Loyalist Trails UELAC Newsletter, 2020 Archive

In this issue:
- Fall 2020 Loyalist Gazette
- The Head of Elk: A Turning Point for Loyalists (Part 4 of 5), by Stephen Davidson
- Life of Susanna Harrington, Wife of Frederick Shelp, by Arden Wade
- Loyalist Settlement in New Brunswick: New Brunswick Loyalists
- The Yorktown Campaign
- JAR: Ethan Allen's Mysterious Defeat at Montreal – Reconsidered
- JAR: Britain's Last Throw of the Dice – The Charlestown Campaign of 1780
- Borealia: Loyalist Women and the Experience of Revolutionary Exile in Nova Scotia
- Ben Franklin's World: Elections & Voting in the Early Republic
- Jamestown: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: Hidden History in an American Ghost Story
- 18th Century Men's Banyans, Night Gowns, and Wrappers
- National Geographic's "Drain the Oceans" Reveals Shipwreck in the York River at Yorktown
- New Official Canadian Photographic Portrait of the Queen
- Believer or skeptic? Ghost stories attract people to learn about local heritage
- Where in the World?
- Additions to the Loyalist Directory
- From the Twittersphere and Beyond
- Queries
      + Place in New Brunswick called Glencoe Island

Fall 2020 Loyalist Gazette

The Fall 2020 Loyalist Gazette is currently in design phase, in November the digital copy will be available in the Members' Section.

With the latest issue soon available, the Fall 2019 Loyalist Gazette is now available publicly.

The Head of Elk: A Turning Point for Loyalists (Part 4 of 5)

© Stephen Davidson, UE

The story of Henry Hugh Ferguson is an unusual one. He was a Loyalist who eventually had to seek asylum in Britain. His wife, the former Elizabeth Graeme, was described as being "a violent rebel". She remained in Pennsylvania after General Howe arrived at the Head of Elk, never to be reunited with her Loyalist husband. Or so Ferguson claimed. What follows is a bit of a "He Said, She Said" story.

Elizabeth Graeme was a member of a prominent Philadelphia family. At age 20, she was engaged to William Franklin, the illegitimate son of Benjamin Franklin, but opposition by both families ended the matter. Thanks to her family's wealth, Elizabeth was able to go abroad, touring Europe in the mid-1760s. While in England she met the intelligentsia of the era. She also had occasion to be introduced to King George III – a man who was just a year younger than the Philadelphia socialite.

Back in Horsham, Pennsylvania, Elizabeth regularly hosted parties for poet and authors at Graeme Park, her family's summer residence just outside of Philadelphia. The historian Anne Wharton argues that Elizabeth was "the most learned woman in America during the last half of the 18th century." Others described her gatherings as colonial America's first literary salons.

Wharton described how Elizabeth met her future husband. "Such was the character of Dr. Graeme's family for hospitality and refinement of manners that all the strangers of note who visited Philadelphia were introduced to it. Saturday evenings were appropriated... it was at one of these evening parties {December 7, 1771} she first saw Mr. Henry Hugh Ferguson, a handsome and accomplished young gentleman, who had lately arrived In this country from Scotland."

Despite the fact that Elizabeth was 35 and Henry was 25, the couple secretly married at Swede's Church on April 21, 1772, just four months after their first encounter. The decade difference in their ages being offset, it was said, by their common interest in "books, retirement, and literary society".

In addition to marrying into Philadelphia's aristocracy, Ferguson also acquired the Graeme Park estate and – by 1775 – was made a justice of the peace for Philadelphia County. Not bad for a 28 year-old Scottish immigrant. In September of 1775, Ferguson went to England on business. With the rising anti-British sentiment in Pennsylvania, Elizabeth wrote Henry, advising him to delay his return.

Henry did as his wife asked and stayed in England for two years. He finally returned with General Howe's troops when they landed at the Head of Elk. Although the British eventually took control of Philadelphia, Elizabeth remained outside of the British lines at Graeme Park. Except for one known rendezvous that was accomplished by receiving a pass from George Washington, Elizabeth's only contact with Henry was through her letters to him.

In November of 1777, the British command appointed Henry as the commissary of prisoners. Although he said he assumed the position to stay near Elizabeth, his new responsibilities troubled his wife. She wrote a friend that she was "worried with accounts of the distress of the prisoners under his care."

