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Thomas Sealey: A Roman Catholic Veteran of Note
copyright Stephen Davidson UE
When it comes to the religious faith of those who settled New Brunswick, one is most likely to hear about those who worshipped in Anglican churches, Methodist chapels, Baptist congregations, or Quaker gatherings. But there were also Loyalists and British soldiers who had grown up in the Roman Catholic Church. Their numbers were small at first, but by 1815  — about 32 years after the first Loyalists arrived in Saint John – they had built St. Malachi’s Chapel. It was the city’s first Roman Catholic Church, and one of the men who was instrumental in its creation was a British veteran named Thomas Sealey.
Born in Shepton Mallet in England’s Somerset County on January 6, 1738, Thomas Sealey ran away from home at age 16. Despite the fact that British law forbid him achieving any rank greater than that of sergeant because he was a Roman Catholic, Thomas joined the 54th Regiment of Foot.
Within two years of enlisting, Thomas saw action at Gibraltar and in the Mediterranean as a combatant in the Seven Years War. In addition to bearing arms, the young soldier learned the tailoring trade while in the army. He married, but became a widower sometime after the birth of his daughter Nancy.
Thomas’ regiment was later stationed in County Cork, Ireland where he met and married Catherine Norris on September 20, 1774. Now in his mid-thirties, Thomas paid a visit to his family in Somerset County.  His father disowned him; his uncle disinherited him. Most of his relatives treated him “scornfully“.  This loss of fortune may have been a reaction to his service in a largely Protestant army or his choice of wife.
During their five years of marriage, Thomas and Catherine had three children.  Given that his regiment was sent to quell the American Revolution during the same time period, it may be that his young family travelled with him to the New World. As a soldier with the 54th Regiment, Thomas saw action at battles in Brooklyn (1776), Newport (1776), Charleston (1776), Danbury (1777), New London (1779), and in the Battle of Groton Heights, Connecticut  (1781).
But in the midst of war, Thomas became a widower for a second time. By 1779, Catherine and their three children had all died.  The loss of all of his family (except for the daughter by his first wife) was then compounded by the defeat of the British Army at the Battle of Yorktown, leading to the end of the American Revolution.  A number of the men in his regiment (renamed the 54th West Norfolk Regiment of Foot) decided to settle in Nova Scotia following its disbanding in 1783. Forty-five year–old Thomas and his daughter Nancy (now in her 20s) had no reason to return to England, and settled near Windsor, Nova Scotia.
There, Thomas met and married 22 year-old Mary Suggatt. On July 25, 1786, Mary Sealey gave birth to a daughter named Catherine. The four Sealeys then crossed the Bay of Fundy and settled in Saint John where Thomas opened a tailor shop on Prince William Street.
Because of his “meritorious career” Sealey received a half pay pension from the British government that would normally have been given to a lieutenant.  He was now “considered quite wealthy” due to the combined income from his pension and tailoring.
While Mary Sealey cared for little Catherine, Nancy Sealey worked alongside her father in his tailor shop. Known as a “charming, sensible young woman“, Nancy enjoyed attending balls and other social gatherings in Saint John. However, after accepting a friend’s invitation to attend a Methodist service, Nancy’s conscience would no longer permit her to attend such activities. When Thomas noticed this change in his daughter’s social life, Nancy confessed that she had joined the Methodist Church. This angered the Roman Catholic tailor, but in time “his ire soon passed away“.
Within a few days of announcing her change of denomination, Nancy was alone in her father’s shop when a young man named Robert Watson came in the door asking for her. He then handed Nancy a letter from the local Methodist minister that introduced Watson, stating that the young man was “in need of a wife“.  The letter’s author felt sure that Watson would make Nancy a good husband.
Nancy instructed Watson to come to her home that evening to meet her father. Thomas met Robert in “a small back parlour” of the Sealey home. A newspaper account says, “The proposal for his daughter’s hand was then and there accepted.” After their wedding, Robert and Nancy settled in St. Stephen where they raised six children.
Watson continued to be a devout Methodist, and was remembered long after his death as one who helped organize the first Methodist Society in St. Stephen and who was “an efficient aid” in building its first Methodist chapel.
In the early years of the 19th century, Thomas, Mary, and Catherine moved up the St. John River to a point of land on the Kingston Peninsula. Their log house would later have frame additions; the chimney lasted for over a century.
It was not long before Catherine met a young man from a loyalist family. Born in 1775, Joel Crawford came to New Brunswick from New York’s Westchester County with his parents, James and Rachel Crawford, in May of 1783.  Catherine was just 16 when she married 27 year-old Joel on March 2, 1802. There is no record of how Thomas Sealey received the news that his newest son-in-law was also not a Roman Catholic, but a life-long Anglican.     Catharine and her farmer husband had eight children: Mary, Sarah, James, Ann, Thomas, Joel Jr., John and Robert.
In 1809, Thomas Sealey turned 71, an age at which he felt it prudent to draw up a will. It seems he also turned his thoughts to what legacy he was leaving behind as a Roman Catholic layman. He and John Toole, a Saint John butcher, are remembered as the “principal movers” in building Saint John’s first Roman Catholic Church.
Constructed between 1814 and 1815, St. Malachi’s Chapel celebrated its first mass on October 31, 1815. By that date, Sealey would have been 77 years old, and Toole – who became a churchwarden– would have been 62.
In less than 6 months, Thomas Sealey died, leaving an estate worth £450, and 100 acres of land. His will noted that he was “late sergeant in His Majesty’s 54th Regiment of Foot” and a “gentleman“.
Despite being 24 years younger than her husband, Mary Sealey died shortly after Thomas on May 10, 1816. She was just 54 years old.  In the following year, the Sealeys’ first son-in-law Robert Watson died at 59 years of age, leaving Nancy a widow. Nine years later Catherine Crawford lost her husband Joel.
An 1888 edition of the Daily Sun recounted the story of Joel’s death. Crawford “perished while crossing the Kennebecasis ice on his way home from St. John in January 1826. Obtaining a ride from the city to Rothesay, he then … started to cross the ice on foot. When probably half way between Rothesay and the island, he was overtaken by a blinding snowstorm and perished from the piercing cold after wandering some distance from the staked road. His corpse was not found until three days after, being partially covered with snow.”
If you were able to gain permission from the current landowner, you could visit three Sealey graves at the Crawford Cemetery in Holderville on New Brunswick’s Kingston Peninsula. Neither a Roman Catholic nor a denominational graveyard, the cemetery is the final resting place for Mary Suggatt Sealey, her daughter Catherine Crawford, and a Roman Catholic veteran of note – Thomas Sealey.
To secure permission to reprint this article contact the author at stephendavids@gmail.com.

