Loyalist Trails UELAC Newsletter, 2020 Archive

In this issue:
- Reminder: Registration and Proxies for UELAC Annual General Meeting
- 2020 Scholarship Challenge
- Scholarship Update: Have We Got News For You!
- Tim Compeau Receives Huron University College Teaching Award
- A Loyalist Doctor of New Brunswick: Friends in the Time of War, by Stephen Davidson
- Update on Skeletal Remains Found in Ridgefield CT
- There's Gold in Those Goose Quills
- Sanitary Conditions in York, June 1832, by Chris Raible
- Borealia: The Militia and Civic Community in Colonial New Brunswick, 1786-1816
- JAR: Memorial Day: Recovering the Service of William Tiller, American Soldier
- JAR: George Washington's 1777 Wilmington, Delaware, Headquarters: Insights to an Unmarked Site
- Wedding Shoes – From Treasures Afoot, by Kimberly S. Alexander
- "The Fair Secluder": Social-Distancing on Nantucket, c1797
- Update: St. Alban The Martyr Anglican Church
- Where in the World?
- Region and Branch Bits
      + Nova Scotia Branch
      + Canada Historic Places Day is July 4
- Additions to the Loyalist Directory
- From the Twittersphere and Beyond

Reminder: Registration and Proxies for UELAC Annual General Meeting

This meeting will be held virtually on Saturday, 27 June 2020 at 12:00 noon EDT. All members are eligible to attend; all over the age of 18 are eligible to vote. You may vote in person or by proxy; but in either case you must register in advance. There are various deadlines. Registration of a proxy to be carried by a non-member is first; registration must be received by Sunday 7 June. All details are available.

Notice of Meeting: Now publicly posted; see link at UELAC.ca homepage.

Meeting Details: Now available in the Members' Section; log in at UELAC.ca. Here you will see:

• Overview

• Notice of Meeting

• Attending the Virtual AGM (Registration and deadline)

• Not Attending? Send Your Proxy (Registration and various deadlines)

• AGM General Items

• Executive Reports

• Committee Reports

• Motions

2020 Scholarship Challenge

The goal for this challenge is $8000.00

Branches and individual members across Canada are responding to the UELAC 2020 Scholarship Endowment Fund Challenge. Our current and past Scholarship winners are joining others now writing new research that challenges the mythology of the American Revolution. Some of us truly understand that the plight of the loyalists has been misrepresented or ignored in some popular teaching and film-making.

Many Canadian, British and American historians have been trying to set the record straight and expand the breadth of knowledge through material culture, historic preservation and the ever-expanding knowledge base of digitized primary documents. It is an exciting time to be a scholar. And for the UELAC it is an exciting time to be encouraging post-graduate students with financial support.

We would like to take this opportunity to welcome Zoe L. Jackson, our newest 2020 scholarship recipient. Zoe will be starting her Master of Arts program in History at the University of New Brunswick Fredericton campus (UNB) this September. Her MA proposal is titled, 'Caribbean and Canadian Connections: Black Migration in the World of Atlantic Slavery, 1783-1800'. To meet Zoe and read more about her work please go to the Scholars page on the UELAC website. With the addition of Zoe, UELAC is currently supporting four students. Thank you for your commitment to this growing program.

During this time of uncertainty, I would encourage each Branch to base their gift to the Scholarship Endowment Fund on the strength of your past year and not on the uncertainly of the year ahead of us. If, as an individual, you are one of many not spending money to come to conference, consider giving a portion of that "savings" to the Challenge if you are able to. The Challenge runs until Canada Day, July 1, 2020.

As a member of the Scholarship Committee I thank you.

...Christine E. Manzer, UE

Scholarship Update: Have We Got News For You!

Here we are at the end of week one and already so much has happened. I can hardly contain myself. As soon as the call went out, we received emails pledging support. As of today, the amount received is $940.00. Thank you!

The donation tracker is now active on the 2020 challenge page. Please check back each week as we watch the numbers climb. We will be adding the Thanks to Our Donors section and Scholarship Endowment Memorial Donations in the coming days.

