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Endangered: The Families of Loyalist Ministers. Part Two of Three
copyright Stephen Davidson UE
Elizabeth (Fletcher) Feilde was an Anglican minister’s wife who at one time lived in Eastwick, Herefordshire, England. In the fall of 1770, her husband, the Rev. Thomas Feilde, was given a parish in Kingston, Virginia that included a house, 500 acres of land, and a salary that included 13,055 pounds of tobacco. A year later, Elizabeth, their three sons, and a daughter left their homeland to join Feilde in Virginia.
(One interesting footnote to this Anglican rector’s career is that he baptized more than 700 slaves during his seven years in the colony. This was a record that very few other clergy could match.)
In the years that followed, Elizabeth’s husband was appointed as the governor of William and Mary College in Williamsburg, Virginia. Situated in the colonial capital and staffed by members of the Church of England, the college was the second oldest institution of higher learning in the thirteen colonies. But the Feildes’ prominence in colonial society was to be short lived.
Local Patriots asserted that Elizabeth’s husband refused “to adhere to order of Congress and entertains inimical sentiments“. Pressure on the Loyalist’s family was such that on the night of February 2, 1777, William and Edmund, two of the Feildes’ sons, escaped their home in a canoe. They were able to find sanctuary on the naval vessel HMS Richmond. The brothers made their way to New York City, the site of British military headquarters in North America. They then boarded a merchant ship and arrived in England by 1778.
Meanwhile in Virginia, Rev. Feilde was “divested” of his office at the college on July 15, 1777. Feilde’s activities as an Anglican minister subjected him to further persecution. While other congregations in Virginia were holding special thanksgiving services to celebrate the capture of Britain’s General Burgoyne in October of 1777, Feilde did not participate.
Finally, Patriot officials announced that they no longer considered Elizabeth’s husband as a minister of the gospel in the parish, proclaiming, “Nature teaches human beings not to nourish the viper in the bosom“. Rather than imprisoning the Anglican minister, Virginia’s rebels permitted him to take his family within British lines.
By 1778, the Feildes were living on Staten Island where Thomas served as the chaplain for the Second Battalion under the command of Brigadier General Oliver DeLancey. A year later, Elizabeth’s husband and three other displaced Virginia ministers wrote to Robert Lowth, the bishop of London for financial aid. They described themselves “as proper objects for munificence.” They were “faithful and loyal” servants of their state and church. The three ministers felt they deserved “some marks of favour and bounty, from those, for whom we have lost so much.” Lowth sent their requests to the Treasury, which paid £50 annually to each man, beginning on January 5, 1780.
While the other two Anglican ministers would eventually find sanctuary in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Thomas Feilde did not live to see the end of the American Revolution. He died in February of 1781 and was buried beneath the pulpit of St. Andrew’s Church on Staten Island. Elizabeth Fielde was now a widow with 11 year-old James and an unnamed daughter as her dependents.
By this time her oldest son, William, had become a lieutenant in the 4th Battalion of the 60th Regiment, serving as “a Loyalist who bore arms”. Both mother and son sought compensation from the British government. After 1783, Elizabeth and her children returned to England, where they had lived 12 years earlier.
Despite the devastation experienced by this loyal Anglican minister’s family, one of Elizabeth’s sons settled in what is now Ontario. At age 22, James Feilde married Jeanne Cazalet in Somerset, England on January 29, 1791. They joined other Loyalists in settling Augusta Township along the St. Lawrence River in what was then Grenville County, Upper Canada. The young Feilde couple had two children born there: John Cazalet Fielde and Sophia Feilde (1803 -1873). It seems unlikely that these two ever met their grandmother Elizabeth who had suffered so much at the hands of Virginia’s rebels.
Mrs. Jeanne Feilde died in Prescott, Upper Canada on January 12, 1848 in her 88th year. James Feilde, who had spent his boyhood in Virginia, had died 18 years earlier in St. Germaine-en-Laye, outside of Paris, France. How this Loyalist’s son came to die so far away from his families in Canada and England is unknown.
Another son of a loyalist Anglican minister ended up in the “back land of New Brunswick“. James Whitmore admitted that “as the son of a clergyman, he was never able to dissemble his loyalty”. In other words, he could never conceal or disguise his true convictions. Although there certainly were Anglican rectors who sided with the Patriot cause, it was generally assumed that if you were a Church of England minister, you and your family were loyal to the crown.
Whitmore demonstrated his loyalty in a very public way in April of 1775 when he signed his name to a notice that was published in a New York City newspaper. He and other “subscribers, freeholders, and inhabitants of the County of Westchester” wrote that they “met here to declare our honest abhorrence of all unlawful Congresses and Committees, and that we are determined, at the hazard of our lives and properties, to support the King and Constitution.“
Whitmore had been a schoolmaster in Rye, New York up until the time of the American Revolution. Due to his loyalist principles, he was compelled to leave his home in 1776, never to return. He and his wife plus their three children and servant left New York City on October 11, 1783. Their evacuation vessel was one of eight ships that made up the last fleet to bring loyal refugees to the mouth of the St. John River.
When it came time to appear before the loyalist compensation board three years later, Whitmore informed the commissioners that he had “numerous children who are industrious, active, and well-behaved – and hopes to have some time to live comfortably.” The fate of these descendants of a loyal Anglican minister is not known.
More stories of Loyalist ministers’ endangered families will be featured in next week’s Loyalist Trails.
To secure permission to reprint this article contact the author at stephendavids@gmail.com.

