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Four New England Loyalist Privateers: Part One of Two
copyright Stephen Davidson UE
Of the 200 men who served as privateers with the Loyal Associated Refugees of Newport, Rhode Island, at least four are known to have found sanctuary in the Maritimes at the conclusion of the American Revolution: Edward Winslow, Thomas Hazard, George Leonard, and James Clarke.
George Leonard was one of three senior officers for a sea-going militia whose mandate was to “retaliate upon and make reprisal against” New England rebels. Drawing from the upper classes of colonial society, the loyalist privateers included merchants, ship owners, and aristocrats.
The historian W.S. MacNutt notes that George Leonard was “a member of the affluent Taunton and Norton family who were noted for their landed wealth and their pioneering work in ironmongery in Massachusetts” – and that he was “absolutely without qualities of moderation.” Clarke was among the Loyalists who fought under Lord Percy against rebel forces at the historic Battle of Lexington on April 19, 1775.
In that same year, Leonard served under Col. Willard in defending Boston from the Patriot army. He left the Massachusetts capital with the British army for Halifax in March of 1776, but returned to New York when that city became headquarters for the British forces later that fall. Never one to sit still, Leonard was appointed the officer in charge of the commissary as part of Sir Henry Clinton’s expedition that captured Newport, Rhode Island on December 8th.
Leonard and his fellow Loyalists had suffered “a long train of evils” that included “The imprisonment and captivity of our persons – the forcibly separating us from our families and tenderest connections – The destruction of our possessions, and the confiscating of our estates.” The response? Three prominent Loyalists let it be known that a private militia had been formed in March of 1779. “The sword is drawn … we will never resign our claims but with our latest breath.” But rather than being simply a means for vengeance, the newly created Loyal Associated Refugees of Rhode Island claimed it would be “devoid of passion and resentment, and free from every unworthy or vindictive motive.”
As the historian Timothy Campeau has pointed out, “These predatory raids would restore pride and manhood by aiding the British, chastising the rebels, and providing the impoverished loyalists with the wealth needed to restore their status and independence as gentlemen.”
Richard D. Pougher notes that George Leonard spent his fortune “fitting out seven armed vessels, three transports, and some armed boats, and then, for the good of the cause, offered their services to the British for less than lucrative convoy, transport, and guide duty. Later, when referring to the Associated Loyalists, while undoubtedly exaggerating somewhat, he declared none were motivated by profit“.
Despite persecution and confiscations at the hands of rebels, George Leonard had been able to retain his ship, the Restoration. It became the flagship of the privateer fleet, leading raids on “coastal communities, plundering and burning rebel farms and warehouses, and all with the consent of British commanders“. On one occasion, Leonard’s crew captured eleven soldiers from the First Rhode Island Regiment. On April 5, 1779, the Massachusetts Loyalist led a successful raid on Nantucket, carrying off brigs loaded with cargo destined for the West Indies as well as a variety of plundered goods from the town’s warehouses.
However, with the British evacuation of Rhode Island in the fall of 1779, George Leonard’s 10-month career as a privateer captain came to an end.
At the revolution’s conclusion, Leonard joined the Bay of Fundy Adventurers, a group of Loyalist refugees who sought sanctuary on the northern shore of the bay that divided mainland Nova Scotia from its peninsula. Sailing with him on the Grand Duchess of Russia in April 1783 were his wife Sarah, their 8 children, and 6 servants. The latter were free Black Loyalists — by name: Moses Simson, “Lieut.” Berry, Ishmael Colley, Sarah Caesar, Lucey Lykes, and George Kent.
Within a year of the arrival of the Leonard family, George was among the Loyalists who complained that the town lots in Parrtown (Saint John) “have been divided and subdivided on the arrival of almost every Fleet, to accommodate the Loyalists as they came, who were more numerous than was expected, until the Lotts of those who came first…had been reduced to one sixteenth part of their former number of feet – which they had obtained by a fair and legal draft.”
On a happier note, a 19th century newspaper claimed that George Leonard (as a justice of the peace) performed the first marriage service in what became the city of Saint John. On April 4, 1784, he married Andrew Stockton and Hannah Lester, Loyalists from New Jersey and New York, respectively. In the fall of that year, Leonard became involved in the colony’s first murder trial, calling for a forensic investigation to be made of the victim’s body.
Two years later George Leonard was one of 9 men appointed as commissioners by the New England Company to oversee the creation and staffing of 7 schools for Indigenous students. Within 5 years only the one at Sussex Vale – a boarding school –was in operation.
In the fall of 1787, an enslaved Black woman named Eve and her child Sukey were sent to Leonard from New York “in order to dispose of them to the best advantage“. Thus the former privateer became a seller of slaves in New Brunswick.
Historian Ann Condon lists the outstanding contributions that George Leonard made to the settlement of New Brunswick. In Saint John, he was an alderman, a chamberlain, and the city’s treasurer. He sat on the city council for more than 30 years, was a trustee for both an academy and a college, helped to found the Saint John Masonic Lodge, was an officer in the Kings County militia, and a benefactor of the Anglican Church.
Sometime after their arrival in the loyalist colony, the Leonard family established a farm at “Rosemount” in Sussex Vale on the Kennebecasis River. By the turn of the century, George and Sarah had nine adult children. George Jr. followed his father in the legal profession. His siblings were Elizabeth (Allan Evanson), Henry, Caroline (R.M.Jarvis), Lucy (James Codner and then Edward Hegan), Maria (Lt. Rochefort), Sarah (Lt. Col. Parry) and Charles Edward Leonard. Richard Leonard had served with the 104th Regiment of Foot that was famous for its westward trek to fight in the War of 1812. He remained in Upper Canada where he became the High Sheriff for the Niagara district. He died at Lundy’s Lane on October 30, 1833.
Sarah Leonard, George’s wife, died at the age of 84 in February of 1826. Two months later, after suffering a painful illness, George passed away on April 1st at the age of 83. In addition to a house in Saint John, barns, livestock, “plate”, farm equipment, stables, granary, stores, and out buildings, his will also distributed all of his books and pictures, a globe, a thermometer and a barometer to his heirs.
It was not a bad ending to a life of a man who had endured persecution and loss at the hands of his fellow Americans. After a period in which he meted out his own version of justice as a privateer to New England rebels, George Leonard ended his days as a justice of the peace, seeing that justice was done in the courts of New Brunswick.
Learn the story of 3 other New England privateers who settled in the Maritimes in next week’s Loyalist Trails.
To secure permission to reprint this article contact the author at stephendavids@gmail.com.