Wondering how to give? We have that covered right here: Donate Please.

Tim Compeau Receives Huron University College Teaching Award

UELAC extends sincere congratulations to Dr.Tim Compeau on receiving the Huron University College Faculty of Arts and Social Science teaching award. Tim is an historian, Loyalist researcher, teacher, and creator of the Loyalist Migration Mapping Project.

The Loyalist Migrations Project is a multi-year project that brings together Huron Community History Centre student researchers, historians, public researchers, and genealogists to plot the journeys of thousands of Loyalist families. This project is partnership supported by the United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada (UELAC).

Tim joined the UELAC scholarship committee in 2018 and is himself a UELAC scholarship recipient (2007). He is also active as a presenter and contributor to The Good Americans project currently in production with Størmerlige Films. We very much appreciate the opportunity to work closely with Tim in preserving and promoting Loyalist history.

Congratulations from all of us at UELAC!

...Bonnie Schepers, UE, UELAC scholarship chair

A Loyalist Doctor of New Brunswick: Friends in the Time of War

© Stephen Davidson, UE

The American Revolution was a civil war, pitting friends and family members against one another as they chose whether to rebel against Great Britain or remain loyal to it. Following the war, some were able to forgive their brothers and neighbours and live in peace once again. For others, the rift created by the violence of war would forever divide those who were once family and friends.

An example of the animosity that the revolution created is found a letter written by John Peters, a Loyalist from Vermont. In writing about 1777's Battle of Bennington, Peters recalled the advance of the rebel army on his Loyalist regiment:

"As they were coming up, I observed a man fire at me, which I returned, he loaded again as he came up & discharged again at me, and crying out "Peters, you damned Tory, I have got you," he rushed on me with his bayonet, which entered just below my left breast, but was turned by the bone. By this time I was loaded, and I saw that it was a Rebel Captain, Jeremiah Post, an old schoolfellow & playmate, and a cousin of my wife's. Though his bayonet was in my body, I felt regret at being obliged to destroy him ... "

Two men who were relatives and childhood friends met on the battlefield, intent on killing one another. Such is the destructive force of war.

But war can also be a shared experience that unites men from different backgrounds, providing the basis for relationships that endure long after the last musket is put aside. Such was the case for an English lawyer named Samuel Denny Street and an Irish doctor named Ambrose Sharman – two men who met in Massachusetts, saw action in Nova Scotia, and then became neighbours in New Brunswick.

Born in Ireland, Ambrose Sharman immigrated to Massachusetts sometime before the American Revolution. He met a Bostonian known only as Miss McLane, and was married before being stationed in Nova Scotia. Although no information on the date of their wedding has survived, what is certain is that Sharman joined the Royal Fencible Americans where he served as assistant surgeon. This Loyalist (or provincial) regiment was organized by John Gorham in 1775 to provide defense on "home territory". Its men guarded Nova Scotia from rebel attacks until the end of the revolution, disbanding on October 10, 1783.

In August of 1776, rebel raiders sailed up the Atlantic coast to Portland Point, a settlement of New Englanders situated at the mouth of the St. John River. In addition to keeping an eye on the shipping in the Bay of Fundy, Fort Frederick stood guard over the vital access point to the St. John River Valley. When they arrived at Portland Point, the Patriots overwhelmed the British garrison and burned it to the ground – but not before they had seized supplies that were intended for the British forces in Boston. The American Revolution had come to Nova Scotia in just over a month after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Two months later, the Royal Fencible Americans left Boston and took up garrison duty in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The city's location on the Atlantic coast made it a strategic port for defending Britain's North American Empire. It was near the sea-lanes used by British ships bound for the American colonies as well as for those heading through the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Canada. Within the Fencibles' ranks were two young officers who had begun a friendship that endured throughout the American Revolution and in the years that followed.

Samuel Denny Street was born on May 16, 1752 in Southwark, a village in England's Surrey County. Although he earned a law degree and served as an attorney in the court of Westminster, he left all of this behind to join the royal navy. By the time he was 23, Street was in Boston serving under Lt. Colonel Thomas Gage. Following his discharge from the navy, he enlisted in the Royal Fencible Americans and met the man who would become his lifelong friend, Dr. Ambrose Sharman.

