Introduction

In the early years of the American Revolution many supporters of the British cause in the American colonies were outspoken in their loyalty, expecting the King’s troops would march through early on and crush the opposition. The defeat of British General John Burgoyne at Saratoga in upstate New York on October 17, 1777 and the subsequent British failure to penetrate beyond the coastal areas of America left these vocal Loyalists in the rural areas exposed and vulnerable to the local Rebels. Lacking organization and a British military presence to defend the loyal adherents, they were persecuted, fined and imprisoned then forced to flee their colonial homes, leaving land, livestock and possessions behind. Most of the future Niagara Settlers joined Butler’s Rangers or the Indian Department stationed in Fort Niagara, located near present Youngstown, New York at the confluence of the Niagara River and Lake Ontario. The listings for soldiers and British sympathizers on these web pages were extracted from a number of sources, including militia payrolls, provisioning lists, post war claims for Revolutionary War losses and the Upper Canada Land Petitions filed by the men and women who served and supported.

The inclusions here go beyond those living at Fort Niagara during the war. Many settlers in the Niagara area served in other Regiments and arrived later in time. Proclamations offering free grants of land in the later 1780’s and early 1790’s attracted soldiers who had returned to their American homes following the war and who braved the continued persecutions and their reduced circumstances. This work documents these Loyalists’ services in such regiments as the New Jersey Volunteers, DeLancey’s Corps, The King’s Royal Regiment of New York, Roger’s Rangers, the Queen’s Rangers, and many others.

Sources Included

1a. Revolutionary War Records (1776-1783)

The papers of Sir Frederick Haldimand, the Governor of Canada during the American Revolution include several pay and provisioning rolls of the soldiers in Butler’s Rangers and the Indian Department during the period 1776 to 1783. The originals of the Haldimand Papers are located in the National Archives in London, England. A copy of the filmed papers is at the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) in MSS No. 21,753 (Letters from Officers commanding at Niagara 1782-1784) and MSS No. 21,765 (Correspondence with Officers commanding at Niagara)

1b. Pay Rolls of Butler’s Rangers 1777-1778

“Pay Rolls of Butlers Rangers listing Commissioned and Non-Commissioned Officers and privates by Regimental Company paid for serving during the period between 24 Dec 1777 and 24 Oct 1778.”

This resource listed commissioned and non-commissioned officers, and privates by Regimental Company paid for serving during the period between 24 December 1777 and 24 October 1778. (LAC 21,763 folios 44-65).

Prisoners in the Hands of Congress

“A List of Prisoners in the Hands of the Congress Belonging to the Corps of Rangers Royalist And their Families”

This is an undated list of Butlers Rangers and their families taken and imprisoned by the American Militia. (LAC 21,765, folio 72).

Persons in the Hands of Congress

“A List of Persons in the hands of the Congress belonging to the Corps of Rangers, Royalists & their Families”

This is another undated list of Butlers Rangers and their families taken and held prisoner by the American Militia. (LAC 21,765, folios 424 and 426).

Men Who Joined Butlers Rangers in 1779

“List of Mens Names that have join’d Colonel Butler—summer 1779”

This is a list of new recruits who arrived at Fort Niagara and joined Butler’s Rangers during the summer of 1779. (LAC 21,765, folio 155)

Subsistence Drawn for Rangers who have been prisoners

“A State of Subsistance drawn for several Rangers who now are and have been prisoners with the Rebels and other Casualities in said Corps for whom Subsistance has been Received to 24^th December 1780”

This report is a journal of the circumstances of soldiers who were either taken prisoner or suffered a casualty. (LAC 21,765, folio 196)

1c. Indian Department Pay Rolls

1776-1778

“List, to draw Pay, of the under mentioned Persons, Officers &c. Now serving in the Indian Department, in the Indian Country & at Niagara, and who have served in Canada by the Appointment of Col^o Sir John Johnson Baronet, who has returned them, as such, to Col^o Guy Johnson, who as fixt their Pay as mentioned below.”

This payroll lists the officers serving under the Indian Department and their pay for the period from 19 May 1776 to 24 October 1778. (LAC 21,765, folio 67)

1777-1778

“We the under mentioned Persons &c employed in the Indian Department at Niagara &c do acknowledge to have received from Col. John Butler Dep^y Superintendant of Indian Affairs, the full amount of our respective Paye from 24^th December 1777 to 24^th October 1778 inclusive”

This payroll lists the officers and privates serving under the Indian Department and their pay for the period from 19 May 1776 to 24 October 1778. (LAC 21,765, folio 49)

1778-1779

“We the under mentioned Persons &c employed in the Indian Department at Niagara &c do acknowledge to have received from Major John Butler Deputy Superintendant of Indian Affairs, the full Amount of our Pay from 25^th Oct 1778 to 24^th April 1779 inclusive.”