The two Archibald Thomson UELs: Part Five of Five
copyright Stephen Bowley UE
Although he eventually settled in Scarborough Township Upper Canada, Archibald Thomson, the Carpenter/Merchant, lived in a number of places after the War of Independence. For the first fifteen years he was located in King’s Town (later renamed Kingston) having acquired town lot 34 near the waterfront. By 1790 he had also been granted 500 acres of land as a Loyalist from the Mecklenburg Land Board: 200 acres for himself and a further 300 as family lands (50 acres for his wife and each of his five children).
In April 1788 Thomson was contracted to build a log house for Sir John Johnson. Four years later he was hired to erect a frame building to serve as St. George’s Anglican Church in Kingston. During his time in Kingston he continued as a member of St. George’s parish “who, by the way, was not a churchman, but a Presbyterian, though probably not a very strict one.”
Archibald Thomson’s post-war military service began when the Upper Canada militia was first raised following passage of the 1793 Militia Act. He stated in his 1796 petition that he had received a commission as a Lieutenant in the militia from Lord Dorchester.
By 1796 Archibald Thomson and his family had relocated to from Kingston to Newark. At Newark Thomson had stables and a “very commodious House” –Thomson’s Hotel. The building was located at the corner of Queen and Gate Streets and later known as Wilson’s Hotel.
Archibald Thomson was not shy about submitting petitions to the Land Committee of the Executive Council of Upper Canada—he penned them all and no fewer than 14 were sent in. Atypical for land petitions, not one included a third-party attestation. The breadth of the applications, the absence of third-party corroboration, and the successful outcome of nearly all of the petitions revealed he had close association with those involved in the administration of affairs in Upper Canada. Over time these types of dealings would evolve into what became known as the Family Compact.
Petitioning from Newark in 1794, Archibald Thomson requested the water lot (No. 35) adjacent to his house in Kingston. Once it was granted Archibald and Elizabeth transferred their rights to the merchant Joseph Forsyth & Company. They also assigned the title to Lot 17 Con 2 Thurlow Township to [Joseph & John] Forsyth and Richardson Company—major importers of merchandise for wholesalers and retailers. The next month a petition for a town lot in Newark was approved and Thomson received Lot No. 154.
In June 1796 his two brothers, Andrew and David, and Ebenezer Cavers arrived in Newark from Scotland. Archibald Thompson applied for lands for those three settlers and for a second time petitioned for his family lands. Although the Mecklenburg Land Board had already granted him those, he was awarded an additional 700 acres bringing his total allocation to 1200 acres. A large block of these lands were taken up in Scarborough Township. Archibald Thomson took up 600 acres as well as a lease to 200 adjoining acres in the Clergy Reserve in Scarborough.
The Thomsons did not remain long in Newark. By the summer of 1793 Lt.-Gov. Simcoe had decided to move the capital of Upper Canada from Newark to Toronto (renamed York). Archibald Thomson and his brothers also relocated there from Newark; by 16 April 1797. Thomson had leased his building and stables in Newark to James Wilson.
Petitioning from York, Thomson and his brothers each requested a town lot and received three contiguous lots on the south side of Duchess Street [renamed Richmond St. E] between George St. and Caroline St. [renamed Adelaide St.]. In February 1798 Provincial Secretary William Jarvis contracted Archibald Thomson to erect the frame for his new home in York. Thomson also constructed other houses including one for the merchant William Allen (1802) and one for Deputy-Surveyor General William Chewett (1803).
Although busy with construction, the expansion to Archibald’s Scarborough holdings continued. Thomson petitioned for a lease to a lot in the Clergy Reserve for “the Purpose of Erecting a House of Entertainment;” and in 1802 accepted the terms of the lease for his proposed tavern. He also petitioned for ironwork for a saw mill and a pair of mill stones for a grist mill he proposed to build along the stream on his Scarborough holdings. Since this was outside the scope of the Land Committee, this petition was dismissed.
Nonetheless, the Thomson’s proceeded with their Scarborough plans and a saw mill was erected in 1808 and a grist mill by 1811. Their operations led to what became known as the Thomson Settlement. As the community grew it was called Benlomond (in 1881 the name was shortened to Bendale).
During the War of 1812, Archibald Thomson Sr. served as a private in Capt. David Thomson’s Company 3rd York Militia. He and many family members were among the 167 non-commissioned Officers and Privates captured on the 27th April 1813 when the American forces stormed Fort York. After being held two days the prisoners were released and allowed to return to their homes.
Archibald and Elizabeth Thomson had 11 children. Archibald Thomson penned his will 29 Apr 1817 but this was not a document helpful to either a genealogist or the Surrogate Court. It neither detailed the assets to distribute nor named any of his children. One had to be intimately connected with the family to make any sense of it. The only person identified by name was his son-in-law John Scarlet: “my property to be equally divided amongst all my Children. I likewise constitute and appoint my three oldest sons & John Scarlet my joint executors.”
Archibald’s wife Elizabeth McKay died 22 Apr 1817 and two years later Archibald passed on 22 Jan 1819. Their remains are interred in St Andrew’s Presbyterian Cemetery, Scarborough, Toronto.
A more extensive biography and the references to the primary sources have been appended to the entry for Archibald Thomson, the Carpenter/Merchant, in the UELAC Loyalist Directory.
To secure permission to reprint this article contact the author at sbowley@uoguelph.ca

