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Scholarship Challenge 2025: Update for 10 Aug
Progress: More donations this week, and the Challenge tally rises to $2,950.
Your donation of whatever amount help will achieve our goal of $5,000 by 1 Sept? At Challenge 2025 see the status, who has donated and how to donate.

Words from previous Award Recipients

“I want to thank the UELAC again for their very generous assistance which allowed me to travel to archives throughout Canada and the United States. Additionally I have been flattered with many kind invitations to speak to branches and share my work in progress, which was always fun and led to some very illuminating discussions.”
– Tim Compeau, UELAC Loyalist Scholar 2008

“This scholarship has meant so much for my research and I know I wouldn’t have been able to travel for some of my more important source collections without the support. I am so proud to be one of the UELAC scholarship holders and I absolutely cannot wait for December to defend this hard work. As soon as the dissertation is approved by the university reader I will have a copy sent to you.”
– Stephanie Seal Walters, UELAC Loyalist Scholar 2016

At the moment, the UELAC program is supporting six Scholars in their research programs. Your donations make a big difference in our ability to help them. At Scholarship Challenge 2025, please make your contribution today.  We – and the scholars – appreciate your assistance.

Breaking news: 
Since the above update on Friday, we received word of more donations”in the mail” totaling $600, which brings the total to $3,550.
That puts our matching benefactor on a very small hook, but at least on the hook now for donations above $3,500 (50%) with multipliers starting at $4,500 (100%) and – dare we hope – at $6,000 ($150%)
Your donations from now on result in even larger contributions to the Scholarship Fund – help us deplete that benefactor’s bank account!  (S)he is up for it…

Auchmuty: A Counterfactual History 
copyright Stephen Davidson UE
The Cambridge Dictionary defines the word”counterfactual” as being a mental simulation where one thinks about something that happened, and then imagines an alternate ending. A whole body of literature has grown up supposing what might have happened if historic turning points had had different outcomes. What if the Titanic had not sunk? What if Alexander the Great had died as a young man? What if Britain and its loyalist allies had quashed the American Revolution?
While it would take a multi-volume series of books to explore that last question, it takes far less words to consider how things might have been different if an individual Loyalist had survived the American Revolution and found sanctuary in Nova Scotia.  Given the pre-revolutionary trajectory of the life of the Rev. Samuel Auchmuty, it is possible to make reasonable assumptions about how this Loyalist would have changed the history of Nova Scotia in the remaining decades of his life. Not least among the consequences would be the founding of a college, the establishment of a diocese, and the improved education of Black men and women.
The Rev. Samuel Auchmuty (ock-MEW-tee) died in March of 1777 at the age of 51, leaving his wife Mary and seven children to mourn his loss. At his death, he had been the rector of New York’s Trinity Church and had charge of all the Anglican churches in the city. A committed Loyalist, he had cancelled all worships services until he and his fellow clergymen would once again be free to pray for the health and long life of King George III. But Auchmuty was far from being”just another rector”.
When he was just 25, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG) hired the newly ordained Auchmuty to serve as a catechist  (a teacher of the principles of Christianity) to the Blacks of New York City. According to the historian Kyle T. Bulthuis, scores of enslaved Africans received a rudimentary education under Auchmuty as they attended his catechism classes. The young clergyman reported around thirty regular communicants during the 1760s and early 1770s.   No other New York denomination made such an effort to convert Blacks before the American Revolution. Bulthuis states that Auchmuty’s Black students”were native New Yorkers, and perhaps saw in their activity a way to gain the patronage of the city’s leading government officials and merchants, not to mention their own masters.” While education benefited the enslaved Blacks, it would also – claimed the SPG— make slaves less likely to revolt and would”increase their industry and honesty“.
In 1766, Auchmuty – then the rector of New York’s prestigious Trinity Church — officiated at the wedding of Quash Gomer, an enslaved Angolan who had purchased his own freedom from what he was able to earn when not working on his master’s farm. The clergyman’s participation in uniting the Black couple suggests that he had developed close relationships with those that he taught.
Auchmuty longed to see the Church of England grow in influence as well as in parishioners. In 1771, he wanted to see colonial bishops appointed and Anglican dioceses established in the American colonies. A few years later, he was making preparations to go to England with the expectation of being consecrated as the Bishop of New York.  However,”the approaching commotions rendered it necessary for him to stay by his devoted flock.”  Had he been able to go to England, Auchmuty would have been the very first bishop in Anglican history to serve outside of Great Britain.
As rector of Trinity Church, Auchmuty was automatically a member of the Board of Governors of King’s College. As such, he made sure that only Anglicans served on the governing council. He saw the appointment of anyone outside the Established Church as a”civic apocalypse”.
In a letter, Auchmuty once declared that such appointments would be”the final ruin of the Church on the Continent. If this once takes place, farewell Loyalty, Obedience, and Dependence.” Trinity’s rector took his role on the board seriously – in his 16 years as a governor of the college, he never missed any of its meetings.
When the Patriot forces in New York City forbade the reading of prayers for the king within church services, Auchmuty locked up Trinity and its associate Anglican churches, and sought sanctuary in New Jersey. A letter written by a fellow clergyman recounts what happened next.”When the rebels were driven from hence, they endeavoured to guard the passes in such a manner as to prevent the friends of government from returning to it.  The doctor’s anxiety to return to his charge was so great, that he was determined to attempt it at all rates.  By travelling in the night, and otherwise exposing himself, he caught a severe cold, which, increasing, at length threw him into a fever which proved fatal.”
But what if the Rev. Samuel Auchmuty had lived to join the thousands of loyalist refugees who found sanctuary in Nova Scotia in 1783? Given his interests and passions, what impact would he have had on the young colony?
It was the Rev. Charles Inglis who succeeded Auchmuty as rector of Trinity Church upon the latter’s death. In 1787, the Church of England made him the bishop of Nova Scotia (a diocese that included Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Upper Canada, Lower Canada, Newfoundland, and Bermuda.) Had Auchmuty not died in 1777, given his position and reputation within New York, it seems only logical that he would have assumed the role of bishop. If he had, he would have been 62 years of age at the time of his consecration.
When Loyalists gathered to create an institution of higher learning in Nova Scotia, they decided that it would be named King’s College, like the one in New York City. Given that Auchmuty had served on the board of governors for the New York college for 16 years, it would be natural for him to be involved with the founding and governance of the Nova Scotia college.
Those who made up the actual governing board insisted that all the college’s students must sign the 39 Anglican articles of faith before they would be granted their degrees. Charles Inglis opposed this stipulation, as it would deter Christians of other denominations from attending the college.
The governors ignored his advice – a hardline position that Auchmuty would undoubtedly have held as well. It seems very likely that the New York rector would have done all in his power to strengthen the role of the established church within Nova Scotia. As one historian has pointed out, Auchmuty’s forceful personality had little patience for live-and-let-live ways. His time as bishop would have caused much greater friction with Nova Scotia’s Presbyterians, Methodists, Quakers, and Baptists than Inglis’ time in office.
In addition to being a staunch denominationalist, Samuel Auchmuty had a history of educating enslaved and free Blacks. In the wake of the American Revolution, Nova Scotia became the home of at least 3,000 Black Loyalists and hundreds of enslaved Africans. Within two years of their arrival in the colony, the Associates of Dr. Bray – an English philanthropic organization—established schools for Black students in 4 loyalist settlements.  The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel created a fifth school.
Given Auchmuty’s efforts to evangelize and educate the enslaved Blacks of New York City, it would seem reasonable to assume that he would use his influence as bishop to build schools for Black children, insuring that they were well-funded and adequately staffed. While a basic education would be of immense importance to people who had once been enslaved and forced to remain illiterate, Auchmuty’s schools might have created the same kind of interdenominational friction that his leadership of King’s College would have provided. While there were some Anglicans among the Black Loyalist population, most of them were adherents of either the Methodist or Baptist faiths. Any schools under Auchmuty’s supervision would have had the Anglican articles of faith as their core teachings.
On the other hand, armed with a basic education, Blacks in Nova Scotia might have been able to fill other positions within society, rising above subsistence farming and fishing – thus reducing the appeal of founding a colony of free Blacks in Sierra Leone.
Charles Inglis’ biographer, Judith Fingard cited her subject’s”failure to be more active in the concerns of both church and community“.  What this counterfactual account has suggested is that things could have been different. Had the Rev. Samuel Auchmuty survived the revolution, it is very likely that he would have been a more dogmatic bishop, a greater promoter of his denomination, and an advocate for Black education.
To secure permission to reprint this article contact the author at stephendavids@gmail.com.

