an additional cost.  On the Saturday you would need to purchase your tour ticket before the tour starts as it will be "First come, first served." Please let Kathy Staples kathystaples0@gmail.com know by July 31st if this is of interest, so we can make final arrangements.

From the Twittersphere and Beyond

• Scholars and historians at Old Fort Niagara strive to uncover the truth behind the musket's true effectiveness on America's 18th century battlefields. (YouTube video - 20 minutes)
• Who won the War of 1812...or who lost? (YouTube video - 2.5 minutes)
• Canadian Army News explores history behind the ranks ie what each rank means, where the term originated etc.  Each rank is a short (about a minute)  video - interesting. YouTube
• Man's velvet suit dated 1765 with silk embroidery, Bowes Museum a nationally-renowned art collection and is situated in the town of Barnard Castle, Teesdale, County Durham, England. Or this "Wishing you sweet dreams with Georgian Gorgeous 18th century ensembles".

Additions to the Loyalist Directory

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

• Green, James - from Steve Bolton
• Marston, Abraham - from Stephen Bolton

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

John Avery of Nova Scotia: Which One is He?

I have been working on my Avery family line for quite some time. In the down time I have worked tirelessly on the other parts of my family tree all the while consumed by "which John is which."

What led me to the UE Loyalist website was to try and pinpoint my guy as either a Planter or Loyalist. Both are heavily documented and I should have been able to figure him out from either/or. So far nothing.

I have spoken with Carol Harding of the NS branch several times and she has been so helpful in providing tips and hints as to where to search next. But from her standpoint cannot find a Loyalist link, but her gut tells her he's there.

I am looking for a man named John Avery. His birth date is yet unknown. Based on a land grant request, I can gather that he served 7 years in the American War under Col. Parry. His land grant request could certainly be fibbed a little, but could also be true. Based on his son's death record at PANS, he was born in NY, as was his father. No mother found to date. There is no way to guess his birth date, but based on his son born 1782, he'd be born speculatively speaking around 1760-1762 .... maybe.

He has two other sons I know of, both carrying a French spelling of the name 'Everie' suggesting there was perhaps a second wife; French Acadian who named her children Felix and Moses, both used in French Acadian names for the time period. Censuses also list them as French. This petition also shows he has two more children I have not found. (Arichat Church records destroyed by fire)

Another petitioner for the same parcel of land a year later states the previous petitioner had died dating my John's death as between 1809 and 1810 in Little Arichat, NS.

The big conundrum here is that there is a John Avery; Merchant in Halifax/Windsor, had extensive legal woes at the hands of James Creighton which appeared to have started over an ox (who knew there was another Hatfield & McCoy story), a John Avery who was granted land at Partridge Island (Parrsboro) for a ferry with two other men, who may or may not have had a brother who was part of the Eddy Rebellion at Fort Cumberland, a John Avery paying taxes in Shelbourne County, a John Avery being one of the founding men of Charlos Cove, NS and a few others thrown into the mix.

I cannot seem to decide if I have a very nomadic John Avery with many talents, or one with a few relatives bearing the same name.

I have spent more than I care to admit to for searches at PANS, each shipment of copies more confusing than the next, a few books on Planters, and conservatively 500 emails to various research groups and genealogical geniuses. Let's just put it this way, I am done spending money looking for him, but not done looking for him.

If anyone has information that can help me narrow the possibilities, I would be appreciative. More specifically, does anyone have information on this Colonel Parry and his regiment? Does anyone know if after they disbanded where did they go, were they granted land in Nova Scotia, or does someone have any suggestions as to where to look next? How would they go about figuring out "Which John is Which?"

...Kathy Gallant

Catherine (Cathy) Leone Hughes Thompson, UE, RN

Cathy (1937 - 2016) passed away unexpectedly, after a brief illness, at the University Hospital in London on Wednesday, 10 February 2016 in her 80th year.

