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UELAC Annual General Meeting 2024, Saturday 11 May
The AGM will be held at 8:30 a.m. PT, 9:30 a.m. MT, 10:30 a.m. CT, 11:30 a.m. ET and 12:30 p.m. AT. This will be virtual meeting.

The purpose of the Meeting is:

  • To consider the financial statements and reports of the UELAC
  • To elect directors
  • To receive the report of the auditor and appoint an auditor
  • To transact such other business as may properly be brought before the Meeting or as required by legislation

All UELAC Members planning to participate in the AGM must register in advance
At uelac.ca in the Members’ Section, members will find:

  • AGM 2024 Notice of AGM
  • AGM 2024 Registration Form
  • AGM 2024 Proxy Form

NOTE: there are registration deadlines, earlier ones if you are assigning your vote to a proxy. Be sure to read the details.

Eight Tales of Loyalist Parents’ Heartbreak
copyright Stephen Davidson UE
Loyal Americans did not only worry about their personal safety during the War of Independence – those who were parents were also burdened by concerns for their children. Would they be compelled to join the Patriot cause? Would they die in battle? Would their survive the absence of the family breadwinner while remaining in rebel territory?
Colonel Thomas Gilbert was a Loyalist who fled rebel persecution in April of 1775. After arriving in Boston, he wrote back to his two oldest sons, Thomas Jr. and Perez.
“My greatest fears are, you will be seduced or compelled to take arms with the deluded people. Dear sons, if these wicked sinners, the Rebels, entice you, believe them not, but die by the sword rather than be hanged as Rebels, which will certainly be your fate sooner or later if you join them, or be killed in battle, and will be no more than you deserve…. {The rebels} are more savage and cruel than heathens, or any other creatures, and, it is generally thought, than devils. You will put yourselves out of their power as soon as possible.”
As it turned out, both of Gilbert’s oldest sons remained loyal to the crown during the revolution. They, along with their mother Mary, brother Bradford, and sisters Deborah (Gilbert), Bathsheba (Crane), Molley (Hatheway), and Hannah (Winslow) accompanied Thomas Gilbert as evacuees in the Spring Fleet of 1783 that sailed for Parrtown at the mouth of the St. John River. The Gilbert family was fortunate enough to have survived the war intact.
Alexander Montgomery of Spencer Town, New York also had sons who were old enough for military service during the revolution. To keep them away from local Patriots, Montgomery hid Alexander Jr. and Archibald in the woods for two months. After the boys joined the British forces, rebels captured them during an expedition into Patriot territory. Young Alexander and Archibald were “stripped naked” and put in prison in Poughkeepsie, New York. They were then incarcerated in Pennsylvania for 18 months “famished with hunger and cold”.
Alexander Senior was in hiding at the time and was afraid that the “hard usage” his sons received would force them to betray their father. Although he would later be threatened with violence from his rebel neighbours, Montgomery did not suffer because of anything his sons did or said. Sometime during the course of the war, the boys’ mother died. Their father remarried by the time the reunited family left for New Brunswick aboard the Hope in April of 1783. Both Montgomery sons survived their months of imprisonment, much to their father’s relief.
Thomas Flewelling was a Loyalist from North Castle, New York. Though an older man, he served the crown by acting as a guide for the British forces – and by allowing four of his sons to enlist in March of 1777. After being captured by Patriots, two of his sons were executed, and a third was killed while on a scouting party deep within rebel territory. At the end of the revolution, Flewelling, his wife Elisabeth and their surviving children (Caleb, Adam, John, Jacob, Thomas, Sarah, Enos, and Elisabeth) settled along the St. John River.
Samuel Williams of Anson County, Virginia would have sympathized with the loss of the Flewelling boys. Of Williams’ four sons, one was killed in battle, a second went blind during the revolution, a third had a leg shot off, and a fourth (Henry) was wounded and lost the use of his limbs.
While James Hofftalin was serving the crown as a private with Butler’s Rangers, rebels took and hanged his son William in Albany, New York in 1779. At the end of the revolution, the remaining Hofftalins settled in the Niagara region. When James Rogers of Georgia fled the South with his three young children, they all died because of “fatigue and hardships”. The devastation he must have felt can only be imagined.
Francis Hutchinson was the only male member of his loyalist family to survive the revolution. Rebels captured his 21 year-old brother William who then “suffered a public and ignominious death” by being hanged without a trial. Once based in Hanover, New Jersey, the Hutchinsons then sought refuge in New York City in 1780.
When Francis’ father John left for England in the following year, he drowned during the shipwreck of his vessel. Margaret, John’s widow, later learned that one of her sons had died when a horse kicked him; a second son drowned. Francis, the youngest son, was boarding with a farmer in Pennsylvania during the war and so was not exposed to its violence. In 1783, Mrs. Hutchinson, her daughters Anna and Margret, and her only remaining son settled in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia.
John O’Blenus was a New York Loyalist who had been serving in the artillery until the death of his brother made him the sole supporter of his sister-in-law and her 13 children. Struck down by smallpox, the widow and three of her children died, leaving O’Blenus and his wife Martha responsible for the care of 10 orphans. John was later made the captain of a loyalist refugee company that sailed for New Brunswick on the Grand Duchess of Russia in July of 1783. The last mention of this extended family appears in 1786 when the records note that it was “much afflicted by sickness”.
Trauma from a war can take many forms. As with current conflicts around the world, both Loyalist combatants and non-combatants had to endure the experiences of seeing their children put in harm’s way – and often found themselves standing next to the graves of their beloved sons and daughters.
To secure permission to reprint this article contact the author at stephendavids@gmail.com.

