“Loyalist Trails” 2011-36: September 11, 2011
In this issue:
– The Street Names of Old Saint John: Part Two — by Stephen Davidson
– Horsfield Ancestry: First Generation in America © George McNeillie
– Alexander Campbell of Adolphustown: Part 2, by Jean Norry
– De-Mystifying Lineage Societies Workshop, 29 Oct 2011, Ottawa
– Pride of Baltimore II: Replica of an 1812 Schooner Visits Canada
– The Tech Side: Using a Wiki – by Wayne Scott, UE
– Additions to the Loyalist Directory
– Last Post: Elizabeth Stevens Stuart
Articles
The Street Names of Old Saint John: Part Two — by Stephen Davidson
In less than ten years after loyalists established Saint John, New Brunswick, a surveyor general made a report saying that the city’s “streets are regular and spacious, and there are many decent well-built houses.” To this day, these streets –by their very names– reveal the values, historical figures and prominent citizens of the loyalist era. Last week we “toured” fifteen streets that have names connected to the royal family. There are still more streets in the Loyalist City whose names date back to the period between 1783 and 1820. Let’s continue our virtual walking tour and discover the stories behind Saint John’s oldest street names — and in the process, see why loyalist settlements across eastern Canada have similar names for their thoroughfares.
Three streets in Saint John have a decidedly British orientation. Besides the obvious Britain Street, there is Canterbury Street, named in honour of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the head of the Church of England. In the early days of settlement, there were a number of loyalists who hoped that the Anglican Church would become the official denomination of New Brunswick.
Union Street, which runs parallel to King Street, has many meanings. “Union” referred to the unity of the British Empire for which the loyalists fought and which was destroyed by the American Revolution. The first ship to bring loyalists to Saint John in May of 1783 also bore the name Union. In 1801, the British Empires’ new flag was called the Union Jack, signifying Ireland’s union with the rest of Great Britain.
Ten of Saint John’s streets have to do with political and military figures from the loyalist era. Germain Street was named for George Germain (Lord Sackville), the secretary of state for the American Colonies. Sydney Street honours the British secretary for the Home Department. He would later give his name to cities in Cape Breton (in 1784) and Australia (in 1788).
Carmarthen Street was named for Francis Osborne, the Marquis of Carmarthen, who was the lord chamberlain to Queen Charlotte as well as the secretary of state for Britain’s foreign affairs during the Revolution. Pitt Street commemorates William Pitt the Younger, who served as British prime minister during Saint John’s formative years. Richmond Street honours the Duke of Richmond who was Britain’s Master-General of Ordnance during the Revolution.
Two streets, Dorchester Street and Carleton Street, were named for Sir Guy Carleton, the commander of British forces at the end of the Revolution. Dorchester was the title he was given when he became the governor of Quebec. Saint John’s Carleton Street eventually merges with North Street, a street named for Lord North, the British prime minister until 1782. Wellington Street reminded proud loyalists of the duke who defeated Napoleon’s forces at Battle of Waterloo in 1815, commemorated in Saint John’s Waterloo Street.
So far we’ve “walked” along 28 streets inspired by the personages and politics of the loyalist era. However, Saint John’s street names also honour seven prominent loyalists who settled in the city
Harding Street was named for William Harding, a prosperous loyalist tanner, Pagan Place remembers William and Thomas Pagan, two loyalist merchants, and Wentworth Street commemorates Nova Scotia’s first loyalist governor. Ludlow Street honours Gabriel Ludlow, a loyalist from New York who became Saint John’s first mayor. He and his wife entertained Prince Edward in their home during his visit in 1794.
Winslow Street was named for Edward Winslow, a Massachusetts loyalist who went on to serve in New Brunswick politics, education, and its courts. Dr. Adino Paddock gave his name to Paddock Street. A loyalist from Boston, he had been surgeon to the King’s American Dragoons during the Revolution and became “surgeon to the ordnance of New Brunswick” after settling in Saint John.
Heading toward the part of Saint John on the west side of the harbour (once known as Carleton!), one passes through an area called Portland. This community, which joined the larger city in 1889, was named for the Duke of Portland. He served a very short term as British prime minister in 1783. In going through Portland, one would pass beneath Fort Howe hill, the site of the British garrison that guarded the mouth of the St. John River when the loyalists arrived. It was named for Sir William Howe, the commander of the British forces in America until 1778.
Watson Street in West Saint John was named for Brook Watson. Many early settlers had positive memories of Watson because he oversaw the evacuation of loyalists from New York during the summer and fall of 1783. He also supported many loyalists who sought compensation in England. In 1786, the New Brunswick government made Watson its agent in London, a position he held for eight years. (A future edition of Loyalist Trails will recount more of Brook Watson’s story. Losing a leg to a shark and being made the mayor of London are just two of this amazing loyalist’s claims to fame.)
