“Loyalist Trails” 2019-17: April 28, 2019
In this issue:
– UELAC Conference: Keynote Speakers and Music; Earlybird Ends!
– Ten Black Loyalists who Settled in Sierra Leone, by Stephen Davidson
– Robert Land, UE: Courier, Recruiter, Scout, Spy
– Borealia: The Early Modern Maritime Recipes Database
– Addendum to Borealia: Immigrant Servant Girls to Home Children
– JAR: Another Three Loyalist Declarations Signed in the Fall of 1776
– JAR: Revisiting B. E. Griffiths – Former Slave, Queen’s Ranger, and “Son of Africa”
– The Junto: Book Review, The Consequences of Loyalism
– Ben Franklin’s World: A 17th-Century Native American Life
– Loyalist Gazette: Spring 2019 Issue Has Been Printed
– Loyalist Monument in Prince Edward Island
– Where in the World?
– From the Twittersphere and Beyond
– Last Post: James Donald Coons, UE
Articles
Join fellow Loyalists and friends at UELAC Conference 2019 “The Capital Calls,” May 30 – June 2, 2019, at DoubleTree by Hilton Gatineau-Ottawa, 1170 chemin Aylmer, Gatineau, Quebec, hosted by Sir Guy Carleton Branch.
Earlybird Rates Until Tuesday 30 April; Register Today
A leading member of Canada’s First Nations, an evening of music by two prominent Ontario performers and a speaker well acquainted with a significant milestone in Canadian history will be the keynote speakers and presenters at major events planned for The Capital Calls — the UELAC’s upcoming conference in Ottawa.
The conference will be held on May 30 and 31 and June 1 and 2. A reduced rate for early registration will expire on April 30.
Albert Dumont — Welcome to the Land of the Anishabeg — Algonquin Elder and spiritual teacher Albert Dumont will be the keynote speaker at the conference’s opening ceremonies on Thursday evening (May 30).
Born and raised in traditional Algonquin territory (Kitigan Zibi), Elder Dumont (South Wind) is a poet, storyteller, speaker, activist, volunteer and an Algonquin Traditional Teacher. He grew up and came of age at a time when the view of most Canadians was that “Indians were nothing more than useless tax drains holding Canada back.” This experience weighed heavily on his emotional and spiritual health.
Elder Dumont, who has dedicated his life to promoting Aboriginal spirituality and healing and to protecting the rights of Aboriginal Peoples particularly those as they affect the young, will speak of his experiences and how he recovered from overt and direct racism.
In what is considered a historic appointment, Elder Dumont was recently named Algonquin Spiritual Teacher in Residence at Christ Church Cathedral in Ottawa. His role in this position will be to help educate members of the cathedral on traditional Indigenous spirituality. The appointment is the first time a non-Christian Indigenous teacher in residence has been assigned to an Anglican church cathedral.
Glenn Wright — Controversy and Compromise: The Origins of Canada’s National Flag — Many UELAC members are old enough to remember the controversy surrounding the proposal by the ruling federal Liberal party to introduce a new Canadian flag during the country’s Centennial Year in 1967. The thorny issues surrounding the development of the flag we have today will be the focus of keynote speaker Glenn Wright at Conference 2019’s Gala Banquet on Saturday evening in the conference hotel’s Chaudiere Room.
A historical researcher, archivist, historian and author, Mr. Wright was born and raised in Toronto. After graduating from the University of Toronto, he worked as a researcher for renowned Canadian author Pierre Berton before joining the Public Archives of Canada in 1975. During his public career which spanned more than 30 years, Mr. Wright has worked as an archivist, historical research officer and, for many years, was assistant historian with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He has been a frequent speaker at family history and genealogical events and has been associated with television programs including Who Do You Think You Are?, Ancestors in the Attic and Engraved on a Nation.
He has published widely in family history, genealogical and historical magazines and journals. Glenn is also the author of Canadians at War, 1914-1919: A Research Guide to World War I Service Records (Global Genealogy, 2010) and Controversy, Compromise and Celebration: The History of Canada’s National Flag (Historical Society of Ottawa, 2017). Mr. Wright has been actively involved with the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa for many years and served as the society’s president from 2010 to 2014.
Here and There….A Musical Presentation on Friday evening will feature an evening of listening pleasure through the performances of soloist Carolynne Davy accompanied by pianist Edith Troup.
