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Loyalist Day in New Brunswick 18 May:  Celebrations

New Brunswick Loyalist Day: The Village of New Maryland, NB, Wed. 14 May 6:15 AT

The Village of New Maryland, NB, will mark Loyalist Day, May 18th, by raising the Loyalist Flag. This will take place place on Wednesday, May 14th, at 6:15 pm in front of Victoria Hall, 466 New Maryland Hwy, New Maryland, NB E3C 1G9.
This commemorates the settling of New Maryland by Loyalists. One Loyalist, Mr. Arnold, is said to have named the area after his home colony of Maryland.
All are welcome to attend!             ….Gary Campbell

New Brunswick Loyalist Day: City Hall, Saint John, Loyalist Flag Raising Thurs 15 May 10:00 AT

May 15th – Thursday – NB Loyalist Flag Raising – City Hall Saint John NB – 10:00am  with City of Saint John dignitaries & the Town Crier.  All are welcome.

The Fredericton Region Museum Reception 11:00am Fri 16 May

To commemorate Loyalist Day in New Brunswick, the Fredericton Region Museum will host a reception for all Loyalists, and those who wish they were, at 11:00 am on Friday morning, May 16th. The museum is located at Officers’ Square in Fredericton, NB. Please join us for tea and visit our exhibits. We are looking forward to seeing you!
The museum exterior will be decorated with Loyalist flags.

New Brunswick Loyalist Day: Celebrations on Sunday 18 May in Saint John
 10:00 AM     MUSKETRY SALUTE FROM PORTLAND POINT – Join the soldiers of DeLancey’s Brigade as they fire a welcoming volley honouring the Loyalist newcomers of 242 years ago.  Place Fort La Tour will be open to the public free of charge between 10 and 11 am for the Loyalist Day activities.
Location:  Place Fort La Tour, Portland Point on Harbour Passage
10:15 AM     THE BELLS OF TRINITY with Andrew Waldschutz – The uptown area will ring out with  a performance on the recently refurbished bells of Trinity Anglican Church on Germain St. Originally installed in 1882, the bells were dedicated to the Loyalist founders of the city. A second performance will be offered at 12:15 pm
Location:  Trinity Anglican Church, between Germain & Charlotte Streets
10:30 AM     A LOYALIST HOME – Visit the Loyalist House museum – a home built by David Daniel Merritt, who arrived as a Loyalist in 1783 – and talk with historical re-enactors from DeLancey’s Brigade as they animate day-to-day life in the period.
Location:  Loyalist House, 120 Union Street
10:30 AM     EXPLORE YOUR LOYALIST ROOTS – Join members of the New Brunswick Genealogical Society and a representative from UNB’s Loyalist Collection to learn more about how you can explore your own heritage – perhaps find your Loyalist ancestor – and discover just some of the amazing historical research assets we have right here in New Brunswick.
Location TBA
10:30 AM     THE REVOLUTION COMES TO  SAINT JOHN; FORT FREDERICK, PORTLAND POINT AND FORT HOWE – A brief talk, by historical re-enactor Steve Fowler, about how the conflict came to our shores in the early days of the American Revolution.
Location:  Place Fort La Tour, Portland Point on Harbour Passage
12:00 PM     ROYAL SALUTE BY 3RD FIELD ARTILLERY REGIMENT, RCA – THE LOYAL COMPANY – An artillery salute will be fired by members of 3rd Field Artillery Regiment to mark May 18th. Saint John is the only city afforded, in National Orders, to fire a Royal Salute to mark the anniversary of the Loyalist’s arrival.
Location:   TBA
12:15 PM     TRINITY CHURCH TOURS with guide John Logan – Trinity Anglican Church – The Loyalists’ Church – was the city’s first church community tracing its roots back to the Loyalist’s arrival in 1783. See the treasure they brought with them – the Royal Coat Of Arms that was removed from Boston’s State House during the evacuation of that city.
Location:  Trinity Anglican Church, between Germain & Charlotte Streets
12:15 PM     THE BELLS OF TRINITY with Andrew Waldschutz – a performance on the bells of Trinity Church.
Location:  Trinity Anglican Church
12:30 PM     WREATH LAYING CEREMONY – Join the United Empire Loyalists’ Association of Canada – NB Chapter and the troops of DeLancey’s Brigade for a brief ceremony at the earliest known grave in the Loyalist Burial Ground.
Location:  Loyalist Burial Ground, Sydney at King Street East
12:45 PM     SPRINGTIME OBSERVATIONS FROM MAY 1903 IN THE OLD BURIAL GROUND –  Immediately following the ceremony take a guided walk through the cemetery with local historian and author David Goss. Meet at the Sydney Street Gate.
Location:  Loyalist Burial Ground, Sydney at King Street East
1:30 PM     THE LOYALISTS ACCORDING TO HOLLYWOOD – An entertaining look at the way our Loyalist ancestors have been portrayed in the movies . A talk by  historian Dr. Greg Marquis.
Location:   TBA
2:00 PM     FLUTE MUSIC FROM THE TIME OF SIMONDS, HAZEN & WHITE (1762-1775) – Sonatas, Country Dances, Minuets and Scotch Airs performed by Tim Blackmore and Daniel Britt. Freewill offering in support of the Early Music Studio Of Saint John
Location:  Saint John Arts Centre, 20 Peel Plaza
2:00 PM     LOYALIST DAY AT THE  LIBRARY – A family program with a story time, period games, and a display of books on the Loyalist era and early Saint John, for young readers. A great opportunity for young Saint Johners to learn the story of the Loyalists.
Location:  Saint John Regional Library – Market Square
7:15 PM     WALK ‘N TALK WITH DAVID GOSS  – Join David for stories on the history of the area – Market Square / Market Slip / ihtoli-maqahamok – where the Loyalists first stepped ashore.
Location:  Meet at Loyalist Rock on Fundy Quay (opposite Saint John Ale House)
Please follow our Facebook page and check back regularly as there are more details to come. And, please share with your friends and help us keep the recognition of Loyalist Day in Saint John alive.

