Some of you may not know about the Loyalists. They were a group of people from the United States who, during the War of Independence, remained loyal to England and wanted to remain under the reign of the king.
They moved up here to Canada and were rewarded for their loyalty by receiving free land grants from the king. The area of New Brunswick where I come from is full of old loyalist families and I'm descended from the loyalists too. My family came from New York and my ancestor was a sea captain.
I cannot imagine what these poor souls thought when they arrived here and found nothing but wilderness. No roads, no houses, nothing. After coming from communities in the States they arrived here equipped only with tents and provisions for the first winter. Our house was built on one of these grants. The Hoyt family moved here in approximately 1799 and had their house built by 1802. That's pretty fast work when you have to clear the land and saw the lumber! The boards used to frame in this house are huge: Some are 32 feet long by 2 feet wide! This property remained in the same family until the 1970's and we are only the second owners since then. I only skimmed the history of the Loyalists but I hope you enjoyed the history lesson!
Some of you may not know about the Loyalists. They were a group of people from the United States who, during the War of Independence, remained loyal to England and wanted to remain under the reign of the king.
They moved up here to Canada and were rewarded for their loyalty by receiving free land grants from the king. The area of New Brunswick where I come from is full of old loyalist families and I'm descended from the loyalists too. My family came from New York and my ancestor was a sea captain.
I cannot imagine what these poor souls thought when they arrived here and found nothing but wilderness. No roads, no houses, nothing. After coming from communities in the States they arrived here equipped only with tents and provisions for the first winter. Our house was built on one of these grants. The Hoyt family moved here in approximately 1799 and had their house built by 1802. That's pretty fast work when you have to clear the land and saw the lumber! The boards used to frame in this house are huge: Some are 32 feet long by 2 feet wide! This property remained in the same family until the 1970's and we are only the second owners since then. I only skimmed the history of the Loyalists but I hope you enjoyed the history lesson!
2 comments:
That is so interesting! I have wondered about the name of your blog and now I know. A bit of history I hadn't come across yet. :0)
I wondered about your blog name and my degree is in American History so I know exactly what you are talking about. Actually my favorite professor was a Canadian teaching American history. I always appreciated his northern perspective on us Americans. I really hope to make it to Canada to visit someday.
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