Described by Dr Leah Grandy
Come explore the newly refreshed catalogue site for The Loyalist Collection. The website now features a new layout and menu, improved searching and browsing, searchable PDF finding aids, up-to-date news on the front page, enhanced access to the Marianne Grey Otty Database, and a tabular version of Esther Clark Wright’s New Brunswick Loyalist Index which enables searching.
Newly added to The Loyalist Collection catalogue is a searchable transcription of Esther Clark Wright’s New Brunswick Loyalist Index, the most valuable finding aid when commencing research on individual New Brunswick Loyalists. Clark Wright described the index as follows: “The list shows, where information could be obtained, the names of heads of families or single men of eighteen years of age and upwards, their former homes, their service during the Revolution, their first grants, their subsequent grants and/ or place of residence.” The published index was transcribed and entered into Excel file format by UNB Libraries staff to facilitate use by researchers and is available via the catalogue record. The index includes information on over 6,000 individuals.
The Marianne Grey Otty Database, which features transcribed Anglican Church records from the early loyalist settler period, also has recently been updated for improved searching and usability. The original nine record books were kept by a series of travelling ministers centred in Gagetown, Queens County and covered the years 1786 to 1841, containing lists of marriages, baptisms, and deaths. The books are held by the New Brunswick Museum Archives (NBM Inventory No. 438) and were transcribed by author and local historian, Marianne Grey Otty (1890-1963). In turn, this database was based on a microform copy of Otty’s work from The Loyalist Collection at UNB Libraries.
The Loyalist Collection site provides continued access to specialized guides, New Brunswick Loyalist Journeys story maps, Atlantic Loyalist Connections blog posts, and other resources for researchers.
This article was originally published in Loyalist Trails, a free weekly newsletter published by Doug Grant UE, Editor and The United Empire Loyalists’ Association of Canada (UELAC). All past issues of Loyalist Trails, including the first issue in 2004, are available at https://uelac.ca/loyalist-trails/#past
Permission to reproduce this article was given by Doug Grant to OGS Kingston Branch.