The Loyal- List: Celebrating Loyalist Descendants on National Science Fiction Day  
By Mike Woodcock UE, Victoria Branch
This edition of the Loyal-List highlights four Loyalist descendants who made significant contributions to the science fiction genre. National Science Fiction Day, celebrated annually on January 2nd, promotes the appreciation of science fiction, its creators, and its diverse media. Millions of fans engage with their favorite works on this day. If you know of other UEL descendants who create science fiction, please let me know!
Charles Grant Blairfindie Allen (1848 – 1899) was a Canadian science writer and novelist educated in England. He was a pioneer in science fiction, known for his novel The British Barbarians (1895). Published around the same time as H. G. Wells’s The Time Machine, this book explores time travel with a unique plot. Allen’s short story The Thames Valley Catastrophe depicts the destruction of London due to a sudden volcanic eruption.
James De Mille (1833-1880) was another notable figure. In his posthumously published satirical science fiction masterpiece, A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder, four sailors discover a manuscript by the adventurer Adam More, who details his journey through subterranean tunnels to a lost world at the foot of a volcano. This society, where humans coexist with prehistoric animals, contrasts sharply with Victorian England, favoring poverty over wealth and darkness over light. De Mille is celebrated for influencing the “Lost World” genre and is recognized for his contributions to early Canadian literature.
Lawrence Manning (1899-1972) began his science fiction career with the collaborative work City of the Living Dead, published in May 1930 in Science Wonder Stories. A founding member of the American Interplanetary Society, he served as both its president and editor of its publication, Astronautics. Manning’s involvement in the Society led to recognition by the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum as an early rocketry pioneer. He later contributed The Voyage of the ‘Asteroid’  and The Man Who Awoke, which was later published as a novel.
Hugh MacLennan (1907-1990) is known for defining Canada through his national novels. He is regarded as one of Canada’s premier authors, receiving Governor General’s Awards for both fiction and non-fiction. His only science fiction novel, Voices in Time (1980), is set in post-Holocaust Montreal. It reflects on the cycles of Canadian history as a new Dark Age descends following a nuclear World War Three. The narrative follows André Gervais, who discovers manuscripts from the past, revealing the intertwined stories of his relatives amid the backdrop of Nazi Germany and the political climate of 1960s Montreal.

Invitation to Contribute
We invite you to help expand the Loyal-List! If you want to add Loyalists or descendants, suggest edits to existing profiles, or provide feedback, please email membership.vic.uelac@gmail.com or use the feedback portal on uelcanada.ca. The Loyal- List is a dedicated project of the United Empire Loyalists (UEL) Association of Canada, highlighting individuals identified through reputable sources and recognized as an official UELAC initiative.

