Benjamin Bailey shows up petitioning for land in Sunbury Co., NB from 1785 to 1808. Of course, before 1785, Sunbury Co. was part of nova Scotia and took in most of the Saint John River Valley. He received grants in Sunbury Co. in 1788 and in Fredericton Parish, York Co (apparently a town lot) in 1788. By 1810 he appears to be settled in Oromocto, Sunbury Co., NB. At:
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nbsunbur/land01.htmis the mention of a petition suggesting that Benjamin was one of the Maryland Loyalists. On the other hand, the 1783 Studholme report at:
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nbsunbur/sunburycountydocu...states:
"7. Benjamin Bailey has a wife and 4 children, a log house and about 6 acres of cleared land. Has been on about 3 years from Merimashee. Plundered and drove off by the rebels; took arms and fought against a privateer's crew, so he says.
This suggests that he was one of William Davidson's pre-Loyalist settlers on the Miramichi River, and left there about 1780. I would think that if he was "Plundered and drove off by the rebels" he was in NB before 1783. If this is the same Benjamin Bailey then the tale of his being a Loyalist is unlikely.
Thomas.