Lunch and Learn – “Anomalous Characters”: The Children of the Loyalists

Virtual Presentation!

During the American Revolution, wartime loyalties and civilian violence prompted tens of thousands of former colonists to abandon their homes and relocate as refugees to other parts of the British Empire. To cite one, contemporary refrain, “The Tories with their brats and wives/Have fled to save their wretched lives.” As the guns quieted and the smoke cleared, the bitter complaints of the unhappy absentees prolonged the settlement of revolutionary disputes for decades to come.

What would become of the loyalists? Contradictory judicial rulings between Britain and the United States in the aftermath of independence meant adolescent participants in the loyalist exodus retained legal rights to membership within both polities. It was an accident of unsettled disagreements, and an uneasy affront to the long-standing political ideologies which presumed total allegiance to a single national character, and no others. Federal directions were slow to respond. Private citizens more often determined what was possible.

In this virtual presentation, Shea Hendry, a New England Regional Fellowship Consortium grantee, will discuss this complex period and explore how individuals like William Birdseye Peters and Prudence Punderson, both children of prominent Connecticut loyalists, help to reveal the boundaries of the new national divide and its surprising pliancy among the many people who did not yet feel different.

This virtual event is free and open to the public. Get tickets to receive the Zoom link.

Questions? Contact Jen Busa, Public Programs Coordinator at jbusa@connecticutmuseum.org.

About the Speaker: Shea Hendry is a PhD student at the University of Cambridge. Her research is focused on the children of loyalist exiles in the “Age of Revolution,” though she is broadly interested in refugee communities, national identity, and transnational exchange. She previously completed her MS in Library Science, with a concentration in Archive Management, and her MA in History at Simmons University in Boston, Massachusetts.

Image: Payment ordered by Secretary George Wyllys for confiscated estate, Connecticut Comptroller’s Office papers, 1771-1885. Ms 68809, Connecticut Museum of Culture and History.