Shining Lights in the Community: Black Schoolteachers
Black schoolteachers strove to educate children while resisting racial injustice.
By Funké Aladejebi — 2 February 2024 in Canada’s History

Education existed on the African continent long before colonization and the development of the slave trade. African societies had traditional schools where information, knowledge, and skills were shared among community members. Between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, the mass enslavement of Africans by European colonizers removed millions of people from their homes and cultures, forcibly disrupting these early systems of learning. The displacement of persons of African descent caused by slavery resulted in a significant Black population in the British North American colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Lower Canada (now Quebec), and Upper Canada (now southern Ontario) by the mid-1800s. Many of these people had either escaped from slavery in the United States or had entered the region as part of the Black Loyalist migration during and after the American Revolution. Still others were people — and descendants of people — who had lived in bondage in the British North American colonies prior to the abolition of slavery in the British Empire in 1834. In the afterlife of slavery, Black Canadians continued to face social and institutional forms of discrimination, including in public school systems.
Early schooling in British North America developed as a result of public, private, and religious influences; but by the 1840s the colonies of British North America had created a standardized structure for their schooling in ways that reflected an increasing desire by education reformers to produce ideal citizens deemed to have the correct knowledge and moral values. As the number of publicly funded schools increased across the region that would become Canada, firmer boundaries were set in place to create ideal learning environments for pupils.
In areas with large Black populations, social, economic, and educational restrictions limited Black access to educational equality. Read more…

Book: Revolutionary Blacks: Discovering the Frank Brothers
Revolutionary Blacks: Discovering the Frank Brothers, Freeborn Men of Color, Soldiers of Independence [One a Patriot; One turns Loyalist]
Authour: Shirley L. Green, Westholme Publishing (November 3, 2023)
Accounts of Free Black soldiers during the American Revolution are uncommon; even rarer are accounts of siblings. While we have numerous records and stories of white American families divided along the lines of patriot and loyalist, the story of the Frank brothers may be unique in documented history. Teenagers William and Benjamin Frank joined the Second Rhode Island regiment of the Continental Army in the spring of 1777. They followed the tradition of military service established by their father, a veteran of the French and Indian War. The brothers became part of a cohort of Black soldiers who were free before their enlistment.
The Second Rhode Island saw action along the Delaware River in the defense of Fort Mercer and the Battle of Red Bank. After those fights, the unit fell back with the rest of the Continental Army to Valley Forge. While there, the Rhode Island regiments were realigned to incorporate the addition of new recruits—formerly enslaved men who were to receive their freedom in exchange for their service. Rhode Island general James Varnum recommended the use of enslaved men to address manpower shortages, and it was reluctantly endorsed by the commander-in-chief George Washington. Following the brutal winter of 1777–1778 and the Battle of Monmouth in June 1778, the Frank brothers and other veteran soldiers of color from the Second Rhode Island were transferred to the First Rhode Island, joining the formerly enslaved recruits.
This “Black Regiment” returned to its state, where it fought the Battle of Rhode Island in August, and remained there to defend against further British incursions. While encamped near Providence in February 1780, Ben Frank deserted and ended up in British service. His brother William remained with his unit and served during the American victory at Yorktown, Virginia. He was honorably discharged and returned to Rhode Island, while Ben eventually relocated to Nova Scotia with other loyalists.
Shirley L. Green takes the reader on a journey based on her family’s history, rooted in its oral tradition. Putting together the pieces of this puzzle through archival research, interviews, and DNA evidence, the author authenticates and expands the family’s oral history. In addition to providing context and substance to the Black experience during the war years, the author underscores the important distinction between the Frank brothers and other free Blacks in military service and those who had been enslaved.
For free Blacks, like many of their white counterparts, military service was a way to assert their manhood and gain standing in their communities. Ben’s desertion and postwar life show his determination to achieve those goals, but through association with the British cause. Ben’s decision to leave and William’s decision to stay show how young soldiers growing into adulthood responded in different ways to the harsh realities of both racism and military service during wartime.
An original and important contribution to American history, Revolutionary Blacks presents a complex account of Black life during the Revolutionary Era and demonstrates that free men of color shared with white soldiers the desire to improve their condition in life and to maintain their families in postcolonial North America.