Margaret (Moncrieffe) Coghlan: The Descent from Riches to Rags (Two parts)
by Jane Strachan 19 September 2023, Jpurnal of the American Revolution
In 1805, Margaret (Moncrieffe) Coghlan’s options were running out. For more than a decade, she had been back and forth to the King’s Bench prison in London, known then as debtors prison, with a reputation for filth, overcrowding and typhus outbreaks. She had written a lengthy letter to King George III, seeking a pension for her father’s faithful service to the Crown. Her heart-wrenching, desperate request went unanswered, marking the end of Margaret’s paper trail. After that, there is silence from the once-vivacious lady about town.
Ten years earlier, while on a short hiatus from debtors prison and dodging a seemingly endless line of creditors—and hoping to find her next suitable (that is, moneyed) male companion—Margaret, the high society courtesan, wrote an engaging, yet scandalous memoirin an attempt to make money. That too failed. Reading her Memoirs today is a page-turning, tell-all treasure trove of the plight faced by a woman ahead of her time, one who lived in America and London, with a stint in Paris, during a tumultuous time of global wars and revolutions based on liberty. Hers was a controversial and bold life as an early protofeminist, writing about patriarchal power, international politics, social mores that she wanted changed, and a byzantine British legal system.
Margaret Moncrieffe was destined for the good life. She was baptized on December 5, 1762 in Collessie (Fife), Scotland, the daughter of Thomas Moncrieffe, an up-and-coming British army officer with high-level military connections and close personal relationships with senior officers including Jeffery Amherst, Commander-in-Chief in North America, and Gen. Thomas Gage. Read Part 1, then Part 2…

Hoax: “An Edict by the King of Prussia” by Benjamin Franklin 22 Sept 1773
Benjamin Franklin, on a roll with satire in the London “Public Advertiser,” published his hoax “An Edict by the King of Prussia,” showing Frederick II as treating Britain as a colony subject to his laws.
Printed in The Public Advertiser, September 22, 1773
When this famous hoax first appeared, Franklin had the pleasure of seeing it taken at face value. Part of the reason, no doubt, was his shrewdness in choosing the fictional author. Frederick II of Prussia had been estranged from Britain by the Peace of Paris, and made no secret of his contempt for the country. He had recently suggested, according to an English officer at his court, sending over several regiments to protect the monarchy against radicals, and even coming himself to be king. His conduct towards his Continental neighbors, as reported in London, was equally unsavory and far more relevant to Franklin’s purposes: the King sent troops to keep order in his newly acquired Polish provinces and bullied the Polish Diet, issued an edict laying claim to part of the Dutch Netherlands, and then to cap the climax justified his acquisitions in Poland by asserting that they had rightfully been Prussian since the days of the Teutonic Knights. His reputation with the British public, in short, was calculated to give his edict the ring of authenticity.
The document, after the preamble, is built of British materials. It consists of various Parliamentary statutes, beginning with the Restoration, which are partly quoted, partly paraphrased, and partly embellished with Franklin’s inventions.9 He intended the “Edict” and its companion, the “Rules by Which a Great Empire May be Reduced to a Small One,” as anything but persiflage. Under the surface the “Edict” was a summary of colonial grievances that went back for almost a century; King Frederick’s foisting them upon Britain was what Franklin called an “out-of-the-way form” to highlight them. Read more...

