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“I Want to Vent Myself”: The Letters of Mrs. Christian Barnes.  Part Two of Four  
copyright Stephen Davidson UE
In 1775, Christian Barnes was the 33 year-old wife of a prominent Massachusetts importer named Henry Barnes. The couple lived in Marlborough, a town about 40 miles to the west of Boston.  During the past decade, Henry and Christian had a number of nieces live with them. Since the 1760s, they had been the legal guardians of Christian (Chrisy) Arbuthnot, the daughter of Christian’s brother William. Another niece, Catharine Goldthwaite, would later claim to have been adopted by the Barneses and was therefore the heir to their estate.
Henry Barnes’ stock-in-trade was British goods, and his continuing to import them in the days leading up to the Battles of Lexington and Concord put him at odds with the colony’s growing revolutionary spirit. As well as being known to those with growing anti-British convictions, Henry and Christian were also known to those in the area who had remained loyal to the crown. (The term “loyalist” had not yet been coined in 1775. The term of the day was “a friend to the government”.)
General Thomas Gage, the commander in chief of British forces in North America and military governor of Massachusetts, sent two officers into Suffolk and Worcester Counties to sketch the local roads in February of 1775. Captain William Brown and Ensign Henry DeBerniere were spying out the best routes should Gage have to march his troops through the area in the following spring. Should the two men need a place of refuge, they had been given the Barneses’ address in Marlborough.
In a later memoir, DeBerniere wrote about the spies’ approach to Marlborough on a day when it was snowing very hard. They met a man on horseback who proceeded to grill them with questions. “He asked several rather impertinent questions, and then rode on for Marlborough, as we suppose, to give them intelligence of our coming — for on our arrival the people came out of their houses (though it snowed and blew very hard) to look at us; in particular, a baker asked Capt. Brown, ‘Where are you going. Master?’ He answered, to see Mr. Barnes.”
“We proceeded to Barnes’s, and on our beginning to make an apology for taking the liberty to make use of his house, and discovering to him that we were officers in disguise, he told us that we need not be at the pains of telling him, that he knew our situation, that we were very well known, he was afraid, by the town’s people… We asked Mr. Barnes, if they did get us into their hands what they would do with us; he did not seem to like to answer; we asked him again; he then said, he knew the people very well, that we might expect the worst treatment from them.”
Things began to unravel quickly. Christian’s husband told the spies that the local doctor intended to come to the house to have dinner – and yet he had not visited the Barneses during the past two years. Henry said that as they had company already, he could not entertain the doctor. “At this the fellow staid about the house, and asked one of Mr. Barnes’s children, who her father had got with him; the child innocently answered, that she had asked her papa, but he told her it was not her business; he then went, I suppose, to tell the rest of his crew.”
Christian Barnes had hardly finished setting the table for her guests when the family’s servants informed them that people in the village were preparing to attack. Henry quickly guided the officers out the back door. “He took us out of his house by the stable, and directed us by a by-road which was to lead us a quarter of a mile from the town; it snowed and blew as much as I ever saw in my life.
However, we walked pretty fast, fearing we should be pursued; at first we felt much fatigued, having not been more than twenty minutes at Barnes’s to refresh ourselves, and the roads were worse, if possible, than when we came; but in a little time it wore off, and we got on without being pursued, as far as the hills …, and went into a little wood, where we eat a bit of bread that we took from Barnes’s, and eat a little snow to wash it down.”
A few days later, Henry encountered Brown and DeBerniere in Boston. They learned that the Marlborough Committee of Safety had come to his house shortly after they had made their speedy escape. Although Henry said the two men had gone, the committee members searched the house “from top to bottom, looking under beds and in the cellar.” Finding no one, the men told Henry and Christian that if the spies had been found in the house, they “would have pulled it down about {their} ears“.
Whether it was in February or at a later date, Patriots detained Henry Barnes in Boston. In a letter written in April of 1775, his wife Christian wrote that she was “under the heaviest affliction that I ever encountered“.  Local Patriots had threatened violence against her family and Henry could not return home.
Just the day before, Christian had written to the local selectmen for advice on how to  “procure Mr. Barnes’ return“. (She could hardly be described as a passive and demure woman, dependent on a husband for taking action.) “They assured me I need be under no apprehension from the townspeople, and gave it as their opinion that neither my person nor interest should be injured.” Christian also received assurances from the local Patriot militia commander that “he would prevent his troops from molesting me on their return.”
Despite these promises, Christian wrote, “no one knows where they are safest at this time. I have placed a confidence in the people of this town by returning home, and Mr. Barnes will do the same whenever it is in his power. ”
A week later, Christian had her confidence badly shaken. “A man came up to the gate and loaded his musket, and before I could determine which way to run he entered the house and demanded a dinner. I sent him the best I had upon the table. He was not contented, but insisted upon bringing in his gun and dining with me; this terrified the young folks, and they ran out of the house.
I went in and endeavored to pacify him by every method in my power, but I found it was to no purpose. He still continued to abuse me, and said when he had eat his dinner he should want a horse and if I did not let him have one he would blow my brains out. He pretended to have an order from the General for one of my horses, but did not produce it.
His language was so dreadful and his looks so frightful that I could not remain in the house, but fled to the store and locked myself in. He followed me and declared he would break the door open.
Some people very luckily passing to meeting prevented his doing any mischief and staid by me until he was out of sight, but I did not recover from my fright for several days. The sound of drum or the sight of a gun put me into such a tremor that I could not command myself. I have met with but little molestation since this affair.”
As this incident demonstrates, being “a friend of the government” was also dangerous for those who were supposedly devoid of political opinions.  A letter from one of Christian’s female correspondents that was written a year after the incident of the unwanted guest, provides another woman’s perspective on the early days of the American Revolution. Her story will be told in part three of this series.
To secure permission to reprint this article contact the author at stephendavids@gmail.com.