Henry left Elizabeth a second time when the British army evacuated Philadelphia in June of 1778. The colony's Patriots denounced Henry along with 500 others as being traitors. They seized Graeme Park, considering it the property of a Loyalist. Henry stayed in New York City until January of 1779. Just before he left for England, he and Elizabeth met for the last time at Elizabethtown Point, New Jersey.

Within two years' time, Elizabeth was able to reclaim Graeme Park. The rebel government still considered Henry guilty of high treason, but because Elizabeth appeared "to have acted a friendly part to the cause of the United States", her family estate was restored to her in April of 1781.

Three years later, Henry Ferguson stood before the loyalist compensation board and related a somewhat different story. He was anxious to receive validation to his claim to be the owner of Graeme Park. Then he could claim compensation for the lost estate. To accomplish his objective, Ferguson and his witnesses made Elizabeth out to be a rebel.

In his testimony, he made vague references to her "having a difference" with him. Ferguson said that he had "great reason to think that the difference arose from a difference in political opinions". He testified that he thought it was "highly improbable that they should ever live together again".

When Daniel Coxe testified for Ferguson, he described his friend as "uniformly loyal" but that Elizabeth "was of a different opinion". Phineas Bond, the second witness, said that Ferguson was "very loyal" but that his wife was "a violent rebel". There was "a difference between them in politics that subsisted some time before he came to England".

This was clearly Henry's side of the story. Nothing in Elizabeth's correspondence or journals suggests that she and Henry had parted on bad terms. Her own family was one divided by politics with Loyalists on one side and Patriots on the other. Most of Elizabeth's friends were sympathetic to the rebels. Her only outright demonstration of Patriot leanings was a humanitarian act.

In December of 1777, the rebel army was camped about 9 miles from Elizabeth's home. Given the winter temperatures, there was a desperate need for warm clothing. On several occasions, Elizabeth took "linens and other materials of her own raising and manufacture to be distributed to the most needy". George Washington was said to have sent her letters of appreciation. This hardly qualified her to be described as a "violent (meaning "zealous" or "vehement") rebel".

Although he was granted an annual allowance of £100, it appears that Henry Hugh Ferguson received nothing more from the compensation board. Casting his wife as rebel villain had not helped his case.

Despite all of the negative testimony that her husband and his friends had made in February of 1784, Elizabeth responded to a letter that Ferguson wrote to her that summer. He implored her to "relieve his distressed condition". Apparently she sent him some money, but her family did not approve. Her nephew, John Young, wrote to Elizabeth from London on July 9th, 1789, that "it would afford me a signal gratification to know that you were either unconditionally reconciled to your husband, or that you had reconciled your mind to the loss of him, for I much fear that it must at last be reduced to this dilemma."

After Elizabeth helped Henry in 1784, he dropped out of her life completely. The last she heard of him was in October 1793, when she learned that he had entered the army and gone to Flanders. While Henry's devotion may have been to Elizabeth's fortune, she always remained true to her loyalist husband. Just a year before her death, she wrote, "every event of my marriage and all that relates to my husband is as recent in my memory as though it had occurred but yesterday. Though strange, out of twenty-eight years I lived but two and a half with him".

When she died at age 60 on February 23, 1801, she had these words carved into her tombstone:

Elizabeth Ferguson,
the true sympathizer with the afflicted;
daughter of Thomas and Ann Graeme,
wife of Hugh Henry Ferguson
1801
Eliza caused this stone to be laid,
waits with resignation and humble hope for reunion
with her friend in a more perfect state of existence.

This series on the Loyalists affected by Howe's landing at the Head of Elk concludes in next week's Loyalist Trails.

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

Life of Susanna Harrington, Wife of Frederick Shelp, by Arden Wade

Susanna Harrington was born on 22 January 1769 in the town of Shrewsbury, Worchester County, Massachusetts. Her father, Jonathan Harrington, born on 12 February 1741 in the town of Watertown, Middlesex County Massachusetts was a Lieutenant during the American Revolutionary war. Her father's brothers Moses Harrington and Edward Harrington were both Captains. Susanna's grandfather Edward Harrington born 1702 in Watertown was a Captain, his brother Samuel Harrington born in 1704 was a Lieutenant, and their brother Nathaniel, born in 1706, graduated Harvard College in 1728.