The Unsung Founders of Shelburne
By Clarence Robert Butler, UE, Executive Vice President and Membership Chairman, Nova Scotia Branch UELAC, August 2025
When we think of the founding of Shelburne, we often picture a straightforward tale of loyalists fleeing the American Revolution. We imagine brave settlers building a new life in a new land. But a significant chapter of that story is often left in the shadows—a chapter that is not just a footnote, but an integral part of Shelburne’s very foundation. My name is [Your Name], and as the Executive Vice President of the United Empire Loyalist Association, Nova Scotia Branch, and Membership Chairman, I am privileged to share this story. My own connection to this history is not just through my role but through my family lineage, as a direct descendant of Lieutenant Andrew Goudick, a Loyalist settler of the Sand Spits in Fort Roseway. This personal connection has shown me that to tell the full story of Shelburne, we must look beyond our own family trees and acknowledge that the town was not just built for them, but that it was, in many ways, built by them—and that their contributions were essential to its survival.
To understand the role the Black Loyalists played in building Shelburne, we must first understand the journey that brought them here. It’s a story that begins not with hope, but with a radical and life-altering promise. During the American Revolution, Lord Dunmore, the British Governor of Virginia, issued a proclamation offering freedom to any enslaved person who would leave their American masters and fight for the Crown. For thousands of Black men and women, this was an offer of liberation—a chance to seize their own destiny. This promise was documented in what became known as the Book of Negroes, a testament to a collective leap of faith. A significant portion of them sailed directly to Nova Scotia. They didn’t come as servants or refugees; they came as free people, guaranteed land and provisions by the British government, ready to build the future they had been promised.
When the Loyalist ships arrived in the fall of 1783, Shelburne was little more than a vast, forested wilderness. There were no homes, no roads, and no infrastructure. The land had to be cleared, the timber had to be milled, and the town had to be built from the ground up. And who did this foundational work? Read more…

Podcast: Listen to a seven minute recording about”The Unsung Founders of Shelburne” done with Deep Dive.