2025  UELAC Conference:  Explore New Brunswick
The conference has lots to offer: learn from expert speakers, visit Loyalist sites, share your Loyalist story — see Conference 2025 details.

Can’t make the New Brunswick Loyalist Day celebrations?  (or even if you can). Then join us for the conference. Come early or stay later and enjoy New Brunswick.

From Canada? Make it a staycation this year.

From elsewhere? Make this the year to come visit.

Hope to see you there…

Loyalist Slave Owners Bound for Nova Scotia
copyright Stephen Davidson UE
Of the Loyalists who left New York City for Nova Scotia in 1783, no less than 124 of them brought slaves with them into the colony. Documented in a ledger known as the Book of Negroes, these men and women were not the only Loyalists to have enslaved Blacks. Others came into Nova Scotia at an earlier date or by private vessels. Nevertheless, it is worthwhile to examine what the records in the Book of Negroes have to tell us about Loyalist slave owners.
No Loyalist brought more slaves into Nova Scotia than Dr. Nathaniel Bullein. A native of South Carolina, Bullein came to Halifax on the William and Mary evacuation vessel in the fall of 1783, bringing with him ten enslaved Blacks ranging in age from six months to 60 years.  Eight years earlier, Bullein had been a physician and apothecary in Charleston before the political situation prompted him to move to Amelia Township, South Carolina.
Over the next four years, he was able to avoid military service with the Patriots, but acted in a professional role in their hospital. Although he took an oath of allegiance to the rebels’ cause in 1779, he immediately joined the British after they took control of Charleston the following year.  Bullein then served the king as an assistant surgeon in the city’s Loyal Refugee Hospital.
In December of 1782, the Loyalist doctor, his family, and his ten slaves were among those who fled to New York City in the wake of the evacuation of Charleston. A year later, the Bulleins set sail for Nova Scotia and then settled in Horton (near present day Wolfville, Nova Scotia).
When Bullein appeared before the loyalist compensation board’s hearing in Halifax in July of 1786, he listed furniture, cattle, two horses, and a cart among his possession that had been take by South Carolina’s rebels. This suggests that –in addition to working within his home– his slaves may have been the work force for his farm. How Bullein made use of his human property after settling in Horton goes unrecorded.
When Bullein’s slaves had their names recorded in the Book of Negroes, they were simply described as “property of Dr. Bullen{sic}“.  While this was how the majority of enslaved Blacks were listed in the ledger, other Loyalists had to prove that the slaves they were taking with them were not actually stolen property that had once belonged to Patriots.  The masters of six slaves were able to take their property on board the loyalist evacuation vessels after demonstrating that the “office of police” in New York City had verified that the Blacks were “proved to be the property of” their loyalist enslavers.
Thirty-one slaves were permitted to travel with their masters after the latter produced bills of sale, proving that the man or woman in question had been legally acquired. Sometimes the Book of Negroes recorded the name of the person who sold a slave to a Loyalist as in the case of Paul Speed who bought Dinah, a sixteen year-old girl, from Edward Bruce of New York. Charles Morris bought 50 year-old Amoretta from Elijah Ladson, and 12 year-old Simon from Jeremiah Savage. Both of the original owners were from Charleston, South Carolina.
Thirteen other slaves were simply described as being “purchased from” a particular individual. James Fox received a nine-year old slave “purchased by his brother who gave him to him” before the Loyalist set sail for Halifax.
Given the fears of Americans that Loyalists were running away with their human property, it is interesting to note that Peter Lynch was allowed to take three slaves with him to Shelburne aboard the Beaver simply on the grounds that they “appeared to be the property” of the departing Loyalist. However, as the three Blacks had once been “servants” for Thomas Skinner, a refugee (Loyalist) from Perth Amboy, New Jersey, they did not raise concerns about them having once been Patriot property.
James Wright, a Shelburne settler, was the only loyalist slave owner who had a certificate from David Matthews, the former mayor of New York to prove that 24 year-old John Ranger was his. Mary Rinn, a loyalist widow who settled in Shelburne, claimed that all eight of her slaves were either hers by “written authority” or by inheritance. A woman named Mrs. Marianna Jones had willed Mrs. Rinn four Blacks ranging in age from a child to a middle-aged man.
Perhaps most disturbing are those Blacks who were considered property because they had been born into slavery. John McKown, a Loyalist who settled in Annapolis, claimed 11 year-old Violet on the basis that she had been “born in his father-in-law’s family”. Robert Gibbs claimed 9 year-old Frank because he had been “born in his house in New York“. Because Lt. Brackenback of Halifax owned Hannah, the 19 year-old mother of year-and-a-half old Joseph, the toddler was “naturally the lieutenant’s property“.
In addition to Mary Rinn, there were three other loyalist women who brought enslaved Blacks with them to Nova Scotia. Widow Stogden brought 19 year-old Peter with her on the Danger when it delivered refugees to Port Mouton. A woman known only as “Mrs. Johnson” took 27 year-old Caesar and 17 year-old Sarah with her to Shelburne on the L’Abondance. In October of 1783, Mrs. Grant travelled with 51 year-old Caesar— and Mrs. VanHorn brought 40 year-old Judith— to Annapolis Royal.
Another slave owner bound for Annapolis Royal was an Anglican minister simply referred to as “Chaplain Brown“. Sadly, his understanding of Christian scriptures did not prevent him from enslaving 22 year-old Prince.
Colonel Edward Cole, a native of Rhode Island, brought four slaves with him on the Lord Townsend when it sailed for Annapolis Royal in the fall of 1783. During the Seven Years War, Cole had commanded a regiment under General Wolfe at the siege of Quebec City and then later saw action at Havana, Cuba.
On March 8, 1777, Cole’s name appeared on a recruiting poster as the commander of the Loyal Rhode Islanders. Addressed to “all Gentlemen animated with the glorious Spirit of genuine liberty Enemies to Tyranny and Despotism, Friends to the best Constitution in the known World“, the poster promised each volunteer five dollars, with good clothes, arms, “accoutrements” and “everything necessary to complete a gentleman soldier“.
Cole later recounted that because of his “support of the constitutional authority of Britain“, he was “much persecuted” and had “all his property confiscated and sold”. But in making this claim, he neglected to mention that he left the new United States with four enslaved Blacks. As two of them had been born on Rhode Island, it is likely that they had been part of Colonel Cole’s estate at the time of the revolution.  After arriving in Nova Scotia, the Loyalist received a 1,000-acre grant in the township of Parrsboro.
This brief overview of the Loyalists who brought slaves to Nova Scotia concludes in next week’s Loyalist Trails with the stories of some of the 213 slaves compelled to travel to the northern colony with their masters — including the stories of Edward Cole’s slaves.
To secure permission to reprint this article contact the author at stephendavids@gmail.com.

