Colonel Joseph Ryerson

Source

Excerpt from The Loyalists Of America:

" During the late war with the United States, in 1812, Colonel [Joseph] Ryerson and his three eldest sons took an active part in the defence of the country. He was for many years a magistrate and Chairman of the Quarter Sessions; but he would never accept of any fees as a magistrate."

Butler's Rangers Continued A Friendship

Source - Page 118

Butler's Rangers from the Real Peoples History site:


These warriors, both Haudenosaunee and Butler’s Rangers, continued a friendship that lasted throughout the War of 1812. Though not officially Butlers Rangers during that period the ex-rangers of the American Revolution still maintained their friendship and alliances with their Haudenosaunee allies. The ancestral friendship is maintained today with the recreation of the Butler’s Rangers re-enactors known as McDonell’s Company. The United Empire Loyalists have always remained close friends with the Haudenosaunee to this very day.

Colonel Titus Geer Simons

Source

Source

Violations Of The Treaty Of Paris

Fort At Michilimackinac

"By the Treaty of Paris, in 1783, Great Britain recognized the independence of her American colonies. But she gave them up reluctantly, and soon proved that she would yield no more than she was compelled to. In violation of the terms of the treaty she kept garrisons for a dozen years at several western outposts--notably Niagara, Detroit, and Michilimackinac--and incited the Indians to harass the settlers who were crossing the Alleghenies. (The Americans were far from blameless. We had refused to pay debts owed to British merchants or to compensate Loyalists for the loss of their property. We had agreed to do both.)." [Source?]

A British Slave, A British Soldier

Source

Source (Page 107)

Ryerson And The Loyalists

The loyalists of America and their times: from 1620 to 1816, Volume 2, Egerton Ryerson (Volume 1):

My 3rd great-granduncle, Isaac B. Howard, was Egerton Ryerson's assistant and was an in-law of Ryerson's in-law.

Dr. John Beatty was the brother-in-law of Isaac Brock Howard, a member of my Howard family.  Isaac B. Howard was Dr. Egerton Ryerson's assistant.  So Dr. John Beatty's brother-in-law, Isaac B. Howard,  was affiliated with another brother-in-law of his, Dr. Egerton Ryerson.

Early Amherstburg And Fort Malden

Source

"A paper on the history of Fort Malden would hardly be complete without a short account of the place where it was originally built. Amherstburg has been called a town for more than a hundred years and is therefore nearly as old as the original fort. It is today, and has been for many years, a unique town in some respects, the situation is beautiful overlooking the entrance to the Detroit River...".

"The name of the town is decidedly English, whilst in another respect it is characteristic of a town in the Province of Quebec, It has a considerable French population...".

"After the evacuation of Detroit in 1796, many of the British civil and military removed to Amherstburg."

"On the 24th of August 1908, Earl Grey, Governor General of Canada, visited Amherstburg and was shown the remains of the Fort Malden."

"...a number of United Empire Loyalists ex-members of Butler's regiment of Rangers formed a settlement in the vicinity of the present town of Amherstburg. Among the settlers were the Caldwells... .  Captain Caldwell had command of the company of Butler's Rangers in the war of 1812." [Source]

Pre-War Niagara Area

Fort Chippawa - Pre-War In The Niagara Area [Source]

From Richardson's War of 1812:...:

The settlement proper of the country (Canada, near Queenstown Heights) dates from the close of the Revolutionary war, when the disbanded soldiers of Butler's Rangers and other United Empire Loyalists took up grants of land on the banks of the river. At the mouth of the river there soon grew up the town of Niagara (Newark), opposite Fort Niagara, at that time and until 1796 in the hands of the British.

(Then) Colonel Joseph Grubbins

Source

Source

Travels Amongst the Loyalists: 1813 – by Stephen Davidson:

"In July of 1813, Lt. Colonel Joseph Gubbins prepared himself for his annual inspection tour of New Brunswick's militia regiments."

"In Kouchibouguac, Gubbins met Jacob Kollock, a loyalist from Delaware. As well as serving as a supervisor of roads, Kollock also was the major for the local militia. He had persuaded his neighbours to build a blockhouse to defend the community during the war."

"(Gubbins' New Brunswick Journals 1811 & 1813, edited by Howard Temperley, was published in 1980 by New Brunswick Heritage Publications.)"