In November of 1776, the Royal Fencible Americans left Halifax to help ward off an invasion of Nova Scotia. A force comprised of 180 Nova Scotian rebels, American patriots, and Natives attacked Fort Cumberland that guarded the area now comprising the Nova Scotia-New Brunswick border. They were repulsed three times before British Royal Marines and the Royal Fencible Americans relieved the fort. The rebel leader, Jonathan Eddy, and his men scattered, never to attempt an attack again. It was the only battle of the revolution to be fought on land within the borders of present-day Nova Scotia.

While the Fencibles were stationed at Fort Cumberland, Samuel Denny Street met 16 year-old Abigail Freeman. Her parents were Elisha and Marcy Freeman of Norwich, Connecticut. These New England Planters had settled on the Isthmus of Chignecto following the Seven Years War. A 19th century retelling of the story of how the young couple met claims that Abigail's "charms completely captivated our young subaltern who thereupon laid siege to her affections and eventually bore away the prize". The young soldier and the farmer's daughter were married in nearby Amherst.

Nova Scotia's next strategic location to be secured for the British was the mouth of the St. John River. After having had its British garrison destroyed, Portland Point (later known as Saint John) was vulnerable to further rebel attacks. In June of 1777, the Royal Fencible Americans and the Royal Highland Immigrants arrived at the mouth of the St. John River and drove the rebels into the woods, chasing them all the way to a point near modern day Fredericton. In July, American privateers attacked Portland Point again, making off with more than 20 boatloads of goods. Clearly, a more permanent solution was required to safeguard the St. John River Valley.

Under the command of Major Gilfred Studholme, both the Royal Fencible Americans and the Royal Highland Immigrants began to build a new garrison to replace Fort Frederick in November of 1777. Rather than erecting Fort Howe on the low land that made Fort Frederick so vulnerable to attack, the new garrison was built high on a ridge overlooking the harbour.

Initially, the fort consisted of a blockhouse and barracks within a palisade. There was also a blockhouse at the eastern end that was manned by Sharman and Street's detachment of the Royal Fencible Americans for the remainder of the American Revolution. After the arrival of the Loyalist refugees and the founding of Parrtown in 1783, Fort Howe served as a military headquarters, a distribution centre for refugee provisions, and as Parrtown's first jail. Named for Sir William Howe, the commander of British forces in North America, the fort was allowed to fall into disrepair following the American Revolution and the disbanding of its garrison's soldiers.

The story of the two friends who served with the Royal Fencible Americans concludes in next week's Loyalist Trails.

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

Update on Skeletal Remains Found in Ridgefield CT

NOTE: Previously mentioned in Three Skeletons Found Under House In CT, More: Skeletons Found Near Ridgefield Battle Site, and Research Continues: Skeletons Found Near Ridgefield.

The Ridgefield Historical Society has received a $50,150 grant from the National Park Service: American Battlefield Protection Program for a two-year project whose goal is to develop a deeper understanding of the 1777 Battle of Ridgefield and its place in the history of the American Revolution.

Among the questions that historians hope to answer are:

• Were the skeletons those of Patriots or Loyalists or British troops?

• How did the noncombatant residents of Ridgefield interact with the soldiers?

• What specifically did the British and Loyalist soldiers learn from the Ridgefield encounters?

• Who buried casualties from the Battle?

• Where are the other soldiers that died in the Battle buried?

The two-year grant is the beginning of what the Ridgefield Historical Society and State Historic Preservation Office anticipate will be a multi-year project to document and protect the site of Connecticut's only inland battle during the Revolutionary War, an engagement in which General Benedict Arnold was a hero, for the Patriots. Read press release and visit the Society website.

...Ken MacCallum

There's Gold in Those Goose Quills

NOTE: This topic arose from Revolutionary Revenge on Hudson Bay, 1782, which was followed by Query and Comments About Fort Churchill and More on Fort Churchill, and Goose Quills in Particular.

