Caledon’s Loyalist roots
Courtesy of Region of Peel Archives.
BY DIANA JANOSIK-WRONSKI
CALEDON’S LANDSCAPE reminded early Scots settlers of their homeland, so they named the Township after it, romantically say our local histories. However, these also note that early settlers were not only Scots and Irish…but United Empire Loyalists!
So, who were the United Empire Loyalists, and what did they have to do with Caledon?
United Empire Loyalists: A brief history
Simply put, United Empire Loyalists (UEL) were those persons living in the Thirteen Colonies who remained faithful to and/or fought for the Crown, and settled in Canada at the end of the American Revolution. Much of the history of modern Canada and many of its traditions, law, government and aversion to violent nationhood are also Loyalist legacies.
When the American Revolution (or First American Civil War as historians often refer to it) broke out, contrary to popular history it was a minority of “rebels” (or “patriots” as they are called south of the border) who actually favoured revolution. A significant percentage of colonial inhabitants continued to support the Crown, or were undecided. John Adams, a rebel leader and later US President, estimated in his 1815 memoirs that one third remained loyal to the Crown and a further third were undecided.
While these exact numbers have been disputed and really may never be known, more recent estimates are that ten to 15 percent (or around 250,000 persons) opposed the revolution, either passively or by speaking out, spying or fighting against the rebels. It is known that Loyalists and undecided fence sitters were branded as traitors and publicly humiliated or became victims of violence at the hands of rebels. Being stripped naked, coated in tar and feathers, and carried on a wagon about town until they saw the “error of their ways” was not unknown to happen. Others had their property and goods taken and were banished at risk of death, or were simply threatened. They could not vote, sell land, sue debtors, or work as doctors, lawyers and teachers. These residents were harassed as early as 1775 by “committees of safety” and started to leave at that time.
One source even termed this a war of propaganda with the large number of undecided.
At the time, Reverend Mather Byles is recorded as having summed up, “Which is better – to be ruled by one tyrant three thousand miles away or by three thousand tyrants one mile away?”
The Treaty of Paris in 1783, which recognized the United States, impelled the final migration. Loyalists who had remained in their homes were faced with continued mistreatment or exile. Many Loyalists were “celebrities.” Benjamin Franklin’s own son was the last Loyalist governor of New Jersey and left for Britain where he eventually died. If they wanted to stay in North America, they had two choices: what was then Nova Scotia and Quebec.
Lord Dorchester, Governor of Quebec, honoured Canada’s Loyalist families in 1789 by stating that they and their descendants may put the initials U.E. after their names. This usage is still seen on occasion today:
N.B. Those Loyalists who have adhered to the Unity of the Empire, and joined the Royal Standard before the Treaty of Separation in the year 1783, and all their Children and their Descendants by either sex, are to be distinguished by the following Capitals, affixed to their names: U.E. Alluding to their great principle The Unity of the Empire.
Who were they?
The United Empire Loyalists came from all walks of life and backgrounds, and held a common distrust of mob rule and republicanism which often resulted in the breakdown of law and order. In the end, approximately 70,000 fled the Thirteen Colonies, and about 50,000 of them came to Canada.
Contrary to popular thinking of today, more than half were not of British origin. Many in fact were Germans. In our own family history, the UEL ancestor was from New York State, but the seemingly “English” name actually had been anglicized from the original name from the Palatinate of Germany. Many Palatines settled in Pennsylvania and New York State. Palatines who came to Upper Canada (or Ontario) even continued to use their German dialect here.
Other origins also included First Nations, Blacks, Jewish and other Europeans. About 2,000 Mohawks followed Chief Joseph Brant of the Six Nations from New York State to a valley of the Grand River. Brant and his followers were given a grant in the Grand Valley and modern Brantford sits on some of that land! A recent episode of “Ancestors in the Attic” noted that about 3,500 Blacks went to Nova Scotia, which made the place they settled the “largest African community outside of Africa” at the time.
