THE OTHER MICHAEL GRASS
appeared in Cataraqui Loyalist Town Crier 21(1):3-5, January 2002 - contributed by Bradley Grass UE;
derived from My Grass Roots by Constance Louise Grass Reynolds (Sarnia ON: 1999; ISBN 0-9684975-0-0)

Michael Grass of Grantham has a large group of descendants that live in the Sarnia and Windsor area and they make up a third distinct Grass family living in Canada today. (Captain Michael's descendants are centred in southern Ontario mainly in Kingston and Toronto areas, and Jacob Grass who arrived with Captain Michael in 1752 has descendants living mainly in New Brunswick.)

Michael Grass was a Private in the Butlers Rangers. The "paper trail" on him is not complete, but there is enough data to provide us with a fairly good picture of who he was. He came from the Schoharie area of New York State and much research still needs to be done by the writer in the Schoharie area. All Canadian information indicates that he was a United Empire Loyalist.

He is not to be confused with Captain Michael Grass, founder of Kingston, Ontario. They may have been related because both families lived in the same area of United States and later came to Canada at approximately the same time. Both Michaels were known as United Empire Loyalists and the offspring of both were eventually granted parcels of land from the Crown because of their fathers' military service.

Our Michael Grass family came from Germany. The family name was KRESS and was changed to GRASS at some point in the early days of moving from New York State, USA to present day St. Catharines, Grantham Township, Lincoln County, Ontario. The name Kress was occasionally written as Cress or Grass depending upon the first language of the recorder. In the late 1700s the German word "kress" was used to describe wild mustard grass. It seems rather fitting that the name was changed to GRASS.

According to the records of Rev. Sommers of St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Schoharie, New York, Michel Kres was born to Sebastian Kres and Maria Margaretha Schanzenbach on August 29, 1761 at Schoharie, New York. Other information given at that time indicated that the sponsors of Michael Grass' baptism were Michel Seibel and Maria Elisabet Zimmer.

Records indicate that Michael Grass married Mary Fraat or Fratz in Schoharie, New York on Jan 31, 1786. Both were from Helderberg, Albany county, New York. Mary's name was originally Maria. Her surname could be either Dutch or German. Other records indicate that they lived in the Berne-Schoharie area west of Albany County, in Rensselaerville Township, a Dutch community.

Michael first moved to Grantham Township, Niagara District in the 1780s. He arrived with other United Empire Loyalists settled from the Mohawk Valley in New York State. He served as a Private soldier in the American Revolutionary War with the Butler's Rangers under Lieutenant Colonel John Butler. According to David, his eldest son's land claim deposition, Michael returned to New York as soon as he was discharged because he needed to care for his elderly and ailing parents. He also found them to be in very indigent circumstances. Since his parents were unable to make the journey to Canada, he remained in the New York until his parents' deaths. While Michael was in New York the United Empire Loyalist List for Upper Canada was compiled and his name was not placed on it. He was eligible for a Crown Land Grant because of his service with the Butler's Rangers.

In 1801, Michael returned to Canada with his wife and six children, including son, John, and purchased property in Grantham Township in the District of Niagara. At this time he did not apply to have his name put on the United Empire Loyalist List. However, he was an enlisted Private soldier during the War of 1812.

In 1812, he contracted a disease while he was on service in a campaign and died December 17th of that year without making a will. This information was taken from the following two places and later from his childrens' land claim depositions:

• The Niagara Spectator printed the casualties of the War of 1812. Under "Casualties of the Lincoln Militia 1812-1814", Source-Militia Pension Agent: Grass, Michael, Pte., Regiment of Niagara, Grantham and Louth, died December 17, 1812
• Record of Services of Canadian Regiments in the War of 1812, Part IX - The Lincoln Militia, by Lieutenant Colonel B. Cruikshank, 44th Regiment, page 38: "Grass, Michael, Private 1st Lincoln, died 17th December 1812". It is believed that Michael was not in the battle [but] George (his son) was. Michael died of sickness that was "brought on by bad weather, unsuitable clothing and a few supplies of which had not arrived from Lower Canada in time to help them."

Mary, Michael Grass' wife, received a widow's pension and this is also confirmed in records:

• The Niagara Spectator, dated December 11, 1817 listed widows entitled to a pension; Mary GRASS, widow of Michael Grass, Private, 1st Lincoln, died of disease 17 December 1812, received a widow's pension from 1st January 1817 to 31st December 1817, the sum of 20 pounds
• The Ontario Register 1968 Volume 1 Page 224: List of pensioners 1812; Widow, Mary Grass of pvt Michael Grass 1st Lincoln Regiment, deceased because of illness on December 17, 1812. Under remarks it stated that she was struck off the list on January 1818.

It is quite probable that Mary Grass died on or before October 3, 1823. There are points that support this. A burial record, listing Mrs. Grass, can be found in Addison's records from the Chippewa Church in the Niagara Peninsula. The record indicated that Reverend R.W. Tunney was the Chaplain. We know that Mary was still living in 1822 because she provided a sworn oath on her children's Crown land claims documents, based on Michael's military service.

After Michael's death his eldest son David petitioned the Crown to have his father's name placed on the United Empire Loyalist List on behalf of his brothers and sisters.