See more about Grubbins' Journal here.


A report of retired Major-General Joseph Grubbins' death:

Source [ Died in 1831]

After The Treaty Of Paris

Source - Map Ca 1784

THE NEW NATION GROWS:

"By the Treaty of Paris, in 1783, Great Britain recognized the independence of her American colonies. But she gave them up reluctantly, and soon proved that she would yield no more than she was compelled to. In violation of the terms of the treaty she kept garrisons for a dozen years at several western outposts--notably Niagara, Detroit, and Michilimackinac--and incited the Indians to harass the settlers who were crossing the Alleghenies. (The Americans were far from blameless. We had refused to pay debts owed to British merchants or to compensate Loyalists for the loss of their property. We had agreed to do both.)."

McGaw From Niagara

"In the diary of Wm. McGaw, a militiaman from Niagara, and who was with Gen. Brock at the taking of Detroit, August 16, 1812, many of the items in the American Prisoner's Journal are corroborated." [Source] 

McGaw's in Grimsby, Lincoln County, District of Niagara [ excerpt from "my" William Howard's petition]:

... William McLean and his wife (whose maiden name had been Jane McGaw, a UE loyalist Daughter) he purchased her rights, which the said Jane had been granted her in the year 1815...Your petitioner purchased a lot three years ago, in the Sixth Concession of the Township of Grimsby, county of Lincoln, in the District of Niagara, at an exorbitant price, being told by the... . 

A Fearless And Defiant Brock

Source

From Soldiering in Canada: Recollections and Experiences, by George Taylor Denison:
"The clearest impression...[about] discussions to which I [Denison] delighted to listen, was the remarkable respect and esteem felt by all the old veterans of the War of 1812 for their favorite leader, General Brock."

"What especially endeared him to the memory of these old loyalists was the fearless and defiant way in which he maintained his confidence in the face of enormous odds, and what was worst of all, internal intrigue and treachery. The action that particularly pleased them was his bold move in proroguing the House of Assembly, and declaring martial law, in order to arrest and banish the traitors who were spreading doubt and hesitation among the people."

Encounter At Turkey Point

Source

True to his loyalist instincts, Mr. Ephraim Tisdale, jun., fought in the war of 1812, and in this connection the following incident is told:  In 1814 a body of American militia, 150 strong, the scum of the troops, came across Lake Erie for the purpose of plundering and burning. They had marched from Dover to the mills of Titus Finch, at the place since known as Cross and Fisher's Landing, and burned them. Thence they were proceeding to Turkey Point to destroy the district court-house, which was then standing on the bank near where the road now leads down the hill which overlooks Turkey Point. When near Normandale (four miles from Turkey Point) they were attacked by a body of twenty-eight irregular volunteers, armed with fowling pieces and rifles, and driven back to their boats.

The volunteers, one of whom was the elder Mr. Tisdale, ran through the woods to the bank of the lake to cut off their retreat. They were too late to prevent the enemy from embarking, but killed an officer and fourteen of the men. The enemy immediately set sail for Turkey Point; but when a short distance from shore discovered the redcoats of a party of troops, which had just arrived to reinforce the volunteers, and not caring to risk an encounter, forthwith put the helm hard around and made away for the end of Long Point, and thence across to the place from whence they came.

Source

Loyalty And Treason In Upper Canada

The War of 1812: Loyalty and Treason In Upper Canada is an article on the Ontario [Canada] Ministry of Government Services website.

"Wartime in Upper Canada, which had a mixed population of loyalists and more recent American immigrants, posed problems for individuals and the government."

"There is no doubt that some residents actively helped American forces when parts of Upper Canada were under military occupation."

"On March 14, 1814, the Legislature of Upper Canada passed three acts as emergency measures. The first limited the right to habeas corpus applications for those accused of treason; the second provided for trials for treason and related charges in districts outside the area where the alleged offences occurred; the third act, and the one that had the greatest impact, was the Alien Act which made it an offence for anyone to have left the province after July 1812 for the United States."

The Ryersons

Life and times of Major-General Sir Isaac Brock, K. B.:


On the 6th August, Brock left York for Burlington Bay on his way to Detroit to meet the enemy, accompanied by the York Volunteers... not then knowing that the grand army had decamped.  Brock had depended on picking up the militia by the way and appointed a rendezvous at Long Point in the county of Norfolk. Not far from this place was the residence of Colonel Ryerson of the Norfolk militia.

