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National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
Each year, September 30 marks the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
The day honours the children who never returned home and Survivors of residential schools, as well as their families and communities. Public commemoration of the tragic and painful history and ongoing impacts of residential schools is a vital component of the reconciliation process.
People throughout Canada attended gatherings on Saturday to mark the third annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, with many turning out in orange shirts to honour Indigenous students forced to attend residential schools — including those who never made it home. Read more at CBC news…

Endangered: The Families of Loyalist Ministers. Part Three of Three
copyright Stephen Davidson UE
When the American Revolution erupted across thirteen British colonies in 1776, Stair Agnew was the 18 year-old son of an Anglican minister. The only child of Rev. John and Theresa Agnew in Suffolk, Virginia, Stair grew up among the elite of his father’s parish.
In addition to Rev. Agnew’s income as a rector, he also received income from four plantations that produced rice or tobacco. No less than 40 slaves were put to work in the fields and manor house. Among these Blacks were a cooper, a sawyer, a housekeeper, and a spinstress as well as labourers and younger slaves. Sadly, Christian clergymen – whether Loyalist or Patriot— had no theological difficulties with the practice of owning enslaved Africans.
Given Agnew’s loyalism, his family soon felt the impact of his political stance. He was remembered as “the only clergyman who openly supported the royal cause in Virginia“.
Rebels imprisoned Stair’s father in Charleston, South Carolina in the fall of 1776, keeping him there for the duration of that winter. Three quarters of Agnew’s slaves were then confiscated by rebels and taken into backcountry, never to return. (The slaves who were left behind were considered “the least profitable”.) When Mrs. Agnew went within the British lines at Portsmouth, Virginia, she brought 11 young Blacks with her. Theresa was quoted as saying that she no longer felt safe on her estate “because of cruelty and depredations“.
While it is not known what Theresa Agnew did during her husband’s long imprisonment, documents of the era show that young Stair Agnew enlisted in the Queen’s Rangers, a regiment of Loyalist soldiers. It may be his family’s social standing that saw Stair join the Rangers as a lieutenant despite the fact that he was just 19 at the time.
Stair was promoted to the rank of captain either just before (or just following) the Battle of Brandywine. Stephen Jarvis, a soldier who also fought in that September 1777 conflict, later recalled that a number of officers were wounded and killed as the Rangers fought to gain access to a ford across the Brandywine River. “Whilst in this situation Captain Agnew was wounded, of which wound he was ever after a cripple. Several other men were also wounded by the riflemen from the other side. Captain Agnew … plunged his bayonet into the fellow who had killed Captain Murden the minute before.” Agnew’s wound made him unfit for active duty for the remainder of the revolution.
Meanwhile, the Rev. John Agnew had become the chaplain for the Queen’s Rangers. Being given pastoral responsibilities for a military regiment was a common assignment for Anglican ministers who had lost their parish churches due to their loyalty to the crown.
As it turned out, his chaplaincy only lasted a matter of days. A French warship captured Captain Stair Agnew and his father while they were en route to Virginia aboard the HMS Romulus in the fall of 1780. Although the Rev. John Agnew had known George Washington for 20 years, the Patriot general ordered that the Anglican minister be placed “under strong guard“.
The French went so far as to declare Agnew a dangerous prisoner, and sent both father and son to the northwest of France. There they were imprisoned in Dinard, then Britanny’s port city of Saint-Malo, and finally in Caen, Normandy. One of Rev. Agnew’s letters written from his prison cell in Caen to British officials, said, “While you gentlemen are snug in Britain, you little know that it appears that too many little think of the distresses of mind, body, and estate which faithful subjects suffer abroad in your cause… but it is a truth which the honest historian will paint in mournful colours when we are no more, that if Britain fails, she falls by wounds given to her vitals by the unnatural hands of her own sons.”
Stair Agnew also wrote letters from Saint-Malo. In addition to describing the conditions of his imprisonment, he wrote about his “aged and beloved mother“, closing by saying, “O, God! who knows, perhaps she at this moment, from an independent affluence, is reduced by the vicissitudes of the times to penury. My heart {is} afflicted with the misfortunes of our family.”
Following 21 months of imprisonment in France, John and Stair were set free and sailed for England. During the Agnew family’s separation, Stair’s mother Theresa had also been imprisoned. The family was finally reunited in New York City, and then sought sanctuary in England.
In 1784, both Stair Agnew and his father appeared before the Royal Commission on the Losses and Services of American Loyalists in London. Their claims for compensation were bolstered by the testimonies of other Virginia Loyalists and by a sketch drawing of the Agnews’ property (a rare bit of evidence for such hearings). The Anglican minister made a special plea on Theresa’s behalf, saying that she was “infirm with age and needs two servants“.
Having lost their four plantations and livelihood in Virginia, the Agnew family now had to decide where to put down roots. In March of 1790, the Anglican minister’s family was the subject of a letter written to a Massachusetts Loyalist who had settled in New Brunswick. By this time Stair (32 years of age) had married an English woman named Sophia Winifred who was ten years his junior. The correspondent had high hopes that the Agnews would immigrate to New Brunswick.
“I believe I have some small merit in directing their course to New Brunswick. Their original plan, after they had determined for America, was to go to Canada, But from the many conversations which I used to have with them on the subject they thought it might be as well, when {Rev. Agnew} came out to, explore the county, to take a look New Brunswick in his way.”
Writing of Stair, the correspondent said, “He comes with a vast predilection for New Brunswick, which I hope no circumstance nor accident will lessen. He has a laudable undertaking in view. To lay the foundation for a large patrimonial landed estate and to raise up a family to inherit it. He is a Gentleman who has had a good early education in Britain, has rather superior abilities and has missed no opportunities of acquiring information as he has come on in life. With such talents and so improved, joined to an active disposition, he will be a very valuable member of society, which I am confident he will ever be ambitious to serve…
His Lady is an English Woman of a family which has good connections here. She is a well-bred accomplished woman and of a very amiable disposition — she will be a real acquisition to your Lady folks. The old Lady {Stair’s mother} … is a native of Virginia and practises all the good old customs of that once hospitable country. I am sure her goodness of disposition won’t fail to engage the esteem of all who shall be so happy as to form an acquaintance with her. I know her tea table has afforded me many a comfortable dish of tea.”
In the end, the Anglican minister, his wife, and his son’s family all settled at the mouth of the Nashwaak River in New Brunswick’s York County. Both father and son would make contributions to the governance of the Loyalist colony.
The Rev. John Agnew died at age 85 in 1812, and was buried next to his wife Theresa who had predeceased him. Stair Agnew died at age 63 in 1821, the year following the death of his wife Sophia. Their known children are John, Theresa (Mrs. William C. Field), Winifred (Mrs. Thomas G. C.Jouett), Sophia (Mrs. William Earle), Stair Jr., Charlotte (Mrs. Christopher Murray), Elizabeth, and James Agnew.
The story of the Agnew family’s impact on New Brunswick merits its own article, one that may appear in a future edition of Loyalist Trails.
To secure permission to reprint this article contact the author at stephendavids@gmail.com.

