In this issue:

 

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Nuts and Bolts: The Loyalist Evacuation Ships of 1783. Part One of Two
copyright Stephen Davidson UE
The passenger lists of the ships comprising the loyalist evacuation fleets that left New York City in 1783 are especially interesting to genealogists and historians. They help to pinpoint when individual Loyalists left the new United States and shed light on the refugees’ experiences upon arrival in places of sanctuary.
However, there is also merit in stepping back from individual ships’ manifests and looking at the 1783 loyalist evacuations as a whole, providing one with the larger context for individual refugees’ stories.  In this process, one shifts from asking on what ship did a Loyalist sail? to asking what were the names of evacuation vessels? What type of ships were they?  How many times did they ferry refugees to places of sanctuary? Who were their captains? What were their destinations?
The answers to these questions would provide both historians and genealogists with the “nuts and bolts” of the largest migration of refugees within North America.
If he were he alive today, Sir Guy Carleton, the British commander in chief of North American forces, would be the man who could answer such questions. He had the unenviable task of overseeing the safe removal of 30,000 troops and up to 40,000 loyal Americans from British headquarters in New York City during 1783.
His correspondence from this era is filled with loyalists’ request for aid, the settling of debts, and the orderly departure of both British and German troops. However, there is very little that has to do with how Carleton used Royal Navy vessels or hired private ships to get refugees to safety.
Thankfully, a ledger commissioned by Carleton during the loyalist evacuation of 1783 provides answers to a number of the questions that we have raised. Created to allay Patriot fears that the British and their loyalist allies were stealing enslaved Africans, the Book of Negroes contained much more than just the names and circumstances of the enslaved and free Blacks being evacuated. Black passengers were always on ships that had white Loyalists as fellow travellers, so the data in the Book of Negroes pertains to the larger loyalist evacuations as well as to those of enslaved and free Africans.
Within its pages, one can find the names of 117 evacuation vessels and their captains as well as the dates on which they left New York City and their intended destinations. Thanks to scrupulous British documentation, we have the data required to delve into the “nuts and bolts” of the loyalist evacuations.
The ships that took the revolution’s refugees to sanctuary were a mixture of military and private vessels. They also represented a wide scope of vessels – from huge transports (originally used to ferry ammunition, supplies, horses, and troops across the Atlantic) to brigs, frigates, fire ships, sloops, and schooners.
(A brig was a two-masted square-rigged vessel with an additional lower fore-and-aft sail on the gaff and a boom to the mainmast. A frigate was a sailing vessel of a size and armament just below that of the largest naval warship. A sloop could either be a one-masted sailing boat with a mainsail and jib rigged fore and aft or a small square-rigged sailing warship with two or three masts. A schooner was a ship with two or more masts, typically with the foremast smaller than the mainmast.)
Evacuation vessels’ names ran the gamut from those of animals (Eagle, Camel, Beaver, Rhinoceros, Antelope, Elk, Hind) to mythological (Venus, Sybil, Mercury, Minerva, Mars, Hesperus, Apollo, Cyclops, Ariel, Aurora, Caron) to intimidating (Volcano, Lucifer, Danger, Trident) to whimsical (Saucy Ben, Midsummer Blossom, Delight, Charming Nancy, Prosperous Amelia, New Blessings) and everything in between.
Some names were very popular; both a brig and a ship named Nancy took Loyalists to refuge. The William made four voyages each with a different captain or master. Does this mean there were actually four different vessels with the same name? One is described as a “transport” while another is assumed to be a regular ship.  As one begins to focus on the names of ships and their masters, it becomes apparent that careful distinctions have to be made rather than assuming that each ship has a unique name or that it always had the same master.
Another example: the digital version of the Book of Negroes notes both a Hero (sailing in August) and a Nero (sailing in April) as evacuation vessels. But when one looks at the name of their masters, one discovers that it was the same man: George Burnett. Clearly, the person transcribing the original document was confused in reading the initial letter of Burnett’s ship. So there were not two ships, but the same one which made two journeys.
Military vessels — unless identified as transports or fire ships– are difficult to distinguish from those that Carleton would have hired from New Yorkers. However, there are a few helpful clues. A person who we would term “ship’s captain” was, in the 18th century, termed the ship’s “master”.  Therefore, any master who is listed with a rank (such as captain) in the Book of Negroes can be assumed to be a British naval officer.
With this insight, we can separate out Thomas Appleby (the transport Jason), Captain Ballantine (the Spencer), Lieutenant Brison (the Hind), Captain Christian (the Cyclops), Lieutenant Fitzgerald (the Sybil), Captain John Browne (the Polly), Captain Robert Gibson (the Ladies Adventure), Captain James Grayson (the Mars), Captain Hammond (the Nancy), (?) Moyston (His Majesty’s Solitaire), Lt. Phillips (the L’Abondance), Captain Prideaux (the Berwick), Captain Richardson (the Ariel), Captain William Tinker (the Camel), Lt. Trounce (the Clinton), Captain Robert Watson (the Stafford), Consill Wilson (master of the transport ship Union), and Captain Jacob Wilson (the Peggy), as being officers in the Royal navy.
It is known that Carleton hired civilian vessels belonging to both Patriot and Loyalist masters to take refugees to sanctuary. Most infamous of the Patriot captains was John Willis, the master of the Martha.  He and five of his crew made off in the vessel’s last rowboat, abandoning their passengers after the Martha was shipwrecked off of Nova Scotia’s south western coast in October of 1783. As a result, 113 of the Martha’s passengers drowned.
It is difficult to distinguish the civilian masters (and the side they took in the revolution). From testimony given at the loyalist compensation hearings, we know that many loyalists owned (or had an interest in) sailing vessels. A Loyalist named George Bell who appeared before the compensation board when it met in Halifax shares the name of the master of the Mary, but whether they are the same man is not clear. Identifying loyalist masters of evacuation vessels is a task waiting for a patient researcher to fulfill.
This examination of the “nuts and bolts” of the loyalist evacuation ships concludes in next week’s Loyalist Trails.
To secure permission to reprint this article contact the author at stephendavids@gmail.com.