Both women have distinguished careers in music with Miss Davy having performed at Carnegie Hall, the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, the Toronto International Festival and Toronto’s Opera in Concert as well as being a soloist with numerous orchestras and choral societies in Canada and the U.S. Miss Troup has appeared with choirs, singers, instrumentalists and dancers in concerts and festivals.
Their performance in the Chaudiere Room at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel will include a medley of early popular songs brought here from Europe, music from The Beggars’ Opera, North American and Canadian songs, war songs, along with musical numbers associated with patriotism and a selection of folk and sacred music.
See more details, including a flyer, the schedule, speakers, venue, directions, and the registration form. Don’t miss this event; Register today!
…Roy Lewis, UE
Ten Black Loyalists who Settled in Sierra Leone
© Stephen Davidson, UE
The Black Loyalists who left the Maritimes to settle in Sierra Leone in 1792 are often forgotten participants in Loyalist history. While their hardships here may be remembered, what happened to individual Black Loyalists after they made West Africa their new home is much harder to reconstruct.
With documents first created in the latter part of the 18th century, we can uncover the stories of ten men, giving us glimpses into the lives of those who travelled across the globe in search of equality. Introduced in last week’s Loyalist Trails, here are the stories of what happened to Henry Beverhout, Richard Crankapone, Warwick Francis, Johnson, Mingo Jordan, Lewis Kirby, Francis Patrick, James Robinson, and Nathaniel Wansey — men who first settled in New Brunswick.
These ten men, first recorded in the Book of Negroes, were among 222 Black Loyalists who wanted to start new lives in Sierra Leone. However, white officials complicated the process of leaving New Brunswick. Not wanting to lose the inexpensive labour force that the free Blacks provided, some authorities required the Black Loyalists to produce the freedom certificates that they had been given in New York City more than eight years earlier. Other officials forged indenture papers and false loan contracts to keep Black New Brunswickers in the colony.
When they were denied access to a Saint John ship that was taking Black Loyalists to Halifax to join the fleet bound for Sierra Leone, Richard Crankapone and three friends refused to give up hope. They walked through the December snow for fifteen days, arriving in Halifax in time to join their associates from New Brunswick.
When 1,196 Black Loyalists sailed out of Halifax for Freetown, Sierra Leone, they held certificates issued by Lt. John Clarkson, the man who oversaw the exodus to Sierra Leone, that entitled the bearer to a free grant of land in the new colony. However, land was slow in being given out to the Black Loyalists. They also came to discover that “their” colony was to be governed by white employees of the Sierra Leone Company (SLC). Their new Promised Land became — like Nova Scotia and New Brunswick — yet another country of broken promises.
Once again, Thomas Peters stood up to represent his people and voice their grievances. When he confronted Clarkson at a meeting convened just a month after their arrival in Freetown, Peters’ actions were seen as an attempt to seize control of the colony. Tempers eventually cooled, but Clarkson remained wary of Peters.
Within a month, Peters was charged with stealing. The case was resolved, but not before the Black Loyalist leader’s reputation had been tarnished. On June 25, 1792, Peters died of the fever that had already killed so many settlers. Their champion, like Moses of old, had died just as his people had entered the Promised Land.
While disputes over land went on for years, the religious life of Sierra Leone grew, changing lives and building a new sense of community. By 1793, Henry Beverhout had become a Methodist minster whose preaching won many converts. Ever fearful of any encroachments on Black congregations, Beverhout once interrupted an Anglican minister who denied that dreams were a means of divine communication. Because of his opposition to the colony’s establishment, the SLC fired Beverhout from his position as a schoolteacher.
In 1796, Beverhout’s hackles rose once again when a new SLC law said that only an ordained Anglican minister could perform marriages or baptisms. The New Brunswick Black Loyalist was one of 127 people who signed a letter protesting the law. When the governor threatened to hang those who did not obey, Beverhout and his fellow Methodists backed down.
Just over a year after the Black Loyalists arrived in Freetown, an incident in June of that year almost led to an insurrection. A slave trader named Grierson insulted two Nova Scotians (as the Black Loyalists now called themselves). When Freetowners harassed the slave trader, the governor dismissed the two men who had been insulted.
On Friday, June 20, 1794, the Black settlers demanded an explanation for the dismissals. Richard Crankapone, a man who had once owned land along the St. John River, tried to break up the mob, but was attacked by fellow New Brunswick settlers, Lewis Kirby and Simon Johnson, who threatened to hang him. A warrant was promptly issued for the arrest of Kirby and Johnson, and in short order riots broke out.