Susanna's mother was Grace Hager, born on 7 May 1744 in the town of Waltham, Middlesex County Massachusetts. Jonathan and Grace were married on 20 December 1764 at Waltham, and had lived at Watertown when first married where their daughter Grace Harrington was born on the 30 September 1765 and Lydia on 20 March 1767. In 1768 Susanna's parents moved from Watertown to Shrewsbury. Susanna's sister Anna was born there on 6 September 1770, and her sister Sarah on 20 August 1772.

Susanna's ancestors had lived in Massachusetts for over 100 years before she was born, many of them had arrived at Plymouth in 1630. Several were very well established from early on having come from the aristocratic society of England, and were also very well acknowledged in the church, many being Vicars or other churchmen. A lot of them were elected Selectman of their town as well as many other positions. The number of Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in the Revolutionary war lists 171 Harrington's.

None of this was going to help Susanna prepare for the future. The war had now started when her sister Sarah died on August 1, 1775. Then her uncle Edward Harrington died on 23 September 1776 at Fort Ticonderoga New York, in service to his country. Her mother's brother, Joseph Hager Junior died on 31 December 1776 in Waltham. Joseph's youngest child of seven, Uriah was born on 26 August of 1776, just five weeks before his father died. Uriah graduated Harvard College in 1802 as a medical doctor. Her grandfather Joseph Hager and her grandmother Grace Bigelow both died in 1777 in Waltham. Then on October 1 1778, Susanna's mother, Grace Hager died at Shrewsbury. The records don't state why she died, but it was probably in childbirth.

Jonathan Harrington married Catherine Wyman on 10 March 1779 in Shrewsbury Massachusetts. Catherine, or as she was known, (Caty) was born in Shrewsbury on 9 December 1755, she was 14 years younger than Jonathan, and 14 years older than Susanna.

Jonathan Harrington Junior was born on 10 March 1880, exactly one year after his parents were married. Next, Sarah was born on 15 February 1772, she was named for the daughter who had died 10 years earlier. Wyman Harrington was born on 11 February 1774, he was the last child born in Shrewsbury. The war had ended on September 3, 1783, Susanna's 16-year-old sister, Lydia was married on 17 September of that year. Her sister Grace was married on 20 December of that year as well.

In 1785 or early in 1786 the family moved back to Watertown. Ephraim Harrington was born there on September 24, 1786. Susanna would've turned 18 in January 1787, this in all probability is the timeframe that she moved to New York. There is no record of who she made the trip with or who she lived with when she got there. We know that there were many Harrington families living in and around Rensselaer County at this time.

So how did a member of a rebel (Patriot) family of Massachusetts end up living in the Royal Townships in Quebec Province west of Montreal, remembering that Quebec Province between 1763 and 1791 extended all the way west to the Mississippi River. In 1791, the Constitutional Act, also called Canada Act, (1791) divided Quebec Province into Upper and Lower Canada. Watch for next week's Loyalist Trails for the rest of the Susanna's story.

Loyalist Settlement in New Brunswick: New Brunswick Loyalists

based on an article by Linda Hansen Squires

Despite the fact that many, if not most, of the Loyalists considered themselves to be both

American and British when the American War of Independence began, they felt obliged to offer their allegiance to the British government. In return, they expected that authority to protect their property and their persons. They further expected the British army to triumph over revolutionary forces, which talked so glibly of liberty while seeming to practise anarchy. Instead, the Loyalist "friends of government," as they were sometimes known, saw their property confiscated, their beliefs vilified as treasonous and found themselves forced to stand helplessly by while the British government signed a preliminary peace treaty that did little to ensure their safety. In fact, the months immediately following the treaty of January 1783 were perhaps the worst of all for Loyalists.

Seeking protection, they poured into New York City, which had been serving as British headquarters. There, they made hasty plans to depart their native land, mainly by ship, to seek refuge elsewhere. So many seemed to pour into the Maritime area of British North America that one Loyalist, Joshua Upham, wrote to his friend, Edward Winslow, "We shall all soon be with you – everybody, all the World moves on to Nova Scotia."

Not surprisingly, the influence on the area was incredible. In total, almost 35,000 people moved into the Maritime region. Nearly 15,000 of that number went to Sunbury and portions of Cumberland Counties. These counties, which formed part of Nova Scotia at that time, were separated and incorporated into a new province named New Brunswick by an Order-in-Council on June 18, 1784. A short while later, Thomas Carleton, brother of Sir Guy Carleton, was appointed the first Lieutenant Governor of the province.

Read more (3-page PDF) – in Loyalists, Pioneers and Settlers of the West: A Teacher's Resource inside the UELAC.org Education section.

