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Scholarship Challenge 2022: Multiplying UE Scholar Opportunities
Thank you to all who have taken the 2022 Scholarship Endowment Fund Challenge and donated during this concentrated time called Multiplying UE Scholar Opportunities. The amount raised as of August 15th is $8,181. Watch for a August 22nd update in next week’s issue of Loyalist Trails (and a final update in September to allow for slow mail to arrive).
The Scholarship Committee was delighted to see that the goal has been surpassed. Many asked: Why $8088 as a goal? It is simply four times the 2022 year date. Monday August 22nd is the closing date of the challenge, but the opportunity for donations to towards UELAC scholarships is always available to you at Donate now.
Over the whole year we are grateful for the donations that honour the lives of members and friends who have passed away. We each have a special reason for supporting causes close to our hearts. If you would like to learn more about the history of the UELAC scholarship Download ‘History of the Scholarship‘ in PDF format.
Christine E. Manzer UE, Chair, Scholarship Committee
Contact: scholarship@uelac.org

The Loyalist Three Rs Revisited: Resident Anna Rawle
copyright Stephen Davidson UE
While around 60,000 people living in the rebelling American colonies eventually became refugees at the end of the War of Independence, there were an estimated 500,000 to 833,330 colonists who remained loyal to the crown. Simple arithmetic leads to an inevitable conclusion: most Loyalists continued to be residents of the United States. The vast majority were able to make peace with their rebel neighbours and stayed in the homes they had created before the events of 1776.
One such “resident Loyalist” was Anna Rawle of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The oldest of three siblings, Anna was born to Francis and Rebecca (Warner) Rawle on October 30, 1757. Her parents were members of the Quaker faith, better known as the Religious Society of Friends.
Many Quakers maintained their loyalty to the crown in obedience to the biblical injunction to “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s”. Given the fact that pacifism was one of the core values of Quakers, these loyal Americans did not join the military effort to quash the revolution. However, there were some who were so provoked by their Patriot neighbours to choose a side that they eventually often took up arms despite their upbringing.
Anna Rawle kept a diary during the American Revolution and used its pages to record her disgust at how the victorious Patriots persecuted the Loyalists in Philadelphia. In his 1900 book, the historian Thomas Allen Green noted that while Anna’s older brother William vacillated in his political convictions, “the ladies of the family never wavered in their steadfast loyalty to their good King George.”
Anna’s mother Rebecca married Samuel Shoemaker on November 10, 1767, six years after the death of her first husband, Francis Rawle. Her stepfather was a noted Loyalist in Philadelphia. When a character witness spoke before the loyalist compensation commission in London in December of 1784, this is how he described Anna’s stepfather:
Shoemaker “was a very respectable Man in private life. Before the troubles he was a magistrate… When the other magistrates were less active against the measures of the rebels he was particularly active against them. Believes him to be a man of uniform & decided loyalty. Thinks not withstanding he is a Quaker if it had been necessary he would not have scrupled to take up arms. … Mr. Galloway’s recommendation made {Shoemaker} a magistrate of the police. He recommended him from a conviction of his zeal and principles.”
When Shoemaker sought sanctuary in New York City in 1778, his wife Rebecca and stepchildren remained in Philadelphia. The historian, William B. Rawle, wrote, “Mrs. Shoemaker was a woman of decided character, strong in her feelings, and apparently of great fluency in expressing what she wished to say, and she was an ardent Loyalist.”
In 1780, the supreme executive council of Pennsylvania somehow intercepted Rebecca’s journal that contained “letters of recommendation” that “assisted prisoners and other Enemies to this Government and to the United States to pass clandestinely to New York.”
With the choice of either being executed as a traitor or being banished to New York, Rebecca applied for a “passport” to cross the British lines to be reunited with Samuel. In April of 1780, she went to New York City, leaving her daughters Anna and Margaret to live with relatives.
Given the convictions of her mother and stepfather, it is not surprising that Anna viewed the revolution from the perspective of a supporter of King George III.
In a letter written in Philadelphia on June 30, 1780, Anna related how a group of Continental soldiers had barged their way into the home of her uncle.
“Two men entered the room, and I soon found their business was to search for arms. They looked in the closet, and desired me, not in the mildest terms, to unlock my trunks. I told them they were already undone. They then put their canes in, and by the greatest good luck in the world, the little {silver} plate that belonged to me remained undisturbed at the bottom of the trunk; they would have taken it, I am certain, from their behaviour. Not finding arms they went away. …There were but one or two houses where they treated people with so little ceremony. At other places they took their word.”