My Search for my Loyalist Ancestor, Capt. John Ernst Defoe UE And his son, Abraham Dafoe UE
By Joan Lucas UE, Historian for Kawartha Branch, 2025 Kawartha Branch newsletter
I have had a keen interest in the United Empire Loyalists since learning of them in my Elementary School Days. I was taught that their settlement in Canada, was the cornerstone in the building of our great country and that they were an important part of our heritage…
How does one find a UEL ancestor?
Again I knew from my grade school social studies that the United Empire Loyalists came into Nova Scotia in 1783 and into Quebec in 1784. I needed to prove that my family came in one of these migrations. I needed to research my genealogy to find my roots back to a Loyalist ancestor, about nine generations from me…. In my search, I needed to prove the child-parent relationship for nine generations.
Sounded impossible, but it wasn’t, as I found out.
My maiden name was Creighton and family lore said my Creighton family had been early settlers in Fredericksburg Township, Lennox and Addington County, Ontario. That took me back four generations; myself, my father, my grandfather, my great-grandfather and great-grandmother, who were John Curle Creighton married to Lillian Lucy Lake. The Creighton family were late arrivals to Ontario, coming from Scotland in 1810. They were not UE Loyalists. That meant I needed to research my great grandmother’s Lake family.
I was able to find Baptismal Certificates for myself and my father with the parents’ names on them….
In the Archives of Ontario, I found the Archival list of United Empire Loyalists who received land grants in the Province of Upper Canada (today’s Ontario). There was Abraham Dafoe receiving a land grant as a Loyalist and as a Corporal in Captain Henry Ruiter’s Company of Roger’s Rangers, a Provincial Corps. In his petition for land, he named his father, John Defoe, who had died at Fort St. Jean, Quebec, before the family came to Upper Canada.
That proved Abraham Dafoe was a United Empire Loyalist.
In the papers of General Frederick Haldimand, Governor of Quebec at the time of the American Revolution, I found a letter between the General and Captain Justus Sherwood speaking of John Defoe as”a trustworthy man and a good courier …” who knew his way from Quebec City to New York, through the woods, waterways and the Indian threat to General Guy Carlton on Long Island, New York.
One of John Defoe’s sources of information (as a spy) came as he sheltered at his wife’s home near Pownal, New York, now Vermont. John’s wife, Mary, had yet to be forced out of their home and was there with their younger children. She was able to provide food, shelter and information to the British couriers who, like her husband, John, carried British dispatches. Her home was known as a”Safe House”, although in the annals of New York it was called “Old Dayfoot’s” house. She had many family and friend contacts who supplied her with information and political happenings in her area.
John Defoe was a supporter of the British who, two generations before, had rescued his grandfather’s family from famine and starvation in Germany by bringing them from the Palatinate to England and then to the Colony of New York.
This was John’s grandfather, Daniel Thevou, his wife, Marianne Delcour, and their two children, Abraham and Anna Marie Thevou. The family had immigrated from Missy, Switzerland, to the vineyards of Heidelberg in the Palatinate in Germany where Daniel worked as a vinedresser.
It was a period of religious unrest and violence between France and the Palatinate, when a terrible winter storm in 1707-1708 killed all the grape vines, leaving the workers without jobs. Destitute and starving, the family, along with other Palatinate families, fled to Amsterdam, Holland.
Queen Anne of England heard of these refugee people and sent ships to Holland to bring them to refugee camps on Hounslow Heath outside of London, where they were provided with food and shelter. England needed workers to work in their American Colonies to make tar to be used on the ships of the British navy.  Read more…

Tarleton at the Waxhaws: A Proposal for Reconciliation
by Robert Ford 7 Aug 2025 Journal of the American Revolution
The engagement between Abraham Buford and Banastre Tarleton at the Waxhaws has attracted controversy since it occurred. Buford has had supporters and detractors, just as students of the battle have exonerated or excoriated Tarleton. The problem has been that this kind of black-or-white determination suggests one side was entirely at fault, the other entirely blameless. Most things in life present in shades of gray, and the Waxhaws battle is also nuanced in this way. There is the possibility of reconciliation of opposing viewpoints, a common ground where neither Tarleton’s aggression nor Buford’s incompetence provided the sole impetus for the result.
Every aspect of the battle and its outcome has been the subject of debate. There are several questions about the Waxhaws, and the answer to one does not preclude an opposing answer to the next. For example, the first question of tremendous importance was whether a slaughter of Americans occurred. The next logical question is whether the massacre, if one occurred, amounts to an atrocity rather than an overwhelming, asymmetrical victory. This question warrants examination.
In order to grasp the events at the Waxhaws, the separate questions need to be broken out and studied separately. The key issues for analysis are, in order: one, was there a massacre, two, if so, was it an atrocity that today would be characterized as a war crime, and three, if it was an atrocity, who was responsible for it? With any luck, if we answer these questions correctly, a compromise will appear between the two sides in the ongoing debate.  Read more…

Summer 1775: Washington Takes Command of the Continental Army
by Michael Cecere 5 Aug 2025 Journal of the American Revolution
“They are by no means such Troops, in any respect, as you are led to believe of them from the [Accounts] which are published.”
So declared General George Washington to his cousin, Lund Washington, nearly two months into his command of the newly formed Continental Army outside Boston. Appointed by the Continental Congress on June 15, 1775 to command this army of New England troops, Washington arrived in Cambridge on July 2. It was an appointment he neither sought nor desired, and he shared his unease at the appointment with his wife:

I have used every endeavour in my power to avoid it . . . But, as it has been a kind of destiny that has thrown me upon this Service . . . it was utterly out of my power to refuse this appointment without exposing my Character to such censures as would have reflected dishonour upon myself, and given pain to my friends…

…The political motive behind his appointment was the desire of Congress to select a Virginian to command the army. It was done in hopes of generating greater southern support, particularly Virginian support, for the conflict in Massachusetts. The delegates in Philadelphia recognized the stature Washington held among his fellow Virginians and, given his military experience in the previous war, they viewed him as a shrewd choice to lead the new continental army posted outside Boston.
Washington headed north from Philadelphia on June 23 and was enthusiastically greeted along the way to Cambridge. Read more…

Hessian Soldiers Travelling to America: in Captivity at Springfield, Long Island. July 1783
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)
  • May 1783: departed Frederick MD for Springfield, Long Island

1783: Continuation of the Notable Occurences in the North American Field Campaign; Marching out of Captivity to Springfield on Long Island, in the Seventh and Last Year, Page 141

In the Month of July 1783
2 July. We received  heavy,  brown woolen cloth  for  making  trousers;  each  man,  one  and one-quarter yards, which equals an English ell. This material was a present from the King of England,  which  all  troops  received  who  had  been  in  captivity  in  America.  Today  also,  we received new knapsacks. During the evening I went on duty in the reserve.
3 July. The  Medic  [Christoph]  Prechtel  and  Private  [Lorenz]  Rahm,  of  Eyb’s  Company, and  Grenadier  [Konrad]  Pandasch,  of  Molitor’s  Company,  took  their  separation.  They  are going to Philadelphia and will remain in the country to try their fortune. They were enlistees whose time had expired.
4 July. I  finished  my  lists  and  took them to  Adjutant  von  Streit. They pleased  him  and  I received one Spanish dollar for my work.
7 July. I went on orderly duty to Jamaica for Major General [Karl Ernst] von Bischhausen, of the Hessians, who had command here on Long Island.
9 July. We received  sidearms,  and  each  man  also  received  two  English  yards  of  brown, woolen  material  for  blankets.  This  was  a  present  from  the  Queen  of  England  which  all  the King’s soldiers and troops in the royal pay received.
14 July. The company received shoe soles. I have been writing  lists  for the officers since the eighth and do not have to pull guard duty.

16 July. Corporal Wolfrum, of Quesnoy’s Company, who had been  on command at New York, died  in  the  English  hospital  at  Vauxhall. As replacement,  Private  [Justus] Eggert was named corporal in the Quesnoy’s Company.
17 July. I had orderly duty for Adjutant Streit.
21 July. The company received new shirts, each man one.
26 July. I went on regimental guard as lance corporal.
31 July. We received from the English lieutenant general and commander at New York, Sir James Guy Carleton, the order to embark and the already  long-wished-for news that as soon as possible we would depart for Germany. This pleased us not a little. Today we also received new field caps. Private Eussele, of Quesnoy’s Company, an enlistee, received  his  separation today and will remain in New York.
During this month the heat was very great, but always with warm and gentle rain. We also had a great plague of mosquitoes here, which swarmed about by the millions and also allowed us no rest at night in our barns.
(to be continued)

Advertised on 8 August 1775: ‘A SERMON, PREACHED … the DAY recommended…’

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

“A SERMON, PREACHED … the DAY recommended by the Honorable CONTINENTAL CONGRESS for A GENERAL FAST.”

On July 20, 1775, the”DAY recommended by the Honorable CONTINENTAL CONGRESS for A GENERAL FAST Throughout the TWELVE UNITED COLONIES of NORTH-AMERICA,” Thomas Coombe delivered a sermon to”the Congregations of CHIRST CHURCH and ST. PETER’s” in Philadelphia.  Less than three weeks later, John Dunlap advertised a local edition of the sermon”PUBLISHED BY REQUEST” and sold in Baltimore in Dunlap’s Maryland Gazette.  He also printed a Philadelphia edition of the sermon, which apparently sold well enough to convince him to publish a second edition.  Solomon Southwick, printer of the Newport Mercury, produced yet another edition, as did James Magee in Belfast, Ireland.
According to researchers at the William Reese Company, a prominent antiquarian rare book dealer specializing in American, Coombe”was an Anglican minister and Loyalist in Philadelphia, and formerly the Chaplain for the Marquis of Rockingham.”  Both the advertisement and the title page noted the latter credential.  The sermon”calls for restraint amongst the citizenry of Philadelphia in the wake of the opening battles of the American Revolution.”  After the colonies declared independence, Coombe was imprisoned for his political stance, but”allowed to return to England in 1779.”   Read more…