BOOK – Sacred Ground: Loyalist Cemeteries of Eastern Ontario – Volume Two
By Stuart Lyall Manson
Published by Global Heritage Press, Ottawa, 2023
This book discusses individual Loyalists, their families, and others who are interred in six notable loyalist cemeteries, five of which are situated in the Eastern Ontario County of Glengarry, and the other in the City of Cornwall. They are: St. Andrew’s United Cemetery (Williamstown, Glengarry); St. John’s Presbyterian Cemetery (City of Cornwall); Falkner Settlement Cemetery (South Lancaster, Glengarry); Salem United Cemetery (Summerstown, Glengarry); St. Raphael’s Cemetery (St. Raphael’s, Glengarry); Gleninore Cemetery (Charlottenburgh, Glengarry). Each chapter discusses in depth, an individual cemetery containing United Empire Loyalist mortal remains. An historical overview of each of these burial grounds, along with biographical information on specific loyalists with particularly-remarkable stories. The locations chosen for this volume are based on geographic distribution, religious diversity, and other factors. The book complements other publications that list burials or transcribe tombstone inscriptions. It supplements that basic data with greater historical context and additional research into the lives and experiences of these men, women and children who laid the foundations of modern Ontario. This is the second volume in a series that will examine Loyalist cemeteries across Eastern Ontario. Read more…