The writer believes that both Michael and Mary are buried in the Homer Cemetery near the City of St. Catharines, on Lot 7, Concession 7 of Grantham Township for three reasons. It was a prominent burial ground for Butler's Rangers. It was close to where their home was located. Other Grass family members including their sons David and George are buried there. However, no markers were located for Michael or Mary. It could be that the stones have eroded away with age or were not placed there in the first place. At the time of their deaths, their children may not have had the financial resources to purchase gravestones. However, it should be noted that in 1926 a fire was set to burn off the overgrowth in the cemetery and as a result many of the gravestones were damaged.

BENJAMIN INGRAHAM
report of presentation by Earle and Faith Thomas on her UE ancestor - appeared in Cataraqui Loyalist Town Crier (March 1994), 13(2):2-5

Barbara Bradfield introduced the guest speakers, Dr. Earle Thomas and Mrs. Faith Thomas who gave a joint presentation based on the diary of Mrs. Thomas's great, great grandfather Benjamin Ingraham [read by Earle] and his daughter Hannah's reminiscences [read by Faith]. The diary in Mrs. Thomas's possession was on display at the meeting.

Benjamin served seven years in the King's American Regiment during the American Revolution and did not see his family all that time. He fought in battles from Newport, Rhode Island to Savannah, Georgia. Hannah's Reminiscences based on her childhood were written down by the wife of a minister in Fredericton where the family settled after fleeing from their home in New Concord near Albany, New York.

Earle: "When the American Revolution erupted in the Thirteen Colonies, Benjamin Ingraham was a young farmer in New Concord, New York about 20 miles southeast of Albany, near the Massachusetts State Line. During the months before the Declaration of Independence in 1776 the people of New Concord split, some of them very reluctantly, into two hostile political camps. It was impossible to remain neutral - 'either you are with us or against us'. Benjamin, his father and his three brothers came out on the side of the King but were so outnumbered that the men of that side had to skulk in the woods to avoid imprisonment. Benjamin and his brother joined the King's American Regiment in New York and his wife and two children, Hannah aged 4 and John aged 3, were left to fend for themselves among once friendly neighbours now turned hostile. They were not to see him again for seven years.

Benjamin's father was arrested and kept in chains on a filthy prison-ship on the Hudson. Benjamin's mother rode 50 miles in one day to take him some money for a few comforts. He was later released provided he serve in the militia. Many who did so did not go on active service.

While in the army, Benjamin kept a diary "in the ... convoluted handwriting and casual spelling of the day." Unfortunately only part of it survived. It was found in his son Ira's house at Queensbury, 25 miles up-river from Fredericton, the house in which Faith grew up.

Faith: This was the house Hannah lived in most of her long life. After her parents died, she moved in with Ira and his wife to help them with their large family. Many interesting stories were handed down about Hannah. When she was old, she told her reminiscences to Mrs. Tippet, wife of the local minister, who was careful to preserve Hannah's own words.

Hannah's Reminiscences begin: "My father lived in New Concord, N.Y. on a very comfortable farm. We had plenty of cattle and sheep but when the war began and he joined the regulars, the rebels came and took it all away. They took everything and forced my mother to pay rent for her own farm."

Earle: Benjamin meanwhile in New York tells of efforts to maintain a minimum of comfort that winter - going into billets, ripping up the docks for fuel, rationing, subsisting on "poor oatmeal" bread until a sloopload of corn (wheat) arrived; supply ships from Britain were late, but finally they were favoured with good eight-pound loaves and cod and 'ayl'.

Faith: Hannah continues: "Grandfather in prison suffered a paralytic stroke and never fully recovered. Father was taken prisoner, but escaped and wandered in the woods for two months before finding his battalion again. Mother didn't even hear from him for four years. Anyone 'would be hanged right up' if they were caught bringing letters. At last a neighbour received a letter from her husband with one from father inside it."

Benjamin meanwhile had made every effort to contact his family. He had his fill of the horrors of war. On one occasion he wrote: "Numbers of prisoners are brought in every day by our privateers. The prisoners die very fast." Another entry February 24, 1783 describes a dream he had about the coming peace: "I dreamed and beheld three men walking clothed in scarlet and gold. with proclamations of peace and restoration of laws of the nation to the inhabitants ... a large white fowl walking before them ... the most beautiful bird in the world ... the white bird and a black eagle fought ... the white one was killed and lamented by many. I awoke and it was a dream."

Faith: Hannah describes Father's return: "Father came home on September 13 (1783) and said we were going to N.S." She pictures for us their preparations - threshing and sacking wheat (20 bushels), candle-making, packing the butter tub, etc. Father is arrested again, but is finally cleared. Then they are off to New York by sloop.

Earle: Some cities of the time: "Hannah was excited at the thought of seeing New York but her father had seen enough of it and others: Newport, Charleston, Georgetown, Savannah. Newport, RI, was the scene of a very disturbing event. The Regiment completed its term of enlistment on December 12, 1778 and demanded the Colonel send their petition for discharge to the Commander-in-chief. Instead when the Colonel received the petition for discharge, he threatened the troops with the provost. The consequences were no more recruiting there, about a hundred deserters, and a colonel who never marched with his regiment again!