Vice-Admiral Thomas Boys (1763-1832)
By Richard Hiscocks at More Than Nelson
As the scion of a naval family, Boys enjoyed almost constant employment for the first 37 years of his career, during which he was present at six fleet actions. Promoted later than some of his contemporaries, he only briefly commanded a frigate, and spent the last decade of his service in command of ships of the line in home waters and the Baltic.
Boys was born on 3 October 1763, the second son of William Boys, a surgeon from Sandwich in Kent, and his second wife, Jane Fuller, and the grandson of Commodore William Boys who as a young man had survived a gruesome small boat voyage and later served as the lieutenant-governor of Greenwich Hospital. He was the nephew of Elizabeth Boys who married the future Admiral Sir Henry Harvey, and his elder half-brother, Captain William Henry Boys of the Royal Marines, married a daughter of Admiral Harvey.
He joined the Navy in 1777 during the American Revolutionary War aboard the sloop Speedwell, commanded by his kinsman Captain John Harvey, and from 1778 until 1780 he served in the Channel and the West Indies aboard the Vigilant 74, under Captains Robert Kingsmill, Digby Dent, and Sir George Home. During this time he saw action at the Battles of Ushant on 27 July 1778, Grenada on 6 July 1779, and Martinique on 17 April 1780. He next joined Captain Harvey’s brother Henry (his uncle) aboard the frigate Convert 32 in the Leeward Islands, being present at the Battle of St. Kitts on 25-26 January1782.   Read more…

Book: Authentic Letters From Upper Canada [1833]
By T W Magrath. Etchings by Samuel Lover. Edited by Rev. Thomas Radcliff at Global Genealogy
Authentic Letters From Upper Canada [1833] is a vital resource for those studying the firsthand experiences of Irish pioneers who settled in Upper Canada (Ontario) between 1831 and 1833.
This collection features genuine correspondence from Thomas Magrath, William Radcliff, Mrs. William Radcliff, and others, addressed to Reverend Thomas Radcliff and relatives in Dublin. The letters offer detailed insights into establishing homesteads, including supply lists and expenses, as well as candid reflections on the challenges of transatlantic travel, frontier life, and the social landscape of early Upper Canada. Two additional fictional letters from a household maid provide a lighter perspective within the volume.  Read more…

The transportation of female convicts in 1820, onboard The Morley
By Sarah Murden 27 March 2023 in All Things Georgian
On 22 May 1820 a ship named The Morley, sailed for New South Wales, arguably there was nothing new about this one as plenty of ships transported convicts to Australia at that time, but this ship was transporting 121 female prisoners, along with some several children, and was one sailing which we know a good deal more about than many other such voyages. The reason for this being that the ship’s surgeon, Thomas Reid, who was a young man of just 29 years of age when they set sail, kept a detailed account of this voyage, with specific references and a dedication in the book to his good friend, the prison reformer, Elizabeth Fry.
She and representatives from the British Ladies’ Committee, boarded the ship several times to deliver bibles, prayer books and to also give the convicts moral advice prior to the ship sailing.
The ship was prepared ready to receive its female prisoners and some children. Read more…

Interior Textiles: Swedish Textile Traditions in Farming Communities: 1760s to 1860s 
By Viveka Hansen  7 August 2025 I K Foundation
Contemporary written sources are essential for understanding the frequency of various textile categories in farming communities, particularly via estate inventories, which often give detailed notations. Among other possessions, the interior textile belongings were usually extensive and divided into several headings: bedclothes, bed linen, bench covers, travel cushions or similar descriptions. This essay will look closely into these documents and present a selection in complete translation to exemplify the importance of such textiles. Foremost regarding everyday life, festivities, the young woman’s dowry and why these treasures were produced in significant amounts in the countryside and villages of Skåne, in the southeastern corner of the province. Preserved textiles from the same area, as well as local artwork, mainly originating from the late 18th century to the 1860s, further emphasise the lengthy period of woollen and linen furnishing textiles with almost identical design combinations and practical needs of household management.
The information given in these estate inventories from a deceased person could vary greatly, and the recorders were especially assiduous when it concerned the more valuable textiles, like various art-woven colourful woollen techniques, linen for the bed and table, as well as various wall coverings. The less wealthy families and even the poor sometimes had more home textiles than expected, most often mentioned as bedclothes only (but often there were never made estate inventories for the poor). The differences were foremost that striped cushions and feather beds were owned by most people. At the same time, the more affluent homes also included a large amount of bed linen, table linen and decorative textiles. The common characteristic of the”textile abundance” was its higher value and economy from a status point of view.
Judging from the wealth of textiles surviving in the southeastern part of the province, Skåne in Sweden, in some areas, the women must have woven far more than they or even the next generation could ever use. Most of the weaving was done by the farmer’s wife and daughters or female relatives living in the household. Read more…

Borealia and the Centre of Canadian History
By Jerry Bannister, 11 July 2025 Borealia
“Nations matter. National cultures matter. And national histories matter. As we try to understand what has happened in the United States, we should keep those three things in mind.”
I wrote that in a blog post the day after Trump’s first election in 2016 to cope with the shock of events without knowing, of course, of the worse shocks to come. The post was a small part of the larger discussion that Borealia promoted on the wider issues of collective memory, historical methods, and the tangled relationships between colonialism, presentism, and nationalism.
In a blogosphere dominated by ideology, Borealia was a breath of fresh air. It was deliciously eclectic and gently challenged the rigidities that so often inflict academic history. As a contributor, I wasn’t sure whether this was a deliberate policy or more a reflection of the editors’ personal inclinations. What mattered to me was the openness and, dare I say, kindness of the editors and the way they approached social media and history. Reading the blog was like listening to Keith Grant speak: honestly, directly, without a hint of pretension. One never got the sense that Keith, Denis McKim, or Laura Smith were pushing a partisan agenda or looking to score political points. It was clear they were doing it for their love of history, not as leverage or career advancement. Think about how often you can say that about another blog or publication. Read more… (short)  

