The first records that I found for Charles Tripp, Lottie
Tripp’s great grandfather, were land records. There he was on a list of
settlers in 1797 in Percy, Northumberland in Upper Canada. According to the
same record, most of the settlers were Americans. They were considered
“settlers” once some improvements had been made to the land. So, they had
probably been at that location prior to the list being drawn up to do the work
to the land; improvements which were not that onerous. “As of 1794, a settler
had only to occupy the lot and build a house to get a patent.”[1]
American settlement was not new. British North America had
begun to open up to refugees about 1883 after the American Revolution was over.
Loyalists headed north in droves. While some made their way to the Atlantic
provinces, others ended up in the western part of Quebec. Loyalists were
granted land in their new country but these land grants were basically done by
1786. But still the settlers came. By 1791 the old province of Quebec was split
into Lower and Upper Canada with the former western part of the province
predominantly populated with English speaking newcomers.
The Loyalists were granted land in strategic positions. “Three
main areas were selected: along the Upper St. Lawrence; around Kingston and the
Bay of Quinte; and the Niagara Peninsula.”[2]
The Americans were still perceived as a potential threat so men with military experience,
such as the Loyalists, were to be the first line of defense. This attitude
towards Americans changed with the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada,
John Graves Simcoe. His policy was to actively welcome Americans to settle the
new province with an aim to recruit them back into the British fold. Some
historians have labelled these settlers “Late Loyalists”.
Even after Simcoe left in 1796, new governors were content
to continue to recruit new settlers from south of the border. After all, people
who were used to the rigors of frontier life were best able to cope with the demands
of opening up new areas as settlement crept westward in Upper Canada. Besides, immigrants
from Europe were few and far between since there was a war on.
New territories had opened up in North America. Around the
same time that Upper Canada was promoting settlement, the Ohio territory was
recruiting settlers. For many Americans looking for new land in the west, it
was easier just to cross the lake to access Upper Canada than to make the trek
to Ohio. Lottie Tripp’s great
grandfather was among these settlers. Did this mean that Charles Tripp was a “Late
Loyalist”?
House of early settlers found at Fanshawe Village, Ontario
Sources:
Bumsted, J.M.
The Peoples of Canada: A
Pre-Confederation History. Oxford University Press, Toronto, 1992
Craig, Gerald
M. Upper Canada: The Formative Years,
1784-1841. Oxford University Press, Don Mills, Ontario, 2013
Hall, Roger
and Gordon Dodds, Ontario: 200 Years in
Pictures: A Celebration of Ontario, 1791-1991. Dundurn Press Limited,
Toronto, 1991
[2] Hall, Roger and Gordon Dodds, Ontario: 200 Years in Pictures: A
Celebration of Ontario, 1791-1991. Dundurn Press Limited, Toronto, 1991 p
10
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