In the US, siding with England in the Revolutionary War makes you at best a loser and at worst a traitor. But in Canada, being a United Empire Loyalist is a badge of honor. If you can prove your descent from one, you can apply for a lineage society, earning the right to put UEL after your name and on your license plate. The town of Shelburne, Nova Scotia, where we visited my grandfather's family most summers, was the setting for my first genealogy discoveries. (see Acker Pedigree Chart and Acker Family Descendant Charts) Shelburne has a tourism economy based on the town's founding in 1783. At the entrance, a large sign flanked by a redcoated colonist, ripe for photo ops, proclaims that Shelburne was founded by United Empire Loyalists. After one childhood photo op, I asked my mother's cousin Doris if our family were UE Loyalists. She said she didn't know. At age 8, I decided that someday when I was old enough, I would find out. me with my mother's cous...
Photos, stories, and memorabilia across generations