Loyalist Trails UELAC Newsletter, 2019 Archive

In this issue:
- Six Weeks on a Bed of Dried Fish: Part Two, by Stephen Davidson
- Ezekiel Younglove: More Details
- Atlantic Loyalist Connections: Simeon Perkins – A Liverpool Loyalist?
- JAR: The Decision that Lost Britain the War: An Enigma Now Resolved
- Ben Franklin's World: New England Indians, Colonists, and Origins of Slavery
- Where in the World?
- Region and Branch Bits
- From the Twittersphere and Beyond
- Editor's Note: Lost Email Messages

Six Weeks on a Bed of Dried Fish: Part Two

© Stephen Davidson, UE

Having time during their transatlantic journey to reflect on whether their loyalty to the king was worth sacrificing their families, homes and businesses, Joseph Hooper and his brother Swett resolved to wait out the impending revolution and made their way from Spain to England. Joseph would live on a temporary pension from the British government and spend his time socializing with other loyal Massachusetts émigrés. However, Swett Hooper opted to return home, dying in Marblehead in 1781. He left a widow and a year-old son to mourn him.

Joseph Hooper had escaped from Massachusetts at an opportune time. Things were not going well for Loyalists in the colony's coastal towns. In October 1775 – the year that Hooper escaped to Europe – his friend Peter Frye had his home in Salem torched by Patriots in the middle of the night. Frye escaped "with great difficulty but not without being much hurt". The house burned down to the ground.

Frye sought sanctuary 21 kilometers away in Ipswich, but did not dare to venture outside for the next two years to avoid persecution. Threats on his life increased when a local clergyman instructed his church members to "assassinate Mr. Frye and all the Tories". Given the content of such sermons, Frye left for England in 1779 where he was given a temporary annual stipend of £150. Like Hooper, Frye left his wife behind in Massachusetts.

In May of 1781, the Marblehead Revolutionary Committee seized Hooper's property, stating that "they believed he had voluntarily gone over to our enemies". Mary Hooper was allowed one third share of the value of the property, but the remainder was sold.

In June of 1783, Joseph Hooper visited Samuel Curwen, a man who had known him since he was a child. Hooper sought out this fellow Massachusetts refugee to have Curwen write a certificate on his behalf that he could present to the government-appointed board that was compensating loyal Americans for the losses they sustained during the revolution. Although Curwen's diary notes that the two Loyalists had a cup of tea, it does not divulge any of their conversation. By this time, Hooper had been separated from his wife and children – as well as the rest of the large Hooper family – for eight years.

Hooper called on Curwen again in February of 1784, but this time with the request that his old friend would attend the compensation board hearing to act as a character witness. Curwen reluctantly agreed, but professed that his "unacquaintedness with his affairs" could be of "no advantage" to Hooper's cause.

Fortunately for the ropewalk owner, he had others to speak on his behalf. He had a certificate of character from Major General Thomas Gage (Massachusetts' last royal governor) and two witnesses in the persons of Sir William Pepperell (the grandson of a former acting governor of Massachusetts) and Peter Frye (his friend and a justice of the peace). Both men testified that Hooper was a zealous Loyalist. The compensation board agreed with this assessment, but noted that "he did not bear arms". It awarded Hooper £4070 in compensation for his lost property (about $936,100.00 in current Canadian funds) as well as an annual allowance of £80 ($18, 400.00).

Sometime around 1784 – the year in which he appeared before the compensation board – Joseph Hooper decided to rent part of a mill in Bungay, Suffolk County. Although the mill was originally used for grinding corn, Hooper used his part for producing fine quality writing paper. Within a year of establishing his paper mill, Hooper married Susannah Taylor. Since he had referred to Mary, his first wife, as being alive during his 1784 compensation board hearing, we are left with an unfinished story. Did the Joseph and Mary work out a divorce through correspondence sometime after Hooper's testimony? Or did he become a bigamist, assuming that no one in England was aware of Mary in America? Mary Hooper lived out the remainder of her days in Newburyport, Massachusetts, dying at age 50 in 1796.

Hooper and his English wife had Emily in 1786 and her sister Harriet in 1788. Coincidentally, 1788 was the same year in which Hooper's only son, Benjamin, committed suicide back in Salem, Massachusetts by taking an overdose of liquid laudanum. What drove him to this is not known.