Arthur Lee’s Warning
by Bob Ruppert 21 October 2025
Even though American colonists protested the Stamp Act, the Declaratory Act, the Townshend Acts, the Boston Massacre and the Septennial Act, nothing pushed the colonies’ relationship with Britain to the point of no return more than the Boston Tea Party. It was premeditated, it destroyed private property, it violated the Tea Act, and customs officials were intimidated into moving to Castle Island. Unknown at the time, the destruction of tea on the evening of December 16, 1773, began something that now could not be stopped.
Arthur Lee, born December 20, 1740, was the youngest son of Thomas and Hannah Lee. At the time, the Lee family was one of the wealthiest families in Virginia…. All of his education took place in Britain. When he was young, his father sent him to Eton College in England. As soon as he completed his studies at Eton, his father enrolled him at the University of Edinburgh where in 1764 he graduated with a degree in medicine. Lee then returned to Virginia and opened a practice. After two years he lost interest in medicine. In 1766, he returned to London and began to study law at the Middle Temple. In 1770, he graduated with a degree in law and opened a practice for the next six years. In the same year, he was appointed Benjamin Franklin’s backup agent for the Colony of Massachusetts to the merchants of London and Parliament. During his ten years (1766-1775) in London, he became acquainted with a number of influential men in politics and commerce.
Many of his letters home were addressed either to his brothers or, surprisingly, to Samuel Adams; between December 1770 and July 1775 Lee and Adams exchanged fifty letters.[3] In his correspondence Lee showed his knowledge of what was occurring in the colonies as well as in Parliament, offered suggestions as to how to write any further appeals or remonstrances to Parliament or the King, and identified who in the Privy Council and Parliament could be trusted. Read more…

Hessian Soldiers Travelling to America: Returning Home: Moving Across Continental Europe. October 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;