See a list of the known Loyalist slave owners who came to Nova Scotia.

Friend or Foe? – American Annexation
American annexation threats date back to colonial times — but Canadians have resisted being “conquered into liberty.”
By Madelaine Drohan 2 May 2025 Canada’s History

“The Unanimous Voice of the Continent is Canada must be ours, Quebec must be taken.”

So declared John Adams, a future American founding father, in a February 1776 letter to James Warren, a fellow rebel from Massachusetts. At the time, an army from the American colonies occupied Montreal and Trois-Rivières and was laying siege to Quebec City. If they captured Quebec City, the seat of power in what was then a British colony, the rebels would be well on their way to satisfying a desire that the English in the Thirteen Colonies had held since their forebears first set foot in North America — control of the continent.
Adams did not realize when he wrote his letter that the nascent American republic’s attempt to liberate Canada from Britain was already all but lost. A desperate attack on Quebec City during a snowstorm on December 31, 1775, had failed miserably. The senior rebel general, Richard Montgomery, was mown down by grapeshot, causing his men to flee. His second-in-command, Benedict Arnold, was wounded while leading a separate attack. More than 300 of Arnold’s men were captured by the defending force of British regulars and French and English Canadians. The remaining American troops, poorly clothed for the harsh northern winter and riven with smallpox, held out until spring. The appearance on May 6 of British warships on the St. Lawrence River sent them scurrying for home, leaving food, weapons and wounded comrades behind.
It was not the first time, nor the last, that residents of the Thirteen Colonies sought to conquer Canada, a vaguely defined territory that first appeared on European maps in the mid-1500s. Its borders expanded and contracted depending on who was drawing the map and when, but the central core remained the area along the St. Lawrence River between Quebec City and Montreal.
Ever since France had begun sending colonists to Canada in the early 1600s to build New France, those colonists had come into conflict with the English settlers of the Thirteen Colonies.  Read more…

