THE LOYALIST IN HIS NEW HOME
The social history of the United Empire Loyalists was
not greatly different from that of other pioneer settlers
in the Canadian forest. Their homes were such as could
have been seen until recently in many of the outlying
parts of the country. In Nova Scotia and New Brunswick
some of the better class of settlers were able to put
up large and comfortable wooden houses, some of which
are still standing. But even there most of them had to
be content with primitive quarters. Edward Winslow was
not a poor man, as poverty was reckoned in those days.
Yet he lived in rather meagre style. He described his
house at Granville, opposite Annapolis, as being 'almost
as large as my log house, divided into two rooms, where
we are snug as pokers.' Two years later, after he had
made additions to it, he proposed advertising it for sale
in the following terms: 'That elegant House now occupied
by the Honourable E. W., one of His Majesty's Council
for the Province of New Brunswick, consisting of four
beautiful Rooms on the first Floor, highly finished. Also
two spacious lodging chambers in the second story--a
capacious dry cellar with arches &c. &c. &c.' In Upper
Canada, owing to the difficulty of obtaining building
materials, the houses of the half-pay officers were even
less pretentious. A traveller passing through the country
about Johnstown in 1792 described Sir John Johnson's
house as 'a small country lodge, neat, but as the grounds
are only beginning to be cleared, there was nothing of
interest.'
The home of the average Loyalist was a log-cabin. Sometimes
the cabin contained one room, sometimes two. Its dimensions
were as a rule no more than fourteen feet by eighteen
feet, and sometimes ten by fifteen. The roofs were
constructed of bark or small hollowed basswood logs,
overlapping one another like tiles. The windows were as
often as not covered not with glass, but with oiled paper.
The chimneys were built of sticks and clay, or rough
unmortared stones, since bricks were not procurable;
sometimes there was no chimney, and the smoke was allowed
to find its way out through a hole in the bark roof.
Where it was impossible to obtain lumber, the doors were
made of pieces of timber split into rough boards; and in
some cases the hinges and latches were made of wood.
These old log cabins, with the chinks between the logs
filled in with clay and moss, were still to be seen
standing in many parts of the country as late as fifty
years ago. Though primitive, they seem to have been not
uncomfortable; and many of the old settlers clung to them
long after they could have afforded to build better. This
was doubtless partly due to the fact that log-houses were
exempt from the taxation laid on frame, brick, and stone
structures.
A few of the Loyalists succeeded in bringing with them
to Canada some sticks of furniture or some family heirlooms.
Here and there a family would possess an ancient spindle,
a pair of curiously-wrought fire-dogs, or a quaint pair
of hand-bellows. But these relics of a former life merely
served to accentuate the rudeness of the greater part of
the furniture of the settlers. Chairs, benches, tables,
beds, chests, were fashioned by hand from the rough wood.
The descendant of one family has described how the family
dinner-table was a large stump, hewn flat on top, standing
in the middle of the floor. The cooking was done at the
open fireplace; it was not until well on in the nineteenth
century that stoves came into common use in Canada.
The clothing of the settlers was of the most varied
description. Here and there was one who had brought with
him the tight knee-breeches and silver-buckled shoes of
polite society. But many had arrived with only what was
on their backs; and these soon found their garments, no
matter how carefully darned and patched, succumb to the
effects of time and labour. It was not long before the
settlers learnt from the Indians the art of making clothing
out of deer-skin. Trousers made of this material were
found both comfortable and durable. 'A gentleman who
recently died in Sophiasburg at an advanced age, remembered
to have worn a pair for twelve years, being repaired
occasionally, and at the end they were sold for two
dollars and a half.' Petticoats for women were also made
of deer-skin. 'My grandmother,' says one descendant,
'made all sorts of useful dresses with these skins, which
were most comfortable for a country life, and for going
through the bush [since they] could not be torn by the
branches.' There were of course, some articles of clothing
which could not readily be made of leather; and very
early the settlers commenced growing flax and raising
sheep for their wool. Home-made linen and clothing of
linsey-woolsey were used in the settlements by high and
low alike. It was not until the close of the eighteenth
century that articles of apparel, other than those made
at home of flax and wool, were easily obtainable. A calico
dress was a great luxury. Few daughters expected to have
one until it was bought for their wedding-dress. Great
efforts were always made to array the bride in fitting
costume; and sometimes a dress, worn by the mother in
other days, amid other scenes, was brought forth, yellow
and discoloured with the lapse of time.