In the Month of November 1783 – page 152

1 November. We remained in Meckelsdorf for a day of rest.
2 November. We continued our march as far as Bewera, a large country town in Hesse.
3 November. We marched through Hersfeld, a city in Lower Hesse, which has  a  princely residence, a grammar school, and a rich hospital, and on to Nieder Aula, where we stayed.
4 November. We had our second day of rest at Nieder Aula.
5 November. From there, into the territory of Fulda, to Borschau, where we took quarters.
6 November.  We  resumed  our  march  to  Giese  and  Thann,  two  small  but  beautiful  little cities  belonging  to  Fulda.  Thann  has  an  administrative  existence,  but  nevertheless  the  city belongs  to  the  barons  and  all  of  the  gentlemen  proprietors.  Belonging  thereto  are  forests, estates, and beautiful fields, which together make up the district.
From there, we went to Larbach, a large village, which belongs to W†rzburg.
7 November. At Larbach we had our third day of rest.
8 November.  We  marched  from  Larbach  early,  to  Henforth,  a  village,  where  we  took quarters.
We marched no more than four, five, or six hours because we had to carry everything, our equipment, tents, and all.
9 November. We arrived at Hendungen, where we stayed.
10 November. In Hendungen we had our fourth day of rest.
11 November. Through K€nigshafen in Grabfeld and to Ober and Nieder Eisfeld.
12 November. To Pfarrweisach. I went on watch at night.
13 November. At Pfarrweisach we had our fifth day of rest.
14 November. We marched to Itzig by way of Staffelstein, which belongs to Hamburg, and where we took quarters.
15 November. We went to Vierzehn-Heiligen, a cloister, which is very rich. From there we proceeded  to  the  cloister  of  Langheim,  which  we  kept  a  bit  to  our  left.  This  cloister  is  an abbey for men of the Cisterian order and is said to be even richer than the Vierzehn-Heiligen cloister. The cloister has as many windows as there are days in the year.
Finally, we arrived at Burgkunstadt, where many Jews live, and where we were quartered for the night.
On our march from Hesse, as we arrived in the territory of Fulda, W†rzburg, and Bamberg, we had very expensive quarters and had to pay almost double, even paying for the wood and light used at night in some places. We also had to pay for the straw on which we lay, and our money is greatly reduced.
16 November.  We  marched  from  Burgkunstadt  very  early.  We  arrived  at  Schwarzach, which  was  the  first  Bavarian village,  where  we  met  many  of  our  landsmen  and  our relatives.
Here Colonel von Seybothen gave the order that we must all put green symbols on our hats as a sign of our having made a field campaign.
From  there  we  went  to  Kulmbach,  the  first  city  in  our  native  land,  which  we  entered  at noon under a steady downpour, marching with  dressed  ranks,  and we were  at once  taken  in and  quartered  by  the  city  residents.  I was put  up  by  a  butcher, named  Pf‡ffin,  in  the  Fisher Allee, and had excellent quarters, food, and drink, and everything desired in overabundance.
We were  treated  very  well  here,  and  everyone  showed  us  respect,  honor,  politeness,  and love.
Beer,  wine,  brandy,  tea,  coffee;  things  simmered,  baked,  and  roasted;  we  received everything in overabundance, free of charge, from not only our hosts but all the public houses that we entered.
In the city of Kulmbach, on our entrance, there were so many people that they could have been counted by the thousands, so that it was difficult for us to march into the city.
Many greeted us with joy and exultation because they again saw relatives who had been so long away, but many also greeted us with weeping and bitter tears, as their relatives were not with us, having died or for other reasons remained behind.
We,  therefore,  had  been  eighteen  days  marching  from  Hannover  M†nden  to  Kulmbach, including five days of rest.
We expressed our unending thanks to God, who had allowed us once again to march into the first city of our dear native land, healthy, happy, and with joy.
 (to be continued)

Blog: About UE Loyalist History
by Brian McConnell UE at UE Loyalist History

The Loyalist Townships [in Ontario]
My ancestor James Humphrey who served with Jessup’s Rangers during the American Revolution was granted land after the conflict to settle in Edwardsburgh Township.  There is a monument to him and other United Empire Loyalists at Johnstown, within the township, which I visited as appears in a YouTube video near the bottom of this page.  Other Rangers received lands in Augusta , Elizabethtown, and Ernestown  Townships.  These were four of the initial thirteen Loyalist Townships created in Upper Canada, now Ontario. Read more…

The 84th Regiment
A cairn to the 84th Regiment, Second Battalion, is located at  MacPhees Corner , Hants County, Nova Scotia erected in 1996 by two descendants of members who served.  The Second Battalion was based in Halifax, then at Fort Edward in Windsor and had companies stationed throughout the Atlantic region including at Fort Anne in Annapolis Royal. Quebec City was the initial headquarters of the First Battalion and it later moved to Sorel. It was the first Highland regiment formed outside of Scotland and drew some of its’ recruits from Scottish settlers in North America. Read more…

250 Years Ago: The Invasion of Canada Sept 17 – Oct 15

from Lake Champlain
General Philip Schuyler orchestrated the plans for the attack on Canada, launched on 25 August 1775. The first attack on Fort St. Jean on 6 Sept failed. A second on 10 Sept also failed. Schyler became too ill and Richard Montgomery assumed command on 16 Sept.