Another infamous "blot in the 'scutcheon" appeared before the evacuation of Charleston when the general, field officers, and garrison naval officers - 47 altogether - sat down to a 6-guineas-a-plate dinner at the London Coffee House. Benjamin writes a graphic description of Charleston itself: "It has five churches with steeples, a fine County House, one large market, sundry small ones, a provost, a jail, an Exchange abounding in merchandise, trades and crafts." He also gives his impressions of the place: the buildings are old, the streets mostly unpaved, the town area about two miles square. There were two rows of brick barracks built by the rebels. He also notes that the harbour was dangerous in hurricanes and from the sandbars which allowed nothing bigger than a frigate to come ashore. The crops are tropical fruits, vegetables and com. The work is done by blacks who outnumber the whites 10 to 1. He says the white men are "small, payl, and ill-favoured". The ladies, on the other hand are of 'an exceedingly polite and warm disposition', but they dress extravagantly, mainly in silks and velvets.

Earle mentioned a tour conductor there who told the bus passengers that the palmettos seen everywhere had screened the rebels from the British musketry in the Battle of Charleston. The inference was that British musketeers couldn't hit the broad side of a barn! It got a great laugh from the Americans - and from the Thomases (who were probably thinking of the outcome of the 1780 battle instead!)

Faith: Storms: In late September, the Ingrahams got their passage from New York to St. John. This left little time to prepare for winter. Still worse they experienced a very severe storm on entering the Bay of Fundy. Hannah says: Some Frenchmen came out in a canoe (pilots, I suppose).

This was the end of Benjamin's many experiences of severe storms on his coastal voyages. One of the worst was between Charleston and New York in December 1782. One of his comrades tells us: at 11 o'clock (at night) was the most shocking storm of winds, rain and hail that I ever endured at sea. It continued to rage with such violence that I thought it impossible to continue above water! Benjamin's own words are more nonchalant. He just mentioned that it drove the fleet off shore for two days. Perhaps the worst tropical storm was at Tybee Island just off Savannah in July 1782 when a fellow soldier wrote: "The lightning struck near the camp with such force as to melt (a patch of) sand." Benjamin merely says: "On July 11, we left the town and encamped on Tybee Island except for a corporal and three men who stayed to deliver up the town. Earle says: He seemed more concerned over the logistics of evacuation than the vagaries of the weather.

Faith: Hannah's Moving into the House in N.B. They had a very hard time after reaching St. John. They were in tents with winter coming on; the melting snow and the rain soaked their bedding. Mother got so serious a case of rheumatism that she was never very well after. It took nine days to go from St. John to St. Ann (Fredericton) by schooner.

Earle: Benjamin's Travels with the Troops (continued). By the summer of 1781 Benjamin, now a sergeant, was with his Regiment in South Carolina. They marched from Georgetown on the coast to Camden in the interior, ever on the look-out for "the Swamp Fox" (Francis Marion). He describes Camden with the eye of an experienced soldier. It is a small town 160 miles from Charleston, defended by a stockade and six redoubts. It lies on a small river (the Wateree) and a swamp which is 'unpassable' by horse or foot ... in the south is a plain and open fields, defended by a creek on which is a com mill, which grinds meal for the troops. A field-piece in the loft helped to beat back several enemy attempts to storm it. He says they had a couple of (comparatively!) pleasant months there before it became obvious they would have to evacuate. They did so having first destroyed the barracks, the mill and the main buildings.

Earle mentioned that on a research trip to the area, they met a curator engaged in restoring the original buildings who was having great difficulty in pinpointing their location. He offered help from Benjamin Ingraham's diary and on returning home sent copies of the relevant passages. In the eighteen years since there has been no acknowledgement. Some southern curators are very much laid back!

Considerably greater was Benjamin's ordeal in his return from Camden down the Santee and Conjaree rivers with continuous ambushes, battles, and skirmishes from which he suffered several wounds, some of them serious. As a result he was forced to stay at Charleston until able to follow the Regiment to Savannah. All he says in his diary is: "The 7th day of August I arrived at Savannah after recovering from my wounds so as to be able to walk." He does not mention the musket ball in the hip which he carried the rest of his days.

Faith: Hannah, now eleven, says: "We lived in a tent in St. Ann till father got the log house raised. He went up through the lot till he found a nice fresh spring of water; so there he built his house. We had rations and tools from the government. One morning when we awoke, there was snow on the ground and all around us, and father came wading through it and told us the house was ready and to follow him back to it. It was snowing fast and oh so cold! There was no floor, no window, no chimney, no door, but we had a roof at last and a blazing fire on the hearth. Mother had a big loaf which we toasted. This was the sweetest meal we had had for many a day. Thank God we were no longer in danger of shots fired through our house."

Earle: Benjamin's family increased by two, he acquired more land and lived out his days in Fredericton. His sons married and set up farms at Queensbury, 25 miles up-river. In his new life he stayed out of politics and the military for he had had his fill of both and hated waste and abuse of power.

Faith: There are more stories in Hannah's narrative of her early life in Fredericton. "My great-great-great aunt Hannah died at the age of 97 on February 23, 1868. Memories of her live on." In a cemetery overlooking the St. John river her headstone says: "She came to this country in 1783."