Lord Rawdon at Camden—Giving a Victor His Due: Occupation and Pacification
by John Boyd 26 Sept. 2023 Journal of the American Revoltuion
Though he played a significant role in British victory at the Battle of Camden August 16, 1780, the leadership of Lt. Col. Francis, Lord Rawdon throughout the Camden District (northeast South Carolina) prior to that battle has long gone unrecognized. Few know that Lord Rawdon was charged by his commander, Lt. Gen. Charles, Earl Cornwallis, with subduing rebel insurgents and pacifying the area from June to August 1780. During this time Rawdon attempted to restore royal government, recruit Loyalist militia, and administer the king’s oath of allegiance to local inhabitants.
Nonetheless, Rawdon’s troops soon confronted Patriot militias led by generals Thomas Sumter and Richard Caswell, who attempted to disrupt pacification efforts while encouraging Patriots to prepare for the arrival of an advancing American Continental army under command of Maj. Gen. Horatio Gates. Once within the Camden District, Gates’s army sought favorable ground upon which to defeat Cornwallis. Gates’s attack on that fateful morning of August 16, 1780, was repulsed and his army destroyed: a major U.S. battlefield defeat.
Francis Edward Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings (1754-1826), known as Francis, Lord Rawdon from 1762-1783, was an Anglo-Irish officer who served for almost nine years during the American Revolution. Read more…

