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Online Registration Registration for UELAC Conference is Now Available
See the conference details for more about the event including registration (online and mail-in form), hotel rates and booking, flight discounts and more…
2023 UELAC Hybrid Conference Planning Committee

2023 UELAC Conference: Introducing the Virtual Guest Speakers
At the 2023 UELAC Hybrid Conference, “Where the Sea Meets the Sky,” the Virtual Guest Speakers will present from 31 May to 04 June.
All Virtual Guest Speaker Presentations will be available at an appropriate scheduled time. Details of Presenters, Topics and Presentation Synopsis, including Scheduled Dates/Times for each presentation will be forthcoming in the weeks leading up to the Conference.

Introducing Guest Speakers

Nathan Tidridge – UELAC Honorary Fellow
 The Crown in Canada: Rooted in History (from the podcast series “The Crown in Canada”)

You can’t tell the story of Canada without the Crown. It is an institution that is not only embedded in our Treaties, but also Canada’s democratic institutions, and countless other aspects of our day-to-day lives. The social, political, and cultural landscapes of this land for the past 500 years are inextricably linked with the Crown – the evidence of this can be found in visible examples from street signs to military cap badges, Royal Visits to Royal Commissions, but there are also the unseen aspects of the institution which Dr. David A. Smith, an expert on the subject, characterised as: The Invisible Crown.
Read more about Nathan and his topic.

Check the 2023 Conference Website for a list of Topics and Speakers
For those who register, Zoom Links will be forwarded closer to the Conference launch!

Online Registration with PayPal is now open at https://forms.gle/PiDzSJMUkdPU6t2SA — Virtual attendees, please fill out the Virtual Attendee Portion
Carl Stymiest UE

