[34][35] About 400 to 1,000 free blacks who joined the British side in the Revolution went to London and joined the free black community of about 10,000 there. In an interesting historical twist Peter Matthews, a son of Loyalists, participated in the Upper Canada Rebellion which sought relief from oligarchic British colonial government and pursued American-style Republicanism. During the war, pardons were offered to Loyalists who switched sides and joined the Patriot forces. : Public Archives of Canada, 19661991. The following books contain information on some Loyalists who have been identified in military records or court records. Those who left substantially later mainly to gain land or to escape growing racial intolerance are often called late Loyalists. They were older, better established, and resisted radical change. The document called the "Book of Negroes" is a British naval ledger that lists the names of Black Loyalists who fled to Canada during the American Revolutionary War (1775-83). The Act was partially introduced due to the influx of the number of slaves brought by Loyalist refugees to Upper Canada. camps and military forts to join their husbands. They must be at least 35 years old, be "natural born . [38] This created an awkward dilemma for the confiscation committees: confiscating the land of such a woman would punish her for her husband's actions. In the South Carolina back country, Loyalist recruitment outstripped that of Patriots. They took a total of about 2,000 slaves to British North America: 500 in Upper Canada (Ontario), 300 in Lower Canada (Quebec), and 1,200 in the Maritime colonies of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. Between 80,000 and 100,000 eventually fled, about half of them to Canada. "A Study in the Historical Demography of a Loyalist County". London, Public Records Office, American Loyalist claims, AO 12 London Public Record Office, New Jersey. The answer is yes. The arrival of the Loyalists after the Revolutionary War led to the division of Canada into the provinces of Upper Canada (what is now southern Ontario) and Lower Canada (today's southern Quebec). By 1812, Upper Canada had been settled mostly by Revolution-era Loyalists from the United States (United Empire Loyalists) and postwar American and British immigrants. Those volumes and the nominal index to them, are available on microfilm reel
", "Understanding Sierra Leone in Colonial West Africa: A Synoptic Socio-Political History", "Who were the Loyalist Women of Cambridge? (May 2020) Contents A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X There is no single list of all those loyal to the British Crown. The Germans in Pennsylvania tried to stay out of the Revolution, just as many Quakers did, and when that failed, clung to the familiar connection rather than embrace the new. They were called Tories in their own country but Loyalists elsewhere. Les dpts d'archives de chacune de ces provinces conservent des documents relatifs aux Loyalistes. [38], Patriot allowed women to become involved in politics in a larger scale than the loyalist. JAR: The Discovery of an Important Letter from a Soldier of the 1st Rhode . [3][4] The influx of loyalist refugees also resulted in the Province of Quebec's division into Lower Canada (present-day Quebec), and Upper Canada (present-day Ontario) in 1791. It is not known how many Loyalist civilians were harassed by the Patriots, but the treatment was a warning to other Loyalists not to take up arms. Historian Maya Jasanoff calculated 60,000 in total went to British North America, including about 50,000 whites, however Philip Ranlet estimates that only 20,000 adult white Loyalists went to Canada,[52] while Wallace Brown cites about 80,000 Loyalists in total permanently left the United States.[53]. Elsewhere there were few British troops and the Patriots seized control of all levels of government, as well as supplies of arms and gunpowder. The records of the claims made by American loyalists are found in the British Audit Office records 12 (Series I) . This was in recognition of their loyalty to Britain. Some actively supported the Crown, collecting information for the British, helping Loyalist soldiers, and hiding money and important papers from local authorities. If you do not have a subscription, Ancestry is available free at most public libraries. Tens of thousands of Loyalists migrated to British North America . British military and naval records (RG 8, C Series) - Introduction and index, British military and naval records (RG 8, C Series) Digitized documents. Revolutionary War Loyalist Records FamilySearch "[71], Benjamin West's Reception as a detail of John Eardley Wilmot. Alluding to their great principle The Unity of the Empire. They constituted a larger portion of the population, but it was not an area of plantation agriculture. Certain Loyalists who fled the United States brought their slaves with them to Canada (mostly to areas that later became Ontario and New Brunswick) where slavery was legal. They felt that independence from Britain would come eventually, but wanted it to come about organically. Nevertheless, the vast majority never returned. Some became nationally prominent leaders, including Samuel Seabury, who was the first Bishop of the Episcopal Church, and Tench Coxe. A nominal index is available on microfilm reel
xivxv,234242, 321323, 348. New men became rich merchants but they shared a spirit of republican equality that replaced the former elitism. July 9, 2021. Carleton Papers Book of Negroes, 1783, These records are also known as the Carleton Papers or the American Manuscripts. Under