Opposing forces were poised for action. On Sunday, the governor warned that an insurrection would lead to the Nova Scotians re-enslavement by local slave traders. He offered free transportation back to Halifax for any dissatisfied Black Loyalists. By Monday, the situation had calmed down. Eight ringleaders were sent to England for trial; other rebels were banished from the colony.
Dissatisfaction with the Sierra Leone Company continued to fester over the next few years. Black Loyalist settlers hoped that they could eventually gain control Sierra Leone by appointing a Black judiciary. Remembering that John Clarkson had promised them the “right to be magistrates”, the Black Loyalist representatives on the governing council selected Mingo Jordan as a judge in 1799, but the SLC opposed the former New Brunswicker’s appointment.
In that same year, Nathaniel Wansey and James Robinson, two Black Loyalists who had settled in New Brunswick, were among those elected as representatives of the people Both men favoured a Black judiciary, electing Robinson and another man from Nova Scotia as justices of the peace.
The situation continued to escalate. On September 10, 1800, the Black Loyalists’ representatives announced that they would be proclaiming a new constitution for Sierra Leone. Among its signatories were Robinson and Wansey. The government sent men out to arrest the rebels, taking Robinson into custody. By then, about half of the settlers had sided with the rebels. The latter appointed a Black Loyalist from Shelburne as the colony’s new governor.
On October 2, bolstered by the arrival of Maroons from Nova Scotia, the SLC quashed the rebellion. The rebels’ choice of governor for the colony and a New Brunswick man, Francis Patrick, were hanged. The 45 year-old Patrick had been just 28 when he had sailed into Saint John’s harbour in the summer of 1783. Rather than dying as a slave in Virginia or as a landless settler in New Brunswick, Patrick was executed in Sierra Leone for having stolen a gun.
A total of 32 Black Loyalists –including Nathaniel Wansey– were banished from Sierra Leone. A year later, Wansey and a party made up of the local Africans and banished rebels attacked Freetown. Among those killed in the fighting was Richard Crankapone.
Wansey and Crankapone had been fellow passengers on the Clinton in 1783 when it brought Loyalist refugees to New Brunswick. They had been neighbours on the St. John River for at least five years. By 1801, their friendship had been torn apart by the political tensions of Sierra Leone, placing them on opposite sides in a conflict that, like the American Revolution, promised freedom and equality.
The stories of what happened to Loyalist refugees after they sought sanctuary in other parts of the British Empire in the wake of the American Revolution are diverse, full of triumph and tragedy. For the Black Loyalists who gambled everything on British promises of freedom, the struggle for equality would initially take many to New Brunswick. Just over 200 of those settlers would later pin all of their hopes on a second beginning in Sierra Leone. They became the foundation for a colony that gained its independence in 1961. As can be seen in the lives of ten of its New Brunswick founders, that struggle was a long and costly one.
(Editor’s note: To gain a greater understanding of the Black Loyalists who settled in the Maritimes and later founded Sierra Leone, see James W. St. G. Walker’s classic, The Black Loyalists: The Search for a Promised Land in Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone 1783 – 1870.)
To secure permission to reprint this article, email Stephen Davidson.
Robert Land, UE: Courier, Recruiter, Scout, Spy
Another repost of one of my favourite vaults. The Land Family vault at Hamilton Cemetery has this awesome entrance leading underground, which was made to look like a miniature Gothic chapel. Robert Land Sr. was a British spy during the American Revolution. Many stories here.
The Robert Land and Clement Lucas, Jr. Families. The following story on a loyalist family during the Revolutionary War was given over CKOC Radio Station, “The Forum” in October 2010 by Pat Blackburn of the Hamilton Branch UELAC. The material has been taken from a speech by Brian Land, a descendant of Robert Land, at the plaquing ceremony for the Hamilton Cemetery at 777 York Blvd. across from Dundurn Castle. (from the entry with more information for Robert Land Sr in the Loyalist Directory). As a side note, Charles Lindbergh, the aviator, was a direct descendant of Robert Land, Sr.
Borealia: The Early Modern Maritime Recipes Database
by Edith Snook 23 April 2019
Early Modern Maritime Recipes is a searchable online database that collects recipes made and circulating before 1800 in what is now defined as Canada’s Maritime provinces. The project was directed by Dr. Edith Snook (Department of English, UNB) and Dr. Lyn Bennett (English, Dalhousie) and undertaken with the support of The Centre for Digital Scholarship in the Harriet Irving Library at the University of New Brunswick.