Hooper's paper mill was a financial success and he was able to hire apprentices in the 1790s. Upon Joseph's death at 69 in August 1812, Susannah Hooper took over the management of the mill. She died five years later and was buried next to her husband in Bungay's Holy Trinity graveyard.

The story of Joseph Hooper is unusual for the fact that he was able to establish himself as a successful businessman in England after losing everything in America. Hooper was one of an estimated 8,000 white Loyalists who fled to Britain before, during and after the American Revolution. For those on the lower rungs of the social ladder, their time in the United Kingdom was difficult as they sought out lodgings, employment, and the company of other loyal Americans. Those who had been used to having positions of influence found it nearly impossible to break into British society and either emigrated to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick or Canada in the hope of a better life or lived in reduced circumstances for the rest of their lives in Britain.

Hooper also had the good fortune to appear before the Royal Commission on the Losses and Services of American Loyalists early in its mandate. In the first year of their hearings, the commissioners were more generous in giving out compensation to loyal refugees. Before the RCLSAL fulfilled its mandate in 1790, it was only granting loyalists approximately one third of their claims if they were considered legitimate candidates for compensation. Had this happened in Hooper's case, he would have only received £1356 ($311,880.00 in current Canadian funds).

A man's greatest legacy to posterity is his children. Emily Hooper, Joseph's oldest daughter, married Henry Augustus Brightly. They would eventually have ten children. The entire family emigrated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1830 where Henry worked as an engraver.

Given such a large family, Joseph Hooper no doubt has many descendants among us to this day. Are they aware of their ancestor's amazing story of riches to rags to riches? And do they know that for six wretched weeks in 1775 Joseph Hooper had to sleep on dried fish in the hold of a ship sailing from America to Spain?

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

Ezekiel Younglove: More Details

I read with interest your article in 3 parts in the Loyalist Trails newsletter about your ancestor Ezekiel Younglove UE (beginning with issue 2018-50: December 16, 2018, for three successive issues)

In the third part, you mentioned that some of the information about Ezekiel Younglove seem to refer to another Ezekiel Younglove who was known by Colonel Talbot, and who served in the War of 1812 and who possibly moved to York county.

You state: "The three items above as a time line seem to cover the period from 1812/13 to 1818/19; remember there were only two Ezekiel's and the other one wasn't born yet."

The Ezekiel Younglove who served in the Flank Company and then in the Incorporated Militia during the War of 1812 cannot have been your ancestor, your ancestor would have been too old. So therefore, there must be a younger Ezekiel Younglove living during that period.

Your ancestor Ezekiel Younglove UE, was born circa 1749 and served during the American Revolution, so at the beginning of the War of 1812, he would have been over 60 years old. If he was still under 60, he might have still qualified for the sedentary militia (the limit of age was 60.) but he would have been too old for the Flank company and the Incorporated Militia, where the limit was a very healthy 50.

I recommend the book By William Gray "Gray, William. Soldiers of the King: The Upper Canadian Militia 1812-1815. Erin, Ont.: Boston Mills Press, 1995."

It is not complete, but it does include lists of the Flank Company, as well as description for the various units.

On page 83, there is a description of the regulations for the Flank company, which were the elite version of the general sedentary militia.

[Flank companies] were to consist of no more than 100 men from age 18 to 50 years of age,. p. 83

On page 151, there is an alphabetical list for the Flank companies of the 1st Middlesex Regiment during the war of 1812.

The list includes: Younglove, Ezekiel, private; Younglove, David, private; Younglove, David, Private, Joined the Incorporated Militia.

From the information you list from Feltoe's book, it looks like Ezekiel Younglove [between 18 and 50] also joined the Incorporated Militia and deserted at some point.

From same book, page 188, it looks like the Incorporated Militia was raised, and replaced the Flank companies after 1813.

On page 242 of the same book, you can find:

Younglove, David. Captain Kerby's Company. Private. Captain Abraham A. Rapelje's No. 3, Company. Captain Hamilton Walker's no. 10 Company. Discharged March 24, 1815, and entered on Incorporated Roll.

Younglove, Ezekiel. Captain Kerby's Company. Private.

Again, your ancestor was too old to be in the Incorporated Militia, and since the younger one was not yet born, it proves that there must have been another Ezekiel Younglove in Middlesex during the War of 1812.

It does not resolve all the issues you have but it shows that there must have been at least 3 different Ezekiel Younglove.