Note: As an addendum to last week’s Loyal-List article on Loyalist Descendants Role in the Public Health Battle Against Infectious Diseases, I am grateful to receive a message from Angela Donovan noting New Brunswick’s first Minister of Health, Dr. William Francis Roberts (December 18, 1869 – February 10, 1938) who was a medical doctor, public health pioneer, women’s voting rights advocate, and New Brunswick politician. He became an important advocate for public health to combat the spread of Spanish influenza. I have added him to the Loyal-List at Dr. William Francis Roberts.  Please keep your additions coming!

Blog: About UE Loyalist History by Brian McConnell UE at UE Loyalist History

2025 Alfred Gilpin Jones Volunteerism Award Winners – Dec. 31, 2025 
Alfred Gilpin Jones, UE , founded the first association for descendants of United Empire Loyalists in Nova Scotia in 1897.  He was born in Weymouth, Nova Scotia and descended from Stephen Jones, UE, formerly of Massachusetts.  He became a member of Parliament representing Halifax, Minister of National Defence,  and later Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia.
His interest in the importance of remembering and recognizing the role of United Empire Loyalists has been shared by five individuals who have been selected as the 2025 Alfred Gilpin Jones Volunteerism Award Winners. See who they are…

1776 Event Anniversaries – Jan 1, 2026
Two hundred and fifty years ago, in 1776, key events for Loyalists included the Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge, the  evacuation of British troops and Loyalists from Boston to Halifax, Nova Scotia, formation of King’s Royal Regiment of New York, and the capture of New York by British followed by occupation. These and others are noted below.
February 27 – force of Loyalists, including Highland Scots like Alan MacDonald, husband of Flora MacDonald, the reknowned savior of Bonnie Prince Charlie, defeated in North Carolina at  Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge  while on way to join up with British. He was taken prisoner, later to be released as part of an exchange, and Flora joined him in August 1778 at Fort Edward in present day Windsor, Nova Scotia. Read more…

250 Years Ago: The Invasion of Canada: “Battle of Quebec” on Dec 31, 1775
The Battle of Quebec on December 31, 1775, was a failed American Revolutionary War attempt to capture Quebec City from the British, resulting in heavy American losses, including the death of General Richard Montgomery and injury to Benedict Arnold, while the British-led garrison, with Canadian militia support, secured a decisive victory, effectively ending the American invasion of Canada. A blizzard hindered the American assault, but strong defenses and superior positioning led to the defeat of Montgomery’s and Arnold’s forces, marking the first major American loss of the war.

Attack of December 31, 1775
Plains of Abraham [website]
Before dawn, on December 31, the American troops were getting ready. Montgomery envisioned actions on two fronts. First, there would be attacks in the Upper Town, on Cap Diamant, and at St. John’s Gate. These were feints to distract the other side. The real attack would be in the Lower Town, from the north and the south simultaneously.
Montgomery attacked from the south, along the base of Cap Diamant. His troops struggled to advance between the huge blocks of ice cast ashore by the tide and the biting wind. They managed to move forward, but were soon spotted near Place Royale. Montgomery was fatally wounded, and his men withdrew shortly after.
Arnold was in charge of the attack from the north, through Saint-Roch. His detachment was composed of American, French Canadian, and First Nation combatants. A cannon was transported on a sled, but it got stuck in the snow and had to be abandoned. With the British firing from the ramparts, his troops then followed the cliff near Sault-au-Matelot. Arnold was wounded in a leg during the assault and had to go to the rear for treatment. The British, realizing that the Upper Town attack was a ruse, cornered and captured the rest of the men.
Around 10 a.m., the British declared victory. This was the first American defeat in the War of Independence.

For a more detailed description of the battle, see Battle of Quebec (1775) in Wikipedia beginning about mid-page under the sub-head “Battle”

Advertised on 1 Jan. 1776 “A CORRECT MAP … in which may be seen the march of Col. Arnold”

“A CORRECT MAP … in which may be seen the march of Col. Arnold.”