Unspoken: The Cree code talkers of the prairies 
By Kayla MacInnis 6 Aug 2025 Canadian Geograhpic
nêhiyawak soldiers bent their language to help secure the Allied victory in the Second World War, but their service is often forgotten
When their language was useful, it was weaponized. Though their words helped win a war, their contributions remained classified for nearly two decades. And when that same history became politically inconvenient, their legacy disappeared behind a broken hyperlink. This is how colonial amnesia works. One day, Diné (Nava-jo) code talkers were present on U.S. military websites; the next, following an executive order by President Donald Trump to terminate all federal diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, they were gone.
The pages were restored after public backlash, but this erasure, however brief, raises deeper questions about sovereignty, memory and whose stories are protected and uplifted.
On this side of the colonial border, Canada had its own code talkers. The most well-known was Charles”Checker” Tomkins, a Métis man from Alberta — though his story also remained buried for decades. He and two of his brothers — Peter Tomkins and their half-brother John Smith — were among the nêhiyawak from Alberta and Saskatchewan who were asked to bend their language into a tactical tool the military could use. nêhiyawêwin, the Cree language, is a complex, verb-driven system structured around the concept of wâhkôhtowin, a foundational principle of nêhiyaw natural law that means”everything is related.”
Checker’s brother, Frank Tomkins, served as a private on the home front during World War II. In the field, the Tomkins brothers transmitted coded messages in nêhiyawêwin to relay sensitive information about aircraft and bombing runs. Read more…

Loyalist Certificates Issued
    The publicly available list of certificates issued since 2012 is now updated to end of July 31, 2025.
When a certificate is added there, it is also recorded in the record for the Loyalist Ancestor in the Loyalist Directory.

UELAC Loyalist Directory: New Contributions

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

  • Capt John Defoe by Joan Lucas UE was born in 1726 Rhinebeck, Dutchess Co. and wasa settled in Rensselaerwyk, Pownal, Charlotte Co., N.Y. (later Vermont) before the war. He served  in KRRNY, 2nd Batt., Secret Service. He was at Fort St. John’s Que. by 1778 and died there in 1784. With his wife Mary Keller they had a number of children including several sons who served. Mary died in  12 Aug. 1789 in Fredericksburgh Twp., Cataraqui (near Kingston ON), See also My Search for my
    Loyalist Ancestor, Capt. John Ernst Defoe UE And his son, Abraham Dafoe UE     in
    this newsletter.



Events Upcoming

Grand River Branch: Tour of Canadian Military Heritage Museum, Sun. 17 August 1:30

At 347 Greenwich St.,Brantford PRESERVING OUR MILITARY HERITAGE. We invite you to visit a first-class, updated, 13,000 sq. foot facility that honours, preserves, and displays our rich Canadian military heritage with a special focus on the Brantford, Brant County and Six Nations area. Our enthusiastic volunteers will greet you at our museum where every artifact tells a story, a story we are dedicated to share with you.

American Revolution Institute: Author’s Talk—Fighting for Philadelphia: Forts Mercer and Mifflin, the Battle of Whitemarsh, and the Road to Valley Forge Wed 13 Aug 6:30

Historian Michael Harris focuses our attention on the 1777 Philadelphia Campaign after the Battle of Germantown, by highlighting the strategic, political, and tactical history of the complex operations sandwiched between Germantown and the arrival of the Continental Army at Valley Forge that include the war on the Delaware River and the attacks on Forts Mifflin and Mercer. Read more, registration.

American Revolution Institute:  Lunch Bite—A Recruiting Broadside For the Continental Navy Ship Columbus Fri 15 Aug 12:30.

The Institute’s research services librarian, Rachel Nellis, discusses a 1775 recruitment broadside laying out the terms and benefits of enlistment for sailors on the Columbus, commanded by Abraham Whipple. This presentation will discuss the use of broadsides in the Revolutionary era, the terms of enlistment for sailors, Capt. Abraham Whipple, and the various signers of the broadside. Details and Registration

Old Hay Bay Church Annual Pilgrimage Service and exploration time, Sunday, 24 Aug 2:00 pm

Canada’s oldest surviving Methodist Church was built in 1792 in the rural township of Adolphustown. It was built on the farm of Paul Huff, UE as the first meeting house in the new settlement. It was built on a family farm, as the Methodists could not own property under the rules of Great Britain.
starting at 2pm will be our exploration time.
Service at 3:00, The liturgist for the service is Rev. David King, a Council of Elders representative.  Our guest speaker is Rev. Wanda Stride who was ordained by Toronto Conference of the United Church of Canada in 2009.  Her timely message is entitled”And can it be? finding the future in our roots”. Following the service there will be refreshments and additional time to share stories, and purchase items.  See website and follow the link to the press release with details.

America’s History: Benedict Arnold Defends Lake Champlain – Bus Tour Fri 19 Sept 2025 @8:00-5:00

The tour departs from Fort Ticonderoga’s parking lot at 8 a.m. and includes an interpretation of the battle of Valcour Island from a nearby site, a visit to the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum and a boat ride thru the Narrows of Lake Champlain. This tour will demonstrate Benedict Arnold’s skill as a naval commander and hero of the Patriot cause as we visit land and”on the water” sites. We will see Valcour Island from the New York shore, visit the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum which has special exhibits related to Valcour Island, board the reconstructed gunboat, Philadelphia II and take a boat ride thru the Lake Champlain Narrows where Arnold fought a delaying battle with the British. Read more…  Note: This tour is on the Friday of Fort Ticonderoga’s American Revolution Seminar.