Love, American (Revolution) Style: the Romances of Otho Holland Williams
by Derrick E. Lapp 13 Feb 2024 Journal of the American Revolution
The senate chamber of the Maryland State House was more crowded than usual. It was December 23, 1783. Congress had recently relocated to Annapolis, and now George Washington was in town to fulfill a promise he made eight years earlier.
“I went with several others to see Gen. Washington resign his Commission,” Annapolis socialite Mary Ridout later wrote her mother, “Both Houses of the Assembly were present as Spectators” and the gallery overlooking the chamber was “full of Ladies.” On the floor below, other prominent citizens and soldiers came to witness the event as well. Among the crowd was Otho Holland Williams, one of Maryland’s three general officers in the Continental Army. Williams was part of the delegation that met Washington when the commander-in-chief stopped in Baltimore—where the thanks of the town’s inhabitants were offered on the “happy conclusion of an unequal, precarious and bloody War.” He then accompanied Washington on the final leg of the journey to meet with Congress in Annapolis. In the painting by John Trumbull commemorating Washington’s resignation, Williams is depicted fourth behind the Commander-in-Chief, dressed in his uniform, a blue coat faced with red in the style of the Maryland Line. But as momentous as the proceedings were, there was much more on the mind of Otho Williams that day than the affairs of state—he was in Annapolis also to attend to affairs of the heart.
The object of this affair was a young woman named Sophia. The “fascinating Sophia” as Williams once referred to her. He was smitten in what appears to have been a whirlwind romance filled with secret meetings and “clandestine letters . . . etc.” Read more…

Permanent Losses and New Gains During the 1778 Valley Forge Encampment
by Gary Ecelbarger 15 Feb 2024 Journal of the American Revolution
The traditional story of Valley Forge tells of an encampment where a weakened and stripped-down army of 11,000 men endured the hardships of a winter cantonment rife with depravations. Overcoming crippling deficiencies and benefitting from superb training by the first Inspector General of the United States, Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, the army got healthy and campaign-ready, burgeoning with expertly prepared veterans and levies ready to march out of Valley Forge exactly six months after staggering in, 50 percent stronger in numbers and immeasurably more proficient in the art of war. This was the quintessential story of the phoenix rising from the ashes.
Two years ago, the Journal of the American Revolution published a detailed challenge to the centuries-old tradition that 11,000 men entered the camp in December. Using heretofore unpublished data from weekly troop-strength returns to buttress an ignored 1976 publication of monthly returns, the numerical strength of the encampment was recast to indicate that essentially the same number of men entered the camp on December 19 as existed in the camp six months later–each end of the time span secured by nearly 19,000 Continental infantry and artillery officers and rank & file soldiers. (At least 3,500 men were too infirm to march away in June and remained in the camp or in regional hospitals). Read more…

Hessian Soldiers Travelling to America: Protecting Rhode Island Aug 1778
From a Hessian Diary of the American Revolution.
This excerpt from the diary of Johan Conrad Dohla (170 pages).

1778 – Aug: Protecting Rhode Island against the French and Americans (Continued – page 58)