Earle: Benjamin Ingraham died in Fredericton in 1810 at the age of 62. His last will and testament made in the uncertainty of human life says: "I commend my soul to the great God whom I serve ... in the firm hope that it may be permitted to enter Heaven.

LADY JOHNSON'S ESCAPE FROM THE REBELS
by Earle Thomas UE - appeared in Cataraqui Loyalist Town Crier 26(5): 4-5 (November 2007)

A poem about the United Empire Loyalists written by William Kirby in 1894 contains the following lines:

They left their native soil, with sword belts drawn
The tighter; while the women only wept
At thoughts of old firesides no longer theirs.

Studies of the American Revolution and the experience of those who were on the losing side demonstrate clearly just how far from the truth Kirby's idea of Loyalist women actually was. Certainly they had just cause to weep, but little or no time for such luxuries as self-pity and tears.

The experience of Lady Mary Watts Johnson, wife of Sir John Johnson, provides a good example. The blow fell on 19 May 1776. A messenger arrived at the door of Johnson Hall with a letter from Sir John's friend, Daniel Campbell, of Schenectady. "I have just received word," Campbell had written, “that a detachment left Albany this morning and are now just east of this place. Their precise orders could not be learned but they march for Johnstown." There was no doubt in Sir John's mind as to what the orders were, and he realized he had very little time.

Lady Johnson wasted no time weeping about the sad turn of events or begging her husband not to leave her in the clutches of the enemy. She helped while Sir John buried the silver and the family papers in the basement, gathered up some necessaries to carry with him, and summoned the 170 friends and tenants who were to go with him. She said good bye to her husband as he left to take a little known route through the Adirondacks, not knowing if he would ever arrive at his planned destination or what on earth would ever happen to her and her two little children, Mary, less than two years old and William, less than one. And to make matters worse, she was pregnant again. What would she do? Where could she go?

She had little time to think about her future, for soon General Schuyler's officers were pounding at her door. Sir John was not at home, she told them. He and some men were on their way to Niagara, she said, hoping to give her husband a little more time. She, no doubt succeeded, for very few of the colonists knew of the existence of the route he had actually taken. And it was only a few days until Schuyler's officers were back again, this time for Lady Johnson. She was arrested and taken to Albany. At least she wasn't put in irons and, being seven months pregnant, was allowed to travel in her own carriage with her sister, Margaret, and her two little children. In Albany she was allowed to live with an elderly aunt, at whose home she gave birth on 7 October 1776 to her third child, a son whom she named John.

Lady Johnson was not at all happy with her situation and resolved to make some change. The problem had nothing to do with her aunt; it was Albany, which was not home. She was barely settled in her aunt's house when she took up her pen and wrote to the Albany Committee of Correspondence asking permission to go to New York to live. The Committee replied by referring her to the Provincial Committee at Fishkill, which granted her permission to move to Fishkill. In Fishkill she was permitted to live at the home of Cadwallader Colden, former governor of the province, a friend of both the Johnson and the Watts families. Life was good here, but Fishkill was not New York, and staying with friends was not like living with your parents in a luxurious mansion. Lady Johnson was determined to go to New York even though her petition was rejected - as the contemporary historian Thomas Jones, who never let objectivity spoil a good story, wrote - "in a manner infamous, scornful, and brutish." She realized she must make other plans.

Polly Watts Johnson was possessed of a courage and determination which the gentlemen in the Rebel Congress had not anticipated. No sooner had she received their message of refusal than she began to lay plans for her escape. One winter's day, disguised and aided by Loyalist friends and a good team of horses, she and her party made it to Paulus Hook across the river from Manhattan. Sir John was waiting for her on the other side, and the story has it that after leaping across the numerous cracks in the ice, exhausted, she handed the infant to his father, who, looking at his son for the first time, realized that the baby was dead, that the exposure to the cold and excitement had been too much for him. So much for melodrama; the baby was certainly not dead. The records show that little John Johnson died in Montreal on 14 September 1778 less than a month before his second birthday. The Johnson family spent the winter in New York, no doubt with Polly's mother and father, They arrived in Quebec on board the Nottingham on 27 May 1777 and left immediately for Montreal, which became their home.

LAWRENCE McKENZIE
Soldier and UE Loyalist, 1740-1807
by Bruce Murduck UE - appeared in Cataraqui Loyalist Town Crier 23(5): 3-5 (November 2004)

Twice in his lifetime did Lawrence McKenzie answer his King's “Call to Arms”.

Lawrence was born in Ireland around 1740, and it was in Ireland, around 1756, that he heeded his King’s “Call to Arms” for the first time. War had been declared by Britain against France on the 18th of May, 1756. The King’s older established regiments were being augmented to full strength, and young men everywhere were being enlisted upon their oaths (and with the prepayment of “his Majesty’s Bounty-money”) to serve in the King’s army.

Lawrence McKenzie enlisted for a ten-year term in Colonel Blakeney’s Inniskilling Regiment. The earliest surviving muster lists identify him as a private soldier in Captain Josiah Martin’s Company. Within a few months of his enlistment McKenzie and his comrades found themselves debarked at New York and ultimately engaged in Abercromby’s failed assault on Ticonderoga in 1758. They overwintered in the Hudson River valley and carried through northward to help take the remaining French forces in Quebec in 1760. The men may have been in Nova Scotia in 1761, and were certainly active in the West Indies at Barbadoes, Martinique, Grenada and Havannah, in early 1762. The Regiment was returned to Montreal and Trois Rivières to perform garrison duty after Havannah fell. McKenzie was one of only a handful in his company who survived the ravages of disease in the West Indies. British soldiers fell there by the score, and McKenzie may have contracted malaria there - it's a fact that he spent two pay periods in hospital at Trois Rivières, before being furloughed and then discharged at Quebec on the 25th of January, 1767.

