courage, and industry in settling this country; or who, as it is
beautifully expressed in the following letter, 'with their hoes planted
the germ of its future greatness.'

"Yours very faithfully,

"E. RYERSON.

"Toronto, February 15, 1875."

"ANCASTER, July 23rd, 1861.

"REV. AND DEAR SIR,--

"I have long wished some person would give the world a true history of
that much-traduced and suffering people, the U.E. Loyalists; and I
assure you that when your circular came I was greatly rejoiced to learn
that they would at least get justice from such an able source as
yourself; and if the plain narrative of the sufferings of my forefathers
will assist you in the least in your arduous and praiseworthy
undertaking, I will be exceedingly gratified.

"My great-grandfather emigrated from Germany in the reign of Queen Anne.
He settled near the Mohawk river, at a creek that still bears his name
(Bowman's Creek). My grandfather, Jacob Bowman, joined the British army
in the French war; at the conclusion of peace he was awarded 1,500
acres of land on the Susquehanna river, where he made improvements until
the revolutionary war broke out. The delicate state of my grandmother
obliged him to remain at home, while nearly all that remained firm to
their allegiance left for the British army.

"He was surprised at night, while his wife was sick, by a party of
rebels, and with his eldest son, a lad of sixteen years of age, was
taken prisoner; his house pillaged of every article except the bed on
which his sick wife lay, and that they stripped of all but one blanket.
Half an hour after my grandfather was marched off, his youngest child
was born. This was in November. There my grandmother was, with an infant
babe and six children, at the commencement of winter, without any
provisions, and only one blanket in the house. Their cattle and grain
were all taken away.

"My father, Peter Bowman, the eldest son at home, was only eleven years
old. As the pillage was at night, he had neither coat nor shoes; he had
to cut and draw his firewood half a mile on a hand-sleigh to keep his
sick mother from freezing; this he did barefooted. The whole family
would have perished had it not been for some friendly Indians that
brought them provisions. One gave my father a blanket, coat and a pair
of mocassins. A kind squaw doctored my grandmother, but she suffered so
much through want and anxiety that it was not until spring that she was
able to do any