Misfortune and Distress: Alida Vrooman (1747– ?)

The Isles of Montreal, 1761.
Source: Bibliothèque de l'Université McGill

The trial and execution of Lieutenant Henry Hare during the Revolutionary War is well documented in both primary and secondary sources. Far less has been written about what happened afterwards to his wife, Alida, and to their seven children.

Alida Vrooman, the daughter of Barent Henry Vrooman and Volkje Wemple, was baptised at Schenectady, New York on June 17, 1747. On April 15, 1765 at Stone Arabia, she married Henry Hare, son of John and Mary Hare. Henry was born about 1742 near Fort Hunter in the Mohawk Valley. During the Seven Years War (1754–1763) he briefly served in Captain Wendell's company of Roger's Rangers before joining the British Indian Department under Sir William Johnson.

Henry rejoined the Indian Department during the Revolutionary War and appears as a Lieutenant on the Indian Department's pay lists beginning on May 19, 1776. This date corresponds with the day that Sir John Johnson and his supporters fled Johnstown for Canada.

In February 1777, Henry and a "faithfull Indian" were dispatched from Point Claire on the Île de Montréal back to the Mohawk Valley where they were to wait for letters addressed to Johnson. A month later they started back to with "Several large Packets of Letters" but became separated when they "were pursued and fired upon by a Number of People on Foot and some on Horseback." Henry's native companion destroyed the letters and thinking Henry was dead, returned to the Île de Montréal by a circuitous route. Hare, however, had escaped his pursuers and had arrived safely back at Point Claire two days earlier.

A number of secondary sources wrongly claim that Henry spent several months in jail in Hartford. For example, in his history of the King's Royal Regiment of New York (KRRNY), Ernest Cruickshank wrote:

On May 2 [1777] the arrival was announced of Frederick and John Dochstader with Lieut. Henry Hare, who had been confined for seven months at Hartford in Connecticut, but had escaped. Hare in company with an Indian had been given three large packets of letters for Sir John Johnson and Gray at Johnstown on March 18, but being hotly pursued the Indian had destroyed the letters and parted from his companion.

Cruickshank's source is a report found in the Haldimand Papers, dated April 23, 1777, prepared by Major James Gray who was temporarily in command of the KRRNY. The awkward grammar used by Gray led Cruickshank to conclude that Hare was jailed as well as Frederick and John Dochstader. Cruickshank's date is also nine days later than the date of Gray's report.

Henry would likely have been at the Siege of Fort Stanwix and the Battle of Oriskany in August 1777. Officers from the Indian Department were also present at the Battle of Wyoming in July 1778, and the Cherry Valley Massacre in November 1778.

Detail from Map of the County of Albany c. 1762
Source: British Library

Meanwhile, Alida and her children remained at home in the Mohawk Valley. Several years before the war, Henry had purchased 109 acres on the south side of the Mohawk River opposite Fort Johnson. By 1775, 40 acres had been cleared and "improved." Their farm had a house, barn, and stable, as well as six cows, five horses, nine sheep, 16 hogs, and a waggon.

Alida and Henry had seven children. Ally, John, Faulky, William, Peter, Barent, and Catey appear on the undated "List of Prisoners in the Hands of Congress" found in the Haldimand Papers and believed to have been prepared by Captain Walter Butler in March 1779.

Catey is a diminutive of Katherine. Barent, who was named after Alida's father, may have been born Barent Barnabas Hare. Barent is an uncommon given name in Dutch so he went by Barnabas which would be more familiar to English and French speakers. Faulky is a misspelling of Volkje (Alida's mother). Her birth name may have been Volkje Maria Hare and she later went by Mary. Ally (Alida) died before May 1780, while Peter died sometime between August 1788 and June 1798.

In their 1798 Upper Canada Land Petition, John, Barnabas, William, Mary, and Katherine identified themselves as "the children of Lieutenant Henry Hare who was made prisoner last American War and Hung as a Spy."

Henry's activities in the months prior to his execution are known. In the spring of 1779, in response to intelligence that the Americans were planning an expedition against the Haudenosaunee, Major John Butler had brought his Rangers from Fort Niagara to Canadasago, a Seneca village located between the northern ends of Seneca and Canandaigua lakes. At the same time, parties of Indigenous warriors accompanied by Indian Department officers were sent on reconnaissance missions to the Mohawk and Susquehanna River valleys.