On October 22, 1781, news reached Philadelphia of the Patriot victory over Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia. Twenty-four year old Anna wrote: “People who are so stupidly regardless of their own interests are undeserving of compassion, but one cannot help lamenting that the fate of so many worthy persons should be connected with the failure or success of the British army … However, as there is no letter from Washington, we flatter ourselves that it is not true.”
Two days later, Anna felt “in a most unsettled humour. I can neither read, work or give my attention one moment to anything. It is too true that Cornwallis is taken.”
On October 25th, the citizens of Philadelphia celebrated the Patriot victory by putting candles in their windows – something that Anna’s relatives did not do. That evening her uncle’s home came under attack. “A mob surrounded it, broke the shutters and the glass of the windows, and were coming in, none but forlorn women here. We for a time listened for their attacks in fear and trembling till, finding them grow more loud and violent, not knowing what to do, we ran into the yard…
“… In short it was the most alarming scene I ever remember. For two hours we had the disagreeable noise of stones banging about, glass crashing, and the tumultuous voices of a large body of men, as they were a long time at the different houses in the neighborhood. At last they were victorious, and it was one general illumination throughout the town. As we had not the pleasure of seeing any of the “gentleman” in the house, nor the furniture cut up, and goods stolen, nor been beat, not pistols pointed at our breasts, we may count our sufferings slight compared to many others.”
The frank descriptions Anna committed to paper had the potential to endanger both herself and her family. She ended her October letter to her mother admitting, “the freedom I have spoken with in this letter I know must not be used again-do not be uneasy, we shall be cautious.”
In August of 1783, Anna’s stepfather left New York for England with her brother William Rawle and her stepbrother Edward Shoemaker. While in London, Samuel Shoemaker was often consulted by the loyalist compensation board’s commissioners to assist them in evaluating the claims of Loyalists for their losses. Shoemaker was admitted to a private interview with the king, and later the British Government made him a liberal compensation for his losses.
While her stepfather was in England, Anna Rawle married a Philadelphia merchant named John Clifford. He was prosperous enough to have an estate surrounded by orchards and gardens near the Schuylkill River. John and Anna had only one child –a daughter who was born in 1792. Named for her grandmother, Rebecca Clifford married John Pemberton in 1812.
Three years after he sought sanctuary in England, Samuel Shoemaker received word from his wife that she felt it was safe for him to re-join his family in Philadelphia. Although he “was thought to be in much danger”, to his surprise he was “treated with civility, even by the most violent” of Patriots.
The historian, Judith Van Buskirk, notes that the Shoemaker family never destroyed the letters and diaries that revealed the deep Loyalist convictions of the family, “an indication perhaps that they were not ashamed of their political choices.”
Anna Rawle Clifford, a “resident Loyalist”, died two months before her 71st birthday. In addition to the legacy of her revolutionary era letters and diary, her childhood home, Laurel Hill is now on the National Register of Historic Places.
(Editor’s Note: See a silhouette of Anna Rawle found in the 1902 book, Sally Wister’s Journal.)
To secure permission to reprint this article contact the author at stephendavids@gmail.com.

This Week in Nova Scotia History: 16 August 1784: Influx of Loyalists
LEO J. DEVEAU, Aug. 15 to 21 in Saltwire (2nd item)
16 August 1784 — To deal with the influx of thousands of Loyalists from the Thirteen American Colonies, word was received in Nova Scotia from Britain that the colony was to be divided — forming the colony named New Brunswick with its capital based at Fredericton (formerly known as St. Anne’s Point). Further, Cape Breton and St. John’s Island (later named Prince Edward Island) were to be divided from Nova Scotia with their own Lieutenant-Governors.
Thus, the British colonies of the Maritime provinces came into being. Later, the creation of the separate province of Upper Canada would also be created in 1791 (a predecessor of the modern-day province of Ontario). Cape Breton would rejoin Nova Scotia in 1820.
With the Declaration of American Independence signed on Aug. 2, 1776 (the American Revolution having started in 1775, and running to January 1783) — tens of thousands of civilian refugees (known as Loyalists — later referred to as the United Empire Loyalists), as well as disbanded soldiers, all from different ethnic backgrounds, had begun to move north by the thousands, including freed and enslaved Blacks and Indigenous peoples, primarily between 1782 and 1784.
Their numbers would total close to 75,000 and literally swamped the existing population of the Maritimes, creating many administrative challenges and hardships in the early years. However, their arrival would eventually seek more effective political participation leading to the creation of the Maritime colonies (and later Upper Canada), and became instrumental in establishing many educational, religious, social and governmental institutions that set the stage for an emerging nation we now call Canada.