  • The siege of Fort St Jean began on 17 Sept.
  • The Americans tried to capture Montreal but were repulsed  at the Battle of Longue-Pointe on Sept 25
  • Fort Chambly, just downriver (north) from Fort St Jean was attacked on Oct 16 and surrendered on Oct 18, blocking any British reinforcements from coming  up the Richelieu River.

Between Oct 22 and 29, 1775
The Americans resupplied from the stores at Fort Chambly which had not been destroyed when the Fort was surrendered
The Americans were constructing a new battery northwest of Fort Saint-Jean.
Disease was thinning the American ranks; by mid-October, illness had sent more than 900 back to Ticonderoga

The British Preparations

The British under Carleton were preparing to relieve Fort Saint-Jean with one force coming from Montreal and another from Quebec City

From Maine
Between October 22 and 29, 1775, Benedict Arnold struggled on their expedition to Quebec.

On October 23, the Dead River swelled by eight feet in just nine hours, sweeping away many of the boats and the remaining food supplies. Many of the men’s tents and belongings were flooded, leaving them wet and exposed to freezing temperatures.
The troops continued to battle the elements and leaky bateaux, which spoiled vital food supplies and gunpowder. Men were on half-rations. Men were growing weak and sick, and the morale of the force was plummeting. By this point, more than a third of the original force had already turned back due to the extreme conditions.
Benedict Arnold’s men reached the height of land – the watershed –  between the Kennebec and Chaudière rivers on October 25, 1775.

British Preparations
British naval intelligence had reported the likely destination of Arnold’s troops as Quebec by October 18th, but it had not yet been verified.

Advertised on 24  October 1775: ‘THE AMERICAN GLASS STORE is removed from Second-street.’
What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?

“THE AMERICAN GLASS STORE is removed from Second-street.”

The advertisement consisted of only five lines in the October 24, 1775, edition of the Pennsylvania Evening Post, yet it spoke volumes about the current events.  “THE AMERICAN GLASS STORE,” the notice informed the public, “is removed from Second-street, to James Stuart’s in Front-street, below Walnut-street, where shopkeepers and others may be supplied with an assortment of FLINT and GREEN GLASS WARE, at reasonable rates.”  It was one of many advertisements that presented opportunities for colonizers to “Buy American” during the imperial crisis that eventually became a war for independence.
On several occasions, supporters of the American cause participated in boycotts in hopes of using their participation in the marketplace as leverage to achieve political ends.  They organized nonimportation agreements in response to the Stamp Act in 1765 and in response to the duties levied on certain imported goods, including glass, in the Townshend Acts in the late 1760s.  Read more…

Charles Stedman and the History of the Southern War 
by Robert Ford 23 Oct 2025 Journal of the American Revolution
Charles Stedman published his two-volume History of the Origin, Progress, and Termination of the American War in 1794. For 150 years, the work enjoyed a reputation as a solid, reputable source for the history of the Revolutionary War. Light-Horse Harry Lee, an enthusiastic Patriot, was gracious in his acclaim of the Tory historian. Stedman’s work, he wrote, “was marked by an invariable disposition to record the truth.” Through the first half of the twentieth century, critics praised Stedman’s careful exposition and measured commentary: “Stedman’s History is generally considered the best contemporary account of the Revolution written from the British side.”
Matters changed abruptly in 1958 when R. Kent Newmyer published his article, “Charles Stedman’s History of the American War,” in which he scathed Stedman for systemic plagiarism from the Annual Register. The Annual Register was a London publication, founded in 1758 and popular in the last half of the eighteenth century. Edmund Burke was its first and most famous editor. It contained sections on poetry, book reviews, and science, but for historians, the key section was “The History of Europe,” which published gripping accounts of the war in America. As matters developed, this section may have been too gripping, because it proved the undoing of legions of historians of the war. Read more…

Podcast: The Forgotten Artists of the American Revolution
By Zara Anishanslinat Oct 2025 at Ben Franklin’s World
Explore the world of the American Revolution through the lives and work of the everyday artists who championed the American Revolution – everyday people who shaped it through art. Zara Anishanslin is an Associate Professor of History and Art History. Listen in…

