Loyalist Trails UELAC Newsletter, 2018 Archive

In this issue:
- Unshaken Amidst Peculiar Trials: The Loyalist in the Book of Common Prayer (Pt. 2), by Stephen Davidson
- Plaque to Charles Inglis in Dublin
- Loyalist Plaque Re-dedication in Cornwall ON Draws Many to Celebrate Early Settlers
- Book Review: The American Farmer in the Eighteenth Century: A Social and Cultural History
- JAR: The Death and Resurrection of Major John Andre
- Washington's Quill: Mutual Esteem Between George Washington and Fisher Ames
- Ben Franklin's World: Native Travellers at the Heart of Empire
- Where in the World?
- Region and Branch Bits
- From the Twittersphere and Beyond
- Editor's Note

Unshaken Amidst Peculiar Trials: The Loyalist in the Book of Common Prayer (Pt. 2)

© Stephen Davidson, UE

Although the Rev. Charles Inglis initially sailed for Nova Scotia, by 1784 he was in England where he sought out a new living. He is noted as being a character witness for three loyal refugees at the compensation hearings held in London during 1784 and 1785.

The loyalist minister's prospects in England did not look good. Some small English parish churches were made available to refugee American clergymen, but they could not provide much of a living. Inglis' best chance lay in a letter of reference written by Sir Guy Carleton, the British commander-in-chief during Inglis' last year in New York City.

Carleton recommended the loyalist pastor to Lord Frederick North, the British prime minister. He described Inglis as "the rector of the principal church in New York, a zealous Loyalist, who, on that account, had lost a considerable landed estate by confiscation, and was at length obliged to relinquish a valuable living in the church".

By 1787, officials within the Church of England had made arrangements to appoint a bishop for Nova Scotia, a position that the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel had hoped to see established as early as 1711. The new bishopric was offered to Charles Inglis.

With his acceptance of this office, Inglis became the very first bishop in Anglican history to serve outside of Great Britain. His bishopric had 32 parishes serviced by 40 clergymen and included all of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Upper Canada, Lower Canada, Newfoundland, and Bermuda.

Inglis was consecrated as the bishop of Nova Scotia by the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace on August 12, 1787, and then set sail for Halifax.

The next few years were busy ones for the loyalist bishop. In addition to helping to found King's College as an academy for Anglican youth, Inglis also designed many of the wooden Anglican churches being built in Nova Scotia.

He had definite opinions about church floor plans and furnishings, maintaining that they should be distinct from the Baptist, Lutheran, and Methodist meeting houses that had sprung up throughout the colony. An Inglis design included tall, round-arched windows for natural light, a steeple on the west front entrance and a rounded chancel at the east end, and a spire topped by a weathervane.

Inglis clearly had an artistic flair. He also designed the mitre (ecclesiastical headdress) for the Rev. Samuel Seabury, the Connecticut loyalist who became the first bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States.

In 1788, Inglis made a pastoral visit to New Brunswick, and in the following year journeyed to commune with Anglican congregations in Quebec, Montreal, and Sorel. While the loyalist bishop was sent off with an eleven-gun salute when he left Quebec, not every congregation had so positive an encounter with Inglis.

The Connecticut loyalists who founded Trinity Anglican Church in Kingston, New Brunswick did not follow the custom of charging rents for the pews in their sanctuary, allowing members to sit wherever they pleased. Inglis was horrified.

He "never knew an instance before this in Europe or America where the pews were thus held in common". It was "such a departure from the usage of the Church of England" that the "greatest disorder must be the consequence".

The bishop was concerned that the "worst characters" might enter the church and sit beside the "most religious and respectable characters in the parish". If the Anglicans of Kingston must have free pews, Inglis instructed them to only have "a pew or two set apart for strangers, and the poor should not be neglected". But since every other church in the diocese of Nova Scotia had rented pews, he "earnestly recommended" the "removal of this strange arrangement".