Not to keep plucking away on the topic... but further to recent pieces about goose quills, British author and calligrapher Ewan Clayton, in his book The Golden Thread: A History of Writing, outlines the importance of the quills as writing tools for the British. The quantity of quills in use is also highlighted in Eighteenth-Century Naturalists of Hudson Bay (CS Houston, T.Ball, M Houston, McGill-Queens, 2003).

To summarize:

• Hudson Bay Company began importing goose and swan quills to England in December 1774.

• Hudson Bay Co. returns show trade rose from 58,000 quilts in 1799 to a peak of 1.259 million in 1837.

• On average, a half million quills were imported annually from the Bay into the early 1890's.

• Hudson's Bay continued providing quills to the UK until 1912.

While quills were made from the feathers of different birds, the best were made from goose, swan, and turkey feathers.

Around 1810, quill prices per hundred were:

• fine crow quills for architectural drawings – 9 shillings

• hard, durable turkey quills for lawyers offices – 7 shillings

• domestic goose – 15 shillings

• Hudson Bay swan & goose quills – up to 63 shillings a hundred – reflecting these were high grade writing instruments.

Most quills pens were so unreliable they were disposable. In 1807 English Exchequer employees were allowed up to 300 quill pens a quarter; approx 3 a day.

Michael Farady, in an 1835 presentation to the Royal Society on pen manufacture, calculated the general public only re-trimmed and sharpened 1 in 3 quill pens, the rest were thrown away.

The number of quills imported to Britain in the late 18th and early 19th centuries were astonishing. Even in the 1830's, by which time metal nibs had become available, Britain imported nearly 20 million goose quills a year from Russia, Poland and the Hudson Bay Co. That was on top of the 8 million domestic geese being plucked for local supply (1812 figures).

All of this kept the quill cutters busy – the cutter would cure the feather to make it more flexible so it could withstand longer writing. A good cutter could soak, heat, scrape away the oils and cut up to 1,200 quills a day. One Shoe Lane manufacturer in London reportedly cut 6 million pens a year.

Despite the advances of the metal nib pen from the early 1800's, the British were generally slow adopters. As late as 1898 one company supplied an order for 2 million quills to the London India Office.

Keep your nibs clean!

...Wayne Mullins; Grimsby, ON

Sanitary Conditions in York, June 1832, by Chris Raible

"Much offence & inconvenience to the neighbours": Sanitary Conditions in the Neighbourhood of York's Post Office, June 1832. By Chris Raible.

Adapted from Town of York Historical Society Newsletter, ca 1992.

[The Board of Health report is in the Toronto Reference Library, Baldwin Room, Baldwin Papers.]

In June of 1832, Cholera arrived in the Town of York. A Board of Health was quickly appointed. It immediately ordered an inspection of all areas of the town for health hazards. The following are extracts from the report for the 7th ward, the immediate neighbourhood of the First Post Office:

"New [Jarvis] Street: ... yard rather dirty dung &c wants removing.... Barns & under them a report of stagnant water which might be easily drawn off... Tavern Keepers house in bad order very dirty wants white washing & repairs very much, yard & premises in a most shameful condition – water in cellar. Tenant complains that his landlord will not make any repairs

"Dutchess [Richmond] Street: ...a very dirty yard, dung & dirt about, the house wants cleaning & whitewashing very much as it is in a very bad & dirty state. In front of... Smiths shop a pool of stagnant water pile of dung &c. Judge Campbells land rear... a privy shelter overflowing & causes much offence & inconvenience to the neighbours – Nearly in front of... Smith shop & next his house, a report of Stagnant water. Water course on both sides of the Street wants repairs. Near Corner of Dutch[es]s & Caroline Street a Slaughter House... of Mr King offensive smell proceeds from it, there being blood and other stuff near it requiring attention.... very dirty yard & other premises. Lot... a large Pool of Stagnant water... frame House owned by S Jarvis a very dirty privy overflowing.

"Duke [Adelaide] Street: House owned by George Duggan in a very dirty state, no less that 5 families in the House, yard of which is in a dirty state Dung &c about it. In William Campbells yard there is a pile of rotten dung – a very dirty privy overflowing or very nearly so & very offensive.

