“Loyalist Trails” 2006-47 December 10, 2006
In this issue:
– Your Roving President – and new ways to promote the UELAC (not recommended)
– The Countdown Continues to the 2007 Conference in Windsor, Ontario
– 225th Anniversary of the Landing of the Loyalists in 2008
– Benjamin Knapp, Loyalist, added to Loyalist Directory
– Died This Day, 5 December 1837, Robert Moodie (Globe & Mail)
– Last Post: Duncan MacDonald
– Queries
+ American-born Soldiers Serving in British Regiments
Articles
Your Roving President – and new ways to promote the UELAC (not recommended)
In recent weeks Angela and I have visited Bicentennial Branch near Windsor, and Sir Guy Carleton Branch in Ottawa. The Bicentennial Branch visit represented a six hour drive each way. I also visited Governor Simcoe Branch in Toronto this past week. I want to thank the Branches for the invitations and their hospitality.
I was supposed to go to Hamilton on the 23rd, but a car accident in Belleville intervened. Happily no one was hurt, (thank God for the airbag), and I was not at fault. A picture was in the Belleville newspaper, showing me checking out the front of the car, and on the back you can see the Loyalist Flag. Therefore some promotion for the UELAC, but I don’t really recommend this approach!
…Peter W. Johnson UE, President, UELAC
The Countdown Continues to the 2007 Conference in Windsor, Ontario
During “At The End Of The Trail” Conference May 31 – June 3, 2007, one of the activities to choose from on Friday June 1 is the Full Day Tour of Amherstburg. Among the stops will be The North American Black Historical Museum, Christ Anglican Church, Historic Fort Malden, and Caldwell’s Grant Restaurant, named for our famous Loyalist Captain William Caldwell of Butler’s Rangers and situated on his original Crown Land Grant.
Our Web site is filled with all kinds of information on the Conference so check it out at: www.uelbicentennial.org.
See you all “At The End Of The Trail”
…Kimberly Hurst UE, Windsor, Ontario, Bicentennial Branch {Gypsygirl2002 AT aol DOT com} how do I email her?
225th Anniversary of the Landing of the Loyalists in 2008
Mark your calendar for July 11 – 22, 2008 and celebrate the Landing of the Loyalists with the UELAC Conference hosted by New Brunswick Branch the first weekend and the Shelburne celebrations the weekend following. More about Shelburne.
Dear sirs and ladies…
With your kind permission regarding Loyalist Landing 2008, July 18-20 – Shelburne, Nova Scotia
In anticipation of a Grand Time in Nova Scotia in the Summer of 2008, from July 18 through July 22, as we celebrate the 225th Anniversary of the flight from America and Arrival in Canada of Thousands of Subjects Loyal to His Majesty, King George.
In conjunction with the Loyalist Landing 2008 Society, the Prince of Wales American Regiment, will be organizing this great event, which will include several opportunities for re-enactors to do what we all do so well.
Owen Hamlin – Kings Orange Rangers and Atlantic Region B.A.R. – has been an enormous asset thus far and assures us that we will have the full support of the KOR and regional B.A.R.
A formal request to the B.A.R. executive was made previously and we live in Great Hope that they will also agree to support this event.
During the prime reenactment period above, we have plans for a large Encampment, many Suttlers, a re-creation of the Landing and arrival of Gov. Parr, some planned skirmishes, ships battles, longboats, parades &tc, &tc.
We have to date seen interest from Several Quarters and have room and Heart for hundreds more. For those interested, the region will also be hosting events at Annapolis Royal (date uncertain) and Louisburg Surrender (Seven Years War : July 25-27).
Please look to your calendar for 2008 and plan to Join Us in New Scotland for a Grand time.
With warmest regards and expectations of seeing you in 2008,
I remain yr humbl svnt
…Robert Guay, Commander, Prince of Wales American Regiment, Shelburne, Nova Scotia, Canada
Benjamin Knapp, Loyalist, added to Loyalist Directory
KNAPP FAMILY
The Knapp family was originally from Saxony, a province of Germany. They are regarded as Germans and by others as of Saxon origin; but their early history in England leads most of the descendants to fix their nationality as Anglo-Saxon or English. In the fifteenth century they were people of wealth and position in Sussex County, England. The name Knapp is derived from the Saxon word, the root of which is spelled Cnoep, signifying a summit or hill- top. John being the given name, and living on a hill, he was called John of the hill; and there being others of the same name on the hill and said John living on the summit or knob, he was called John of the Cnoep or Knob.