Fort Ticonderoga: Annual Seminar on the American Revolution Weekend Sept 20/21

This annual premier conference focused on the military, political, social, and material culture of the American Revolution regularly features scholars from across North America and beyond. Attendees can participate in person or join the conference from home via the Fort Ticonderoga Center for Digital History.  Read more details, schedule and registration…

Calling all Mabee and Secord  Descendants Sat 27 Sept @1:00

The Grand River Branch  is holding a special event to unveil a plaque honouring our Loyalist ancestors, the Mabee & Secord families. See the poster which outlines the details and we would be so very pleased if interested people would attend. See poster…
We do hope some of the descendants of these families will join interested others.
Please let me know should you require any further information. Bill Terry UE terrybill766@gmail.com

From the Social Media and Beyond

  • Saturday after making presentation about 84th Regiment & Sgt. Abraham Blois to Blois Family Reunion in Gore, Hants Co.,  visited his grave &  drove to top of Courthouse Hill where enjoyed wonderful view of surrounding 5 Counties, Cumberland, Colchester, Hants, Kings & Pictou.  Brian McConnell UE
  • Found this interesting document in NS Property Online that refers to lands granted to Philip Van Cortlandt at Aylesford, Nova Scotia in 1790. He was born in New York and descended from the first Mayor of the city, Olaff Van Cortlandt, when it was called New Amsterdam.
    During the American Revolution he served as a Major in the New Jersey Volunteers. He and his wife Catherine with family evacuated from New York, settled in Nova Scotia, however relocated to England after several years  when he was offered employment there.   Brian McConnell UE
  • Food and Related : Townsends