Although this may seem rather narrow-minded to a 21st century reader, Inglis was ahead of his times in other matters. The governors of King's College – Nova Scotia's first institution of higher learning – insisted that all the college's students must sign the 39 Anglican articles of faith before they would be granted their degrees. This stipulation, Inglis realized, would deter Christians of other denominations from attending the college. Inglis wanted King's to be a "general university for the province" that was operated by the Church of England. Nevertheless, the governors ignored Inglis' advice and went ahead with their policy, leading to a decline in student enrollment at King's and prompting other denominations to found their own universities.

By 1793, the number of Anglican congregations had grown to such an extent that Upper and Lower Canada received their own bishop, reducing Inglis' responsibilities to a smaller geographical area. Two years later, the bishop went into semi-retirement in the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia. In 1802, Charles had the pleasure of seeing his surviving son, John, ordained as a priest.

Six years later, the noted artist Robert Field painted Inglis' portrait. Field was sought after by Church of England members on both sides of the border. Earlier, he had been commissioned to do a minature portrait of George Washington – the patriot general who had once listened to Charles Inglis pray for King George III.

The Rev. Dr. Charles Inglis died at age 82 on February 24, 1816 in Aylesford, Nova Scotia. At some point after Inglis' death, the date of his consecration as bishop of Nova Scotia in 1787 – August 12th – became one of the feast days scheduled in the Book of Common Prayer. This commemoration of the first loyalist bishop appears in both the Canadian prayer book and in The Book of Alternative Services. Inglis' accomplishments have been honoured by the Church of England across Canada for the past 100 years.

In addition to the influence that Charles Inglis had on Maritime society, his children also filled important positions during the era of loyalist settlement. His son, John Inglis, became the third bishop of Nova Scotia in 1825. Margaret Inglis married Brenton Haliburton, the future chief justice of Nova Scotia; Anne Inglis became the wife of the Rev. George Pidgeon, who became the rector for Fredericton and then Saint John, New Brunswick.

Inglis' biographer, Judith Fingard, summarized the loyalist bishop's ministry, saying, "The years of his episcopacy formed an anti-climax to a controversial career. His failure to become more active in the concerns of both church and community may have been extremely judicious in the circumstances, but it also reflected his satisfaction at drawing a handsome salary in return for minimal exertion and as a reward for past rather than present services to the British empire."

In a monument erected in Saint John's Trinity Church, New Brunswick Anglicans remember their first loyalist bishop in more glowing terms, describing Inglis as a man "whose sound learning and fervent piety, directed by zeal according to knowledge, and supported by fortitude unshaken amidst peculiar trials, eminently qualified him for the arduous labors of the first bishop".

(Editor's note: The ordination of Charles Inglis as the first bishop of Nova Scotia is commemorated in a stained glass window in Halifax's Cathedral Church of All Saints. See a detail of the window.)

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

Plaque to Charles Inglis in Dublin

I enjoyed Stephen's article about Charles Inglis (“Unshaken Amidst Peculiar Trials, Pt. 1”) and look forward to the next part. Last May when we were in Dublin for five days I was walking around St Patrick's Cathedral and was surprised to find a rather large plaque on a wall to Charles Inglis. My first question was to ask why a Loyalist Anglican Bishop was being commemorated in a Catholic Cathedral!! As the visit continued it became evident that St Patrick's is not a Catholic Cathedral but an Anglican one (Church of Ireland). So much for my assumptions about Saint Patrick's Cathedral.

The plaque was presented in 1900-01 and part of the inscription reads: "The Bishop and Clergy of Nova Scotia, the Bishop of Delaware, the churchmen of Dover Parish and the Corporation of Trinity Church, New York join with their fellow churchmen of the United Kingdom in their memory of one of the greatest among the many Irishmen who have served God under the Viverthee (sp?)Society in whose Bicentenary Year 1900-1901 it is here placed in thankfulness and hope."

...John Noble, UE

Loyalist Plaque Re-dedication in Cornwall ON Draws Many to Celebrate Early Settlers

On Sunday, August 12th, about 100 people from Canada and the U.S. attended the re-dedication ceremony of the 1934 Loyalist plaque at the Cornwall Community Museum/Wood House, notably the location made famous in the James Peachey drawing, "Encampment of Loyalists at Johnstown, a new settlement on the banks of the St. Lawrence River in Canada, taken June 6th, 1784." Just as the Loyalists had once gathered in New Johnstown, now renamed Cornwall, Loyalist descendants, re-enactors, and community members came together to honour the sacrifice and legacy of these early Ontario settlers.