“The Utility of Our Business:” Samuel Holland, Surveyor-General
by Michael Barbieri 4 Jan 2024 Journal of the American Revolution
With the end of the Seven Years’ War, Great Britain found itself in possession of vast new territories. The government looked on these holdings as a means to reduce the enormous debt built up during the war but, when it came to utilizing those resources, existing “salutary neglect” policies and practices simply did not suffice. Before developing new systems, officials needed information and they first turned to existing maps. A significant contribution to these plots came from an officer named Samuel Johannes Holland.
Born in 1729 in the town of Deventer in the Netherlands, Holland joined the Dutch artillery in 1745 and received training in engineering and fortifications during the War of the Austrian Succession. An intelligent cadet officer with a mind for engineering and cartography, he assisted in surveying and drawing maps and soon began creating his own.
In 1753, now Lieutenant Holland came to the attention of the Duke of Richmond as he toured battlefields with his tutor Guy Carleton, a future governor of Canada. A friendship soon developed between Holland and the duke. In 1756, Richmond convinced Holland to join the newly-formed British 60th Regiment of Foot, better known as the Royal American Regiment.
Holland did not serve as a typical company officer. Upon Richmond’s recommendation, Lord Loudoun, the regiment’s colonel and North American commander-in-chief, appointed Holland as an acting engineer and draftsman. Ordered to prepare a map of the Hudson River-Lake Champlain corridor, Holland utilized previous surveys and other sources as the basis for the map. Quite satisfied, Loudon promoted Holland to a captain-lieutenancy. Read more…

A Demographic View of South Carolina Revolutionary War Soldiers, 1775–1783
by Douglas R. Dorney, Jr. 28 Dec. 2023 Journal of the Americanh Revolutionary
Over the past few years, three demographic studies of North Carolina and Georgia Revolutionary War pension applicants have been completed (North Carolina militia, North Carolina Line, Georgia). A similar study of South Carolina soldiers who served in the Continental Line, state troops, and militia provides compiled demographic data of those who served in that state, and also affords an opportunity to compare and contrast the compiled demographic data of the three contiguous southernmost states.
The colony of South Carolina in 1770 consisted of seven districts and was the eighth most populous colony in North America. Its population in 1773 was estimated at 175,000 people with 110,000 of those being identified as Black.
[Editor note: Cautionary notes about the accuracy of the data are included, along with details about the formation of the various military units.]
Together with those of Georgia and North Carolina, the overall body of demographic data collected from pension applications now includes 6,200 men. The analysis, findings, and figures presented here only apply to the data collected from the 1,376 pension applicants and should not be construed to apply to the entire body of South Carolina Revolutionary War soldiers.