We have to wonder where and how he picked up the skills but - still in America, Lawrence McKenzie next found employment as a stonemason at Skenesborough. Col. Philip Skene had gained fame and renown with his commanding breach of the Havannah seige in 1762. Previously he'd served as a Captain in Blakeney's Inniskilling Regiment. Skenesborough was a large block of land, located at the bottom of South Bay, Lake Champlain, that was granted to Skene. It was here that he erected an estate home, office, farms, buildings and mills. Skene published offers to settlers in the New York Gazette as early as 1765, and Lawrence McKenzie's name appears in some of Skene's old records, one of which shows that he was in Skene's employ as a stonemason for three years, between 1766 and 1769, at the rate of £50 per annum.

By 1770 McKenzie's status had changed - he was now living on 100 acres of land, and improving it, with right of a life lease from Skene. This is probably about the time that McKenzie married. He's believed to have had at least five children during his years at Skenesborough, the oldest born some time around 1769 or 1770. Lawrence, with his wife and children behind him, would have seen military force re-enter his life again in about 1775. First small rebel and then British forces seesawed back and forth for control of the Lake Champlain corridor, as the colonial rebellion spread from New England. The couple must have witnessed the total ransacking and destruction of Skene's estate and offices which occurred after Skene was arrested in Philadelphia. Immediately upon his debarking a ship from England Skene was found to be bearing honours conferred on him by the King. The rebels trundled him off to prison in Hartford and ransacked his estate. Skene was soon exchanged, however, and McKenzie and his family must have been pleased to see Skene and British sensibilities return to Skenesborough with the swelling arrival of General John Burgoyne's large army in 1777. It was at this time that Lawrence McKenzie answered his King's “Call to Arms” for the second time.

Burgoyne's army passed through Skenesborough, on their drive south, and McKenzie swore to uphold his King and Burgoyne through Philip Skene. McKenzie served his duty by gathering intelligence, and was paid for his services during this period from Skene's personal accounts.

Despair must have been deep in McKenzie's heart when Burgoyne's expedition foundered and capitulated later in 1777. Shortly after the capitulation, in November, Lawrence must have been forced to whisk his wife and children from their home, bearing only what they could carry, because their arrival at Montreal as refugees was duly noted.

McKenzie was officially employed as a labourer at Montreal through 1779, but he was also active, in the 1777-1779 period, gathering intelligence under the guidance of Dr. Samuel Adams, of Vermont. With the reorganization of the King's provincial forces in the Northern Department in 1780, McKenzie mustered in Captain Azariah Pritchard's company of the King's Rangers. During the period of McKenzie's King's Rangers service his wife and children were barracked at Machiche, and at least one child was born there and baptized in the garrison church at Trois Rivières.

Governor Frederick Haldimand announced staging grounds and procedures for the settlement of Loyalist refugees in the spring of 1784. McKenzie moved his wife and children to Quebec, where they awaited transport to the new settlement at New Carlisle, on the Bay of Chaleurs. The family embarked the brig 'St. Peter' and they sailed toward their new home on the 9th of June. Storms kept them aboard, sometimes backtracking to Bic and Perce, until the 28th of June, and a drawing for Lots of land, laid out according to surveys completed by William Vondenvelden, took place at New Carlisle on the 3rd of August 1784 (exactly 220 years ago as I'm writing this!).

McKenzie swore another oath to serve his Majesty's interests and, having besides himself a wife, two sons, aged 7 and 11, and three daughters, aged 9, 12 and 15, he drew his entitlement of 400 acres at New Carlisle.

McKenzie's life after 1784 is shrouded in as much mystery as is his life before 1756. The names of his two sons are not currently known, although there are a few candidates for the honour. The child born in Machiche seems not to have survived. The oldest daughter, Margaret, herself bore several children and probably died around New Carlisle some time after 1830 - as the 'Widow Rafter' (she apparently cohabited with Samuel William Allen from about 1811, and bore one son by him in 1814). The middle daughter, Eleanor, married another soldier/loyalist named William Thompson, and by about 1800 they and their relations had moved to the Eel River Settlement on the New Brunswick side of the Chaleur Bay. The youngest surviving daughter, Bridgit, married Joseph Mash or Marsh, and seems to have moved with her husband back to his native England.

Lawrence McKenzie died in the spring of 1807, and was buried - after converting to the Roman Catholic faith, near the St. Bonaventure parish church in Quebec's Gaspe District. He was described at the time of his burial, on the 30th of March, 1807, as a fisherman, aged 67 years.