On January 1, 1776, Robert Aitken, a printer and bookseller, advertised that he had for sale a “CORRECT MAP of the great river St. Lawrence, Nova-Scotia, Newfoundland, and that part of New-England, in which may be seen the march of Co. Arnold, from Casco-Bay to Quebec, by way of Kennebec river.”  The map featured insets depicting the “plains of Quebec, the town of Halifax and its harbour, and a small perspective view of the city of Boston.”  Like several other maps and prints advertised in the months following the outbreak of hostilities at Lexington and Concord in April 1775, this map supplemented the news that colonizers read in the newspapers and heard when they discussed current events.
This “CORRECT MAP” aided in understanding the dual-pronged American invasion of Quebec that commenced near the end of August. Read more…

In the news: Canada must remember its defeat of the Americans in 1775
Madelaine Drohan 31 December 2025, Op-ed In the Globe & Mail
[Note, you probably need to be a subscriber to read this]
Canada would not exist today if American invaders had captured and held Quebec City on Dec. 31, 1775.
The newly formed Continental Army had already taken Montreal and Trois-Rivières, the other main population centres in the British colony known as Canada or the province of Quebec. All that stood between the 1,200 attackers and the conquest of Canada was a defence force of 1,800 British soldiers, sailors and artillery men, and French-Canadian and English militia.
The decisive defeat of the Americans that night broke the back of an invasion that started the previous September. Their general, Richard Montgomery, was felled by a blast of grapeshot. His second-in-command, Benedict Arnold, was wounded. About 400 Continental soldiers surrendered, some still sporting “Liberty or Death” badges on their hats. The siege limped on until early May, when the sight of British warships sailing up the St. Lawrence River sent the remnants of the Continental Army fleeing for home. Read more…

Book: He Did Not Conquer: Benjamin Franklin’s Failure to Annex Canada
By Madelaine Drohan, Published September 2025 Dundurn Press
Throughout his long and illustrious career, Benjamin Franklin nursed a not-so-secret desire to annex Canada and make it American.
When he was not busy conducting scientific experiments or representing American interests at home and abroad, Benjamin Franklin hatched one plan after another to join Canada to the American colonies and then later to the United States. These were not solely intellectual efforts. He went to Montreal in 1776 to try to turn around the faltering occupation by American forces. As lead American negotiator at the 1782 peace negotiations with Britain in Paris, he held the fate of Canada in his hands. Ill health and other American priorities then forced him to abandon his decades-long campaign to possess Canada.
Franklin’s elevation to the status of an American icon has pushed this signal failure into the far reaches of collective memory in both Canada and the United States. Yet it shaped the future of North America and relations between the two neighbours over the next two and a half centuries.
Available at book sellers.

A cup of tea anyone, made the 18th century way?
By Sarah Murden 31 May 208 at ALl Things Georgian
Having taken a look at my favourite subject –  hot chocolate, it’s now time for a post about eighteenth-century tea drinking.
At the beginning of the 1700s, according to the Daily Courant of 1705, green tea was very popular, but it was to be served correctly i.e. with milk. Tea at that time was extremely expensive at 10 shillings per pound, in comparison with chocolate which sold at 3 shillings a pound; chocolate with added sugar was only 2 shillings and 6 pence a pound.
At that time, there appear to have been two main types of tea on the market, Bohe-Tea (black tea) which was often drunk to relieve colic pains and to aid the explanation of wind, and green-tea, which helped the suppression of urine and was more efficacious than sage, etc. The use of mineral water when making tea could cure-all ills – so we are told! So now you know! Read more… 

Carpentry Tools in the 18th Century
Visitors to Colonial Williamsburg are as intrigued by 18th-century tools as they are by 18th-century methods of building. Take a look at some of the more unusual tools used by colonial carpenters. Read more…  (very brief)

Podcast: The Founding Father of American Medicine: Benjamin Rush
By Sarah Naramore, Dec 2025 at Ben Franklin’s World
Discover the life and work of Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, pioneering physician, and one of early America’s most influential public thinkers. Rush may not be a household name today, but he played a central role in shaping American medicine and championed the idea that a healthy citizenry was essential for a strong and lasting republic. Sarah is a Lecturer in Nineteenth-Century U.S. History at the University of Edinburgh. Listen in…

Lt. Elijah Evans of Maryland: Unresolved Promotion in an Extra Continental Regiment 
by Tucker F. Hentz 30 Dec. 2025 Journal of the American Revolution
On Christmas day 1780, seven days before his discharge from the Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment (Rawlings’ regiment), Lt. Elijah Evans recorded in a troop return that he “claims a Captaincy from the 15th April 1779.”[1] This was his last attempt to highlight a conspicuous administrative oversight that had prevented his promotion throughout his time in the Continental army. His grievance stemmed from two issues: the unusual formation and complex service history of Rawlings’ regiment, and a protracted debate between the state of Maryland and the Board of War over his official administrative status after the Battle of Fort Washington in November 1776.
Evans, a Marylander, served as a third lieutenant in Rawlings’ regiment for four years and five months beginning in August 1776. During his service, he was also attached to Col. Daniel Morgan’s Provisional Rifle Corps for two years from late 1777 to late 1779. In fact, by the spring of 1779, Evans commanded one of the two remaining companies of Morgan’s rifle corps still in the field. In spite of his long and active military career that included this command duty, he retained the rank of third lieutenant throughout his tenure in the army ending in January 1781. Read more…