Places and Dates of Birth. Only 20 percent of the pension applicants who served in a South Carolina military unit were born in the former colony. Virginia is the most common birthplace at 27 percent of all men. [It appears less than 14% were born outside the thirteen colonies including 11.3% Ireland, 0.9% England and 0.8% Germany]
Other data includes:

  • Unit Service
  • Type of Service
  • Length of Service and Number of Deployments
  • Battles and Skirmishes
  • Possessions and Occupations
  • Free Men of Color
  • “Sumter’s Law”
  • Prisoners of War
  • Location of Pension Application
  • Conclusion

To what extent these three southern states compare and contrast to their northern neighbors is not known. Read more…

Exploring part of New England’s textile history from seed to garment
By Julia Furukawa, Michelle Liu 1 Jan 2024 New Hampshire Public Radio
Off a side road in Durham, a barn that belongs to the University of New Hampshire houses some unique devices from days gone by. Now, they are back in use by staff and students who are turning homegrown flax into linen.
Among them is a wooden block with spikes, which Kimberly Alexander pulls strands of flax through. Alexander is the Director of Museum Studies and a senior lecturer in the history department at UNH. She, along with other faculty and students, is leading the Flax to Linen Project.
The metal comb is used to break flax down by hand, but this isn’t the way linen is made in mass production now. Alexander says tools like this give her students hands-on experience with how New Englanders of the past would’ve made linen. Read more…

Misinformation Nation: Fake News in Early America
by Jordan E. Taylor, Podcast in Ben Franklin’s World
Joining us for this episode is Jordan E. Taylor, a historian, editor, teacher, and digital humanist. He’s a scholar of the history of media, and his research expertise is in the history of news and its creation and transmission during the American Revolutionary era. He is also the Digital Projects Editor at Colonial Williamsburg Innovation Studios.
During our exploration, Jordan reveals information about how early Americans received news; How newspaper printers chose what to print and how they came to print misinformation; Why early Americans were interested in and newspapers printed so much foreign news, and the impact the American Revolution had on early American news.‌ Listen in…

The Surat Trade in Cotton Textiles – A Swedish East India Company ship: 1750-1752
ESSAYS No: CLVIII January 23, 2023 By Viveka Hansen in IKFoundation
This essay is the first in a two-part case study, which aims to give an in-depth analyse of trading in textiles via the Swedish East India Company ship Götha Leijon – which sailed from Göteborg in 1750 towards Surat and Canton. The ship reached its home harbour more than two years later – fully loaded with tea, porcelain, cotton textiles, silks and other desired goods. Particularly for this voyage is the number of preserved primary sources; including the ship’s chaplain and naturalist Olof Torén’s diary, in the form of letters to Carl Linnaeus, a reference book regarding various ongoing financial matters kept onboard along the route, a journal by the ship’s assistant Christoffer Henrik Braad and detailed sales catalogues of all goods and buyers. Additionally, to be compared with samples of Indian pieces of cotton brought back to Sweden via the Company ships around the same period. Read more…

18th Century Dentistry
By Sarah Murden 5 Feb 2015 All Things Georgian
Whilst brushing my teeth the other day I found myself wondering what dental care would have been like in the 18th century, so with that in mind I thought it might form an interesting blog. It’s quite surprising how far we have actually progressed and in other ways how little we have learnt.

‘Sugar is bad for you!’ A fact that did not escape the attention of one Thomas Berdmore, dentist to King George III, who was regarded as the leading dentist in England and as early as 1768, in what appears to have been the first English dental textbook ‘A treatise on the disorders and deformities of the teeth and gums: explaining the most rational methods of treating their diseases: illustrated with cases and experiments’, he had proclaimed the use of sugar as being bad for teeth! He was also ahead of his time with his observation: ‘I am inclined to think that smoking is hurtful to the teeth.’

Thomas died 7 November 1785, aged a mere 45 years, in Nottingham and in his will he instructed that his epitaph show his fortune had been acquired ‘by tooth drawing’, but the family had found that too indelicate so here is the substitute at St Mary’s church, Nottingham. Read more…

Advertised on 13 January 1774: “Alexander Bell, who answers in every respect”
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