Desperately Seeking Indigenous Allies in the East – Part Two of Five
copyright Stephen Davidson UE
In September of 1775, Pierre Tomah and Ambroise Saint-Aubin, two leaders of the St. John River’s Wolastoqiyik Nation, journeyed to a trading post (today’s Bangor, Maine) to declare their support for Massachusetts. The agreement they signed said in part: “We heartily join with our brethren the Penobscot Indians in everything that they have or shall agree with our brethren of the colony of Massachusetts, and are resolved to stand together and oppose the people of Old England that are endeavoring to take your and our lands and liberties from us.”
A year later, following the Declaration of Independence, the Continental Congress, acting on behalf of the rebelling colonies, authorized George Washington to recruit the Indigenous People of the northeast to join them in their fight against the English. Populating what is now coastal New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, the Mi’kmaq People were especially crucial if the rebel forces were to remove the British from the shores of the Atlantic.
Having been under British rule since 1763, the Mi’kmaq were understandably confused. “We do not comprehend what all this quarreling is about. How comes it that Old England and New England should quarrel and come to blows? The father and the son to fight is terrible! Old France and Canada did not do so; we cannot think of fighting ourselves till we know who is right and who is wrong.”
On July 19, 1776, Ambroise Saint-Aubin led a delegation of the Maritimes largest Indigenous Nations to Watertown, Massachusetts. The newly established United States and the Wabanaki Confederacy guaranteed peaceful interactions with one another. The Americans promised “goods for services” for the Indigenous warriors who fought against the British, and the creation of a trading post on the Maine coast. The Mi’kmaq and Wolastoqiyik pledged to provide 600 warriors for the Continental Army. Of note is the fact that the Treaty of Watertown was the first international treaty signed by the new republic.
Although they were glad to have acquired allies against the British, the rebel Americans were still more than ready to make bogeymen out of North America’s “savages”. In an address to the Irish that was sent within days of making a treaty with the Mi’kmaq, the Continental Congress denounced King George III for trying to persuade Indigenous warriors to fight for the crown. The address, in part, said, “The wild and barbarous savages of the wilderness have been solicited by gifts to take up the hatchet against us, and instigated to deluge our settlements with the blood of defenseless women and children.”
Despite their fear of Indigenous People, the rebelling colonists of North America depended upon their Native allies to wage war on their behalf in Nova Scotia. However, before the outbreak of the American Revolution, the people of the Wabanaki Confederacy had enjoyed many years of profitable trading with the New Englanders who had settled along the St. John River. It was still early days in the revolution. The British and the Loyalists of Nova Scotia might still have a chance to win the tug of war to secure Indigenous support in the Maritimes.
The New England Planters who had settled along the St. John River were divided between their loyalty to the crown and their desire to side with their countrymen in the Thirteen Colonies. The rebel partnership with the region’s Indigenous People not only provided additional military strength for the Patriot cause, it also helped to persuade the Planters to side with Massachusetts. One historian notes that the Wolastoqiyik “even threatened to kill the white inhabitants unless they would join the “Boston men.””
On May 14, 1776, under threats of Native violence, a predisposition to support New England, and the presence of American privateers along the coast, the settlers of Maugerville unanimously adopted a resolution that supported the rebel government of Massachusetts, saying they were ready “with our lives and fortunes to share with them the event of the present struggle for liberty.”
Within four months of having secured a treaty with the Indigenous People of Nova Scotia in July of 1776, the new republic launched an attack to secure the 14th colony as a member of the United States. Ambroise Saint-Aubin, one of the leaders of the Wolastoqiyik Nation, and his warriors joined a rebel force comprised of 180 Nova Scotian rebels and American patriots.
Led by Jonathan Eddy, the men attacked Fort Cumberland, which guarded the area now comprising the Nova Scotia-New Brunswick border. They were repulsed three times before British Royal Marines and the Royal Fencible Americans relieved the fort. Eddy and his men scattered, never to attempt an attack again. It was the only battle of the revolution to be fought on land within the borders of present-day Nova Scotia. Writing of the attack on Fort Cumberland, Eddy said that his Indigenous allies had “behaved most gallantly”.
Despite this setback, the new American government continued to curry favour with the Wabanaki Confederacy. On Christmas Eve 1776, George Washington entertained Wolastoqiyik warriors at his headquarters on the Delaware River.
At that time, the American commander in chief said, “Brothers of the St. John’s tribe: It gave me great pleasure to hear … that you keep the chain of Friendship … bright and unbroken. I am glad to hear that you have made a treaty of peace with your brothers and neighbors of Massachusetts Bay. My good friend and brother, {Pierre Tomah} and the warriors that came with him shall be taken good care of, and when they want to return home they and our brothers of Penobscot shall be furnished with everything necessary for their journey. … Never let the King’s wicked counsellors turn your hearts against me and your brethren of this country…”
The attack on Fort Cumberland and the situation along the St. John River served as a wake-up call for the British authorities based in Halifax. In early 1777, they appointed Michael Francklin, an influential merchant and politician who lived in Nova Scotia’s capital, as superintendent of Indian affairs.
Twenty-three years earlier, a Mi’kmaq band had captured Francklin and taken him 250 miles north to the Gaspé Peninsula. During his three months with his Indigenous captors, the merchant learned their language and came to respect their culture. Francklin also spoke French and was well received by the Acadians, the long-time allies of the Wabanaki. When he was Nova Scotia’s lieutenant governor, he allowed deported Acadians to once again settle near Minas Basin and granted them the unrestricted freedom of their Roman Catholic faith. These experiences would serve the 44 year-old Francklin well in his attempts to make the Wabanaki Confederacy allies of the British crown.
The story of the eastern First Nations’ role in the American Revolution will continue in next week’s Loyalist Trails.
To secure permission to reprint this article contact the author at stephendavids@gmail.com.

The Lonely Vigil of America’s First Diplomat
by James M. Smith 2 Feb 2023 Journal of the American Revolution
After the French and Indian War, or the Seven Years War as it was known in Europe, Spain and France began to plan for their revenge against Britain. They had been humiliated by Britain by the terms of that ended that war. They began to rebuild their navies and to train them together with joint maneuvers to learn how to work together in a single battle plan. They had a common signal system so that they could communicate orders between their fleets. After the war the two navies had eighty-four ships of the line, the biggest ships at the time with the most guns. They had planned so that by the time they were to face Britain again they would have a total of two hundred and twenty ships of the line. Only then could they think of taking on the Royal Navy…
…People in America were unaware of the steps that France and Spain were taking to be able to offer aid to America. The Continental Congress had set up a Secret Committee whose job it was to seek and obtain aid from foreign sources in order to supply the American army properly. The committee quickly decided to send a man to France to seek that aid. The man they chose was Silas Deane. Deane had been a member of the Continental Congress during its initial session in 1774 and had been reappointed to attend the Second Continental Congress when it reconvened in May of 1775. However, by the time it reconvened, fighting between Americans and Britons had already broken out in Massachusetts. Deane, as an official in the colony of Connecticut, had taken responsibility in sending Benedict Arnold to take Fort Ticonderoga to capture the British guns there. Read more…