The Siege of Savages’ Old Fields: Halting Steps towards War
by Franklin D. Rausch 6 May 2025 Journal of the American Revolution
Nathanael Greene famously wrote of his experience during the Southern Campaign that “The whole Country is in Danger of being laid Waste by the Whigs and Tories who pursue each other with as much relentless Fury as Beasts of Prey.” Historian John Pancake comments that “This observation was made by Nathanael Greene, a man already hardened by six years of war. In those six years Greene had never seen anything like the civil war that raged in the Carolinas. Nowhere in America was the fighting more bitter and savage.” And yet, in the first fatal encounter of the American Revolution in the South, the Battle of Old Savage’s Fields, which took place from November 19 to November 22, 1775 near the backcountry town of Ninety Six, there appear to have been only two dead and at most only a few dozen wounded—a number more than fifty times smaller than the over one hundred killed in the April 19, 1775 battles of Lexington and Concord. How are we to account for such low casualties considering what the war in the South would become? The comparatively low numbers of casualties were due to the pre-war history of the backcountry, the nature of South Carolina politics following the creation of its Provincial Congress, and the circumstances of the battle itself.
Prelude to Battle
In 1775, South Carolinians angry with what they saw as the violation of their rights by the British government established their own government, the Provincial Congress, with the Committee of Safety serving in an executive capacity.  On June 30, representatives of this government issued “A Circular Letter to the Committees in the Several Districts and Parishes of South Carolina” in response to news of the April battles of Lexington and Concord. While critical of the king, that letter focused on how “British Ministers . . . in pursuit of their plan to enslave America, in order that they might enslave Great Britain; to elevate the Monarch that has been placed on a Throne only to govern under the law—into a Throne above all law.” In order to respond to this plot and the violence that the British government was willing to undertake to achieve it, as witnessed by events in Massachusetts, the Provincial Congress would reorganize its militia, raise new military units, and create an “association” of people who accepted the authority of the new South Carolina government, with those who refused to join being treated as “enemies of the liberty of America.” In this way, the Congress presented itself as the sole legitimate legal authority, acting in accordance with the law, placing those who remained loyal to the royal government, represented by Governor William Campbell, as outside the law. Read more…

The Power of the Dead: BaKongo Inspiration and the Chesapeake Rebellion
By Ryne Beddard May 2025 at CommonPlace – the Journal of Early American Life
Sensitivity to the influence of BaKongo cosmology on Kongo Christianity provides useful context to that argument and can help us better understand the choices made by leaders of the rebellion.
On a Sunday morning in the fall of 1730, while plantation owners and overseers were in church, around 300 enslaved people gathered near Norfolk, Virginia. They elected leaders from among themselves and then fled south into the nearby Great Dismal Swamp, a 2,000 square mile forested wetland straddling southeast Virginia and northeast North Carolina. The leaders of what we now call the 1730 Chesapeake Rebellion, the largest enslaved uprising in colonial Virginia history, were recently enslaved Africans from the Kongo/Angola region of West Africa and the strategic choices they made were inspired by their shared BaKongo cosmology.
Within BaKongo thought, spiritual power and authority come from one’s ability to negotiate the powerful, often dangerous, fluid forces of the dead. The world of the living and the world of the dead mirror and influence each other and while the power of the dead could be experienced anywhere, the dead were especially concentrated in forested wetlands like the Dismal Swamp. Accessing the power of the dead was important for enslaved Kongolese people in the Americas because the dead could transform the fates of the living, and in doing so, provided a source of power that the Chesapeake rebels sought to harness to challenge that of enslavers.
The rebellion started with rumors, though no one knows for sure who started them.  Read more…

BOOK REVIEW: The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780
Author: Rick Atkinson (Crown, 2025)
Review by Alec D. Rogers 4 May 2025 at Journal of the American Revolution
The revolt that led to the loss of its thirteen Atlantic coast colonies was one of the slowest moving train wrecks in the storied history of the British Empire. Beginning as early as 1761 with the use of writs of assistance to enforce an increasingly onerous trade and customs regime, the coming decades would witness numerous missteps dramatically altering global map lines. In his latest work, The Fate of the Day, journalist turned military historian Rick Atkinson continues his detailed narrative of the American Revolution, covering the period from 1777 to 1780 in which it spiraled from colonial scrape to global conflict.
Like the first volume of his projected trilogy, The British Are Coming, this new work is primarily a military history of the conflict told with great attention to detail and lucid (and lurid) accounts of battles large and small. Saratoga, Bennington, Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, and Charleston receive thorough coverage, but battles such as Hubbardton, Oriskany, Paoli, Newport, and Stony Point receive a few pages as well. As with its predecessor, Fate of the Day contains those intimate details of conflicts that provide the reader a keen sense of the chaos and terror with which eighteenth-century battles were conducted. Combatants often lacked a clear sense of the local geography and faced a disturbing lack of uniformity in battle dress between Continentals, militia, irregular forces, and a multitude of Hessians that made friendly fire a constant danger.
Atkinson expands his field of coverage in this second volume to include the French court. Read more…

Hessian Soldiers Travelling to America: POW: In Camp – A Soldier’s Life. May 1782
From a Hessian Diary of the American Revolution.
This excerpt from the diary of Johan Conrad Dohla (170 pages).