This payroll lists the officers and privates serving under the Indian Department and their pay for the period from 25 October 1778 to 24 Apr 1779 (LAC 21,765, folio 103a)

1783

“List of the Indian Officers etc. drawing provisions at Niagara, 6^th August, 1783”

This provisioning list includes the officers and men serving under the Indian Department as of 6 August 1783 (LAC 21,763, folio 224)

Also published by The Niagara Historical Society in Records of Niagara, Vol. No. 38 (Niagara-on-the-Lake ON: 1927). “A Collection of Documents Relating to the First Settlement 1778-1783.” Collected and edited by Brig. General E. A. Cruikshank.

2. The 1783 Ration Lists of Niagara

(LAC 21,765, folios 353-380) Taken on 30 November 1783, this enumerates the single and married soldiers of Butler’s Rangers and the Indian Department with their wives and children present at Fort Niagara. This company-by-company listing accounted for the rations from the military stores issued to each. In addition, this includes a return of farmers settled on the west side of the Niagara River on 1 December 1783.

Children were allowed a half ration so ages were included, some with both years and months. Some pages, however, did not include ages. In many cases it was an “every name” listing, but in some instances the record states in addition to those named there were a certain number of privates.

An article of this 1783 record was published in “Census of Niagara 1783” by Thomas B. Wilson, The Ontario Register, (Madison, NJ: October 1968), Volume 1, No. 4, p. 197-214 then republished in a pamphlet by The Hamilton Branch of The United Empire Loyalists Association of Canada (Hamilton ON: 1978).

3. Claims for Revolutionary War Losses

The British Parliament, aware of the services and sacrifices of the Loyalists passed an Act appointing a Commission of Claims to hear and compensate them for their real and personal property losses during the war. The Act received Royal Assent on 15 July 1783.

The Commissioners official books of the claims filed by the Loyalists are on films at Library and Archives of Canada, the collection designated by Audit Office (AO) Series 12. The original registers are in the National Archives in London, England. There is a second record group designated as Audit Office Series 13. The latter includes the petitions of the claimants and the supporting evidences. Some Claims not found in AO 12 were found in AO 13.

Another archival copy of the evidences heard in Canada is deposited in the Library of Congress in Washington, D. C. Designated 18,662, it is word for word the same as that in AO 12, and includes marginal notes made by the Commissioners during the hearings. In 1904, the Bureau of Archives of Ontario (now the Archives of Ontario) published a transcript of some of these claims. This work, arranged chronologically, quotes evidences given in claims found in MSS 18,662, with an index at the end. The book does not include all of the claims found in the original collections.

4. The Upper Canada Land Petitions

The land petitions of the earliest settlers of Upper Canada (present Ontario) are a vital resource for researching those who lived in this province during the 1780’s through the early1800’s. They stand unique as first person accounts justifying the pioneer’s request for a Crown grant of a farm or of a town lot. At times the petitions included information about the individual’s colonial background, services during the American Revolution and their current circumstances. These descriptive petitions came about as a result of a declaration by the first Chief Executive of the province, Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe allowing grants of land to deserving settlers upon application to the governing Executive Council.

The Upper Canada Land Petitions have been placed on microfilm by the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) in the Executive Council Office records (RG 1). It is a massive collection filling over 300 microfilms. Typed index cards serve as a guide to locating the petitions and this too has been filmed.More recently the LAC posted the petitions online with a searchable index. For this online resource visit the Library and Archives Canada website: http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/genealogy/022-912.001-e.html

The organization of the Upper Canada Land Petitions collection preserves the original alphanumeric reference assigned by the Clerk of the Executive Council based on the initial letter of the petitioner’s surname (the bundle letter) and then the petition number. Petitions assigned the same surname letter were then bound together as a bundle, and this given a number corresponding to the Land Book in which the Council’s rulings on those petitions had been recorded. Thus “A” Bundle 1 Petition Number 17 is the designation for a petition of a surname beginning with the letter “A” recorded in the first Land Book and petition number 17 within the bundle.

Specialized bundles included applications for leases on Clergy or Crown Reserves. The Executive Council set aside two-sevenths of all land in the province to be leased for rents to support the clergy and government, one-seventh for each. These also were bundled alphabetically by surname and date and designated by the alphabetical letter followed by the years contained in the bundle and the petition number, for example “A” Leases 1799-1836 Petition Number 54, under which the petition was indexed.

Some “miscellaneous” bundles for each letter of the alphabet came under the designation of “Misc” followed by the years contained in the bundle and the petition number, for example “H” Misc 1799-1821 Petition Number 11.