I also wonder whether there were 2 different David Younglove, mostly because it is rare for anyone to belong to three different companies. So possibly there were two different David Younglove or he did belong to three different companies at different times. I believe there are two David Younglove showing on the LAC website and one is listed as dead as of 1831.

The militia lists for the War of 1812 have been digitized and are available online on the Library and Archives website. It shows Younglove serving in both the Middlesex Militia and the Oxford Militia.

Another book you might want to consult as well is An index of the land claim certificates of Upper Canada militiamen who served in the War of 1812-1814 by W.R. Lauber. It was published in 1995, and it provides an index to some files at LAC about militia claims.

You can use the index on LAC to find out the original militia list and land grants for the War of 1812. Hopefully, this will help you solve this puzzle of Ezekiel Younglove. Good luck,

...Guylaine Petrin

Atlantic Loyalist Connections: Simeon Perkins – A Liverpool Loyalist?

by Robyn Brown; 9 January 2019

Nova Scotia was one of the thirteen colonies which remained in the British fold during the American Revolution. Within the province, there existed a stark divide in sentiment, in particular between urban and rural inhabitants. Halifax was the focal point of British support, but the out ports, communities like Liverpool, which were further removed from the influence of the capitol, were much more fluid in their opinions. Observers all along the coast of Nova Scotia were trying to make sense of this change in status quo, including a man named Simeon Perkins. Perkins, a notable figure in the study of the Atlantic World, though surprisingly forgotten in the study of the American Revolution, was recording the events as he witnessed them in a diary which would eventually total over twenty, hand-written volumes and span almost fifty years.

Read more.

JAR: The Decision that Lost Britain the War: An Enigma Now Resolved

by Ian Saberton; 8 January 2019

In this article I address the absurdity of Cornwallis's decision to march from Wilmington, North Carolina, to Virginia and the light thrown on it by The Cornwallis Papers. The central enigma of the Southern Campaigns, it had until their publication never been able to be satisfactorily resolved.

Lt. Gen. Charles Earl Cornwallis, the British General Officer commanding in the South, arrived in the vicinity of Wilmington on April 7, 1781 after the disastrous winter campaign and his pyrrhic victory at Guilford. His troops were badly in need of refitment. In the meantime Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene, the opposing commander, had begun his march for South Carolina, leaving Ramsey's Mill on Deep River on the 6th.

As early as April 5 and 6 Cornwallis advised Lt. Col. Nisbet Balfour, the Commandant of Charlestown, that he would not remain at Wilmington but run all hazards if Greene attempted any serious move towards South Carolina. As interpreted by Balfour, the letters indicated Cornwallis's intention of coming after Greene in case of his movement that way. Indeed, they are capable of no other interpretation.

Read more.

Ben Franklin's World: New England Indians, Colonists, and Origins of Slavery

Margaret Ellen Newell, a professor of history at The Ohio State University and the author of Brethren By Nature: New England Indians, Colonists, and the Origins of American Slavery, joins us to investigate the origins of slavery in English America.

During our exploration, Margaret reveals information about the practice of Native American slavery in New England and the labor shortage that led to the practice; Details about the Pequot War; And how New England legal codes, laws, and customs around slavery developed and worked to support the institution while leaving openings for enslaved people to contest their status.

Listen to the podcast.

Where in the World?

Where is Col. John Butler Branch member Geri Wilson?

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.

• Spring Meeting of the Nova Scotia Branch UELAC at St. George's Round Church, Halifax, Nova Scotia, April 13, 2019. See details.