Henry Lloyd advertised “Buy American”
Jan 31, 1769, Boston merchant Henry Lloyd advertised “Choice American” fishing gear to the mariners of Salem and Marblehead. Though promoting locally made goods that year, Lloyd would become a Loyalist.
“Esteemed by Judges equal in Quality to the best imported from England.”
When Henry Lloyd of Boston placed his advertisement for “CHOICE American manufactured COD and MACKAREL LINES” in the January 31, 1769, edition of the Essex Gazette he participated in the development of the first generation of “Buy American” advertisements. Although brief, his notice favorably compared his product to imported counterparts, asserting that they had been “esteemed by Judges equal in Quality to the best imported from England.” In addition, he sold them “At a reasonable Price.” Read more…

The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams
Stacy Schiff: 1 Feb. 2023 at Ben Franklin’s World
Stacy investigates the life and deeds of Samuel Adams using details from her new book, The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams. Schiff is a multiple-award and Pulitzer Prize-winning author who has written six books.
During our investigation of Adams, Stacy reveals what we know about Samuel Adams’s life and education; How Adams made politics his career and his successes and failures in politics; And some of the work Adams did to transform protests and debates over imperial taxation into a revolution for social and political change. Listen in…

Journal of the American Revolution Book of the Year
Since 2014, the Journal of the American Revolution has recognized the 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. All three books are outstanding contributions to the history of the Revolutionary and Founding Eras.

The Sewing Girl’s Tale: A Story of Crime and Consequences in Revolutionary America by John Wood Sweet.
An intense narrative of a crime committed against a young woman in post-Revolutionary New York City. The main character, the seventeen-year-old seamstress Lanah Sawyer, found that she had reserves of courage by doing the unthinkable: she accused Harry Bedlow, a well-connected young man, of rape.

Misinformation Nation: Foreign New and the Politics of Truth in Revolutionary America by Jordan E. Taylor.
The concept of “fake news” is not new. The newspapers published in the thirteen colonies and later the United States were all guilty of printing news that was not new or original. The purpose, however, was not really to deceive the readers. The problem was that newspapers did not have any consistently reliable sources for information.

Our Dear-Bought Liberty: Catholics and Religious Toleration in Early America by Michael D. Breidenbach.
The United States has had a long history of intolerance for the Roman Catholic religion. English settlers to North America saw allegiance to the Bishop of Rome to be anti-democratic. Catholic settlers had to prove their loyalty to the new nation by denying the infallibility of the pope.
Read more about each book.

Men’s waistcoats of the Georgian era
By Sarah Murden 30 January 2023, All Things Georgian
In the 18th and early 19th century it was very much the fashion for men to wear some stunning waistcoats, so today we’re going to take a pictorial look at some stunning waistcoats from a variety of museums and galleries. Why don’t we see anything quite like these today? Perhaps time for a revival, maybe!
The first item is truly stunning especially when you look at the detail of the bottom of it. I can’t imagine how long that must have taken to sew.
I thought it was worth also taking a look at newspaper adverts to see who was actually selling waistcoats and how much they cost. Read more…

Upcoming Events

The American Revolition Institute: Charles Stedman’s History of the Origin, Progress, and Termination of the American War

Join us on Friday, February 10, at 12:30 pm – 1:00 for Lunch Bite featuring Historical Programs Manager Andrew Outten discussing Charles Stedman’s history of the Revolutionary War that contains annotations made by British General Gen. Sir Henry Clinton. Stedman, who served as an officer in the British army for most of the Revolutionary War, wrote a detailed history of the conflict that was published in 1794. More details and registration.

York-Sunbury HS: Enslavement in Loyalist era New Brunswick, 

NOTE:  This event has been cancelled
Numerous Canadians have adopted a narrative of Canada as a new home for displaced Loyalists, both white and Black, and a place where runaway enslaved people from the U.S. could find liberty through the Underground Railroad. This problematic myth of Canadian exceptionalism has caused many to ignore Canada’s direct participation in the enslavement of Black and Indigenous peoples.