Book: Colonial Massachusetts Laws and Liberties and the English Commonwealth
Author: Charles Edward Smith (Leiden: Brill, 2024).
by Yisroel Benporat 20 Oct 2025 Journal of the American Revolution
In the 1840s, an interviewer asked Capt. Levi Preston why he had fought in the American Revolution. Was it the oppression of the Stamp Act? No, Preston hadn’t seen any stamps. Was it the Tea Act? No, he didn’t drink any tea. Was it because he had read the political theories of James Harrington, Algernon Sidney, and John Locke? No, he hadn’t heard of those authors. “The only books we had were the Bible, the Catechism, Watts’ psalms and hymns, and the almanacs,” said Preston. “Well, then, what was the matter?” queried the interviewer. “Young man, what we meant in going for those Redcoats was this: we had always governed ourselves and were always meant to. They didn’t mean we should”
This humorous anecdote vividly illustrated two key arguments made by Charles E. Smith in his new book, Colonial Massachusetts Laws and Liberties and the English Commonwealth. Firstly, Smith contends that the Puritan colony of Massachusetts Bay implemented legal reforms that radically departed from English precedent by establishing quasi-independent sovereignty, the supremacy of accessible printed legislation, and a deeply rooted tradition of representative governance. Secondly, and more controversially, Smith suggests that these precedents influenced Revolutionary Americans to declare independence and wage war against the British Empire.
Smith offers a novel contribution to an emerging historiography of Puritan politics in New England, a subject that has largely escaped scholarly attention. Read more…

You Have No Idea How Hard It Is to Be a Reenactor
By Caity Weaver Nov 2025 issue of The Atlantic
Benedict Arnold’s boot wouldn’t come off, and other hardships from my weekend in the Revolutionary War.
Benedict Arnold had been growing hunkier all afternoon.
Incarnated, at the moment, by Cameron Green, the director of interpretation at historic Fort Ticonderoga, Arnold had spent much of this May Friday on horseback. Sixty rain-numbed Revolutionary War reenactors had sloshed in his wake, marching up forest trails and past a Texaco station, in period-correct leather buckle shoes (not engineered to withstand repeated impact with modern Vermont’s asphalt highways) and period-correct wool coats (now ponderously wet, stinking of sheep). “Give ’em hell, boys!” a local resident had hollered from his farmhouse.
Saturday morning would mark the 250th anniversary of the fort’s seizure in 1775 by the Green Mountain Boys—a rumbustious militia of proto-Vermonters who spent years violently defending their bite-size territory.  Read more…   (Quick read)
…noted by John Cass of Braintree, MA
Note: This link may or may not give you access to the article. By the time it goes through the distribution system, the free access part of the link may be stripped out. Wait until this issue is posted at uelac.ca which should then work, or email me. It is very short and quite tongue-in-cheek…doug


Loyalist Projects: Loyalist-List by Mike Woodcock UE, Victoria Branch
This website is dedicated to the United Empire Loyalists (UEL) and their descendants who have been identified in sources such as The Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Wikipedia, published books, websites, and even institutions like the Hockey Hall of Fame. Noted as one of the UELAC Projects, read more here…

Purpose
The goal is to consolidate and highlight UELs and their descendants who have been considered noteworthy enough to be profiled. By doing so, the project makes UEL ancestry more visible and accessible, helping to address the mission and some of the objectives of UELAC.
For many of us, the distance between ourselves and our Loyalist ancestors is not only measured in time but also in family generations. In my own case, there are 195 years and six generations between myself and my Loyalist ancestor’s birth. However, if one of my grandparents had been identified as a UEL descendant, that connection would shorten dramatically — and so would the path to understanding this important part of my identity.
Beyond the passage of time, there is also the factor of distance. Many Loyalist descendants moved away from the Loyalist heartlands to other parts of Canada and beyond and have lost the connection.
The website only organizes Loyalists and their descendants alphabetically.
In this Canada wide new work on previously highlighted UEL and descendants, over 600 profiles have been created in this Loyal-List

Explore at uelcanada.ca.
For example in UEL Descendants by Alpha,

  • under “F” is Simon Fraser with some biographical notes and links to The Dictionary of Canadian Biography, to his Loyalist ancestor in the Loyalist Directory and to Find a Grave.
  • Pierre Trudeau is another with some notes and links to wikipedia, find a grave and his Loyalist ancestor Jesse Armstrong
  • Dan Akroyd, a Canadian and American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer is profiled in Wikipedia and is the fourth great Grandson of Daniel Lyon

Invitation to contribute: To add Loyalists and/or descendants to the Loyal-List, or to suggest edits to an existing profile, you can email membership.vic.uelac@gmail.com or submit through the Feedback portal on the home page of the website.