There was little money in the settlements. What little
there was came in pay to the soldiers or the half-pay
officers. Among the greater part of the population,
business was carried on by barter. In Upper Canada the
lack of specie was partly overcome by the use of a kind
of paper money. 'This money consists of small squares of
card or paper, on which are printed promissory notes for
various sums. These notes are made payable once a year,
generally about the latter end of September at Montreal.
The name of the merchant or firm is subscribed.' This
was merely an extension of the system of credit still in
use with country merchants, but it provided the settlers
with a very convenient substitute for cash. The merchants
did not suffer, as frequently this paper money was lost,
and never presented; and cases were known of its use by
Indians as wadding for their flint-locks.
Social instincts among the settlers were strongly marked.
Whenever a family was erecting a house or barn, the
neighbours as a rule lent a helping hand. While the men
were raising barn-timbers and roof-trees, the women
gathered about the quilting-frames or the spinning-wheels.
After the work was done, it was usual to have a festival.
The young men wrestled and showed their prowess at trials
of strength; the rest looked on and applauded. In the
evening there was a dance, at which the local musician
scraped out tuneless tunes on an ancient fiddle; and
there was of course hearty eating and, it is to be feared,
heavy drinking.
Schools and churches were few and far between. A number
of Loyalist clergy settled both in Nova Scotia and in
Upper Canada, and these held services and taught school
in the chief centres of population. The Rev. John Stuart
was, for instance, appointed chaplain in 1784 at Cataraqui;
and in 1786 he opened an academy there, for which he
received government aid. In time other schools sprang
up, taught by retired soldiers or farmers who were
incapacitated for other work. The tuition given in these
schools was of the most elementary sort. La Rochefoucauld,
writing of Cataraqui in 1795, says: 'In this district
are some schools, but they are few in number. The children
are instructed in reading and writing, and pay each a
dollar a month. One of the masters, superior to the rest
in point of knowledge, taught Latin; but he has left the
school, without being succeeded by another instructor of
the same learning.' 'At seven years of age,' writes the
son of a Loyalist family, 'I was one of those who patronized
Mrs Cranahan, who opened a Sylvan Seminary for the young
idea in Adolphustown; from thence, I went to Jonathan
Clark's, and then tried Thomas Morden, lastly William
Faulkiner, a relative of the Hagermans. You may suppose
that these graduations to Parnassus was [sic] carried
into effect, because a large amount of knowledge could
be obtained. Not so; for Dilworth's Spelling Book, and
the New Testament, were the only books possessed by these
academies.'
The lack of a clergy was even more marked. When Bishop
Mountain visited Upper Canada in 1794, he found only one
Lutheran chapel and two Presbyterian churches between
Montreal and Kingston. At Kingston he found 'a small but
decent church,' and about the Bay of Quinte there were
three or four log huts which were used by the Church of
England missionary in the neighbourhood. At Niagara there
was a clergyman, but no church; the services were held
in the Freemasons' Hall. This lack of a regularly-ordained
clergy was partly remedied by a number of itinerant
Methodist preachers or 'exhorters.' These men were
described by Bishop Mountain as 'a set of ignorant
enthusiasts, whose preaching is calculated only to perplex
the understanding, to corrupt the morals, to relax the
nerves of industry, and dissolve the bands of society.'
But they gained a very strong hold on the Loyalist
population; and for a long time they were familiar figures
upon the country roads.