Kawartha Branch: The Knotted Rope By Jean Rae Baxter 19 Feb. 2023 2:00 ET

The Knotted Rope, the sixth and final novel in what has become known as the “Forging a Nation” series, is set in Niagara in 1793 during the last days of slavery in Upper Canada. It returns to the subject of Jean Rae Baxter’s third historical, Freedom Bound, in which she told the story of the Black Loyalists’ escape from slavery during the American Revolution.
In The Knotted Rope, Jean Rae Baxter unravels another strand of the complicated, sometimes tragic, but ultimately victorious, history of the fight to end slavery.
In this presentation, she examines the paradox at the heart of writing responsible historical fiction. To honour our history, we must be true to it.
But how can we tell the truth by means of made-up stories? That is the question. The answer, she explains, lies in the use of historical facts to trigger the action. The writer shows how people reacted to, and were affected by, actual events. Just such an event was The Proclamation of “An Act to Prevent the further Introduction of Slaves and to limit the Term of Contracts for Service Statutes of Upper Canada 33 George III.”
Jean Rae Baxter is the descendant of settlers who arrived in New France in the 17th century, Loyalists who came to the New Settlement following the American Revolution, immigrants from Germany in the 19th century. There were many family stories to awaken her interest in Canada’s history.
Jean’s historical fiction has won recognition in both Canada and the United States.
To register, email Grietje McBride maplegrm@gmail.com

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

  • Thanks to Lynton “Bill” Stewart, more information has been added for:
    • Lt.-Col. Timothy Hierlihy Sr. served with the British Army, receiving the rank of Major, prior to the American Revolution. After leaving the army he settled in Middletown CT where he married and all but one of his children were born. He served in Hierlihy Corps, and Prince of Wales American Regiment. In 1784 received a 1600 acre Loyalist Land Grant in Bay of St. Lewis (now Antigonish Harbour), Sydney County, Nova Scotia.
  • Thanks to Elizabeth Stuart, information has been added about:
    • Dr. James Stuart UE served a total of 14 years for the British as Surgeons Mate, first during the Seven Years War in the 42nd Regiment and then with the KRRNY from 1777 to 1783. He resettled in Wales, Osnabruck Township (submerged when the St. Lawrence Seaway went through)
      • Capt. John Roy Stuart of Stamford New York served as Wagon Master as member of the Associated Departments of the Army & Navy (pg. 254). John wrote and signed his loyalist memorial in Shelburne County, Nova Scotia, April 14, 1786.
      • Capt. Henry Stuart was the third son of Loyalist Dr. James Stuart UE (KRRNY). He was too young to see active service: only 10 years old during the war, discounting him from UEL status. Settled in Eastern District, Osnabruck Township.
      • Gilbert Stuart was the fourth son and he settled later in the Eastern District, died in 1810 in Osnabruck Township.
    • Thanks to Maralynn Wilkinson for Peter Etter Jr. of Braintree MA served in the Royal Fencible American Regiment of Foot. Married Letitia PATTON, born 22 February 1758 Londonderry, Ireland. Married 22 February 1780 Cumberland, Nova Scotia. He died 26 December 1793 Briar Island, New Brunswick, buried in Sackville NB.
    • Thanks also to Kevin Wisener for:
      • Pvt. John Griffin 7th Regiment, 1st Battalion, Oliver Delancey’s Brigade (general remarks states: “Invalidated at New York”). A Loyalist refugee: Passenger number 154 on HMS Clinton, picking up 28 Sept 1783 off Staten Island, NY, delivered to Port Roseway, NS, 26 October 1783. Received 100 acres of land on the Pinette River, Lot 58, Queens County, Prince Edward Island
      • Patrick Griffin served with the Royal Nova Scotia Volunteers. Received 100 acres of land at Belfast Village, Lot 57, Queens County, Prince Edward Island
      • Charles Carroll, also on the HMS Clinton, settled at Pinette River, Queens County, PEI. Possibly born in Rhode Island as he arrived with the Grandins who negotiated a land grant for Rhode Island Loyalists with Governor Patterson