Clothing: 1770’s Farmer/Laborer
The components of a man’s working attire depended heavily on his trade and the nature of his activity. A few period artworks, for instance, depict field hands wearing only shirts and breeches. If a farmer was to be seen in public, however, he generally would have worn a waistcoat as well. He would have been concerned with protecting the clothes he owned. Smocks were commonly worn as outer garments for this purpose. To cover his head and protect him from the sun, working hats made of straw were likely preferred over more expensive felt hats. If the farmer wore shoes or moccasins at all, spatterdashes might have been worn over them to keep stones and dirt out.
With a short video and tiny descriptions and images of items for sale including a representative of hats, shirts, waistcoat. neckware, outer garment, breeches/trousers, stockings, shoes and buckles.  At Townsends. Read more…

UELAC Loyalist Directory: New Contributions

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

Thanks to Karen Lundin who provided details about Capt. James Osborne  from Fayetteville, North Carolina, who served with the King’s Standard (Royal Standard). He Enlisted in 1771, served until 1776 when campaign broke up. In 1780 joined Cornwallis at Charleston who gave him a Captain’s commission for NC only and was employed as a guide. Subsequently taken prisoner by the rebels and exchanged at Charleston June 1782. Married to Sarah Smith, they had nine children. He resettled in the Township of Barton, UC, July 1798; then moved to Markham Township, UC.

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

Events Upcoming

Toronto Branch: “The Value of Diaries in Researching Your Family” Tues 28 Oct 7:30 ET

Catharine Wilson will present “The Value of Diaries in Researching Your Family: The Rural Diary Archive”. The Rural Diary Archive website brings together the work of over 250 diarists (1790-1930) from across Ontario. Visitors can learn about the authors, easily search fully transcribed diaries in the collection, and help transcribe handwritten ones. This presentation explores several of the diaries in the collection, including some written by the descendants of Loyalists. It also examines the nature of diary writing and the ways you can use diaries for your own research.
Link to Rural Diary Archive: https://ruraldiaries.uoguelph.ca/
For meeting link, email torontouel@gmail.com

Moore Family Reunion 2025 Sat. 1 Nov. Gathering on zoom

A gathering of the descendants and friends of Samuel Moore I, of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the Province of New Jersey, born c. 1630, and his great-grandson, United Empire Loyalist Samuel Moore of Upper Canada, formerly of the Provinces of New Jersey and Nova Scotia, born 1742, died and buried 1822, Norwich, Upper Canada
Topics include:
“What have the Moores been up to for the last 1000 years?”
“Moorlands: An Ancestral Memoir of Loss and Belonging”
“William Shotwell Moore’s trip to Canada and life thereafter”
Email Donna Moore, d.moore3359@gmail.com for more information and the Zoom link.

Col. John Butler Branch: “The Brown Homestead:  Past, Present and Future” 1 Nov @11:45  Sara Nixon

The Brown Homestead was settled by John Brown, UEL (1740-1804) in what is now St. Catharines.  With over two centuries of history and the four different families who have occupied it, this is a house that has endured many changes to meet the needs of each new generation.  It is the oldest house in St. Catharines.  Sara Nixon, Director of Community Engagement, explores the many layers that make up the Brown Homestead which now is a  community gathering space.
Meetings take place at Betty’s Restaurant, 8921 Sodom Road, Niagara Falls at 11:45.  Cost $33 for UELAC members and $35 for guests.  Cash only.  Please register in advance by emailing 283corvette@gmail.com

American Revolution Institute: “The American Revolution and the Fate of the World” Tues 4 Nov 6:30 ET

The American Revolution was a cataclysm that pulled in participants from around the globe and fundamentally transformed how the world worked, disrupting trade, restructuring penal systems, stirring famine and creating the first global refugee crisis. historian Richard Bell, Ph.D., discusses the impact of the Revolution at home and abroad. More…