Book: Loyalist Land Ownership in Upper Canada’s Norfolk County, 1792–1851
By Colin Read, August 2025, McGill-Queen’s University Press
A history of land ownership and the attempt to create a landed gentry in early Canada.
After the American Revolution, many Loyalists moved north, where the British colonial government awarded them generous land grants on favourable terms. The intention behind these grants was to create a landed gentry in Upper Canada that would safeguard the colony’s political security and build social cohesion among its leadership.
Loyalist Land Ownership in Upper Canada’s Norfolk County, 1792–1851 examines the long-term landholding of Loyalists and other settlers who arrived in the county before 1812 to judge whether this social experiment succeeded. Colin Read explores the various ways that settlers acquired and transmitted land, the nature of familial land sales, and the place of women in owning land. Consulting land records and genealogical research, he finds that no landed elite endured in Upper Canada: Loyalists owned only marginally more land than non-Loyalists by 1851, and it was commonplace for latecoming settlers to eventually own land. Yet early arrival was a significant determinant of later landholding and property size – it mattered who settled first.
Land was the main source of wealth in early Canada. This fine-grained study sheds light on how it was acquired, disposed of, and passed down through generations in the nineteenth century. Although a landed aristocracy was never realized, the colonial state’s allocation of land to settlers laid the foundation for their social standing. Read more…

Calling all Mabee and Secord  Descendants Sat 27 Sept @1:00

The Grand River Branch  is holding a special event to unveil a plaque honouring our Loyalist ancestors, the Mabee & Secord families. See the poster which outlines the details and we would be so very pleased if interested people would attend. See poster…
We do hope some of the descendants of these families will join interested others.
Please let me know should you require any further information. Bill Terry UE terrybill766@gmail.com

Overwintering 1783-84 at Cataraqui [Kingston ON] with George Harpell
By Valerie (Harpell) Howe, September, 2025
Though his life was not without impact, George Harpell (1762 – 1841) is one of the least known among the first Loyalists at the settlement that would become Kingston. He participated in the crucial surveying and building that an advance guard contributed to the success of the Cataraqui/ Kingston settlement. This is a largely untold chapter in Loyalist history – camouflaged by the repeated report that the Loyalists arrived in 1784 – and the implication that the site was a wilderness. In fact, before 1783 there was already a small, largely Indigenous settlement there with a wharf and a few merchants serving the military base on Carleton Island. Hundreds of regimental soldiers, the surveyors and an advance guard of Associated Loyalist, including George Harpell, added substantially to that infrastructure between September of 1783 and the summer of 1784. As a result, the main groups of Loyalists, most of whom remained at Sorel, arrived to find completed surveys of the townsite and township lines as well as much of the foundation needed for a thriving military base and town.
On September 15, 1783, thirty-eight Associated Loyalist ‘artificers’, including Michael Grass and five other Officers, were outfitted at Sorel, Quebec, then bateauxed to Montreal to join Deputy Surveyor-General John Collins and his survey party. As Turner, on page 78, reports: “the party including 8 carpenters, 2 masons and 2 blacksmiths left Lachine with Collins on the 17th.”
That fall, George and his group were primarily involved in completing the first survey. When Mikl Grass and half of his company returned to Sorel before the snow and ice set in, a few men and two women Loyalists were asked to remain at the Cataraqui post to work through the winter. George, who had likely been a carpenter at New York Headquarters, was among the 18 Loyalists who overwintered in 1783-4 to continue to re-furbish the derelict Fort and to build infrastructure for the Loyalist settlement.
By June 1784 these regimental and Loyalist workers had constructed: a Wharf, sawmill, grist mill, Captain Brandt’s house 40 foot by 30 foot; Molly Brandt’s house, Navy store 50 foot by 25. In addition, the sawyers/ carpenters had prepared: 9,000 cubic feet of squared timbers, 1,000 round logs and 50 building timbers. This is in addition to soldiers’ barracks and officers’ quarters for over 400 men, and a hospital as well as a bake house, lime kiln, and provisions store at the Fort. Major Ross found the soldiers far from enthusiastic about doing this work, while the Loyalists were very keen to ready the base for their homesteads, so the contribution of the ‘artificers’ should not be dismissed.
In addition to this vital role, George’s very well constructed log cabin stood at Upper Canada Village for decades and his son’s sturdy limestone farm house is in Kingston’s Heritage Register. George also served as a Constable and District Representative and he and his descendants defended Canada in the War of 1812.
Read more in “Read Overwintering 1783-84 at Cataraqui with George Harpell” (9-page PDF) by Valerie Harpell Howe, contributed in September 2025.

250 Years Ago: The Invasion of Canada Sept 10 – 17

from Lake Champlain
General Philip Schuyler orchestrated the plans for the attack on Canada, The force led by Brigadier General Richard Montgomery would advance up Lake Champlain towards Montreal.
    Between Sept 10 and 17, 1775,

  • September 10–11, 1775 Montgomery’s army of about 1,200 troops departed Crown Point and Fort Ticonderoga, heading northward along Lake Champlain in boats and bateaux.
  • By September 17, Montgomery’s forces began assembling and encamping at Île aux Noix (an island in the Richelieu River, near the modern U.S.-Canada border).
  • the Siege of Fort St. Johns began formally on September 17, 1775.

