United Empire Loyalists

United Empire Loyalists is the name given to individuals who are descendants of British loyalists during the American War of Independence. After these individuals left the 13 rebellious colonies for the two loyal colonies of (1) Nova Scotia (later partly divided into New Brunswick and (2) Quebec (later divided into Upper Canada and Lower Canada and now known respectively as Ontario and Quebec), the Jay Treaty promised them compensation for their lost property although the American Congress essentially refused to "... restore seized property, redress grievances, and permit loyalists to return home to live under the new jurisdiction." (Christopher Moore, The Loyalists: Revolution, Exile, Settlement (1984) ISBN 0771060939 at pg. 148).

In the United Kingdom a Commission for Claims and Losses was established to compensate loyalists if they would relinquish their claims to the British government -- but only about 2000 claims were made. The rest, an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 claims, remain unresolved to this day.

External Links

• The United Empire Loyalists of Canada (http://www.uelac.org) - fraternal association for descendants of Loyalists
• Example of Loyalist claim from New York state (http://www.rootsweb.com/~nyherkim/regiments/loyclaims9.html)