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The Black Loyalists of Otnabog: Their Paper Trail . Part One of Four
copyright Stephen Davidson UE
The Black Loyalists of Otnabog: Their Paper Trail. The Black Loyalists of Otnabog: Part One of Four
Over the past two and a half centuries much of the knowledge of Canada’s Black Loyalist communities has been treasured and passed on to succeeding generations through oral history. Where Black Loyalist settlements were established near to white communities, more of their stories were preserved in the written documents of the era, but not always in an objective manner.
The Black Loyalist settlement of Elm Hill that grew up around New Brunswick’s Otnabog Lake is one community that deserves greater attention and recognition. While most of its history is preserved in the stories passed down from one generation to another, there is a “paper trail” of documents from the era of loyalist settlement that provides a framework for creating a more comprehensive history of this significant community.
Over the next four weeks, this series will sift through the primary sources of the late 18th and early 19th century to create a framework for recognizing and appreciating the Black Loyalist founders of the Otnabog Lake settlement.
The story of the lake’s name is a convoluted one. Before the arrival of European explorers and settlers, the Wolastoqiyik –the Indigenous people of New Brunswick– knew it as “Wed-nee-bak”. Prior to 1749, the area had Acadian settlements above and below it on the St. John River; these French farmers gave their largest settlement the Wolastoqiyik name of Grimross.
Following the dispersion of the Acadians, New Englanders (known as the Planters) founded settlements along the St. John River. In 1765, the English-speaking settlers renamed Grimross  (five miles to the south of Otnabog Lake) Gagetown. At some point during those years of European settlement, the lake’s name was thought to be pronounced “Wiktenkak”, and appeared on a 1783 map created by James Peachey. Two years later, a second map rendered the spelling as “Oatnaback”.
When a white Loyalist made his claim for compensation in 1787, the transcript of his hearing records a spelling that sounds more like a Wolastoqiyik word: “Oaknabaki”. The lake was described as being 40 miles up the St. John River from Saint John and being 2 miles distant from the river.  A map published a year later reads: “Oconoback”.  It seems that the final spelling of the lake as Otnabog (pronounced OAT-na-bog) became standardized sometime in the early 19th century.
Following the expulsion and dispersion of the St. John River’s Acadian population, New England Planters moved into the region, settling in the five townships that had been surveyed by the crown. The Gage Township was comprised of 100,000 acres and extended from Otnabog Lake in the south to Swan Creek in the north, and included what are today the parishes of Gagetown and Hampstead.
Much of this land was only sparsely populated, and many of its settlers favoured the Patriot cause during the American Revolution. Those who actually took up arms and joined the force that attacked the British garrison at Fort Cumberland were later pardoned if they renewed their allegiance to the crown. However, when loyalist refugees began to pour into the colony in 1783, those who had fought for the rebels ran the greatest risk of having their land confiscated and then granted to Loyalists.
Having absorbed over 14,000 loyalist refugees, the northwestern portion of Nova Scotia became the colony of New Brunswick in 1784. Saint John, which became an incorporated city in the following year, was situated at the mouth of the St. John River. The city should have been full of opportunities for employment and advancement for the recently emancipated Black Loyalists, but all of that potential was thwarted by Saint John’s charter of incorporation that forbid “people of colour or black people” to work within the city. If they were to thrive in New Brunswick, Black Loyalists would have to find communities that were more welcoming or found settlements of their own.
The St. John River – and its many tributaries—rapidly became dotted with loyalist settlements all the way up to the new capital of Fredericton and beyond. Blacks – whether enslaved or free—were members of those settlements as is evident from the record of the travels of David George, a Black Loyalist and a Baptist minister, who was based in Shelburne, Nova Scotia.
In 1790, Black Loyalists in Saint John invited George to preach in the city. After ministering in the city for two weeks, George was compelled to go to Fredericton to get a license to preach if he planned to continue pastoring his Baptist flock. Thanks to the help of an acquaintance from South Carolina who lived in Fredericton, George acquired the needed license. His memoir notes that as he went down river to Saint John, he preached to the Black communities settled along the Kingston peninsula. A Methodist missionary commented on these visits in one of his mission reports: ‘I have joined…a small society up the river of fourteen members, and another here, of twenty whites and about twenty four Blacks. Most of the Blacks were awakened under the ministry of one of their own colour who had been with them for some time...”
Before the year was over, George was asked to go to Saint John a second time. After baptizing 10 new converts, he then proceeded to Fredericton where he baptized three more. Before he returned to Shelburne, George appointed an elder to watch over the believers in Fredericton. Thus, documents of the era bear witness to the fact that there were Blacks living in loyalist settlements from Saint John to Fredericton in 1790.
Petitions that Black Loyalists made to the New Brunswick government also provide more evidence of Black settlements in the colony. Initially, Black Loyalists had been granted land in Carleton, the area on the western slope of Saint John’s harbor. However, the grants were small and not fit for farming. Like their white neighbours, the free Blacks sought to improve their lot by petitioning the colonial government for more (and better) land.
In response to their 1785 petition, 35 Black Loyalist families received land along the Nerepis River (not far from today’s Grand Bay-Westfield). It is significant to note that these settlers were known to one another, having sailed to New Brunswick on the same evacuation vessel. This type of bond – one that created a sense of community before the Blacks became neighbours on their land grants—was typical of loyalist settlers up and down the St. John River.
The Nerepis grants were not outright gifts, but instead were leases that required an annual payment of one shilling for every fifty acres. Unfortunately, the Black Loyalists’ lots were not large enough or clear enough to grow sufficient food for their families. The Nerepis settlers could not realistically make a living from the land. In the end, most of the sixteen families moved to towns and villages where they hired out their labour to white Loyalists.
Another nearby Black Loyalist settlement could be found along the southern portion of the Kingston Peninsula. By 1784, over a hundred Blacks were living along Milkish Creek. However, small grants and unrealistic expectations for rapid land improvement meant that the settlement failed by 1787.
Black Loyalists had also petitioned for land along Belleisle Bay (near present day Kingston), but neither maps nor documents reveal whether their settlement was ever established.
So while maps and petitions indicate the rise and fall of Black Loyalist settlements along the St. John River and its tributaries, the documents of the era only make passing references to Blacks living in the township that encompassed Otnabog Lake. Not all of these African descendants were free. Some of the area’s Blacks were brought to New Brunswick as the slaves of white Loyalists.
The second installment of this series will look at what the “paper trail” reveals about the Black men and women who lived in the Gage township that encompassed Otnabog Lake at the end of the 18th century.
To secure permission to reprint this article contact the author at stephendavids@gmail.com.