The Yorktown Campaign

The Yorktown Campaign ensured American efforts to win independence from Great Britain would end in success, and elevated General George Washington's notoriety as a result of his role directing the victory. Washington's Continental Army, substantially aided by French land and naval forces, surrounded the British southern army under the command of General Charles, Earl of Cornwallis.

The resulting siege at Yorktown forced Cornwallis' surrender and compelled the start of serious negotiations that ended in recognition of American independence at the Peace of Paris. Washington's fame grew to international proportions having wrested such an improbable victory, interrupting his much desired Mount Vernon retirement with greater calls to public service.

Read more.

JAR: Ethan Allen's Mysterious Defeat at Montreal – Reconsidered

By Mark R. Anderson 15 October 2020

On September 25, 1775, three weeks into the American invasion of Canada, the legendary Ethan Allen fought a fierce battle outside Montreal with about one hundred Canadians and Continental soldiers at his side. The result was bitter defeat at the hands of a larger British-Canadian force that had sortied from the city to confront them at Longue Pointe. The self-penned Narrative of Colonel Ethan Allen's Captivity claimed that another party was committed to join him in taking Montreal that day, but somehow, he and his men had been inexplicably left to fend for themselves. Over the centuries, historians have had remarkably few primary sources to help unravel this mystery.

Only Ethan Allen's Narrative, written in 1779, provides substantial details from the American perspective. As a result, historiographical explanations of his misadventure have generally split into two distinct camps. One faction follows dominant contemporary views that Allen's "imprudence and ambition" had unnecessarily exposed his party to defeat in a rash, uncoordinated attempt on the city, and emphasizes inconsistencies in the self-serving Narrative account Other historians and biographers hew close to the Narrative, focusing on Allen's claim that Maj. John Brown had committed to a coordinated, supporting attack on Montreal with many more men but did not arrive, leaving Allen to his fate. Long-overlooked Canadian primary sources, however, shed significant light on Allen's mysterious predicament and suggest an alternative explanation for his "single-handed" battlefield defeat at Longue Pointe on September 25.

An important point in Ethan Allen's road to Montreal came on July 27, 1775, when he was left without a commission or command after township leaders surprisingly selected Seth Warner to command their new Continental Green Mountain Rangers Regiment.

Read more.

JAR: Britain's Last Throw of the Dice – The Charlestown Campaign of 1780

By Ian Saberton 12 October 2020

By the close of 1779 British possessions in the revolted colonies were confined in the north to New York City, Long Island, and Penobscot. An army had been lost at Saratoga. In the south a tenuous hold on lower Georgia had been gained, East and West Florida had remained loyal, but West Florida was threatened by Spain. Elsewhere in the revolted colonies the revolutionaries were firmly in control.

Britain was losing the war.

To turn the tide a bold strategy was evolved. By a series of campaigns beginning in the south at Charlestown the British would move north through the Carolinas into Virginia and form the numerous loyalists of the Carolinas into militia as they progressed. Material reliance would be placed on the militia to maintain control of the territory that had been conquered, freeing regular and British American troops for the onward advance. If all went well, the south would be recovered and civil government eventually reinstated there under the Crown.

A most important factor in the equation was the paucity of available troops. General Sir Henry Clinton, the British Commander-in-Chief, had at his disposal an entire force which at most amounted to only 32,000 men of all ranks fit for duty, including the troops in Georgia and the Floridas. Of these, 14,000 to 17,500 men were required to maintain the posts at New York and Long Island, so that only a dangerously small balance remained for service in other quarters.

If the strategy were to succeed, a new base – Charlestown – had first to be taken and held. As the troops advanced into the interior, posts had to be established to support the militia in maintaining control of conquered territory, and lines of communication sufficiently guarded. In short, two complete armies were really required: one in the south; and another at New York to hold the forces of New England in check and deter an offensive against Canada. It would be Clinton's task to make one army do the work of two by relying on the sea for communication between the different parts of his force. If command of the sea were kept, the troops detached to the south could if necessary be supported and might succeed; if command of the sea were lost, they or part of them ran the risk of defeat in detail.

Read more.