The Christmas Holyday – in Northern Canada in Times Past
By Margaret A MacLeod in the December 1952 edition of The Beaver, A Magazine of the North
[Note: Times were tough when the first western Canadian Christmases were celebrated by fur traders. Margerett Arnett MacLeod recounts tales of harsh winters where a modest meal of bread and chocolate was the best one could hope for in the freezing wilderness. Nevertheless, traders found holiday cheer in singing, dancing, and the Irish game of hurling (an influence on modern hockey). As settlements developed feasting fare grew more appealing with a dinner held at Winnipeg’s Fort Garry featuring such delicacies as buffalo hump, moose nose, and beaver tail. (The Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) founded and published The Beaver magazine starting in 1920 as an in-house staff publication, but it evolved to cover broader Canadian history, becoming accessible to the public before being taken over by Canada’s National History Society in 1994, which renamed it Canada’s History in 2010.  The full issue is available here. ]
Down the centuries, Christmas has been celebrated in various ways at the lonely posts in the wilderness.
From the earliest records of the Company in what is now Canada come accounts of how Hudson’s Bay men, in as fitting a manner as circumstances permitted, celebrated the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day was a feast day, a day when brotherhood reigned, a holiday from work. In many years it was the only day of peace and goodwill in times of fur-trade troubles, but even in the worst years there was always this bright spot to be anticipated and afterwards remembered with pleasure by men and women whose Christmas traditions were those of older lands.
The first account comes from the journal of Thomas Gorst (printed in Grace Lee Nute’s Caesars of the Wilderness). It is Christmas of 1670, and the crews of the Prince Rupert and Wivenhoe are wintering in the snowy woods at Charles Fort on James’s Bay. Governor Charles Bayly presides, and at the table would have been the Sieur des Groseilliers, Pierre-Esprit Radisson, Captain Gillam, and many others. Would that Scrivener Gorst had enlarged upon the scene, though perhaps he entered in his journal what was most important to him. Here is his entry:

“25 being Christmas day wee made merry remembering our Friends in England, having for Liquor Brandy & strong beer & for Food plenty of Partridges & Venson besides what ye shipps provisions afforded.”

Another journal writer has left us a record of Christmas in 1715 at York Fort, Manitoba’s oldest point of settlement:

“Had prayers twice today as usual, and the men did have very plentiful good victuals.”

And the journal of Manitoba’s second settlement, Prince of Wales’s Fort, holds this entry for December 25, 1731:

“This being the anniversarie of our Saviour wee solemnized it as usual in this countrie.”

Read more…

Book Review: A Journey North: Jefferson, Madison, and the Forging of a Friendship
Author: Louis P. Masur (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2025)
Review by Al Dickenson 29 Dec. 2025 Journal of the American Revolution
Have you ever wanted to road trip through rural America with future presidents Thomas Jefferson or James Madison? Louis P. Masur’s A Journey North is probably as close to sharing that experience as possible. Focusing on a multi-week venture the two friends undertook in May and June 1791, Masur not only explores the trip itself, but its place in understanding the political tensions of the time, race relations, and the friendship of Jefferson and Madison.
Masur constructs this narrative from the extensive letters the principal participants sent before, during, and after their adventure, as well as diaries and other contemporary materials. From there, Jefferson and Madison’s exploration of various topics, including the linguistics and vocabulary of the Unkechaug tribe of Long Island, the Hessian fly, maple trees and the sugar/syrup they produce, and more, were all seamlessly woven into the narrative. These presidents’ reputation as Renaissance men shines through this manuscript. Read more…

UELAC Loyalist Directory: New Contributions
Entries which have been added, or revised, this week – much appreciation to those contributing:

Also from Lynton “Bill” Stewart, a number of entries

  • Daniel Babbitt Sr.  from Fredericksburgh, Dutchess County, New York settled in Gagetown, Queens County, New Brunswick. With Mary Close, 9 children and with Rhoda Annis Cronk 8 more. The only Loyalist in his family, he was a farmer and a blacksmith in both New York and in New Brunswick.
  • William Ballster from Newtown, Albany County, New York settled in     New Carlisle, New Brunswick. Served with Jessup’s Rangers.
  • Joshua Barnes from Phillipsburgh Manor, Westchester, New York to Greenwich Parish, Kings County, New Brunswick. With Martha Gedney (1743-?), married 24 Jan 1763, Long Island City, New York had five children
  • Maj. Edward Barron joined the 60th Regiment of Foot (Lieutenant), later Militia at Fort Cumberland in Nov 1775
  • Lt.- Col. John Bayard born 1749 Westchester County, New York joined the Kings Orange Rangers in Dec, 1776 and resettled Amherst, Cumberland County, Nova Scotia
  • Sgt. Samuel Bagnall 1744 – 1810 from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and then Cherry Valley, Otsego County, New York, served in Butler’s Rangers, settled at Cape Negro River / Charlottetown, Queens Co., PEI. Married Elizabeth Whitehouse (1748-1837), 3 November 1768 in Stone, Staffordshire, England and eight children.  He was a Joiner and Cabinet Maker by trade.
  • Thomas Barker  b. 1749 from New York NY, married Mary Major (1750-1827), in 1769, five children.  Resettled at Maugerville, Sunbury County, New Brunswick (Previously noted as St. John, NB)
  • Pvt. Benjamin Betts served in Captain Allen’s Independent Company till 1780; then Loyal Rangers. Resettled at New Carlisle, New Brunswick
  • Pvt. George Bender  Germany – d Cornwall UC. Served in KRRNY, 1st Battalion, Captain Patrick Daly’s Company, Light Infantry Company 1781-1782. From Johnstown, Tyron County, New York, married Maria Gertraud Hagedorn (1735-?), ca. 1756 in Rheinbeck, Dutchess County, New York. Resettled Eastern District: Cornwall, Stormont, Upper Canada
  • Adam Bergh 16 August 1740 Rhinebeck, Dutchess County, New York – 8 Apr 1826, Manhatan, New York, New York but resettled after war at Shelburne NS. Married Heletye Radcliff – 2 children
  • Benjamin Birdsill II 1743 – 1834 in Gagetown, Queens, New Brunswick. Resettled in Gagetown, Queens County, New Brunswick. with Rachel Carpenter (1746-1843), married 1765 in Oyster Bay, Queens, New York had seven children
  • Thomas William-Willet Beavans from New York resettled at Annapolis, Nova Scotia. He was a lawyer and became Examiner of the Court of Chancery in New York. During the war, he became Clerk and Surrogate of Suffolk County in 1780.
  • Pvt. James Bennett b. 1736, from  Johnstown, Tryon County, New York resettled in Cornwall, Upper Canada. With Elizabeth Taylor, b. 1740 had one child.
  • Lieut. Azor Betts 1740 – 11 Sep 1811, Digby, Nova Scotia.  Served with The King’s American Regiment and The Queens Rangers. With Gloriana Purdy (1747-1815), married ca. 1764 in Rye, Westchester County, New York had 12 children. Doctor Azor Betts was a well-known physician in New York before the War. He promoted Smallpox inoculation. He was appointed Surgeon to the Queens Rangers.
  • Francis Blackburn d. 1784, Queens Co., NB. Served with the Loyalist Militia of Long Island.  He and Mary Moss were passengers aboard ship Cyrus and resettled at Waterborough Parish, Queens County, New Brunswick.
  • Thomas Bosworth born in England, arrived New York in 1763. He was a cooper aboard the HMS Devonshire, a ‘Man of War’ and resettled in Halifax, NS in 1783; later New Brunswick
  • Pvt. Adam Bouck 1746 Albany County, New York – 17 Jan 1811 in Williamsburgh, Dundas County, Upper Canada. He served in the First Battalion, Kings Royal Regiment of New York. With Elizabeth Freymire, b. 1742, married 1 Nov 1770 in Schoharie, Albany County, New York they had four children
  • David Bonnett received a Loyalist Land Grant of 640 acres in Digby. This was escheated in 1819.
  • Capt. James Bradshaw 1763 (or 1768) in New Milford, Connecticut – 1836, Thurlow, Hastings Co. UC.  From the Kingsbury Patent near Albany, New York, he served in DeLancey’s Brigade then King’s Rangers and resettled in  W 1/2 Lot 7 Concession 5 Fredericksburgh Additional (Northern District) With Margaret Bowen 1777 Fort Hunter, Tryon, New York; m. 5 January 1788 Federicksburgh, daughter of William Bowen and Catherine VanAntwerpen, they had nine children between 1789 and 1804.
  • Isaac Bonnell 1737 in New Jersey – 1806. He was Sheriff of Mid Co. NY [Middlesex County?] from 1775-76; replaced due to Loyalist sympathies. He has three children. After the war he relocated to Digby, Nova Scotia, where he prospered as a merchant and became Justice of the Peace and Judge of Common Pleas.
  • Isaac Bonnett 1753, New Rochelle, Westchester County, New York – 1838, Nova Scotia settled in Digby NS. Married Mary Palmer 1 Feb 1795 in Horton, Kings County, Nova Scotia
  • George Boyle from Skenesborough (now Whitehall), New York to York, Upper Canada. Served with Adam’s Rangers
  • John Bracken  from Johnstown, Tryon County, New York, served with the King’s Royal Regiment of New York, settled at Sorel, Quebec
  • Pvt. Gasper Bower 1732 Tryon County, New York – 1806 Camden Township, Addington County, Upper Canada. Served wth 2nd Battalion, Royal New York (KRRNY?)
  • Pvt. Luke Bowen with Elizabeth Miller, b. 1745, married 12 July 1771 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Stone Arabia, eight children. Montgomery County, New York. served with 1st Battalion KRRNY, resettled at Eastern District: Lennox and Addington, Upper Canada