The Loyal- List: Celebrating UEL Descendents on Heritage Day
By Mike Woodcock UE, Victoria Branch
February 17th marks Heritage Day in Canada — a time to highlight historic sites, traditions, and the stories that shape Canadian identity. This article focuses on United Empire Loyalist (UEL) descendants who inspire us to connect with local heritage and to appreciate their contributions to our communities, identities, and daily lives. If you know of other Loyalist links to Canadian heritage, please share them.

Notable UEL descendant contributions

  • Around 1855, Benjamin Milliken II built a Georgian Classic Revival house on his Markham Township farm. Designated under the Ontario Heritage Act in 1994, the Benjamin Milliken House at 7710 Kennedy Road, Markham, is now occupied by a pub called The Major Milliken.
  • William Canniff (1830–1910) — a grandson of Loyalist settlers on the Bay of Quinte — grew up where his family operated a gristmill and sawmill. In 1861–62 he joined efforts to establish an Upper Canada historical society. He later published History of the Settlement of Upper Canada (Ontario), with Special Reference to the Bay of Quinte (Toronto, 1869), a major study that fused Loyalist history with a British-Canadian sense of national identity.
  • George Monro Grant (1835–1902) was renowned as an eloquent political speaker. In 1867, when Nova Scotia strongly opposed Confederation, Grant used his influence and oratory to support Canadian union. His book Ocean to Ocean (1873) helped Canadians appreciate the value of their heritage and promoted the future of Canada within the British Empire.
  • Isaac Allen Jack (1843-1903) was active in the New Brunswick Historical Society, the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, and the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, and he worked with the New Brunswick Loyalist Society. In 1900 he edited Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of the Province of New Brunswick, a volume still accessible via the Internet Archive. He died while researching a history of New Brunswick Loyalists and their descendants.
  • Charles Egerton Macdonald (1837-1928) was a civil engineer born in Gananoque, specialized in railway bridge construction. Upon retiring in 1903 he returned to Gananoque and commissioned a Franklin Townsend Lent–designed clock tower for the town. Macdonald was also a 1914 signer of the petition to form a Canadian UEL association.
  • Allan Ross Davis (1858–1933) was born in Adolphustown and graduated in civil engineering from McGill University. He worked as a railway engineer and land surveyor in northern Ontario and Manitoba. His 1908 book The Old Loyalists offers faithful accounts of the heroism and endurance of the United Empire Loyalists in 1783. Davis served as legal advisor to the United Empire Loyalists’ Association of Canada (1913–1914) and was among the 1914 signers of the petition to form a Canadian UEL association.
  • Gena Branscombe (1881-1977) completed her largest work in 1920, the oratorio Pilgrims of Destiny, commemorating the Mayflower pilgrims’ 1620 arrival. A gala performance in Plymouth, Massachusetts, accompanied the National Federation of Music Clubs convention. Because of its patriotic subject and Branscombe’s accolades, the Music Division of the Library of Congress requested the original orchestral score and parts for Pilgrims of Destiny in 1960.
  • Phyllis Ruth Blakeley (1922-1986) was a Canadian historian, biographer, and archivist born in Halifax. In 1982 she became provincial archivist for Nova Scotia — the first woman to hold that post. Her publications include Glimpses of Halifax (1949), Nova Scotia — A Brief History (1956), and The Story of Prince Edward Island (1963). She also contributed 31 biographies to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography.
  • Charles J. Humber served as UELAC Dominion President from 1982–1984. After twenty years teaching high school English, he co-founded Heirloom Publishing Inc. in 1985. The company produced the seven-volume CANADA Heirloom Series until 2001. In retirement, Humber published Family Sleuthing (2006), a 440-page guide tracing his United Empire Loyalist roots on both sides of his family. He is writing a book entitled The Son of a Minister which will be published to coincide with his ninetieth birthday.