Borealia: Loyalist Women and the Experience of Revolutionary Exile in Nova Scotia

Patrick O-Brien 13 October 2020

On 4 June 1783, nineteen-year-old Mary Robie made a short note in her diary complaining about the "noise of the guns fir'd in honor of the day." It was, as Robie noted, "The day which gave birth to his most gracious Majesty George the third," and the people of Halifax took to the streets to celebrate. It was the king's forty-fifth birthday, but it was his first since the negotiations that would grant American independence had begun in Paris that April. No doubt some of the revelers were refugees who had fled the revolution in the American colonies to escape persecution. These "loyalists" celebrated publicly as a sign that they, unlike their former friends and neighbours, remained the king's faithful subjects. Robie too was a refugee, but she made no comment on the king's birthday. Instead, when a friend called that evening to see if she and her younger sister Hetty were attending the ball in honor of the king's birth, she refused, explaining later in her diary, "Neither Hetty or I had the least inclination to go."

I chose Robie's reflection on 4 June 1783 to introduce this piece because it both encapsulates and challenges the image of the loyalists in the popular imagination. In the depiction, faithful British colonists celebrate the birthday of their beloved King George III much like, and perhaps even more fervently, than Britons across the Atlantic. But Robie wanted no part in the celebration. Her feelings foreshadow some of the cynicism that increasingly came to define the loyalist perspective through the 1790s as many grew frustrated with both parliament and the king for abandoning the empire's most loyal subjects.

I also chose this entry because it is one of the only places in Robie's diary, which she kept almost daily from May 1783 through July of the following year, where she made any mention, even if subtle, to loyalist politics.

Read more.

Note: Teach My Research is a new occasional series at Borealia to help connect research and teaching, putting the latest scholarship on early Canadian history – Indigenous, French, British, or early national, to about 1900 – into our classrooms.

Ben Franklin's World: Elections & Voting in the Early Republic

Independence from Great Britain provided the former British American colonists the opportunity to create a new, more democratic government than they had lived under before the American Revolution.

Terrance Rucker, a Historical Publications Specialist in the Office of the Historian of the U.S. House of Representatives, and Marcela Miccuci, a curator at the Museum of the American Revolution, join us to investigate the first federal elections in the United States and who could vote in early U.S. elections.

During our conversation, Terrance and Marcela reveal details about the first federal election in the United States; Who could participate in the first state and federal elections; And why the Constitution of 1787 leaves it to the states to determine voter eligibility requirements.

Listen to the podcast.

Jamestown: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: Hidden History in an American Ghost Story

Katherine Egner Gruber 14 October 2020

Americans love a good ghost story – and what better time to indulge this guilty pleasure than Halloween? This season we're looking back to what might be the OG of all-American ghost stories, Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, which celebrates its 200th anniversary this year. First published in 1820, the short story has inspired countless adaptations, perhaps most famously Tim Burton's 1999 Sleepy Hollow, starring Johnny Depp as a squeamish and fearful Ichabod Crane. This interpretation couldn't be further from Irving's original Ichabod who, just like us, relished spending winter evenings hearthside, listening to "marvelous tales of ghosts and goblins, and haunted fields, and haunted brooks, and haunted bridges, and haunted houses, and particularly of the headless horseman." Americans' timeless love of a good ghost story seems itself engrained in Sleepy Hollow, and Irving's short story has continued to terrify us for the past 200 years. You might be too distracted with fright to realize that there is some hidden Revolutionary War history embedded in this spooky tale.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow takes place in 1790, just after the American Revolution, and if you read closely enough, the war itself is a powerful character and a driving force in the narrative. When Ichabod Crane arrives in Tarrytown and becomes part of the community at Sleepy Hollow, the residents have begun to heal from their Revolutionary past. Irving tells us "the British and American line had run near (the neighborhood) during the war; (and) had been the scene of marauding and infested with refugees, cowboys, and all kinds of border chivalry."

Read more.

18th Century Men's Banyans, Night Gowns, and Wrappers

The V&A's website describes these garments: "In the 17th and 18th centuries a nightgown was not a garment worn to bed but a version of the modern dressing gown. Donned over breeches and a shirt, the night gown was worn upon arising in the morning and before dressing in the formal clothes required for public activities. At the end of the day, many men removed their coats and waistcoats, and put on a night gown for relaxing in private at home." One picture. And another example: 18th Century men's Banyan, a robe worn at home. Cotton plain weave, painted & dyed in India, probably Coromandel Coast, for the Western market, c.1750.

Some more background from Historic Deerfield: "Since the 16th century, banyans or dressing gowns functioned as loose robes worn by Western gentlemen in the privacy of their homes.

Read more, with a long list of links to examples, and a sewing pattern for sale.