The British Preparations
Governor Guy Carleton was keenly aware of the impending invasion from the south up the Richelieu River. His defensive strategy centered on holding Fort St. Jean, which protected the water route to Montreal. He also began preparing Quebec City for a potential seige.
Specific preparations included:

  1. Fortifying Fort St. Jean: The British had been reinforcing Fort St. Jean since May 1775. By the end of August, it was heavily defended by approximately 750 men, mostly British regulars from the 7th and 26th Regiments of Foot.
  2. Fortifying Quebec City: Upon learning of the Congressional plan for invasion, Governor Carleton ordered defensive measures in Quebec City.
    1. Closing the Gates: Gates were closed at 6 p.m. each night, and non-residents needed to register their entry.
    2. Preparing for a Siege: Food supplies were stockpiled to last through a potential prolonged siege until the spring.
    3. Burning Structures: Houses were burned to eliminate hiding places for the invading American soldiers.
  3. Securing Loyalty: The Church warned its parishioners to remain loyal to the British crown.
  4. British Force Composition: The British forces in Canada at this time included the 7th and 26th Regiments, guarding the St. Lawrence River Valley, and the 8th Regiment, stationed around the Great Lakes

From Maine
Between September 3 and 10, 1775, Benedict Arnold and his team were planning and preparing for their secret expedition to Quebec. Arnold was in the Cambridge/Boston area, where he was assembling his force and securing supplies and transportation for the difficult journey through the Maine wilderness.  British Preparations
In September 1775, the British were not aware of the invading group coming from Maine.

The Great Newfoundland and Saint-Pierre et Miquelon Hurricane of September 1775
by Alan Ruffman at the Canadian Nautical Research Society
Canadians tend not to dwell upon their disasters, real or potential. While it is perhaps a measure of modesty that the country’s textbook writers have all but forgotten the 1917 explosion in Halifax harbour, the 1914 loss in the St. Lawrence of the Empress of Ireland,  the 1929 earthquake and tsunami south of Newfoundland, and the 1949 fire on the Noronic in Toronto harbour, each was a tragedy.
Maritime historians, for instance, can better comprehend the fears of mariners and the environmental impact upon oceanic trade if they grasp major weather-related tragedies in the past, such as the event identified in this paper as the “Great Newfoundland and Saint-Pierre et Miquelon Hurricane of September 1775.”
The effects of this hurricane on Newfoundland have received only minor scholarly attention. For example, in 1983 Olaf Janzen noted that:

On 11 and 12 September, 1775, a violent southeaster slammed into the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland, causing widespread destruction. Hundreds of fishermen lost their lives and many boats and vessels were sunk or damaged, including two navy schooners. Shore facilities suffered extensively, too, from the wind and high water. At Placentia, which stood directly in the path of the storm, many survived only by scrambling into the rafters of their homes as the wind drove floodwaters three and four feet deep through the town.

Leo E.F. English. In “The Storm of 1775,” the men of Northern Bay were caught offshore squid jigging after a prolonged period of calm weather and small catches:

The squid came that late summer afternoon, and so abundant and omnivorous that the oldest seamen grew terrified…Over the horizon to the southeast there spread an orange hued glow. Then wisps of wind, that slowly gathered strength and increasing…culminated in the fierce violence of hurricane…hatches were battened, boats lashed, and sails double reefed. Ships slipped their chains and strove to escape from the open mouthed anchorage into which the full force of wind and wave hurled the venom of doom. Only one small schooner, whose skipper had foreseen disaster, was able to round Salvage Point to the south and reach Ochre Pit Cove to ride out the storm. The others were driven to death…Over three hundred men perished, and only one apprentice lad lived through the horrors of that awful night. The tide had risen full twenty feet above its normal level, and on the crest of a huge wave the boat with the boy lashed to the helm was carried up the sands and wedged between large trees that grew close to the strand.

Isaac Senter’s journal, written while on a secret expedition against Québec under the command of Benedict Arnold in September 1775, may possibly be citing the same storm; it mentions a “heavy wind” and “considerable rain” on the ocean near the mouth of the “Cenebec” [Kennebec] River late on 19 and early on 20 September. On the other hand, this may well be an unrelated follow-on event.
Read more… [pdf, 13 pages]

Podcast: Loyalist Minister Rev. Samuel Peters of Hebron CT
John Cass of Braintree, MA interviewed John Baron, of the Hebron Historical society. He talks about the Minister Rev. Samuel Peters of Hebron CT. The Rev. Peters was a prominent loyalist in eastern Connecticut. Listen in…
For additional reference Stephen Davidson wrote a three-part series about Rev. Peters: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

