Loyalist Profiles

 

The following profiles were written and submitted by Branch members. If you find any errors or discrepancies, please let us know.

 

Samuel and Peter Wood

Peter Wood served as a Sergeant in the Queen’s Rangers throughout the War.  Peter was about 32 years old when he embarked at New York for Saint John by the Cyrus on 21 August 1783, and landed in Saint John in September 1783.  He settled in Maccan in the River Hebert area.  Peter received no land in Nova Scotia until he petitioned for it 28 years later.  He was known as the best horseman in Cumberland County, founded the Baptist Church in Maccan and held many town offices.

Peter’s father Samuel was a prosperous cooper in Westchester County who made kegs and barrels. As a businessman, he tried to maintain a level of neutrality while there were uprisings. He did not openly express his Tory sympathies until the British warship “Asia” anchored nearby in the North River. Emboldened by the British presence, he finally declared his Tory sympathies and throughout June of 1775, transported nearly one hundred men to New York City to enlist in the British Army.  However, he failed to realize that the guns of the “Asia” were not long enough to guard his comfortable home from the enraged Whigs who were often his neighbours, the people who needed the goods he manufactured.  He eventually had to flee to Long Island, where he served in the Queen’s Rangers.  He returned to Westchester County in 1776, was captured by the rebels during a raid, and spent six months as a prisoner. He petitioned for pardon, which was granted, and for a time pretended sympathy with the Patriot cause, while in fact he was engaged in espionage for the British.

submitted by Betty Compeer

Permanent link to this article: http://uel-hamilton.com/2012/01/18/samuel-and-peter-wood/

Adam Green

Adam Green was a Loyalist from New Jersey who had been imprisoned by the Rebels for various acts of loyalty to Britain. He was accused of giving a brown mare, saddle & bridle to one who said his name was General Richard Prescott, for the purpose of making his escape to the British at New York in the year 1779. Adam Green was a recruiting Lieutenant in the New Jersey Volunteers and served under Colonel Nathaniel Pettit.

Adam Green was granted Lot 24, C4 Saltfleet, Ontario. It stretched from Ridge Road, above the Escarpment down to what would become King Street in the Village of Stoney Creek. This included what is today called the Devil’s Punchbowl. The stream that drops over the mountain brow at this point, flowing north into the lake is still the “Stoney Creek”. This property and the three lots around it, 400 acres in total, were patented to Adam Green.

Adam and his wife Martha had ten children. The youngest, William (Billy) is known as the first loyalist child born in this area. His participation in the Battle of Stoney Creek is legendary. Martha died after one year in the new land due to the rugged conditions.

Descendant Doug Green UE has written a book, Billy Green and Balderdash, to show that his ancestor Billy Green was indeed one of the participants and a local hero at the Battle of Stoney Creek. You can obtain a copy for very little cost from The Stoney Creek Historical Society, P.O. Box 66637, Stoney Creek, Ontario L8G 5E6 ISBN 978-0-9868772-1-6.

submitted by Paul Bingle UE

Permanent link to this article: http://uel-hamilton.com/2012/01/18/adam-green-2/

Frederick Baker

My great uncle Alexander Earle Baker UE. self published a history of Frederick Baker U.E.L. and some of his descendants. He spent nearly twenty years gathering information through research, inquiry and correspondence.

The OGS directory of surnames lists Frederick Baker as born in Claverack N.Y. U.S.A. in 1756, d: 1835 at Ernestown Tp. Ontario. Emigrated from N.Y. He resided in Millhaven, Lennox & Addington County from 1783 to 1835. It lists his wife as Elizabeth Davy and children. Frederick Baker’s name is contained on “The Executive Council List” and lists his residence as Ernestown.

Lt. Henry Simmons of Claverack N.Y. led the party of Loyal Rangers who first settled in the Township of Ernestown. His notebook states: ” the sixteenth day of August 1777, I left my house in Claverack with a company of 27 men and officers to join General Burgoyne’s army at the Batten Kill and joined Col. Jessup’s corps that same day.” Forty men joined Col. Jessup Corps: Frederick Baker’s name appears on a roll of King’s Loyal Americans.

