A LOYALIST TOWN IN QUEBEC

During the American Revolution,the former French Seigneury of Sorel, in the colony of Quebec, became an important area as a British military post and refugee camp for thousands of United Empire Loyalists.  A town was planned and established for Loyalists and discharged soldiers.   The town was given street names from members of the Royal Family, and later its name changed to William Henry after the son of King George III.  Some of my Humphrey ancestors spent time in the area as I learned from a Return of the Refugee Loyalist Families receiving Provisions at this Post and the Block House on the Yamaska, Sorel, 25 December 1783. 

Prince William Henry

In 1781,  Baron Friederich Adolf Riedesel zu Eisenbach, a Major General,  was placed in charge of the Sorel district by Governor Frederick Haldimand, Governor of the British colony of Quebec. The General was born in Lauterbach, Hesse, Germany and served with German regiments during the Seven Years War.  He arrived in Quebec in 1776 and commanded all German and native forces in the battles of Saratoga that ended in defeat on 17 October 1777. After his capture he was exchanged in 1779 for an American officer and placed in command of troops on Long Island, New York in 1780.

He was accompanied to America by his wife Baroness Frederika Charlotte Riedesel and three daughters.  The Baroness hosted a party for British and German officers at Sorel in la maisons des gouverneurs  ( the government house) on the 24th of December, 1781 where she had a tree decorated with fruits and candles.   The house was built by Governor Haldimand in the summer of 1781.  It was intended to be used as a residence of the Governor of Quebec during the summer. 

Government House. Sorel

In 1781, the Seigneury of Sorel was owned by two merchants in London and purchased by Governor Haldimond on 13 November 1781 for three thousand pounds. The town of Sorel was laid out with the street names being those of members of the Royal Family as George, King, Queen, Sophia, Augusta, Prince, Phipps, and Charlotte.  Baron and Baroness Riedesel were the first to live in the government house.  They spent Christmas there that year with a German Christmas tree and English pie.  It was afterwards occupied by Prince William, later William IV; Prince Edward, Duke of Kent; Governor Frederick Haldimand; Sir John Cope Sherbrooke; Charles Lennox, Duke of Richmond, and the Count and Countess Dalhousie, as well as many others. It was Countess Dalhousie who gave her name to the street in front of the cottage, Rue de la Contesse.

This Christmas tree was a balsam fir cut from the nearby forest. According to the published diary of Baroness Riedesel, it was placed in the dining room. The event is portrayed in the painting below.  In the Governor's Museum in Sorel, Quebec hangs the original painting.

 Christmas Tree in Painting at Governor's Museum, Sorel

A daughter named "Canada" was born to the Riedesels in November of 1782. However, she died only a few months later and is buried at Sorel. Shortly after the death of their daughter, the General received news of the death of his father back in Lauterbach. The Riedesel family set sail in August 1783 to return to Germany. On their way, they stopped in London, England, where the General had an audience with King George III.

In 1784, the first Anglican mission was established at Sorel, and, in 1785, Christ Church built. Sorel was renamed William Henry for Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester, son of King George III, and the future King William IV, who visited in 1787.  He visited the town as a naval officer while commanding the frigate HMS Pegasus.  In 1860, it was renamed Sorel.  This original name was given to the French Seigneury granted in 1672 named after Pierre de Saurel, a captain in the Carignan-Salières Regiment.

The Christ Church Anglican Cemetery in Sorel contains graves as well as headstones for several United Empire Loyalists and discharged soldiers. These include Jeremiah Hilliker (1746 -1787) from Westchester County,  New York and his wife Hannah (Vanderwerken) Hilliker (1760 -1785) , born in Albany,  New York.

British soldiers buried in the cemetery include:

Sergeant John Adams, of the 71st Regiment, died 24 March 1826;

Private Timothy Banocher, of the 27th Regiment, died August 1814;

Ptivate Thomas Beeton, of the 43rd Regiment, died 16 January 1838;

Captain Guy Carleton Colclough, of the 103rd Regiment, died 16 November 1837, grand nephew of Lord Dorchester

Death notice for Lord Dorchester's grand nephew, buried in Sorel 

(Published Montreal Gazette, 21 Nov. 1837, p.3)

Further Reference:

• General Friederich Riedesel by Dr. Paul Riedesel
  
• History of the Parish of Sorel by Rev. Edward P. Vokey, Rector, published 1959