A joint venture of the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry (SD&G) Historical Society and the United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada (UELAC), the event provided an opportunity to showcase this important site in Canadian, and particularly Loyalist, history. In 1784, the United Empire Loyalists and their Mohawk allies began to build and settle their respective communities in the area, and though the devastation of war during American Revolution left its mark, these early settlers had an eye to the future and toiled to make homes of once forests. Cornwall grew into a city that has continued to welcome those long settled and those newly so.

History was brought to life through the speeches, displays, and involvement of numerous re-enactors. The crowd stood at attention as the reenactors of the 84th Highland Emigrants and the King's Royal Regiment of New York (KRRNY) marched in the colours, led by a piper of the 84th, a moving site that harkened back to the past being honoured. The organizers were pleased to see several women re-enacting as well, and the star was without a doubt the youngest re-enactor most had ever seen, as six-week old baby dressed as so many young ones of Loyalist times.

The event formally began with a prayer by Rev. Johnston of St. John's Presbyterian Church, a Loyalist-established congregation in Cornwall, and was followed by several dignitaries sharing a few words about the importance of such a gathering, including: UELAC President, Sue Morse-Hines; SDG Highlanders Regiment Hon. Col. Jim Brownell; Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Stormont, Dundas and South Glengarry, Jim McDonell; Cornwall Mayor, Leslie O'Shaughnessy; and Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Historical Society President, Wes Libby UE. A special announcement was made by the board of UE Loyalist Bridge Annex, UELAC's first virtual branch, that they will be hosting the 2021 UELAC Conference in Cornwall, news which was greeted with enthusiasm by those gathered. In addition, a number of members from Sir Guy Carleton Branch in Ottawa attended, and Beth Sweetnam, a member of the organizing committee of "The Capital Calls," UELAC 2019 Conference in Ottawa/Gatineau, shared information on how to be part of this upcoming opportunity to continue sharing in the legacy of the Loyalists.

Following the ceremony, which ended with an honour guard firing by the 84th and KRRNY re-enactors, dignitaries and guests enjoyed refreshments, conversation, museum tours, and exploring their Loyalist roots at the UELAC display.

In addition to the combined efforts of the SDG Historical Society and UELAC to bring this event together, there were many who supported this through various contributions, including, the City of Cornwall and Cornwall Tourism, the many Re-enactors, Premier Medics (first aid), YourTV Cornwall (cable tv), and all who attended from near and far. It was a wonderful way to bring legacy to life, and an event organizers and attendees will not soon forget.

...Jennifer DeBruin, UE

Book Review: The American Farmer in the Eighteenth Century

Book: The American Farmer in the Eighteenth Century: A Social and Cultural History, by Richard L. Bushman (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, May 2018). Reviewed by Titus Belgard, 15 August 2018, in JAR

Farming is hard work, always has been. Farmers make their livelihoods cultivating the earth and typically shun the limelight. Students exposed to the colonial and Revolutionary periods of American history are made to focus on the growing tension with Great Britain, the lives and personalities of the Founding Fathers, and the major battles of the war. Farmers, if they are mentioned at all, are depicted as average citizens who lived on the cultural periphery and are unworthy of further comment. Richard Bushman, a 1968 winner of the Bancroft Prize, seeks in this new book to switch that focus and place the American farmer front and center.

A bit of clarification bears mentioning at the outset. First, Bushman's interest is in the whole of the eighteenth century and not exclusively the years in which the Revolutionary War was fought. The narrative builds toward the war, and the war does act as a pivot in charting the thinking and outlook of American farmers. The final chapter features Virginia native John Walker (1785-1867) as an illustration of someone who transitioned from a predominantly colonial frame of mind to an outlook affected by the Industrial Revolution. Second, this is a book about American farmers and not American farming. The men who did the work of farming and not details regarding the techniques used to do the farming are what draws Bushman's interest. To be sure, this is not a portrait of the rugged, rough-hewn frontiersman. For that, one would do well to look to Home Rule: Households, Manhood, and National Expansion on the Eighteenth-Century Kentucky Frontier by Honor Sachs (Yale University Press, 2015).

