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New Brunswick Loyalists: Difference between revisions
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When the American War of Independence ended there were refugees, citizens who had supported the British. From 1776 onwards, some were driven out and some fled, seeking refuge in British territory. Nova Scotia had remained more or less loyal to Britain, though many of the inhabitants had come from New England. | When the American War of Independence ended there were refugees, citizens who had supported the British. From 1776 onwards, some were driven out and some fled, seeking refuge in British territory. Nova Scotia had remained more or less loyal to Britain, though many of the inhabitants had come from New England. | ||
However, in 1783 the country’s first “boat people” arrived on the shores of Nova Scotia. British officials had been making some preparations for this influx, though not enough. There was unsettled land north of the Bay of Fundy and so, the so-called “Spring Fleet” of twenty transports sailed from New York, arriving at the mouth of the St. John River in early May. | However, in 1783 the country’s first “boat people” arrived on the shores of Nova Scotia. British officials had been making some preparations for this influx, though not enough. There was unsettled land north of the Bay of Fundy and so, the so-called “Spring Fleet” of twenty transports sailed from New York, arriving at the mouth of the St. John River in early May. <ref name=nbl>[[New Brunswick Loyalist Settlers and Records (National Institute)]]</ref> | ||
Between 1783 and 1785, approximately 15,000 loyalists arrived in what would become the colony of New Brunswick. Most of them landed at the mouth of the St. John River, overwhelming the 400 plus civilians and troops living there, and founding the city of Saint John. As they made their way up the St. John River Valley, they also displaced the approximately 5000 people already living in the territory, including settlers from New England, Pennsylvania, Yorkshire, Ireland and other areas of Great Britain; the indigenous Wulstukwuik (Maliseet) and Mi'kmaq, who were forced unto reserves in Oromocto, St. Mary’s and Kingsclear; and the recently returned Acadians, who migrated to Madawaska and elsewhere. | |||
Other loyalists settled in St. Andrews at the mouth of the Passamaquoddy, as well as around Fort Cumberland, along the Miramichi and Petitcodiac rivers, and on the south shore of the Bay of Chaleur. A group of loyalist Quakers resettled in Beaver Harbour. Many loyalists were native-born Americans from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, with smaller numbers from the Southern and New England States. Most were fairly modest - farmers, artisans, small merchants, and disbanded soldiers - who sought social mobility and better opportunities. Together they formed the population of the colony of New Brunswick, which the British authorities partitioned from Nova Scotia on 18 June 1784.<ref>"New Brunswick Loyalist Journeys", https://www.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=9a763a9190f7498591b75bf2a8344cb9, accessed 11 November 2020.</ref> | |||
*[https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/199321?availability=Family%20History%20Library '''The Loyalists of New Brunswick'''] Esther Clark Wright. | *[https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/199321?availability=Family%20History%20Library '''The Loyalists of New Brunswick'''] Esther Clark Wright. | ||