BOOK – Sacred Ground, Loyalist Cemeteries of Eastern Ontario – Volume Two
By Stuart Lyall Manson UE, Published by Global Heritage Press, Ottawa, 2023
This new volume is the second in a series that delves into the lives and accomplishments of United Empire Loyalists who were interred in six loyalist cemeteries, five of which are situated in the Eastern Ontario County of Glengarry, and the other in the City of Cornwall. Includes important historic details of both the cemeteries and their loyalist occupants. Printed book or PDF download.
Check out the cemeteries that are covered and browse the online Index for the names of those whose stories are included in the book. Read more…(from Global Genealogy) Read more… (from Stuart Manson)

Book: Allegiance, by Gail Copeland
The Price of Loyalty told the story of two teenaged boys who left their home in New Jersey and trekked to Canada to find a place where United Empire Loyalists would be welcome.
Now, the War of 1812 is about to begin, and the Cooper boys are men with families of their own. They must once again take up arms and fight against the United States in order to keep their land. Samuel Cooper leaves his wife and young children to fend for themselves while he is off fighting with the local militia.
During a period when Upper Canada was controlled by the US military, the Cooper home is seized by the enemy and used as a surgical hospital. Sixteen-year-old Lizzie finds herself in the exhausting and terrifying position of nurse, cook, mother and caregiver. As the weeks pass, she experiences death and despair and the knowledge that her life will be changed forever. Will she be able to reconcile her growing affection for the army surgeon with her anger toward her family’s circumstances? At Amazon

Spy Letter: The Mad Scientists: Benjamin Thompson Letter
Benjamin Thompson Letter to [?], May 6, 1775. Thomas Gage Papers. William Clements Library
Benjamin Thompson, one of the earliest and most famous American scientists, did not believe in the American rebellion. In this letter, Thompson did not hide his leanings towards the loyalist cause, but he did use invisible ink to include secret text within the body of his letter. The secret letter is proof of Thompson’s previously suspected intelligence work for the British Army. Thompson wrote this letter from Woburn, Massachusetts because he had been run out of his hometown in New Hampshire for sending British deserters back to Gage’s headquarters in Boston. In the beginning of the letter, Thompson briefly mentioned the Battle of Lexington and Concord that had happened two weeks prior, stating that Gage has “already better intelligence of them affairs than I am able to give.” Instead he concentrated on explaining the movements of the “Rebel Army (if that mass of confusion may be called an Army).” Read more, see letter…

Advertised on 22 September 1773: “Preparing Chemical and Galenical Medicines”
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
“They have lately erected a commodious Elaboratory for the preparing Chemical and Galenical Medicines.”
In the fall of 1773, Speakman and Carter, “CHEMISTS and DRUGGISTS” in Philadelphia, advertised widely in their efforts to capture their share of the market for the “freshest DRUGS and genuine Patent MEDICINES, Surgeons INSTRUMENTS[,] Shop Furniture,” and other merchandise sold by apothecaries in the city. They competed with other apothecaries, including several who ran their own notices in newspapers published in the city. Robert Bass advertised in the Pennsylvania Chronicle. William Smith inserted notices in both the Pennsylvania Journal and the Pennsylvania Packet. John Watson, “DOCTOR, SURGEON, and APOTHECARY, at NEWCASTLE on Delaware,” competed for customers outside Philadelphia with an advertisement in the Pennsylvania Chronicle.
Speakman and Carter sought customers in the Philadelphia as well as “Orders from the country,” including New Castle and the surrounding area, and welcomed both wholesale and retail sales. Read more…

Loyalist Quarterly Newsletter September 2023, by Paul J. Bunnell UE
Published since 2004, the September 2023 issue is now available. Twenty-two pages, it features:

  • Desperately Seeking Indigenous Allies in the East (Part 3) by Stephen Davidson
  • Support Loyalist Trails – Sign Up
  • Quakers who were U.E. Loyalists by Randy Saylor
  • United Empire Loyalist Association – Important Dates In Loyalist History

Vol. 20 Part 3 September 2023 Quarterly Issue “In Publication since 2004”
Editor: Paul J. Bunnell, UE, Author, Koasek Abenaki Chief; BunnellLoyalist@aol.com; 978-337-9085, 49 Pleasant St., #106, Alstead, NH 03602
The Only U.S. Newsletter Devoted to The study of The American Loyalists
Subscription Rate: $22 U.S. $24 Can. $5 each copy — (March, June, September, December issues)

