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 United Empire Loyalists American Revolutionary War Genealogy & History Resources More Canadian Resources | More American Resources More Loyalist Resources | More American Revolution Resources BOOK - Loyalists and Land Settlement in Nova Scotia Compiled by Marion Gilroy under the direction of D. C. Harvey, Archivist Originally published 1937 This edition published by Global Heritage Press, Milton, 2006 (CD 2010)
The records in the Archives frequently give personal information as to the origin and status of the Loyalists, while the papers in the Department of Lands and Forests are official as to warrants and escheats; but in many instances it has not been possible from both sources to discover more than the name, general location, date of grant and number of acres granted. Though these names have been compared with those in census returns of Pre-Loyalists and other records, it is not possible to assert that every Loyalist has been located or every Pre-Loyalist eliminated; but the list of Loyalists is as complete and as accurate as it could be made from available material. Broadly speaking, Loyalist grants are assumed to have ceased by 1800 but in a few instances after this date, such as that of the regranting of Digby township in 1801, grants of considerable proportion were made and have been included in this list. No notice bas been taken of individual claimants who petitioned during the first quarter of the nineteenth century; and the most diligent search has not been able to discover the names of the second battalion of the 84th Regiment, Royal Highland Emigrants, for which Col. John Small received in trust 105,000 acres in Hants County; but those who were still there in 1816 and received a grant of the lands then occupied by them have been included. Moreover the Island of Cape Breton, because of the lack of available records, has been reserved for a separate study. The list has been arranged under three headings: grants, warrants and escheats. Those in the first group are shown by the records to have received legal title to the lands specified. Those listed under warrants applied for land, and survey of that land was authorized, but no evidence could be found that they completed the transaction, although there is reason to believe that many of them remained in Nova Scotia. Those listed under escheats-the legal process by which lands granted were forfeited to the Crown for non-fulfilment of conditions specified in thegrant were included to throw light upon the number of Loyalists who received grants of land and either chose to forfeit them or to accept other grants in exchange. It should be noted also that there were only nine counties in the peninsula of Nova Scotia at this time, Annapolis, Cumberland, Halifax, Hants, Kings, Lunenburg, Queens, Shelburne and Sydney, the last two having been organized in 1784, after the Loyalists had arrived. Though some grants had been made out before these two counties were marked off and are located in Queens and Halifax they are shown in this list in the new counties of Shelburne and Sydney (Antigonish and Guysborough). No attempt was made to revise the list in accordance with later revisions of the boundaries of Annapolis, Cumberland, Hants and Kings, but the general location of these Loyalists will be sufficiently clear to anyone who has a working knowledge of the geography of Nova Scotia. The general purpose of this publication was to collect in as compact a form as possible all the information that has survived on Loyalist settlements in Nova Scotia and to make this accessible to the descendants who are interested. No attempt was been made to discuss the merits or demerits of the Loyalists as such; but two petitions, one of which is well-known, have been added as an appendix to show that even in 1783 the Loyalists themselves differed as to character and temper. Appendix B has been inserted because it tells something of the fate of Colonel Small's followers. More Genealogy & History Resources from Global Genealogy:
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