MY U.E.L. ANCESTOR. HENRY MERKLEY (1754-1836)
by Audrey Merkley Bailey, UE
Audrey's first story of "The Merkle Family" appeared in Cataraqui Loyalist Town Crier (April, 1983), 2(2):4-5.
Her continuing research has enabled her to offer a much more detailed history [below] which was published in Vol. 24(2): 4-7 (March 2005)

Background - From the German Palatinate to America:
In 1752, three Merckle brothers, Hans Michael, Christopher Friedrich and Joseph Friedrich, left their family in Wurttemberg, Germany, to emigrate to America. Two of them, Christopher Friedrich and Hans Michael, are listed among the first four settlers of the town of New Durlach, New York( c. 1760). The story of the family of Joseph Friedrich, the youngest brother, seems to typify the divided loyalties existing within many families at the time of the Revolutionary War. It seems that of his five sons, three served on the side of the rebels and two remained loyal to the Crown. In 1780, his only daughter, Catharine, 17 years of age and engaged to be married, was killed in an Indian raid along with a friend and her Uncle (Hans) Michael. the oldest of the three brothers who had come to America in 1752. After his farm buildings were burned, Joseph Friedrich and his family stayed with friends but at the end of hostilities they returned to the Mohawk Valley and today the farm remains in the possession of a direct descendant.

As for Christopher Friedrich, the other brother and father of my U.E.L. ancestor, burial records of St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Schoharie, indicate that he died in Durlach, September 14, 1772, after "he was struch (sic) down by a tree".

The Loyalist Sons of Christopher Friedrich Merckle:
As in the 1750s three Merckle brothers left Germany to establish a new home in America, so twenty years later, did the three sons of the middle brother, Christopher Friedrich Merckle, leave this new homeland out of loyalty to the British Crown. Their names were Jacob, the eldest, Michael, the youngest, and my ancestor, Henry, born 24 March, 1756. Sixteen years of age at the time of his father's death, he and his brothers remained with their mother who had been left in charge of the farm after Christopher Friedrich's death. However, after they left to fight on the side of the British, she was "driven from the land", according to her son's claim for land in 1788.

Henry's name is mentioned several times in the State of New York Minutes of Commissioners for Conspiracies. For example, in 1777: "Henrick Merkle appeared before the Board according to our order to enter into a new Recognizance - Resolved that he enter into the same for his good behaviour during his duty and appearing before any three of the Commissioners for Conspiracies when thereunto required during the continuance of the present war with Great Britain." It states that "he is a farmer of Tryon County, New York and that his bail was set at 100 pounds." His name also appears several times in the Minutes of the Tryon County Committee of Safety. On 20 May, 1777, he was ordered "to pay a fine of five pounds within eight days time...for the public use, and his oath of allegiance shall be accepted". The fine is recorded as paid, but the allegiance must be suspect as shortly thereafter, 15 August 1777, Henry joined the King's Royal Regiment of New York at Fort Stanwix.

Another reference to Henry is found in The Loyalist Settlement (F.A. Cruikshank) in the form of a letter from Sir John Johnson to Major Mathew dated 1 March 1784. The last paragraph reads: "Mr. Henry Merkle, formerly a Neighbour of mine, has lately arrived from Schenectady, to which place he has been Banished from his Home, a great part of the War on Account of his Loyalty and Attachment to the Kings Government, and Suffered Imprisonment and great loss of Effects." The letter goes on to state that Henry Merkle has asked for him to "Solicit the General for permission to take down with him three or four Slay loads of Mr. Ellice's goods from St. Johns for which he is to partake of the Advantages, and to be Well paid." Sir John continues that he knew Henry to be, "a Man of a very fair and honest Character" who had been "reduced from easy Circumstances to Indigence".

At the close of hostilities, Henry's name appears on the Muster Roll, KRRNY, 1st Battalion dated Montreal, 31 December, 1783. On June 20, 1784, he was among those Loyalists who landed on the banks of the St. Lawrence River at New Johnstown (Cornwall). He and his brothers Jacob and Michael were granted lots along the river in what is now the village of Morrisburg (Williamsburg Township, Concession 1, Lots 30 and 32).

The name "Henry Marcle" appears again on the Loyalist Victualling List of July 1-31, 1786 with two dependants, a "wife" and a "male under 10 years of age". These dates seem to fit for, although a record of Henry's marriage to Elizabeth Laux (Loucks) has never been located, it is thought to have taken place about 1785 as their first child, George, was born in 1786.

In 1788, Henry witnessed the land claim of his older brother Jacob (#325): "Henry Markly, Brother to Claimant, says he is well-satisfied that his Brother should receive the amount of their claim. Witness came to Canada in 1777 and served. He was wounded and kept three years in prison." Younger brother Michael, also a witness for this claim: "says he himself was a soldier in Sir John Johnson's Regt. And is entitled to a share of the Property claimed, but he is satisfied that his Brother Jacob should receive the whole."

This claim adds that, "Their Mother will be well satisfied that her son, Jacob, do receive the whole. " This is the only indication I have found that Christopher Friedrich's wife, Maria Catharine (maiden name possibly Hoellrigel), came to live in Williamsburg Township with her sons after being "forced from the land" near Durlach. Henry was also a witness for the claim (#1074) of his cousin, another Henry Merkley, son of the Michael who was killed by Indiansl in 1780; and in 1788, for that of George Loucks (Laux), formerly of Tryon County, whom I believe (but have not proven) is the father of his wife, Elizabeth. In 1797, Henry made a further claim of his own and was "recommended for 200 acres, if not granted before."