“Alexander Bell, who answers in every respect … the description given of Joseph Anderson.”
Thomas Ennalls offered a reward for the capture and return of “an Irish servant man” who ran away from him in Dorchester County, Maryland, at the end of November 1773. In an advertisement that first ran in the December 16 edition of the Maryland Gazette, Ennalls described Joseph Anderson’s age, appearance, clothing. The runaway, “about thirty years of age,” had “a thin visage” and “wears his own hair tied behind” his head. His apparel included “an old surtout coat, … a knit pattern jacket …, old leather breaches, a pair of ribbed worsted stockings, [and an] English hat cut in the fashion.” Anderson worked as a schoolmaster, but that position of trust did not prevent him from stealing “about eighteen or twenty pounds in cash” when he broke his indenture contract and ran away. Ennalls suspected that the unscrupulous schoolmaster “may change his name.”
Ralph Forster, the sheriff in Prince George’s County, carefully followed advertisements about runaway indentured servants, convict servants, and apprentices that appeared in the Maryland Gazette. Read more…

In the News

The wild story of BC’s scandal-plagued second premier, Amor De Cosmos
Canadian History Ehx — 9 Jan 2024 in Daily Hive
He served for only one year and 48 days, but he may be one of the most interesting, and one of the most important, premiers British Columbia, and possibly Canada, have ever had.
The story of Amor De Cosmos begins when he was born William Alexander Smith in Nova Scotia to United Empire Loyalist parents on August 20, 1825. In 1852, Smith left Nova Scotia and moved to New York City, then to Kanesville in what is now Iowa to operate a gallery. After two months, he left that and went to take part in the California Gold Rush.
He found some success there, operating a business taking pictures of miners.
It was also in California that he began to call himself Amor De Cosmos, or Lover of the Universe. Why did he change his name? Some speculate that he had trouble getting his mail since there were several William Smiths in the mining camps. Read more…

Events Upcoming

New Brunswick Branch: “Loyalist Amazon, Elizabeth Beard” Wed 24 Jan @2:00 AT

Journalist Andrew McLean will tell us about Elizabeth Beard was a young Loyalist woman from Philadelphia, who ultimately fought alongside her soldier husband during the revolution. The meeting will include:

  • A welcome,
  • Andrew’s presentation
  • Branch updates on executive actions
  • Future plans and dates

NOTE: Time is 2:00 Atlantic Time
Join Zoom Meeting. Meeting ID: 860 5256 9035 Passcode: 858281
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86052569035?pwd=b4rnq7G2JXG9tXmUkv5QbYtgrJfxEy.1

The American Revolution Institute: “Dishonored Americans: The Political Death of Loyalists” Wed 24 Jan 6:30 ET by Timothy Compeau UE

Dishonored Americans: The Political Death of Loyalists in Revolutionary America Wed 24 Jan 6:30 ET An “Author’s Talk” by Timothy Compeau UE, a reci[pient of a UELAC Scholarship and member of the UELAC Scholarship Committee
In the final words of the Declaration of Independence, the signatories famously pledged their lives, their fortunes and their “sacred Honor” to one another, but what about those who made the opposite choice? By looking through the lens of honor culture of the period, Timothy Compaeau, assistant professor of history at Huron University College at the University of Western Ontario, offers an innovative assessment of the experience of Americans who made the fateful decision to remain loyal to the British Crown during and after the Revolution. Loyalists, as Dr. Compeau explains, suffered a “political death” at the hands of American Patriots. A term drawn from eighteenth-century sources, “political death” encompassed the legal punishments and ritualized dishonors Patriots used to defeat Loyalist public figures and discredit their counter-revolutionary vision for America. By highlighting this dynamic, Dr. Compeau makes a significant intervention in the long-standing debate over the social and cultural factors that motivated colonial Americans to choose sides in the conflict, narrating in compelling detail the severe consequences for once-respected gentlemen who were stripped of their rights, privileges and power in Revolutionary America. More details and registration.