United Empire Loyalists :: United Empire Loyalist Heritage Centre and Park [6] Historians have estimated that between 15% and 20% (300,000 to 400,000) of the 2,000,000 whites in the colonies in 1775 were Loyalists. [1] In particular, the term refers to men who escaped enslavement by Patriot masters and served on the Loyalist side because of the Crown 's guarantee of freedom. [39] Grace Growden Galloway[40] recorded the experience in her diary. The following date was when the honourific was created. Their ties to Britain and/or their antipathy to the United States provided the strength needed to keep Canada independent and distinct in North America. Two million more of 14 million inhabitants, or roughly 15%, are part or wholly of French Canadian descent. They founded communities across the two provinces, many of which still exist today. number and a page number. "Nova Scotia Loyalists, 17831785", Norton, Mary Beth. Her writings show the difficulties that her family faced during the revolution. During the war and especially at its close, some Loyalists went to Britain, Jamaica, or other colonies, but many fled to Canada. South Carolina which had seen a bitter bloody internal civil war in 1780-82 adopted a policy of reconciliation that proved more moderate than any other state. Britain was able to effectively protect the people only in areas where they had military control, and in return, the number of military Loyalists was significantly lower than what had been expected. An imperial law in 1790 assured prospective immigrants to Canada that their slaves would remain their property. Use
Enslaved African Americans risked considerable danger by crossing to British lines to achieve freedom. Loyalists. American Loyalist Claims, 1776-1835 freely available at National Archives of Great Britain also available through Ancestry Library Edition (accessible on-site) MSS 21765, volumes B105, B166, B167, B168). [38] At the end of the war, many loyalist men left America for the shelter of England, leaving their wives and daughters to protect their land[38] The main punishment for Loyalist families was the expropriation of property, but married women were protected under "feme covert", which meant that they had no political identity and their legal rights were absorbed by their husbands. [13] The slave trade was abolished across the British Empire in 1807. [20], In 1996, Canadian politicians Peter Milliken (a descendant of American Loyalists) and John Godfrey sponsored the GodfreyMilliken Bill, which would have entitled Loyalist descendants to reclaim ancestral property in the United States which had been confiscated during the American Revolution. The Crown-allotted land in Canada was sometimes allotted according to which Loyalist regiment a man had fought in. Loyalists were those born or living in the Thirteen American Colonies at the outbreak of the Revolution. [65] Some Massachusetts Tories settled in the Maine District. transcribed for Ray Jones by Clifford S. Dwyer. According to historian Afua Cooper, Simcoe's law required children in slavery to be freed when they reached age 25 and: Thousands of Iroquois and other Native Americans were expelled from New York and other states and resettled in Canada. UE List from the Executive Council Office (RG 1 L7, vol. A nominal/subject card index and the actual documents have been digitized and can be viewed online. [14] Many Loyalist Americans had migrated to Upper Canada after the Revolutionary War. (See also: Indigenous-British Relations Pre-Confederation.) By the 1790s,
Yet women often played an important role in a familys decision to become Loyalist. L: Persons buried in the Loyalists graveyard St. John, whose gravestones were extant in 1883, see Loyalist Centennial Souvenir, published that year. [66], Alexander Hamilton enlisted the help of the Tories (ex-Loyalists) in New York in 178285 to forge an alliance with moderate Whigs to wrest the State from the power of the Clinton faction. BIBLIOGRAPHY. [citation needed], Loyalists soon petitioned the government to be allowed to use the British legal system, which they were accustomed to in the American colonies, rather than the French system. Carleton Papers - Loyalists and British Soldiers, 1772-1784 [28], After the British military capture of New York City and Long Island it became the British military and political base of operations in North America from 1776 to 1783, prompting revolutionaries to flee and resulting in a large concentration of Loyalists, many of whom were refugees from other states. This took a heavy toll, putting many of them out of action for some time. Some recent arrivals from Britain, especially those from Scotland, had a high Loyalist proportion. Loyalists A to Z, Part 1 | The Loyalist Collection children should be allowed to add the letters UE to their names, alluding to their great principle, the Unity of Empire. As a result, the phrase United Empire Loyalist, or UEL, was applied to Loyalists who migrated to Upper and Lower Canada. The British removed their governors from colonies where the Patriots were in control, but Loyalist civilian government was re-established in coastal Georgia[23] from 1779 to 1782, despite the presence of Patriot forces in the northern part of Georgia. About 4,000 Black Loyalists went to the British colonies of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, where they were promised land grants. Others fled to New York and other cities controlled by the British or to Canada. Book - 2000 Detailed biographical abstracts associated with claims for losses incurred by Loyalists who emigrated to Canada, Britain, the West Indies and elsewhere. The new British North American provinces of Upper Canada (the forerunner of Ontario) and New Brunswick were created as places of refuge for the United Empire Loyalists. C-9821. It was the beginning of new waves of immigration that established a predominantly Anglo-Canadian population in the future Canada both west and east of the modern Quebec border. [9] Delays in making land grants, but mostly the willingness of the blacks to under-cut their fellow Loyalists and hire themselves out to the few available jobs at a lower wage aggravated racist tensions in Shelburne. the system of coverture, a woman did not have a separate legal existence after marriage. The territory that became the Maritime provinces became home to more than 30,000 Loyalists.