Gov Simcoe Branch: “The Rebels Invade Canada in 1775” Wed 5 Nov 7:30 ET

Presentation by Doug Grant UE. Tensions continued to build between the British Government and colonists in thirteen of the American Colonies culminating in the “Shot heard round the world”, the battle at Lexington and Concord 19 April 1775. Ten weeks later, the Second Continental Congress formally decided to invade Britain’s Quebec Colony on 27 June 1775; the invasion followed 250 years ago this Fall. Explore the course of the invasion leading to the decisive battle on New Years Eve. Details and registration…

Atwater Library, Montreal “Benjamin Franklin’s Failure to Annex Canada” Thurs 6 Nov. 12:30 0 1:30 ET

In person and by zoom: A Failed 18th Century Invasion of Canada – Author Madelaine Drohan gives an illustrated talk on her new book “He Did Not Conquer: Benjamin Franklin’s Failure to Annex Canada“. She gives a fascinating account of “Ben Franklin’s wild two weeks in Montreal.”
To register and get the Zoom link, click here. See this info at Atwater Library.

From the Social Media and Beyond

  • Clothing and apparel
    • There have always been exceptions to expected fashion norms. This is a hand corded linen jacket that has a tailored fake waistcoat front but a robe à la française sacque back. Early 1780s, it was presumably a personal preference, evidence of the individual
  • Food and Related: Townsends

  • This week in History
    • 25 Oct 1760 London. George William Frederick is crowned King George III of Great Britain & Ireland. George’s reign, which was longer than any of his predecessors, was marked by military conflicts involving much of Europe, Africa, the Americas, and Asia. image
    • 19 Oct 1774 Annapolis, MD. A mob burns the tea ship Peggy Stewart.  image
    • 20 Oct 1774, First Continental Congress creates Continental Association, which calls for a ban on trade between America & Britain in response to the Coercive Acts—or “Intolerable Acts” established by Britain to restore order in MA  image
    • 21 Oct 1774 Taunton, MA. After the Sons of Liberty forced out American Loyalists from Taunton. Then the patriots erected a liberty pole, 112 feet high, outside the Taunton Courthouse. On it, they raised a red ensign with the words “Liberty and Union”. image
    • 23 Oct 1774 Delaware establishes its own Committee of Correspondence, enabling it to communicate and coordinate with other states on common grievances with Britain. image 17 Oct 1775 Falmouth, MA (now Portland, ME) Capt Henry Mowatt’s 8-gun HMS Canceux & 6-gun HMS Halifax bombard the town before landing parties complete the havoc. Fire sweeps through 400 buildings & 14 ships in the harbor. Outrage sweeps New England. image
    • 22 Oct 1775 Philadelphia, PA. Congress turns down James Hogg’s attempt to get the Colony of Transylvania recognized because it was the King’s property & part of N. Carolina & Virginia. Transylvania included lands of KY, TN, & from NC & VA. image
    • 22 Oct 1775: The first President of Congress, Peyton Randolph, died in Philadelphia. The Virginia native was elected to the presidency twice, serving as the 1st and briefly as the 3rd President of Congress.  image
    • 24 Oct 1775 British attack Norfolk VA. With Arrival of Col Wm Woodford’s forces, patriot militia drove back British land & sea forces capturing 2 ships. When British got back to their ships, VA riflemen began picking off British troops from the decks.  image
    • 20 Oct 1776 Rev William McKay gave a sermon at Ft Ticonderoga urging them not to be weak and afraid, but to “do yourselves honor by using the weapons of your warfare with that heroism, firmness, and magnanimity which the cause requires.”  image
    • 22 Oct 1776 Mamaroneck, NY. Continental forces under Col John Haslett attack the Queens American Rangers under famed Major Robert Rogers,  surprising the advance guard but Rogers leads a counterattack that drives off the rebels.  image
    • 23 October 1776 White Plains, NY. In General Orders published at his headquarters, Gen Washington warns reconnaissance patrols to deploy security parties to protect flanks and front, avoiding ambush. image
    • 19 Oct 1777 Gen William Howe begins to concentrate his dispersed forces around Philadelphia to prepare for another offensive against Gen Washington’s reeling Continental Army.  image
    • 21 Oct 1777 Col Karl von Donop crosses the Delaware River with 1,000 Hessians and prepares to avenge the humiliating loss at Trenton with an assault on Ft Mercer and its 1,000-strong garrison under Col Christopher Greene. image
    • 23 Oct 1777 Adm Richard Howe orders a squadron to attack Ft Mifflin on Mud Island on the Delaware R. American armed galleys drive 64-gum HMS Merlin & 18-gun HMS Augusta aground on Hog Island, where they are burned. Merlin is largest British ship lost in #RevWar  image