Major Moves during Johan’s deployment:

  • March 1777:   Depart Germany
  • 3 June 1777:   Arrive New York, then Amboy NJ
  • November 1777:  To Philadelphia
  • June 1778: to Long Island
  • July 1778: To Newport RI
  • October 1779: to New York
  • May 1781: to Chesapeake Bay (Yorktown)
  • October 1781: to Williamsburg
  • January 1782: to Frederick MD (about 40 km west of Baltimore)

1782: Continuation of the Noteworthy Occurences in Our North American Campaign, and Especially the Captivity in the Sixth Year. Or the Year of our Lord 1782.  Page 126

In the Month of June 1782

1 June. All of the prisoners and those under arrest came out of the  jail  and  rejoined  their regiments  on  orders  of  the  commandant  of  all  prisoners,  General  Lee,  and  Major  Baily. During the afternoon roll call was held.
At present everything that the farmers bring here is cheap and plentiful. One pound of fresh butter costs eight pence; one dozen eggs, six pence; one quart of milk, three pence; lettuce is plentiful  and  cheap.  Five  or  six  people  can  eat  on  what  costs  three  or  four  pence.  In  the province of Maryland all of those who belong to Burgoyne’s army and work here and there in the country, as well as many who have already settled in and married, were sought out and put in the jail, but no one understands why that happened. During this roundup, many of us who deserted from captivity were sought out and returned to the jail.
3 June. Privates Schwab and Bauer II and Kraus, of Quesnoy’s Company, and many others in the country, were brought in by the roving militia, as, on
5 June, were Privates Taubald and, on
8 June, [Joseph] Eussele, of Quesnoy’s Company.
9 June. We had a field sermon in our barracks courtyard, preached by Chaplain Wagner.
17 June. In the night Private [Johann] Popp, of Quesnoy’s Company, deserted.
18 June. At five o’clock in the morning, roll call was held. During the afternoon a Hessian jaeger  lieutenant,  on  orders  of  Major  Baily,  was  placed  in  the  jail  under  arrest.  He  had quarreled  with  American  Continental  officers  when  he  gambled  with  them  and  thereafter wanted to duel.
19 June.  During  the  afternoon  Grenadier  B‡r  was  put  in  the  jail  for  having  committed  a theft in the city. He was put in chains.
20 June.  Private  Popp, of Quesnoy’s Company, returned  of  his own accord,  having been gone since 17 June. Because he had sold his coat in the country, our Major Beust had him put
in  the  city  jail.  Overnight,  Private  Kraus,  of  our  Quesnoy’s  Company,  was  missing  for  the second time.
23 June. Private Eussele, of Quesnoy’s Company, was put in jail for having deserted in this region. During the afternoon two Americans had to ride on the wooden donkey in front of the guardhouse by our  barracks, which provoked a  great  uproar  and  tumult  so that two Hessian jaegers were stabbed by the watch command. There were also many blows struck with sticks.
25 June. The inhabitants of Frederick had a large bonfire with shouts of hurrah, throughout the afternoon and until late at night, because Marie Antoinette, the wife of the King of France, to  the  greatest  joy,  had  given  birth  to  a  prince.  At  nine  o’clock  at  night  Grenadier  F‡hr  I, although completely innocent of any wrong, was shot through the left arm by a sentry.
29 June.  During  the  afternoon  Private  G‡rtner,  of  Quesnoy’s  Company,  ran  into  the  city and was captured by the militia, which occasionally patrols there. As he then took flight, they shot him through the body. During the night four men of Quesnoy’s Company were missing, namely, Privates Kreuzer, Bauer, Taubald, and [Paul] Pfrimm, who left the  barracks  to  seek work in the country.
Our provisions get worse day by day. For two months already, we have had to be satisfied with rotten herring fish, which we receive instead of meat. Often they smell so bad that they can hardly be eaten. Still, the hunger causes pain, and for more than eight days now we have had no meat and must be satisfied with water and coarse bread.
The past month was very warm and hot. Before Saint John’s Day [24 June] the inhabitants began to cut and harvest their corn, as the extreme heat produces it in abundance.
(to be continued)

Vice-Admiral William Albany Otway (1755-1815)
At morethannelson “The Royal Navy 1776-1815” (Officer Biographies)
Admiral William Albany Otway’s organisational skills were evident in his roles as a naval commissioner
An officer regarded as a safe pair of hands, it was Otway’s fate to hold unspectacular secondary posts through much of his career. His organisational skills were evident in his roles both as a naval commissioner and in extracting the exhausted British forces from the disastrous Walcheren Campaign. His later years were blighted by ill-health, and he died at the relatively early age of 60.
The son of apothecary George Otway and his wife, Dorothy Mound, he was born on 26 July 1755 and was christened in St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster. His family had originated from the Yorkshire / Westmorland border but were now established in London.
Otway entered the navy as a 10-year-old boy in 1765 aboard the Africa 64, Captain Hon. John Leveson-Gower, seeing service in the West Indies. He transferred to the Dreadnought 60, Captain Thomas Lee, (flying the flag of Rear-Admiral Sir William Burnaby) at Jamaica, prior to returning home in December 1766. During 1770 he went out to the Mediterranean aboard the Niger 32, Captain Francis Banks, and two years later sailed for the East Indies aboard the Prudent 64, Captain John Clarke Searle. There on 25 August 1773, the 18-year-old Otway was commissioned lieutenant of the Dolphin 24, Captain Gideon Johnstone.
In August 1777, with the American Revolutionary War intensifying, Otway, then serving as the second lieutenant of the frigate Lark 32 (Captain Richard Smith) went ashore to hunt near the Potomac River in Virginia. He was unfortunate enough to be captured by American forces, but was able to return to his ship by the end of the following month. During the defence of Rhode Island in August 1778, the Lark was destroyed to prevent her capture by the French; now shipless, Lieutenant Otway commanded a battery ashore on Goat’s Island. Upon returning to England, he was appointed first lieutenant of the Triumph 74, Captain Philip Affleck, serving in the Channel Fleet and later in the Leeward Islands. There he participated in the skirmishes with the French fleet during May 1780, and in the capture of the Dutch island of St. Eustatius on 3 February 1781. Read more…

Advertised on 9 May 1775: ‘Musick and Dancing.’

