My husband in front of Butler's Barracks,
Niagara-on-the-lake, Ontario
I met my husband for the first time in April of 1998, but something about him seemed so familiar, like we've known each other all our lives. As I started researching my family history, I researched his family, the Bradts. I discovered that several of his ancestors were Loyalists, and they served in John Butler's Corp of Rangers. As a matter of fact, John Butler was married to Catherine Bradt.Niagara-on-the-lake, Ontario
I soon was reading all about the Butler's Rangers and even bought a few books so that I could learn more about them, Ontario People 1796-1803 transcribed and annotated by E. Keith Fitzgerald, Butler's Rangers, The Revolutionary Period by E. Cruikshank, and a few months ago, An Annotated Nominal Roll of the Butler's Rangers 1777 - 1784 With Documentary Sources compiled and arranged by Lt.-Col. William A. Smy, OMM, CD, UE.
I learned a lot about where his family came from and where they ended up. Before the Revolutionary war, they lived in Tryon County, New York in the Mohawk Valley. They joined Butler's Rangers and after the war, they were granted land in the Home District (Niagara region).
When I started reading my latest book, I discovered that my loyalist Haines ancestors came from the Mohawk Valley before the war. They came from Germany about 1760, in all likelyhood, at the request of Sir William Johnson, who wanted to create a town by inviting Scottish and German families to immigrate and lease land from him. According to the book, Joseph Haines, Sr. leased 100 acres from Sir Wiliam Johnson, and raised his family of seven there until the revolutionary war broke out. He and his sons served in the Butler's Rangers, alongside the Bradts. They went to Lachine, Quebec with the Rangers at the end of the war and were granted land in the Home District.
My great-grandfather was born and raised in Niagara Twp., and moved to Elgin County in the 1880's and to Essex County in the 1890's. My husband's family came from the Niagara area to Haldimand County in the 1870's and then to Essex County in the 1890's.
So, it seems like our ancestors were neighbours and possibly friends, so I like to think that it was with some help from both fo our ancestors that we met, and now, five generations later, the Bradt and Haines families are reunited.