Spring 2005
Grand River
Service to outlying cities continued.
Classroom Loyalist Studies–Presentations to 3 in Simcoe, 1 in Woodstock, included overheads, costumes of Loyalist children, reading from Sarah’s Diary and writing a letter to grandmother with quill pens. A set of these tools was donated to the museum.
Simcoe: Loyalist Decoration Day, Woodhouse United Church with 3 flags placed at Loyalist tombstones. Port Dover: The 90th anniversary of the Burning of Dover in the War of 1812-14. The raids by Colonel Campbell and General MacArthur were presented by Doris Lemon UE. Owen Sound City Hall: A Flag-raising was greeted by Mayor Ruth Lovell UE. David Morrison UE and Cathy Thompson UE unfurled the flag.
Rockford: June 19th–The gala opening of the new Grey County Archives. Bill Terry UE and Carol Terry UE greeted. Genealogist Cathy Thompson UE held a genealogy workshop.
Port Maitland: July 24–Festival of History with booth staffed by Jim Sweet. Grey-Bruce Branch UELAC Founders’ Meeting was coordinated by Doris Lemon UE and Bill Terry UE with Cynthia Stappels UE and Carol Terry UE in Owen Sound Public Library. Fifteen people attended and will, temporarily, join Grand River Branch.
Simcoe: Branch 30th Anniversary Dinner –September 18, with speaker David Moore who challenged us to know, preserve and celebrate our Loyalist heritage.
Oakville: Marilyn Branch UE gave a costumed presentation to St. Luke’s United Church Women on background of the American Revolution with introduction to Martha Sovereign and Timothy Culver of the Long Point Settlement.
Mississauga: Doris Lemon UE gave costumed presentation to Applewood United Church of Loyalist ancestor Mary Titus Williams.
Waterloo: Doris also spoke to Dr. Kenneth McLaughlin’s first year history class at University of Waterloo, relating family genealogy to history.
Simcoe: Norfolklore Genealogy Fair, our booth was staffed by our volunteers.
Port Rowan: Cathy Thompson UE, in costume, taught tin can punching and bannock baking with Grade Three classes at Backus Conservation Area.
Brantford: Cathy spoke to the Ontario Genealogical Society in Brantford.
Projects 2014 continue: Listing Loyalists sons and daughters who settled in Norfolk, including Windham and Oakland and Burford and locating their lots on a plot plan is well under way. The Project is initiated for Haldimand and Brant. Note: Please submit information.
Donations: 1) Bernice Wood-Flett UELAC Scholarship Fund $100.00; 2) Loyalist Library–Norfolk Historical Society Collection $350.00 and $172.00 to purchase bookshelf to house Grand River Branch archives and books on deposit there for the use of researchers; 3) $100.00 to the Saskatchewan–UEL Cairn project; 4) Funding for the Grey-Bruce Branch Founders’ Meeting; and 5) Purchase of overhead transparencies and ink for classroom presentations at Eva Brook Donly Museum, Simcoe. We acknowledge an Ontario Ministry of Culture $1,100.00 Heritage Grant, which makes education/outreach possible.
19 June 2005–Loyalist Day Tree Planting–everyone invited! St. John’s Anglican Church, Woodhouse, Simcoe.
Fall 2005
Grand River
Loyalist Day, 19 June 2005, was celebrated at St. John’s Anglican Church, Woodhouse, on the outskirts of Simcoe, Ontario. A strawberry social was followed by interesting histories of three Loyalists buried in the nearby churchyard: Abraham A. Rapelje UE by Bill Terry, Jonathan William UE by Suzanne Hines and Ephriam Tisdale UE by Jed Tisdale.
A piper led a parade to the churchyard where the Branch donated a Sweet Gum Tree, requested by the church board, to replace aged Carolinian trees. The tree is a descendant of seed brought to Port Dover in 1795. Doris Wilson, Honorary Vice President, performed the official sod turning. A reporter from the Port Dover Maple Leaf newspaper covered the event and we received great press.
St. John’s Anglican Woodhouse Cemetery is the first of three to be chosen by the Branch wherein Loyalist burial sites will be identified with a sign “Loyalist Burial Site”. The Branch gratefully acknowledges the grant from the UELAC for this project.
The meeting followed the Williams reunion when Doris Ann Lemon introduced her book, Loyalist Captain Jonathan Williams and Mary Titus of Norfolk. Copies were donated to the Eva Brook Donly Museum, Simcoe, to the Ontario Genealogical Society and to the UELAC.
Loyalists in the Long Point Settlement and Loyalists on the Grand, with names and lot locations, continue to be collected and placed on a plot map. An invitation is extended to all UEs to submit names to Doris Ann Lemon.
Loyalist Families of Members of the Grand River Branch. Volume II, is still in the planning stage. A setback occurred when the Ontario Trillium Foundation turned down the application on the grounds that the book had limited appeal for the amount requested. We will now consider the reinstated Federal New Horizons program.