Loyalist Mosaic: A Multi-Ethnic Heritage

George F. McElroy was a freelance reviewer living in Oakville, Ontario.

Joan Magee, a reference librarian at the University of Windsor, is herself of Loyalist stock. Her book dispels the common belief that all, or nearly all, United Empire Loyalists were well-to-do blue-bloods of white Anglo-Saxon ancestry. The fact that almost the exact opposite was really the case is illustrated by a series of colourful life stories of Loyalists with varied ethnic backgrounds, including that of the author’s own ancestor, Henry Magee.

Henry Magee was a Protestant Irishman who came to America with his family just a few years prior to the outbreak of the Revolution. He settled in Pennsylvania and built a flour mill there. His neighbours often pressed him to join the rebel cause, and, when he refused, he was abused, insulted, and persecuted. Finally, he was charged with treason. Though he managed to escape, he was forced to leave his wife and family in Chambersburg. His property was confiscated and a price put on his head but he was able to reach Philadelphia, which was still in the hands of the British. There, he joined the army and was sent to Nova Scotia. Meanwhile, his wife and two children became refugees and fled to New York. Years later, they were given passage to Halifax on a warship. By now the family had been separated for more than seven years, and it was only by a stroke of fortune that Henry’s wife met friends in Halifax who told her that her husband was then in the Annapolis Valley. The family was reunited and Henry Magee became a prosperous mill owner and merchant.

Loyalists of Dutch ancestry are represented by American-born Arent Schuyler de Peyster of New York, who rose to the rank of full colonel in the British Regular Army, a rare accomplishment for any colonial. While serving in Scotland, he married Rebecca Blair of Mavis Hall, Dumfries. When the Revolution began, he was a captain serving at Michilimackinac but was later promoted and placed in command at Detroit.

Jacob Dittrick, the first settler at St. Catherines, Ontario, was a sergeant in Butler’s Rangers who left his home in the Mohawk Valley to make his way to Niagara, where the Rangers, under the command of Colonel John Butler, were based. Dittrick, a Palatinate German, served in the Rangers for about seven years before settling on his 400-acre land grant on the banks of Twelve Mile Creek.

Another member of Butler’s Rangers was Richard Pierpoint, a Negro born in the Kingdom of Bondu in Africa. He was captured by slave traders and sent to America, where he served as a slave for over twenty years. In the Revolution the British offered freedom to all who would desert their masters and fight on the Loyalist side. Pierpoint escaped, made his way through the New York wilderness to Niagara, and joined the Rangers. He later served in Captain Runchey’s Company of Coloured Men during the War of 1812.

Stories of other Loyalists in the book include those with Swiss, French Huguenot, Scottish Jacobite, Jewish, and Mohawk Indian backgrounds.

This is an excellent book in every respect. It is highly recommended as a reference and educational work as well as for entertainment and enjoyment.