Celebrity UEL descendants today include Ontario’s Lieutenant Governor David C. Onley, Justin Trudeau and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. Soprano and concert star Measha Brueggergosman is also of UEL descent. Her ancestors were African-American John Gosman, from Connecticut, and his wife Rose, from Rhode Island, who likely met in New York. They were two of the thousands of slaves escaping slavery. By leaving rebel slaveholders and siding with the British, they were promised freedom in exchange. The Gosmans with their five-month-old daughter, Fanny, born free behind British lines, got passage on one of the last ships to leave New York in 1783 for Nova Scotia, and later settled in Fredericton, New Brunswick.
Creation of New Brunswick and Upper Canada (Ontario)
The first United Empire Loyalists arrived in Nova Scotia in 1776. Many were to settle what became Saint John, as well as today’s Prince Edward Island, and they petitioned the British government to separate them from Halifax. In 1784 New Brunswick was created by the British government in response.
Others, about 7,000 to 9,000 persons including disbanded Loyalist regiments, migrated to Quebec and ultimately created what became today’s Ontario. Initial settlement of what is now Ontario was along the St. Lawrence River, upstream from Montreal, and the north shore of Lake Ontario. Loyalists were given some government support, but most of it came as free land. This was granted to the heads of households according to their military rank, and the grants were extended to wives. In many cases, land was settled by Loyalist regiments, and even today family names in those areas can be traced back to members of the original military units.
In 1791 the British Government passed the Canada Act, dividing Quebec into Upper and Lower Canada, so both seigneurial and British land tenure systems, laws and government could be maintained. In 1792 Governor Simcoe laid out 19 counties in what is now called Ontario. Recalling our province’s origins, Ontario’s official motto on its coat of arms states, “As she began, so she remains, Loyal” or more colloquially, “Loyal she began, loyal she remains.”
Loyalists and Caledon
So what does all this have to do with Caledon?
Significant for Caledon was the fact that land grants were also extended to born and unborn children, both sons and daughters.
Inevitably, European settlement came inland. In 1805 “the first land purchase” of 85,000 acres from the Mississauga First Nations was made, basically along the northern shore of Lake Ontario, taking in the southern part of Halton and Peel. October 1818, a new treaty was signed with four leaders of area First Nations, and survey had likely started, opening land which included present day Caledon for grants. In 1820, this was “the second purchase” from the Mississaugas. These traditional lands were occupied by various First Nations groups with differing names.
My review of United Empire Loyalist land grants in Caledon for this article, in the Region of Peel Archives, revealed some interesting facts in addition to material from other sources.
To begin with, the vast majority of UEL land grant recipients were indeed the sons and daughters of United Empire Loyalists. Many of the places of residence they list reflect original settlement areas like Haldimand, Ernestown and Fredericksburgh (located in Eastern Ontario), Niagara, and even New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Grant dates start before 1820 and were given as late as the early 1830s. In some cases several family members obtained grants, which potentially meant a lot of land within one family, especially if they were in the same township!
By 1820 “hardy pioneers” ventured into the wilderness. Caledon was the last Township in Peel to be settled, with Mono Mills as its most northerly point, since early pioneers thought it too far from “civilization” to be able to live. Most UEL apparently settled in Chinguacousy Township, now part of Brampton.
Perkins Bull, the influential Brampton citizen who created the Perkins Bull Historical Series in the 1930s, had planned and started work on a volume about United Empire Loyalists. He states that in the course of his research he “…has encountered some 200 families…” in Peel County. For the Loyalist volume he had welcomed submissions of any family documents and heirlooms.
In all, over 40 United Empire Loyalist land grants were given in the Caledon Township area. Grants were given east and west of today’s Highway 10, or Hurontario Street, which divided the Township in half. However, this does not necessarily mean the parcels were settled. By 1821 Caledon Township had only 100 residents, and Town histories noted that only one in fourteen landholders had actually settled. Perkins Bull himself said his volume would deal with not only original UEL settlers in Peel after the close of the American Revolution, but also their descendants and other families who never actually settled in the county but, through UEL claims, had obtained grants there.