Invitation to Contribute
Help grow The Loyal-List! Know other Loyalist links to Canadian heritage? Please contribute information about Loyalists or their descendants, suggest edits to existing profiles, or provide feedback via email at membership.vic.uelac@gmail.com or on the UELAC homepage.
The Loyal-List is a project of the United Empire Loyalists (UEL) Association of Canada, compiled from reputable sources, including the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Wikipedia, and various published works. Learn more about this inspiring project on the national UELAC website.

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

Unmarked Black Loyalist Graves – 10 February 2026
I visited the St. Mary’s Anglican Church Cemetery  at Auburn, Nova Scotia in February 2019, where Black Loyalists are remembered on an information board.  They have no gravestones in this place, and their individual graves are unmarked as I explain in the video which appears below.
As with other persons who lived during this time there are now for many no marked graves.  It was reported of Aesop Moses, in the Annapolis Spectator Newspaper, on 22 February 2000, as part of  the Clements Historical Society Report, that he lived to be an old man of 105 and was probably the last of the slaves brought by their masters.  When he died in 1850 he was buried in his own field beside his wife. Read more…

Black Loyalist Research – 12 February 2026
My journey of learning about Black Loyalists began as an extension of research about the location of graves of United Empire Loyalists.   In April 2014, after becoming a member of the United Empire Loyalists’ Association of Canada branch in Nova Scotia, I started visiting heritage sites as well as cemeteries in Digby and throughout Nova Scotia, the Maritimes, and Ontario to learn more about them.   It began in Digby since I lived and worked nearby.   When I was asked in 2018 about a burial ground near Digby that was reported to contain Black Loyalists that encouraged me to begin research.  My findings were published in an article entitled The Black Cemetery at Conway as a Reminder of Brinley Town & the Loyalists . I prepared a video and also added information with photographs to Find A Grave.   Read more…

A lost chapter of Black history on Prince Edward Island
By Stella Shepard, 14 Feb 2026 in The Guardian
(Note: This is the first of two parts written by Stella Shepard exclusively for The Guardian in recognition of Black History Month. The second part is scheduled for Feb. 21.)
During Black History Month, we must honour the truth about slavery on Prince Edward Island. Too often, these stories have been changed or whitewashed through a European perspective. When made-up stories replace real ones, the suffering of enslaved people is pushed aside. This is an injustice to those who endured bondage and to the descendants who carry their legacy.
In 1781, the legislature of Saint John’s Island, now Prince Edward Island, passed a law, An Act, declaring that Baptism of slaves shall not exempt them from bondage stating outright that Black and mixed-race people, whether already enslaved or still to be trafficked to the island, would remain property, untouched by the protections baptism was supposed to give them. The enslaved were often labelled “servants,” a polite fiction that concealed a violent truth.
No legal protection
The enslaved people typically lived in the homes of wealthy families, military officers, government officials, and on farms owned by colonial elites. Their daily lives were defined by poor housing, limited food, no legal protection from violence, and constant surveillance and control.
In 1786, Edmund Fanning was appointed governor of St. John Island, the place we now call Prince Edward Island. Fanning was a slave owner and among the people he claimed were my grandparents of six generations, David and Kesiah (Wilson) Sheppard, one of the first enslaved couples brought to the Island.
Many enslaved people on P.E.I. were taken from warm regions, the American South, the Caribbean and other heat-bound places, and forced into a climate utterly foreign to them.  Read more…

250 Years Ago: The British in England and the American Invasion of Quebec Province
The British command and government in England would have been aware of the in the Fall of 1775 that the Americans were invading Quebec Province.  Due to the time delay of messages getting to East Coast ports and then crossing the Atlantic, they probably did not hear of the fall of Montreal until early in 1776, and that the Americans had been repelled at the Battle of Quebec City until late March/April of 1776.
The British Cabinet was determined to secure the province and, from there, launch a campaign to retake the northern colonies.  The British government was actively planning a massive relief expedition to break the siege of Quebec City. The planning included:

  1. Assembling a Large Relief Force: The Admiralty, under the direction of planners like Rear-Admiral Sir Hugh Palliser, organized a squadron to carry thousands of troops to Quebec as soon as the St. Lawrence River was free of ice.
  2. Dispatching Regulars and Foreign Mercenaries: Plans were finalized to send British regiments (including the 29th and 47th) and, significantly, to hire thousands of German mercenaries (Hessian allies from Brunswick) to reinforce the province and launch a counter-offensive.
  3. Appointing Major General John Burgoyne: Burgoyne was appointed to lead a large portion of this reinforcement force to Canada.
  4. Naval Preparation: Ships (like the 50-gun HMS Isis, the frigate Surprise, and the sloop Martin) as a vanguard were prepared in British ports to sail early in the spring to break the blockade.  These ships were tasked with forcing their way through the spring ice to deliver the first reinforcements and supplies to Governor Guy Carleton’s beleaguered garrison.
  5. Local Defense in Quebec. Within the city walls during February 1776, Governor Guy Carleton focused on endurance while waiting for the planned spring relief.  Having successfully repelled the December 31 assault, Carleton enforced strict martial law and relied on stockpiled supplies intended to last until the fleet’s arrival in May. The garrison continued to strengthen internal barricades at Sault-au-Matelot and Près-de-Ville to prevent further American incursions.

