Rebels and Royalists: The Lives and Material Culture of New Brunswick's Early English-Speaking Settlers, 1758-1783

Martin L. Nicolai is a history lecturer at Queen’s University in
Kingston.

Every year, Saint John celebrates the landing of the Loyalists in 1783.
Judging by the amount of attention lavished on New Brunswick’s
Loyalist settlers, one would think they were the first Europeans to set
foot in this wilderness. However, as New Brunswick historian MacDonald
makes abundantly clear, English-speaking settlers had been living at
Portland Point (Saint John), Maugerville, and the Chignecto Isthmus for
more than 20 years. This book describes the settlement of these New
Englanders, Scots, Irish, German Pennsylvanians, and Yorkshiremen in the
aftermath of the Seven Years War. The story continues through the
turbulent years of the War of American Independence, when Patriot
raiders plundered and destroyed the settlers’ property and attempted
to coerce them into joining the revolutionary cause.

MacDonald’s main objective, however, is to describe the material
culture of the English-speaking settlers, a project initiated by the New
Brunswick Museum. Through meticulous research, she has identified
numerous artifacts owned by the pre-Loyalist settlers, including tables,
chairs, desks, chests, goblets, one- and two-hand clocks, powder horns,
swords, clothing, bibles, notebooks, and portraits. Each
artifact—often still used by the original owner’s descendants—has
a history; MacDonald describes where, when, and how it was made, and the
role it played in the household. As she relates the photographs of these
simple, everyday utensils and pieces of furniture to what is known of
their original owners, the reader feels an unusually immediate
connection with the past, a sensation that a biography or an anonymous
museum piece can rarely convey.

Rebels and Royalists is a fascinating account of this long-neglected
period of English-Canadian history. It has special importance for New
Brunswickers, particularly those descended from the pre-Loyalist
families.