Francisco de Saavedra de Sangronis: A Spainard’s Pivotal Role in the Yorktown Triumph
by Richard J. Werther 11 September 2025 Journal of the American Revolution
Nowhere in the struggle that was the American Revolution was outside assistance more significant than at the siege of Yorktown during the autumn of 1781. The French provided significant support from land troops, but it was the French Navy that really clinched the affair with their naval blockade that ultimately trapped the British army of Gen. Charles Cornwallis. However, there was another ally, not an ally of the United States (at least not officially) but an ally of France whose assistance was critical to enabling this naval entrapment to take place. That ally was Spain.
Spain provided significant illicit support during the war in terms of troops and supplies, all the while never being a declared ally of the United States (though it eventually declared war on Great Britain). In fact, several of its high-ranking diplomats and politicians were against American independence, likely due to the concern of an independence contagion spreading to Spain’s colonial holdings. What they did want, however, and sometimes working through the Americans was the way to do it, was to disrupt the international commerce and influence of their enemy, Great Britain. There were several ways that Spain, working both independently and with the French, accomplished this. The combination of the French and Spanish navies was enhanced to outnumber the vaunted British navy, thus posing a very real threat of an invasion of Great Britian itself. Although it was never conducted, this poorly kept secret presented enough of a threat to the British that they had to hold some of their navy back to protect the homeland. This diluted their effectiveness elsewhere around the world and curtailed their naval actions in the Americas.
Spain also had some positive goals of its own, most prominently to obtain Gibraltar and Minorca, though it ultimately secured only the latter. Finally, working with France in some cases, and in other cases on their own, they sought gains in the Caribbean, West Indies, and the Gulf coast. Read more…

Hessian Soldiers Travelling to America: Sailing home…The North Sea. September 1783
From a Hessian Diary of the American Revolution.
This excerpt from the diary of Johan Conrad Dohla (170 pages).

Major Moves during Johan’s deployment:

  • March 1777:   Depart Germany
  • 3 June 1777:   Arrive New York, then Amboy NJ
  • November 1777:  To Philadelphia
  • June 1778: to Long Island
  • July 1778: To Newport RI
  • October 1779: to New York
  • May 1781: to Chesapeake Bay (Yorktown)
  • October 1781: to Williamsburg
  • January 1782: to Frederick MD (about 40 km west of Baltimore)
  • May 1783: departed Frederick MD for Springfield, Long Island
  • August 1783: Boarded ship at Denys’s Ferry
  • September 1783: England, The North Sea and Germany

1783: Continuation of the Notable Occurences in the North American Field Campaign; Marching out of Captivity to Springfield on Long Island, in the Seventh and Last Year, Page 144

In the Month of September 1783
1 September. We lay quietly at anchor at Deal. I went on watch on the ship. Beginning today, we received  English  small  beer,  as  much as we wished  to  drink. As soon  as  a  barrel was empty, another was tapped.
2 September. Still at anchor.
3 September. At night a strong windstorm arose, accompanied by rain. The ships  lying at anchor  here  were  tossed  about  considerably.  Our  ship’s  captain,  to  be  safe,  put  out  another anchor. One of the frigates lying opposite to us tore loose, came near to our ship, and thereby caused a great alarm. It dropped another anchor and again held fast.
4 September. We remained lying at anchor. I went on watch. Today a  fleet of sixteen sail arrived  from  Halifax  and  Quebec,  on  which  were  Hessians,  Brunswickers,  and  our  Jaeger recruits. Also, many foreign merchant ships arrive here daily, and the entire  harbor is  full of ships.
During the evening the English  frigate South Carolina arrived, also.  It  had  departed from America with us and, since To August, had been separated from us.

5 September. Still lying at anchor. The strong wind continued. During the evening we were debarked from our frigate Emerald and went aboard a large three-masted transport ship with the  name  John and Bella.  In  the  night  a  frigate,  Quebec,  arrived  from  America.  On  board were  the two  companies  of  Stain  and  Metzsch,  of  the  Voit  Regiment.  This  ship  had  sailed from America with our staff ship, Sibylle. Sibylle, however, was separated from them on the fifth day and not seen again.
6 September. Still lying here. It was still stormy.
8 September. The storm  still  persisted.  During  the  evening  the two companies,  Stein  and Metsch, left the frigate Quebec and came aboard our transport ship. It therefore became very crowded.
9 September. We had a great windstorm. I went on duty with the reserve.

10 September. Still lying here. I went on baggage watch.
11 September. The storm abated. At five o’clock in the morning the anchor was lifted and we  sailed  out  of  Deal  harbor,  where  we  had  lain  at  anchor  for  eleven  days.  We  had  an advantageous wind. Our fleet consisted of fourteen  transport  ships  and two frigates. Loaded on these ships were Hessians, Brunswickers, Anhalt-Zerbsters, and Waldeck recruits, and our jaegers.
We sailed past Ramsgate.
At noon we entered the North Sea and during the afternoon lost sight of  land. During the night we were struck by a strong windstorm and sailed over the „Mad-Dog,“ as the North Sea is  called  in  this  area  by  the  sailors,  because  the  water  is  constantly  rough  and  wild,  which makes the sea voyage on the North Sea dangerous.
Of our ship Sibylle, for which we had waited eleven days at Deal, we had no news. [When it finally reached Portsmouth on 6 September 1783, the Sibylle, which had carried 834 soldiers, plus women and children, was condemned, and the troops were put on two transports. „Popp Journal,“ p. 254.]
12 September. The storm still hung on, but it swung to the side and hastened our journey.