13 August. At night five men of the Ansbach Regiment deserted to the Americans.
17 August. At work on the fortifications. We laid out a line and dug the trench. Everywhere batteries and redoubts, as well as connecting trenches, were completed all along our line, and everything soundly reinforced with wood. The fortifications work continued day and night without let up, and we had many hardships. Within our lines ten principal fortified points were laid out, namely: (1) the Stone Battery, (2) the North Trench, (3) Somerset, (4) the Irish Redoubt, (5) Fort Fanning, (6) Fort Clinton, (7) Fort Percy, (8) the Ice Redoubt, (9) Prince Dauneck, and (10) Conanicut.
The enemy, in a little less than an hour, set up a big camp opposite, set his posts and sentries very near us, and fortified himself in the region of Boxlands Ferry.
18 August. Six men of the Ansbach Regiment deserted to the enemy.
19 August. At noon today the enemy, after completing his battery on this side of the heights, began to fire cannon at our camp and defenses and to throw in bombs. Therefore we had to change our front and camped all together behind the fortifications of Tommy Hill as we had camped in front of it previously. Here we were safe from the balls and bombs. The batteries and fortifications of both sides fired heavily, and that continued unceasingly, only ending during the blackness of night.
20 August. The cannonade by both sides continued. At noon the French fleet of sixteen ships again appeared before the Newport Harbor. They formed a line and dropped anchor. This caused a great fright among us because it was believed they would now attack in earnest. During the evening I went on watch at a redoubt.
22 August. In the morning I went on work detail at the fortifications. During the night the French ships, which had been before the Newport Harbor, disappeared and no one knew where they had gone.
23 August. Today there was heavy cannon fire and bombs, and very many fireballs were thrown.
27 August. During the afternoon three English frigates came here into Newport Harbor and dropped anchor. During the night all the regiments moved out ahead of the line into the trenches because an attack was expected; however, nothing occurred except that the English seamen captured an enemy picket of twenty-five men.
28 August. This night a 25-man picket from our regiment, commanded by Lieutenant [Andreas Gottlieb] Ciriacy, was attacked by a strong party of Americans, who had crept up through a field of Indian corn. One of our men was killed in this action, and three men were wounded. The enemy, however, had to pull back and take flight. Also tonight, the Americans withdrew the artillery with which they had been firing at us and their heavy baggage to New England, but continuously harassed our outposts in order to cover their withdrawal.
29 August. When, during the early morning, we began to fire our cannon at the enemy, there was no answer in return. Therefore, two thousand men from the army, including our two regiments, were ordered to search out and pursue the retreating enemy. They marched for about three English miles, where they then caught up with the enemy, who opposed us as much as possible and, grouped together in order to frustrate our attack, amounted to about ten thousand men. Finally, when the cannon began firing at them, they took flight. They were pursued, and the firing from both sides lasted throughout the day. In our advance we had to climb over many stone walls, five to six feet high, which served as fences around the fields. The enemy often took post behind these and fired through the openings where stones had been removed. Despite this difficulty, we chased them back into their fortifications, of which one, called “Windmill Hill,” had many heavy cannon. Since a farther advance by our corps was not advisable, we stood still until the cannon arrived; from which time, throughout the day, each side fired against the other.
During this heavy fighting our regiment, as we were on the left wing, engaged in combat the entire day. We lost no more than three men, named [Johann Martin] Borferth, [Georg] H€sch, and [Jakob] Voit, from Colonel von Seybothen’s Company. They were killed by a cannonball, and two men were wounded. From the Ansbach Regiment, which was on our right, one man was killed, and two were lightly wounded. The dear Lord had held His blessed hand over us and fortunately turned so many thousand balls from our two regiments. The English and the Hessians, however, had about four hundred dead and wounded. Regarding the enemy, nothing is known about their losses, because they took all of their dead back with them. Still, it is estimated they suffered great loss. One can say of our two regiments that they earned honor and fame; that, as the enemy directed the heaviest fire on the post that they had to defend, they did not lose courage and bravely held out so long that the enemy became aware that they were not able to drive them away. This incident served to make today, 29 August 1778, one of the most memorable in the history of the American War, because a so much larger force had to yield to the courage and bravery of our much smaller force.
30 August. The enemy remained throughout the day in his fortifications. During the night, however, completely unsuspected, he withdrew from Rhode Island across the river to New England and vacated all his works and defenses.
31 August. In the morning, as it became apparent that the enemy had completely left the island, the vacated defenses were immediately occupied by the English and Hessians, and we began to set up camp near Windmill Hill.
(to be continued)

The Boy Gangs of London
By Aparna Gollapudi 10 Feb 2024 in The 18th Century Common
Try this experiment: Google “child” and “criminal.” Pages and pages of horrific crimes committed by adults against children will pop up. Now search “juvenile” and “criminal.” This time you will either find instances of local politicians ranting against dangerous marauding boys roaming the streets to steal cars, or activists from non-profits bewailing the injustices of a legal system that incarcerates disadvantaged youth. Both search results show young individuals’ interactions with adults, but those victimized are children and those perceived as predatory are juveniles.
This current use of “juvenile” as the preferred term to denote children who commit crimes is a legacy of nineteenth-century justice reform that created a separate set of laws for young criminals and set up the first “juvenile prison” (Griffiths). Before that, the word “juvenile” occurred rarely in legal discourse. In the eighteenth century, children were subject to the same laws as adults, they could be transported to penal colonies or incarcerated along with older, hardened criminals. According to the letter of the law, children under seven could not be charged with a felony as they did not yet know “right from wrong,” and at fourteen a child had full criminal liability as an adult. But the years eight to fourteen were a kind of gray area in which the court had to judge the youthful offender’s guilt and levy appropriate punishment. As ages of street children were difficult to determine, for all intents and purposes they often were as vulnerable to harsh punishments as any adult (Giovanopoulos).
The plight of these young criminals–not yet the legal “juvenile” we recognize today, suspended unstably between child and adult in the court of law–sparked the imagination of contemporary novelists. Read more…

