Hannah Ingraham hadn’t seen or heard from her father for seven, long years. When her father left to fight with the King’s American Regiment in the American Revolution, Hannah was four years old; her brother John was two. In 1783, Benjamin Ingraham returned to his New Concord, New York home. He found his farm and animals confiscated by the Patriots, his wife now paying rent so the family could stay in their own home. It was time for the Ingraham family to leave.
Loyalists No Longer Welcome
Those wishing to remain faithful to the monarchy were ill-treated, their property and belongings seized. Some were terrified of retribution by the American Rebels, others were unscathed but still forced to depart. No longer welcomed by his neighbours, “Benjamin spent but a few days at home, only long enough for the family to pack up what they could take with them into exile,” said Earle Thomas in “Hannah Ingraham and the war memorial” in the Spring 2004 issue of The Loyalist Gazette. Boarding a ship sailing on the Hudson River for New York City, the Ingrahams “sailed in one of the vessels of the Fall Fleet to what is now Saint John.”
Sailing for Nova Scotia
“This was September,” Hannah Ingraham said, according to CBC Learning’s “Canada: A People’s History: A Question of Loyalties, Brave New Worlds.” “The transport that was to bring us to St. John’s was the last transport of the season and had on board all those who could not come sooner.”
Receiving a grant of 200 acres for his loyalty to the British, Ingraham and his family sailed up the St. John River for St. Anne’s, later to be called Fredericton. The initial settlement was rough, barely liveable with a shortage of food and inadequate shelter. Many of the new immigrants arrived with almost no possessions or money. Spending the winter in tents, the refugees suffering was made more miserable by melting snow and rain leaking through the tent material. The cold water “would soak up into our beds as we lay.” Ingraham mentioned. Many Loyalists did not survive the frigid season, disease, and near famine conditions, but young Hannah and her family endured.
With Spring Came Tools
The Nova Scotia government issued rudimentary tools and supplies to the Loyalists in the spring. Building a home with wood and nails was a momentous moment for Ingraham. “There was no floor laid, no windows, no door, but we had a roof at least,” she noted. On “Canada: A Peoples’ History,” Ingraham’s writings added a hint at the fear the refugees must have experienced during their first months in Canada. Quoting her mother’s words, Ingraham wrote, “Thank God we are no longer in danger of having shots fired through our house.”
Home on Bear Island
Hannah Ingraham’s parents Benjamin and Jerusha finished the family home, and added a third child to the family, Ira Ingraham’s father died in 1810, her mother died seven years later. Ingraham’s brother John married and moved to Queensbury with his wife (now called Bear Island) when he grew up. With her brother Ira and his family, Ingraham also relocated to Bear Island in 1823, living only a short distance away from John’s family on the St. John River.
Recounting her story to the local minister’s wife, Mrs. Tippet, Hannah Ingraham’s experiences were published in “The Hannah Ingraham Story.” The Canada War Museum included an image of the courageous woman in the exhibit covering the American Revolution. “In her white frilly cap and collar, she gazes sternly at the visitors, reminding them of the suffering and sacrifices of her brave and determined people...,” said Thomas.
Hannah Ingraham Died 1869
A young girl who grew into a woman of strength and capability in Fredericton, Nova Scotia, Canada, Hannah Ingraham lived with Ira and his family until her death on February 23, 1869. She was buried in the Bear Island Cemetery. The spinster was a remarkable 97 years of age at her passing, completing the story of one of the many extraordinary immigrants who helped to build Canada.
Sources:
- Thomas, Earle, “Hannah Ingraham and the war memorial,” The Loyalist Gazette, Spring 2004 Accessed January 25, 2012
- “Canada: A People’s History: A Question of Loyalties, Brave New Worlds,” CBC Learning Accessed January 25, 2012
Susanna McLeod - Intriguing Canadians, the art of cartoonists, and fascinating moments in Canada's history have kept Susanna McLeod writing for 16 years.
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