With the assistance of research assistants and archivists and librarians across the region, we have located recipes in print—in newspapers and an almanac—and in manuscript form. Some recipes were written in notebooks dedicated to recipes but more often they appear alongside other types of records, in a military order book, a church register, account books, a planting journal, diaries, and letters. Images of these recipes, transcriptions, notes, and contextual essays are included on the Early Modern Maritime Recipe site.
We have excluded from our database recipe books printed elsewhere that were brought to the region (and no recipe books were printed here in this period).
Most of these recipes are in English, with just with one notebook of recipes in French and another collection on German. There are also a few recipes, belonging to the physician William Paine, in Latin.
One of the core issues underpinning our research was the question of how to define a recipe. The OED dates the first appearance of the word to 1533 when it was used in reference to a medical prescription; in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, recipe also came to refer to a “statement of the ingredients and procedure required for making something,” especially in cookery.
Addendum to Borealia: Immigrant Servant Girls to Home Children
More resources are available for those interested in Borealia: Immigrant Servant Girls to Home Children: Following a thread in Canada West by Wendy Cameron, published on 15 April 2019.
The registers from the House of Industry of Toronto, have been digitized by the Ontario Genealogical Society (now Ontario Ancestors) with the help of the City of Toronto Archives and University of Toronto.
This very rich source of information is now available on Archive.org and volunteers are in the process of transcribing them.
But I thought that readers might be interested in knowing that included in the various registers of the House of Industry is a register and an index of boys sent from England between 1858 and 1864. The register can be accessed here.
There is also an index by last names to the boys arriving from England.
While the list of boys is not huge it is very interesting since it gives information about the origin of the boys in England, and in fact many of the children had parents still living in England, but it also gives information about the location where the boys were sent to be “apprenticed” to farmers.
I think it makes for very interesting reading, and it provides a window into child migration.
…Guylaine Petrin
JAR: Another Three Loyalist Declarations Signed in the Fall of 1776
by Sandra McNamara 24 April 2019
The Declaration of Dependence signed by 547 New York City Loyalists in November 1776 was not the only such declaration written and signed by loyal inhabitants of the colony of New York soon after British military forces established their presence in the region. At least three others are known to exist, bearing a total of 3,414 signatures of individuals willing to pledge their support of, and subservience to, the British government.
In the December 1776 issue of the London publication The Lady’s Magazine or Entertaining Companion the Fair S.x, Appropriated Solely to Their Use and Amusement under “Home News,” this article was reprinted from an American newspaper:
From the New-York Gazette, Nov. 4.
To the Right Hon. Richard, Lord Viscount Howe, of the Kingdom of Ireland, and to his Excellency the Hon. William Howe, Esq; General of his Majesty’s Forces to America the King’s Commissioners for restoring Peace to his Majesty’s Colonies North-America.
JAR: Revisiting B. E. Griffiths – Former Slave, Queen’s Ranger, and “Son of Africa”
by Stephen Brumwell, 23 April 2019
In a recent article, Todd Braisted reconstructed the remarkable story of a black Loyalist soldier, “Trumpeter Barney” of the Queen’s Rangers. Through meticulous archival work, Braisted established that Barney, a runaway slave who joined the British at the siege of Charleston, South Carolina, in 1780, was the same man as Barnard E. Griffiths, who was examined in London at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, on August 5, 1789, to establish whether he qualified for an army pension.
That identification rested upon a range of evidence, but especially telling was a fulsome testimonial on behalf of Griffiths that the former lieutenant-colonel of the Queen’s Rangers, John Graves Simcoe, wrote to Britain’s Secretary-at-War, Sir George Yonge, on March 20, 1789. Simcoe’s letter highlighted the exploits of “B. E. Griffiths” during the fierce skirmish at Spencer’s Ordinary, Virginia, on June 26, 1781. By comparing it with the detailed account of the same episode that Simcoe published in his 1787 Journal of the Operations of the Queen’s Rangers, which praised the vigilance and courage of “Trumpeter Barney”, Braisted was able to conclude that Barney was Griffiths.
As a commendation written by an officer on behalf of a black Loyalist fighter, Simcoe’s letter is a unique survival. Intriguingly, the historical Simcoe’s unequivocal support for a former slave was echoed by a story-line in the popular AMC television series TURN: Washington’s Spies. There, a heavily-fictionalised Simcoe (played with villainous relish by Samuel Roukin) not only grants freedom to a black Queen’s Ranger, Jordan (Aldis Hodge), but promotes him to his second-in-command.
