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A Canadian Terhune Family

Loyalists Travels From The United Empire Loyalist Settlement at Long Point, Lake Erie by L. H. Tasker, 1900

Copyright 2000 John Cardiff

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Chapter 8
Loyalist Emigration

Although the treaty of Peace recommended the Loyalists to the mercy of the different states, the Americans, being secured in their independence, used their victories to the blind and selfish punishment of the "traitors" to their traitorous cause.

Consequently, instead of an entire cessation of hostility, as should follow the conclusion of peace, the most bitter and rancorous mob law under the sanction of the different legislatures, was employed against the Loyalists. They were driven from the country by a process of organized persecution. Thus the wretched and short sighted policy of the majority of the states depleted them of their very best blood. Those who had been the doctors, lawyers, judges and often ministers of the community, men of culture and refinement, men of worth and character, were driven into hopeless and interminable exile.

And indeed, the migration into Canada was considered by them as exile, though unfalteringly they chose its hardships. They believed that they were coming to the region of everlasting snow and ice. They understood that New Brunswick had at least seven months of winter in the year, that but few acres of that inhospitable land were fit for cultivation, and that the country was covered with a cold spongy moss instead of grass, and devoid of any kind of fodder for cattle.

Lower Canada was known as a region of deep snow, a nine months' winter, a barren and inhospitable shore.

Upper Canada was not thought of in the early years of the migration, except as the "great beyond," a tangled wilderness, the Indians' hunting ground, covered with swamps and marshes and sandy hills, the forests full of bears and wolves and venomous reptiles. The only favorable report of Upper Canada that had reached them was of its abundance of fish and game.

The British commander of New York, in his work of transportation, when no more could be accommodated in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, sent for a Mr. Grass, who had been a prisoner at Fort Frontenac among the French, and anxiously inquired if he thought 'men could live in Upper Canada,' and on a favorable reply being given Mr. Grass was sent as the founder of a colony to Cataraqui in 1784.

The mere fact that thirty-five thousand Loyalists left their native land for a country which they regarded as a land of exile, is the best proof of two things &emdash; first, that they were barbarously treated by the victorious side; and second, that they were not a mere set of office holders influenced simply by mercenary motives, as is charged against them, or that they came to Canada for what Britain provided. To enter the unbroken forests, chop, hew, "log" and "after many days" sow the seed among the blackened stumps was a herculean task for any one, but was even more difficult for these men &emdash; judges, lawyers, commissioners, and others &emdash; who were not used to farm life, much less to the kind of toil required to change the acres of forest land into fields of waving grain.

But their courage rose with their difficulties, and in spite of their dangers there was much to encourage them. They were not, it is true, entering on a land "flowing with milk and honey," but it abounded in fish and game; and, above all, it was a land over which waved the banner under whose folds their sons and fathers had fallen in disastrous war, and to which they clung with the love that passeth not away, but endureth "through all the years."

Chapter 9

Routes of the Loyalists

In addition to the promise of the British Government to indemnify the Loyalists for their losses, was the promise to send ships to carry them into Canada. Consequently in the spring of 1783 crowds of the hapless exiles awaited in the Atlantic seaports the British vessels.

They came at last, and the first contingent of refugees arrived on the 18th of May, 1783, off the mouth of the River St. John, and by the end of the year about 500 had been safely transported to the land, over which waved the "meteor flag of England."

But for those living inland other means had to be provided, and they were asked to rendezvous at different stations along the Canadian frontier, for example, Oswego, Niagara-on-the Lake, and Isle aux Noix on Lake Champlain. The distance travelled by most of the Loyalists before reaching Lake Ontario was about 500 miles. From New York to Albany, the Hudson is navigable about 175 miles. North of Albany, the river forks into two branches, the western of which is the Mohawk. About the ancient Fort Stainwix (now Rome) the Mohawk is joined by Wood Creek. This was followed up for some miles, then portage of ten miles was necessary to Lake Oneida, from which Lake Ontario could be reached by the Oswego river. This was by far the more generally followed, hence in our classification of routes it is to be put first.

Second. &emdash; The eastern branch of the Hudson was sometimes followed, the mountains crossed and Sackett's Harbor reached by the Black River, which empties into the lake at that point. Occasionally the Oswegotchie was reached from the Hudson, and followed to its mouth at the present town of Ogdensburg, then called "La Presentation."

Third. &emdash; The old military road which ran along the west shore of Lake Champlain, thence down the Richelieu River to the St. Lawrence, or west to Cornwall.

Fourth. &emdash; Others again travelled more directly westward from the rendezvous on Lake Champlain, and striking Lake Ontario at its eastern extremity, proceeded westward along the southern shore of the lake to the settlement on the River Niagara.

But it must be remembered that nearly all the Loyalists who came to the Long Point country settled first in New Brunswick. This province became rapidly overcrowded, and of necessity their thoughts were turned westward, and most opportunely came the messages from Governor Simcoe and President Peter Russell urging them to settle in Western Canada, and promising liberal grants of land. Hence it was, that in the last decade of the century, many availed themselves of their offers, and moved their families up the St. Lawrence, and lakes Ontario and Erie, to the Long Point country. This was therefore the common route of the Loyalists who settled in Norfolk.

Still there were some who came direct, via the Hudson and Black rivers to Sackett's Harbor, and thence by boat to Long Point. Others again came in a north-westerly direction overland through Pennsylvania and New York, and crossed Lake Erie in frail skiffs.

These were the routes of the Loyalists.