Hessian Soldiers Travelling to America: Have you thought about it?
From a Hessian Diary of the American Revolution
Editor Comment: With a focus more on the Revolution itself, I have never really thought much about the trials and tribulations associated with soldiers moving back and forth between continents. Today, catch a plane and a few hours later, you are there. But in the 18th century, no trains, planes, buses, trucks, cars etc, only your feet, horses and ships.
This excerpt from the diary of Johan Conrad Dohla (170 pages).
28 February 1777. At seven o’clock in the morning, our illustrious Bayreuth Infantry Regiment of Colonel [August Valentin] von Voit, six hundred men strong, marched out of the barracks. We entered on our march and employment in another part of the world in God’s holy name and were accompanied, amidst moaning and prayers, with much sobbing, sorrowing, and lamenting, followed by wishes for a speedy and joyful return, by a large gathering of people and relatives.
(Marching each day until 9 March)
9 March: We arrived in the territory of Wurzburg, at Ochsenfurth. This is a rather large and beautiful city, and it has good drawbridges. The Main River flows nearby. In this region Franconian wine grows very well. The city belongs to the Bishop of W†rzburg, who is also the Prince of Bamberg. We marched through the city and that evening, being for the first time aboard ship, halted there overnight at anchor on the Main River. We were still not accustomed to these quarters. There was very little room on the ships, where we lay close together, and the ships’ smells were very unpleasant, and it was rather cold. All this created the opportunity for grumbling, and during the day a full insurrection and rebellion arose.
10 March. Early, with the break of day, the Ansbach Regiment began the action, as one of their ships lay at anchor near land. They put a long board from the ship to the land, and all of them went ashore. Later they pulled other ships to shore, including one with men of the Bayreuth Regiment. Our troops sided with this undertaking and, with force and without permission, brought the officers out of the ships, so that within an hour no soldier from these two regiments remained on the ships and everything was incited to the greatest fury. Both colonels in command, as well as all the other officers, tried kind and threatening words, and all other methods, to appease the troops, even allowing bread, meat, and other victuals, as well as wood in abundance, to be brought to us from the city so that the troops could cook and so that, when they had eaten and had something to drink, they would return to their ships.
Still, none of this helped in the least. In fact, the superabundance of wine, which the residents of Ochsenfurth furnished, caused the soldiers to become more furious, and they refused to heed any officer. Each man made it known that he would not again go aboard ship. Then, toward noon, the troops gathered along the embankment and, in their rage and drunkenness, took to their heels.
Therefore, the Jaeger Corps was ordered to take post on the heights and to fire shots into the air to intimidate the fleeing rebels. But our people fired at the Jaegers. In this exchange some of our troops were wounded in the legs. The rebellion caused the city to be blocked off and the drawbridges to be raised, because the citizens saw nothing good coming from the mutiny. The exchange of shots lasted for about two hours, and because the Jaegers wounded some of us, it was the cause of a great antipathy between us and them, which continued some years afterward in America. Finally, toward evening, as the troops’ heads cleared from the wine, they were again satisfied. Colonel [Friedrich Ludwig Albrecht] von Eyb, as chief of the Ansbach Regiment, also informed us that we would return to Uffenheim. This resulted in order returning in the regiments, and finally, after many speeches from the officers, peace and tranquility were restored.
During this uprising, about forty men of our Bayreuth Regiment deserted. Therefore, an express was sent immediately to Ansbach to report all the occurrences to His Highness the Prince. As soon as he received the news, he set out in the night, on horseback with some accompaniment, and arrived amidst the greatest confusion, as quickly as possible
(March 11). Our two regiments were immediately drawn up, and the Margrave went from man to man and asked each one what his objections were. At the same time he promised all kindness and princely favor to those who would go to America in English service. On the other hand, those who did not want to go should step forward, and they would forfeit all possible assistance from their native land and the prince’s favor. At this our two regiments were again embarked, and His Highness the Margrave also went aboard ship and departed with us. We traveled past the following cities, places, and villages:
12 March. Wertheim.