The muster rolls of all Loyalists and discharged soldiers who settled in Ernestown Township. Dated 7th of October, 1784 lists Frederick Baker, no family, drawing one ration, has two acres cleared. The above items prove that Frederick Baker came from Claverack N.Y. and served as a loyalist soldier and that he settled in Ernestown Tp. in 1874 and was indeed a United Empire Loyalist in all sense of the title.

Frederick married Elizabeth Davy, who was also from a loyalist family, between 1784 and 1788; they had a family of eight children. Frederick also received several government land grants due to his military record of fighting for and supporting the British.

submitted by Barry Baker

Permanent link to this article: http://uel-hamilton.com/2012/01/18/frederick-baker/

Nathaniel Pettit

Nathaniel Pettit was established in New Jersey at the time the Revolution broke out. He owned two mills and was a judge in the county Court of Common Pleas, eventually being elected to the provincial legislature. His success, at a time when British-appointees were distrusted, came to work against him.

Although initially sympathetic to the colonists’ complaints, by 1776 he was brought before the provincial committee of safety for not paying taxes to the revolutionary congress. This led to him being fined and losing his judgeship. Due to his age he was not able to join the active military but was active in raising troops. With several friends he fled to Canada, arriving in the Niagara area in 1787. He received a total of 2,000 acres in Saltfleet, Grimsby, Burford, Ancaster, and Aldborough.

Although he was active in civic and political affairs, a member of the land board and the first Legislature, he never regained his previous prominence and died in 1803 in Ancaster.

Permanent link to this article: http://uel-hamilton.com/2012/01/18/nathaniel-pettit/

Casper Springsteen

Casper Springsteen, a Butler’s Ranger from 1778 to 1783, was a native of Albany, New York with an ancestry there going back to 1652 in Flatbush (Brooklyn, NY). This family, originally from Groningen, Holland, had a naming convention for their sons that has to be unique or very close to it. Do the names Melchior, Caspar, and Balthasar mean anything to our readers? With very few exceptions for generations, both in Holland and America, the Springsteen’s gave their sons the legendary names of the Three Wisemen! A reliable source confirms that rocker Bruce Springsteen (“the Boss”) is Casper’s direct descendent.

Although no one has elected to claim him until now Casper Springsteen is listed in our UELAC directory as “Springston, Gaspar”, OC 9 Feb, 1807. This unusual spelling is taken from the group of disbanded Butler’s Rangers who settled at Niagara, as reported by Lieutenant Colonel A.S. De Peyster in 1784, and printed in the 1891 Report on Canadian Archives.

In September of 1792 a petition to JG Simcoe signed by “sundry inhabitants settled on the land on the head of the Chippawa Creek and the 20 Mile Creek” asked that survey work be completed in order that proper claims to title could be laid for their already cleared properties.

Signatures included: Griffins, Lanes, Dochstaders, Blacks, Thomas Harris, Thomas North, John Wrong, Casper Springsteen, Robert Comfort, and Henry Johnson.

On 2 May 1798 Casper sent a note to the Surveyor General, ‘Sir, I understand my lots are vacant in the office. I hope your Honour will be so kind and enter my name down on Lot 9 & 10 south end in the 6th conc[ession, Gainsborough]. I have lived on these lots seven years and never took up another lot’. These were eventually granted to him.

Did the Dutch marry late? Not usually. One of the more interesting things about Casper Springsteen’s life was that a 49 year old bachelor would marry a 15 year old neighbour girl. Casper’s wife, Elizabeth, was the youngest child of Nancy Anne Johnson Comfort, who was first married when SHE was just 13. When John Comfort, UEL, Anne’s first husband, died in 1794 Elizabeth, at 15, was the only one still left at home on the Gainsborough farm. Anne, now past her childbearing years, soon after remarried a neighbour and widower 12 years her senior, Alan McDonell or McDaniel, as he was sometimes called. Elizabeth’s marriage, then, was probably a matter of expediency.