Henry Merkley is mentioned in several early histories of Dundas County such as Pringle's Lunenburgh or the Old Eastern District and James Croll's Story of Dundas County (1861). The following story is related in both and although one may be a little skeptical about the details of such stories, I believe there is sufficient proof to verify the essentials of this one.

"One day when Henry, still a young unmarried man, was harvesting in his father's field, a rebel-supporter named Young and his son, John, attacked Henry and shot him in the side. When the attacker attempted to finish the job with the butt of his gun, the father prevented it but Henry was put in the Schoharie jail."

Henry is listed as a lieutenant in the Dundas Militia in 1803. He served as a field officer during the war of 1812 and fought at the battle of Crysler's Farm, attaining the rank of Major. The following story is told in J. Smythe Carter's book, The Story of Dundas (1906): "Major Merkley, of the Dundas militia, while being hotly pursued by a party of Americans had the misfortune to be thrown from his horse. He soon took leg bail and reached the house of a Mrs. Roberts, who proved his salvation by concealing him in the cellar, while the soldiers passed the place in vain pursuit. The Major's horse was afterwards found grazing in the woods nearby."

Henry represented the County of Dundas in the Fourth Parliament of Upper Canada (1804-08). J. Smythe Carter describes him as:

"A German of the Lutheran creed, and a blunt, honest farmer: possessed of limited education and speaking broken English. His homespun suit of Canadian gray, and his ofttimes ludicrous pronunciation of the English language, added to the energetic and, at times, vehement style of his delivery, frequently elicited bursts of mingled laughter and applause from the House. He was one, however, neither to be laughed down, nor easily intimidated. He knew nothing of the art of "chiseling", but in his own honest and independent way, he spoke just as he thought. His sentiments were always plainly expressed, and to the point. Respected by all parties as a man of sterling integrity, he was also of jovial as well as humorous disposition, and was a frequent guest at the Governor's table."

This description warms my heart for it could as well be applied to Henry's gt-gt-grandson, my father, who remained a superb story teller and keenly interested in politics until his death in 1987 at age 90.

Records indicate that Henry was loyal to his faith as well. In the early 1800s, pressure was brought to bear on the St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran congregation at Riverside (just east of Morrisburg) to join the "official" Episcopalian Church. The Lutheran minister at the time, Rev. J.G. Weagant, had even been reordained by Bishop Mountain in 1811, although he continued to preach at St. Paul's. However, when the congregation became uneasy with this arrangement, he refused to give up the parsonage and the Lutherans, over time, lost the use of their own church. The property was disputed for several years until an act of parliament (c.1825) divided the land between the Episcopalians and the Lutherans, with the latter receiving only the unimproved land at the back of the lot. Records indicate that about 1830, a Widow Frymire donated three acres of land not far from the old church so that the Lutherans could rebuild and that on July 14th, 1833, the Rev. Hayunga consecrated the new St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church. Throughout the many years of this dispute, records show that Henry Merkley remained staunchly Lutheran. In records, he is listed as the "master builder" of the new church and a generous contributor. In minutes of a meeting which he chaired on 25th Jan. 1833, his contribution of "12 pounds, 10 shillings, paid in full" is noted. One can only speculate what family tensions existed over this matter of affiliation when, in 1824, Henry's son, Christopher, married Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev. J.G. Weagant.

Understandably, land must be valued highly by those who have had it confiscated. When Henry died in 1836, in addition to providing for his "dear wife Elizabeth", he willed parcels of land (or noted that such had already been given during his lifetime) to each of his eleven children, including several daughters. Later, as they came of age, each one also claimed land as "sons and daughters" of a Loyalist. Henry willed to his "fourth son, Henry" 200 acres of land in the second concession of Matilda Township. This Henry (my gt-gt-grandfather) later moved one concession north and about 1850, his son, Simon Henry, cleared land there to build the house in which the next three generations of Merkleys were born, myself included.

At the time of the flooding for the St. Lawrence Seaway, many gravestones of the Loyalists, including that of Henry Merkley, were embedded in the wall of the Loyalist Memorial Cemetery at Upper Canada Village. According to the inscription, at the time of his death Henry held the rank of Colonel. For me, this remains a mystery and I hope research will reveal details regarding this change in rank.

I would be most grateful for any further information, or corrections, readers might offer pertaining to what I have written.

Notes: 1. Information about the Merkley family in Germany and details of their emigration to America come from Mrs. Ejvor Merkley's well-researched book, The American Sons of Hans Michael Merckle (published privately, 2001)
2. There are at least 15 variations in the spelling of the Merkley surname and no doubt this has led to some inaccuracies in the recorded genealogy of this family. The most common are Mercklen, Merckle, Merklen, Marckley, Merckley, Markley or Merkley.

PATRICK AND GEORGE SMYTH
appeared in Cataraqui Loyalist Town Crier (June, 1986), 5(3):1-2

Our president, Major Wentworth Smith, gave a most interesting account of the history of two members of his Loyalist family ancestors, Patrick Smyth and Dr. George Smyth. Patrick Smyth, a lawyer, migrated to America in 1757 settling at Albany where he was assistant judge of the court of common pleas. In 1772 he built a fine house in Fort Edward, New York which he operated as a tavern and in 1774 he was made postmaster at Fort Edward for which service he maintained “a servant and two horses”. In 1775 he was joined at Fort Edward by his brother Dr. George Smyth, a surgeon (who had migrated with his wife and two sons Terence and Thomas in 1770). George was appointed member for Fort Edward for the Provincial Congress in the same year (1775).

