Loyalists United Empire

Name applied to the inhabitants of the

Thirteen Colonies who remained loyal to Great Britain, and rather than

submit to the new republic, migrated to Canada, New Brunswick, Nova

Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. No adequate provision having been made

for them by the mother country, in the treaty of Paris (1783), the

Loyalists were compelled in most cases to abandon all their worldly

possessions, and start life anew in he pioneer settlements of the

north. May 18, 1783, one great section of the refugees landed at the

mouth of the St. John River, and built a town, first named Parrtown,

later St. John. Other settlements were made, about the same time, at

various points on the coasts of Nova Scotia, as well as on St. John's

Island (Prince Edward Island). The bulk of the migration to what was

then Quebec (now Ontario and Quebec) took place in 1784, the eastern

Loyalists going north by way of Lake Champlain and the Richelieu, and

settling in the Eastern Townships; those of the West crossing the

boundary at Niagara and other points, and spreading throughout the

backbone of the future province of Upper Canada. =Index=: (George Brown Era) Land

grants to their children fall into hands of speculators, 53. (John Graves Simcoe era)

Settlement of Upper Canada by, 1; Carleton's interest in, 51; their

sufferings, 52, 54; claims for losses paid to, 55; settlements of,

during and after war, 56; pretenders among, 57; those from England not

generally good settlers, 58; assisted by government, 60; their

hardships, 61; their mode of life, 62-69; names of those who had joined

British side before treaty of 1783, registered, 70; clauses of treaty of

Paris respecting, not carried out by United States, 118; consequently

further emigration of to Canada, 119. (Lord Sydenham era) Constitutional Act an attempt

to placate, 68. (General Brock era) Rations issued to, from Fort Niagara, 58; Brock

(1804) observes and reports on comfortable condition of many of them,

65. (Lord Dorchester era) Emigration of, 64; commended to Carleton's special care, 194;

their pitiable condition, 196; twenty regiments of, in Carleton's

command, 202; their consternation on learning of proposed terms of

peace, 206; left unprotected by treaty of peace, 213; large number of,

embark for Nova Scotia, 214; Carleton continues occupation of New York

till all have left the country, 215, 216; their emigration to different

British provinces, 218; widows of, apply for pensions, 218, 219; effect

of their settlement in Canada, 221, 244, 248; increase of their numbers

in western Canada, 224; two distinct waves of emigration, 236;

settlements of at Niagara, and Sorel, 236, 237; claim representative

institutions, 237; those in Kingston district petition for church

establishments, 238; their destitute condition, 238; their political

weight underestimated by Dorchester, 248; the Seigniorial Tenure system

unsuited to, 256; Dorchester's suggestion for conferring distinction on,

260. (Lord Elgin era) Extravagant land grants to, 144; Durham on, 144-145; settled

along Niagara River, 194. (Mackenzie / Selkirk / Simpson era) In the wilderness, 11. (Egerton Ryerson era) Methodist

preachers in Upper Canada of Loyalist stock, 38; included many of the

influential families, 62; Ryerson's history of, 270, 274, 279. (Joseph Howe era)

Emigrate to the loyal western colonies, 13, 17. (Baldwin / La Fontaine / Hincks era) Come to Maritime

Provinces and Canada, 4-5; their numbers and character, 5; in Lower

Canada, 17; support Common School Bill, 105; (Sir John A Macdonald era) Dread possibility of

revolution, 20. (Tilley era) Severe treatment of, 3; they settle in Nova Scotia

and New Brunswick, 3-4, 35. (Sir Frederick Haldimand era) Come to Canada, 125; houses built for,

138, 182; military service of, 136, 137; at Niagara, 152; employed on

fortifications of Quebec, 183; in Vermont negotiations, 200, 202, 206;

at Cataraqui, 236, 265; Washington's severity towards, 249, 250;

arrangements for their reception in Canada, 250, 254; not less patriotic

than the opposite party, 251; brutal treatment of, 252; compared with

Jacobites, 253; Haldimand's care of, 254; lands allotted to, 255;

surveys made for, 263; flock into Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, 263;

their advent viewed with alarm by French Canadians, 264; fed and clothed

by government for three years, 265; not fully appreciative of assistance

given, 266; difficulty of dealing with, 267-271, 348; some impostors

among, 268, 306. (William Lyon Mackenzie era) Hardships suffered by, on account of

naturalization laws, 140-141; bills for their relief, 142-143. =Bib.=:

Sabine, Loyalists of the American Revolution; Ryerson, Loyalists of

America; Campbell, Travels in North America; Canniff, The Settlement

of Upper Canada; Casselman, United Empire Loyalists of the County of

Dundas, Ontario; Haight, Country Life in Canada Fifty Years Ago;

Bourinot, Builders of Nova Scotia; Frousac, Rise of the Loyalists;

Loyalists of New York in the American Revolution in Columbia

University Studies; Curwen, Journal and Letters; Myers, The Tories

or Loyalists in America; Eardley-Wilmot, Loyalists' Centennial

Souvenir; St. John, The Centennial of the Settlement of Upper Canada

by the United Empire Loyalists; Denison, United Empire Loyalists; (R.

S. C., 1904); Van Tyne, Loyalists in the American Revolution; Shortt

and Doughty, Constitutional Documents of Canada.