Loyalists and descendants who participated in the War of 1812: John Phillips and sons John and Peter
My proven UEL ancestor, John Phillips (15 May 1751 in Schenectady, New York – 29 Jul 1844 in Ekfrid, Middlesex, Ontario), had a son John Phillips Jr. (1784 – 02 Oct 1876 in Bothwell, Camden, Ontario) recorded as a teacher in 1808, served during the War of 1812 in the Oxford Militia, and in 1875, he is granted a pension for his this service, and the payment is forwarded to Dawn Mills, Camden Township.
His second son Peter Phillips (1786 – 1866) served during the War of 1812. This pertains to the area in Oxford county, near the town of Norwich. This information is found in “The History of Burford”, pages 242, 243, 244, 245, as follows:
First Regiment of Oxford Militia, Pay Lists and Muster Rolls of Captain Carroll’s Company, 23 Sept. to 24th Oct 1813, 30 days,
[Many names including…]
Private Peter Phillips, who received the amount of 15 shillings;
Signed by Samuel Street, Justice of the Peace;
Signed by John Carroll, Captain, Commander of Company, the monies paid, December 25, 1813. Read more…

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

Advertised on 16 February 1774: “Perfectly in the stile of a London tavern.”
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

“Perfectly in the stile of a London tavern.”

In February 1774, Daniel Smith took to the pages of the Pennsylvania Gazette and the Pennsylvania Packet to promote his latest enterprise, the City Tavern in Philadelphia. Residents of the urban port had witnessed the building and marketing of the tavern. As Smith explained, the building “was erected at a great expence, by a voluntary subscription of the principal gentlemen of the city.” He billed it as “the largest and most elegant house in that way,” meaning a tavern and inn, “in America.” The previous summer, the proprietors ran an advertisement seeking a tavernkeeper with “an active, obliging disposition” to rent the building, still under construction with completion expected by September, and operate it “for the convenience and credit of the city.” Those “Gentlemen Proprietors” wanted the largest and most cosmopolitan city in the colonies to have a tavern that rivaled any found in London.
Smith asserted that he achieved that goal, doing so “at a very great expence.” He proclaimed that he furnished the building and stocked the storerooms with every necessity. Read more…

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

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

UELAC Scholars Contributing: Benjamin Anderson on John Adams
UELAC Members… as we await the expected applications for the 2024 Scholarship I would like to draw your attention to an article written in 2018 by one of our current scholars who is just finishing up his PhD work. Benjamin Anderson is from Fife, Scotland. He holds a First-Class Honours Degree in History from the University of Stirling and a Master of Letters with Merit Degree in Modern History from the University of St. Andrews.
His main research interests are immigration and forced migration in history. His PhD work at the Andrew Hook Centre for American Studies in Scotland has been made easier for him by your Scholarship donations. His research project – The Loyalists of Vermont and the Northern Borderland, 1749-1791 – strives to recover the voices of the Loyalists on the northern borderland and provide a comprehensive account of how they experienced the American Revolution.
He also enjoys researching John Adams in his spare time. You can read his article about John Adams here.
Christine Manzer UE, Chair Scholarship Committee.

UELAC Recognition Awards – Deadline is 28 February 2024

Call for Nominations for 2024 UELAC Honorary Fellows
Deadline for Nominations is 28 February (midnight EST)
As per UELAC Policy 2017.002 Honorary Fellows

Summary:
The UELAC Honorary Fellows Policy lays out the criteria for appointment of Honorary Fellows, describes their roles within the Association and establishes limits on their terms of office.

Authority: Paragraph 3.6 (Honorary Fellows) of the By-Law states, Honorary Fellowship may be conferred by the Corporation on a person for distinguished service to the Corporation by a two-thirds (2/3) vote of Members at an Annual Meeting, provided that notice of such intended action shall have been given in accordance with these By-Laws. While an Honorary Fellow may be a Member, the designation as an Honorary Fellow does not itself confer any membership rights.
Paragraph 5.1 (Powers) states, The Board shall manage or supervise the management of the activities and affairs of the Corporation.

Criteria for Appointment
Honorary Fellows of the Association are expected to demonstrate the following characteristics:

  1. Show a high degree of interest in supporting the goals and mandates of the Association;
  2. Have a solid base of professional and/or academic credentials that are relevant to the Association’s mission;
  3. Have contributed to and be likely to continue to contribute to the Association by way of their talent, profession, expertise or knowledge of Loyalist history or heritage;
  4. Have an exceptional desire and capacity to be involved with Association events during their term as an Honorary Fellow.