Read more.

JAR: The Death and Resurrection of Major John Andre

by John Knight, 14 August 2018

John Andre's body hung in silence for thirty minutes before being taken down. It was placed carefully in a simple open coffin crudely painted black. The guard detail then withdrew and the "country people" of the villages around Tappan respectfully filed past his corpse. It was estimated upwards of 2,000 viewed his execution, a remarkable number given the speed with which he had been tried and condemned. Many noted his face had quickly mortified; his handsome features already black, his neck swollen and distorted. He was buried without ceremony or marker in an unusually shallow grave just over three feet deep. It was so shallow that decades later at his exhumation his skull was reported to have been embalmed by the fibrous roots of a peach tree planted "by some kind woman's hand to mark the grave." It was an ignominious fate for one the British army's best-loved and most talented officers.

Five days later the men who had captured Andre, John Paulding, David Williams, and Isaac Van Wart were commended by Washington himself as "having prevented in all probability our suffering one of the severest strokes that could have been meditated against us." He went on to recommend that "the public will do well to make them a handsome gratuity." Both Congress and New York State readily complied. Each was awarded a farm, a sizable lifetime pension, and – unusually for common soldiers – a repoussé silver medal inscribed "Fidelity" and "Amor Patriæ Vincit." The men were lauded throughout the thirteen colonies as "Peasant Patriots."

Read more.

Washington's Quill: Mutual Esteem Between George Washington and Fisher Ames

By William M. Ferraro, 13 August 2018

Massachusetts congressman Fisher Ames performed an important political service for President George Washington on April 28, 1796. On that date, Ames gave a speech that impelled a divided House of Representatives to enact, by a 51-48 vote on April 30, the provisions necessary to implement the contentious Jay Treaty.1 That treaty determined many aspects of the relationship between Great Britain and the United States, and upset numerous people who believed that it showed ingratitude, and even hostility, toward France and the assistance the French had given the nascent United States during the Revolutionary War.

Read more.

Ben Franklin's World: Native Travellers at the Heart of Empire

Coll Thrush, an Associate Professor of History at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver and author of Indigenous London: Native Travellers at the Heart of the Empire, leads us on an exploration of Native American and European interactions that took place in London.

During our exploration, Coll reveals when and why Native Americans started to visit London; How Londoners expected Native Americans to act and what Native Americans thought of London and Londoners; And how Coll went about uncovering and recovering the voices of early Native American travellers to London.

Listen to the podcast.

Where in the World?

Where is Bay of Quinte Branch member Peter Johnson?

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.

• Visit the Nor'Westers and Loyalist Museum on Wednesday, August 22, 2018 from 7:00 - 9:00PM for the annual wine and cheese fundraiser. Tickets are $30 and available from directors, at the museum or by contacting them using this information:
  • 19651 John Street Williamstown, ON K0C 2J0
  • gnlmuseum@gmail.com / 613-347-3547
  • www.glengarrynorwestersandloyalistmuseum.ca
• "The Americans Are Coming!" Atwater Library Lunchtime Lecture Series, Thursday, September 13th, 12:30 pm, 1200 Atwater Ave. (at Tupper St.), Westmount, Quebec. For those in the Montreal area, Mark Gallop, U.E. will be giving an illustrated talk on the American Occupation of Montreal and the Richelieu Valley 1775-76. The Continental Army marched northward in the early days of the revolution with the mistaken expectation that the local populace could be won over to the rebel cause. Montrealers were not so easily convinced. This presentation expands on the talk he gave at the annual meeting of Heritage Branch, UELAC in April. See http://www.atwaterlibrary.ca/events/lunchtime-series/ Mark Gallop
• St. George's Anglican Church, Clarenceville - Bicentennial Celebrations - Sunday, September 16th. After four years of major restoration to the oldest wooden Protestant church in Quebec and with the support of many people and organizations, St. George's, Clarenceville, will celebrate the 200th anniversary of it founding on September 16th, 2018. A service of thanksgiving will be held in the Church at 10 am. The Rt. Rev. Mary Irwin-Gibson, Bishop of the Diocese of Montreal will preside. Music will be provided on our 19th century historic S.R. Warren pipe-organ, restored some years ago. Following the service, a community reception and buffet luncheon will be held in the nearby and recently renovated Centre communitaire de Clarenceville. Then at 2 pm, the 30-plus member Choeur du Richelieu will present a concert in the Church with a voluntary offering. The original settlers of the area were United Empire Loyalists and connections with Vermont that started with the Reverend Micajah Townsend who arrived in 1815 to serve the parish for almost six decades and continues to this day with the Borders Regional Ministry in cooperation with the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont. You are invited to participate in this special occasion for our community. Mark Gallop. {See the history of the Church, from 7 July 2013 issue of Loyalist Trails The Borders Regional Ministry: Historic Roots & Current Formation