Fort Edward was, at that time, the northern outpost for the province of New York. Early in 1777 Major General John Burgoyne took charge of British and Loyalist forces which intended to open communications between Canada and New York thus isolating that hotbed of revolt, New England. It was at this time that the Smyth brothers became active in providing information to the British forces. In 1777 Dr. George Smyth wrote a report entitled “a true description of the situation of Ticonderoga (Fort Ticonderoga) with an exact account of its fortifications and the number of forces therein.” His code name was Hudibras. When Burgoyne's army began to move southward towards Lake Champlain in June of 1777 George and Patrick Smyth, long suspected of loyalism, were arrested and taken to Albany's jail. Released shortly thereafter they were rearrested and imprisoned for 18 months. Released on parole in January of 1779 Patrick Smyth made several clandestine trips to New York City with dispatches for Sir Henry Clinton while George was employed in the rebel's military hospital keeping an ear to the ground. George shortly had an information network set up for the British and passed messages between Canada and New York. His sons, Terry and Thomas, acted as couriers and on several occasions while her husband was under arrest his wife operated the network.

By 1781, again under arrest, George Smyth was rescued by a British scout, Matthew Howard possibly by spiriting him out of jail at night. They travelled to Lake Champlain, thence to Fort St. Johns and finally Quebec City. His wife and family were later able to join him in Canada (leaving their extensive property and possessions all behind them). One son settled at Smiths Falls as a miller and the settlement was named after him.

Patrick Smyth and his wife Rosamund McDavitt came to Canada with their family after the evacuation of New York by the British forces in 1783. He enjoyed the Military allowance of a Captain till his death and he received in 1787 a grant of 700 acres for himself and 400 acres for his family on the Ottawa River. He died some time before 1810 at Sorel. Patrick Smyth is the U.E.L. ancestor of [the late] Wentworth Smith.

STEEVES FAMILY
appeared in Cataraqui Loyalist Town Crier 25(2): 3 (March 2006) - by Marguerite Colpitts

The original Steeves family came from the Principality of Moravia in 1759, the year of the battle on the Plains of Abraham in Quebec. At that time their name was the Germanic Stief. Like many others from areas of Germany they migrated to Pennsylvania; indeed those German immigrants are the original Pennsylvania Dutch. Dutch being the version of 'Deutsch' i.e. German.

At this time there was a very close connection between England and Germany. Queen Anne died in 1714 leaving no children and the English lords were determined not to have a Roman Catholic Stuart on the throne so they offered the crown to George of Hanover great-grandson of James I and a Protestant. George I never learned to speak English which helped to further establish the power of Parliament.

In the Pennsylvania census of 1771 the Stiefs had become Steeves. Presumably concerned by the rumblings which were to lead to 1776 they left Pennsylvania in an open sailing sloop! After a long and difficult voyage they sailed into the Bay of Fundy and landed in the Hillsborough area, Albert County, where they decided to stay. This is the area which in 1784 petitioned King George III to allow it to be called New Brunswick though it was part of Nova Scotia, because the inhabitants were mainly German and did not want to be ruled by Scots.

The Steeves were practical and hard working. They had brought with them in the sloop planting seeds as well as household possessions. They farmed, mined gypsum from the local quarry and built masts for sailing ships. In addition to useful articles they brought 12 beautiful ones - pressed glass plates, 10 inches octagonal, with the classic beehive and thistle pattern. Each plate weighs over one pound. This [shown at meeting] is the only one remaining.

The Steeves family probably told friends left in Pennsylvania that they had found a good place to live because in 1783 many Loyalists began to come up the St. John River, settling into the area around what is now the capital, Fredericton.

The Steeves were very proud ofthe fact that they even pre-dated the Loyalists. My husband Rolfe Colpitts has deep Maritime roots. His Colpitts ancestors are Robert and Margaret Colpitts of the Colpitts settlement in the Salsbury area in Albert County, New Brunswick. Robert was an army officer, an engineer. He and Margaret now have many, many descendants in North America who all came to the 200th anniversary in New Brunswick in 1983.

I, Marguerite Babcock Good Colpitts, am descended from Benjamin Babcock, United Empire Loyalist who came to Canada from Pennsylvania bringing possessions on an oxcart. (The yoke is still in good shape in Verona). My mother Sarah Babcock, his direct descendant, was born on the family farm in Oak Flats near Verona. When she married my father, Frank Good, they moved to the farm in Parham where I was born. My mother lived to be 102 years old!

In the circle of life's coincidences our niece Sara Victoria Good Avila went to Pennsylvania to take her PhD in biology at Penn State University. In checking records there she discovered that an earlier Sarah Good had been burned as a witch! Sara is now a Maritimer like Rolfe and is on the faculty of biology at Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia.

This summer Rolfe and I intend to go to the Albert County Museum near Hillsborough, New Brunswick to return the Steeves plate to its original home in Canada.