Justice, Deterrence, and Fitful Revenge During the Revolutionary War
by Louis Arthur Norton, 18 August 2022 Journal of the American Revolution
War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it.”
The application of justice during the Revolutionary War deserves scrutiny. Historic records related to people condemned to death during this period reflect society’s norm for justice, deterrence, and often vengeance. Countless men on both sides of the conflict were executed for treachery, betrayal, or perfidy. Several examples show the variety of ways that vengeance was wrought, sometimes legalistically and sometimes arbitrarily, sometimes systematically and sometimes spontaneously.
Most of the men examined here were condemned to the gallows, the primary means of capital punishment in the British Empire and therefore in its rebellious North American colonies. A few suffered repugnant exceptions to this accepted practice. Read more…

Alexander Hamilton was Right: True Liberty Demands Economic Independence
by Nancy Bradeen Spannaus 16 August 2022 in Journal of the Ajmericvan Revolution’
One of the most insightful monologues in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton musical comes from King George, who raps to the following effect: Well, now that you have your freedom, do you have any idea what to do next?
To most Americans at the time of the War for Independence, of course, the King’s question was the farthest thing from their minds. They reveled in freedom from tyranny and were not thinking of what came next. But to the most prescient of the Founding Fathers, the future was a serious concern. The new country was bankrupt and divided, and still faced an adversary that was not reconciled to its freedom. It was clear that winning the war for independence would only be the first step in securing the country’s ability to enjoy its freedom. To defend hard-won American liberties, its citizens would have to establish their economic independence as well. Read more,,.

Common Place: To Remember or to Forget: Unlikely Interracial Collaboration
Amanda Bowie Moniz August 2022
The Story of Philanthropists Catherine Williams Ferguson and Isabella Marshall Graham’s Unlikely Interracial Collaboration
Not only was women’s and African Americans’ public leadership new and controversial, but also, well into the 1800s, Black and white women didn’t typically cooperate in charitable activity or reform efforts.
Perhaps ten-year-old Katy Williams’s heart beat a little faster or her hands shook before she spoke up that day sometime in the 1780s. She was addressing an adult, a respected man, after all, with a deal she wanted to make. If he would free her, Katy told her owner, she would “serve the Lord forever.”
Katy’s master was an elder in one of New York’s Presbyterian churches, so she may have thought that the offer would appeal to his religious sensibilities. But she had another, more important reason to devote her life to serving God: it was what her mother expected of her…
…Few of the nineteenth-century stories on Ferguson failed to mention that the “sainted Isabella Graham” had regularly invited Ferguson’s “scholars to her house, to say their catechism, and receive religious instruction.” Graham, likewise devout, was a groundbreaking philanthropist. At a time when some clergymen railed against the women beginning to found and run charities, Graham led the creation of New York’s first female-led charity, the Society for the Relief of Poor Widows with Small Children. And that was just the beginning of her charitable leadership in New York. Read more…