13 September. Still stormy. At eight o’clock in the morning we saw a small island lying in the middle of the North Sea. Toward ten o’clock we approached closer to it and sailed past it at close range.
This island consisted of many rocks on which there was a small amount of sand, and it had a  circumference  of  about  one-half  a  German  mile.  It  was  noticeable  that  this  island  grew smaller  each  year  because  the  waves  in  the  region  raged  so  astonishingly.  The  sea  rages strongly  hereabout,  and  it  is  very  dangerous  to  sail  past.  The  island,  which  is  called Helgoland, and whose inhabitants live from the ocean trade and  fishing, belongs to the King of Denmark, and there  is an Evangelical parish thereon. It has two churches  and two school buildings  and  about two  hundred  other  houses. Because of  the  sandy  soil,  neither  grain  nor other  crops  that  support  human  life  grow  there;  therefore,  the  inhabitants  must  have  all necessities brought to them on board ship.
The  inhabitants  have  a  peculiar  language,  Low  Dutch,  which  is  not  easy  to  understand. During the afternoon we again saw land. On our left were the kingdoms of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden; on the right, however, lie Holland, Zeeland, and the Netherlands.
During  the  afternoon  our  ship  entered  the  seaport  named  „Cux,“ near  Ritzeb†ttel,  and dropped anchor.
The city  of  Ritzeb†ttel, which  lies  about one  hour  from Cuxhaven,  belongs  to  Hamburg, which  is  a  free,  self-governing  city.  Ritzeb†ttel  has  a  beautiful,  strong  castle,  which  is surrounded  by  a  wall  and  moat,  and  is  also  fortified.  Twelve  miles  above  Ritzeb†ttel  lies Stade, a good fortress, not far from the Elbe, on which much trade is conducted.
Between  Stade  and  Ritzeb†ttel  the  Elbe  empties  into  the  North  Sea.  In  the  surrounding waters there are many sea dogs.
(to be continued)


The Loyalist Who Gave Birth to His Nightmare
by Richard Briles Moriarty 9 Sept 2025  Journal of the American Revolution
As his London Packet approached the colonies in November 1774, Thomas Paine was not scanning for land. After turning northwards towards Philadelphia in Delaware Bay, the former privateer was not visualizing where, during the Seven Years War, French privateer ships awaited English prey within the folds of the eastern shore. Stricken with typhus fever that had ravaged his ship, the delirious and barely conscious Paine was confined to his cabin.
Dr. John Kearsley, Jr., taking him on as a patient, had him brought “on Shore” and “provided a Lodging.” Paine later reported to Benjamin Franklin, whose letter of introduction graced Paine’s meager belongings, that six weeks in Kearsley’s care resulted in full recovery.
Paine biographers assert that Kearsley became involved because he heard about an ill passenger with a letter from Franklin, which motivated Kearsley to have the passenger brought to him. One biographer even fancifully claimed that the captain alerted Kearsley about Paine who then stayed with the captain’s family members in Philadelphia while Paine recovered.
With many other doctors then practicing in Philadelphia, why Kearsley? Paine provided the answer: Kearsley “attended the Ship on her Arrival.” Presumably appointed by the governor under Pennsylvania law to inspect the infected ship, and learning of Paine and the Franklin letter during that inspection, he did not hear it through the grapevine.
Biographers who specify where the ship docked and Paine’s care occurred assume Philadelphia locations. Instead, Pennsylvania law required infected ships to moor seven nautical miles downriver, a place where those with infectious diseases were quarantined. By 1743, Philadelphia built a “pest hospital” on Province Island “for the purpose of quarantining the sick who arrived by ship.” The 1774 law prohibited ships “disordered with any infectious disease” from coming closer than Mud Island and required quarantine of infected persons on adjacent Province Island. Read more…


Mercy Scollay’s Quest for Custody of Joseph Warren’s Children 
by Janet Uhlar 8 Sept 2025 Journal of the American Revolution
In the spring of 1775, after war broke out at Lexington and Concord, a British garrison in Boston was surrounded by militia troops from all over New England. News of British reinforcements enroute made it clear that further violence was likely. Doctor Joseph Warren, a widower and one of the key organizers of the American rebellion, made plans with Dr. Elijah Dix, a colleague in Worcester, to place his children far from British reach under Dix’s care. A friend of his family, Mercy Scollay, accompanied the children as nanny. After Warren’s death at the Battle of Bunker Hill, Scollay made repeated efforts to gain custody of his children. Almost a century later claims arose that Warren and Scollay were engaged to be married, claims that persist to this day even though no evidence supports them.
Refuting inferential leaps taken by biographers regarding Warren’s supposed betrothal to Scollay requires a brief background of Warren’s family dynamics. Joseph’s mother, Mary, was widowed with four young sons and a large orchard and farm to manage in Roxbury, Massachusetts. She did not remarry. In a letter to her youngest son and comments made by her grandchildren, she clearly loved her children and this love was reciprocated. By all indications Joseph Warren had a close relationship with his mother and younger brothers—especially Jack, who lived with Joseph for two years as his medical apprentice. Jack was with Joseph when his wife Elizabeth died. A poem and Latin epitaph, probably written by Joseph, reveal profound grief. Following Elizabeth’s death, Mary cared for her grandchildren. Though widowers in the eighteenth century often quickly remarried out of necessity, Joseph Warren did not. Read more… 

Advertised on 12 September 1775: ‘Mrs. TAYLOR’s BOARDING SCHOOL … [for] young LADIES’

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago this week?

“Mrs. TAYLOR’s BOARDING SCHOOL … [for] young LADIES.”