Please forward Nominations to Carol Childs UE, Chair, Honorary Fellows Committee honorary.fellows.committee@uelac.org
Carol Childs UE, Chair Honorary Fellows Committee
Carl Stymiest UE, UELAC Dominion President

Call for Nominations for 2024 UELAC Dorchester Award
Deadline for Nominations is 28 February (midnight EST)

Recipients of the Dorchester Award are UELAC members who have:

  • Made a significant contribution through their volunteerism; and
  • Have gone that extra mile with their contribution to the UELAC.

Nominations are made at the Branch or National level, and are submitted to the Volunteer Recognition Committee chair at dorchester.award@uelac.org. The Award is presented at the UELAC Conference. Details and a nomination form are available on the members page at uelac.ca/members (login required).
Diane Faris UE, Chair Volunteer Recognition Committee”

Call for Nominations for 2024 UELAC Suzanne Morse-Hines Memorial Genealogy-Family History Award

Deadline for Nominations is 28 February (midnight EST)

Recipients of the Suzanne Morse-Hines Memorial Award are UELAC members who have made significant research progress towards family history and genealogy for the purpose of obtaining a UE Certificate. The Award is presented at the UELAC Conference.
Nominations are made at the Branch, Regional, or National level, and are submitted to the UELAC Board of Directors Executive Committee at genealogy-family-history-award@uelac.org Details and a nomination form at available of the members page at uelac.ca/members.
Diane Faris UE, Chair Volunteer Recognition Committee”

Events Upcoming

Kawartha Branch: Jane Simpson about Giraud/Gerow Family Sun. 18 Feb @2:00

Jane, a Member of the Bay of Quinte Branch UELAC, will speak about her latest book, Shades of Allegiance: Hidden Loyalties of the Giraud/Gerow Family in the American Revolution.
This family saga opens as Daniel Giraud, a Huguenot, escapes the French king’s clutches in the 1690’s, in the southwest of France. Fleeing to New York City; he, his wife, and small child seek safety and religious freedom. The family joins other Huguenots on Long Island Sound.
Now grown, his son persuades him to move north in Westchester County to become a tenant-farmer of the land-owning Van Cortlandt family. Hard work is rewarded by prosperity. Years later, the grandson and inheritor, Daniel Gerow, serves in the Westchester militia in both the French and Indian War, and in the American Revolution.
Life for Daniel and his family becomes one of chance and fate as Cortlandt Manor becomes a nucleus for both Revolutionaries and the British Army. Gerow family members perish or are exiled in the conflict. More details at Kawartha Branch events.
Join Zoom Meeting after 1:30 for 2:00 start https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83426479996?pwd=MXTCozPObMUI23QHAWc0n8uBnatq7Z.1 Meeting ID: 834 2647 9996 Passcode: 078318

American Revolution Institute: the 50th Anniversary of the Library Wed 21 Feb 6:30

Founded on November 30, 1973, our library is one of the most important resources in the United States for advanced study on the Revolution and the art of war in the eighteenth century, with more than fifty thousand rare books, manuscripts, prints, broadsides, maps, and modern reference sources. Kicking off a series of events commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of our library, the Institute’s executive director, Andy Morse, along with former fellows John Maass, Jake Ruddiman and Iris De Rode, will discuss the significance, evolution, and collections of our library and the scholarship that has taken place within its walls. Details and Registration.

Kingston Branch “Joel Stone” by Dr. Tim Compeau Sat. 24 Feb @1:00

Kingston and District Branch, United Empire Loyalists’ Association of Canada will meet on Saturday, February 24 at 1:00 p.m. at St. Paul’s Anglican Church Hall, 137 Queen Street (doors open at noon); or if you prefer on Zoom (open at 12:30 p.m.). Dr. Tim Compeau will discuss “Joel Stone, founder of Gananoque”. A summer job at age 19 gave Dr. Compeau the privilege of archiving a suitcase full of letters from Joel Stone (1749-1833) and started his pursuit of a career as a history professor. For the Zoom link for the meeting, visit the website www.uelac.org/Kingston-Branch. All with an interest in Canadian history are welcome

American Revolution Institute: American Revolution in the Old Northwest Wed 28 Feb 6:30

The American Revolution in the West is often neglected from the overall history of the conflict, though it had a significant impact on how it was conducted. Larry Nelson, assistant professor of history at Bowling Green State University, discusses this important component of the war by examining American ambitions in the Old Northwest, the vast uncharted region north and west of the Ohio River; the political goals of the Continental Congress within that region; and the role of Virginia militia leader George Rogers Clark in bringing those aims to fruition. Details and registration.