Loyalists and descendants who participated in the War of 1812: John Albright Sr. and Jr.
John Albright Sr. was a Loyalist who served in the 3rd New Jersey Volunteers during the American Revolution. His Regiment was stationed at Fort Ninety-Six South Carolina where John was taken prisoner on August 28 1781. John remained incarcerated for the balance of the War.
After the War ended John Albright Sr. and his family were evacuated from New York and eventually resettled to land just north of present day Chipman, New Brunswick, where he died circa 1814. Presently, the ‘Red Bank’ cemetery which serves Chipman and district is set on his original farm.
His son, John Albright Jr. left New Brunswick circa 1808 and settled on Lot 25 in the 5th Concession of Pickering Township, Durham County, Upper Canada. His farm was near the settlement called ‘Whitevale’ and John Jr. served as a Private in the 3rd Regiment of the York Militia during the War of 1812. Read more…

Read about other Loyalists and the sons and daughters of Loyalists who participated in the War of 1812.

Submissions are still welcome. Send up to 500 words describing the Loyalist’s experience or participation in the war, and where settled before and afterward, to loyalist.trails@uelac.org. Please reference both the Loyalist experience, perhaps to a lesser degree, along with the 1812 history.

Coronation of George III Tuesday, 22 September 1761
By R M Healey, September 18, 2023 at All Things Georgian
The year 1820 was one of the most memorable of the Georgian Age. It had begun with the ‘conspiracy ‘ led by a Lincolnshire yeoman turned discontent, Arthur Thistlewood, who was encouraged by a Government ‘agent provocateur’ named George Edwards to assemble a gang of malcontents to plot the murder of leading Cabinet ministers as a prelude to taking London by storm. These ‘Cato Street Conspirators’, were discovered in a Marylebone hay loft, brought to trial, convicted and executed. As a background to all this was the trial for adultery of the rightful Queen Caroline, who had been estranged from the Prince Regent for some time. Then on January 29th came the death of the King, who had reigned for nearly sixty years, and the subsequent accession to the throne of the former Prince Regent. For many years the target of satirists for his enormous size and opulent lifestyle—he was now an even bigger target for his conduct towards Caroline, who the radicals worshipped as a symbol of a wronged woman at loggerheads with both King and Tory Government.
At a time when George IV was unpopular with most of society, both radical and conservative, the old king George—hard working, dedicated and cultured — was seen by many of his subjects as a symbol of British moderation, stoicism and grit. In 1820 the twenty-five year old Richard Thomson saw the way the wind was blowing and in the year in which a new King succeeded to the throne he decided to benefit from the old King’s popularity by publishing an account of his Coronation, which had taken place on 22nd September 1761. Read more…

The Banyan: The Informal Gentleman
When 18th century-people wore clothes that were called “undress”, it did not mean anything … incident. “Undress” was the word for informal fashion, something worn at home. However, “undress” in the time of Jane Austen was much more formal than today’s informal fashion is. The famous “banyan” – a morning gown for men – cannot be compared to a convenient jogging suit or a bathrobe. The banyan was an exquisite piece for gentlemen, proving their taste and wealth. It was perfectly fine for a host to receive friends and business partners when wearing a banyan. Read more…

Query: Cephrenus (Sephrenus, Suffrenus) Casselman Families in Loyalist Directory
See the query.

There was a great response to this query with updates for many of the Casselmans listed in the directory. Thank you everyone. As I am in a busier than usual stretch, it will take me a bit to have the new information added to the directory entries.

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

  • Information about Capt. James Knight has been added to the Loyalist Directory. Thanks to Allison Knight Wierman who contributed information. Originally from Ireland, James served in Captain Richard Duncan’s Company, King’s Royal Regiment of New York. He settled in Huntingdon Quebec, a place on the south shore of the St Lawrence River and south of what is now in Ontario on the north shore, which may have given him the opportunity to petition for land in Upper Canada (now Ontario). Of particular interest is a lengthy list of sources provided by Allison, and a lenghty English translation of the list of Assets and Debts of James Knight as recorded in March 1822.