The Junto: Book Review, The Consequences of Loyalism
By Emily Yankowitz 22 April 2019
If you are studying or researching Loyalists in some way, Robert M. Calhoon’s name is bound to come up. The “dean of American Loyalist studies,” as Joseph Moore terms him, is a well-esteemed scholar, writer, and mentor who has been the leading voice in American Loyalists historiography for decades.” By engaging Loyalists in a multi-dimensional fashion, Calhoon’s work elucidated the now-incontrovertible inference: that Loyalists were multi-dimensional figures who were not too different from their revolutionary counterparts. In fact, the irrefutability of this idea is no doubt due in part to his work. In honor of him, Rebecca Brannon and Joseph Moore edited a Festschrift titled The Consequences of Loyalism.
The book is divided into two sections shaped by two themes in Calhoon’s work. The first section, “Perceptions” relates to Calhoon’s interest in Loyalist ideologies. These essays emphasize the role of contingency and suggest how Loyalists were forced to make decisions based on limited information and their evaluations of the world around them. The second section, “Moderation,” draws on Calhoon’s fascination with historical moderates. It contains essays that seek to understand how Loyalists dealt with the result of their actions. The essays revise old interpretations, offer new directions for studying Loyalists and effectively draw on other fields such as archaeology.
Read a Q&A with Rebecca Brannon and Joseph S. Moore, editors of The Consequences of Loyalism.
Ben Franklin’s World: A 17th-Century Native American Life
Jenny Hale Pulsipher, an Associate Professor of History at Brigham Young University and author of Swindler Sachem: The American Indian Who Sold His Birthright, Dropped Out of Harvard, and Conned the King of England, joins us to introduce us to a Nipmuc Indian named John Wompas and how he experienced a critical time in early American history, the period between the 1650s and 1680s.
As we explore and investigate the life of John Wompas, Jenny reveals who John Wompas was and details about the interesting life he led; The ways in which Wompas navigated both the Native and English worlds of seventeenth-century England and New England; And, why it’s important for us to explore early America through Native American perspectives.
Loyalist Gazette: Spring 2019 Issue Has Been Printed
The Spring issue of the Loyalist Gazette is has been printed. The ink is drying before the issue is cut and stapled. It will probably go into the mail around the target date of May 1.
A note with access instructions will be sent to those who receive the digital version of the Gazette in the next day or so. If you are a current member of UELAC or have a paid subscription to the Loyalist Gazette, and would like to try the digital version, please complete the request form.
…Publications Committee
Loyalist Monument in Prince Edward Island
A Loyalist Monument was unveiled in Bedeque, Prince Edward Island on July 1, 1985 – see Tweet & photo by Brian McConnell, UE.
Dedicated in 1985 in Bedeque’s Central Park, this massive cairn commemorates the bicentennial of the landing of the United Empire Loyalists on August 4, 1784.
More information is available at Bedeque Harbour Monument in the UELAC’s Loyalist Monuments, Memorials and Commemoratives folder (under Resources in the navigation menu).
Where is William Harris of London & Western Ontario Branch?
To participate, submit a photo of yourself in UELAC promotional gear at a place of some note and tell us where it is (if you are a member of a branch, please indicate that as well). Send your submission to the editor at loyalist.trails@uelac.org.
From the Twittersphere and Beyond
- Have you a favourite book on Nova Scotia Loyalists? An introduction to some of the books about the Loyalist History of Nova Scotia by Brian McConnell.
- Special year for Trinity Anglican Church in Cornwall. The year 2019 marks the 235th Anniversary of Trinity, the oldest parish in the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa.
- Today in History: Lars D.H. Hedbor @LarsDHHedbor (see his page for associated photos):
- 27 Apr 1773 Parliament passes Tea Act, propping up British East India Tea company at colonists’ expense.
- 26 Apr 1777 Sybil Luddington rides through the Connecticut night, mustering the militia to repel a British attack.
- 25 Apr 1775 Patriots in Baltimore seize military supplies.
- 25 Apr 1777 1500 British Regulars land at modern day Westport Connecticut. Led by Maj Gen WILLIAM TRYON, they targeted a supply depot in Danbury Connecticut.
- 24 Apr 1781 Petersburg, Virginia attacked by traitor Benedict Arnold & British Gen. Philips.
