Escape: Adventures of a Loyalist Family

Anne Hutchings, a former elementary-school teacher-librarian with the
Durham Board of Education, is an educational consultant.

Long out of print, this reissue of Escape will be especially welcomed by
elementary-school teachers of Canadian history and librarians.

Mary Beacock Fryer, born in Brockville, Ontario, a town founded by
United Empire Loyalists, is the great-great-great granddaughter of Caleb
and Martha Seaman, whose escape from Schenectady, New York, to settle in
what is now the village of Lyn, Ontario, is fictionalized in this book.
Carefully researched, Escape provides a vivid re-creation of the
Loyalist period.

The American Revolution officially ended in 1783, and Loyalists were
promised the right to live in the newly created United States. However,
there was widespread resentment and distrust of those who supported the
British, which still continued in 1789.

Narrated by 12-year-old Nehemiah (Ned) Seaman, the fourth of Caleb and
Martha’s eight children, the story begins with Caleb’s sudden
imprisonment. Caleb and a fellow Loyalist prisoner, Truelove Butler,
agree that in order to save their lives they must escape. Upon doing so,
the Seamans hastily and stealthily pack up their possessions and slip
away into the night en route to the British garrison at Johnstown,
Ontario. Their flight involves outrunning and outwitting the militiamen
hot on their trail, as well as traveling through dense forests, over
rough terrain, and along swift rivers hazardous with rapids and
waterfalls. The family endure separation and encounter many challenges
before they are safely reunited.

Although some of the dialogue—especially that of the kindly Oneida
Indians—is rather stilted (would Lodlihont really have told Papa,
“You are a good medicine man”?), and the Seamans and their friends
seem almost too perfect, Escape will be valuable as a supplementary
source for those studying the Loyalist period in Canadian history. The
inclusion of a map of the area showing the Seamans’ route would
enhance its use tremendously. Recommended.