114 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



five daug'hters. The eldest son was 27 years old at the outbreak of 

 the revolution and the youngest seven years of age. All the sons, 

 excepting the youngest Abraham, being of military age were subject 

 to impressment in the American forces and efforts were made to 

 secure them forcibly. The eldest, Peter, escaped from the Americans 

 with great difficulty in 1778 and made his way on foot and alone to 

 Canada. The second son, William, was arrested, accused of being 

 a Tory spy, and, although proven innocent, was mu dered in prison 

 during an altercation with the jailer. During the early period of the 

 war before the British had seized the town of New York, the Loyalists 

 resident in the neighbourhood suffered severely at the hands of the 

 Americans. After the capture of New York many took refuge with 

 the King's forces, leaving their homes in the country which were 

 ransacked by the Americans, while many were driven from their 

 homes in New Jersey and along the Hudson valley, glad to save their 

 lives. 



It is greatly to be regretted that many records of the experiences 

 of the Loyalists during that time of changes have been lost, but when 

 it is remembered that they arrived in Canada in the majority of cases 

 utterly destitute and w^ere at once confronted with the problem of 

 making a livelihood in primeval forest land to which they were wholly 

 unaccustomed, the wonder is that any records were left. Frederick 

 Lampman faithfully maintained the chronicle of his children in the 

 Family Bible, and his son Peter continued the record for another 

 generation, and this Bible is carefully treasured to-day by Frederick's 

 great-great-granddaughter, 160 years after he brought it to America. 

 The book is exactly 200 years old. Another interesting relic exists 

 carefully guarded in the Dominion Archives at Ottawa. It is a peti- 

 tion of Peter Lampman dated 11th October, 1796, for additional 

 grant of family lands, witnessed by G. Ridout, and contains a list 

 of his children in a beautiful hand probably written by his wife. 



The Peace of Paris was signed in 1783, but it brought no good 

 will to the Loyalists from the Americans. Although the latter insisted 

 that the British forces should leave New York immediately, the Com- 

 mandant persistently refused to withdraw his troops until the Loyalists 

 had been safely transported to other lands. Under British protection 

 they departed from the colonies where many of their families had 

 lived for half a century and more, some to the West Indies or to 

 England, and others to Canada. 



In 1784 a great pilgrimage of the Loyalists to Upper Canada 

 began. They travelled by the old Indian trail west from Albany to 

 the lake country of the Mohawks and Iroquois, where the trail divided. 



