"Loyalist Trails" UELAC Newsletter 2011-14 Apr 10,
2011
In this issue:
- Conference 2011
Deadline Approaching - by Roy Lewis
-
The
Fair American, A Loyalist Privateer: Part
One
--
copyright Stephen Davidson
- John
Moore (1730 - 1827): Fourth Generation in
America -- Part 5 of 12
-
Celebrating National Volunteer
Week
-
"Looking Back" at Sir John
Johnson
-
Jean Rae Baxter, Author of Broken
Trail Reveals Research
-
Tories -- The Review
- Sir Conrad
Swan, UELAC Honorary Vice-President
- Canadian Royal Provincials
- Society of Colonial Wars Hoping To
Start an Ontario Society
-
UELAC Vancouver Branch in the St Patrick's Day parade --
March 20, 2011
-
Book: Toronto of Old by Scadding
- War of 1812: Battle of Longwoods
- The Tech Side -- Open Source Revisited
-- by Wayne Scott UE
-
Query: Missing a Proof in the Burt Family Lineage
- Query: Loyalists in the Port
Hope and Cobourg ON area
-
Additions to the Loyalist Directory
Conference 2011 Deadline
Approaching - by Roy Lewis
The
deadline for enjoying a reduction in hotel as well as registration and event
rates at the United Empire Loyalists' Association's Conference 2011 is fast
approaching.
After April 30, 2011, full rates will be
charged for rooms at the three designated conference hotels -- the Holiday Inn
Express, the Travelodge and the Comfort Inn -- in Brockville. A reduction in
rates for registration, events and tours will also end on April 30.
Click here
for the Conference website.
The Colonel Edward Jessup
Branch welcomes you to Eastern Ontario at the St. Lawrence River community of
Brockville. Conference 2011 will feature interesting historical tours of
this region rich in Loyalist heritage and a dinner cruise through the beautiful
1000 Islands.
Conference 2011 "Catch
The Spirit" of our Loyalists' Ancestors will be hosted by the Col. Edward
Jessup Branch in Brockville. This, the United Empire Loyalists' Association of
Canada's annual Conference, will be held from June 2 to 5.
The Fair American, A Loyalist Privateer: Part One
--
copyright Stephen Davidson
An often neglected
chapter of American Revolution's naval history is the role played by
loyalists' sailing vessels. Known as "privateers", these ships had a
variety of missions. From the mundane --but vital-- job of transporting
firewood to British garrisons to the more exciting attacks on patriot ships
to guerilla raids on rebel port towns, loyalist privateers distracted and
demoralized patriots This freed the ships of the Royal Navy to attack
crucial rebel fortifications. Like their loyalist owners, little is known
about the tory privateers. However, one ship, The
Fair American, has a fascinating story which can be pieced together by
an examination of documents from the Revolution. Her story begins in 1778
and involves some of New York's wealthiest loyalist women.
Although they could not fight on the battlefield, colonial
women certainly did their part in the war effort. Patriot women sewed
uniforms for the Continental Army while loyalist women organized themselves
to raise money for the royal cause. Inspired by their sisters in
England, a group described as "the principal loyal ladies of New York"
started a fund raising campaign for a unique project. Earlier that year,
King George III's wife, Queen Charlotte, and the Marchioness of Granby had
spearheaded a group of wealthy women to help in the war against American
rebels and their French allies. Using their own fortunes, they purchased a
privateer named the Amazon.
By January of 1779
the unnamed "principle loyal ladies" presented the British command in New
York with a New Year's gift -- a 16-gun brig bearing the name The Fair
American. This ship had been a patriot privateer in the opening years
of the Revolution. Following her capture in battle, the New York City women
bought the brig and outfitted it for loyal service along the Atlantic
seaboard. The fact that a number of patriot vessels also carried the name
The Fair American did not seem to concern the
women who bought the brig, and she successfully served the royal cause until
the end of the Revolution by that name.
