U.E. Loyalist History

This is my 100th post to the UE Loyalist History Blog which began in September 2025, and it seems right that I make it about a United Empire Loyalist from Digby County where I lived when I began my research into their history.  It also includes at the bottom a link to an article that was published by Loyalist Trails , weekly email newsletter of the UELAC.  Since 2014, I have submitted well over 50 articles that it has published. Isaac Titus (1747 -1818), was a United Empire Loyalist born at Bedford in Westchester County,  New York. A gravesite memorial mentions him in the  Old Schoolyard Cemetery  at Centreville,  Digby County, Nova Scotia.   He was one of the pioneers of Trout Cove ( now Centreville). Isaac Titus, UEL,  on Memorial  When he arrived he brought with him a chair that is displayed in the Admiral Digby Museum at Digby.  The type of chair is called a Bow Back Windsor.  When photos of the chair were sent to the Rhode...

From April 9th to 12th, 1782, the Battle of the Saintes  between British and French fleets was fought as one of several major conflicts that occurred in the West Indies during the American Revolution.   A British victory saved Jamaica from invasion. Battle of the Saintes   Other major battles in the region were: the  Battle of Dominica won by the French in September, 1778 enabled them to capture the British island; Battle of St. Lucia in December, 1778 in which a British victory led to their capture of the island; Battle of Grenada in July, 1779 when British fleet defeated by French; Battles of Martinique in which British and French fleets clashed in April,  1780; Battles of Martinique, St. Lucia,  and Tobago  during May through July, 1781 when French fleet engaged British failing to take St. Lucia and taking Tobago; Capture of the Bahamas when a Loyalist force led by Colonel Andrew Deveaux took the Bahamas in 1783 from the Spanish before war ...

Most of the Loyalists arrived in the Bahamas between 1783 and 1785. They settled on the islands of New Providence, Abaco, Eleuthra, Exuma, Cat Island, Long Island, Crooked Island, Acklins, Watllings Island (now San Salvador) and Turks and Caicos ( which were then part of the Bahamas). An estimated 5,000 to 7,000 Loyalists and their slaves, encouraged by grants of land, migrated from Georgia and the Carolinas to the Bahamas.It more than doubled the population of the islands. Carleton Point One of the first settlements was in March 1784 when a number of refugees from New York and St. Augustine laid out a town called Carleton on the island of Abaco. Some 600 Americans loyal to the British built a settlement named after Sir Guy Carleton, the British commander at New York, who oversaw the evacuation.  However, the settlement was short- lived and abandoned in 1785 after a hurricane hit. Artifacts have been uncovered at the site, and a plaque now marks it.  A bronze plaque was u...

The first country to recognize the independence of the United States was not France. It was the island of St. Eustatius, also called Statia, a Dutch colony in the West Indies. During the 18th century it became a booming, ultra wealthy,  trading hub, and was given the nickname Golden Rock. St. Eustatius   While the defeat of the British at Saratoga in 1777 encouraged French recognition of US independence, the Dutch had been supporting American rebel activity for years.  Merchants on the island of St. Eustatius were enabling goods and materials to pass to them which were required.  Even George Washington routed his mail through the island. Since the British Royal Navy blockaded North American ports, the free trade port of St. Eustatius became an important trans shipment point for European goods. Up to half of the military supplies used by American Revolutionary forces passed through St. Eustatius.  Dutch,  English, and Jewish merchant families ran the bustlin...

Nova Scarcity was what some  disillusioned American Loyalists,  both white and black, who arrived in Nova Scotia in the late 18th century following the American Revolution, called it.  Some of the conditions that led to the name being used are described in Neil MacKinnon's book This Unfriendly Soil - The Loyalist Experience in Nova Scotia  1783 - 1791 .  It came about due to the harsh realities the refugees faced upon arrival.  In 1783, roughly 30,000 Loyalists arrived in Nova Scotia which tripled the population and overwhelmed the provinces meager resources.  After, in 1782,  Sir Guy Carleton received the appointment in New York with responsibility for evacuation of Loyalists he wrote to Governor John Parr of Nova Scotia asking if he might be able to grant lands and supplies to some of them.  Parr sought to be of assistance, however, responded that there was at present a housing crisis even in Halifax and some of the soldiers garrisone...

Among the thousands of United Empire Loyalists who arrived in Nova Scotia were ones who became politicians, justices of the peace, and lawyers. They had an impact on the future province. The Royal Arms of King George III can be seen on Province House, the Nova Scotia Legislative Building in Halifax, pictured below. It was built between 1811 and 1818 and is the oldest Legislative Building in Canada.  On April 4, 1818, they were carved on the sediment by David Kinnear.  Province House in Halifax  The Nova Scotia House of Assembly that meets in Province House is the oldest elected legislature in Canada. It first met on October 2, 1758. Before  Province House was completed, it met at several locations in Halifax.  The United Empire Loyalists who became legislators, judges, and lawyers in Nova Scotia included:  Annapolis County Joseph Aplin (1740 - 1804).  Born in Rhode Island.  Colonial lawyer who fled to Nova Scotia as Loyalist in 1783. He moved to ...

While researching the grave locations of United Empire Loyalists in Hants County, Nova Scotia, I discovered an interesting one that led me to learn about the so - called Death Penny ,  given to the parents of a relative of mine.  The Death Penny was  a circular bronze commemorative disk issued to the families of British and Commonwealth service personnel who died as a result of service during the First World War.   Over one million of these were produced, including 600 to women.  Headstone for Private Arthur E. Brison The headstone had a space at the top on which it appeared something had been removed.  It was the memorial to  Private Arthur E. Brison located in the Center Burlington Cemetery in Hants County.  He was a descendant of Christopher Wilson, a United Empire Loyalist, who received a land grant in Annapolis County in 1784.   The petition for the land was submitted by Major John Milledge, formerly a prominent officer i...