A Call to the Colours. Kenneth Cox

      LAC’s MG 13, WO 13, holds the nominal rolls of the “Coloured” companies raised by the British to help track down rebels. The authorities knew that they could depend on Upper and Lower Canada’s black citizens to support the government because slavery had been abolished in Upper Canada in the 1790s and in the British Empire in 1834. The British were counting on the black settlers (mostly Loyalists and escaped and freed slaves) and Native population of British North America to want no part of American republicanism. Four battalions were formed.

      Muster Roll of Coloured Troops. LAC, MG13, muster rolls of militia, 1837–1850, B series.

      The Durham Report resulted in the 1841 Act of Union uniting Upper and Lower Canada and changing their names to Canada East (Quebec) and Canada West (Ontario). The geographic origin of public records for these two regions from 1841 until 1867 were referred to as CE (Canada East) and CW (Canada West). Likewise the government offices for the Parliament of the United Canadas alternated between Kingston, Canada West, and Montreal, Canada East.

      In 1849 the Government of the United Canadas passed into law the Rebellions Losses Bill compensating former Reformers/Patriotes for damages committed by government troops during the Rebellions. The result was riots in Montreal and the burning of the Parliament buildings in that city. In 1854, Queen Victoria decided to resolve the issue of the capital of Canada by selecting Bytown, later Ottawa, as the seat of government.

      The Act of Union was designed not only to unite the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada with an equal number of seats assigned to each in the new Parliament, but also to assimilate the French Canadians and encourage them to give up their language and customs. By the early 1860s, the Parliament of the United Canadas was again in deadlock. Eventually the British North America Act would create the Confederation of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia on 1 July 1867.

      WHAT HAPPENED TO THE HUNDREDS OF INDIVIDUALS WHO WERE TRIED AND SENTENCED FOR TREASON?

      If one of your ancestors was a Reformer in Upper Canada or a Patriote in Lower Canada he might have been sent to Botany Bay in Australia onboard a convict ship. The only way you will know is by checking some of the lists of individuals tried by court martial found in archival documents or online.

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      On Olive Tree Genealogy you can find a list of men sentenced to death as a result of Dr. Duncombe’s rising near Brantford: Horatio Hill, Stephen Smith, Charles Walworth, Ephraim Cook, John Tufford, and Nathan Town, as well as the names of those charged in the Short Hills Insurrection: Samuel Chandler (banished), James Morreau (executed), William Reynold, Garret Van Camp, August Linus, Wilson Miller, George Cooley, Norman Mallory, Loren Hedge, George Buck, James Genmill, Murdoch McFadden, Freeman Brady, Robert Kelly, Ebenezer Rice, David Taylor, Abraham Clarke, John T. McNulty, John Grant, Street Chase, James Waggoner, Edward Seymour, Alexander McLeod, Benjamin Wait (banished).[4]

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      You can find a list of the 1,048 individuals tried for treason and acquitted or either executed or transported to Australia in The Patriots and the People. There I found Louis Turcott — acquitted — in the list of names.[5] The actual document published by the Colonial Office in 1840 provides a complete return of the persons imprisoned in Lower Canada. A great deal of information about the individuals is provided, including whether or not their sentence was executed or commuted. The report, entitled “Return to an Address of the Honourable the House of Commons” and dated 27 February 1839, is available at the Toronto Reference Library.

      In Upper Canada, only two individuals were hanged for their part in the rebellions: Samuel Lount and Peter Matthews. Many of those condemned to death had their sentences commuted because of general indignation amongst the people of the colonies. For instance, Joseph Sheard, architect and later mayor of Toronto, blatantly refused to build the gallows for Lount and Matthews’s execution, stating, “Lount and Matthews have done nothing that I might not have done myself, and I’ll never help to build a gallows to hang them.”[6]

      WHY MIGHT MY ANCESTORS HAVE BEEN SENT TO AUSTRALIA?

      It was Captain James Cook’s report that convinced the British Admiralty of the suitability of Botany Bay as a prison for convicts. Previously, Britain had been in the habit of sending undesirables convicted of a wide variety of crimes to the Thirteen Colonies. However, the end of the American Revolution and the creation of the United States put an end to the availability of this region. The first fleet of prisoners arrived at Sydney Cove on 26 January 1788, and the final group arrived in 1868. Some 150 persons convicted of treason were sent to Australia on two ships, the Canton and the Marquis of Hastings.[7]

      Your ancestors who lived during this period saw some interesting changes as the colony of British North America slowly assumed more responsibility for government and military defence. By the 1850s England was beginning to distance herself from Canada, allowing the colonies to rely more on their own militia for defence. After the Aroostook War in the mid 1850s, over the boundary between New Brunswick and the State of Maine, the whole structure of our military changed. In 1855 the government enacted the Militia Act, which established an Active Militia (permanent) of 5,000 officers and men, and a Sedentary Militia (only called out in times of need to supplement the active militia) of 100,000 officers and men. The Militia Act saw the growth of many new units, each assigned a battalion number and title. These changes occurred just in time to face the challenges of the upcoming decades.[8]

      Jean Baptiste Turcott must have received his land grant as his name doesn’t appear on any of the lists of individuals tried for treason; he clearly states in his application that he served in the 4th Battalion as a corporal. A relative, Louis Turcott, must have been accused of treason by someone or was seen in the company of suspected Patriotes but was acquitted by the court in Montreal. Shortly after the events in Lower Canada, Jean Baptiste must have moved to Wolfe Island, Frontenac County, Canada West. There he and one of his sons, Joseph, refer to themselves as sailors when registering children on the local Catholic parish registers. They can both be found in archival documents working for the government, transporting immigrants to the quarantine station on Grosse Isle. Perhaps that is where Joseph, my wife’s great-grandfather, met his future wife, Mary O’Herne.

      RESOURCES FOR THE REBELLIONS OF 1837–1838

      LAC

      These records will provide you with the nominal rolls, pay lists, etc. of the British units stationed in North America as well as the Canadian militia units.

      • RG 9, series IB5, vols. 5–10, reels T3488 and T3489 contain militia records, 1824–47.

      • RG 9, series IB7, vol. 8, 1837/38, hold registers of officers of the militia units involved in 1837/38.

      • RG 9, series IA5, vol. 20, ref. R1023-13-7-E, available on microfilm, contains a list of militia officers dismissed for disloyalty.

      • RG 9, series IA5, 1808–1846, provides a register of officers, Lower Canada, reels: T6943 and T6944 (1831–46), T6945 — officers dismissed (1837/38).

      • RG 5 – B36 & B37, trials (37/38) and court martial (1838/39) in the London District.

      • RG 5 – B38, results of Court of Queen’s Bench in England, releasing 10 of 23 men slated for transportation to Australia.

      • RG 5 – B39, review of conduct of Colonel J. Prince at the Battle of the Windmill.

      • RG 5 – B41, an outline of the court martial at Kingston’s Fort Henry.

      • RG 5 – B44, covers claims for losses incurred during the rebellions.

      • WO 13, NA, MG 13, vols. 3673–3717, reels B2916–B2917, B2976–B2977, B2995, B3159 to B 3196 will provide you with muster rolls etc., of British units stationed in North America during the rebellions.

      • MG 24 – B2 Ref. #R12320-0-5-F contain the family papers of Louis-Joseph Papineau.

      • MG 24 – A25 Ref. # R2451-0-5-E allows access to the