For many years communications both in New Brunswick and
in Upper Canada were mainly by water. The roads between
the settlements were little more than forest paths. When
Colonel Simcoe went to Upper Canada he planned to build
a road running across the province from Montreal to the
river Thames, to be called Dundas Street. He was recalled,
however, before the road was completed; and the project
was allowed to fall through. In 1793 an act was passed
by the legislature of Upper Canada 'to regulate the laying
out, amending, and keeping in repair, the public highways
and roads.' This threw on the individual settler the
obligation of keeping the road across his lot in good
repair; but the large amount of crown lands and clergy
reserves and land held by speculators throughout the
province made this act of little avail. It was not until
1798 that a road was run from the Bay of Quinte to the
head of Lake Ontario, by an American surveyor named Asa
Danforth. But even this government road was at times
impassable; and there is evidence that some travellers
preferred to follow the shore of the lake.
It will be seen from these notes on social history that
the Loyalists had no primrose path. But after the first
grumblings and discontents, poured into the ears of
Governor Haldimand and Governor Parr, they seem to have
settled down contentedly to their lot; and their life
appears to have been on the whole happy. Especially in
the winter, when they had some leisure, they seem to have
known how to enjoy themselves.
In the winter season, nothing is more ardently wished
for, by young persons of both sexes, in Upper Canada,
than the setting in of frost, accompanied by a fall
of snow. Then it is, that pleasure commences her reign.
The sleighs are drawn out. Visits are paid, and
returned, in all directions. Neither cold, distance,
or badness of roads prove any impediment. The sleighs
glide over all obstacles. It would excite surprise in
a stranger to view the open before the Governor's
House on a levee morning, filled with these carriages.
A sleigh would not probably make any great figure in
Bond street, whose silken sons and daughters would
probably mistake it for a turnip cart, but in the
Canadas, it is the means of pleasure, and glowing
healthful exercise. An overturn is nothing. It
contributes subject matter for conversation at the
next house that is visited, when a pleasant raillery
often arises on the derangement of dress, which the
ladies have sustained, and the more than usual display
of graces, which the tumble has occasioned.
This picture, drawn in 1793 by a nameless traveller, is
an evidence of the courage and buoyancy of heart with
which the United Empire Loyalists faced the toils and
privations of life in their new home.
Not drooping like poor fugitives they came
In exodus to our Canadian wilds,
But full of heart and hope, with heads erect
And fearless eyes victorious in defeat.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
It is astonishing how little documentary evidence the
Loyalists left behind them with regard to their migration.
Among those who fled to England there were a few who kept
diaries and journals, or wrote memoirs, which have found
their way into print; and some contemporary records have
been published with regard to the settlements of Nova
Scotia and New Brunswick. But of the Loyalists who settled
in Upper and Lower Canada there is hardly one who left
behind him a written account of his experiences. The
reason for this is that many of them were illiterate,
and those who were literate were so occupied with carving
a home for themselves out of the wilderness that they
had neither time nor inclination for literary labours.
Were it not for the state papers preserved in England,
and for a collection of papers made by Sir Frederick
Haldimand, the Swiss soldier of fortune who was governor
of Quebec at the time of the migration, and who had a
passion for filing documents away, our knowledge of the
settlements in the Canadas would be of the most sketchy
character.
It would serve no good purpose to attempt here an exhaustive
account of the printed sources relating to the United
Empire Loyalists. All that can be done is to indicate
some of the more important. The only general history of
the Loyalists is Egerton Ryerson, _The Loyalists of
America and Their Times_ (2 vols., 1880); it is diffuse
and antiquated, and is written in a spirit of
undiscriminating admiration of the Loyalists, but it
contains much good material. Lorenzo Sabine, _Biographical
Sketches of Loyalists of the American Revolution_ (2
vols., 1864), is an old book, but it is a storehouse of
information about individual Loyalists, and it contains
a suggestive introductory essay. Some admirable work on
the Loyalists has been done by recent American historians.
Claude H. Van Tyne, _The Loyalists in the American
Revolution_ (1902), is a readable and scholarly study,
based on extensive researches into documentary and
newspaper sources. The Loyalist point of view will be
found admirably set forth in M. C. Tyler, _The Literary
History of the American Revolution_ (2 vols., 1897), and
_The Party of the Loyalists in the American Revolution_
(American Historical Review, I, 24). Of special studies
in a limited field the most valuable and important is A.