National Geographic's "Drain the Oceans" Reveals Shipwreck in the York River at Yorktown

Being a bit of a nut about history I watched an episode of Drain the Oceans last evening. It was apparently on in June as well. The episode concerned the wrecks off the Virginia Coast from the British fleet just before the surrender. One ship, the Charon was found to have been lined with copper, something rather unusual for that time. It was determined through examination, and research that this ship had been fired upon by the French fleet using what was called "hot shot" (cannon balls heated the red and then fired from a cannon). The fire was so intense that they actually found melted copper still attached to bits of wood. There was also another ship, a large merchant vessel that was discovered to have a hole cut into the side which suggested it had been scuttled. A painting of Washington and his generals at Yorktown shows a number of ships masts sticking out of the river and it was concluded that these ship were deliberately sunk by the British to delay the French. Details: https://www.visityorktown.org/499/Yorktown-Shipwreck.

...Sue Hines

NOTE: Watch your TV channels for another replay; the online version (https://www.nationalgeographic.com/tv/) appears to be restricted to those who live in the USA)

New Official Canadian Photographic Portrait of the Queen

It is with a great sense of accomplishment in the course of our somewhat-challenging 50th Anniversary year that I am able to share with you some good news. At the request of the Government of Canada, Department of Canadian Heritage, (Royal Portraits) the Monarchist League of Canada has agreed to be the distributor of the new official Canadian photographic portrait of Her Majesty The Queen, which was released earlier today on Oct 16, 2020 in Ottawa. Canadian Heritage will continue to make downloads for printing at home the official portrait available on its website. We anticipate quite a number of orders – there is in fact a steady stream of requests for the previous picture, which we have distributed "unofficially" for many years.
The League will be charging only for postage and the mailing cylinder – the administrative time and energy involved will be our gift to what is a very positive and much-appreciated element of the symbolism of the Canadian Crown; and we hope you as members will not only order copies via the League Store online for your own use https://store.monarchist.ca/en/products (scroll down the page to see image and details) but also encourage institutions, voluntary associations, houses of worship, offices and friends to do likewise. As we've observed before, the constant presence of Royal imagery encourages both useful inquiry and a lifetime of loyalty. NOTE instructions at top of the products page for customers outside Canada.

...Monarchist League of Canada

Believer or skeptic? Ghost stories attract people to learn about local heritage

National Trust for Canada

Spirits, specters and phantoms exist in the minds and experiences of millions of Canadians. The numerous tales surrounding these spiritual characters remind us of our diverse heritage. I have been hosting paranormal events at historic sites for the past two years. From my experience, I can see it clearly: guests come for the ghosts, but they leave with the history.

Bringing paranormal tourism to historic sites has many benefits, including reaching new demographics, invigorating economies and building community around shared heritage. That's why I want to advocate for groups who run paranormal-themed tours and events.

To many Canadians, ghosts are more than the topic of campfire stories. In 2019, Pollara Strategic Insights surveyed Canadians about their beliefs across a range of serious and not-so-serious subjects. Of the 2,000 respondents, 27 per cent of Canadians said they believe in ghosts. The same number were unsure or had no opinion.

Regardless of whether you are a skeptic or a believer, ghost stories are intriguing.

Read more.

Where in the World?

Where are Alex Lawrence, UE (Toronto Branch); David Moore, UE (Toronto Branch); and Peter Johnson, UE (Bay of Quinte Branch)?

To participate, submit a photo of yourself in UELAC promotional gear at a place of some note and tell us where it is (if you are a member of a branch, please indicate that as well). Send your submission to the editor at loyalist.trails@uelac.org.

Additions to the Loyalist Directory

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

• James Carr - contributed from Branch records by Jo Ann Tuskin
• Nathan Field - contributed by Nathan Field
• Edward Mainwaring - contributed by Kevin Wisener
• Thomas Thomas - contributed by Pam Wood Waugh

