Scottish Loyalists

SOURCE: H-OIEAHC, Colonial and Early American History


SUBJECT: Sources for Scottish Loyalists
DATE: Thu, 27 Mar 1997 07:08:53 EST

I am currently in the preliminary stages of my MA thesis. The topic I am interested in writing on is Scottish Loyalists during/after the American Revolution. I am leaning towards focusing on Scots Highlanders; more specifically Highland British regiments/Highland Loyalist Provincial Corps. It would be of great help if anyone could suggest some sources I might use; whether their secondary, primary, websites, or anything. I have already looked through the Loyalist Collection here at the University of New Brunswick, but I'm looking for other ideas or suggestions now. Thanks.

Craig Maskill
University of New Brunswick
e5pt@unb.ca


Re: sources for Scottish Loyalists ( Thu, 27 Mar 1997 11:34:17 EST)

Some works that we have found useful include:

Ronald M. Gephart, *Revolutionary America, 1763-1789: A Bibliography* (Washington, D.C., 1984) (see Loyalists in the index)

John R. Sellers, Gerard W. Gawalt, Paul H. Smith, Patricia Molen van Ee, *Manuscript Sources in the Library of Congress for Research on the American Revolution* (Washington, D.C., 1975) (see Loyalists in the index)

Lorenzo Sabine, *Biographical Sketches of Loyalists of the American Revolution with an Historical Essay* (Boston, 1864; Reprint, Baltimore, 1979)

Gregory Palmer, *Biographical Sketches of Loyalist of the American Revolution* (London, 1884)

Peter WIlson Coldham, *American Loyalist Claims* (Washington, D.C., 1980)

Paul J. Bunnell, *The New Loyalist Index* (Bowie, Md., 1989)

Hugh Edward Egerton, *The Royal Commission on the Lossses and Services of American Loyalists, 1783 to 1785* (Oxford, 1915; Reprint, New York, 1969)

Esther Clark Wright, *The Loyalists of New Brunswich* (Wolfville, N.S., Canada, 1955, 1985)

E. Alfred Jones, *The Loyalists of Massachuesetts: Their Memorials, Petitions and Claims* (London, 1930; Reprint, Baltimore, 1969)

Robert A. East, *Connecticut's Loyalsists* (Chester, Conn., 1974)

Paul H. Smith, *Loyalist and Redcoats: A Study in British Revolutionary Policy* (Williamsburg, 1964)

John Bakeless, *Turncoats, Traitors and Heroes* (Philadelphia, 1960)

Good luck!

Frank E. Grizzard, Jr.
Assistant Editor
Papers of George Washington
University of Virginia
grizzard@virginia.edu

Visit the Papers of George Washington on the World-Wide Web at:
http://www.virginia.edu/~gwpapers


Re: sources for Scottish Loyalists ( Thu, 27 Mar 1997 11:34:53 EST)

There is a fine collection of Scottish materials at the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario. I suggest you contact Bernard Katz at the University Library there.

Germaine Warkentin
English, Victoria College
University of Toronto
warkent@chass.utoronto.ca


Re: sources for Scottish Loyalists ( Thu, 27 Mar 1997 11:41:36 EST)

I don't know what's in the loyalist collection at Univ New Brunswick, but my immediate recommendation would be for you to look at the loyalist claims, AO 12 & 13, for areas with lots of Scots immigrants (mainly NY & NC). There is a name index to AO13--you could look for Scots surnames. The Public Archives of Canada in Ottawa has a complete microfilm of the hundreds of MSS vols of loyalist claims in the PRO in London.

Mary Beth Norton
Acting Chair, History Department
M.D. Alger Professor of American History
Cornell University
325 McGraw Hall
Ithaca, N.Y. 14853-4601
(607) 255-7542 or 4367 // Fax: 255-0469
e-mail: mbn1@cornell.edu


RE: Sources for Scottish Loyalists ( Fri, 28 Mar 1997 08:25:39 EST)
FROM: Michelle Leung

I'm working on a dissertation on the migration of loyalists from northern New York to Quebec/early Upper Canada so my suggestions are limited to these geographic areas.

Secondary Sources:

Since others have suggested excellent sources, the ones listed below have specific information on Scottish loyalists.