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

100 Years Young – Audrey Delaney UE
From David Turnbull
My cousin, Audrey Delaney, UEL, recently celebrated her 100th birthday with a party party. She lives in Keswick now. At the party Audrey said she has 47 descendants. I think that may include a few of the children she adopted, or sort-of adopted, through the Children’s Aid Society when she took some in.

From Scot Davidson MP: Audrey Delaney is 100 years old!
There was a big party for her with all of her family and friends there at Cedarvale Lodge in Keswick in the Town of Georgina. I was pleased to see her again and present her with a Canada Flag!
Happy birthday Audrey! https://www.facebook.com/ScotDavidsonMP/

Over the years, Audrey has been a member of Gov. Simcoe Branch, and possibly other branches as well. She has proved descent from Thomas W Condon UEL, John Mitts UEL and Russell Pitman UEL.

Two New Sites Inscribed on UNESCO World Heritage List
Tr’ondëk-Klondike, located in the homeland of Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in in northwestern Canada, and Anticosti, an island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Quebec, have been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List at the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Read More About Tr’ondëk-Klondike
Read More About Anticosti

Where in the World were these people – and who are they?

“A big what?” … Where are these various and sundry members?

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

Upcoming Events

Toronto Branch: A Workshop: Wed. Sept. 27 @ 7:30 pm ET via zoom

Topics include:
Working with our Branch Genealogist – Martha
How to use The Branch Library, About Our Archives- Martha, Linda
Using the UELAC Dominion and Toronto Websites – Trish
Social Events at Toronto UEL – Diane
Speaker Programming – Sally
Building a Branch Newsletter – Beth
Attending a UELAC Annual Conference from a First Time Attendee’s Perspective – Sally
UELAC Conference – June, 2024 in Cornwall, Ontario – Trish
Join Zoom Meeting: ID: 876 7506 1975 Passcode: 796872
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87675061975?pwd=UFZYRXRWdC9MeHFub0dpanVncWp2Zz09

Gov. Simcoe Branch: “The Northern Brigade” by Gavin Watt. Wed 4 Oct. at 7:30pm ET

The Northern Brigade would be supported by a few British Regular regiments and the 84th’s first battalion. The brigade included these loyalist regiments – Royal Yorkers, Butler’s Rangers, Jessup’s Loyal Rangers and Roger’s 2nd Bn, King’s Rangers.
Sir John Johnson was the brigadier general of those loyalists as well as the Superintendent General of Northern Indians with the Six Nations’ and Seven Nations of Canada’s departments and their large numbers of rangers. Johnson had a very heavy responsibility. Register now…
Gavin Watt has researched extensively the military actions and people of the American Revolution, and authored or co-authored several books, including “The Burning of the Valleys, Daring Raids Against the New York Frontier in the Fall of 1780”, “The Flockey — 13 August 1777 and many more. More about Gavin…or if attending in person…

Sir William Johnson and the Wars for Empire Conference

October 20-22, 2023 in Johnstown, NY
Sir William Johnson was a larger than life character who dominated the Mohawk Valley and beyond during the 18th century in warfare, politics, trade and diplomacy.
This conference will address aspects of Johnson’s historical impact as well as the larger scope of the great wars for empire. This new Fort Plain Museum conference will offer a look at the colonial era when major personalities, like Sir William, dealt with overlapping cultures and the impact of war on society. Bus Tour on Friday, lectures on Saturday and Sunday. See details, registration, accommodation etc