Because West Saint John was once a separate community, it has some streets with the same names as those found in the peninsula settlement of Parrtown. The result is that we have a city that underscores its loyalist heritage with a second set of streets called King, Queen, Prince, Duke, Charlotte, George, Germain, and Harding (not to mention a second King Square and Queen Square)!
So if one counted the names of parks and hills as well as streets — and those duplicated names– Saint John has no less than forty-five public places whose names are tied to the loyalist era. It is little wonder that this city on the Bay of Fundy once proudly proclaimed itself the Loyalist City.
Horsfield Ancestry: First Generation in America © George McNeillie
By his will in 1819, Thomas Horsfield left legacies aggregating about 5,000 pounds sterling, which was considered a large sum in those days, to various relatives and to philanthropic objects — such as the Madras Schools for the children of the poor. To Trinity Church he left 15 acres of valuable marsh land in the Parish of Lancaster. For more than twenty years he had been a Church Warden of Trinity Parish, which then included the whole City of St. John.
Up to the time of his decease in 1819 a burial ground, adjacent to the building first used as a church on Germain Street (though never consecrated as such) was still in use. Here the old Warden was laid to rest, and it is said that his interment was the last which took place there. I think that in all probability his wife had been buried there also. Thomas Horsfield had no doubt for some years attended public worship in the little Church on Germain Street, when Dr. Cooke, Parson George Bisset, and Dr. Mather Byles officiated in it. The building stood on the east side of Germain Street between Duke and Queen streets. The site was afterwards for years a place of residence of Mr. John McMillan, one of the best known citizens of St. John. After the great fire in 1877, in digging here for foundations for new buildings, skeletons were brought to light. There were seemingly no grave-stones. The little building, which formerly was used as a church, was also used for Council meetings and sessions of the Courts of Justice and it is thought that on at least one occasion, a session of the Provincial Legislature was held there. On its walls there hung the old historic “coat of arms,” now placed over the west door of Trinity Church, which was brought to the country from the old Province Hall in Boston by Colonel Edward Winslow after the Revolution. The first visitation of Bishop Inglis in New Brunswick on August 20th, 1788 was held in this little church in Germain Street, when the six clergy of the province were all present. At a Vestry meeting, held Dec. 8, 1791, it was “Resolved that the old church (on Germain Street) be sold, price 200 pounds sterling, the bell organ and King’s Coat of Arms to be removed to Trinity Church.” At this time Thomas Horsfield was senior Church Warden and had of course attended church regularly for some years in the small church. The old Coat of Arms is still in Trinity Church.
Excerpt from Book of Family History, by The Ven. William Odber Raymond, LL.D, FRSC. © 2009 George McNeillie – all rights reserved [published here with permission; see footnote].
Alexander Campbell of Adolphustown: Part 2, by Jean Norry
Editor’s apology: This story of Alexander Campbell was published in Loyalist Trails, and not do long ago. For those of you who are new readers, or who have forgotten like me, you can read it in Loyalist Trails 2011-#16, April 16.
De-Mystifying Lineage Societies Workshop, 29 Oct 2011, Ottawa
At City of Ottawa Central Archives, 100 Tallwood Drive, from 10am to 5pm
The Ottawa Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society and the Sir Guy Carleton Branch of the United Empire Loyalists Association of Canada are offering a one-day workshop on De-Mystifying Lineage Societies. This workshop will provide some history on lineage societies, as well as discussion of the resources, hints and techniques for completing successful applications along with an opportunity for research with local experts.
Societies highlighted will be the Mayflower Society, Daughters and Sons of the American Revolution, United Empire Loyalists’ Association of Canada and the Ontario Genealogical Society Heritage Societies.
Following the presentations, registrants will be able to research in the City Archives Reference Room.
Presentations:
– De-Mystifying Lineage Societies: Mike More and Dorothy Meyerhof
– Researching in Military Records: Glenn Wright
– Using Ancestry: Lesley Anderson
Cost: $30.00 per person
Click here for Registration Form and details
More information: pastchair@ogsottawa.on.ca
Pride of Baltimore II: Replica of an 1812 Schooner Visits Canada
Pride of Baltimore II is a reproduction of an 1812-era topsail schooner privateer. She is Maryland’s working symbol of the great natural resources and spectacular beauty of the Chesapeake Bay region, and a reminder of America’s rich maritime heritage. See photo, description history and other details.
As part of its summer 2011 tour around many of the Great Lakes (except Superior), the schooner visited Amherstburg the weekend of August 27/8. See the description from the Captain’s blog entry History, Respect and Friendship in Amherstburg.
