1

and fifty-one dollars and eighty-one cents, out of any money in the Treasury, to William A. Duer, John Duer, and Beverly Robinson, trustees of the estate of Sarah Alexander, deceased, who was the widow and devisee of Major General Lord Stirling, in full satisfaction and discharge of a certificate issued to the said Major General Lord Stirling by the State of New Jersey for the three-fourths part of the depreciation of his pay, bearing date the thirty-first of December, seventeen hundred and eighty-one, and amounting to the sum of sixteen hundred and two pounds four shillings and six pence three farthings, bearing interest at the rate of six per centum per annum, from the first of August, seventeen hundred and eighty; which said certificate shall be surrendered by them to the Secretary of the Treasury on receiving the payment thereof. Approved, June 30, 1834.

.11

CHAPTER VII.

Acts of Congress, and a Report of the Secretary of Wur, relating to Refugees from Canada and Nova Scotia during the Revolutionary War.

An Act for the relief of the refugees from the British Provinces of Canada and Nova Scotia. Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That to satisfy the claims of certain persons claiming lands under the resolutions of Congress of the twenty-third of April, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three, and the thirteenth of April, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-five, as refugees from the British Provinces of Canada and Nova Scotia, the Secretary of the Department of War be, and is hereby, authorized and directed to give notice, in one or more of the public papers of each of the States of Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania, to all persons having claims under the said resolutions, to transmit to the War Office, within two years after the passing of this act, a just and true account of their claims to the bounty of Congress.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That no other persons shall be entitled to the benefit of the provisions of the act than those of the following descriptions, or their widows and heirs, viz: First, those heads of families and single persons, not members of any such families, who were residents in one of the Provinces aforesaid prior to the fourth day of July, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-six, and who abandoned their settlements in consequence of having given aid to the United Colonies or States in the revolutionary war' against Great Britain, or with intention to give such aid, and continued in the United States, or in their service, during the said war, and did not return to reside in the dominions of the King of Great Britain prior to the twenty-fifth of November, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three. Secondly, the widows and heirs of all such persons as were actually residents, as aforesaid, who abandoned their settlements as aforesaid, and died within the United States, or in their service, during the said war; and Thirdly, all persons who were members of families at the time of their coming into the United States, and who, during the war, entered into their service.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the proof of the several circumstances necessary to entitle the applicants to the benefits of this act, may be taken before a judge of the supreme or district court of the United States, or a judge of the supreme or superior court, or the first justice or first judge of the court of common pleas or county court, of any State.

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That, at the expiration of fifteen months from and after the passing of this act, and from time to time thereafter, it shall be the duty of the Secretary for the Department of War to lay such evidence of claims as he may have received before the Secretary and Comptroller of the Treasury, and with them proceed to examine the testimony, and give their judgment what quantity of land ought to be allowed to the individual claimants, in proportion to the degree of their respective services, sacrifices, and sufferings, in consequence

of their attachment to the cause of the United States; allowing to those of the first class a quantity not exceeding one. thousand acres ; and to the last class a quantity not exceeding one hundred; making such intermediate classes as the resolutions aforesaid and distributive justice may, in their judgment, require; and make report thereof to Congress. And in case any such claimant shall have sustained such losses and sufferings, or performed such services for the United States, that he cannot justly be classed in any one general class, a separate report shall be made of his circumstances, together with the quantity of land that ought to be allowed him, having reference to the foregoing ratio: Provided, That, in considering what compensation ought to be made by virtue of this act, all grants, except military grants, which may have been made by the United States, or individual States, shall be considered at the just value thereof at the time the same were made, respectively, either in whole or in part, as the case may be, a satisfaction to those who may have received the same: Provided also, That no claim under this law shall be assignable until after report made to Congress as aforesaid, and until the said lands be granted to persons entitled to the benefit of this act.

Sec. 5. Be it further enacted, That all claims, in virtue of said resolutions of Congress, which shall not be exhibited as aforesaid, within the time by this act limited, shall forever thereafter be barred.

Approved April 7, 1798.

NOTE. That part of the ordinance of May 20, 1785, which reserved three townships on lake Erie, for the use of the refugees, was never carried into effect, other lands having been appropriated in lieu thereof, by the preceding and other acts.

Report on the report of the Secretary of War, the Secretary and Comptroller of the Treasury, on the subject of refugees from the British Provinces of Canada and Nova Scotia. Made the 9th of May, 1800. That 73 persons have presented claims as entitled to relief under the provisions of the act of April, 1798; that 18 claims have been disallowed; 6 are suspended for want of sufficient proofs; and 49 have been allowed. In 4 special cases, the Secretaries and Comptroller recommended an allowance of 2,000 acres. The 45 other claimants have been arranged in five classes; allowing to those of the first class, five in number, 1,000 acres each; to those of the second class, fifteen in number, 750 acres each; to those of the third class, fourteen in number, 500 acres each; to those of the fourth class, ten in number, 250 acres each; and to the only claimant of the fifth class, 100 acres-making altogether, and including the special cases, 33,500 acres. The six suspended cases, if allowed, would not increase the quantity of land to 40,000 acres.