"George Street: ....yard large pile of rotten dung.... yard a drain wants cleaning out... yard on Duke Street a very dirty yard deal of dirty stagnant washing water – In Duke Street from Bank to New Street the water courses want repairs... stagnant water, a dung heap, & draining running across pathway into street.... yard in a very dirty state a large quantity of dung stagnant water &c &c... Yard not over clean a pile of Dung &c.

"King Street: ...a pile of dung Stagnant water &c. ...yard report of dirty & stagnant water [repeated for four more yards]. Entrance between Sproule & Beattie rather dirty ...yard in a very dirty state & very much out of order.

"Caroline [Sherborne] Street: Water channels wants cleaning out. Yard & entrance to premises... in a very dirty state stagnant pool of water. Mrs Howards yard a quantity of dung.

"New [Jarvis] Street: ...yard wants cleaning. ...Tavern yard very dirty & requires cleaning of the dung dirty dung drain &c. Privy in the house... occupied by Gurnet very badly constructed & very offensive.

"Inspectors generally found other yards than those mentioned in a very clean State..."

...Chris Raible

Borealia: The Militia and Civic Community in Colonial New Brunswick, 1786-1816

By Elizabeth Mancke and Abbie MacPherson 18 May 2020

Military Service, Citizenship and Political Culture: Militia Studies in Atlantic Canada

This is the first text in a series of contributions to be published over the coming years by members of a new research group on militia history in Atlantic Canada...

No provincial institution in pre-Confederation British North America brought more people under its purview as did militias, notwithstanding exclusions, most particularly older men, women, and children. A provincial militia was more inclusive than religion or ethnicity, more comprehensive than the political community defined by the franchise. Men who could not vote still mustered for militia training. Denominational adversaries marched together for militia training but would not share a church pew. Linguistic antagonists and racialized peoples found common cause in a militia regiment. For these reasons, militias were more important for defining and shaping the civic culture of pre-Confederation British North America than we have appreciated.

This short essay reflects on the militia and civic society in early New Brunswick through a preliminary analysis of militia legislation from 1786 to 1816, which was surprisingly expressive of civic values. In its first thirty years, the assembly passed nine successive militia laws, and a further six amending bills. In the first eight, the assembly shrewdly included sunset clauses, initially five years for peacetime legislation (1787, 1792, and 1802), and "during the present war, and no longer," for the first two wartime militia laws (1794 and 1805). Through sunset clauses, the assembly committed itself to regularly review and renew provincial militia policies, as well as ensure that the militia remained a provincial rather than imperial institution. Indeed, during the Napoleonic Wars, the New Brunswick assembly resisted metropolitan British attempts to bring colonial militias under imperial military authority. The assembly also limited the governor's fiscal discretion over militia officers by setting compensation caps for adjutants, who the governor paid. In its frequent renewals and revisions, the assembly also modified terms of inclusion, thus offering periodic glimpses into New Brunswickers' understandings of the intersection of military preparedness and civic obligations.

Read more.

JAR: Memorial Day: Recovering the Service of William Tiller, American Soldier

By Michael J. F. Sheehan 25 May 2020

Every now and then, one comes across a pension application of an old soldier that includes extraordinary detail. Occasionally the application includes a journal or memoir, as in the case of Connecticut's Isaac Grant or Virginia's William Tiller. Tiller's journal is full of detail, but unfortunately few muster rolls for his regiment exist, making certain aspects of his service difficult to corroborate. His pay rolls exist for much of his service and can at least prove his having been a soldier for the time he claimed to be. Using other primary sources, such as the Papers of George Washington, the Continental Army's monthly strength reports as published in Charles Lesser's Sinews of Independence, and other letters, we are able to fill in many gaps or even prove Tiller's words.