The first advertisement in the September 12, 1775, edition of Dunlap’s Maryland Gazette, published in Baltimore, promoted “Mrs. TAYLOR’s BOARDING SCHOOL” for “young LADIES” on Philadelphia, apparently an elite institution based on the tuition.  The headmistress charged forty-five pounds per year along with an initial entrance fee of five pounds.  Taylor advised the parents and guardians of prospective pupils that they would be taught “Reading and the Grammar, plain work and to make every particular for their dress, to flower Muslin after the Dresden and French method, all kind of open work, to crown childrens caps, make up baby linen, mark letters, to pickle, preserve, and to clear-starch.”  The standard curriculum combined practical skills that prepared young women to run a household with some leisure activities that testified to their status.
Yet that was not the extent of the instruction that took place at Taylor’s boarding school.  For additional fees, her charges could opt for additional lessons taught by tutors that Taylor hired.  Students learned to form their letters from a “Writing Master” for fifteen shillings each quarter.  They learned their steps from a “Dancing Master” for a guinea (or twenty-one shillings) each quarter.  Read more…

Honorary Fellow 2025: Hon. Steven Lewis Point, OC, OBC
Honorary Fellows of the Association demonstrate a high degree of interest in supporting the goals and mandates of the Association., have a solid base of professional and/or academic credentials that are relevant to the Association’s mission, 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 and have an exceptional desire and capacity to be involved with Association events during their term as an Honorary Fellow
On October 11, 2012, British Columbia’s UELAC Pacific Region Branches received the British Columbia Government, Order-inCouncil 903, from Lieutenant Governor, the Honourable Steven L. Point, that from this day forward.. .. “the 22 luly is to be recognized annually, as BC Loyalist Day in the Province of British Columbia”.
Each year in British Columbia, the branches honour the BC Order in Council with the recognition of 22 July, as per the proclarnation. ..”Whereas Sir Alexander MacKenzie, the son of a United Empire Loyalist, was documented as being the first European to successfully cross the North American Continent, north of Mexico on 22 July 1783.
Again in 2023, members of the association gathered for the 2023 UELAC Conference held in Richmond, BC. Steven L. Point OBC was our Guest Speaker at the Gala Banquet.
Read more about Steven Point…

Global Genealogy Bookstore Features United Empire Loyalists
United Empire Loyalists:
Britain mobilized to put down a rebellion in its American colonies in 1775.  Rebels formed militias to take on the British and to harass neighbors who remained loyal to the crown. The rebels prevailed, resulting in the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783.  An exodus of Loyalists followed with the majority resettling in Canada. Discover the Offerings…

More Eastern Ontario genealogy & history books & eBooks added this week.

  • Ontario – St. Andrews RC Parish Registers, Cornwall (7 vols)
  • Ontario – St. Andrews RC Burials 1804-1901, Cornwall
  • Ontario – St Andrews RC old/new Cemeteries, Cornwall
  • Ontario – Story of St Andrews RC (38 families), Cornwall
  • Ontario – St Columba Presbyterian BMD, Lochiel

At Global Genealogy

UELAC Loyalist Directory: New Contributions

    Entries which have been added, or revised, this week. 

  • Harry MacKay contributed information via his certificate application for Loyalist John Spencer born in 1746, living in New Hampshire helped during the war and settled likely in Cape Breton – he is on the list of Cape Breton Loyalists.  Married in 1772 to Elizabeth Burnell Royce they had five children.
  • Valerie Harpell Howe provided information about George Harpell  See more details above…


 Events Upcoming

Fort Ticonderoga: Annual Seminar on the American Revolution Weekend Sept 20/21

This annual premier conference focused on the military, political, social, and material culture of the American Revolution regularly features scholars from across North America and beyond. Attendees can participate in person or join the conference from home via the Fort Ticonderoga Center for Digital History.  Read more details, schedule and registration…

Glengarry Rambles, Eastern Ontario bus tour; Four Dates Sept, 20, 21 Oct 4, 5

From South Lancaster north to McCrimmon and return. Hear about Major Angus in the Grove, Lalonde’s Sink, Kelly’s Swamp, Bonnie Briar and more.  Details and registration…

Glengarry Pioneer Museum. Dunvegan’s War of 1812 Weekend Sept 20-21

Living history reenactors will gather in Dunvegan, Ontario to recreate early 19th-century Upper Canada. Learn more about this American – Upper Canadian conflict in a historical setting that is like stepping back in time. Read more…

Kingston and District Branch UELAC “Schooner Women” Sat 27 Sept @1:00 pm

at St. Paul’s Anglican Church Hall, 137 Queen Street (doors open at noon); or on Zoom (starting 12:30 p.m.).  Dr. David More (Ph.D. History, Queen’s) speaks on “Schooner Women:  Unique Seafaring Loyalist Descendants on the Great Lakes”.  David is an award-winning historical novelist who presents the remarkable story of paid female schooner hands of the 19th century, including “Nerva” from Prince Edward County who became perhaps the most famous sea cook in the world.  Details and Zoom link, at Kingston Branch.  All are welcome!

St Albans  Saturday September 27th – 7:30pm –  Minstrel of the Dawn is a Gordon Lightfoot Tribute Band

This show is comprised of songs written and recorded by the late and great Canadian composer and musician.   Details, tickets…

From the Social Media and Beyond

  • CEMETERIES & GRAVESTONES — September 10, 2025.  Blog by Brian McConnell UE
    A gravestone for Mary Getcheus who died on 17 November 1785 is one of the oldest in Nova Scotia if not Canada for a female Loyalist.  It is located in the graveyard at Trinity Anglican Church  in Digby,  a national historic site which holds the graves of over 200 United Empire Loyalists.  Jacob Getcheus, wife of Mary, was Captain of the Sloop Silas, one of four ships mentioned in the Book of Negroes,. that brought Black Loyalists from New York to Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. Read more…
  • UE POSTNOMINAL – September 09, 2025. Blog by Brian McConnell UE
    Several years ago I obtained a pin which has a special meaning  It has on it the letters UE. The letters signify descent from a United Empire Loyalist.  They were recognized by Lord Dorchester in 1789 when he was meeting as Governor General of British North America to discuss distribution of lands to Loyalists who had supported the British Crown during the American Revolution.   It has become known as the Dorchester Resolution.  Read more…
  • Food and Related: Townsends