There were
many types of tall ships during the 18th century. A brig such as The
Fair American was distinguished from other vessels by having only two
masts that supported square sails. The upper sails were smaller than the
lower, allowing the crew to raise or lower them for greater
maneuverability. A skilled captain and crew could turn a brig about
more quickly than any other type of sailing vessel. This made the ship an
ideal choice for conducting raids. A brig could be anywhere between 23 and
50 metres long, up to 480 tons, and could carry up to 18 guns. It was larger
than a schooner and required a smaller crew than brigantines.
Up until 1778, the British government had discouraged
loyalists from engaging in privateering as it caused such deep resentment.
Privateer raids were, after all, simply government sanctioned looting and
pillaging. But when the British realized that there was no hope of making
peace with the rebels through negotiations, they allowed their loyal
colonists to begin making raids on patriot coastal towns and cargo vessels.
It was seen as "any means of making war a greater curse".
James Rivington, the editor of the loyalist newspaper,
The Royal Gazette, could not resist adding some personal
observations to the news about The Fair American when it was
launched in 1779. After describing the brig as "a formidable
fast-sailing privateer", he said that while the ship's purchase "reflects
great credit on the patriotism of the ladies, ought to be
considered by the rebels as a proof of the flagrancy of their own
insolence and obstinacy, in rejecting such generous offers of
reconciliation, as to excite the indignation of the fair sex, whose
natural characteristics are gentleness and benevolence." Rivington then
printed a 34-line ode to The Fair American. It included the
lines:
Assured be, that every honest
man
Will idolize the fair American ;
Brave loyal tars, and hearts of oak,
will vie
For you to fight or conquer,
live or die
True to Rivington's prediction, eighty-five
"brave loyal tars" made up the newly commissioned privateer's crew. William
Burton, a New Jersey loyalist, became the brig's captain. It did not take
many months for The Fair American (and the other loyalist
privateers who joined her) to become major irritants to the patriot forces
as they blocked the shipment of vital food supplies to the north.
In response to loyalist privateer attacks, the rebel Colonel
Silas Talbot, recruited 60 volunteers to man the sloop, Argo, in
May of 1779 to "punish the New York Tories who were equipping privateers
against their own countrymen and working great mischief in Long Island
Sound". The Argo managed to capture two loyalist raiders, the
Lively and the King George, as well as two English
privateers sailing from the West Indies. However she failed to seize The
Fair American, the loyalist brig whose launching had been celebrated in
poetry. This must have been particularly galling for Talbot; he had been the
captain of The Fair American prior to her capture in 1778 when
she was a patriot privateer, the General Washington.
The Fair American was soon making her presence felt
along the Atlantic seaboard. Brief references in period documents offer
glimpses into her war service. Thanks to the fact that The
Fair American was on the losing side of a 1782 sea battle off
of Delaware, the brig was immortalized in a painting that today hangs in
the American Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. The story of that
sea battle will be told in next week's Loyalist Trails.
To secure permission to reprint this article contact the
author at stephendavids@gmail.com
John
Moore (1730 - 1827): Fourth Generation in America -- Part 5 of
12 -- copyright 2009 George
McNeillie
Some further
light is shed upon the fortunes of the Moore family in the correspondence in the old mahogany cabinet, extracts from
which will now follow: -
(1). Letter of Mary Moore to James
Moore.
Newtown, 15th September, 1785
How painful,
my dear Brother, has been your long silence. How many anxious hours has it
cost us, and how many conjectures have we formed about it? Alas! Sickness,
the thing we most feared, has been the cause of it. But you are I hope by
this time enjoying the health without which not wealth, nor all the grandeur
in the world could render us happy. Your dear Betsey [his wife] we have
likewise heard has been ill. Remember us all very affectionately to her,
with warmest wishes for her health and a long continuance of it. "Our
Sister Betsey [Elizabeth Moore] intended to join the little circle around
your fireside this winter, but I believe she has deferred her visit till
Spring, when she will go (without something unforeseen should arise to
prevent), attended by Papa. She has just set out for Staten Island and begs,
with the rest of the family, to be remembered to you.
Farewell! That you may ever be happy is the sincere wish of your
affectionate sister -- Mary Moore.
(2.) Letter of Anna (Moore) McVicker to
James Moore.