5 Myths of Tarring and Feathering
by J. L. Bell, 13 December 2013 Journal of the American Revolution
The five selected myths:

  • Tarring and feathering could be fatal.
  • Rebellious Bostonians invented the tars-and-feathers treatment.
  • Pre-war mobs attacked high-class royal officials with tar and feathers.
  • Towns displayed tar barrels and bags of feathers on Liberty Poles.
  • Tarring and feathering ended with the Revolution.

Read more…

Noted by Stephen Davidson who adds “the comments below the article are also well worth reading — especially the discussion around what “naked” meant in colonial times.”

Book Review: Belonging: An Intimate History of Slavery and Family in Early New England
Author: Gloria McCahon Whiting. (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2025)
Review by by Timothy Symington 9 February 2026 Journal of the American Revolution
Massachusetts had no large plantations due to its harsh winters and rocky soil, and without the ability for cash crops to be grown successfully, the demand for enslaved labor was not as much as in other colonies. But slavery was still widespread in the colony. People owned enslaved persons to toil on small farms or work as domestics. Gloria McCahon Whiting’s book, Belonging: An Intimate History of Slavery and Family in Early New England, examines the slave world of the Boston area and emphasizes the intimate lives of those who were enslaved. It explores how people of African descent created family and kinship during 150 years of history, from the settlement of Massachusetts to the American Revolution.
Each chapter, arranged chronologically, focuses on individuals whose situations represent an aspect of life that enslaved people had to either endure or navigate. The first chapter, “Dorcas and Her Kin: Slavery, Family, and the Law in the Seventeenth Century,” is about the life of Dorcas, the first person of African descent to be accepted as full member of the First Church of Dorchester. ..
…Gloria McCahon Whiting concludes her fascinating study by stating that the search for family and kin went far in helping to end slavery in Massachusetts. What happened in Massachusetts would soon affect the rest of the nation. Read more…

Advertised on 10 Feb.  “Runaway Negroes … going to the Governor.”

“Runaway Negroes … going to the Governor.”

For several weeks in January and February 1776, the Virginia Gazette carried an advertisement about a canoe recovered from “some runaway Negroes” making their way down the James River.  John Watkins described the canoe and noted that the enslaved men also possessed “sundry Clothes, some of which were stolen, and have since been claimed by the Owners.”  He assumed that the remaining clothes belonged to the enslaved men.  Watkins offered the canoe to its rightful owner and the clothes to the enslavers of the Black men who sought to liberate themselves.  He did not, however, indicate that those men had been captured and imprisoned until their enslavers claimed them.  Perhaps the men managed to make their escape when Watkins seized the canoe.
Whatever happened, Watkins believed that the men “were going to Governor.”  That detail meant a lot to eighteenth-century readers… Read more…

The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence: The Present Status of the Controversy
by Scott Syfert 10 February 2026 Journal of the American Revolution
May 2025 will bring the 250th anniversary of a unique if obscure Revolutionary war event in Charlotte, North Carolina: the much beloved, much maligned, “first” declaration of independence in the American colonies: the Mecklenburg Declaration of May 20, 1775 (or “MeckDec” as the locals call it).
The MeckDec tale and associated celebrations have ebbed and flowed for over 200 years; wildly popular in the nineteenth century, dissipating in the twentieth, resurgent in the last two decades. Professional historians have largely (but by no means unanimously) derided the historical claim that the citizens of Mecklenburg County declared independence from Great Britain, as local lore suggests. This skepticism has in no way affected the enthusiasm of local supporters in and around Charlotte. A local non-profit called The May 20th Society arranges annual commemorations, speeches and beer launches and will do so again in 2025 (and, for the sake of transparency, the author is Chairman of this organization).
Notwithstanding a great deal of disinterest or disbelief, even in the local community, about the veracity of the story, the date May 20, 1775 graces the North Carolina flag as well as the official state seal.  Read more…

Podcast: Entangled Revolutions: Haiti, France, and the American War for Independence
by Ronald Angelo Johnson Febrary 2026 at Ben Franklin’s World
Ron reveals how the 1763 Treaty of Paris reshaped French and British imperial policy, how over 500 of Saint Domingue’s Black soldiers fought in the Siege of Savannah (1779), and how the flow of news, people, and ideas across the Atlantic forged powerful connections between two revolutionary movements.
Studying the Haitian and American Revolutions side by side provides us with a deeper, more honest picture of these revolutions. Listen in…

The Morse and Cator Families
By Sarah Murden 21 October 2024 in All Things Georgian
We begin with a conversation piece painted c1784  in India by Johan Zoffany during his time there,  titled The Morse and Cator Family….
… I wanted to learn more about the two female sitters. Who were they? The answer may be rather surprising. To establish this, we have to leave India and head for Jamaica and travel back in time to the early 1700s.
John Augier, a white planter, fathered several children, one of whom was Susannah, who I have already taken a look in terms of her descendants, in this article I am going to look at Susannah’s sister Mary’s, descendants. Both Susannah and Mary were born into enslavement but were granted their freedom in the will of their late father in 1722.
Records tell us nothing of Mary’s early life, but it is known that she went on to have a relationship with a British merchant, William Tyndall and the couple produced several children.
In a Private Act of Assembly in 1747 gave Mary and William Tyndall’s children including their daughter, Elizabeth: ‘the same rights and privileges with English Subjects, born of white parents‘ Read more…