What lured people was a grant of 200 acres. While some never came, also keeping the grant was not that easy. Within eighteen months they had to clear five acres for every 100 acres granted and build a sixteen by twenty foot dwelling, as well as clear half the road in the front and rear of the lot. Some had to clear the side road as well if the land parcel also abutted it, so they had to clear three sides. In some cases family tragedy (such as death while clearing) and other hardships meant families were unable to finish clearing the land or afford the fees to obtain the land patent from the Crown and register their documents.
Some Caledon Histories
What Perkins Bull actually created was an extensive list of children who had received grants in Peel County, the name of each one’s UEL ancestor and the Loyalist regiment in which he had served, plus the original Township of Settlement and names of whomever they married.
What jumps out from this list are some famous Loyalist regiments (there were over 50) in which many of the fathers had served. Those for Caledon included the Royal Regiment of New York, Butler’s Rangers, Loyal Rangers, Royal Yorkers, Jessup’s Loyal Rangers, King’s Rangers, Queen’s Rangers, New Jersey Volunteers and Orange Rangers. Many had been created in response to the rebel “committees of safety.”
From parts of Albion Township that are now in Peel County came other interesting individuals. Margaret Clement came from Niagara and was the daughter of Joseph, who had served in the “Indian Department with General Burgoyne.” The list also notes land given to Hugh, John, Hannah, Mary and Laney Mulloy from Lancaster, children of Thomas who served under Joseph Brant, the Loyalist Mohawk Chief of the Six Nations who was previously mentioned.
Some other individual Caledon histories emerge about life in those times. Caledon East, where I live with my family, has Loyalist roots! Its first name was “Tarbox Corners” because the fledgling community was built on land on the Caledon-Albion town line (now Airport Rd.) granted to Elizabeth Laurence, the wife of Elisha Tarbox who arrived in 1821. Elizabeth was also the daughter of Richard Laurence U.E., from New Brunswick. There are stories which persist to this day of a First Nations family with several children camping near her house, as her farm was likely on traditional land.
Other UEL families settled Alton and Belfountain. There is another such story about the Frank family who got a grant near Belfountain. They were of German descent, originally having come to the Thirteen Colonies from Hannover. They built a log house from hewn timbers, and had a First Nations family camping in front of their farm. Black spots in the land from traditional camp fires were visible when ploughing took place, and tools for making sugar and skinning were found, along with stone projectiles. A grandfather clock from those times evidently still keeps time in a descendant’s home!
Life wasn’t easy, and the tragedy befalling Martin Middagh Jr.’s family, near today’s Mono Mills, shows what could easily happen in those early days when trying to complete land ownership and the patent. Martin Middagh Sr. had served with the Royal Regiment of New York and settled first in Osnabruck (Eastern Ontario), then Trafalgar, and was on the 1786 Provision List. His children received grants in Caledon. One son, Martin Jr., could not finish the settling duties after he “cut his foot” although he already had built a house and barn and had cut enough for a horse and carriage to pass at either end of the lot, as well as clearing some land. As he temporarily could not support his family, he returned with them to family or friends in East Flamborough “for subsistence” and to recover. Sadly, he subsequently died of “apoplexy” in 1827, leaving a widow and seven children and no will “to protect his poor orphan children.”
In this case his brother, George, petitioned on their behalf on April 10, 1830, saying “his widow was not able to pay the tax but I hope to pay a part of it in a few months, therefore I hope you will not let the fatherless be dispossessed till I can come and settle the affair.” It took until 1839 for the patent to be given to a surviving relative.
Caledon’s Loyalist Legacy
There are many Loyalist stories in Caledon and its landmarks. When you enjoy your Caledon property and life today, think of the many hardships these United Empire Loyalist families endured for us, both in fleeing the United States and opening up new territory in Ontario.
In Perkins Bull’s own words, he wanted to “deal with the UEL ancestry of those who have played a prominent part in building up the country. … Because of the knowledge gained by the author in the course of his research, he is more than ever confirmed in his opinion that the UEL Loyalist Story is one of the noblest and most inspiring patriotic traditions in history and is worthy of all emulation.”
0 Comments
You can be the first one to leave a comment.