William Paine’s Instructions for Inoculation

Throughout the eighteenth century smallpox was sweeping the Americas and Europe, and in an attempt to reduce the number of deaths, physicians were practicing inoculation on those who were not ill in order to keep them from becoming sick with smallpox, much like today, when we receive vaccinations in order to avoid sickness.

To be free or not to be: that is the question

One of the first motions recorded in the Journal of the House of Assembly of the Province of New Brunswick was that of Mr. James Campbell, a representative for the County of Charlotte, who moved to bring in a bill to regulate servants.

Simeon Perkins: A Liverpool Loyalist?

Nova Scotia was one of the thirteen colonies which remained in the British fold during the American Revolution. Within the province, there existed a stark divide in sentiment, in particular between urban and rural inhabitants.

Two Seasonal Poems and a Question

The following handwritten poems were unexpectedly found among the more predictable administrative documents of the Records of Shelburne County Court of General Quarter Sessions (originals held by the Nova Scotia Archives).  They were penned in the town of Shelburne, Nova Scotia in the early 1830s and signed by Olivia Rosamond/ Rosomond Enslow.

Fighting for the Crown?: Irish Catholic Loyalists in the Military, Part 1

An entire regiment of soldiers of Irish Catholic origin fighting for the British Crown was quite an unusual situation in the British Atlantic World at the end of the eighteenth century, but two such a groups were created in the colonies of Pennsylvania and New York during the American Revolution.  Irish Catholic participation in British military campaigns during this period is particularly intriguing for two reasons.  Firstly, instances of Catholics

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