From the Twittersphere and Beyond

• Today in History: Lars D.H. Hedbor @LarsDHHedbor (see his page for associated photos):
  • 18 Aug 1780 Americans & British clash in two different places in SC, with a victory – and a defeat – for each.
  • August 17, 1790 George Washington writes to Moses Seixas recognizing the equal status of Jewish Americans .
  • 17 Aug 1775 Major Roche, "bearing a large purse of Gold," raises recruits in Cork, Ireland for American effort.
  • 16 Aug 1777 At Battle of Bennington, Vermont militia, aided by Massachusetts troops, wipe out force of 800 Hessians.
  • 15 Aug 1780 Patriots at Camden ordered into battle despite widespread food poisoning, suffer "total defeat."
  • 14 Aug 1765 Protestors in Boston hung an effigy of Andrew Oliver ( Stamp Act Commissioner) from a large elm tree. The protest was one of the first in what would within ten years become the Revolutionary War. The elm would go on to be known as The Liberty Tree.
  • 14 Aug 1775 Americans plunder at least 100 barrels of gunpowder from Crown storage magazine at Bermuda.
  • August 13, 1777, the Second Battle of Machias begins when British marines assault the town of Machias, Maine. Machias, which was then part of Massachusetts, was a center of American privateering during the American Revolution.
  • 13 Aug 1781 French fleet departs for America, where it will prevent reinforcements to Cornwallis at Yorktown.
  • 12 Aug 1776 Washington predicts British assault on NYC, but cannot prevent its capture on 15 Sep 1776.
• Townsends: Working With Your Hands: It's Even More Important Today
• Purple silk brocade dress with lace cuffs. Comes associated with four separate pieces of the same material. The white fichu (square kerchief around the neck) is a modern addition for illustrative purposes only. Worn by Sophia Maskelyne (nee Rose), wife of fifth Astronomer Royal, Nevil Maskelyne. Possibly worn on her wedding day on 21 August 1784.
• So pink! Striped patterned silk brocade, with floral sprays. Textile & dress c1760, the very narrow loom width and design indicates a French provenance. Later alterations for fancy dress, w/addition of 19thc lace.
• 18th Century dress, Robe à la française, c.1775
• 18th Century men's waistcoat, detail of embroidery and buttons
• Mehitable Rindge Rogers wore London-made pumps of silk satin, in NH, 1760s Note 3inch french heel & elegant profile despite extensive wear Labeled 'James Davis' Cordwainers Fr.
• Who is heading to Historic Deerfield for the annual fall forum? 'Fashion & Conflict in Early America' will provide in-depth look at the broad meanings of conflict on clothing & textiles that defined culture in 18th- & early 19th-century North America. Sept 28-30.

Editor's Note

We are on vacation, travelling again. As a result, some issues of Loyalist Trails over the next while may be delivered later than usual, may be somewhat or dramatically shortened, or (hopefully not) might be missed entirely.

...Doug