Ministry of
Government and Consumer Services
Diffusion Materials D 357
4 reels of microfilm (textual records)
This diffusion material consists of microfilm copies of evidence books held by the Library of Congress, Washington, DC, containing the submissions and depositions of United Empire Loyalists requesting financial assistance from the British Crown. The evidence is arranged chronologically by the date it was submitted; some volumes are missing. The material also includes a report submitted in 1785 by the commissioners appointed by the British Government to adjudicate the claims.
In 1783, the British Government appointed commissioners to hear and adjudicate claims made by Loyalists for compensation for their losses during the American Revolution. Two commissioners, Colonel Thomas Dundas and Jeremy Pemberton, were appointed in 1785 to come to British colonies in North America to hear claims not previously received. The commissioners heard evidence until the end of 1786, but their work continued until 1790.
The original evidence books and the related report were kept by Colonel Thomas Dundas, one of the commissioners appointed to adjudicate United Empire Loyalists' claims, and his family. The family donated them to the Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC, in 1861. They were later transferred to the Library of Congress, also in Washington. The Archives of Ontario later acquired a microfilm copy of these records.
D 12 Loyalist claims diffusion material includes the Commissioners' official evidence books, arranged by American state of origin of the claimants, as well as the other records of the commissioners.
Location of originals: Originals records are located at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC. See Records of the Loyalist claims commissioners, MSS 18,667.
To access this material at the Archives of Ontario, use microfilm MS 721, reels 1 to 4, which are available on self-serve in the Reading Room.
Contact the Library of Congress for information on other means of access to this material.
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