The History of Passekeag and Bloomfield, Kings Co, NB
Passekeag is about About 50km NE of Saint John NB, between Hampton and Bloomfield in King’s County. Here the Loyalists and the Sottish immigrants settled and intermarried.
The first road through the Passekeag Valley was an Indian Trail. Starting at John MacVey’s property, it followed the hillside up to Smith’s property where it crossed the brook and continued on through the valley. There are marks of old cellars on the hillside across the brook on the Tom Earle place. The first road to Sussex from Upham, was the Ridge Road. It went over James Matthews pasture and out at the Millbrook Bridge and followed the Harley Road by the Oscar Avanda Wetmore place.
Passekeag is an Indian word meaning “Little Creek”. It was first called “Paddy Cake”, but was changed to its present name when the railroad was built in 1865. An Indian Chief named John Paul named the place.John lived on my place with nine other Indian camps. They cleared a field that we call “the three-corneredfield”. A nephew of the chief, Joe Paul, was the first man in the place to receive a dollar a day wage.
The “Woodpecker Hall Road’ goes through toward Hampton about two miles. There is in the woods anice lake called “McManus Lake”. The area was settled by the McManus, Smith and Greg families but all ischanged and it is now owned by Ora Saunders. Woodpecker Hall Road was never finished because of a badomen which appeared to two men. They were cutting trees, and two trees lodged together which they took foran unlucky sign. The road and area were so named because of the great number of woodpeckers whichfrequented the place. An old graveyard can be located but it is in bad condition, covered with trees. Two headstones, marked Dennison and Brown, which have fallen over, are covered with sods and trees. There are a number of people buried there; some of the surnames are Mitchells, Matthews and Moody. Read more…
Submitted by Barbara Pearson UE

Book: The Loyalists of Massachusetts, The Other Side of The Story
By James H. Stark
Published by Global Heritage Press, Ottawa, 2022
This book provides much detail about those Massachusetts individuals who remained Loyal to the Crown during and after the American Revolution. The largest section of the book is Biographies of the Loyalists of Massachusetts. The list of those who are included in the book is extensive
The author begins with an examination of the conditions, circumstances and motives that led to the American Revolution, followed by an account of the events of the Revolution itself. He dedicates a complete chapter to the expulsion of the Loyalists and their role in the “establishment of Canada”. Read more including THREE indexes…

Ben Franklin’s World: Surviving the Southampton Rebellion
Vanessa Holden, an Associate Professor of History and African and Africana Studies at the University of Kentucky and the author of the award-winning book Surviving Southampton, joins us to investigate the events and circumstances of the Southampton, Virginia slave rebellion in 1831.
During our investigation, Vanessa reveals when and why the Southampton Rebellion took place; The early history of Southampton, Virginia and why it experienced a slave rebellion; And, why we should look at the Southampton Rebellion as a community-wide event. Listen in…

Bonesetters: Joint Manipulators and Musculoskeletal Fixers
By Geri Walton | June 15, 2020 | 0
Bonesetters of the 1700s and 1800s were like today’s chiropractors, osteopaths, and physical therapists rolled into one. They practiced joint manipulation and fixed musculoskeletal injuries using manual force. Traditionally, these practitioners did not have formal medical training but rather learned their skills on their own or from their family with bone-setting knowledge being passed down from one generation to the next.
Bonesetters of the 1700s and 1800s could be found in many countries. For instance they were readily found in America, the United Kingdom, and France where they were called by a variety of names.
Bonesetters of these times were also primarily male practitioners. Many had long family legacies and had been around for years, but they did not receive praise and recognition for their unique skills until the early 1700s. This praise changed to disdain as medicine began to advance. Read more…

List of Loyalist Certificates Updated with those issued in 2022 until July 28
The list of UE Certificates issued since late in 2012 — showing the Loyalist ancestor, name of descendant (when permission is granted), branch and date — has been updated with the certificates issued in 2022 between 21June and 28 July.
The list can be seen at Loyalist Certificates Issued
These have also been added to the appropriate Loyalist in the Loyalist Directory.

UELAC Loyalist Directory: New Contributions
Entries which have been added, or revised, this week, with thanks:

  • Thanks to Vancouver Branch (Linda Nygard, Linda Drake) and they with Jim Bruce at Dominion Office for more data about the two Jeremiah Frenchs:
    • Jeremiah French Sr. was born in 1712 and served as a Loyalist
    • Lieut. Jeremiah French Jr. was son of Jeremiah Sr., from Manchester, Vermont, married Elizabeth Wheeler, served in Queen’s Loyal Rangers and King Royal Regiment of New York and resettlefd at Eastern District at Maple Grove, Cornwall Twp, Stormont Co, Ontario
  • Appreciation to Maralynn Wilkinson of Victoria Branch who has provided details about:
    • James Bradshaw Sr. from Kingsbury, Charlotte, New York who married 13 February 1753 Lydia Roburds Moss, b. 30 March 1726, served in DeLancey’s Brigade and settled in Fredericksburgh Con 4 lot 20 w 1/2 Con 5 lot 14 W1/2. Three of his sons also served:
  • Douglas McCallum has provided information about:
    • Jesse Strang from New York, married to Sarah Wright, arrived from Shelburne at Charlottetown 1784 and settled at Bedeque, Prince Edward Island
    • Richard Price Sr also came from Shelburne and settled at Bedeque. He was married to Anastasia Cody
  • and thanks to Kevin Wisener who submitted information about John Mason who served as a pilot in the Chesapeake Bay area of Maryland, Virginia, during the war, married Fanny and received two land grants at Lot 58, Queens County, Prince Edward Island and in 1785 in Hants County, Nova Scotia.
  • Jim Bruce helped to sort information in what had been multiple entries for Philip Roblin into one. From Smiths Clove, Orange Co, NY, USA Philip served in the New York Barrack Master’s Department, Peter Ruttan’s Company #6 Associated Loyalists in New York, was married to Elizabeth Esther Miller and they settled in Adolphustown Twp. Lennox & Addington Co., Ontario

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

In The News:

Historic Annapolis Valley church marks 231 years of service
Brooklyn Currie 14 August 2022 CBC
When the bell rang at the Old Holy Trinity Church in Middleton, N.S., on Sunday, it was no ordinary toll.
It marked the 231st anniversary of the first congregation held at the historic church on Aug. 14, 1791.
The church is one of the oldest, and largely unaltered, churches of its kind in Canada, according to Brian McConnell, chair of the Old Holy Trinity Heritage Trust.
The church was active until 1893, when a new church was built in the community. Despite no longer being the main church of the parish, Old Holy Trinity continued to be available for special occasions and anniversaries. Read more…

‘A rare jewel’: Old Holy Trinity Church in Middleton, N.S., holds 231st anniversary ceremony
Jason Malloy · Lead editor, Annapolis Valley Register 18 Aug 2022

“It’s a rare jewel. We’re extremely fortunate to have it…There are stories of Nova Scotians and people from around the world there . … it tells the story of Middleton, of Nova Scotia, of Canada in this church..” As I was reported in saying, I am pleased to see this article published on Open House held at Old Holy Trinity Church in Middleton on Sunday. The church was built by United Empire Loyalists and still maintained by descendants. …Brian McConnell

The oldest structurally unaltered Loyalist church in Canada was celebrated on Aug. 14 but it wouldn’t have been possible without a woman speaking up to see it maintained about 25 years ago.
The Old Holy Trinity Church was established in Middleton in 1789. But by 1893, a heated church was needed, and the Anglican diocese decided to build a new facility closer to the centre of town. The original church was maintained for special events like anniversary services.
But by 1998, the more than 200-year-old building was in need of costly repairs and there were discussions about demolishing it. Read more...

Upcoming Events

Gov. Simcoe Branch: “Fascinating Facts from Loyalist History” by Stephen Davidson

Historian and author Stephen Davidson has compiled 25 facts from Loyalist history that may have escaped the notice of your Canadian history teachers — facts that prove to be far more fascinating than many of the myths that have clung to these “friends of the king” over the centuries.
Wed 7 Sept at 7:30 ET. See Details and Register

Editor: Significance of 794
No, 794 is not the number of possible and proven Loyalists who have been added to the Loyalist Directory. That itself is a great story, good news. When the new Directory went live several months ago, it contained 9,440 entries. Today it has 10,540 entries, an increase of 1,100.
Many of these were contributed by Lynton “Bill” Stewart who has transcribed those people who were given Loyalist land grants from the Loyalists and Land Settlement in Nova Scotia, Public Archives of Nova Scotia (PANS). He has completed one county and is working through a second.
Kevin Wisener has contributed many as well, with his focus on Prince Edward Island.
Numerous others too have contributed new information but often updates for existing records.
Thanks to all.
NOTE: You too can see how many entries there are at any point. Go to the Loyalist Directory. It will display the first ten entries in the directory and just below that it states “Showing 1 to 10 of 10,524 entries” – the last number being of course the number of current entries at that time.
So what is “794”? Watch this space.

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