From the Social Media and Beyond

  • I am pleased to be one of the Speakers and making a presentation on “Digby’s Loyalist Settlers “at the Nova Scotia Virtual Genealogy Conference 2024 happening May 4th and 5th. Brian McConnell UE, President Nova Scotia Branch, UELAC
  • 71st regiment cartridge box badge and 60th Regiment button in Charleston Museum, South Carolina. Both regiments settled in Guysborough County, NS after American Revolution.
  • Townsends
  • This week in History
    • 13 Jan 1770 NYC, the British 16th Regiment, tried to blow up the Liberty Pole on the “Fields.” Sons of Liberty reacted with violence & the regulars were delayed but not undaunted in their intent.
    • 11 Jan 1775 Francis Salvador, 1st Jewish person to hold an elected office in America, took his seat on the SC Provincial Congress. In 1776, He urged his fellow representatives to vote for Independence from England.
    • 9 Jan 1776 After a long delay, the Continental Congress promotes Col Benedict Arnold to brigadier general. The delay in promotion would be one of many grievances he held against the American government.
    • 10 Jan 1776 On HMS Scorpion in Cape Fear, NC Royal Gov Josiah Martin issues a proclamation calling on the king’s loyal subjects to combat the rebels, & restore the province. He hopes to gather 20K Loyalists at Brunswick NC.
    • 13 Jan 1776, British forces raid Prudence Island, RI, to steal a large quantity of sheep. But, upon landing on the island’s southern beaches, the British were ambushed by fifteen Minutemen from Rhode Island’s Second Company led by Captain Joseph Knight
    • 8 Jan 1777 In the aftermath of Gen. Washington’s winter counterstrike, the British withdrew all forces from New Jersey except posts at West Brunswick &Perth Amboy.
    • 12 January 1777 Scotland-born General Hugh Mercer died from wounds received at the Battle of Princeton. British soldiers mistook Mercer for General Washington and bayonetted him numerous times. A physician in Fredericksburg Virginia, Mercer was a friend of George Washington since their French and Indian War service. Mercer was an excellent and reliable senior officer (the two don’t always come as a package), and his death denied the American cause invaluable leadership.
    • 10 January n 1779, Continental Navy Captain John Paul Jones takes command of the Duc de Duras, a French merchant & renames it the Bonhomme Richard. The ship was given to Jones by the King of France, Louis XVI, for use against the British. Jones chose the name Bonhomme Richard to honor Benjamin Franklin, whose famous work, Poor Richard’s Almanac, was a bestseller in France. Jones outfitted the ship for war. The size and armament made her roughly equivalent to half of a 64-gun ship of the line. He left at the head of a 5-ship convoy in August for another raid along the east shores of Britain, spreading fear all along the coast.
    • 9 Jan 1780 Morristown NJ A desperate and frustrated Gen Washington dispatches pleas to the bordering states for help for his freezing and starving troops who are in need of food and clothing to get through the harshest winter of the war.
    • 7 Jan 1781 Mobile AL The combined force of British troops and the German Waldeck Regt led by Col Johann von Hanxleden is repulsed by Lieut Ramon de Castro’s 150-man Spanish garrison. Each side suffers some 38 casualties.
    • 11 Jan 1781 Princeton, NJ British agent John Mason is hanged as a spy for his role in trying to get the mutinous Pennsylvania Line to desert and join Gen Henry Clinton’s army.
    • 9 Jan 1782 St Kits West Indies French Adm comte de Grasse lands 6K troops at Basseterre. Facing the French troops and 24 ships of the line, the 700-man British garrison withdraws to entrench on Brimstone Hill.
  • Clothing and Related:
    • Dis you know that Martha Washington was a Twelfth Night bride? Married 6 Jan 1759. Her shoes: purple silk satin spangled & metaillic lace encrusted London made.
    • Chinese fan for export to Europe, mid-18th century
    • Some evening lovely, c1777 a brocaded silk dress, poss worn for Abigail Byles wedding Via @MHS1791 Floss fringe/passementerie & robings removed, due to damage or reuse for 19thc fancy dress? Multiple alterations. Maker currently unknown. Textile is a delight.
    • “Behind me in the pit sat a young fop who continually put his foot on my bench in order to show off the flashy stone buckles on his shoes; if I didn’t make way for his precious buckles he put his foot on my coat-tails”
      Carl Moritz, Journeys of a German in London in 1782