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

From the Twittersphere and Beyond

• Happy Thanksgiving! Beside memorial for Captain John Grant, United Empire Loyalist, in Loyal Hill Cemetery today at Summerville, Hants County, Nova Scotia: Brian McConnell UE
• Congratulations to Dr. Alexandra Garrett, newly minted Ph.D.! Alexi defended her dissertation, "Elite Single Women and the Business of Slavery in Revolutionary and Early National Virginia,"
• The Facts about Alexander Hamilton and Slavery. The Schuyler Mansion historic site, a New York state park, just published a report by interpreter Jessie Serfilippi titled "'As Odious and Immoral a Thing': Alexander Hamilton's Hidden History as an Enslaver". Undoing the revisionists from long ago...
• This Week in History
  • 14 Oct 1768, the Boston Whigs wrote to sympathetic newspapers in other towns about how a redcoat named "Rogers, a New-England man," was whipped on Boston Common "in a manner, which however necessary, was shocking to humanity."
    • Why was this flogging so "shocking to humanity"? Because it was administered, as @Boston1775 explains, by the Black men who served as drummers in the 29th regiment of foot. Read more...
  • 14 Oct 1774 The merchant ship Peggy Stewart arrives at Annapolis carrying tea; later burned in protest of Tea Act.
  • 13 Oct 1775 Continental Congress orders construction of a naval fleet, marking birth of the U.S. Navy.
  • 16 Oct 1775 British Royal Navy arrives at Falmouth, Maine (later called Portland) and threaten to burn town. Two days later, they made good on that threat; called "an Outrage" by Washington.
  • 11 Oct 1776 British defeat Gen. Arnold on Lake Champlain, but delay causes them to return to Canada for the season.
  • 12 Oct 1776 Americans thwart effort to land British forces at Throg's Neck, New-York.
  • 17 Oct 1777, British General John Burgoyne surrendered at Saratoga. In Saratoga: Turning Point of America's Revolutionary War by Richard Ketchum, we see Burgoyne and his troops begin the long march to finalize their surrender.
  • 15 Oct 1780 Sir John Johnson and Chief Brant attack poorly-defended fort at Middleburg, New-York, but are repulsed.
• Townsend's
  • Coffin Pies – Death and Chocolate
• Clothing and Related:
  • From our archive ~ these aren't artistic gravy boats or coffee cups, but mid-18C "bourdaloues" ~ portable chamber pots for high-class ladies to discreetly use when they were in public, then pass to a servant for emptying. These examples are from Meissen, Chantilly & Sèvres
  • This is the Tudor child's shoe I found on the Thames foreshore. Now it's been properly conserved by @CUConservation I want to make sure it continues to educate and fascinate and I have great things planned for the shoe! @LondonMudlark
  • This 18th Century, finely stitched cotton nightshirt was owned by poet William Cowper, and has his initials on it. Shirts like this one would have been expensive to a poet like Cowper so tears in the fabric were carefully darned.
  • 18th Century hood or Calash used to shelter a woman's head & hair from the wind. Rear view showcasing the fine stitching, pattern and quilting. The owner of the calash was Lady Anne Austen nee Richardson. (sketch by Romney) Find out more about her relationship with Cowper here.
  • Back & sleeve detail of 18th Century dress, Robe à l'anglaise, 1750-1770 from the Olive Matthews collection
  • 18th Century dress, fully pattern matching overcoat, stomacher & petticoat - adorned with beautiful embroidered fruits & florals, c.1745
  • 18th Century day dress, comprising of striped overcoat and pretty pink quilted petticoat, shown with fichu, 1785-1795 via American Textile History Museum
  • 18th Century men's sleeved waistcoat, silk brocaded with metallic yarns & flat wire with silver buttons, 1750-1770
• Miscellaneous
  • Show me a fireman that's as dashing and dapper as an 18th century Edinburgh fireman.
  • Worn 16 October 1793 by Queen Marie-Antoinette when she was executed in Paris. The painter Jacques-Louis David sketched her on the way to the guillotine, her famously elaborate hair shorn so as not to obstruct the blade.
  • Who fancies a pool party!? This giant swan Swan boat would be perfect! Measuring 5.4m high, it was a present for George III's 17th birthday in 1755, and launched in the gardens at Kew.
  • Hand painted china, possibly part of an 18th century tea bowl since I've found much larger piece with a similar design in the same location. The fact that we still refer to delicate ceramics as 'china' harks back to the 18th century when all fine porcelain came from China. London Mudlark.

Place in New Brunswick called Glencoe Island

In the Loyalist Directory (see below) is an updated entry for James Carr. It noted that James settled at Block #1 & Glencoe Island, then Rusagonis, a community near Fredericton NB.

A quick on-line search failed to show a "Glencoe Island."

Can anyone provide information about the meaning and/or location of "Block #1" & "Glencoe Island."

Thanks for any information.

...Doug <loyalist.trails@uelac.org>