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

From the Twittersphere and Beyond

  • Black Loyalist Communities, 1783 – 1791 (Source: Pamphlet “A Tribute to The Black Loyalists, published by Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia, 1983). Appeared in pamphlet prepared in 1983 on 200th anniversary of landing in Nova Scotia of Loyalists (scroll down for two images)
  • Oliver Lyman who served in a Loyalist Company in Florida & at end of American Revolution came to Nova Scotia where granted land is one of 120 United Empire Loyalists who settled in the Maritimes identified in “The United Empire Loyalists & You“.
  • An updated biography of Vice-Admiral Alexander Fraser 1747-1829 for my website. A Shetland Islander and somewhat of a tyrant to his men, his career took him from burning Falmouth, Massachusetts, in 1775 to the bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807.
  • This week in History
  • Clothing and Related:
    • From the archives: The Truth about 1770s Big Hair: How They Did It,
    • Decorative arts reach out across mediums here in a 1770s robe a la francaise that echoes fine blue and white china patterns of the period. This gown might be from the Netherlands and echoes #delftware designs in a trailing floral repeat.
    • 18th Century dress, Robe à la Polonaise with dress accessories, American, 1780’s
    • A Robe à l’anglaise, 1763, American (of English fabric), silk plain weave taffeta patterned with supplementary wefts brocaded with polychrome silks. Worn by Sarah Tyng Smith when she married Richard Codman in Portland, Maine, Feb 23, 1763
    • 18th Century dress, rear view of an open dress with linen skirt, England, 1795. This dress had been altered from a Robe a l’Anglaise circa 1785 to follow the changing fashions and rising waistlines.
    • 18th Century waistcoat, French, 1787. Yellow-green silk embroidered along the front edges with bright silk in a floral design with flowers and leaves and figurative scenes.
    • 18th Century man’s suit, pink silk, silver brocade with rich embroidery in gold, 1780
  • Miscellaneous
    • Sarah Fallover worked this rare sampler in 1793. The cherubs, worked in fine silk stitch, have the rare addition of original painted paper arms, legs, and faces. They frame a distinctively stripy urn, which sits atop a zigzag and checkerboard-patterned column
    • A stunning Fulda porcelain coffee or hot chocolate cup & cover with stand, c.1785, blue crowned FF marks, impressed IK marks, the cup with a channelled angular handle, the cup & saucer with rectangular faux-bois panels with a trompe loeil trophies including artists palettes,
    • Are you in for six more weeks of winter? Happy Groundhog Day! Groundhogs are also known as woodchucks, from their Algonquin name “wuchak.” Native to Virginia, their bones have been excavated from several contexts at Jamestown, including a cellar filled with food remains from the Starving Time.

Last Post: Thurston UE, Ronald Bowman
October 11, 1930 – January 21, 2023
Ronald passed away in North Vancouver, B.C. He was born in Halifax, N.S., the only child of Bowman Corning Thurston and Florence May Cole, both predeceased of Halifax, N.S. He was a proud descendant of Nova Scotia United Empire Loyalists. He was also predeceased by his loving wife, Pauline Joan (Conlin) and his sons Edward and Robert.
Ron is survived by his son William (Carla); his daughter Patricia (Peter) Widdows; daughter-in-law Isabell (Edward) Thurston; daughter-in-law Diane (Robert) Thurston; sisters-in-law Kathleen King, Cena Montague; Nova Scotia cousins, Frieda Perry, Harry Thurston, Gladys Merrigan and many more.
Although Ron was raised in Montreal from 1936, he remained proud of his Nova Scotia heritage, always sporting either a Nova Scotia Tartan scarf around his neck, Nova Scotia pin on his lapel or flag on his scooter.
In 1948 Ron joined The Royal Bank of Canada in Montreal, where he met his wife Pauline.
He had a passion for the outdoors and at every opportunity took his family exploring, whether by car, canoe or float plane and after retirement at the cabin in Merritt, B.C.
But his greatest passion was always family. Ron, to many of us and Bubba to the following generations.
Read more details.
Ralph was a member of Nova Scotia Branch, UELAC. He proved his descent from and received a Loyalist Certificate for Loyalist ancestors James Cosman UEL, Peter John UEL and Robert Thurston UEL.

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