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago this week?

“Musick and Dancing.”

Among the advertisements for textiles, patent medicines, vessels preparing to depart for distant ports, and enslaved people for sale in the May 9, 1775, edition of the South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal, Mr. Abercromby promoted lessons in “Musick and Dancing.”  He started by expressing his appreciation for the support he already received, stating that he was “happy in this Opportunity of acknowledging his Gratitude for the Kindness of the Public to him hitherto, in his Profession.”  Doing so bolstered his reputation; readers not previously familiar with Abercromby, especially genteel readers who knew that their social standing depended in part on their ability to demonstrate that they had mastered the steps of various dances or could play a musical instrument, may have asked themselves why they did not know Abercromby and whether they should make his acquaintance.
Abercromby next made two important announcements.  Read more…

Podcast: The World’s First Personal Advice Column
By Mary Beth Norton, May 2025 at Ben Franklin’s World’s
We’re traveling back in time to 1690s England to explore the world’s first personal advice column, The Athenian Mercury. This two-sided broadsheet publication invited readers to send in questions about anything–from science and religion to love and marriage– and its creators, a small group of Londoners who dubbed themselves the “Athenian Society,” answered these queries with a surprising blend of wit, morality, and insight.
Why the 1690s were ripe for the invention of a personal advice column. What readers’ anonymous questions tell us about gender, love, marriage, and courtship in the late seventeenth century. And, how the Athenians’ seventeenth-century advice echoes many of the same concerns we still write to columnists about today.
Mary Beth Norton is the Mary Donlon Alger Professor Emerita at Cornell University and an award-winning historian who is a trailblazer in the field of early American women’s history. Listen in…

Kakiniit: The art of Inuit tattooing
By Jana Angulalik, Photos by Denise Peterson 26 July 2021 Canadian Geographic
Inuit tattoos, or kakiniit, were once banned. Now they are worn with pride.
A river intertwined in legend as old as time runs gently from Iqaluktuuttiaq Lake to the Arctic Ocean — and nestled along the estuary among low-rolling hills is my hometown, Iqaluktuuttiaq (Cambridge Bay). This river, or kuugaq as we say in our mother tongue, Inuinnaqtun, is a popular spot to fish all months of the year. So too is the enormous lake it runs from and the ocean they flow to. Ovajuq is a legend that shares the story of a family of giants that lived on Kiilinik Island long, long ago. They starved to death and formed our three mountains; their bladders had burst and eventually formed the many streams, rivers and lakes found on Kiillinik Island, our home.
Much like our knowledge that has seen us through thousands and thousands of years, some of our kakiniit — traditional Inuit tattoos — are still being passed down from generation to generation. I often find myself wondering: what lands did our birthright markings travel and which waters did they navigate when we Inuit lived a solely nomadic lifestyle? Some tattoos fuse modern with traditional designs; others are older than Canada, older than the borders separating Inuit Nunangat, older than the English language. Hand-poking today consists of poking modern tattoo ink into the skin, one dot at a time, whereas skin-stitching is a method where a needle and thread dipped in ink is sewn through the skin and leaves a mark that darkens as it heals — methods older than any books we can find information on kakiniit in.   Read more…

UELAC Loyalist Directory: New Contributions

    Entries which have been added, or revised, this week.

Thanks to Michael Mallery who is providing information about Loyalists who served with the Prince of Wales American Volunteers.

  • Captain Hezekiah Brown  born in 1733 in CT and appears on the ship St. Lawrence Muster Roll March 26, 1777, bringing recruits to the regiment. Rachel Prindle m. April 16, 1758. He died May 26, 1777 of sickness at Kings Bridge New York. his widow Rachel Brown was granted 200 acres in Washademoak, Sunbury County, New Brunswick.
  • Daniel Brunson (Bronson)  was born 13 Nov 1757, Kent, Litchfield Co., Connecticut. He married Eleanor [‘Leah’?’] Northcot/Northcoat/Brevoort. He first appears in Captain John Bowen’s company on August 1777 Muster Roll. He petitioned for land in Sutton and Potton, Quebec in 1792. On July 27, 1803 he was granted the west half of Lot 18 in the 5th Range.
  • Sergeant John Burns was in the Volunteers of Ireland before that regiment was drafted into the Prince of Wales American Volunteers in October 1782. He first appears in Captain Stephen Hoyt’s company on February 1783 Muster Roll. On August 14, 1784 (re-registered in New Brunswick on June 10, 1785) he was granted Town Lot 609 Princess Street, Parr Town.  He was granted 200 acres on Long Reach, New Brunswick.