Announcing the 2025 JAR Book of the Year Award! 
by Editors 12 February 2026 Journal of the American Revolution
For the new adult nonfiction volume that best mirrors the mission of the journal with its national Book-of-the-Year Award. This year the editors are pleased to announce a winner and two runners-up.
Winner: 
The American Revolution and the Fate of the World by Richard Bell (Riverhead Books)
The American Revolution undoubtedly changed world history. Many nations seeking their own independence tried to emulate the ideals of the Declaration of Independence, a document whose words still influence national and world events. What many people do not realize was that, at the time, the Revolution directly affected places all over the world. It was truly a global happening, reaching not only Europe, but also Latin America, India, China, and even Australia. Each place was touched in some way by the American Revolution.
Bell uses the stories of events, individuals and groups to demonstrate how far-reaching the American Revolution actually was. Each chapter is its own story of a setting and how the Revolution either caused problems or created favorable conditions. The Boston Tea Party was connected to China’s tea trade. Irish soldiers sought the same independence for Ireland. Australia became a depository for prisoners who were in Britain’s overcrowded jails. Selected individuals profiled in the book included Molly Brant, King Louis XVI, Harry Washington, Baron von Steuben, and Benedict Arnold’s infamous wife, Peggy Shippen.
Runnerup:
Enemies to Their Country: The Marblehead Addressers and Consensus in the American Revolution by Nicholas W. Gentile (University of Massachusetts Press)
a fascinating microhistory that illuminates an obscure incident in the coastal town of Marblehead, Massachusetts. Author Nicholas Gentile demonstrates how, even before a single shot was fired, the Revolution lived in the minds of this town’s residents as they harshly reacted to thirty-three signers of a letter of support to the departing governor Thomas Hutchinson.
Runnerup: 
The Course of Human Events by Steven Sarson (University of Virginia Press)
Steven Sarson seeks to reorient our understanding of the Declaration of Independence away from modern readings and back to the Founders’ own intentions. Although the document justified separation from Britain, Sarson explains that the Continental Congress sought to do so on the basis of well-established principles in British law and political philosophy. He outlines those ideas in a serious but readable fashion.
Read more…

‘Set­tling in the bush’: John Graves Simcoe’s Quest
John Graves Simcoe’s Quest to Build a Loyalist, Slavery-free Upper Canada
by C.P. Champion Feb 2026 National Post
    Some­where across this great land, someone or something great is just get­ting star­ted. This coun­try is built on gamechan­ging people, ideas and ini­ti­at­ives: Wayne Gret­zky redefined a game; oils­ands innov­a­tions helped us prosper; Fre­d­er­ick Bant­ing trans­formed mil­lions of lives; Loblaws changed how we live. Today, we con­tinue our new National Post series that cel­eb­rates Cana­dian great­ness, in whatever form we find it.
John Graves Sim­coe’s ambi­tion was to build Upper Canada (the future Ontario) into a pros­per­ous province loyal to the Brit­ish Crown. To Sim­coe that meant Eng­lish laws and com­merce, an effi­cient road sys­tem, inform­a­tion war­fare, and mil­it­ary set­tle­ments based on the model of the Roman Empire. In great con­trast to the failed Amer­ican colon­ies (they had revol­ted and were there­fore to be pit­ied), Sim­coe’s plan required an estab­lished church, an aris­to­cratic, Anglican-fla­voured soci­ety that would be free of the taint and the crime of slavery. It would have “a super­ior, more happy, and more pol­ished form of gov­ern­ment” than the United States. More than that, Sim­coe’s great ambi­tion was to undo the Amer­ican Revolu­tion and reab­sorb the United States under the Crown — he believed the vast major­ity had opposed the rebel­lion led by a rad­ical minor­ity — and thereby reunit­ing the Empire.
John Graves Sim­coe’s ambi­tion was to build Upper Canada (the future Ontario) into a pros­per­ous province loyal to the Brit­ish Crown. To Sim­coe that meant Eng­lish laws and com­merce, an effi­cient road sys­tem, inform­a­tion war­fare, and mil­it­ary set­tle­ments based on the model of the Roman Empire. In great con­trast to the failed Amer­ican colon­ies (they had revol­ted and were there­fore to be pit­ied), Sim­coe’s plan required an estab­lished church, an aris­to­cratic, Anglican-fla­voured soci­ety that would be free of the taint and the crime of slavery. It would have “a super­ior, more happy, and more pol­ished form of gov­ern­ment” than the United States. More than that, Sim­coe’s great ambi­tion was to undo the Amer­ican Revolu­tion and reab­sorb the United States under the Crown — he believed the vast major­ity had opposed the rebel­lion led by a rad­ical minor­ity — and thereby reunit­ing the Empire. Read more…

Child’s Play: A Doll
by Amelia Fay, 30 January 2026 Canada’s History
The tale of an arguably creepy doll residing in the Hudson’s Bay Company Museum Collection
This mid-19th-century doll was donated to the HBC Museum Collection in the 1950s — even though it seems to have no connection to the Hudson’s Bay Company or its history. According to the original ledger, Queen Victoria was touring the royal estates and met a young girl who was deaf and unable to speak, so she sent her this doll as a gift. Read more and photo… (very short)

