UE Loyalist History

In 2022, the oldest substantially unaltered church in Canada built by United Empire Loyalists needed a costly new roof in order to remain open.  Old Holy Trinity Anglican Church  in Middleton was built by several well known Loyalists who had settled in Nova Scotia as refugees after the American Revolution.  They included   Timothy Ruggles ,  Samuel Vetch Bayard  , and  Reverend John Wiswall  .  The United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada provided a substantial grant of $12,500 to assist in this vital work. It was the second time the UELAC or one of its' members helped to save the historic site. On 27 July 1998, it became a provincially registered property under the Heritage Property Act of Nova Scotia. Work at Old Holy Trinity Church to Repair Roof I attended the 225th anniversary service of Old Holy Trinity Church in 2016, marking the event when the first service was held in August, 1791.  Later, I was contacted by a member...

In August 1795, Tula led the largest slave rebellion to take place on the island of  Curacao which marked an historic point on their path to emancipation.  Although there were no plantations in what we now know as Canada to erupt in conflict, Africans who came there during 18th century shared a similar experience. Some of them travelled to America on ships that sailed first to islands in the Carribean, including Curacao, and from there the Africans were sent to the American colonies. Tula Tula was a field worker at the Knipp Plantation in Curacao. From the early 17th century, the island was a transcontinental colonial hub for the Dutch in the slave trade.  Approximately 80 per cent of the slaves brought there from Africa were headed for distribution across the Carribbean and South America with the remainder to the American colonies.  Some of the slaves in the American colonies obtained their freedom during the American Revolution and in 1783 sailed to Nova Scotia....

Keith Marshall Jones III, founding President of the Ridgefield Historical Society, has authored a particularly interesting account of a Loyalist town in Connecticut. In recognition of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, in 2025, his book God Save the King describes the experience of the town of  Ridgefield , Connecticut, including profiles of its Loyalist residents. Book about Ridgefield Loyalists   The book is 153 pages long and available in paperback format. It is very well researched and has a bibliography as well as end notes. At a town meeting in Ridgefield on 30 January 1775 it was resolved: We do acknowledge his Most Sacred Majesty King George the Third to be our rightful Sovereign and do publicly avow our allegiance to him and his lawful successors.  And that we will do to the utmost in our power,  Support his throne & Dignity against every combination in the universe.  One of the Loyalists profiled is Joseph Smith who settled in Nova S...

Some people will describe how while doing family research they learned of an ancestor who was a United Empire Loyalist.  They then decided to obtain a Certificate of Loyalist Descent, also known as a UE Certificate, from the United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada (UELAC) to confirm this ancestry.  That wasn't my experience. I found out about Loyalist ancestry from a parent, my mother, which was the way likely many did in the early years of the UELAC .                                      1934  Certificate        By a UELAC certificate issued on 14 September 1934 Francis Bond Head Wilson was proposed for, balloted and elected a  member of this Association.   It was founded in 1914 by Canadians as a group dedicated to recognition of the contribution United Empire Loyalists made to Canada. In later years, as concern was expressed about the...

It is very fitting that members of the United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada should celebrate St. Patrick's Day.  In a newspaper article of 18 March 1939 published in the Times Colonist at Victoria, British Columbia, it reported how descendants of the United Empire Loyalists held an enjoyable St. Patrick's Day social . Times Colonist article The Irish were one of the largest ethnic groups included in the United Empire Loyalists who settled in what became Canada.  An example of this is the case of Digby, Nova Scotia where my research described in an article entitled The Irish Among the Loyalists who settled Digby, published in 2021 ,   determined: ...when the Town of Digby was first laid out after the arrival of the Loyalists in 1783 the largest number of lots assigned to persons not born in America did not go to English but to Irish.    At the close of the American Revolution the Loyalists who were evacuated as refugees from New York by ship to Dig...

An important event in the history of the United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada took place on 21 March 1972.  It received Armorial Bearings which were granted under Royal Authority by a legal instrument known as Letters Patent. On 15 July 2004 they were granted again by the Canadian Heraldic Authority. This year, in January 2026, the UELAC has produced two new collector coins.  The designs were suggested by the Promotions Committee  consisting of Linda Jobe, Chair, and members Ken Montgomery, and Rod Appleby.  One coin recognizes this year as the 250th Anniversary of the American Revolution 1776 - 2026. On the other side is the Badge of the UELAC which is part of the Armorial Bearings. 250th Anniversary of American Revolution Coin Badge The badge consists of a wreath made up of red maple leaves with oak leaves as well as acorns. The maple leaves represent Canada while the oak leaves and acorns are a long held symbol of loyalty and fidelity to the monarchy. In...

March is officially called Irish Heritage Month in Canada and it can observed that the   Dorchester Proclamation , which gave United Empire Loyalists the postnominal UE,  was named after a man from Ireland, Sir Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester.   Irish Heritage Month was proclaimed on 1 March 2022 by the Government of Canada as an opportunity to remember the impact of the Irish on Canada.  It is estimated between 4 and 6 million Canadians are descendants of the 35 to 40 thousand refugees who settled in what became Canada after the American Revolution ended in the 1780s and who are known as United Empire Loyalists.  For their loyalty to the British Crown, the Governor - in - Chief of British North America, Sir Guy Carleton, indicated on 9 November 1789, in the Dorchester Proclamation, that they should be given a mark of honour, the letters UE, representing Unity of Empire, after their surname.    Sir Guy Carlton, 1st Baron Dorchester What was the...