Events Upcoming

St. Lawrence Branch Plaque Ceremony ~ Loyalist Burial Site. Sun. 1 June 10:00

The United Empire Loyalists were the first Europeans to settle our region following the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783). Here they built the foundation of modern Ontario.
Since 2019, the St. Lawrence Branch of the United Empire Loyalists’ Association of Canada has been erecting plaques across Stormont, Dundas, and Glengarry to identify local sites where Loyalists are buried.
The newest Loyalist Burial Plaque will be unveiled in a ceremony on 1 June 2025, 10:00am
Salem United Church Cemetery, Summerstown, Ontario
For more information, visit our website

From the Social Media and Beyond

  • Presentation of UE Loyalist Certicate at Halifax Central  Library. (Brian McConnell UE)
  • Food and Related : Townsends

  • This week in History
    •  9 May 1754, 1st newspaper cartoon in America, a divided snake “Join or die,” appeared in The Pennsylvania Gazette, cut and printed by Benjamin Franklin. Created to rally the colonies for the war with the French and Indians, but was revived during the #RevWar. image
    • 10 May 1755, George Washington was appointed volunteer aide-de-camp to General Edward Braddock. As such, he would help rally Braddock’s column during the Battle of Monongahela near Pittsburgh, PA. image   and read more – The Road to Destruction…
    • 7 May 1763, Maj Henry Gladwin, British commander of Fort Detroit, foiled Ottawa Chief Pontiac’s attempt at a surprise attack.  Pontiac laid siege to the fort, while his allies seized 10 of 13 British forts in the Great Lakes & Ohio Valley regions. image
    • 8 May 1768, London. Benjamin Franklin publishes a British edition of John Dickinson’s “Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania,” which acquires a large readership & is ultimately published in French. image
    • 10 May 1773, London. Lord North‘s Tea Act was passed by parliament & approved by the king. Meant to give the East India Company a monopoly on tea sales in America,  backfired as it undercut local autonomy, businesses & smugglers.  image
    • 4 May 1775, Philadelphia. Benjamin Franklin was appointed a representative from Pennsylvania as a member of the 2nd Continental Congress. The elder statesman’s hand would guide some of the critical first & last steps in American diplomacy. image
    • 4 May 1775, Mount Vernon, Virginia. Col. George Washington rides north to take his place as a VA delegate to the 2nd Continental Congress. Neither he nor Martha had any way of knowing he would return to his beloved home just once during the next 8 years.  image
    • 5 May 1775, Martha’s Vineyard, MA The British 16-gun sloop HMS Falmouth captures an American sloop but is driven away by two American sloops when she attempts to seize another vessel at Dartmouth. The Falcon loses both prizes and incurs 15 casualties.  image  
    • 5 May 1775, Caleb Haskell began recording his diary. The first entry reads, “May 5th, 1775 – At Newburyport, enlisted in the American Army under the command of Capt. Ezra Lunt.” He’d keep his journal through 30 May 1776. – Boston & Quebec campaigns. image
    • 6 May 1775, Ben Franklin’s son, NJ Royal Gov William Franklin, writes to William Legge, Secretary of State for the Colonies, that the violence at Lexington and Concord greatly diminished chances of reconciliation between Britain & her American colonies. image
    • 10 May 1775, Philadelphia. 2nd Continental Congress convenes & John Hancock elected president. The new congress begins organizing formal resistance to Britain while concurrently pursuing reconciliation. image
    • 3 May 1776, London. King George authorizes Gen. Wm Howe & his brother, Adm. Richard Howe, to serve on a peace commission. Richard is also appointed commander of all naval forces in America. But fighting to continue until colonies submit to Parliament. image
    • 5 May 1776 Wilmington, NC. Gen. Henry Clinton issues a proclamation denouncing the “wicked rebellion” & recommends people  of NC return their allegiance to the king. He offers full pardon to all except American Gen. Robert Howe and NC’s Cornelius Harnett. image
    • 6 May 1776, Gov Guy Carleton dispatched a 900-strong reconnaissance in force to scout the American camp. The Americans panic and flee, despite Gen John Thomas’s efforts to stop them. Wounded and supplies are abandoned to the British. image
    • 6 May 1776, Edmund Pendleton met with the Virginia House of Burgesses & voted to dissolve that body. Later, he was elected President of the 5th Virginia Revolutionary Convention, which replaced the longest-serving representative body in the colonies. image
    • 3 May 1777, English Channel. American privateer Capt. Gustavus Conyngham’s 10-gun Surprise captures British mail-packet Prince of Orange & takes her to Dunkirk. But British pressure forces Conyngham’s arrest. image
    • 5 May 1777, Morristown, NJ. The Continental Army grows to 9,000 with arms and equipment from France. General Washington organized it into five divisions, under Generals Nathanael Greene, Adam Stephen, John Sullivan, Benjamin Lincoln, and William Alexander. image
    • 7 May 1777, Morristown, NJ.  Gen. George Washington issued a general order to the Continental Army banning playing cards, dice, and other avaricious practices. image
    • 7 May 1777 To bolster the defense of the Delaware, Capt. Jonathan Clark’s company, 8th VA, manned large row boats, each with a cannon mounted in the front. The use of oars made them more maneuverable than British ships, especially in still weather.  image
    • 4 May 1778, York, PA. The Continental Congress ratified the Treaty of Alliance and Amity with France. One month later, the war between Britain and France formally began when a British squadron fired on two French ships. image
    • 5 May 1778, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The Continental Congress accepts General Washington’s recommendation and appoints General Friedrich von Steuben Inspector General of the Continental Army. Steuben would use very creative techniques to train the Americans, always explaining the “why” as well as the “what” and “how.” He also focused on “train the trainer,” establishing a cadre that could expand the body of troops trained. Steuben also published the so-called (because of its color) “Blue Book,” the official army manual, which became the basic manual of the American Army into the early 19th century. By the early summer, his efforts resulted in a new American army that could stand toe to toe in pitched battle against the British regulars and would be put to the test almost immediately at Monmouth Court House.  image
    • 8 May 1778, Brest, France, Captain John Paul Jones arrived with the British prize ship HMS Drake and 200 prisoners. He is hailed as a hero by the French. image
    • 7 May 1779 Captain Hoystead Hacker, commanding the 12-gun sloop USS Providence, engages the 12-gun brig HMS Diligent in Atlantic waters. Providence suffers 14 casualties compared to Diligent’s 27.  image
    • 9 May 1779 Portsmouth, VA. Ft Nelson stormed by 1,800 British under Commodore George Collier & Gen Edward Matthews. American Maj Thomas Matthews’s 100 defenders are driven out & the British march on Gosport & Norfolk, which they torch.  image
    • 6 May 1780, Lenud’s Ferry, SC. British Lt Col Banastre Tarleton‘s troopers surprise militia under Col Abraham Buford & Col William Washington. The militia scatters & the British inflict 40 casualties & take 65 prisoners while freeing 18 British prisoners.  image
    • 4 May 1781 Fort Granby, SC.  Gen Thomas Sumter & 600 partisans begin a siege of the British fort defended by Maj William Maxwell & 300 soldiers. Sumter soon departs to raid Orangeburg, leaving Col Thomas Taylor to oversee the siege. image
  • Clothing and Related:
  • Miscellaneous