William Tiller was a native son of Virginia, but at no point in his pension application does he mention his age, town of birth, or any other details of his early life. It is possible Tiller was from Bedford County, Virginia, as he enlisted in a company commanded by Capt. Henry Terrell (who was from Bedford County) in the 5th Virginia Regiment commanded by Col. Charles Scott on February 22, 1776. What Tiller did during this time is unclear – he left no mention of his first enlistment, and his muster and pay rolls don't pick up until October 1776. For October, November, and December 1776, only his pay rolls exist, and they leave no clues of his activities. On September 30, Congress had ordered that Brig. Gen. Adam Stephens shift his Virginia brigade towards Washington's Main Army. His brigade, which included the 4th, 5th, and 6th Virginia regiments, arrived at Trenton, New Jersey, on November 8. As Washington was defeated in late 1776 in the greater New York area, the Lower Hudson Valley, and finally in Northern New Jersey, he was constantly pursued by the British. He marched inland towards the Delaware River, arriving on its banks in the first week of December.

Read more.

JAR: George Washington's 1777 Wilmington, Delaware, Headquarters: Insights to an Unmarked Site

By Gary Ecelbarger 28 May 2020

On the 170th anniversary of Washington's Birthday in 1902, the Delaware Society of the Cincinnati formed a procession of dignitaries and marched up Quaker Hill, the southwestern residential area of Wilmington. The ceremony continued to West Street, a north-south avenue named after an early settler. They stopped in the middle of a row of houses on the western side of the street, between 3rd and 4th streets. There at 303 West Street, the dignitaries unveiled a freshly inscribed bronze tablet which became the highlight of the February 22 event and was carried to the locale while wrapped in an American flag. The historical marker was affixed between and slightly below the two windows of the first story of the three-story front facing, where it remained for more than 60 years. According to its inscription, "This tablet marks the location of General Washington's headquarters of the American army in Wilmington, Delaware."

During the ceremony the Delaware Society of the Cincinnati asserted that by "careful investigation by the best of authorities, gives absolute proof of this location as the one and only headquarters in the city of Wilmington." Today that "absolute proof" has not come to light. With absolute certainty we do know that Washington headquartered in Wilmington during the last week of August 1777, and continuing for most of the first week of September. His official correspondences (mainly in the form of letters and orders) are simply headed "Wilmington" without any specifics added. No participant in the campaign identified the exact location of headquarters in Wilmington, neither in contemporary writings nor in post-war recollections. No Wilmington resident in an interview, diary, letter or reminiscence has ever stepped forward to claim that he or she housed General Washington; neither has a neighbor or relative of this host. The lone Wilmington receipt from this period is made out to a George Forsyth on August 27 for total charge of £63.12. A close inspection of the itemized charges reveals that it was primarily a very expensive two-day wine and meal bill (90 percent of the charges were incurred on Aug 25 and Aug 27) and not a lodging one. George Forsyth was not the homeowner or renter where Washington headquartered; he was likely a nearby tavern keeper who fed the general and his military family for the first few days in Wilmington.

Read more.

Wedding Shoes – From Treasures Afoot, by Kimberly S. Alexander

(Available for free for a limited time!)

Weddings are powerful events, infused with joy, ritual, and tradition. In eighteenth-century America, as now, weddings were an occasion in which to look one's best.

Whether one measured one's station in society in pounds sterling or in shillings, the clothing of the bride and groom would have been their finest. In colonial America, whatever one's current status, a betrothed couple hoped to move up the economic ladder...

A wide variety of shoes were available to the American bride (and the occasional groom) for this significant event: silk damasks and brocades; wool calamancos; supple leathers; hand embroidered materials; and even reused textiles. In the following selection of ten brides – some well known, others obscure – we are privy to small vignettes of each one's wedding day, as seen through their footwear. Included are shoes embroidered by the bride who wore them, as well as imported shoes of green damask, red silk, calamanco, purple and ivory satin, and leather. The weddings, held in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, generally featured brides from elite families, but several were "middling sorts." Most were Patriots, but at least one bride married a staunch Loyalist. The political leanings of others are unknown.Given the nature of such a special occasion, it is not surprising to find numerous examples of eighteenth-century wedding shoes in museums and related institutions.

Read more (free for a limited time).