	A Canadian Terhune Family
	Loyalists Travels From The United Empire Loyalist Settlement at Long Point, Lake Erie by L. H. Tasker, 1900 Copyright 2000 John Cardiff
Home Page Outline Index of Surnames Arrival in America American Generation First Family 2nd Generation 3rd Generation 4-5th Generation North to Nova Scotia 6th Generation 7th Generation 8th Generation West to BC 9th Generation 10th Generation Ontario Terhunes Migration Looseleaves Main Surnames Kambick looseleaves Burley Moffatt Photo Album R. M. Terhune G. W. Terhune A. G. Terhune Misc. Other Terhune Information T-Wharf Story Newer Pics	Chapter 8 Loyalist Emigration Although the treaty of Peace recommended the Loyalists to the mercy of the different states, the Americans, being secured in their independence, used their victories to the blind and selfish punishment of the "traitors" to their traitorous cause. Consequently, instead of an entire cessation of hostility, as should follow the conclusion of peace, the most bitter and rancorous mob law under the sanction of the different legislatures, was employed against the Loyalists. They were driven from the country by a process of organized persecution. Thus the wretched and short sighted policy of the majority of the states depleted them of their very best blood. Those who had been the doctors, lawyers, judges and often ministers of the community, men of culture and refinement, men of worth and character, were driven into hopeless and interminable exile. And indeed, the migration into Canada was considered by them as exile, though unfalteringly they chose its hardships. They believed that they were coming to the region of everlasting snow and ice. They understood that New Brunswick had at least seven months of winter in the year, that but few acres of that inhospitable land were fit for cultivation, and that the country was covered with a cold spongy moss instead of grass, and devoid of any kind of fodder for cattle. Lower Canada was known as a region of deep snow, a nine months' winter, a barren and inhospitable shore. Upper Canada was not thought of in the early years of the migration, except as the "great beyond," a tangled wilderness, the Indians' hunting ground, covered with swamps and marshes and sandy hills, the forests full of bears and wolves and venomous reptiles. The only favorable report of Upper Canada that had reached them was of its abundance of fish and game. The British commander of New York, in his work of transportation, when no more could be accommodated in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, sent for a Mr. Grass, who had been a prisoner at Fort Frontenac among the French, and anxiously inquired if he thought 'men could live in Upper Canada,' and on a favorable reply being given Mr. Grass was sent as the founder of a colony to Cataraqui in 1784. The mere fact that thirty-five thousand Loyalists left their native land for a country which they regarded as a land of exile, is the best proof of two things &emdash; first, that they were barbarously treated by the victorious side; and second, that they were not a mere set of office holders influenced simply by mercenary motives, as is charged against them, or that they came to Canada for what Britain provided. To enter the unbroken forests, chop, hew, "log" and "after many days" sow the seed among the blackened stumps was a herculean task for any one, but was even more difficult for these men &emdash; judges, lawyers, commissioners, and others &emdash; who were not used to farm life, much less to the kind of toil required to change the acres of forest land into fields of waving grain. But their courage rose with their difficulties, and in spite of their dangers there was much to encourage them. They were not, it is true, entering on a land "flowing with milk and honey," but it abounded in fish and game; and, above all, it was a land over which waved the banner under whose folds their sons and fathers had fallen in disastrous war, and to which they clung with the love that passeth not away, but endureth "through all the years." Chapter 9 Routes of the Loyalists In addition to the promise of the British Government to indemnify the Loyalists for their losses, was the promise to send ships to carry them into Canada. Consequently in the spring of 1783 crowds of the hapless exiles awaited in the Atlantic seaports the British vessels. They came at last, and the first contingent of refugees arrived on the 18th of May, 1783, off the mouth of the River St. John, and by the end of the year about 500 had been safely transported to the land, over which waved the "meteor flag of England." But for those living inland other means had to be provided, and they were asked to rendezvous at different stations along the Canadian frontier, for example, Oswego, Niagara-on-the Lake, and Isle aux Noix on Lake Champlain. The distance travelled by most of the Loyalists before reaching Lake Ontario was about 500 miles. From New York to Albany, the Hudson is navigable about 175 miles. North of Albany, the river forks into two branches, the western of which is the Mohawk. About the ancient Fort Stainwix (now Rome) the Mohawk is joined by Wood Creek. This was followed up for some miles, then portage of ten miles was necessary to Lake Oneida, from which Lake Ontario could be reached by the Oswego river. This was by far the more generally followed, hence in our classification of routes it is to be put first. Second. &emdash; The eastern branch of the Hudson was sometimes followed, the mountains crossed and Sackett's Harbor reached by the Black River, which empties into the lake at that point. Occasionally the Oswegotchie was reached from the Hudson, and followed to its mouth at the present town of Ogdensburg, then called "La Presentation." Third. &emdash; The old military road which ran along the west shore of Lake Champlain, thence down the Richelieu River to the St. Lawrence, or west to Cornwall. Fourth. &emdash; Others again travelled more directly westward from the rendezvous on Lake Champlain, and striking Lake Ontario at its eastern extremity, proceeded westward along the southern shore of the lake to the settlement on the River Niagara. But it must be remembered that nearly all the Loyalists who came to the Long Point country settled first in New Brunswick. This province became rapidly overcrowded, and of necessity their thoughts were turned westward, and most opportunely came the messages from Governor Simcoe and President Peter Russell urging them to settle in Western Canada, and promising liberal grants of land. Hence it was, that in the last decade of the century, many availed themselves of their offers, and moved their families up the St. Lawrence, and lakes Ontario and Erie, to the Long Point country. This was therefore the common route of the Loyalists who settled in Norfolk. Still there were some who came direct, via the Hudson and Black rivers to Sackett's Harbor, and thence by boat to Long Point. Others again came in a north-westerly direction overland through Pennsylvania and New York, and crossed Lake Erie in frail skiffs. These were the routes of the Loyalists.