New York, 16th June, 1787
My
dear Brother -- I wrote you some time in February, since when my Father has
received several letters from you, and is sorry to find you are not quite
happy in that country. I know nothing would give him more pleasure or afford
more satisfaction to your friends than to have you return and settle among
them, could it be done with any prospect of advantage to yourself. But this
my father thinks cannot be. He often talks of coming to you -- if not altogether at least for one twelve-month,
and if my Brother Sackett were at home, I believe he would put his
intentions into execution. I told you that Sackett had gone to sea
with Captain Craig, and was not expected to return until next September. We
have not heard from him since he sailed, which was the very day I wrote you.
This letter I expect will be delivered you by Mr. Totten, who can inform you
of any particulars relative to all our friends -- who is married? who is
dead? &c. My Father and all the family are well. Sister Betsey is now
with me and just preparing to go to Staten Island. Mr. Dougan has the fever
and ague, and my little James has just recovered from it. This is all the
sickness we have had lately in the family.
I long to see
you all but must wait with patience for some favourable turn of fortune for
that happiness. I am sorry to hear that Dick [probably a Negro servant] was
so unwell as to be unable to assist you, as the loss of his labour to you
must be considerable.
Uncle Moore's family are all
well except Sally, who has a lame foot, occasioned by a sprain, and only
waits for recovery from that to be married. Betsey begs her love to you and
family -- Benjamin is very well and lives still in William Street. Mr.
McVicker is very well and as usual is up to his eyes in business. He begs
his love to you, your wife and little one. The weather here has been
extremely wet and cold till within a few days. A great part of the Indian
Corn has been hurt, and I believe it will be a bad fruit year.
God bless you and send you a happier country and better
Government than we are at present blest with. Adieu.
Yours affectionately, Anna McVicker.
Excerpt
from Book of Family History written by The Ven. William Odber Raymond,
LL.D, FRSC. copyright 2009 George McNeillie -- all rights reserved
[published here with permission; see footnote]
George McNeillie ggm3rd@sympatico.ca
Celebrating National Volunteer Week
This
message dated April 10, 2011 is from His Excellency the Right Honourable
David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, on the Occasion of National
Volunteer Week.
OTTAWA -- I believe that in Canada,
helping your neighbour is more than a duty; it is a source of pride. This
spirit of giving, which often develops at a very young age and helps to
define our collective identity, forms the very basis of any dynamic
society.
Each of us has a vital role to play in
building a smarter, more caring nation. And to realize this vision to which
we aspire, we have a responsibility to our youth, who are filled with
determination and have so much energy to be channelled into good works.
They need role models, guides and advisors. They need
the generations that have come before them -- older peers, adults in their
prime, seniors who have long served this country-- people who are giving
generously of their time and of themselves, right across Canada, in service
to their fellow citizens.
During National Volunteer
Week, I invite Canadians to think about how they can make a difference in
their communities and get involved. Let us take this opportunity to
recognize and celebrate the work of all volunteers.
David Johnston, Patron,
UELAC
"Looking Back" at Sir John Johnson
The early story of Sir John Johnson and his arrival in Quebec
was featured in the Looking Back column of the Montreal Gazette, 9 April
2011. Joseph Graham, author of Naming
the Laurentians: a history of place names 'up
north', focused on the role of the Johnson family in both upper New York
province and Quebec, drawing the reader to the 1807 acquisition of Seigneury
of Argenteuil. He also hinted at Sir John's role in resettling the
Loyalists, his position in the Legislative Council of Lower Canada and
leadership of the Six Township Battalions in the War of 1812. As we approach
the bicentenary of the War of 1812, perhaps Mr. Graham will write further
articles on this important leader in Canada's history. For the
article, click here.
FHH
Jean Rae Baxter, Author of
Broken Trail Reveals Research
When her
first historical novel The Way Lies North was published, Jean Rae
Baxter found herself in high demand as a speaker both with UELAC Branches as
well as heritage groups. Her presentations to grade seven classes were also
well received because she brought with her a wealth of images and details
that made the Loyalist epoch come alive. Jean does extensive research
into making sure that her novels are historically accurate right down to the
cover design. Find out more about the writing of her historical
novels here.
