FamilySearch Wiki:From the Colonies to Canada: Researching Your United Empire Loyalists

First Loyalists

 * Fled from the Colonies before the revolutionary war was over

Associated Loyalists

 * Refugees from New York in 1783, evacuated by the British to Canada

Treasury Loyalists

 * Those who fought and returned to England, received pensions

Late Loyalists

 * Went to Upper Canada (Ontario) in the 1790s, usually due to social circumstances

Black Loyalists

 * Formerly enslaved peoples who were offered freedom for fighting on the British side
 * May later moved to Sierra Leone

United Empire Loyalists
The following is specific criteria set out by the United Empire Loyalist Association of Canada (UELAC). UELAC is a membership society for descendants of those who meet the following cirteria:


 * Male or female living in the American colonies as of 19 April 1775 AND Joined the royal standard prior to the Treaty of Paris in 1783
 * OR otherwise demonstrated loyalty to the crown AND settled in land still under the crown
 * OR a soldier in an American Loyalist Regiment disbanded in Canada

Compiled Sources

 * Family Search Digital Library - thousands of biographies and histories related to Loyalists and their descendants
 * FamilySearch Catalog - allows you to find books that have not been digitized but are held by the Family History Library
 * WorldCat - composite catalog of over 10,000 global libraries, many in Canada allowing you to find Loyalist histories near you. Some locations may also do inter-library loans.

British Loyalist Records

 * "UK, American Loyalist Claims, 1776-1835," Ancestry $ - index and images
 * Loyalists could submit claims and recieve compensation for losses sustained during or after the war due to their service.
 * Records are organized by what state your ancestor was living prior to the revolution
 * A nominal index microfilm (not including the original records) can be found at Canadiana Heritage
 * "Carleton Papers – Loyalists and British Soldiers, 1772-1784," Library and Archives Canada - index only
 * Also called the British Headquarters Papers, this collection covers the evacuation efforts of Loyalists.
 * In particular it includes the names of:
 * Refugees leaving from New York 1776-1783
 * Evacuees from Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New York
 * Loyalists arriving in Port Roseway and Shelburne, Nova Scotia
 * "Carleton Papers – Book of Negroes, 1783," Library and Archives Canada - index only
 * While the peace treaty between Britain and the new America required all enslaved who fought for the British to be returned, about 3,000 had already departed for Nova Scotia.
 * A detailed log of those who arrived in Canada was kept in order to repay American enslavers.

Loyalist Military Records

 * "British military and naval records (RG 8, C series)," Library and Archives Canada - images of an index