DIGBY, NOVA SCOTIA

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 Three words “Of Loyalist Descent” can be used to describe many people in the Town and County called Digby, Nova Scotia. Communities like Barton , Gilbert's Cove, , Smiths Cove, and Tiddville were named after the Loyalists who settled there.

 Headstone marked 'Of Loyalist Descent" in Digby

The cemeteries and churches trace their origins. Within the Town, the Old Loyalist Cemetery and Trinity Anglican Church Cemetery are the oldest places to find United Empire Loyalists buried. Descendants of Loyalists can be found in Forest Hill Anglican Cemetery and Fairview Cemetery .

    Old Loyalist Cemetery in Digby

The oldest gravestone is for Mary Getcheus, who died on 17 November 1785, located in Trinity Anglican Church Cemetery.  She was the wife of Captain Jacob Getcheus who transported Black Loyalists to Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. 

Trinity Anglican Church is a national heritage site.  The parish was established on 29 September 1785 . It was named after Trinity Parish in New York which was the home parish of many of the Loyalists who settled in Digby.Grace United Church was built as a Methodist one on land formerly owned by Robert Ray and his wife Rachel Ray, Loyalists from New York. The origins of Methodism in Digby are traced to missionaries who served the Black Loyalists there in the 1780s.

Other sites located within the Town where you can visit and learn more include the Admiral Digby Well , Admiral Digby Museum., Admirals Walk , and Loyalist Cairn .

                                                                                              Cairn in Loyalist Park at Digby

Outside of the Town of Digby you can view burial locations of Loyalists and their families in numerous cemeteries.  James Moody ,an officer in the New Jersey Volunteers who also was elected as representative in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly, was buried at St. Peters Cemetery in Weymouth North.on lands he donated to the Anglican Church.  Margaret Davis, ,who walked to Halifax to secure title to her land and for whom the Nova Scotia Ferry Margaret's Justice was named, is buried with a headstone at Westport in Hilltop Cemetery.



Further Reading:

How the Loyalists named Digby by Brian McConnell, published by Town of Digby

Captain Jacob Getcheus by Brian McConnell, UE, published by Historic Nova Scotia

The Loyalists Who Built Digby's First Methodist Church by Brian McConnell, UE

The Loyalists of Digby by Brian McConnell, UE



Historian & Author, Member of United Empire Loyalists ' Association of Canada

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