The committee, considering that the whole amount of claims falls short of what was generally expected; that all the claimants are original holders; that their losses or sufferings have been considerable; that the greater number are now, and have been for many years, in indigent circumstances; and that not only they have been thus reduced, on account of their having joined the American cause, but have waited twenty years for a compensation, recommend that there should be allowed, to those of the fourth class, half a section, or 320 acres, instead of 250 acres ; and to others in the same proportion; which will make a difference of only 4,740

acres.

On the particular cases, the committee propose only two alterations: The first relates to the case of L. F. Delesdernier, a Nova Scotia refugee, who is placed in the third class at the rate of 500 acres. The claim for his deceased brother John, who enlisted in the army of the United States, and served to the end of the war, and that of his father and mother, have been disallowed. The last is disallowed, because "it is not proved that they were obliged to leave Nova Scotia, nor that they came hither with intent to aid the United States." Although it was proper to have rejected the claim for want of that proof, yet as it appears that on account of their leaving Nova Scotia, during the war, and joining their son, they lost their property, and have ever since been supported by that son, (they being both past seventy, and the father having been deprived of his senses for a number of years,) this appeared to the committee a sufficient reason for raising the son, who was a meritorious and useful officer during the war, from the third to the second class.

The other case is that of the heirs of James Boyd, whose claim is considered by the Secretaries and Comptroller as one of the specific classes, and to whom they have allowed 2,000 acres. The Secretaries and Comptroller state that "James Boyd lost 50,000 acres of land, on which were some valuable improvements, on the east side of what is now known to be the river St. Croix." One of the heirs who attends to the business, considering the compensation as altogether inadequate, has requested that the claim should not be included amongst those now reported on, rather choosing that it should be referred, with the other suspended cases, to the next session of Congress, when there will be time to investigate its merits. The committee recommend a compliance with his request.

With those alterations, and adopting in every other respect the report of the Secretaries and Comptroller, the third section of the bill reported by the committee on the subject of the Nova Scotia and Canada refugees will stand as follows:

That the following persons be entitled, &c., to wit: Martha Walker, widow of Thomas Walker; Edgar and Seth Harding, respectively, 2,240

acres each.

Jonathan Eddy, Colonel James Livingston, Parker Clark, and John Allen, respectively, 1,280 acres each, and to the heirs of John Dodge 1,280

Which several tracts of land shall, except the last, be located in half sections by the respective claimants.

An Act regulating the grants of land appropriated for the refugees from the British Provinces of Canada and Nova Scotia.

Sec. 1. Be it enacted, &c., That the Surveyor General be, and he is hereby, directed to cause those fractional townships of the sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, twentieth, twenty-first, and twenty-second ranges of townships, which join the southern boundary line of the military lands, to be subdivided into half sections, containing three hundred and twenty acres each, and to return a survey and description of the same to the Secretary of the Treasury, on or before the first Monday of December next; and that the said lands be, and they are hereby, set apart and reserved for the purpose of satisfying the claims of persons entitled to lands under the act entitled "An act for the relief of the refugees from the British Provinces of Canada and Nova Scotia."

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Treasury shall, within thirty days after the survey of lands shall have been returned to him as aforesaid, proceed to determine, by lot, to be drawn in the presence of the Secretaries of State and of War, the priority of location of the persons entitled to lands as aforesaid. The persons thus entitled shall severally make their locations on the second Tuesday of January next, and the patents for the lands thus located shall be granted in the manner directed for military lands, without requiring any fee whatever.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the following persons, claiming lands under the above-mentioned act, shall, respectively, be entitled to the following quantities of land, that is to say: Martha Walker, widow of Thomas Walker, John Edgar, P. Francis Cazeau, John Allen, and Seth>> Harding, respectively, two thousand two hundred and forty acres each; Jonathan Eddy, Colonel James Livingston, and Parker Clark, respectively, one thousand two hundred and eighty acres each; and the heirs of John Dodge, one thousand two hundred and eighty acres; Thomas Faulkner, Edward Faulkner, David Gay, Martin Brooks, Lieutenant Colonel Brad'ford, Noah Miller, Joshua Lamb, Atwood Fales, John Starr, William How, Ebenezer Gardner, Lewis F. Delesdernier, John McGown, and Jonas C.. Minot, respectively, nine hundred and sixty acres each; and the heirs of Simeon Chester, nine hundred and sixty acres; Jacob Vander Heyden, John Livingston, James Crawford, Isaac Danks, Major B. Von Heer, Benjamin Thompson, Joseph Bindon, Joseph Levittre, Lieutenant William Maxwell, John de Mercier, James Price, Seth Noble, Martha Bogart, relict of Abraham Bogart and formerly relict of Daniel Tucker, and John Halsted, respectively, six hundred and forty acres each; David Jenks, Ambrose Cole, James Cole, Adam Johnson, the widow and heirs of Colonel Jeremiah Duggan, Daniel Earl, junior, John Paskell, Edward Chinn, Joseph