Col. John Butler: Regency Cookery and Customs. Sat 2 Mar 11:45 at Betty’s

Lisa Barty. The Pleasures of Spring: Regency Cookery and Customs.
In the winter of 2022 Lisa Barty shared with us Rations and Recipes: Winter Fare in the Early 1800s. We have invited her back to tell us more about food and eating in the early days of Upper Canada.
At Betty’s Restaurant, Chippawa, at 11:45 for a lunch meeting. Cost of the lunch is $30 for UELAC members and $35 for guests. Cash only. No credit cards. So the restaurant can prepare, please register in advance with coloneljohnbutler@gmail.com

From the Social Media and Beyond

  • Townsends
  • This week in History
    • 12 Feb 1733 The Province of Georgia was founded by James Oglethorpe & settled in 1733 with the founding of Savannah. Georgia became a British royal colony in 1752. It was the last and southernmost of the original Thirteen Colonies to be established. More…
    • 11 Feb 1758 Benjamin Franklin receives an appointment as the colonial agent for Georgia. From 1764 to 1775, Franklin lived in London and became a voice for the American colonies, appearing before Parliament to champion the American cause. More…
    • 10 Feb 1763 Treaty of Paris signed ending Seven Years War & French & Indian War. Britain’s victory awards them an empire, but the war debt & cost of protecting new territory brought new colonial tax policies, political strife, insurgency & rebellion. More…
    • On February 10, 1763, Great Britain and France signed the Treaty of Paris, bringing the Seven Years’ War to an end. This war was a global war, fought across five continents, involving many regional and world powers. The subsequent treaty resulted in France losing control of French Canada and the Ohio River Valley to Britain – land which was home to many Indigenous communities. The war left Great Britain’s debt nearly doubled.
      See Image in the Public Domain: edited detail of “Paix rendue à l’Europe” by Jean-Baptiste Tilliard (after a drawing by Charles Monnet), 1763.
    • 13 Feb 1766 Pennsylvania’s agent in London, Benjamin Franklin, speaks to Parliament about the hardships caused by the Stamp Act and the dangers of using the military to enforce it. More…
    • Boston Gazette, February 14, 1774. Even with the “Destruction of the Tea” being about 2 months previous, illicit tea is still being discovered and destroyed by “Indians,” not a literal description but the jesting term used for those ridding the area of the detested tea.
    • 10 Feb 1776 The Patriot ship America captured on Cape Fear River by two British ships stationed there with credit going to HMS Cruizer. America held three puncheons (1500 liters) of rum & six thousand bushels of salt. What do you do with a drunken sailor? More…
    • 11 Feb 1776, Savannah, GA Georgia’s royal governor, Sir James Wright, escapes from his residence to the safety of a waiting British warship, the HMS Scarborough, anchored at the mouth of the Savannah River, and returns to London. More…
    • 13 February 1776 The Rev War Minute: Cambridge, Massachusetts. General George Washington writes Thomas Mumford of Connecticut seeking gunpowder to liberate Boston. When Washington assumed command of the Army, he discovered they had only a few days’ worth of gunpowder. Mumford had recently imported powder. The lack of munitions was the new army’s most closely guarded secret, and Washington took pains to disabuse the British garrison in Boston of that fact. British discovery of it would have provided the opportunity for a breakout offensive that would have broken the ring of colonial forces around the city and dispersed the new army, possibly ending the rebellion. More…
    • 13 Feb 1776 Williamsburg, VA. Patrick Henry becomes colonel of the First Virginia battalion in defense of the state’s supply of gunpowder. He gained fame as a member of the House of Burgesses with his passionate speeches against British rule. More…
    • 15 Feb 1776, Gov Francis Legge reports to London that traitorous elements in Cumberland, Nova Scotia, contacted American Gen George Washington for support in bringing NS to the patriot cause. But the failure at Quebec ended any real interest in Canada. More…
    • 15 Feb 1776 Cross Creek, NC Lt Col Francis MacDonald musters 1,400 Loyalist highlanders. Although only 1/3 have weapons, they begin the march to the coast for a rendezvous with the British and Loyalists to suppress the patriots. More…
    • 16 Feb 1776 Gen Washington was disabused of his plan to attack Boston across the frozen bay with 16K troops & instead agreed to a plan to move artillery onto the strategic Dorchester Heights to threaten the British garrison. More…
    • 17 Feb 1776 Congress authorizes printing money totaling $4M payable in Spanish milled dollars, or the equivalent in gold or silver. $1M was reserved for the first national fractional currency, i.e., 1/6th of a dollar. More…