“The Modern American Wallace:” Relics, Revolutions, and Revolutionaries
by Shawn David McGhee 28 Sept 2023 Journal of the American Revolution
On Friday morning, December 30, 1792, Archibald Robertson, an ambitious painter from Aberdeen, Scotland, arrived at the doorstep of the executive mansion at Philadelphia.[1] David Steuart Erskine, 11th Earl of Buchan, entrusted him to deliver a wooden box to President George Washington.[2] Yet this was no ordinary box and Robertson’s call no ordinary visit. For those of an early whig historical persuasion, both gift and guest reflected that timeless pursuit of liberty, dignity, and human progress. And for Buchan, at least, Washington’s disinterested leadership during the War for Independence not only liberated Americans from British oppression, it created a nation whose political mission prioritized private pursuits of happiness. From the earl’s perspective, Washington continued a tradition that Scottish freedom fighter Sir William Wallace commenced some five hundred years earlier. The centuries may have changed, but for Buchan the circumstances revealed synergetic continuity.
Lord Buchan’s earldom originated in 1469 (the second iteration of a 1374 creation) and, for more than two centuries, his family moved among Scotland’s most elite circles.[3] His parents educated him at home with the assistance of tutor James Buchanan, who later became Professor of Oriental Languages at Glasgow. Needless to say, Buchan developed a remarkable command of both English and Latin. At university, he studied jurisprudence and politics under Adam Smith and demonstrated a real interest in and talent for drawing and printing. In 1758, Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle, summoned Buchan to meet King George II at London; the earl remarked of that meeting, “The forms of the english court and its dullness disgusted me greatly.”[4] In 1762, he accepted a commission in the 32nd Regiment of Foot offered by William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham but later declined to take a post in the British embassy at Madrid. Tellingly, the young aristocrat’s real interests lay beyond the intrigue of court and desire for martial glory. Read more…

Book Review: The Tory’s Wife: A Woman and Her Family in Revolutionary America
by Cynthia Kierner (University of Virginia Press, 2023)
Review by Kelsey DeFord 25 Sept 2023 Journal of the American Revolution
Linda K. Kerber’s Women of the Republic: Intellect and Ideology in Revolutionary America demonstrated women’s resilience to create their own “republican motherhood;” this later evolved into accomplishing what the revolution did not do for women. Mary Beth Norton’s Liberty’s Daughters challenged the notion that colonial America was the “golden age” for gender equality, illustrating the importance of including female perspectives in the colonial era. More work is being done and still needs to be done to uncover these female voices.
Ordinary citizens contributed to independence efforts, and many endured hardships because of the revolution. The historical record in the post-revolutionary era left out these stories to portray the “glorious revolution” narrative.[2] Stories of the “disaffected” or neutral, Loyalist, and Whig offer diverse perspectives that are important to challenging this narrative. Scholars recognize that families and communities fought a “war of ideals,” outside the battlefield.[3] Microhistories are perfect for examining underrepresented and marginalized voices. Scholars can ask larger questions about intersections between families, communities, ideologies, and war. Read more…

The Brafferton Indian School, Ben Franklin’s World
In 1693, King William III and Queen Mary II of England granted a royal charter for two institutions of higher education in the Colony of Virginia. The first institution was the College of William & Mary. The second institution was the Indian School at William & Mary, known from 1723 to the present as the Brafferton Indian School.
The history of the Brafferton Indian School is a story of power, trade, land, and culture. It’s an Indigenous story. It’s also a story of English, later British, colonialism.
In honor of the 300th anniversary of the Brafferton Indian School building, we investigate the history and origins of the Brafferton Indian School and why English, later British, colonists created schools to teach young Indigenous boys tenets of the Anglican religion and English language and customs.
In this episode, we speak with Brooke Bauer, an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, a citizen of the Catawba Nation, and author of Becoming Catawba: Catawba Indian Women and Nation Building, 1540-1840 and two others. Read more and listen in…