Some Knapp’s came to America on the Winthrop Fleet of 1630, to Salem Mass. The first record of Nicholas Knapp in America was in 1631 in Watertown, MA. He was in Stamford by 1649.
Benjamin Knapp served as a private in Lieut. Colonel Butler’s Company ‘N’ ,The Corps of Rangers, in the Revolutionary War. He and his family later settled on Lot #66, in the New Settlement – Western District.
Click here to read more about this Knapp family in the Loyalist Directory.
Died This Day, 5 December 1837, Robert Moodie (Globe & Mail)
Robert Moodie, soldier and landowner, born in Scotland in 1778.
As a young man, he joined the British army and and served during the Napoleonic Wars. As an officer, he was sent to Canada during the War of 1812 and took part in the Battle of Lundy’s Lane, the Siege of Fort Erie and a large raid on Sackett’s Harbour on Lake Ontario. After the war, he settled in Richmond Hill and remained a colonel in the militia. When the 1837 rebellion erupted, he rode south on Yonge Street to reconnoitre rebel positions. He was wounded in a night attempt to run a barricade set up at Montgomery’s Tavern near what is now St. Claire Ave. He fired his pistol and suffered wounds when rebels under William Lyon Mackenzie answered with their rifles. He fell from his horse and was captured. He died in the early hours of the morning. He was buried at Holy Trinity Church, in Thornhill, Ont.
Duncan William “Darby” MacDonald, 72, a retired grocery store manager and well-known local piper, died November 15 at Brockville General Hospital’s Garden Street site, after an illness. He was born in Cornwall December 6, 1933 to Donald MacDonald and the former Margaret Tyo.
Employed as a youth at Courtalds (Canada) Limited in Cornwall, he left the firm to enlist in the Special Forces being formed for duty in Korea (25th Brigade). When he was discovered to be under-age, he was offered service in the 27th Brigade for Europe, with the understanding that this brigade was to rotate with the 25th in Korea in 18 months. He served in Germany and Holland before taking his discharge and returning to Cornwall. There he enlisted in the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders, and rose to the rank of pipe sergeant in their pipe band.
He was known by friends and fellow Legionnaires as “Old Crusty” and acted as chairman of the annual Brockville Robbie Burns Night celebrations, in which he delighted in reciting a colourful Address to the Haggis.
An avid genealogist, he was known worldwide for his work in the field and served as the clan genealogist for Clan Donald Canada, as well as being the honorary secretary for that society, being appointed by Lord Macdonald in 1992. He published more than 40 books on Glengarry and Stormont records. Some years ago he was made a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland for his genealogical and historical work.
Mr. MacDonald is survived by his wife Irene MacDonald and five children, Pamela Earle and husband Tom of Brockville, Duncan MacDonald and wife Charlotte of Orleans, Robert MacDonald and wife Dagmar of Brockville, Heather Stubbins and husband John of Rochester, Mich., and Sandra MacDonald and spouse Bill Carrigg of Brockville.
Also surviving are his brothers Bernard MacDonald and wife Joan and Brian MacDonald and wife Darlene, all of Cornwall.
He was predeceased by his parents, one brother, Gordon MacDonald, and his wife’s parents, Lloyd and Doris Wheeler.
On November 18, the day of the funeral, The City of Brockville Royal Canadian Legion Pipe Band and solo piper Bob Skelhorne gathered for a tribute to Duncan MacDonald, playing his favourite pipe tunes before and after the funeral. With the help of the Brockville police, they led a procession down Windsor Drive before forming an honour guard at the church.
Published in Section b, page 11 in the Saturday, December 2, 2006 edition of the Brockville Recorder & Times.
[submitted by Lynne Cook UE]
Queries
American-born Soldiers Serving in British Regiments
It was very interesting to see the item on William Scoles in the 33rd in last week’s Loyalist Trails 2006-46 Dec. 3, 2006. Us guys who research on a broader base are convinced that a great number of American-born fellows served in British regiments, and they seem very difficult to research as so many of the old regimental records seem to have been destroyed.
For instance, we reckon that many of the British Regulars of the 34th, 53rd, 84th, etc… who settled Cataraqui Township No.5 (Marysburgh) in 1784 were American Loyalists, but we can’t prove it. I wonder if any descendants have been able to do so?
…Gavin Watt {gk DOT watt AT sympatico DOT ca} how do I email him?