If you are willing to submit some information, send a note to  loyalist.trails@uelac.org All help is appreciated.   …doug

Bay of Quinte Branch Project: Support Upgrades to the UEL Heritage Centre and Park
In order to comply with updated environmental regulations, the UEL Heritage Centre & Park has to replace the current septic system.  Since our power grid is currently at maximum usage, we also need to upgrade the Hydro One to three phase in order to meet all the needs for the new septic operating equipment.
As a result, we are reaching out to UELAC friends, members and branches to help with the costs.  All donations will receive a tax receipt.  Please see the attached form for more details and payment options. Thank you for helping to preserve our loyalist heritage! Contact 1784@uel.ca for more info.
The UEL Heritage Centre and Park is a mixture of history, camping, and family fun, all in one location.  It is made up of 72 acres, located on the scenic shores of the Bay of Quinte, along the Loyalist Parkway (Hwy #33) in the historic village of Adolphustown.
The park is the site of the original landing of the first group of United Empire Loyalists, under Major Peter Vanalstine, which took place on June 16, 1784.  The first loyalists were settled on the grounds in tents, and spent their early days here before moving to their new homes.  The UEL Heritage Centre and Park is dedicated to the preservation of this important location, which included the first Loyalist Cemetery, established in 1784, and the oldest monument to the Loyalists in Canada, erected in 1884 for the Loyalist Centennial Celebrations.
The UEL Heritage Centre & Park is owned and operated by the Bay of Quinte Branch, UELAC. Read more… 

Events Upcoming

Gov. Simcoe Branch: “Matriarchs of the Hoople Creek Loyalists” by John Sliter Wed 7 Jan 7:30 ET

John will speak about his book “Matriarchs of the Hoople Creek Loyalists”, a series of historical fiction stories about seventeen women and their families who helped to settle Upper Canada along a small creek in eastern Ontario.Their stories reflect their struggle to survive hunger, disease, and even war as they married and raised their children in a new, heavily forested and seeming impenetrable land. Read more and register…

American Revolutionary Institute: Money and the Making of the American Revolution Wed 14 Jan 6:30ET

Historian Andrew Edwards discusses a fascinating story of power and economic ideas during America’s founding era. The dispute over taxes was really a dispute over money: what it was, who could make it, and how to keep it from being used at the expense of the colonists in North America. Edwards demonstrates that the money that underpinned European empire had established a stronghold in the new republic. Register

From the Social Media and Beyond

  • Clothing and apparel
    • What do we think of these agate and gilt drop earrings? These are c 1800 with an oak leaf and orb detail on the bottom. I like the stones, but the whole gilt frame might be a lot for me.
  • Food and Related: Townsends