Spy Letter: The Culper Gang: Washington Letter to Tallmadge
George Washington Letter to Benjamin Tallmadge, June 27, 1779. Henry Clinton Papers.
In 1778, at Washington’s orders Benjamin Tallmadge organized a spy network in New York City, the heart of the British forces. Tallmadge was to take all precautions that this ring would be extremely secret; in fact, it was so secrets that Washington did not even know who the men in the spy ring were. Robert Townsend, Aaron Woodhull, Austin Roe, Anna Strong, and Caleb Brewster made up this ring, and the code name for it was Samuel Culper.
The central figure, Robert Townsend, code name Culper Junior, was a society reporter for an American newspaper and the owner of a small dry goods store in New York City. The newspaper gave him access to social functions all over town, where he could talk to British soldiers, without having them assume anything. The dry goods store gave him access to people in and outside the city who were in need of goods and, sometimes, a little extra information. Read more, and the letter…

Advertised on 28 September 1773: “Other Advertising Media”
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
“He will perform on ONE, TWO, THREE, and FOUR HORSES.”
In the course of examining newspaper notices, the Adverts 250 Project also explores all sorts of advertising media that circulated in the eighteenth century, including trade cards, billheads, broadsides, handbills, magazine wrappers, subscription papers, and shop signs. Those media likely circulated more widely in early America than the examples that survive in research libraries, historical societies, and private collections suggest. Unlike newspapers that have been preserved in complete or nearly complete runs, other advertising media were much more ephemeral. In addition, those available for study often lack dates, while the mastheads declare dates for newspaper notices. Read more…

Loyalists and descendants who participated in the War of 1812: Joseph Doan and Joseph Doan Jr.
Of the six Doan men, notorious for their guerilla gang activity during the American Revolution, only Joseph and his brother Aaron survived and made it to safety in Upper Canada. Both had been imprisoned in Philadelphia for the crime of “outlawry.” Aaron was eventually pardoned and exiled from the newly created United States. Joseph was visited in prison by his clever wife Mary who smuggled in a rope, a knife, an auger, and a file which he used to escape from jail. He fled and settled in Humberstone Township, now Port Colborne, Ontario.
Because of his experiences with Patriots during the Revolution, Joseph retained a lifelong hatred of Americans. In 1812 Joseph was not a soldier. Nevertheless, he became a Prisoner of War…
Joseph’s son, Joseph Doan Jr., no doubt shared his father’s views on Americans. He did serve as a Private in the 3rd Lincoln Militia in Captain John Baxter’s Company. 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.

Tackling congestion in 18th-century London
Dr Robin Eagles 7 Sept 2023 The History of Parliament
In the course of the 18th century, Britain’s towns became increasingly congested with private carriages as well as a variety of carts, drays and hackney coaches going about their business. For pedestrians it could make negotiating the streets a nightmare. For members of Parliament, keeping the ways around Westminster unclogged proved an uphill battle. In this latest post for the Georgian Lords, Dr Robin Eagles looks into the efforts to keep congestion in London to a minimum.
As one of London’s elite, Fitzwalter was typical in ensuring that he had the means to get around the capital, and travel to and from his estates, in style. For less wealthy members of society there were hackney carriages, stage coaches and post-chaises, while plenty of those engaged in trade had a variety of carts and wagons to help them with their businesses.
What all of this meant, though, was that the streets of London and other towns and cities were often crowded and filthy. One commentator, William King, described how London was ‘pestered with Hackney Coaches and insolent carmen’ and equated the whole effect to ‘H… upon earth’. It was not just the hackney carriages charging along the streets that made the place unnerving. There was also the resulting pollution. Read more…

