Search for content in message boards

Loyalists of New Brunswick

Re: Loyalists of New Brunswick - Daniel Cook

Posted: 16 Apr 2015 9:22PM GMT
Classification: Query
Hi and thank you!

He is known to be a black loyalist.
James Kelsey was b. 1851 in New York to a John and Mary. He came across and settled in Yarmouth Nova Scotia where he married Ada Thompson and had a son James Henry Kelsey, the name is spelled Celsie in a document I found awhile ago. Ada died sometime before the 1881 census. It showed James and James Henry living with her parents in Yarmouth. He was also listed as a sailor between NS and Bermuda....
James Kelsey then married an Elizabeth Dulong(Dulain) and had more children.

Re: Loyalists of New Brunswick - Daniel Cook

Posted: 17 Apr 2015 1:43AM GMT
Classification: Query
Ok, I am confused I guess....don't you mean this James Kelsey was born around 1751?
(The varied spelling can make tracing people difficult sometimes as it was very common for names to be spelled a number of ways--there was no standardized spelling as we know it).

This book does contain known black-Loyalists (as does the PANB website's databases), though for anybody to had been able to serve in the war, they would had to had been born, at the very latest, about 1762, if they enlisted early on (1775-76), or perhaps as late as 1765-66 if they enlisted in the last years (1781-82).

A lot of the New York loyalists left for Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in 1783, in fleets of ships which carried them, their families and supplies to various points in Nova Scotia and what would become New Brunswick. If they petitioned for land from the Crown, those petitions can tell a lot about them (most of the land petitions by the Loyalists were done in 1784-85, though a few date to 1783 and as late as 1786; many had subsequent petitions filed in later years, which are also good to consult as they tend to provide information about the family).

Re: Loyalists of New Brunswick - Daniel Cook

Posted: 17 Apr 2015 3:10PM GMT
Classification: Query
Thank you for the info. I am sorry, I made a mistake...so much information in my head and dates.
To correct myself.... James Kelsey is known to be a descendant of black loyalists. But that still makes no sense to me because his parents John and Mary are presumably from NY, or at least from the states, and James was born in NY.


Ugh I'm sorry, I'm so confused. The more I dig the more it doesn't make sense really.

Re: Loyalists of New Brunswick - Daniel Cook

Posted: 17 Apr 2015 5:57PM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: Cook
Thanks for your reply. I actually bought the book from the United Empire Loyalists and yes, my great-great-great-great grandfather, Daniel Cook, is listed there. I also have land grants issued to him dating 1785ish.

Re: Loyalists of New Brunswick - Daniel Cook

Posted: 18 Apr 2015 12:02AM GMT
Classification: Query
Ok, thanks for the clarification....I searched again and the only one which seems to come close is a John KELLEY, who first had a singular land petition for land at York county, NB in 1784.
http://archives.gnb.ca/Search/RS108/Details.aspx?culture=en-...

The next record is a land grant for a John KELLEY, dated 1797 in Charlotte county, with many other petitioners listed (this was a common occurrence).
http://archives.gnb.ca/Search/RS686/Details.aspx?culture=en-...

I also checked my Loyalists of NB and Old North Esk and found nothing in either that would provide more information.
It was not that uncommon for families, or members of families to later relocate back to the US, so your James might had been born in NY with the parents born or had lived for a time in NB. It would probably take a much more in depth search to find more on them, however. Most counties in NB have marriage records going back to at least the 1820s or so, though many Catholic ones are kept separate, which are available here on Ancestry.com

Re: Loyalists of New Brunswick - Daniel Cook

Posted: 18 Apr 2015 3:24PM GMT
Classification: Query
Ok! Thank you very much for the info.
I'm going to assume that KELLEY isn't the one I'm seeking but who knows.

It's been hard searching for info further back. We have limited accurate info on this line regarding birth places and the surname spellings at the time.

*sigh*

Re: Loyalists of New Brunswick - Daniel Cook

Posted: 20 Apr 2015 1:57PM GMT
Classification: Query
My ancestor is Daniel Cook, not James Kelsey.
per page

Find a board about a specific topic