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

From Lynton “Bill” Stewart, a number of entries

  • Rev./ Dr. Isaac Browne b. 20 March 1709 in West Haven, New Haven County, Connecticut d. 1787 Annapolis County, Nova Scotia where he resettled at Annapolis Royal,. He served as the chaplain for the New Jersey Volunteers. Married Elizabeth and they had six children. He graduated from Yale with an AB and MB degree. He was a a school-master and reader in the village of Setauket in Brooklyn, New York. He went to England in 1733 and was ordained as an Anglican Deacon and Priest in London. He was transferred to Newark New Jersey in 1744, and was rector of Trinity Church. He also was a physician. and he was elected to the New Jersey Medical Association in November 1766.
  • Maj. Daniel Isaac Browne  (son of Rev./Dr. Isaac Browne) b. 1739/40 in Brooklyn, New York. From Hackensack, Bergen County, New Jersey, he served in the 4th Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers He was an attorney. He held several government appointments, including ‘Office of the Clerk of the Courts and Keeper of the Records of Bergen County.’ In March 1780, 300 British and German troops burnt down the courthouse, along with several other buildings. However, the court and county records were not destroyed. Daniel Isaac Browne had taken all of them and safeguarded them until the end of the war; he then turned them over to Sir Guy Carleton’s secretary, who had them returned to Hackensack.
  • Nicholas Bickel  b. 20 December 1745 in Alexandria Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey – d. 16 June 1845 in Upham, Kings County, New Brunswick where he had resettled He enlisted in Oct. 1777 and served in the Engineering Department (Blacksmith). He married 1. Rachel Inscoe (1756-1806), married 1772 (ten children) 2. Catherine Hughson (1780-1843) (1 child).
  • Edward Bowlby b. 1745 in Hanover, Morris County, New Jersey – d. 1796 in Shelburne, Nova Scotia where he had resettled on Pell’s Rd. Enlosted in the New Jersey Volunteers in 1777. Married to Deborah, they had three children.  

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

Events Upcoming

Kawartha Branch: “1775: Canada Invaded” Sunday 15 February @2:00ET

By Brian Tackaberry UE, retired educator and avid historian.. Most Canadians are familiar with the American Revolution which they consider starting in 1776 and would eventually result in the migration of Loyalists to Canada, but in 1775 there was an attempt by the Rebel Americans to make us the 14th Colony and when that failed, the Americans invaded Canada, taking much of Richelieu and St. Lawrence regions, but were eventually turned back during the attack on Quebec City.  Join zoom meeting https:// us06web.zoom.us/j/83282677767? pwd=VaqeYaLpeTxVpUxNlKpTNIpwJda0X1.1 Meeting ID: 832 8267 7767  Passcode: 863610

Toronto Branch: “Sailing to Sanctuary: The Loyalists and their Evacuation Vessels” by Stephen Davidson Tues 17 Feb 7:30

Sailing to Sanctuary: The Loyalists and their Evacuation Vessels is an in-depth look at the ships that took Loyalists to Canada, the Maritimes, Europe, and the West Indies.  It will be an opportunity to discover the stories hidden in passenger lists, to appreciate the breadth of the loyalist diaspora, and to learn what resources are available for determining an ancestor’s evacuee experience. Romances, shipwrecks, measles, and revolution souvenirs are all part of what it meant to be a Loyalist seeking refuge in a time of war. A virtual meeting.  Register with torontouel@gmail.com for the meeting link.

Sir Guy Carleton Branch: Heritage Day Tues 17 Feb; Table at Ottawas City Hall  9:00 – noon

Please visit the Sir Guy Carleton Branch’s table at Ottawa City Hall: More details…
The speeches start at 12 noon. Marg Hall, our Past President, long time member, and prodigious volunteer for Sir Guy Carleton and other organizations, will be receiving the Louise and Eric Moore Award for her volunteer work.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Rosemarie Pleasant, President, Sir Guy Carleton Branch

New Brunswick Branch: At Heritage Fair, Trinity Anglican Church Sat 21 Feb 10:00 – 2:00

Saint John NB: There will be ten heritage exhibitors including the Provincial Archives, the NB Military History Museum, NB Branch UELAC, etc,. A presentation about hot air ballooning in the Boer and US Civil Wars and the role of NBers during those two wars. Read more…

Kingston Branch: “Birchtown’s People and Stories” by Stephen Davidson Sat 28 Feb @1:00 ET

A hybrid meeting, 1:00 p.m. at St. Paul’s Anglican Church Hall, 137 Queen Street (doors open at noon); or if you prefer on Zoom (starting 12:30 p.m.).  tephen, a retired teacher, researcher and author, shares the story of a Black Loyalist community in Nova Scotia.  At its founding in 1783 after the American Revolution, Birchtown was the largest community of free Blacks outside of Africa.  There, newly freed slaves who had supported the British Army faced new challenges. More information and the Zoom link at kingston.uelac.ca.  All are welcome!