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Last Post – Fladager (Chrysler)  UE, Betty Marlene – July 8, 1932 – May 6, 2025
    It is with heavy hearts that we announce the peaceful passing of Betty Marlene Fladager (née Chrysler) on May 6, 2025, in Edmonton, Alberta. Betty was born on July 8, 1932, in Mannville, Alberta, and lived a life marked by deep love, quiet grace, and devotion to her virtues. She was the eldest of three children born to Royden and Emma Chrysler. Her twin sister and brother June and Jim followed a year later.
After graduation from high school, Betty went to work for Eaton’s and eventually worked for the Federal Government, Unemployment Insurance Commission.
Betty met the love of her life Richard Earle Fladager who was with the Edmonton City Police Service in 1952, and they were married September 4, 1954.
Betty was a proud and longstanding member of the United Empire Loyalists Association of Canada since 1971, a commitment she carried with honour throughout her life. She served in many roles within the organization, and her involvement was a lasting source of pride. Betty was the longest, continuous serving member of the Dominion Association for many years. She was also a long-time member of the Ottewell United Church and the Ottewell Community League, where she found meaningful friendships and a strong sense of community.
Betty was a passionate supporter of Canadian sports, especially baseball and football. A devoted fan of the Edmonton Elks, she held season tickets since 1954 — her loyalty and spirit were truly unmatched.
Above all, Betty took great pride in her children and grandchildren. Family was the heart of her world, and her love, encouragement, and strong sense of values will live on through them.
Betty was predeceased by her beloved husband, Richard Earle Fladager, and her brother, James Chrysler. She is lovingly remembered by her sister June Amoroso; her children David (Nataliya), Neal (Deborah), and Marilyn (Dave); and her cherished grandchildren Michael, Melanie, Calista, Alysha, Katherine (Carter), Victoria, and Jackson.
A funeral service will be held on Tuesday, May 13, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. at Serenity Funeral Service North Chapel (10129 Princess Elizabeth Avenue NW, Edmonton).  Interment will follow at Glenwood Memorial Gardens Cemetery (52356 Range Road 232, Sherwood Park, AB T8B 1B8).   A reception will be held immediately following the burial at Glenwood Memorial Gardens.

Edmonton Branch President Robert Rogers UE notes:
It is with great sadness that I pass onto the members of the Edmonton Branch that one of the founding members of the current branch has passed away.  Betty Fladager was a great supporter of the Branch and instrumental in the re-establishment of the branch some 40 years ago.  A longtime member of the Association, she was a member of the Executive for many years until illness forced her to assume a less active role.  She and her late husband were often in the forefront of activities to promote the branch and were good friends.  In 2011 the couple were presented with the Branch President’s Award for more than 25 years of dedicated service and more recently in 2023 the couple were presented with the Queen Elizabeth Platinum Jubilee Medals in recognition of their valuable contribution to the Province of Alberta by the Lieutenant Governor.  She and Earle will be sorely missed by the executive of the branch and especially by myself.
She proved to two Loyalist ancestors

  • Geronimous Chrysler (Calgary 1971-02-25)
  • Henrich (Henry) Merkley (Edmonton 2008-04-14)


 

Published by the UELAC
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