From the Twittersphere and Beyond

  • Townsends – or Food
    • The Lowly Washerwoman. We are always researching the people at the bottom of society. Carol Jarboe, or “Maggie”, has done piles of research on these folks and is a dream to work with. Find out what labor on the bottom rung was like in the 18 century with the lowly washerwoman. Editor note: although 40 minutes, I learned so much from such an expert – recommend it!
    • JYF Museums: Please enjoy this video on how to make a delicious rum punch in honor of National Punch Day – yum!!
  • This week in History
    • 22 Sep 1776 Nathan Hale is executed for spying. Before he was hung, he quoted from the play Cato. “I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country.” The line in the play is, “What a pity it is That we can die but once to serve our country.”
    • 22 Sep 1779 Capt John Paul Jones, commanding Bonhomme Richard, takes a pair of British ships off Flamborough Head, England. He also spies a 40-ship convoy at anchor at the mouth of the harbor.
  • Clothing and Related:
    • There is great wonder to be enjoyed in the survival of a silk woven more than 300 years ago that still glows, it’s foliage strewn pattern as vibrant as ever. This very early c18th mantua brings all the joy to a new week & a moment of calm amongst the tumult of life
    • A pair of 2000 year-old Children’s Shoes (Roman Era), found in ruins of Palmyra. Palmyra, an ancient archaeological site located in modern-day Syria. Originally founded near a fertile natural oasis, it was established sometime during 3rd Millennium BC, as settlement of Tadmor, and it became a leading city of Near East and a major trading post on Silk Road.
  • Miscellaneous
    • Beautiful ‘Henderson Memorial Windows‘, dedicated 1880, in Grace United Church at Digby, NS. George Henderson came with parents from Co. Fermanagh in present day Northern Ireland and very active leader in former Methodist Church. Brian McConnell UE
    • Historica: New Video from The Memory Project. Double Victory: Featuring testimonies of WWII veterans Mary Ko Bong, Victor Wong, Edward Lee, Frank Wong and Herbert Lim. Hear how the secret special operations unit, Force 136, was tasked with sabotage and guerilla warfare against the Japanese forces in the Pacific, and how the service of all Chinese Canadian veterans had a lasting impact on the home front. Watch now (7 min, 30 sec)
    • Beer Bottle: The first French-Canadian beer maker dubbed itself the “Brewery of the People.” by Mathieu Drouin — Posted February 9, 2023, Canada’s History. Beer was a French-Canadian staple from the earliest days of New France — especially among working-class people. Between the founding of Quebec in 1608 and the English conquest in 1760, a dozen professional brewers supplied the colony, and many inhabitants produced their own beverages as well. Read more…
    • “The Switzerland of America”. How the Canadian Pacific Railway turned amenity into luxury with its now-forgotten mountain hotel dining stations. By Gabby Peyton at Canadian Geographic. At the turn of the 20th century, the dining cars of the CPR were touted for both their fine food and service. A 1901 tourist brochure stated the company, founded in 1881, “has spared no expense in providing for the wants and comfort of its patrons, as its line of Dining Cars and Mountain Hotels will at all times testify.”
      Aboard the train in 1899, travelling west to Banff, Alta., you could dine well on veal cutlets and roast beef paired with Mumm champagne. But as the journey continued to Vancouver, this onboard indulgence had to be relinquished — those fancy dining cars were just too heavy to make it through the steep mountain passes.
      To solve this culinary conundrum, the CPR built three hotels with “First-Class Dining Stations” — Glacier House, Fraser Canyon House and Mount Stephen House. Read more…
    • Come Together: John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Montreal 1969. How a Montreal teen bluffed his way into John and Yoko’s bed-in for peace. Canada’s History. Read more…

Last Post: LOSIE, Frances Eleanor 17 May 1935 – 5 September 2023
Fran was born to Winifred Ellen (nee Sirrett) and Ralph Wallace Losie in Calgary, Alberta. The family moved to Edmonton in 1948 where she graduated from University High School in 1953. Fran continued her studies at the University of Alberta, completing her Bachelor of Education in 1958. From 1954-56 she played basketball for the U of A Pandas. After university Fran worked for a brief time as a ticket agent at the Mount Royal Hotel in Banff where she developed her love for mountaineering and skiing. She then taught in Jasper prior to moving to Mainz, Germany in 1963 to teach with the Armed Forces. She returned to Canada in 1965 where she continued her teaching career at McKernan, Holyrood, Greenfield and Sweetgrass Elementary Schools, teaching grades 3,4, and 5. In the early 1970’s Fran purchased a small acreage west of Edmonton where she had several horses, including the rambunctious and memorable Kato. She moved back to Edmonton in the late 1970’s where she resided in a beautiful condo overlooking the river valley.
Fran was athletic and adventurous. She travelled the world on her summer vacations and especially enjoyed the outdoors. She was a lifetime member of the Alpine Club of Canada; her most famous peak was the Matterhorn in 1972. She had a keen interest in genealogy and made several trips to Salt Lake City to investigate the family heritage which ultimately led to her becoming a member of the United Empire Loyalists.
She was a strong advocate for social justice, conservation and the environment.
A celebration of life will be announced at a later date. More details…
Fran was a long-standing member of Edmonton Branch UELAC. She proved her descent from John Dusenbury UEL and Jacob Hess UEL in 1998.

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