    • 21 Oct 1779 Continental Congress elects former president & congressman Henry Laurens minister to Holland to negotiate an alliance, which he did in 1780. During Laurens’ return voyage in the fall of 1780, his ship captured by the British & he was imprisoned image
      18 Oct 1780 Loyalists and Iroquois under Sir John Johnson attack the American settlement of Caughnawaga, NY & burn it to the ground. image
    • 20-30 Oct, 1781 British, Loyalist, & Iroquois raid in the Mohawk Valley, NY, led by Major John Ross, fails due to lack of Indian support, muddy roads, and the threat of patriot militia under Col. Marinus Willett. Last British offensive in Tryon County.  image
    • 21 Oct 1781 American privateer Indian captures the ship Venus, one of seven vessels she would take on her Atlantic cruise. image
    • In the fall of 1781, the fate of America hung in the balance at Yorktown, Virginia. British Major General Charles Cornwallis, cornered after a tough southern campaign, fortified the coastal town, unaware of the storm brewing. General George Washington, leading the Continental Army, formed a strong alliance with French forces under the Comte de Rochambeau.
      Over 8,000 French troops marched alongside 9,000 Americans in a daring 400-mile trek from New York, coordinating with Admiral de Grasse’s fleet, which arrived from the Caribbean to close the Chesapeake Bay and stop British reinforcements.
      The siege began on October 6, with relentless artillery fire as engineers and soldiers wielded picks and shovels, digging trenches through the night. Under General Marquis de Lafayette’s direction, skilled French professionals and American Continental Line infantry stormed key redoubts in fierce attacks, their cheers ringing out as cannon fire rained down on an already battered garrison.
      Reinforcement and resupply became impossible due to the French fleet, and combined American and French troops at Gloucester Point left Cornwallis’s options dwindling to nil. He asked for terms.
      On October 19, Cornwallis’s 8,000 angry and embittered British and Hessian soldiers marched out to the surrender field to the tune of “The World Turned Upside Down.” They surrendered in a humiliating procession, stacking muskets before allied lines.
      This surrender crushed British morale and shifted the momentum toward peace. It paved the way for the 1783 Treaty of Paris, which secured American independence and made Franco-American brotherhood a historic symbol—a testament to unity triumphing over empire. image
    • 24 Oct 1781 British fleet of 25 SOL & several frigates under Adm Graves, with a relief force of 7K Regulars, enter Chesapeake Bay. But with news of Cornwallis’s surrender & presence of French fleet blockading the approaches he turns back to NY on the 29th. image
    • 19 Oct 1782 British Secretary of State for the Colonies, Lord Shelburne, authorizes his agents in Paris to negotiate with the US as a sovereign nation, not 13 separate colonies. image
    • 21 Oct 1797 #AmRev sequel… U.S.S. Constitution was launched in Boston Harbor. She was an incredible ship, never defeated in battle, and later the flagship of the US Navy. She was named “Constitution” by George Washington himself.  image

 

Last Post: Taylor UE, Dean George 3 Mar 1936 – 29 Aug 2025 
Prof. Dean George Taylor, known affectionately as Dean to his friends and family, passed away at the age of 89 in Kingston, Ontario. Born in Toronto, Dean’s life was one marked by creativity, spirit, and an endlessly interesting character.
Preceded in death by his beloved wife, Jean Anne Taylor, whose companionship and support were a guiding light in Dean’s life. Dean leaves behind a legacy of love and achievement, including his two daughters, Jennifer van der Velden (Edward), and Sarah Taylor (Kelly).
Prof. Taylor’s life was a tapestry of creative endeavors and academic pursuits. His career as a professor was characterized by a passion for knowledge and a dedication to inspiring his students.
Dean’s spirited nature was evident in his love for the arts, his penchant for travel, and his ability to captivate a room with his eloquence and wit. He was a man of many interests, and those who knew him would often speak of his ability to converse on any topic with both authority and genuine curiosity. Read more…
Dean was President of the Kingston and District Branch of UELAC from 2010 until the November 24, 2012, AGM. He continued as past president for another 9 years.
Richard Parry UE

Published by the UELAC
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