FHH
Tories
-- The Review
To begin the review of a new book
with reference to the author's acknowledgements is a rather strange way to
get to the actual writing. With Tories: Fighting for the
King in America's First Civil War, the inclusion of names
familiar to the UELAC membership stresses the rich resources consulted by
the author, Thomas B. Allen. "Thomas W. Braisted, UE, founder of
the On-Line Institute for advanced Loyalist Studies, answered numerous
inquiries, especially those concerning Loyalists who served in military
units. Paul J. Bunnell, UE, editor and founder of the Loyalist
Quarterly Newsletter, also educated me about contemporary Loyalists and
why they put "UE" after their names.... Stephen Eric Davidson UE
especially helped me understand the pride of present-day Loyalists. His
work on the Loyalists past is a model for genealogists, for he adds human
details and family stories to the "begat, begat, begat" of traditional
genealogies." He also credits such familiar sources as the Harriet
Irving Library at the University of New Brunswick, The Loyalist Research
Network and the David Library of the American Revolution as well as Pat
Kelderman UE, a past president of the Thompson Okanagan Branch who shared
her genealogical research.
A week after the book was
first mentioned in Loyalist Trails( 2010-45: November 7, 2010 ) Stephen
Davidson drew my attention to another quote by the author that would "warm
the cockles of the heart of any member of the UELAC -- an organization
dedicated to connecting people to their loyalist ancestors."
"By
gleaning information from genealogies, I defied the belief of an historian
who, writing in the early twentieth century, said that he eschewed family
recollections as sources because they rest on "the lowest rung on the
ladder of evidential credibility". I found that it is on that rung that
the understanding of Tories and Rebels begins."
In this review, Colin Morley UE of the Col. John Butler (
Niagara) and Hamilton Branches initially presents the biases he held
when he read Tories: Fighting for the King in America's First Civil War. He
doesn't spend time with the acknowledgments but reports what readers need to
know about the content. If you haven't read the book yet, perhaps his
assessment will give you further encouragement.
To
read Colin's review, click here.
For other Loyalist reviews, click here.
FHH
Sir Conrad Swan, UELAC Honorary
Vice-President
No mention of the UELAC
Armorial Bearings is truly complete without the reference to the
contributions of Sir Conrad Swan, KCVO, PhD, MA, FSA. What is unique
about his position as UELAC Honorary Vice-President is the little
known fact that he was given this position almost five years before the
Armorial Bearings were recorded with the College of Arms in London in 1972.
His biography also shows many interesting connections to other Canadians who
have served either as a Patron, Honorary President or Honorary
Vice-President. For more information, here
is your link.
FHH
Canadian Royal Provincials
Todd W.
Braisted, one of UELAC's Honorary Vice-Presidents, continues to work
tireless south of the border ever expanding his American Revolution
resources. On Friday 8 April 2011, his article on the Canadian Royal
Provincials was posted to the e-newsletter of the David Library of the American Revolution. The
introductions states that "Todd Braisted, the reigning authority on
Britain's Loyalist Forces in America during the Revolution, contributes a
clarification on the differences between Royal Provincial Troops with the
British Army in Canada and those with the main British Army in the
Thirteen Colonies. This entry is intended to provide some clarifications
to accompany our catalogs for the WO28 records covering Loyalist troops in
Canada, adding some additional context to their story. For those wanting
to know more about the Canadian Royal Provincials, the Library's
collection includes copies of the Carleton and Haldimand Papers."
To read Todd's article, click here.
FHH
Society of Colonial Wars Hoping To Start an Ontario Society
I'm a member of the Bicentennial Branch of
UELAC. I'm also a member of the Society of Colonial Wars, based out of USA.
They have a General Society and then a large number of State
Societies. They are now trying to start an Ontario Society of Colonial
Wars.
The Society of Colonial Wars is for males 18 years
or older who are lineally descended from someone who served in a military or
civil capacity in the colonies that became the United States, in the
period between from 1607 to 1775. Many of our loyalist ancestors served
under the crown in the French and Indian Wars and their ancestors served in
many of the even earier Colonial conflicts.