UELAC:  Looking ahead to 2027, National Conference in Kingston, Ontario, June 17-20, 2027

The UELAC National Executive are pleased to announce that the  National Conference will be held June 17-20, 2027 in Kingston, Ontario. The Conference will be a joint venture between the Bay of Quinte and Kingston Branches. More details will follow when further arrangements are made.
Bill Russell UE

From the Social Media and Beyond

  • Food and Related: Townsends
  • Apparel
    • Stomacher, c.1725–35. Silver embroidered background with a flower pattern in colourful silks and gold thread. Stomachers were decorative panels worn at the front of a bodice to fill in the central gap between the two sides of a dress.
    • Men’s suit, French, 1778-85, silk
    • World’s oldest known sewn clothing may be stitched pieces of ice age hide unearthed in Oregon cave. The sewn hide, cordage and needles show how Indigenous Americans used complex technology to survive the freezing temperatures at the end of the last ice age and as a means of social expression.
    • A bleaching field, Adriaen van de Venne, c. 1620 – 1626  (British Museum)
    • There is no shying away from a bold pattern here, a 1770s silk robe à la française glowing in blue with the creamy floral pattern across the surface. It is easy to see why textile design was so highly prized with such an expanse of cloth.
    • Linen trimming 18th century Italian
  • This week in History
    • 8 Feb 1693 Williamsburg, Virginia (then Middle Plantation), King William III and Queen Mary II granted a royal charter establishing the College of William and Mary, the second-oldest institution of higher education in the United States after Harvard. Founded to train Anglican clergy, educate colonial youth, and civilize Native American students via an Indian School funded by Robert Boyle’s bequest, it later educated Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, John Tyler, and 16 signers of the Declaration of Independence, profoundly shaping America’s founding generation. image
    • 12 February 1733 (New Style calendar), James Oglethorpe and about 114-120 settlers aboard the ship Anne landed at Yamacraw Bluff on the Savannah River, founding the Province of Georgia—the 13th and last of Britain’s original North American colonies.  More…
    • 11 February 1758, Philadelphia. Franklin was appointed colonial agent for Pennsylvania and arrived in London that year.  He became an agent for Georgia around 1768 (initially informal services, formalized by Georgia Assembly ordinances in 1768–1770, with reappointments). More…
    • 10 February 1763, Paris. The Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the Seven Years’ War (and its North American theater, the French and Indian War). Britain’s victory granted it a vast empire, but massive war debts and the cost of defending new territories spurred colonial taxes, igniting tensions that spiraled into the American Revolution. image
    • 13 February 1766, Benjamin Franklin, Pennsylvania’s agent in London, was examined for hours before the House of Commons (sitting as Committee of the Whole) during the Stamp Act crisis.  He eloquently described colonial hardships caused by the internal tax. More…
    • 7 Feb 1770  New York City, on February 8, 1770, authorities arrested Alexander McDougall, a leading Son of Liberty, for seditious libel after he anonymously authored the inflammatory broadside “To the Betrayed Inhabitants of the City and Colony of New-York” (December 16, 1769). Printer James Parker was compelled to reveal McDougall as the author. The colonial assembly, outraged by its criticism of funding British troops, set bail at £1,000 (or £1000). McDougall initially refused bail and was jailed, sparking widespread protests and becoming a symbol of press freedom and colonial resistance. image
    • 9 February 1775, London. The British Parliament, in a joint address to King George III in London, formally declared that a rebellion existed in the Province of Massachusetts Bay because of resistance to parliamentary authority. This escalation heightened tensions, paving the way for armed conflict at Lexington and Concord in April. image
    • 8 February 1776. From Cumberland, Nova Scotia, an unsigned letter (from a “Citizen of Nova Scotia”) and an accompanying petition from local inhabitants were delivered to General George Washington by Jonathan Eddy, a Massachusetts-born settler and leader of patriot resistance against the royal government in Nova Scotia. The documents described local anxieties under British rule, recent failed committee efforts due to loyalist suspicions, and requests for military aid to overthrow royal authority and support the American cause. Eddy personally presented them to Washington, who—focused on other campaigns and lacking resources—referred him to the Continental Congress for consideration. Congress ultimately declined to provide troops or direct intervention in Nova Scotia.  image
    • 10 February 1776. What do you do with a drunken sailor?
      The Patriot merchant ship America (sometimes listed as USS America in summaries, though not a formal Continental Navy vessel) was captured while sailing up the Cape Fear River in North Carolina. The prize included three puncheons of rum (about 1,500 liters total) and six thousand bushels of salt, valuable commodities during the war. image
    • 11 February 1776. Savannah, Georgia. Royal Governor Sir James Wright—after a brief house arrest by Patriot forces following his January 18 capture—escaped under the cover of night. Assisted by loyalists including John Mullryne and Josiah Tattnall, he fled via Bonaventure Plantation to board the British warship HMS Scarborough, anchored at the mouth of the Savannah River, then sailed to London in exile. This effectively marked the end of royal authority in Georgia until his brief return in 1779–1782. image
    • 13 February 1776. Cambridge, Massachusetts. General George Washington wrote to Thomas Mumford, a Groton, Connecticut, merchant. Washington urgently sought gunpowder from Mumford, who had contracted with Congress to import supplies but whose shipments were delayed. Upon taking command in July 1775, Washington discovered the Continental Army’s powder reserves were critically low—only about 36-38 barrels (roughly a few days’ worth at active siege rates)—a closely guarded secret to avoid alerting the British in Boston. more…