Beloved wife of Don S. Thompson for over 56 years. Loving mother of Lori (Rob) Linton, Jennifer (Kevin) Neill and Chris Blum (Brad Cullen). Cherished Grandma of Andrew, A.J., and Scott Mackie, Grayson and Sterling and Kyle Neill and Amber (Tyler) Blancher, Danny and Shelby Blum, and Megan and Sadie Cullen.

She is predeceased her parents, Daniel Hughes and Nellie Matthews, and her brothers, Wray, Maurice, and Allan Hughes. She will also be fondly remembered by her sisters-in-law, Doreen Cosby, Lillian Mannen, and Margaret Welch, and her brother-in-law, Clayton Thompson, their families and many other nieces, nephews and friends.

Catherine was a Registered Nurse, working for many years at the Woodstock General Hospital and Dr. John Szasz's office. She was United Empire Loyalist, very active in genealogy, on the board of directors for WHAM, the Waterford Heritage and Agricultural Museum, and was a master quilter having created hundreds of quilts over the years, and volunteered for many other worthy organizations which are too numerous to mention.

Visit at the Beckett-Glaves Family Funeral Centre, 88 Brant Ave, Brantford, on Saturday, 13 February 2016, on Sunday, 14 February 2016 with a Funeral Service in the chapel on Sunday. Interment on Tuesday, 16 February 2016.

Donations to the Heart and Stroke Foundation, or the Port Rowan Community Church would be appreciated. Online condolences, donations, service details and live funeral webcast will be available at www.beckettglaves.com.

From Bill Terry: "Cathy contributed so much to the work of the Grand River Branch for so many years.

As genealogist, she was second to none. She always seemed to be able to find another direction or source when one ran in to a roadblock. She had a mind for remembering details. She was outspoken and never held back in any discussion, helping us all to take a second look at our own opinions and ideas. She was the impetus behind Grand River's cemetery plaquing project and didn't stop at the idea, she was out there helping to get the signage in place. She and husband, Don, travelled miles installing the plaques and monitoring their condition after installation.

She had ideas...for speakers, meetings, decorations, special anniversary celebrations, etc., and never backed down from assisting with carrying the ideas forward to completion. She assisted numerous people with period dress suggestions and ideas, even creating her own and those of others. She knew the historical and genealogical records at places like the Eva Brook Museum and Archives and the Waterford Agricultural Museum like the back of her hand, leading hundreds to that particular record that would be the one needed.

Cathy was a go-getter, a dynamo, and a friend. We will miss her so much."

Michael Bernard Joseph Furlong, UE

Mr. Michael Bernard Joseph Furlong UE (1933 - 2016) passed away on Friday, February 5, 2016 at Kensington Hospice with his niece Trish by his side. Michael was born on March 11, 1933 in Windsor, Ontario, son of Florence (nee Green) and Bernard H. Furlong. He grew up in Essex, Ontario on Talbot Road.

At the age of 19 he began his career in the airline industry. Of note were assignments in Vancouver, Regina and Winnipeg. In 1965, he was hired to be the Station Manager for Republic Airlines in Thunder Bay. Here he met his wife Sylvia (nee Dubas). They later moved to Toronto when Michael was promoted to be Northwest Airline's District Sales Manager for Southern Ontario in 1967.

He researched his loyalist heritage with his sister Madeline Williamson and became a registered member of the United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada. Michael funded and erected a monument on Lundy's Lane to honour his ancestor Charles Green Sr., UEL. As an entrepreneur, he developed a tour company that took tourists through the Niagara region and had them experience the area's Loyalist history.

Michael was predeceased by his wife Sylvia in 2014. He is survived by his brothers Brian Furlong (Patricia Carroll) and Terrance Furlong, sisters Rosemary Furlong and Sister Jane Furlong, nephews Doug and Tim Williamson together with other nieces and nephews in the Furlong family, and cousins Bill Furlong and Kerry Johnston (Cathy).

Donations in memory of Michael can be made to Kensington Foundation or Temmy Latner Centre for Palliative Care. Condolences and memories may be forwarded through www.humphreymilesnewbigging.com.

Michael was a member of the Gov. Simcoe Branch.