Richard L. Blanco, The War of the American Revolution: A Selected Bibliography of Published Sources

Mary Beacock Fryer, The King's Men: The Soldier Founders of Ontario

Hazel C. Mathews, The Mark of Honour (This is supposed to be a study of Scottish loyalists but relies heavily on the story of Joseph Brant, Johnson and Butler families.)

Marla Susan Waltman, From Soldier to Settler: Patterns of Loyalist Settlement in Upper Canada, 1783-1785, MA Thesis, Queen's University, 1981

Primary Sources:

I'm not sure how much pre-revolutionary material you are interested in, but if I can help you at all, please let me know, especially if you are interested in northern New York. You may find that Peter Force's American Archives has all the pre-war material you need. If it's not available at the UNB Library, U of T has the full collection. The New York State Archives in Albany has a guide to its revolutionary records which is available on the web (http://www.sara.nysed.gov). Unfortunately, the New York Historical Society in New York City, which has incredible materials on northern NY, is not a well funded institution and has no web or e-mail address.

The following are sources you can find in Canada:

The National Archives of Canada has a CD-ROM called ARCHVIA. This is a catalogue of their manuscripts (including family genealogies) and can be searched by subject, etc. Your library may have it. If not, you can leave messages for the NAC's Reader Services at their web-site (http://www.archives.ca) and perhaps they will do a search for you. You may wish to contact archivist Patricia Kennedy at the same address. She may have other suggestions for you.

MG11 Colonial Office Papers (C.O. 42) The NB archives probably has this collection. Be sure to use the original series rather than the transcripts because the former has all kinds of notes in the margins that never made it into the transcripts.

MG13 Great Britain, War Office - Also available at NAC on microfilm. Reel B-2863 has some records for the Royal Highland Emigrants.

MG21 Haldimand Papers - I'm sure many volumes of Haldimand's papers are available in NB and although it's mostly about loyalists in central Canada, you will find correspondence between Haldimand and captains of the provincial corps. The National Archives in Ottawa has a complete set and anything missing in NB can be ordered from NAC on microfilm (order early as it can take as long as 4 months). The NAC has a multi-volume finding aid that describes every document.

MG23 18th Century - This is the NAC's 18th century collection. It is huge and has lots of wonderful stuff. A very thick binder containing one page descriptions of the collection is divided geographically.

I'd also suggest looking up biographies of Scottish loyalists in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography so you can mine the notes at the end for additional primary and secondary sources. The local branch of the UEL Association can be helpful too. Each one has its own library of published sources and photocopies of primary materials from other archives to help cut down travelling for research. Their genealogical databases can be very helpful.

Finally, you might want to contact Professor Ian K. Steele at the University of Western Ontario. One of his graduate students, a descendant of Scottish loyalist Alexander Campbell, is writing a dissertation on the Royal Regiment

of New York and has been collecting information on his ancestor and other Scots. His e-mail address is steele@sscl.uwo.ca

Good luck. Please feel free to contact me if you'd like to share ideas.

Michelle Leung
Department of History
University of Toronto
100 St. George Street
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M5S 3G3
menhir@interlog.com


Re: sources for Scottish Loyalists ( Fri, 28 Mar 1997 08:30:05 EST)

I don't know if any of these will be helpful, but there is some information on either resident Highlanders' loyalty,of specific Loyalists of Scottish origins in:

Ian Charles Cargill Graham, _Colonists from Scotland: Emigration to North America, 1707-1783_ (Reprint. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, Co., 1994) [Very good, though dated, bibliography!]

Peter Wilson Coldham, American Loyalist Claims, (Washington, D.C.: National Genealogical Society, 1980)

Lorenzo Sabine, _Biographical Sketches of Loyalists of the American Revolution..._, 2 vols. (Reprint. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1994).

Also the Library of Congress (Manuscripts Dept.) has the complete[?] Loyalist Claims lists and decisions on microfilm, but the quality of the film, and often the quality of the originals make it sheer torture to try to glean any information from.
Hope that this helps.


Scottish Loyalists ( Mon, 31 Mar 1997 07:49:19 EST)

Some other texts you might find useful are:

Janice McKinnon-Potter, While Only the Women Wept

George Rawlyk, ed. Loyalist Communities in North America

issues of journals such as the Nova Scotia Historical Review and Acadiensis

geneological societies/data banks

David Bell's various articles on loyalism

Lorraine Coops
History Department
Queen's University
Kingston, On
3plc2@qlink.queensu.ca