"The Fair Secluder": Social-Distancing on Nantucket, c1797

By Susan Holloway Scott, 22 May 2020

While social-distancing and self-isolation are expressions that seem very much of our time, the concepts behind them are hardly new. By necessity, people in the past were often isolated and separated from the people and places they cared for. Eighteenth century people didn't have the consolation of video chats or texts, either, and months or even years could pass before a letter or a relayed verbal reassurance could come from someone far from home.

Phebe Folger Coleman (1771-1857) must have known all about this kind of separation. She was born on the island of Nantucket, 30 miles out to sea from the mainland of Massachusetts. The island's population was fewer than 5,000 people in the 1790s, and the majority of the man were employed as sailors or whalers, occupations that could take them from home for an extended time. A child conceived during shore leave could be born, walking, and talking before he or she finally met Papa.

Read more.

Update: St. Alban The Martyr Anglican Church

NOTE: The church was closed as noted last year in “What's to Become of St. Alban The Martyr Anglican Church?”

Much work has been done. This update from Friends of St Alban's about St. Alban the Martyr United Empire Loyalist Memorial Church.

Over the past few months, Friends of St. Alban's has made progress in our efforts to preserve and promote St. Alban's Church. We are pleased to share our Business Plan (to view, click HERE) which includes our statement of mission, some history, planned activities for the future, and an introduction to our newly-formed board of directors. As a board, we have been meeting monthly (most recently in video conferences) and we are now incorporated as a not-for-profit organization. We have also applied to become a registered charity.

In accordance with provincial COVID-19 directives and common sense, we have cancelled our annual UEL Memorial Service in June and other events planned for this summer. However, when provincial rules allow, we invite you to visit St. Alban's which will be open for tours and/or quiet meditation, where social distancing is easy to do, on Saturday mornings.

Where in the World?

Where is Nova Scotia Branch member Ann McConnell?

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.

Nova Scotia Branch

The Branch in Nova Scotia was reborn as the Nova Scotia Branch in 2014.

Brian McConnell has produced a video to highlight the events, meetings and members of the NS Branch between 2014 and 2019. It also hopefully gives non-members an idea of what they have been up to and are about.

Canada Historic Places Day is July 4

Canada Historic Places Day on July 4, 2020 launches 8 weeks of celebration to shine a spotlight on Canada's historic places from coast to coast.

Now in its fourth year, Canada Historic Places Day 2020 will be bigger than ever with new virtual tools, new contests, and online adventures (to come). Mark July and August in your calendar, and register your historic site for this opportunity to attract attention – virtual or otherwise! Register today.

Additions to the Loyalist Directory

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

• Ostrander, Andrew - contributed by Linda Young

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

From the Twittersphere and Beyond

• 27 May 1914 Founding of the United Empire Loyalists Association of Canada (UELAC) , with a Federal Charter passed by Parliament. An estimated 5,000,000 Canadians are Loyalist descendants, UELAC is their voice. St. Lawrence Branch on Twitter @UelacB
• A short history of the two cities named Niagara Falls. The City of Niagara Falls, Ontario was born from the Village of Clifton. Streets and building lots were laid out as early as 1832 by landowner Captain Ogden Creighton. He was responsible for the name of the future settlement "Clifton" derived from a town of the same name in England. Creighton was a British Army officer who purchased the property from the Phillip Bender family who had acquired this land in 1782 as part of a United Empire Loyalist (UEL) land grant. Read more...
• Deed of May 12, 1794 from Abraham Johnson, Loyalist & Quaker from Philadelphia, to Robert Craig for 100 acres in Digby Twp. for 20 pounds. By 1795 over 60% of the 1200 Loyalists who arrived in Digby, NS in 1783 after American Revolution had left. Brian McConnell.
• James Lewis "J.L." Kraft was a Loyalist descendant. Canadian J.L. Kraft (1874-1953) was born on a farm near Stevensville, Ontario. He was a descended from the well-known Mennonite Loyalist Abraham Boehm (Beam) UE (1720-1799). He began what became Kraft Foods.
• 26 May 1912 marks the birth date of Loyalist descendant, athlete and actor Jay Silverheels, who played Tonto on The Lone Ranger TV series. He was a member of the Mohawk Nation on the Six Nations Reserve, Ontario.
• People Not Property is an interactive documentary about the history of Northern colonial enslavement produced by Historic Hudson Valley. Among its programs, Historic Hudson Valley provides a constellation of on-site, in-school, and digital offerings under the heading Slavery in the Colonial North. These activities represent Historic Hudson Valley's commitment to sharing the history of northern colonial enslavement, and to dispelling the myths that many Americans still believe about its scope and impact.
  