From the Twittersphere and Beyond

• A YouTube collection of 18 Videos of United Empire Loyalist Cemeteries in Nova Scotia by Brian McConnell UE
• Historic St. George's Anglican Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia begun in 1752 and gravestone of John Campbell, died 1825, a native of Newry, Northern Ireland (@brianm564 - Brian McConnell)
• Captured during the Siege of Yorktown in 1781, this British 12-pounder bronze "Lafayette" cannon is featured in "Blast from the Past: Artillery in the War of Independence" now extended through March 3 at the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown
• Today in History: Lars D.H. Hedbor @LarsDHHedbor (see his page for associated photos):
  • 13 Jan 1776 British attempt to raid Prudence Island, Rhode-Island for sheep, are driven back by Patriot forces.
  • 12 Jan 1776 Congress specifies handling of expenses incurred for board and lodging of enemy officers taken prisoner.
  • 11 Jan 1775 Francis Salvador becomes the first American Jew elected, taking a seat in SC Provincial Congress.
  • 10 Jan 1776 NC Royal Gov. Martin issues proclamation calling on Loyalists to restore Crown rule in the province.
  • 9 Jan 1776 Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" published in Philadelphia, an instant best-seller.
  • 8 Jan 1777 British withdraw all forces from New-Jersey except posts at West Brunswick and Perth Amboy.
  • 7 Jan 1777 East-Florida's Royal Governor Tonyn informs Crown that estates of Royal officials were seized in Georgia.
  • 6 Jan 1776 SC Council of Safety warns Georgia that British ships leaving Charleston are headed to Savannah.
• Rev250 resource of the day – Jan 10, 1776, Col. Henry Knox crossed into Massachusetts with his "noble train of artillery" from the Lake Champlain forts. The Henry Knox Trail on Google Maps
• Townsends
  • The Perils of Pre-Revolution Ocean Travel
  • Is This Just Another "Red Herring" From 1767?
• How did Cotton Mather and an enslaved African man named Oneismus (eventually) defeat smallpox in Boston? Listen now!
• Cooking has long been a hallmark of the holiday season. With the Port of Yorktown less than a week from Bermuda by ship, oranges were relatively easy to come by for a dish of Orange Loaves like this one made by historical interpreters at the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown. (Click on the photo, then on the "next" icon to go to the second slide for the recipe.)
• History myths debunked. Revisited Myth #5: Fire screens were put between a woman and the fireplace to prevent the heat from melting her wax makeup.
• Luster. Shine. Sheen: The Visual Lexicon of the 18th Century Elite. Creating highly polished surfaces, adorning oneself with glittering metallic lace, silver or gold threads, or sparkling jewels were part of the visual lexicon of the eighteenth-century. Baroque then Rococo styles dominated European art, architecture, and fashion, introducing a taste for dramatic, theatrical movement and the interplay of light and shadow. As global trade expanded, new materials and ideas from foreign ports became more accessible. Read blog @SilkDamsak.
• Here are some beautiful details from a 1760-80 Robe à la Française from the @metmuseum. I swooned over the intricate stitching of the flowers - it is exquisite.
• 18th Century dress, Robe à la française, c.1750
• 18th Century dress, robe à l'anglaise c.1760's
• 18th Century dress, 1785-95 via musée Galliera
• 18th Century men's waistcoat, detail of embroidery and buttons
• 18th Century men's frock coat and waistcoat, French, c.1775
• Men's 18th Century striped silk frock coat and embroidered waistcoat, 1790's
• Fashion doll (Pandora) with accessories, England, 1755-1760. Pandoras were sent all over Europe & America to a much wider clientele by dress makers to promote their wares. By end of the 18thC pandoras gave way in importance to fashion mag
• Travel is the theme today - a rarity here in the form of a Brunswick jacket. Few of these survive but it was a form of short Watteau pleated travel garment with lovely gathered hood. This mid-#18thc is fashioned from sunny watered silk
• Red Moroccan leather regency/neoclassical shoes, diminutive Heels & pointy toe, c 1790s+ @metmuseum Dashing tassels adding some snazzy red
• Well-preserved side hoops, ca 1750-1780 – indigo or woad dyed linen and silk fabric (Sweden).
• Rare American 18th c chip-carved treen stay-busk. Love token made in Hallowell now Augusta Maine in 1780. Read more about stay busks, by two nerdy history girls.
• Why a Medieval Woman Had Lapis Lazuli Hidden in Her Teeth. An analysis of dental plaque illuminates the forgotten history of female scribes. What Anita Radini noticed under the microscope was the blue – a brilliant blue that seemed so unnatural, so out of place in the 1,000-year-old dental tartar she was gently dissolving in weak acid. It was ultramarine, she would later learn, a pigment that a millennium ago could only have come from lapis lazuli originating in a single region of Afghanistan. This blue was once worth its weight in gold. It was used, most notably, to give the Virgin Mary's robes their striking color in centuries of artwork. And the teeth that were embedded with this blue likely belonged to a scribe or painter of medieval manuscripts. Read more...

Editor's Note: Lost Email Messages

I had a wee disaster this week. IN making some technical changes with my email and ISP, my UEL inbox was deleted. It had close to 300 email messages in it, accumulated over a long period (yes, on some things I am way behind). I may well have acknowledged, but not yet actually processed a few of them. Most I had not likely acknowledged at all. If you sent to me an email that I had not processed and responded as complete, please send again.

...Doug