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

  • Kevin Wisener, Abegweit Branch PEI has contributed informaiton about two LOyalists who settlerd there
    • John Brownyoung was born c1750, possibly in New York where he was settled. He married m. Martha Sickles (Sickels) 1773 in New York. They arrived with three children in Charlottetown according to a Muster Roll of Discharged, Disbanded Soldiers and Loyalists on Sept 13, 1784.They settled in Queen’s County PEI, but moved to Kent County, New Brunswick prior to 1810. They had six more children.
    • Corporal Murdoch McLeod born 1757 from North Carolina where he served in Lieutenant Colonel John Hamilton’s company in the Royal North Carolina Regiment. He received in 1784 received a 200 acre Loyalist Land Grant in Country Harbour E., Guysborough County, Nova Scotia, and then 100 acres on Pinette River Lot 58, Queens County, Prince Edward Island. He married January 2, 1788, on Prince Edward Island, Jean (Jane) Auld and they had nine children. He died 17 Aug 1813, and is buried in Elm Avenue Cemetery, Charlottetown.

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

Upcoming Events

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…

Col. John Butler Branch: 187 Years Ago, My Ancestor. Sat 7 October 11:45, in-person

With Tom Russell, Colonel John Butler member Susan Harley-Kidd will relate the story of her Loyalist ancestor John Carl UEL, a private in Butler’s Rangers, and tell us the saga of two cemeteries.
Meetings take place at Betty’s Restaurant in Chippawa at 11:45 am. Please let us know if you plan to attend by email to colonel.john.butler.branch@gmail.com

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

Author’s Talk – Revolutionary Things: Material Culture and Politics in the Late-Eighteenth Century Atlantic World

October 11, 2023 @ 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm. The American Revolution Institute
In her new book, Ashli White, professor of history at the University of Miami, explores the circulation of material culture during the American, French, and Haitian revolutions and argues that radical ideals in the eighteenth century were contested through objects as well as in texts through a consideration of how revolutionary things brought people into contact with these transformative political movements in visceral, multiple and provocative ways. Focusing on a range of objects—ceramics and furniture, garments and accessories, prints, maps and public amusements—Dr. White shows how material culture held political meaning for diverse populations. Enslaved and free, women and men, poor and elite—all turned to things to realize their varied and sometimes competing visions of revolutionary change. Details and registration…

In the News

Meet Pelham’s senior leadership team
26 Sept 2023 in Pelham Today
Pelham Township was part of Welland County since the late 1780s, and was established as the Town of Pelham in 1970. It owes its title to John Graves Simcoe, the first lieutenant governor of Upper Canada, who named it after landowner Joshua Pell’s home in Westchester County, New York: Pelham Manor. Pell lost his home during the American Revolution, and came to Upper Canada as a United Empire Loyalist. He was granted lands in the Niagara area after a direct appeal to King George III.
Like all of Ontario’s 444 municipalities, Pelham has a cadre of senior directors who are responsible for strategizing business operations, leading core initiatives, and establishing organization-wide policies and procedures. Read more…

From the Twittersphere and Beyond

  • Interesting to see Loyalist surnames remembered as middle names on headstone for Ross Currie Carr Fanning Smalle (1871 – 1944), great grandson of Col. David Fanning (1755 – 1825), UE Loyalist, who commanded Loyalist militia in North Carolina during American Revolution and his wife Sarah Carr (1766 – 1821) native of North Carolina. His mother was Eliza Fanning who married John Smalle, grandson of a Hessian soldier, and grandfather was Ross Currie Carr Fanning. It is in Fairview Cemetery at Digby along with gravestones for his mother and grandfather and also lists his first wife Della Killelea and second wife Carrie Campbell. His great grandparents were buried in Trinity Anglican Church Cemetery, Digby where their headstones are visible. Posted by Brian McConnell UE
  • Townsends – or Food