  • This week in History
    • 28 December 1732   Philadelphia, PA “The Pennsylvania Gazette,” owned by Benjamin Franklin, runs an ad for the first issue of “Poor Richard’s Almanack,” which was to be published the following year. image
    • 29 Dec 1769 Boston, MA The Committee of Boston Merchants sends a letter to Benjamin Franklin regarding the expiration of the non-importation agreement and efforts to reimplement it among the colonies. image
    • 28 Dec 1775 Phila. PA. Committee of Secret Correspondence members John Jay & Benjamin Franklin meet secretly with French agent Archard de Bonvouloir, who reports France’s sympathy & willingness to overlook covert support for the US rebellion in France. image
    • 30 Dec 1775, Gen Richard Montgomery & Benedict Arnold developed a desperate plan to attack Gov Guy Carleton’s garrison at Quebec with half the British strength. The objective was a quick capture of the lower town based on stealth & speed. image
    • 31 Dec 1775 Quebec Outnumbered, Gen Richard Montgomery & Col Benedict Arnold launch an attack on the 1.5K garrison under Gov Guy Carleton. Montgomery cut down, leading 1st assault. Arnold’s force overruns enemy positions but falters when he is wounded. image
    • 1 Jan 1776 Royal Gov James Murray, Lord Dunmore’s, British fleet anchors off Norfolk, Virginia, and bombards the town when residents refuse to provide provisions. He lands men who torch the wharf’s warehouses on the waterfront. image
    • 2 Jan 1776 Norfolk, VA Fires caused by British bombs and torches spread through the town, consuming 54 houses. The Local Committee of Safety ordered the remaining houses burned to deny Lord Dunmore their use, destroying over 800 buildings. image
    • 3 Jan 1776 Lord North gives NC Royal Gov Josiah Martin authority to recruit 20K Loyalists from the Scots Highland populace and march to Brunswick to join forces with an expedition expected off the coast in early spring.  image
    • 28 Dec 1776, American troops began a 3rd crossing of the Delaware River, a few miles south of McConkey’s ferry, planning to move back into Trenton. image
    • 30 Dec 1776 Gen Washington recrosses the Delaware River  & reoccupies Trenton, NJ, where he learns Gen Charles Cornwallis is advancing from Princeton. He calls for more militia & addresses his men, urging them not to depart as their enlistments expire. image
    • 31 Dec 1776 Gen George Rogers Clark petitions the Virginia Convention to annex KY & provide for its defense to preempt Daniel Boone from forming an independent state. image
    • 2 Jan 1777. Trenton, New Jersey. On a cold afternoon, Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis led his British and Hessian column—roughly 5,500 seasoned troops—south from Princeton toward Trenton, determined to crush George Washington’s rebel army. Delayed all day by Colonel Edward Hand’s skillful rear-guard skirmishes in ravines and wooded terrain, the British finally reached the outskirts of Trenton near dusk. There, across the swollen Assunpink Creek, Washington’s Continentals stood entrenched on higher ground south of the creek, with artillery positioned to rake any crossing. As redcoats and Hessians charged the narrow stone bridge and nearby fords in repeated waves, they met devastating barrages of canister shot, musket volleys, and rifle fire. The British assaults faltered amid heaps of fallen soldiers. By nightfall, the Americans held firm, inflicting heavy casualties while suffering few. Cornwallis paused his attack, confident he had trapped the “old fox”—unaware that Washington would slip away overnight for a daring strike at Princeton. This stout defense preserved the Continental Army and sustained revolutionary momentum. image
    • 2 Jan 1777 Narragansett Bay, RI Comdr Esek Hopkins takes command of the sloop Providence & combines with local militia to attack the grounded HMS Diamond. Several attempts fail, and when the tide comes in, Diamond sails away safely. image
    • 27 Dec 1777 Continental Congress votes to abrogate the convention with Gen John Burgoyne. The British PWs would be held for the duration of the struggle; many were sent south and west as prisoners, although the officers, including Burgoyne, were paroled. image
    • 29 Dec 1778 Savannah, GA. British regulars, Loyalists & Cherokee & Creek Braves under Col Archibald Campbell defeat patriots & capture the city. Phase 1 in the Southern Strategy. image
    • 29 Dec 1779, NYC, Gen. Sir Henry Clinton departs for SC at the head of 8K men to capture Charleston. Learns of the French expedition heading to America and returns to NYC. Leaves General Charles, Earl Cornwallis, in command. image
    • 2 Jan 1780 Morristown, NJ During the harshest winter of the decade, the Continental Army endures extreme suffering at its winter cantonment. Frigid temperatures, lack of blankets, warm clothing, adequate shelter & food made this worse than Valley Forge. image
    • 28 Dec 1780 Hammond’s Store, SC.  American cavalry & infantry under Col Wm Washington & James McCall routed Loyalist detachment under Col Thomas Waters. An angry Gen Cornwallis sends Col Banastre Tarleton to seek revenge. image
    • 28- 29 Dec 1781 Johns Island, SC. Col Henry (Lt Horse Harry) Lee’s night attack on the British garrison under Maj James Craig fails when the rising tide halts one of 2 attacking columns, exposing Col John Laurens’s column. image
    • 31 Dec 1781 Wartime losses at sea for the year-end at 625 British ships vs. 317 American. The capture or sinking of a large portion of British merchant shipping would be a key factor in Parliament’s decision to seek peace in 1782. image

 

Wishing you a good 2026
2026, a new year, has arrived. Will you contribute something this year, some Loyalist family history perhaps, to not only your family, but maybe to UELAC, possibly an item for Loyalist Trails? It would be great to feature a different Loyalist family each week.
On a different note, did you make any New Year resolutions? Now that we are 1% of the journey through this new year, have you kept those resolutions so far?
….doug

Published by the UELAC
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