  • This week in History
    • 12 Sep 1767 London Charles Townshend, 3rd Viscount of Townshend, dies of a sudden fever at 42. Townshend conceived what became known as The Townshend Acts, which imposed duties on British china, glass, lead, paint, paper & tea imported to the colonies.  image
    • 12–14 Sep 1768, Boston, MA, a meeting, led by  Samuel Adams and James Otis Jr., convened to protest the impending arrival of troops, which former Royal Gov Francis Bernard had requested. Bernard had been recalled to London as agitation grew under him. image
    • 6 Sep 1774 Philadelphia. At the 1st Continental Congress, John Adams reported Patrick Henry saying, “The Distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New Englanders are no more. I am not a Virginian, but an American.” image
    • 9 Sep 1774 Suffolk, MA This county adopts Dr. Joseph Warren’s Suffolk Resolves – essentially a blueprint for taking on the British by resisting the Coercive Acts & dismantling levers of authority & preparing to defend the colony by force of arms. image
    • 7 Sep 1775 Off the MA coast. The schooner Hannah, under the command of Capt Nicholson Broughton, captures HMS Unity—he first naval prize of the war. The ship’s gunpowder was immediately sent to the munitions-starved American army outside Boston. image
    • 10 Sep 1775 Ile aux Noix Gen Phillip Schuyler’s 1,700-strong army advances on St Johns in an inept night attack, forcing their retreat & Schuyler’s replacement by Gen Richard Montgomery.  image
    • 10 Sep 1775 Cambridge, MA Disgruntled Penn. Riflemen move to Prospect Hill, where regular troops surround the mutineers, who surrender their leaders for court-martial. The leaders are found guilty & punished & the riflemen return to the lines. image
    • 10 Sept 1775, Beverly, MA, HMS Nautilus, grounded while chasing a rebel schooner, USS Hannah, and came under fire by militia manning a nearby fort. Nautilus eventually frees itself in the evening tide & escapes. image
    • 11 Sep 1775 Cambridge, MA. Gen Washington holds a council of war to consider storming the British defenses at Boston. The idea was tabled as a direct assault was judged impractical at the time. image
    • 7 Sept 1776, NY Harbor, Sergeant Ezra Lee pilots the submarine, Turtle, which attacks HMS Eagle just after midnight. Armed with a torpedo designed to be attached to the hull of a ship, a problem with attaching it caused the torpedo to explode harmlessly. image
    • 7 Sep 1776 NYC. At a council of war, Gen Washington decides not to evacuate the city. Instead, it leaves Gen Putnam’s division as a garrison, Gen Greene’s division defends Kips Bay & Gen  Heath’s division establishes defenses on Harlem Heights. image
    • 9 Sep 1776: The name United States of America was officially adopted by Congress. “Resolved, -, where, heretofore, the words ‘United Colonies’ have been used, the style be altered for the future to the ‘United States’.” image
    • 11 Sep 1776 Dr. Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Edward Rutledge met with Admiral Howe in Tottenville, Staten Island, for a last-ditch peace effort before more bloodshed. As independence was outright refused, the meeting was cordial but fruitless.  image
    • 12 Sep 1776 Nathan Hale is ferried across the LI Sound to Huntington, NY, on British-controlled LI. Disguised himself as a schoolteacher looking for work, but did not travel under an assumed name & reportedly carried his Yale diploma bearing his real name image
    • 12 Sep 1776 New York With the British grip on the Island of New York growing ever-stronger, Gen George Washington begins to move troops north to the mainland, occupying Kingsbridge & parts of Westchester.  image
    • 9 Sep 1777: Gen. Washington fears British forces under Gen. Howe slipping around his right flank and taking Philadelphia; he positions his forces along the Brandywine Creek at Chadds Ford, PA. image
    • On September 11, 1777, near Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, the peaceful banks of Brandywine Creek turned into chaos as British forces led by General William Howe and General Charles Cornwallis launched a decisive attack against General George Washington’s Continental Army. The Battle of Brandywine, a key moment in the American Revolutionary War, saw the British execute a carefully planned strategy to drive out the rebels and move closer to Philadelphia.
      At first light, Washington’s army, about 14,000 strong, was positioned along the creek, ready for a frontal attack. However, Howe outflanked his opponent. While Hessian troops commanded by General Wilhelm von Knyphausen launched a fierce frontal assault to hold the Americans in place, Cornwallis led an 8,000-man flank march over 17 miles upriver. They crossed the creek at unprotected fords and attacked the American right flank late in the day, catching Washington’s forces off guard.
      The rebels fought bravely, with divisions under Generals Nathanael Greene and Anthony Wayne holding ground amid heavy musket and artillery fire. The rolling hills resounded with the noise of cannons and soldiers’ shouts as the British pressed their advantage. Despite fierce resistance, the American lines eventually broke under the combined assault of the Hessians and Cornwallis’s flanking movement. By nightfall, Washington’s army had to retreat, leaving behind 11 cannons and suffering over 1,000 casualties—killed, wounded, or captured—while the British suffered about half that number.
      Though defeated, the Continental Army stayed intact and retreated in good order toward Chester. The loss was painful, but Washington’s resolve remained strong. The British victory opened the way to Philadelphia, yet the war was far from over, as the determined Americans regrouped to fight again.  image
    • 6 Sep 1778 Clark’s neck, MA British Gen Charles Grey’s raiding force lands & burns towns of New Bedford & Fair Haven, destroying 70 ships, houses & mills. image
    • 8 Sep 1778 Gen Charles Grey leads a raid on Martha’s Vineyard, MA. His men destroy property and confiscate 10,000 sheep and 300 oxen to feed the British Army. image
    • 11 Sep 1778 NYC RAdm James Gambier succeeds Adm Richard Howe as interim commander of the North American Station. Gambier was repeatedly accused of inactivity, corruption & was despised by contemporaries. He was relieved in Apr 1779.  image
    • 7 Sep 1779 #RevWar expands as British outpost at Ft Bute in LA falls to Spanish under Gen Bernardo de Galvez, giving Spain control of the lower Mississippi waters leading to the Gulf of Mexico. Next up, Baton Rouge.  image
    • 11 Sep 1779 Savannah, GA. French Adm comte d’Estaing’s fleet of 22 SOL, 10 frigates, lands 3,900 soldiers at Beaulieu’s Island (8 mi south) & links up with Gen Kazimir Pulaski’s Legion. map
    • 13 Sep 1779 Geneseo, NY Capt. Walter Butler’s force of Indians & Loyalists ambushed a Continental detachment under Lt Thomas Boyd, killing 22 & capturing Lt Boyd and Sgt Thomas Parker, whom the Senecas brutally tortured to death. image
    • 8 Sep 1780. American Gen Enoch Poor dies of typhus, although some speculated that he was killed in a duel. The Andover, MA-born poor served at Bunker Hill, in Canada, Saratoga, Monmouth, and was considered a top-notch battlefield commander. image
    • On September 8, 1781, the sun rose over the humid, pine-covered landscape of Eutaw Springs, South Carolina, where General Nathanael Greene’s Continental Army, numbering about 2,000, prepared to fight Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Stewart’s British force of roughly 1,500.
      Greene, who was developing a firm grasp of unconventional warfare, intended to weaken British control in the South. His troops, a mix of seasoned Continentals and militia, advanced just as the sun rose, their muskets shining and their jaws set with determination. Stewart’s redcoats, entrenched near a brick mansion, braced for the attack.
      The battle became a fierce, chaotic fight. Greene’s men charged bravely through clouds of gun smoke. The swirl of combat engulfed both sides. The militia stood firm, exchanging volleys with disciplined British regulars. For hours, the lines pushed and pulled, the air thick with cries and the clatter of steel.
      Greene’s cavalry, led by “Light-Horse Harry” Lee, struck Stewart’s flanks, causing chaos. But the British resilience and a quick counterattack pushed the Americans back.
      By midday, both sides were worn out, with over 500 American and 700 British casualties filling the field. Exhausted, Greene’s troops retreated, leaving Stewart in control of the ground.
      However, victory was hollow for the British; Stewart, low on supplies and his men shaken by the fierce attack, retreated to the safety of Charleston the next day.
      Eutaw Springs, although not technically a rebel victory, weakened the British hold on the Carolinas, boosting Patriot momentum as the war neared its end at Yorktown. Greene’s persistent campaign had shifted the tide. image
    • 8 Sep 1781 American & French forces of Washington & Rochambeau reach Head of Elk, MD, and are ready to load on ships provided by the French navy. Destination: Yorktown, VA. image
    • 12 Sep 1781 British Adm Thomas Graves realizes he couldn’t dislodge the French fleet in Chesapeake Bay & sails to NYC for more ships, allowing the French to blockade Gen Cornwallis’s army at Yorktown, VA.  image
    • 9 Sep 1782 Paris. American commissioner John Jay discovers the French foreign minister comte Vergennes sent reps to London for secret negotiations with the British. Based on this, Benjamin Franklin insists that the British negotiate with a single America. image