Among the band of the United Empire Loyalists who took part in the war of 1812, there is no name more deserving of remembrance than that of George Ryerson (some time after the war the Rev. George Ryerson)....... .  The reverend gentleman and soldier was of the loyal family of Ryersons, of New Jersey, who performed eminent service to the British cause during the struggle of the American colonies for independence .  George was the son of Joseph Ryerson, and brother of the Rev. Egerton Ryerson...  .

Loyalist Sons, Robinson And Merritt

Source

"During the war two young native Canadians, the sons of U.E. Loyalists, took a prominent part, and both were present at the surrender of Detroit, one as captain on the staff of General Brock, and the other of a similar rank in the cavalry. The latter fought with General Brock at Queenston Heights, and subsequently at Lundy's Lane, when he was made a prisoner and transported into the interior of the State of New York, where he remained until peace had been proclaimed. The A.D.C. was...Sir John Beverley Robinson, and the prisoner on parole the late Honorable William Hamilton Merritt*." [Source]

*War had no terrors for him [William Hamilton Merritt] and he decided to do what he could to repel the army that was threatening to invade Canada. From his earliest days he had been a fine horseman, and shortly before war was declared had been given a lieutenant's commission in the militia. He at once got into the saddle and until the battle of Lundy's Lane was one of the most distinguished cavalry leaders in Canada. [Source]

Oath Of Peter W. Ruttan

An affidavit by Peter W. Ruttan regarding his knowledge of Captain James Cotter, as well as their service in the War of 1812, was found in the among the papers in the below petition:

Upper Canada Land Petitions

C-1737

"C," Bundle 5 

Petition 170

Image 273

County of Prince Edward

22 April 1850

Peter W. Ruttan's oath stated that he was "...with the late Captain James Cotter of Sophiasburgh Township, Prince Edward County" and was "...on duty in the War of 1812."

Some background on the Ruttans (there may have been a Peter Ruttan, Jr. and Sr.) as well as a story about surviving the Hungry Year (1787) in rural Canada:

The Ruttans were descended from a Huguenot, who settled in America about 1734. When the Revolutionary War broke out, Henry's father and his "Uncle Peter took up arms for the King (3rd Battalion of the Jersey Volunteers). [The Loyalist family moved to Canada] At the best of times, it was hard to get provisions in any little hamlet... .   

For instance, if the people at Adolphustown needed to get a barrel of pork or to have a sack of grain ground, they had to go all the way to Kingston. But in "the Hungry Year" the soldiers in the garrison were put on an allowance of a biscuit a day, so it was vain to look for help in that quarter. At last, in desperation, Peter Ruttan, who had saved some money from the sale of his captain's commission, sent two men all the way to Albany, in New York State, for four bushels of Indian corn. It was a perilous journey through the trackless woods deep in snow; but they returned in safety with the precious grain, and upon this, the milk of their cow, and the roots and berries they could gather in the woods, the family of eight persons lived till harvest. [Source]

Major Thomas Merritt, U.E.L. Portrait

Source

Also see the Memoirs of Major Thomas Merritt, U.E.L. (1759-1842), Cornet in Queen's Rangers (1776-1803) under Col. John Graves Simcoe, Major Commandant, Niagara Light Dragoons, in the War of 1812-14, Surveyor of Woods and Forests, and Sheriff of the Niagara District for about twenty years ([1910])

Another blog post involving Major Merritt here.

Haudenosaunee And Butler's Rangers

Source

Butler's Rangers from the Real Peoples History site:

These warriors, both Haudenosaunee and Butler’s Rangers, continued a friendship that lasted throughout the War of 1812. Though not officially Butlers Rangers during that period, the ex-rangers of the American Revolution still maintained their friendship and alliances with their Haudenosaunee allies.

Major Merrill's Pistols

Source

He [Major Thomas Merritt] was appointed Major Commandant of ' 'Niagara Light Dragoons" on June 12th, 1812. He was present at the Battle of Queenston Heights and in Major-General Sheaffe's report is alluded to as follows: "Major Merritt, commanding the Niagara Dragoons, accompanied me and gave much assistance with part of' his corps."