    • 14 Feb 1778 Quiberon Bay, France The United States flag is formally recognized by a foreign naval vessel for the first time, when French Admiral Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte renders a nine gun salute to USS Ranger, commanded by John Paul Jones. More…
    • 14 Feb 1778 Charleston, SC. British troops under Gen Henry Clinton occupied Stono Ferry & James Island to tighten the circle on Gen Benjamin Lincoln’s defense works. More…
    • 16 Feb 1778, two future presidents of the US, John Adams & his son, 10-year-old John Quincy Adams, sit in Marblehead Harbor, off the coast of MA, on board the Boston, to sail to France, where Adams will replace Silas Deane & negotiate a treaty of alliance. More…
    • 16 Feb 1778 Valley Forge, PA Gen Washington’s Aide de camp Alexander Hamilton composed a letter to Gov George Clinton of NY explaining the poor shape of the Army and imploring he provide aide of all kinds – especially victuals. More…
    • 16 Feb 1778 London Lord George Germain, British minister for the American colonies, accepts Gen Sir William Howe’s resignation but asks him to remain in command until a successor is appointed. More...
    • 10 Feb 1779 Carr’s Fort, GA. Col Andrew Pickens GA & SC militia pursue Loyalist cavalry under Lt Col John Hamilton to the fort. The rebels prepare to assault when Col John Boyd’s relief forces make Pickens redeploy. Loyalists lost 3 killed & 9 wounded. More…
    • 12 Feb 1779 Col John Boyd’s 600 Loyalists defeat Capt James Little’s 60 GA & SC militia defending the crossing at Vann’s Creek on the Savannah R. The Americans retreated back to McGowan’s blockhouse after suffering 6 killed, 10 wounded & 16 captured. More…
    • 14 February 1779 The Rev War Minute: Kettle Creek, Georgia. Patriot militia force of 440 led by Colonel Andrew Pickens of South Carolina, along with Colonel John Dooly and Lieutenant Colonel Elijah Clarke of Georgia, defeated 700 Loyalist militia commanded by Colonel James Boyd. Pickens moved in three columns. He commanded the center while Dooly led the right. Clarke led the column on the left. The three American columns moved fast and surprised the Loyalists. The Loyalists held tough at first, but Colonel Boyd received a mortal wound, and when Colonel Clarke occupied some high ground on the far side of the creek, the Loyalists there dispersed. Soon, the entire defensive line crumbled. The Loyalists lost some 40 killed, 75 wounded, and 150 captured. The Americans lost only seven killed and 15 wounded. This battle was the only significant American victory in the state, which leaned British and would ultimately fall under British control for most of the war. More…
    • 15 Feb 1779 Philadelphia, PA. French minister Gerard recommends that the Continental Congress consider the status of Florida & Mississippi navigation rights when drawing up peace proposals. This was meant to induce Spain’s participation in the war. More…
    • 10 Feb 1780 Morristown, NJ Gen Nathanael Greene to Gove William Greene of Rhode Island of the horrible conditions & extreme cold weather faced by the army that winter. The worst of the #RevWar thus far & surpassing Valley Forge in the men’s suffering. More…
    • 12 Feb 1781 Fort St. Joseph, MI. Capt Eugene Poure’s Spanish troops, 120-strong, storm it by racing across the frozen St. Joseph River before the defenders could go to arms. Some 200 Pottawatomie warriors join in to share the plunder. More…
    • 13 Feb 1781 Gen Nathanael Greene’s army slips across the Dan River into Virginia, escaping British Gen Charles Cornwallis’s pursuit. Cornwallis controlled the Carolinas but his supply line was stretched & partisan militia posed a new threat. More…
    • 11 Feb 1782 London. A string of failures in strategy and its political fallout causes British Secretary of State for the Americas, Lord George Germain to resign. But King George III still refuses to make peace with the rebels. More…
  • Clothing and Related:
    • An archive favorite for #SackBackSaturday: Good morning, sunshine! A yellow silk satin quilted robe à la francaise, England, ca. 1750-1755. Via The Kyoto Costume Institute
    • Red wool Pumps With Moosehair Embroidery, 1850-1875 with red leather covered Louis heel
    • Found today… This pair of late 18th century, circa 1770s, court shoes with silver and paste buckles and embroidered toes
    • échelle: A decorative ladder of bows descending down the stomacher of a dress. Worn during the late 17th and 18th centuries. Sometimes spelled eschelle. Heavily decorated stomachers became especially popular in the eighteenth century. Read more…
    • 1780 wedding ensemble worn by Jane Bailey for her wedding to James Wickham Esq. In 2019, replicas and a short film were made. See composite photo. View the film (12 min)
  • Miscellaneous
    • Samuel Lane, NH shoemaker in 1748: “I think according to the best computation I can Make we have had about 12. feet of Snow this winter Past which came in Nov about 9 inches. in Dec about 4 feet 3 inches Jan 2 1/2 feet Feb 3 1/2 feet March about 1 foot”

 

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