  • This week in History
    • 3 Aug 1774, dissenting British minister Joseph Priestley discovers oxygen. Priestley shared the liberal religious and political philosophy of many of America’s revolutionary leaders, including Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson. image
    • 5 Aug 1774 George Washington, Patrick Henry, Peyton Randolph & Richard Henry Lee elected as part of Virginia’s 7 delegates to the General Congress in Philadelphia, later known as the 1st Continental Congress. The Virginia delegation would help shape the course of #RevWar #History image
    • 3 August 1775, Cambridge, MA. General Washington calls a war council to discuss the shortage of gunpowder and decides to request help from Congress for additional supplies from the colonies. image
    • Aug 3, 1775, Gen. George Washington held a council of war on the army’s gunpowder.”There is now on hand but thirty-eight barrels,” reported brigadier John Sullivan.”The General was so struck, that he did not utter a word for half an hour.”
    • August 4, 1775, Gen. George Washington issued stern orders against”the firing of Guns, in and about Camp,” because that disturbed soldiers'”natural rest.” The real reason was the drastic shortage of gunpowder. Read the order..
    • August 6, 1775, a company of riflemen from Virginia under Capt. Daniel Morgan marched into Cambridge, joining rifle companies from Pennsylvania as the first Continental Army units from outside New England
    • 7 Aug 1775 St Augustine, FL.  The S. Carolina sloop Commerce under Capt Clement Lempriere intercepts Capt. Alvara Lofthouse’s HMS Betsy. Wielding swords, knives & pistols, the boarding party seizes over 17,000 lbs. of gunpowder for the rebel cause. image
    • 8 Aug 1775 Oconore, SC Maj Andrew Williamson’s up-country militia defeated Cherokee braves and began the march to destroy the Cherokee tribal villages. image
    • 8 Aug 1775 Cambridge, MA. Daniel Morgan’s Virginia riflemen arrive in hunting shirts & leggings. Morgan’s men initially seemed strange to the militia & fights broke out. The riflemen soon earned a fierce reputation, however, as”Morgan’s Sharpshooters.” image
    • August 8, 1775, the people of Gloucester fought HMS Falcon under Capt. John Linzee, capturing dozens of men at the cost of two local lives. Read more…
    • August 9, 1775, Gen. George Washington named John Goddard of Brookline”Waggon Master General to the Army of the Twelve United Colonies.” His house still stands.
    • 9 Aug 1775 Gloucester, MA. Royal Navy Capt. John Linzee, commanding HMS Falcon, spotted two schooners heading back to port. He captures one and chases a second aground in the harbor. image
    • 3 Aug 1776 Five American galleys led by Lt. Col. Benjamin Tupper attack HMS Phoenix and HMS Rose anchored off Tappan Zee, NY. They failed and suffered 14 casualties.  image
    • 4 Aug 1776 American militia under Col Andrew Williamson launches a punitive expedition against British-allied Cherokees and torches settlements near Sugar Town, Socone, & Keowee, SC. The beginning of 8 days of destroying six more settlements.  image
    • 9 Aug 1776 Staten Island, NY Guy Johnson, British Superintendent of Indian Affairs, returns from England confident the Iroquois will ally with the crown. Most of the  Nations sided with the British by 1777, due to the efforts of Iroquois Chief Joseph Brant image
    • 4 Aug 1777 Fort Dayton, NY. Col Nicholas Herkimer leads a relief column of 800 Tryon Co. militia to relieve Ft Stanwix. His movement is observed by Molly Brant, the Loyalist sister of Chief Joseph Brant, who sends a warning to Lt. Col. Barry St. Leger. image
    • 5 Aug 1777 North Ferry, RI. Lt. Col. John Campbell leads 200 British soldiers in a raid against the American artillery batteries. The British stormed the guns, causing 8 casualties and taking 4 prisoners.  image
    • 5 Aug 1777 Ft Stanwix, NY. Lt Col Barry St Leger receives Molly Brant’s warning of a relief column. He sends Chief Joseph Brant with 200 Loyalists and Iroquois warriors to stop it, depleting the besiegers outside the gates.  image
    • 6 Aug 1777 Oriskany, NY. A relief force of Patriot militia and Oneida allies marching on Ft. Stanwix is ambushed by Loyalists and Six Nations Iroquois allies. Nearly half of the Patriots are killed, and Gen. Nicholas Herkimer is mortally wounded. image
    • 7 Aug 1777 Ft Stanwix, NY. Col Peter Gansevoort refuses British Lt. Col. Barry St. Leger’s demand to surrender but agrees to a 3-day truce, intending to dispatch Lt. Col. Marinus Willet to Ft Dayton for help. image
    • 8 Aug 1777 Gen John Stark’s militia advances on Bennington, VT, to secure the American depot from a British column marching east in search of supplies. image
    • 9 Aug 1777 Ft Stanwix, NY Lt Col Marinus Willet sneaks through British lines & makes his way to Ft Dayton seeking reinforcements. Although Gen Burgoyne’s large army is bearing down on him, Gen Phillip Schuyler agrees to send help.  image
    • 4 Aug 1778 The Marquis de Lafayette arrives in RI & convinces Gen John Sullivan & French Adm d’Estaing to cancel their feint attack on Aquidneck & commence an immediate attack of combined Franco-American forces. image
    • 6 Aug 1778 British Gen. Henry Clinton, informed that Newport is under attack, orders Adm. Richard Howe to scatter the French fleet. Howe now has 20 ships and 914 guns to French Adm. comte d’Estaing’s force of 15 ships and 834 guns. image
    • 2 Aug 1779 Chesapeake Bay, VA An American squadron of frigates USS Deane under Capt James Nicholson & USS Boston under Capt Samuel Tucker sail on an Atlantic cruise that results in taking eight prize ships.  image
    • 5 Aug 1779, in Morrisania (located in the Bronx), New York, rebel forces clashed with British or Loyalist troops, possibly from De Lancey’s Brigade, which often operated in the area. The Americans aimed to disrupt British control of foraging operations in Morrisania, a strategically important location near the Harlem River. Such raids usually sought to harass, seize supplies, or weaken enemy positions without causing significant casualties. This skirmish, one of three recorded in Morrisania, had little strategic impact but highlighted the ongoing guerrilla warfare in the region, with both sides engaging in small-scale tactical operations. This part of Westchester County was long considered the”No Man’s Land,” where spies, scouts, and raiders called”Cowboys” (Loyalists) and”Skinners” (Patriots) roamed and fought against each other and the local population. The first American spy novel,”The Spy,” by James Fenimore Cooper, was set in this area. image
    • 7 Aug 1779 Penobscot, MA (today ME) With the siege foundering, Gen Solomon Lovell & Commodore Dudley Saltonstall clash at a war council over coordination issues. However, they both agree on requesting more reinforcements from Boston. image
    • 1-2, Aug 1780 Settlements in New York’s Mohawk Valley raided by Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant, who killed 16 settlers, burned homes & other buildings, killing or driving off over 300 cattle. He avoided military forts but wreaked havoc on the populace.  image
    • 3 August 1780: HQ, Peekskill. Gen. Washington appointed Gen. Arnold to command at West Point, New York.”Sir You are to proceed to West Point and take the command of the Post, and its dependencies—in which are included all from Fish-kill to Kings Ferry.” image
    • 6 Aug 1780 Hanging Rock, SC. General Thomas Sumter launches an early morning raid with 800 militia against the 1,400-man British outpost. Rebels inflicted 200 casualties and seized much of the outpost’s supplies before retreating. image
    • 6 August 1780, Benedict Arnold wrote to Gen. Washington about the conditions at West Point, a command he would soon attempt to surrender to the British. He complained about the quality of the troops and their condition, fearing desertion. image
    • 8 Aug 1780 Chillicothe, Ohio Territory. Col George Rogers Clark’s 1000-strong force chases the Shawnee from their settlements to the defenses of Picua, which he attacks & takes, inflicting 73 KIA. image
    • 4 Aug 1782, the British playwright and general John Burgoyne. His humiliating surrender to Patriot forces at Saratoga on October 17, 1777, marred his military career, but his successful play The Heiress, released in 1786, secured his literary reputation. image
  • Clothing and Related:
    • Booklet of embroidery and drawnwork early 17th century Portuguese (Met Museum). Many small pieces of fabric in this booklet were seamed together and loosely bound, to create a kind of glossary for a seamstress of coloured and monochrome openwork patterns.  An amazing object.
    • This ensemble illustrates the underwear worn by stylish women in the late 18th century for National Underwear Day. To achieve the fashionable silhouette, a woman would wear a shift, stays reinforced with whalebone, and hoops to shape their petticoats.
    • Book: The Modern Venus: Dress, Underwear, and Accessories in the Late 18th-Century Atlantic World. Elisabeth Gernerd. Bloomsbury Visual Arts. Elizabeth explores a few fashionable objects or behaviours that were popular for women 1765-1795. Read more about the book…

 

 

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