Please pass
this information along, through newsletters or directly to those who might
be interested. More information can be found at www.gscw.org.
Anyone who
would like to join can contact me and I can help them become a member.
Adam
Gaines UE gaines_adam@hotmail.com
UELAC Vancouver
Branch in the St Patrick's Day parade – March 20, 2011
With an absence of one year -- on account of 2010 Olympics
security concerns - our UELAC Vancouver branch participated once again in
the Annual St. Patrick's Day parade in downtown Vancouver. Our
participation in this parade is a part of Vancouver branch's Outreach and
Education program.
This year we were fortunate to be
positioned right behind a contingent of the 78th Fraser Highlanders'
Regiment, which bears the same flag (the 'George') as our UEL flag.
In tandem with us were members of the British Columbia
Genealogical Society -- appropriately so, since a number of our UELAC
Vancouver branch members also hold memberships with that group.
When on the march, some of our members distributed Loyalist
information handouts to the parade watchers. Even some of our young
members distributed a "colouring page" handout to children watching the
parade.
Noticeably, several in the crowd took photos of
us as we passed. See some pictures here.
Marvin Millis UE, Vancouver Branch
Book: Toronto of Old by Scadding, and others
Toronto of Old, Collections & Recollections,
illustrative of Early Settlement and Social Life in the Capital of Ontario,
by Henry Scadding DD. Like so many early books, this too is
available online, free of charge. It is well indexed. To see, go here.
Another good source for heritage and history information is
Ontario
(Upper Canada) History On-Line Resources
Donna Magee
War of 1812: Battle of
Longwoods
This winter after an extensive review
of the event leading up to the Battle of Longwoods March 4, 1814, Glenn Stott
and I came up with the following brief description of the events leading up to
the battle and the battle itself. Some people know about the Battle of
Longwoods, a few have attended Heritage Weekend which features a reenactment of
the Battle of Longwoods, but very very few know of the events leading up to
the conflict.
The Battle of Longwoods of March 4, 1814
was the consequence of several actions. Following the Battle of the
Thames and destruction of Moravian Town, General Harrison returned to Detroit
to assess the situation and found:
During December 1813, January and
February 1814 over 700 soldiers in Detroit died from unknown disease(s) likely
exacerbated by poor diet and accommodations, possibly food poisoning.
Regularly troops were sent into Upper Canada to rustle cattle
and seize grain to feed the troops in Detroit. The Detroit residents
(75%) of French descendent were able to get some supplies from their relatives
who lived across the river.
In February 1814 word was
received in Detroit from sympathizers in Delaware that the British had a
established a camp in Delaware using buildings of Ebenezer Allen at the
junction of the Thames River and Dingman Creek (Belvoir).
Captain Holmes and a party of 80 or so men were sent into
Upper Canada to determine the size and objectives of the British at Delaware
and other potential British encampments. They traveled along the Talbot
trail to about Port Alma, the trail becoming impassible he headed north toward
the Longwoods Road.
Another 60 man contingent from
Detroit was on a scavenger hunt for food and met up with Holmes on the Longwoods
Road together they headed towards Delaware.
Captain
Stewart had called a meeting of the major players in the British community for
about first of March at Delaware. Included were the various Indian
parties who were requested to take ammunition and weapons to the Natives in the
Michigan territory. Matthew Elliott as head of the Indian Department was
trying to convince the Natives the British would not abandon them. They
were not convinced and as a result, Stewart had to meet with them.
At 20 Mile Creek the Western Rangers headed by Captain
William Caldwell (junior) and the American contingent crossed paths and a minor
skirmish resulted. Caldwell and his men withdrew. That evening
March 3, 1814 a request for reinforcements was sent to Delaware. Captain
Stewart sent Captain Basden to join Caldwell and stated he would join them
later. The reinforcements of about 200 regular soldiers, militia and warriors
arrived at 5:00 pm on March 4, 1814 headed by Captain Basden and the battle of
the Longwoods began. The battle lasted for about an hour and a
half. The British were soundly defeated.
The
Americans withdrew back to Detroit gathering up over 100 head of cattle along
the way to replenish the supplies at Detroit.
