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America 250: Loyalists

Resources to help celebrate the Semiquincentennial of American independence. July 4, 2026 will make the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Merritt, Nathaniel

Raynor, Joseph Sr.

Articles about Loyalists

Metz, Clinton E. [Untitled]. Long Island Graphic and Roosevelt Press. March 20, 1975, 7.  Accessed July 18, 2024. https://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=ligr19750320-01.1.19.

Discusses the rumored poison plot on George Washington. Warrant issued for 34 Tories in Valley Stream area. Skirmish at Watts' Millpond. Two fugitives escaped to Hungry Harbor to board the British ship Asia.  The article also mentions Captain Richard Hewlett as being a Loyalist and having munitions stored on his property.

Hempstead South Militia

On July 11, 1780, the British ship Glatea ran ashore near Hog Island [Island Park]. The damaged bilged forced the men aboard the ship to jump overboard and swim ashore.  These mem included:

Richard Green Ezekiel Raynor Isaac Smith
John Mott Reuben Pine Joseph Smith
Joseph Mott Benjamin Palmer Abe Southard (wounded)
Joseph Rainer W.R. Smith Elijah Raynor
Amos Shaw

After a six-hour skirmish with Patriots, 26 more members of the Hempstead South Militia came as reinforcements:

Lt. McKain* W. Pearsall Barnabas Smith
James Denton David Pine Israel Smith
Stephen Powell W. Johnson Samuel Johnson
Abraham Simonson William Pettet James Pettet
James Southard Elijah Cornwall Reuben Jackson
Elijah Hadley --------- Venson (a refugee) Morris Green
M. Demott (a trooper) Thomas Burtis (a trooper) William Burtis
Joseph Dorlon Joshua Pettet Uriah Seaman
Alex Dunlap**

*an officer on half pay

** Commanded a boat with this part in it, is a North Briton, and a loyal Refugee, who  bravely joined the militia of Loyal Queens, with whom the rebel crew capitualted.

Source:

Onderdonk, Henry. Documents and Letters Intended to Illustrate the Revolutionary Incidents of Queens County; with Connecting Narratives, Explanatory Notes, and Additions. Leavitt, Trow and Company: New York, 1846. Accessed December 13, 2024. https://archive.org/details/documentsletters00onde_0/page/n201/mode/2up?q=raynor.

Loyalists from Colonial Hempstead

Hewlett family

Mott family

Pearsall family

Ludlow family

Clowes family

Denton family

Daniel Kissam

Thomas Hicks

Captain Richard Hewlett

Isaac Denton

Justice Samuel Clowes

Gabriel G. Ludlow

Gilbert Van Wyck

Captain Jacob Mott

Thomas Cornell

Captain Charles Hicks

Samuel Clowes

George Weeks

John Townsend

Dr. Samuel Martin

Daniel Kissam, Jr.

Benjamin Kissam

Stephen Hewlett

Joseph Beagle

Thomas Hicky

Timothy Clowes

Isaac Smith

George Ryarson

James Smith

John Hewlett

George D. Ludlow

John Willet

Whitehead Hicks

Thomas Wooley

George Smith

Justice Joseph Bedell

Nathan Smith

Daniel Smith

Benjamin Pettit

Jeremiah Bedel

Townsend Weeks

Josiah Martin

Elizabeth Hicks

Joshua Mills

Sheriff Thomas Willet

Judge Thomas Jones

Benjamin Lester

Benjamin Hewlett

David Brooks

Joseph Greswold

Dr. Adam Seabury

Samuel Langdon

Whitehead Cornell

Richard Townsend

Brigadier General Oliver De Lancey

Colonel Gabriel Ludlow

Dr. Tredwell

Justice Smith

Captain Seaman

Thorne family

Emory Hewlett

George Duncan Ludlow

John Kissam

Joseph Thorne

Stephen Thorne

Thomas Thorne

Hewlett Townsend

Samuel Seabury

James Peters

Thomas Wooley

Thomas Seaman

Stephen Pearsall

Thomas Pearsall

Thomas Smith

Daniel Ketcham

James Ketcham

Abel Southard

Daniel Baldwin

Samuel Washborne

Thomas Spragg

William Peters

Malark Thorne

Uriah Pearsall