    • 7 Feb 1777, the British Parliament passed legislation (17 Geo. III c. 7, effective around April) authorizing privateering against American vessels and commencing issuance of letters of marque and reprisal to British privateers. This response countered American privateering (authorized in 1776). While privateering disrupted colonial shipping, American privateers inflicted far greater damage on British merchant trade—capturing hundreds of vessels, raising insurance rates, straining resources, and hurting British commerce more severely than the reverse.  image
    • 8 February 1777.  Quibbletown (now New Market, Piscataway Township, NJ), Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis led a strong British-Hessian force of about 2,000 men (12 battalions, including grenadiers, light infantry, and Hessians) in a major foraging expedition. The Americans, avoiding a direct pitched battle, skillfully withdrew while harassing the British flanks and rear with skirmish fire during the return march to New Brunswick. They aimed to attack and overwhelm American forces there. the British, who withdrew without decisive gains, More…
    • 8 Feb 1778 Paris, France. American commissioners Benjamin Franklin & Silas Deane send a letter to Congress announcing the signing of the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce. image
    • 9 February 9, 1778, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. General George Washington’s General Orders postponed all scheduled court-martial sentences and proceedings until 9 o’clock the following morning due to severe inclement weather hindering operations and travel in the encampment. This reflected the harsh winter conditions endured by the Continental Army.  image
    • 12–13 February 1779.  Augusta, Georgia, Lt. Col. Archibald Campbell, commanding British forces, learned of the approach of Maj. Gen. Benjamin Lincoln’s Continental reinforcements and the nearby North Carolina militia under Brig. Gen. John Ashe (about 1,200 men across the Savannah River). Facing insufficient Loyalist support, supply shortages, and growing Patriot threats, Campbell decided to evacuate Augusta. More…
    • 9 February 1778, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. General George Washington wrote a sharp letter to General Horatio Gates rebuking him for evasiveness and posturing amid the Conway Cabal—an alleged plot by anti-Washington officers to replace him with Gates. This exchange helped discredit the scheme, contributing to its dissolution by spring. image
    • 14 February 1778. Quiberon Bay, France. Continental sloop USS Ranger, commanded by Capt. John Paul Jones and flying the new Stars and Stripes, received a nine-gun salute from the French fleet under Admiral Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte (from the ship Robuste). Jones fired 13 guns first; the French returned 9. This is widely regarded as the first formal, official recognition and salute to the American flag by a sovereign European nation (France), More…
    • 10 February, 1779, Col. Andrew Pickens (with Col. John Dooly) led about 350 Patriot militia from Georgia and South Carolina in pursuit of roughly 80 Loyalist cavalry under Lt. Col. John Hamilton (sometimes ranked as captain/major in sources). The Loyalists retreated into Carr’s Fort. More…
    • 11 Feb 1779, Cherokee Ford, SC / Vann’s Creek, GA. Loyalist Col. John Boyd’s brigade of ~600 men tried to cross the Savannah River at Cherokee Ford but was blocked by McGowan’s Blockhouse, defended by Lt. Thomas Shanklin’s 8 men and Capt. James Little’s ~40 Georgia/SC militia (total ~47–50 Patriots).  More…
    • 9 February 1780.  Mobile Bay, West Florida (now Alabama), Spanish Gen. Bernardo de Gálvez’s expedition arrived after sailing from New Orleans, landing approximately 750 soldiers amid navigational challenges and storms. British Lt. Gov. and engineer Elias Durnford (often misspelled Dunford) resolved to defend the outdated brick Fort Charlotte, awaiting hoped-for reinforcements from Pensacola. Durnford surrendered on March 14, 1780, after a two-week bombardment, yielding Mobile to Spain—securing the Gulf Coast and enabling the later Pensacola campaign. image
    • 10 February 1780. The British expeditionary fleet—commanded by Vice Admiral Marriot Arbuthnot (naval) and General Sir Henry Clinton (army)—sailed from the Savannah River/Tybee Island area and arrived off the South Carolina coast, dropping anchor near John’s Island in the outer approaches to Charleston (then Charles Town), near the Edisto River (outer harbor vicinity). After a stormy voyage from New York (departed Dec. 26, 1779), the force regrouped in Georgia before this final leg. Troops began landing on Simmons/Seabrook Island on February 11–12, initiating the campaign that led to Charleston’s siege and surrender on May 12. This marked the start of Britain’s major southern offensive. image
    • 12 February 1781, Capt. Eugène Pouré (or Eugene Poure) led a Spanish expedition of 65 St. Louis militiamen and ~60 Native allies (total ~120-125) from Spanish Louisiana.
      They surprised and captured the lightly defended British Fort St. Joseph (near modern Niles, MI) by crossing the frozen St. Joseph River, more…
    • 11 February 11, 1782. London. British Secretary of State for the Colonies (often called for the Americas), Lord George Germain (later Viscount Sackville), resigned amid mounting criticism and political fallout from repeated strategic failures in the American Revolutionary War, including poor coordination that led to defeats such as Saratoga (1777) and Yorktown (1781). More…
    • 12 February 1782, the British garrison on St. Kitts (Saint Christopher), West Indies, under Brig. Gen. Thomas Fraser and Gov. Thomas Shirley, surrendered to French forces led by Adm. Comte de Grasse (fleet) and Marquis de Bouillé (troops) after a siege of Brimstone Hill fortress began on January 11–19.  more…

 

 

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