Last Post: REID UE, Marian Ada (nee Brown) October 17, 1927 – November 26, 2023
Marian passed away at Cascades where she had lived these last few years.
In the Chilliwack BC community, where she resided for almost 60 years with her late husband Irving; she will be remembered through her commitment to Christ through Carmen United Church, Sardis Community Church (where she dedicated many hours in the kitchen of Open Door in support of single mothers with preschool children), and finally Southside Community Church, her membership in the Chilliwack Branch of the United Empire Loyalists and her attendance to the many hockey and ball games where she cheered loudly for her sons and grandchildren.
Marian was born in the small village of Melfort, Saskatchewan to parents Rupert Brown and Katie Pearl Young, and was the second youngest of eight. There were only one room schoolhouses in the district, to which Marian and her siblings attended.
She is a Loyalist descendant of James Brown of Clements Township, Nova Scotia and was granted her UEL certificate in the Fall of 1999.
She was bestowed an Honourary membership in the Chilliwack Branch UELAC in April 2019.
Marian married her childhood sweetheart Irving St. John Reid in June of 1946. They celebrated their 71st Anniversary prior to Irving’s passing in February 2018. Irving was also of Loyalist descent. Together they raised a family of seven sons and one daughter, all born on the farm in Saskatchewan. In 1948, the Reid family became part of the Laurel Farm Co-op. Mixed grain and canola was grown and they fed beef cattle through the winter.
Marian was an avid gardener throughout her life enjoying growing flowers as well as a huge vegetable garden. Farmyard chickens, two milk cows and tons of canning, preserves and bread making rounded out the food requirements to feed a growing family on the farm.
But in the summer of 1966, the entire family moved to Chilliwack where Irving had purchased a Chicken Farm in Sardis, BC. They were soon part of the “BC Hatching Egg Producers” Industry. Later, Irving and Marian moved to a nearby house.
Their chicken farm was gone, and in its place was a fire station and the running track for Sardis High School.
Once retired they spent winters in Apache Junction, Arizona and enjoyed many trips throughout the world. They were also active in their church.
Both were proud of their Loyalist descent and supported our branch and the activities scheduled. You would always find them in pictures with big smiles on their faces. Marian was a wonderful lady with an infectious laugh. She had a great sense of humour and a big heart.
She was predeceased by her parents, six siblings and sons Harold and Bradley. She is survived by her brother Arnie Brown, her children – Maxine, Alfred, Gregory, Rodney, Alan and Robert along with 19 grandchildren, 22 great grandchildren and 2 great, great grandchildren. Our condolences, thoughts and prayers go to the family from all our branch members. Marian, you are missed, but forever remembered. A long and beautiful life. You are now home with Irving.
Marlene Dance UE, President, Chilliwack Branch UELAC

Editor’s Note:
We arrived home Thursday evening as scheduled after 36 hours waiting and flying, tired but happy that we had undertaken this Antarctic expedition.
The expedition ship collaborates with the research scientific community. Onboard was a team which counts penguins to track how the penguin population in the various colonies we visited vary over time. Another group has an onboard lab and equipment to test for underwater sea life. Another person researches whales round the world.
These along with two other retired scientists who spent years, usually in short stints in Antarctica, gave lectures. So fascinating to learn more about this place. A couple of items:

  • something like 90% of the world’s fresh water is in the Antarctic ice cap which for much of the continent is two miles thick.
  • The Antarctic is a continent, covered by snow and ice. Only along the northern tip of the Antarctic peninsula which juts north towards Argentine does anything grow – two different small wildflower plants and lichens.
  • The ocean is ripe with krill, the main food of baleen whales. The humpback whale population is increasing, but the blue whale population not so much (will it survive?).
  • The Arctic is water, snow and ice surrounded by continents; the Antarctic is a continent surrounded by water, snow and ice.
  • There are a lot of rules for tourist visitors, from size of ships which can offer passengers the opportunity to land, to special gear for those who do and on return to ship, any gear which may have touched land (usually boots and lower water proof pants) must be pressure washed and disinfected. A visitor must be careful not to fall while on land else much more must be disinfected.
  • The Antarctic is governed by an international treaty which seems to be working.
  • The support cost for a scientist using an American base there is $10,000/day.
  • A lot of research is being done there.
  • Temperatures are extreme. We were there first week in January (like our North American first week in July) and the temperatures varied a few degrees above and below freezing. Imagine winter at -60 at the stations.

All in all, a fascinating trip.
….doug

Published by the UELAC
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