By all accounts, though, Casper and Elizabeth were happy, raising 10 children, all of them benefitting from Casper’s UEL status with land grants of their own. Perhaps Casper had been hurt by love in his earlier life back in Albany before the War. There is just the tiniest hint of a man used to disappointment in his 1807 petition for proper title to his farm on the 20 Mile Creek when (speaking about himself and the government’s ineptitude when it came to filing) he uses the words, “neither his petition nor any order in his favour can be found” followed a few lines later by “and that [your petitioner's] name may be inserted on the Roll of UE Loyalists, which has been omitted thro’ negligence of your petitioner’s brother, Staats Springsteen”.

Happily, the situation was rectified.

submitted by Paul Bingle

Permanent link to this article: http://uel-hamilton.com/2012/01/18/casper-springsteen/

Daniel Morden

At the outbreak of the American Revolution Daniel Morden was an unmarried farmer in Tyron County, New York. His assets were probably few, for his name did not appear in the list of Loyalist estates seized by New York.

When word came that the rebels were on their way to attack Johnson Hall the two brothers hurried to enlist with the British cause. They followed Sir John Johnson on the three-week trek through the Adirondacks to the British forces in Quebec. When Sir John formed the First Battalion of the King’s Royal Regiment of New York, Joseph and Daniel signed up together on the first day of enlistment.

After the war Daniel settled in Flamborough West where he was reunited with another brother, Moses Morden, who had no family of his own and became Daniel’s benefactor. Daniel Morden’s family received nearly all of the lands originally granted to Moses Morden, the 400 acres surrounding the community that became Rock Chapel.

submitted by Ron Barrons

Permanent link to this article: http://uel-hamilton.com/2012/01/18/daniel-morden/

John Wilson

John Wilson was born in Hunterdon County, New Jersey and became a Sergeant in Captain Andrew Bradt’s Company of Butler’s Rangers. He and his wife, Maria Bradt, and their children settled in Thorold where they raised their family and became founding members of the Anglican Church in St.Catharines. Before settling he had many adventures including being punished with four dozen lashes for attempting to desert to the rebels in July 1777 and being charged $100.00 in bail by the Minutes of the Commissioners for Detecting and Defeating Conspiracies in the State of New York.

submitted by Glen Brough

Permanent link to this article: http://uel-hamilton.com/2012/01/18/john-wilson-2/

Henry Wright

Henry Wright was born in England circa 1750. In his youth he immigrated to America with a brother, locating in Rutland, Pennsylvania where he married Mary Christina Klingensmith. They became the parents of eight children who grew to adulthood. After the American Revolution, Henry Wright settled first on Grosse Ile which became part of the United States after Jay’s Treaty of 1794. Henry Wright and his family then relocated to the New Settlement, on the north shore of Lake Erie. The Wrights were all known as excellent farmers. They attended the Church of England and politically were Conservative. Henry died in 1813.

Permanent link to this article: http://uel-hamilton.com/2012/01/18/henry-wright/

John Moore

John Moore was born in New Jersey in 1738, married Dinah Pettit, and had ten children. He owned land on Jenny Jump Mountain and was a hatter by trade, both manufacturing and selling felt hats. When war broke out, he participated by hiding British supporters and sending troops to front-line. He was imprisoned at Log Gaol after which the family left for Canada. At Mill Seat Tract he hired a bateau to take his family to Niagara; however, when he returned he found that his wagons, cattle, slaves, and possessions were gone. He settled in Grimsby where he was very active in civic life, infrastructure building and church activities. He died in 1803 and is buried at St.Andrews Church in Grimsby.

Permanent link to this article: http://uel-hamilton.com/2011/12/20/john-moore-2/

Hector Dickie

Hector Dickie was born in Northern Ireland and arrived in South Carolina in 1768 on the ship Chichester from Belfast. After the Revolution, Hector went as a refugee to Jamaica but as the economy was not good and the planters would not support the refugees, Hector decided to leave and he re-settled in New Brunswick where he received 500 acres for his service. His family moved to Ontario. The family story is that just as Hector and his family were ready to leave New Brunswick, Hector died of blood poisoning as the result of a darning needle having been left in his sock and scratching his ankle. Hector’s daughter Elizabeth married Henry Rupert, the son of Frank’s other Loyalist Ancestor Christopher Rupert.

Permanent link to this article: http://uel-hamilton.com/2011/12/20/hector-dickie/

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