On May 1, 1779, Captain Dietrich Brehm, aide-de-camp to Governor Frederick Haldimand, reported from Carleton Island: "Mr. Hair an Indian Officer arrived from a Skout at Fort Stanwix with a prisoner."

Three weeks later, Butler reported from Canadasago: "I daily expect to hear from Lieutenant Henry Hare who is gone down to Fort Hunter."

On June 4, Henry again set off from Canadasago for the Mohawk Valley in company with Sergeant William Newberry and 19 Mississauga warriors. On June 19, Henry and Newberry were captured by Patriot militia and brought to Canajoharie where they were tried the next day. Henry was executed the following morning, while Newberry was executed a week later.

Many accounts of Henry's hanging claim that while his primary mission was to spy on the enemy, a secondary "domestic" mission was to bring gifts for Alida. The first version of this story appears in Jeptha Root Simms's History of Schoharie County And Border Wars of New York, published in 1845:

Hare brought home for his wife several articles of clothing, such as British calicoes, dress-shawls, Indian mocasons, &c., and on the very day he set out to return to Canada, she was so imprudent as to put them on and go visiting.

It is highly unlikely that Henry carried a calico dress in his knapsack for several months as he travelled through the wilderness spying for the British. It is even more unlikely that Hare acquired such an item at Fort Niagara or Carleton Island, or had found the time to visit a dressmaker in Montreal.

Keeping the British forts on the Great Lakes supplied with provisions, gunpowder, and other goods was challenging. Stores had to be transported by bateau from Lachine on the Île de Montréal up the St. Lawrence River to Carleton Island. At Carleton Island goods were transferred to one of His Majesty's vessels which would then sail to Fort Niagara. For five months of the year, ice on the St Lawrence River prevented any resupply. Military stores had priority, and there was little room for luxury goods.

Both Butler and Lieutenant Colonel Mason Bolton, the officer commanding at Fort Niagara, frequently mentioned the scarcity of provisions and clothing in their reports to Governor Haldimand. Following Butler's return to Fort Niagara in September 1779, Bolton sent Haldimand a list of items needed that included hundreds of blanket coats, shoes, shirts, and stockings, as well as sugar, cheese, tobacco, quills and writing paper.

Richard Cartwright, who was with Butler at Canadasago, wrote to Francis Goring, an employee of Cartwright's uncle at Niagara, "I wish you could send me soon a couple of Pairs of Trousers as I am beginning to grow ragged." Later than year John Warren, commissary at Fort Erie, wrote to Goring, "For God's sake keep three or four pair of women's shoes till I come, for our folks are barefoot."

More recently, a number of researchers have added that the gifts were for Alida's birthday. The records of the Dutch Reformed Church of Schenecdaty, however, only show that Alida was baptised on June 17, 1747. Her date of birth is unknown.

According to Sergeant Newberry's testimony, Alida actively helped her husband spy on the enemy. During his trial he stated that "Hairs wife went backwards and forwards every day to gain Intiligence for us."

At some point following Henry's execution, Alida and her children abandoned their home and fled to Montreal. On May 10, 1780 she submitted a petition to Governor Haldimand:

     That Your Petitioner, is a Poor Widow, with six small Children, without any means to support them, the want of Every necessary of life and the Continual Insults of the Rebels obliged her to leave the Province of New York and Come off to this place.
     Your Petitioner's Husband, two Brothers and nephew, distinguished themselves as friends to Government, On the Breaking out of the present Rebellion and Entered into his Majesties Service—One of the said Brothers, a Capt in the Indian department, was killed at Fort Stanwix in 77, (the other, is now a Capt. in Leuit. Col. Butlers Rangers,'' and the nephew a Leuit. in said Corps—Your Petitioners, Husband and three Brothers served during the last War, in the Indian Department, under the late Sir William Johnson Bart. And your petitioners said Husband being Ordered on a Scout, last Summer, was taken by the Rebels: who Charged with being a Spy—Tryed him for the same, an Unjust Tryal Condemn'd him, in Consequence of which, he was Executed, whereby your Petitioner is Rendered Miserable, poor and Needy—her Situation emboldens her to Crave your Excellency Support and Protection Humbly praying, Your Excellency will take the same into Consideration, and Allow such a Yearly supply or Aid, as your Justice may see fit, in Order to Assist her and her Distressed Children.
     And Your Petitioner, will Ever pray, as in duty bound
     Montreal the 10th May 1780

In consideration of Alida's "misfortune and distress," Haldimand authorized a yearly pension of £20.