 

Last Post: BELL UE, Allan Phelps (April 18, 1931 – August 1, 2025)
We lost Phelps, a beloved husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, and friend on August 1, 2025, at Mount Sinai Hospital, at the age of 94. Phelps was the third son of Arthur Phelps Bell and Alma May (Vokes) Bell; and was predeceased by his brothers, Frederick Arthur Bell and William Thomas Bell. He leaves his wife, Judy; and three children, Heather Bell (Marc de Niverville), Sheila Best (Bill Best) and Ian Bell (Lynda Addison).
Dad was born and grew up in Guelph, ON. He attended Victoria College, University of Toronto, pursuing degrees in business. At Victoria, he met his bride, Judith Lloyd McGill. They married on February 19, 1955, and spent 70+ happy years together.
From a young age, Dad developed his love for music and skills as a pianist. One day, Dad went out and bought a sailboat. This created many hours of family fun (and stress) up and down Lake Ontario.
The family celebrated many happy events at Timbers, the cottage that Judy and Phelps built in 1984 on Georgian Bay. Phelps enjoyed his woodworking there and produced many fine pieces of furniture which will be treasured by the family.
Phelps had a long, successful career with Imperial Oil Ltd., in Toronto, Montreal, Halifax, and Ottawa, culminating in a six-year stint in London with Esso Europe.
Phelps had a lifelong love of learning demonstrated in the book he wrote on our family history.
A celebration of life will be held on Tuesday, September 23rd – more details at Legacy
Phelps was a member of the Bay of Quinte Branch UELAC. He received a Loyalist Certificate having proved descent from William Bell Sr in 2019.

Editor’s Note: I as going to be away for the next couple of weeks. I hope that the next two issues will still be distributed, and on schedule. At a minimum though, they will likely be significantly shorter.  ….doug

 

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