The British
withdrew to Burford leaving the settlers with no protection from marauding
American raiders other than the local militia.
This year
Heritage Weekend will be held April 30 and May 1
Marvin Recker
The Tech Side -- Open Source Revisited -- by Wayne Scott
UE
Many of us drool at the thought of owning the
latest version of Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat or Premier.
The same goes for a full version of Microsoft Office or even Word.
These programs often cost in the hundreds of dollars and have features that
far exceed our needs and sometimes our expertise.
When Bill
Young contacted me and suggested an article on Open Source programs, I
decided to revisit the subject of free software for our computers. I
would like to thank Bill for a nudge in this direction.
Adobe Photoshop is the program that has set the standard in photo
editing. Originally it was written for the Macintosh operating system
and then redesigned for the Windows environment. Now, it is written
expressly for both Windows and Mac. That being said, the latest
programs sell for about $699.00 from Adobe. Because of the steep
price, many users turn to Adobe Photoshop Elements. This is a watered
down version of Photoshop with some of the popular features of the full
Photoshop version. This program is aimed at the home user and sells
for about $90.
A well-known program that was designed to do
most of the things that Adobe Photoshop does is called GIMP (Gui Image
Manipulation Program). It has been around and updated many times over
many years. It is available for free from http://www.gimp.org/. The latest
versions are quite robust and will satisfy most of your photo editing
needs. Versions are available for both Mac and Windows platforms.
Gimp is a great program. People that are familiar with
Photoshop, appreciate Gimpshop as an alternative. It is available at:
http://www.gimpshop.com/.
This version looks and feels similar to the original Photoshop
program.
Another Adobe contender is Inkscape, http://inkscape.org/. This
program is very similar to Adobe Illustrator. It is a 2d vector
graphics editor – a full featured drawing program. If you have
used Illustrator, you will appreciate this program. It also is
available for both Mac and Windows platforms.
One of the
best-known examples of Open Source programs is Open Office (http://www.openoffice.org/).
It was written to give users the functionality of Microsoft
Office, but with no cost. The program keeps evolving and is used by
many corporate offices as an alternative to the $280.00 Home Office
version. Mac users are encouraged to download NeoOffice, which was
written for the Macintosh platform (http://www.neooffice.org/neojava/en/index.php).
There are other versions of open source office suites available
on the web. One recent version to become available is called
LibreOffice (http://www.libreoffice.org/download).
There are many video editors on the market of varying
quality. The latest free version of Kino http://www.kinodv.org/, is full of
features. It is fairly intuitive and easy to use. At this time
it is only available for Windows, but Mac users will soon be able to
download a version.
A very robust video editor is Cinefx http://www.cinefx.org/. This
program is very high quality and has features not found in some commercial
programs. With Cinefx you can play back, edit, encode, and have a
number of animation and visual effects tools. Use this program to
create professional looking digital media on your desktop.
Being
able to create PDF documents is a bonus. With this ability, you don't
have to worry about what computer platform the recipient has: Mac, Windows
or Linux. A PDF, portable file document, is a good way to send photos
also because a pdf file is a smaller file size. A tutorial in using
pdf photo documents is available at: http://www.ghacks.net/2009/11/03/convert-photos-to-pdf/.
Here you can also download a copy of PDF Creator. Another
PDF creator is GhostScript, http://ghostscript.com/. This is a
Windows/Mac program. With it you can create a PDF document from almost
any Windows or Mac desktop publishing or writing program.
Here are some things to consider before downloading Open Source
software. First of all, Open Source programs are designed by advanced
computer users/programmers. Some of the criticism stems from users not
being able to understand the help files, if they exist. It is also
true that Open Source developers form communities who peer edit software,
but do not work as hard at explaining the ins and outs of their
programs.
Some Open Source developers close up shop with little
or no notice because of funding. Open Source programmers depend on
donations to keep them going. Really great programs usually receive
sufficient funding to keep them going. New programs and their
communities really struggle in the beginning. Maybe this is the reason
that time isn't necessarily put into updating help files. I suggest
that you read the FAQ files and any manuals on their websites prior to
downloading so that you are sure of what you are getting.