C. Flick, _Loyalism in New York_ (1901); it is the result
of exhaustive researches, and contains an excellent
bibliography of printed and manuscript sources. Other
studies in a limited field are James H. Stark, _The
Loyalists of Massachusetts and the Other Side of the
American Revolution_ (1910), and G. A. Gilbert, _The
Connecticut Loyalists_ (American Historical Review, IV,
273).
For the settlements of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick,
the most important source is _The Winslow Papers_ (edited
by W. O. Raymond, 1901), an admirably annotated collection
of private letters written by and to Colonel Edward
Winslow. Some of the official correspondence relating to
the migration is calendared in the Historical Manuscript
Commission's _Report on American Manuscripts in the Royal
Institution of Great Britain_ (1909), Much material will
be found in the provincial histories of Nova Scotia and
New Brunswick, such as Beamish Murdoch, _A History of
Nova Scotia or Acadie_ (3 vols., 1867), and James Hannay,
_History of New Brunswick_ (2 vols., 1909), and also in
the local and county histories. The story of the Loyalists
of Prince Edward Island is contained in W. H. Siebert
and Florence E. Gilliam, _The Loyalists in Prince Edward
Island_ (Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal Society
of Canada, 3rd series, IV, ii, 109). An account of the
Shelburne colony will be found in T. Watson Smith, _The
Loyalists at Shelburne_ (Collections of the Nova Scotia
Historical Society, VI, 53).
For the settlements in Upper and Lower Canada, the most
important source is the Haldimand Papers, which are fully
calendared in the Reports of the Canadian Archives from
1884 to 1889. J. McIlwraith, _Sir Frederick Haldimand_
(1904), contains a chapter on 'The Loyalists' which is
based upon these papers. The most important secondary
source is William Canniff, _History of the Settlement of
Upper Canada_ (1869), a book the value of which is
seriously diminished by lack of reference to authorities,
and by a slipshod style, but which contains a vast amount
of material preserved nowhere else. Among local histories
reference may be made to C. M. Day, _Pioneers of the
Eastern Townships_ (1863), James Croil, _Dundas_ (1861),
and J. F. Pringle, _Lunenburgh or the Old Eastern District_
(1891). An interesting essay in local history is L. H.
Tasker, _The United Empire Loyalist Settlement at Long
Point, Lake Erie_ (Ontario Historical Society, Papers
and Records, II). For the later immigration reference
should be made to D. C. Scott, _John Graves Simcoe_
(1905), and Ernest Cruikshank, _Immigration from the
United States into Upper Canada, 1784-1812_ (Proceedings
of the Thirty-ninth Convention of the Ontario Educational
Association, 263).
An authoritative account of the proceedings of the
commissioners appointed to inquire into the losses of
the Loyalists is to be found in J. E. Wilmot, _Historical
View of the Commission for Inquiry into the Losses,
Services, and Claims of the American Loyalists_ (1815).
For the social history of the Loyalist settlements a
useful book is A 'Canuck' (M. G. Scherk), _Pen Pictures
of Early Pioneer Life in Upper Canada_ (1905). Many
interesting notes on social history will be found also
in accounts of travels such as the Duc de la
Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, _Travels through the United
States of North America, the Country of the Iroquois,
and Upper Canada_ (1799), _The Diary of Mrs John Graves
Simcoe_ (edited by J. Ross Robertson, 1911), and _Canadian
Letters: Description of a Tour thro' the Provinces of
Lower and Upper Canada in the Course of the Years 1792
and '93_ (The Canadian Antiquarian and Numismatic Journal,
IX, 3 and 4).
An excellent index to unprinted materials relating to
the Loyalists is Wilfred Campbell, _Report on Manuscript
Lists Relating to the United Empire Loyalists, with
Reference to Other Sources_ (1909).
See also in this Series: _The Father of British Canada_;
_The War Chief of the Six Nations_.
END
End of Project Gutenberg's The United Empire Loyalists, by W. Stewart Wallace