On Sept 8 and 9, the privateer visited Toronto and is in Hamilton this weekend Sept 10 & 11. Its next scheduled stop is Montreal Sept 14-18 as it heads to the Atlantic and a return to its Baltimore home port for November 5. The summer tour is intended to promote the bicentennial of the War of 1812.
The Tech Side: Using a Wiki – by Wayne Scott, UE
Using the Internet is such a wonderful thing, but it comes with a price. Every time a website is accessed, your computer is leaving a trace of itself behind. In order to make a connection between your computer and the server hosting the web pages you are visiting, your IP address (internet protocol) has to be shared so that the server knows where to send the web page. It is also quite common for the server to send “Cookies” to your computer to see where your surfing takes you. This information in turn can be sold to marketing companies. Have you ever wondered why your browser knows what city you are surfing from? You might be surprised to know that your age, sex and a number of other things are also known.
A study was discussed in the Globe and Mail that showed the results of a study done in the US. A typical website was put online where it collected information on 470,000 visitors. This was done by logging the IP addresses, and common Cookies. From this information, it was determined that almost all of the users were unique in a number of ways. Individual users could be tracked on the net quite easily. The authors suggested that individual privacy was being threatened.
The results of this study don’t add new information to the debate on privacy. Does Google have a right to know who is using their search engine? Do you have a right to being anonymous while surfing the internet? The debate goes on.
If this intrusion into our private lives bothers you as it does a number of people, then you can try a number of things to make tracking internet usage more difficult. Notice that I said “more difficult”. You cannot prevent the tracking of your internet usage entirely.
The easiest way to begin discouraging the tracking of internet use is to prevent Cookies from being deposited on your computer. While in your browser, open the “Internet Options” folder. Click on the “Privacy” tab and adjust the privacy settings. It should be noted that the higher the setting (mine is set to medium high) the slower the surfing process is because more decisions have to be made at the computer/server connection as to what is allowed to be sent to your computer.
The next step is to have any residual cookies removed from your computer on a daily basis. For this you may wish to use a program such as Advanced System Care, which is free for the basic version. Just having this program on your computer does little good unless you use it regularly. It takes less than 10 minutes to do a system scan and removal of cookies. I should also say that the program does do some other things to speed up your computer which is a good thing also.
So far, all we are doing is making it more difficult for cookies to remain on the computer. We are still leaving a trail of IP addresses all around the net. Something can be done about this also.
One quick way is to use a software application that will do the job for you. Anonymizer Universal is one example, and there are others. The program cost is around $80.00.
Programs like this set up a Web Proxy for users. This means that you first log into the proxy website then from there surf the net. Even though you live in Tintern your IP address says that you live in Texas or some other place. While this sounds like a perfect solution, there are better ways. Web Proxies are not foolproof. They can be breached by experts.
A more robust solution is using a Tor relay. In a nutshell, this system bounces your communications around a distributed network of thousands of computers and servers. It is a very tough nut to crack. Unless an organization desperately needs to see what you are up to on the internet it won’t take the time or resources necessary to follow your internet trail. The Tor Network is free, and like many open source projects there are versions for Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems.
Governments are deeply involved in Privacy discussions. They are torn between protecting the individual and securing the country. Some European countries have come right out and stated that national interests preclude the government from guaranteeing internet privacy. The Government of Canada is attempting to help consumers and small business people with suggestions and information.
You can email Wayne Scott to get in touch with questions or comments.
Additions to the Loyalist Directory
As time permits, we add information to the Loyalist Directory. The latest additions and updates are as follows:
– Jones, Elisha Jr. – by Rebecca Fraser (Volunteer Wendy Cosby)
– Jones, Josiah – by Rebecca Fraser (Volunteer Wendy Cosby)
– Orser, Joseph – from Evelyn D. Orser de Mille (Volunteer Linda McClelland)
– Rulofson, Rulof – from Sharron King
Last Post: Elizabeth Stevens Stuart
Elizabeth passed away peacefully at the Township of Osgoode Care Centre on Wednesday, September 7, 2011, in her 105th year. Daughter of the late John Cameron Stuart and the late Florence Gertrude Stevens. Predeceased by her brothers John A. Stuart, Steven Stuart, James C. Stuart, and her sister Estella McLean. She will be dearly missed by her nieces and nephews and many extended family members.
Service was at the Daley Family Funeral Home, Metcalfe Sat. Sept 10. . Memorial donations made to the Winchester District Memorial Hospital or charity of choice. (Ottawa Citizen on 9/8/2011)
Elizabeth was a former member of St. Lawrence Branch. A few years ago, she drove herself to our place to leave notice of her 100th birthday which we attended. She was the main driving force behind the founding of the Vernon Museum.
…Lynne Coke UE, St. Lawrence Branch