You can email Wayne
Scott mail4wayne@cogeco.ca to get in touch with questions or
comments.
Query: Missing a Proof in the Burt Family
Lineage
In my research for proof of Loyalist
descent on my father's side of the family, I have one link for which an
acceptable proof is proving a challenge.
The family
of my ancestor, Henry Burt, has been documented in great detail in a book
compiled by Henry M. Burt and Silas W. Burt, published in 1893 after a
reunion was held in Springfield, Mass. on the 3rd of Oct. 1890, celebrating
the 250th Anniversary of the settlement of the Henry Burt family from
Harberton, Devonshire, England, who arrived in the Connecticut valley in
1640. 150 representatives of the family from 11 states and the District of
Columbia
were present. A list of those present and even a menu of the
dinner is included. Speeches were given by several Burts of distinction
with high offices in their part of the country, and full transcripts are in
the book -- "The Life and Times of Henry Burt at Springfield, Mass"
In a research study by Rev. Canon Gerald E. Burtt of Maine
about his Loyalist ancestors, some of whom returned to the States in the
1920's, he added the following comment -- "It is interesting to note that in
the book, 'The Life and Times of Henry Burt' by Henry Burt and Silas Burt,
no mention is made of the Ridgefield Ct. Burts after the beginning of the
American Revolution. The book covers most descendants of Henry (1) through
1893, but no mention is made of the Burts who became Loyalists. The American
Patriot Burts may have been embarrassed about their Loyalist relatives.
Whatever the reason, the authors chose not to discuss them."
Benjamin Burt (son of Seaborn Burt) b. 1741,
Connecticut, died 10 August 1785 at Burton, New Brunswick; his wife
was Rebecca (Follett?). They had 7 children – Benjamin Jr.
Joseph, Rebecca, Sarah, Huldah, Darius & Gould.
Joseph Burt, Loyalist (born 1765 in
Connecticut, married Elizabeth Burnett in 1791 in NB and died in 1859 in
Douglas Parish, York Co. New Brunswick). They had eleven children, the fifth
being Benjamin.
Benjamin b. 18 May, 1799; married Elizabeth Crouse 7 April
1819; died of accidental poisoning on farm near Burtt's Corner 18 January
1879; both are buried in Burtt's Corner Cemetery.
I
descend from Benjamin through his son Israel, and his daughter Mildred who
married Charles Inch. Their son James Inch was my father,
The proof I need is the connection from Joseph Burt and
Elizabeth Burnett to their son Benjamin b. 1799 and d. 1879 in N.B.
Som information about the Burt Family History has been posted
in the Loyalist directory at http://www.uelac.org/Loyalist-Info/extras/Burt-Benjamin/Burt-Benjamin-by-Charlotte-Ayers.pdf
I would appreciate any help obtaining the missing
proof. At my young age of 95, I would find it a challenge to go from
my home in Regina SK to do research in New Brunswick
Charlotte Ayers
<charfayers@sasktel.net> Saskatchewan Branch
Query: Loyalists in the Port Hope and Cobourg ON area
I am organizing a bus trip to the Port Hope and Cobourg area
on Sat. August 27. A person in the area who works as a professional
guide has helped organize what looks like a great day, seeing sites we
have not sen on two previous trips to the area.
As
it is a loyalist bus trip, it would be special to talk about Loyalists, or
sons and daughters of Loyalists, who settled roughly in the area between
Newtonville on the west, Grafton on the east and Rice Lake to the north. If
you know of any such people and could share that, it would be most helpful.
A paragraph or two about the Loyalist family would make it even better.
Thanks for your help.
Doug Grant, President, Gov. Simcoe Branch,
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:
- Burt(t), Benjamin (and brother David) - from Charlotte Ayers
- Goodwillie, Joseph - from David Clark
- Sills, George - from Linda Smith with certificate
application
- Wetmore, James - from
Marilyn Whatley
--
Doug Grant UE , Editor of Loyalist Trails and Manager
of www.uelac.org
United Empire Loyalists'
Association of Canada (UELAC) Tel: (416) 921-7756