- 23 Apr 1776 Congress resolves that an expedition should be undertaken against Detroit, recently taken by British.
- 22 Apr 1778 American John Paul Jones attacks British Isles directly, burning 3 ships and spiking guns at 2 forts.
- 21 Apr 1775 Governor Dunmore orders Royal Marines to take gunpowder from magazine in Williamsburg, Virginia.
- 20 Apr 1776 Germany & Britain arrange to have more troops sent from Germany to America, including 670 infantrymen.
- 20 Apr 1777 New-York adopts a new constitution, incorporating the Declaration of Independence and a strong Governor.
- April 27, 1769, teenager Abel Badger, soldier Bryan Donally, and Thomas Carmichael “set on the Gallows, each with a Halter round his Neck, for one hour, and afterwards whiped 20 Stripes” for setting fire to Boston’s new jail in an attempt to escape.
- Now here is a unit of measurement to study! English wine casks are measured in relation to the largest available wine cask – called a tun. The unit names sounds like a rowdy bunch of ten brothers to me
- Townsends
- Our Best Dessert Ever – WhitePot Revisited
- 18th Century women’s dress, 1770’s & men’s waistcoat & coat, 1790’s. In China yellow was associated with the Emperor, as chinoiserie gained popularity in Europe so did the colour
- Rear view of 18th Century dress, Robe a la Francaise, 1760-1770
- 18th Century dress, Robe à l’Anglaise, c.1765
- 18th Century dress, Robe à l’Anglaise, linen with floral embroidery
- 18th Century gentleman’s embroidered green velvet court coat & matching ivory satin waistcoat, French, c 1790.
- 18th Cent men’s waistcoat, Anna Maria Garthwaite’s original design of this is at V&A & identifies not only the artist but also the weaver, Peter Lekeux, & date of sale – Oct 23, 1747. Both were important contributors to Spitalfields silk industry.
- Detail of 18th Century men’s embroidered waistcoat with frock coat buttons, c.1765
- #TENACITY … that’s the spirit of the all-female pipers and drummers from Canada who visited Jamestown Settlement earlier this week to preview @VATatt. Enjoy this clip captured by @32CBG_32GBC of the special performance!
Last Post: James Donald Coons, UE
James, born February 2, 1938, Hamilton, Ontario of UEL descent. Peacefully on Good Friday, April 19, 2019 at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton. Predeceased by parents Donald F. Coons and Margaret M. Long. Beloved husband of Elizabeth (nee Wallace) and dear father of sons Donald, David and Mark (Traci). Cherished grandfather of Margaret, Katharine, James, Mitchell, Sam, Hailey, John, and Madison. Brother of David H. Coons (Sharon) and the late Dennis Coons. Also survived by nieces and nephews and their children.
Jim was a graduate of Ridley College 1956 and Huron University College 1960. He was the founder of the Loyalist Group of companies. He was a founder and chairman of the Insurance Education Centre and a member of the Insurance Advisory Board of Mohawk College and Chairman of the Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation. He was a long-time member of The Hamilton Thistle Club, The Hamilton Golf and Country Club, Muskoka Lakes Golf & Country Club, The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, The Jesters Club, The Barton Lodge No. 6, A.F. & A.M., the Scottish Rite Murton Lodge of Perfection, Rose Croix, and Moore Sovereign Consistory, the Honourable Company of Freeman of the City of London, and St. John’s Anglican Church.
For many years Jim played competitive tennis and squash. He played on the Junior Davis Cup team while at Western. Squash included winning the Canadian Junior Championship, many tournaments with the Thistle Club team, travels with the Jesters to the US, England and South Africa, and golf in Scotland and abroad with the R and A.
Visitation will take place at Dodsworth & Brown Funeral Home, 378 Wilson Street East, Ancaster from 3-5 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. on Thursday, April 25th. Funeral service will be held at St. John’s Anglican Church, 272 Wilson Street East, Ancaster at 1 p.m. on Friday, April 26th. Internment to take place at a later date. In lieu of flowers donations to St. John’s Anglican Church, Endowment Fund, the St. Joseph’s Healthcare Foundation, or the charity of your choice is most appreciated.
Pat Blackburn, President, Hamilton Branch notes that Jim was a very respected gentleman in the Hamilton area and a member of the Hamilton Branch. He had an extensive library on Loyalist history and was looking for a home for it at the Branch’s Christmas Dinner of 2017; she wonders if he actually found a spot somewhere in the community for his collection.