    • Townsends Great Frontier Cook-Off! Michael and Ryan have three special ingredients, three specific cooking techniques, and only three hours to impress Jon with the greatest 18th century meal they’ve ever cooked! (45 Minutes)
  • This week in History
    • 25 Sep 1740 Hercules Mulligan was born in Co Antrim, Ireland. The tailor & a leader in NYC’s Sons of Liberty became a spy for Gen Washington after the British occupied the city. Reporting saved Washington from death plots 2X.
    • 28 September 1745. God Save the King, the national anthem, was sung for the first time at Drury Lane Theatre, London. The composer is unknown. The melody was also used for the national anthem of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918 and Russian anthem God Save the Tsar before 1833.
    • Sept 30, 1770, Leonard Jarvis died, leaving the command of the Cadets militia company open. Gov. Francis Bernard refused to promote the company’s second-in-command, John Hancock. In May 1772, Gov. Thomas Hutchinson finally gave Hancock the command.
    • 28 Sep 1774 Philadelphia, PA Hoping to head off armed conflict, PA delegate & Loyalist leader Joseph Galloway proposes a union of the colonies with Britain via a Grand Council & Gov- Gen appointed by the king. It narrowly fails.
    • 26 Sep 1775 Boston, Massachusstts. British Gen Thomas Gage was recalled to London for consultation. He would not return but be replaced by Gen William Howe, one of his subordinate commanders in Boston.
    • 29 Sep 1775 Lord Charles Cornwallis promoted to Major General by King George III. He agrees to go to North America to deal with the ongoing rebellion. He would prove one of the better British commanders but, like the others, would fall short in the end.
    • 24 Sep 1776 Continental Congress prepares instructions for agents to negotiate a treaty with France. Also instructed to request immediate assistance in securing arms. Covert French aid began filtering into the colonies soon after the outbreak of #RevWar in 1775.
    • 27 Sep 1777, Lancaster, Pennsylvania becomes America’s capital for a single day after the seat of government in Philadelphia falls to British redcoats. Congress soon relocates to York, PA.
    • 30 Sep 1778 Hastings-on-Hudson, NY. A detachment of 80 Hessian dragoons is led into an ambush by 120 American dragoons hiding along Edgar’s Lane. They drove the Hessians into a ravine that led to the Hudson River, where those who did not drown were shot.
    • 23 Sep 1780 Dressed in civilian clothes, British Maj John Andre attempts to slip past American lines with West Point’s defense plans, obtained from his agent, Gen Benedict Arnold. He’s captured by militiamen who send word back to – Arnold!
    • 25 Sep 1780 Gen Benedict Arnold’s treachery was discovered & he fled to the British ship, Vulture. When Washington was informed, he was reported to have said, “Arnold has betrayed us. Whom can we trust now?”
    • 29 Sep 1780 Tappan, NY Maj John Andre, head of British intelligence and coordinator of Benedict Arnold’s defection, was sentenced to death by a military tribunal led by Nathanael Greene.
    • 28 Sep 1781 Yorktown, VA. British retreat to sea blocked by the French navy while combined Franco-American forces (7.8K French, 3.1K militia & 8K Continentals) arrive within 2 miles of British lines. The first cannon of siege was fired by Gen Washington.
  • Clothing and Related:
    • Shoes for Tuesday. Brocaded silk wedding shoes, England, 1740s. The buckles are conch shell. Via LACMA
    • Stunning 17thc Italian table cover @mfaboston “Linen plain weave embroidered w/silk & metal thread…The artist, whose name is lost to history, used gold threads & brilliantly dyed thread..so finely crafted that it is almost impossible to determine which is the primary side”
    • This French robe à la française, from about 1770, is via MFA Boston collections.
    • Layering colours. Linen mordanted with oak gall and aluminium acetate. Yellow from bog myrtle to start and then indigo and iron dips. Indigo doesn’t react with mordants or iron but bog myrtle does. The inky indigos with oak gall + iron are a happy combo for me.
    • This delicate strip of lace was left at the Foundling Hospital with a baby girl in the 1750s. Could it be a cherished heirloom? Historians have dated it to the seventeenth century, suggesting that it was
    • This detailed sampler, made by Ruthy Rogers in 1789, represents a form of needlework that emerged in Marblehead, Massachusetts, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

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