• This Week in History
  • 27 May 1750 marks the birth date of loyalist Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Brown commander of the King's Rangers. American Revolutionary War (1775-1783) this Loyalist regiment won many battles.
  • 28 May 1754 Col. George Washington accidentally starts French & Indian War, as captive dies during interrogation.
  • 29 May 1770 Ethan Allan purchases some land in the New Hampshire Grants, in what is today Poultney, VT, where he intends to move his family and start a farm.
  • 24 May 1775 John Hancock elected 4th President of Continental Congress, serving to 1777, so 1st to sign Declaration.
  • 27 May 1775. The Battle of Chelsea Creek was the first naval engagement of the Revolutionary War. Boston colonists raided the Boston Harbor Islands for British resources and overtook HMS Diana. Read more...
  • 29 May 1775, the Woburn committee of correspondence released town native Benjamin Thompson for lack of evidence that he was a Tory. Thompson went back to spying for royal governor Gage.
  • 26 May 1776 President of Virginia Convention warns Maryland of approaching British fleet.
  • 27 May 1776 Representatives of the Haudenosaunee Confederation appear before Congress, discuss concerns.
  • 23 May 1777 Col. Meigs' expedition seizes British fort, burns several ships at Sag Harbor on Long Island
  • 29 May 1780 British Col. Tarleton has surrendering rebels shot at Waxhaws, SC, cementing a reputation for brutality.
  • 26 May 1782, Col William Crawford marches his army towards the Ohio R, charged by Gen Washington with attacking local Indians who sided with British.
  • 25 May 1784, Captain Michael Grass (1734-1813) and a group of Loyalists left Sorel, Province of Quebec, and set their course for Fort Frontenac. These Loyalists settled in Cataraqui and soon renamed it Kings Town. Now it's the beautiful city of Kingston.
  • 25 May 1787 Constitutional Convention convenes, exceeding charge to amend Articles of Confederation, starts fresh.
• Townsend's
  • Keto Recipes in the 18th Century?
• Clothing and Related:
  • What fashions did John Adams and Benjamin Franklin see in France in the 1780s? Laurie Benson @LaurieBwrites shares photos from the "Visitors to Versailles 1682-1789" exhibit. Read more...
  • 18th Century Robe à la Française, detail of the narrow ruching edged with a fringe of white silk gimp & coloured floss silk knots. A wide pleated strip of silk, edged with fringe & flowers, is arranged in a serpentine line. Spitalfields silk, 1760s
  • 18th Century Stomacher for a women's gown. It would be pinned to the overcoat of a silk dress, closing the dress over the chest, Incredible details of relief embroidery, silk floral motifs, silk cutwork over wire foundation, foil & beads
  • 18th Century dress, robe à la piedmontese, salmon pink satin, brocaded floral sprays in silver-gilt strip. Originally made in the 1770's as a robe à la française but in 1780's it was converted to a robe à la piedmontese
  • Detail of 18th Century men's waistcoat, French, c.1770-1790's
  • 18th Century men's nightgown or banyan, this nightgown is an example of one type of informal clothing worn by men over shirt and breeches, in the privacy of home before noon or late at night, quilted silk for added warmth, 1780-1820
  • 18th Century men's sleeved waistcoat, silk brocaded with metallic yarns & flat wire with silver buttons, 1750-1770
• Miscellaneous:
  • The Sisters' Revolutionary Secret by Don N. Hagist 25 May 2020 (JAR). A popular American television show featured a panel of celebrities trying to guess a secret about a non-celebrity guest. Sisters Delia and Bertie Harris were born in the 1880s, and their secret was a surprising connection to the Rev War. Short with a video clip which includes moments of Carol Burnett.