On the Return of Loyalist Refugees dated November 24, 1780, Alida was recorded at Montreal as "Mrs. Hare" and was receiving rations for herself and five children. At fourteen years of age, her son John, was considered a "man grown" capable of sustaining himself. John joined Butler's Rangers as a volunteer the following spring.

Sometime between April 1781 and September 1781, Alida married Adam Empey, son of Philip Empey (1726–1795) and Maria Elizabeth Barbara Schultz. Adam was born at Stone Arabia on 16 Apr 1755. In May 1777 he left his home in the Mohawk Valley, made his way to the Île de Montréal, and enlisted in the KRRNY. He would later be joined by his five brothers, two cousins, and his father.

It is frequently stated that Alida "married First Sergeant Adam Empey" even though "First Sergeant" is not a rank in the British Army. Surviving records of the KRRNY show that Adam was a corporal in 1781 and 1782. Adam refers to himself as a corporal in an 1784 petition, however, a petition submitted in 1804 by Alida refers to "the late Adam Empey who served His Majesty in the Capacity of Sergeant in Sir John Johnsons Regiment."

Adam participated in the Siege of Fort Stanwix in August 1777, the Raid on Johnstown in May 1780, and the Battle of Klock's Field in October 1780. He served with the KRRNY until December 24, 1783 when the first of the regiment's two battalions was disbanded.

In June 1784 the discharged soldiers of the KRRNY began to settle the newly surveyed townships on the north side of the St Lawrence River west of Montreal. Over 1400 men, women, children made the arduous journey upriver from Lachine to the site of New Johnstown (present day Cornwall). To determine where their grant of land would be each Loyalist drew from a hat a slip of paper which contained the location of a lot. Then began the process of taming the wilderness—cutting down trees to clear the land and provide the material needed to built log houses in what in 1787 became known as Lancaster, Charlottenburg, Cornwall, Osnabruck, Williamsburg, and Matilda townships. In 1788 these six townships became part of the Lunenburg District which was renamed the Eastern District in 1792.

The maps prepared by surveyor Patrick McNiff show that Adam's father and brothers drew lots in Cornwall Township east of the New Johnstown townsite. Adam, however, did not joined the rest of his family at New Johnstown until the following year and therefore did not participate in the initial drawing of lots. 

James Peachey. Encampment of the Loyalists at
Johnstown, 1785. Source: National Gallery of Canada

In April 1784 Adam was in Montreal where he petitioned Governor Haldimand requesting permission to trade in dry goods and liquor at Cataraqui (present day Kingston) and Niagara. Adam wrote that he "finds it very difficult to support his large family, having the care of the children of the late Lieut Hare, who met with an untimely fate amougst the Rebels, the widow of the aforesaid Lieut Hare being the wife of your excellencies petitioner."

Entries in the Repertoires de Notares (notarial catalogs) for the District Judiciaire de Montréal show that in September 1784, Adam leased a house and lot in Saint-Joseph-de-Soulanges (Les Cedres), on the St. Lawrence River west of Montreal.

Adam does appears on the 1785 Muster Roll at Cornwall, and on the 1786 Provisioning List at Lake (Lancaster) Township. At some point he acquired 200 acres in Osnabruck Township west of New Johnstown (Lot 12 Concession 3). Alida refers to this property in her 1804 Upper Canada Land Petition. Although patent was granted in 1802, the east half of the lot was impounded by the Crown and given to William Mattice.

In his Lower Canada Land Petition, dated August 30, 1788, Adam states that he "had married the widow of Lieut. Henry Hare of the Indian Department. She has five children by her late-husband as well as four by the petitioner, all of which he has to maintain." A list of names was attached: John, William, Barnaby, Peter, and Catherine Hare; and Philip, Sally (Sarah), Elizabeth, and Elatta (Alida) Empey. Missing from the list is Mary Hare who had married in 1784.

In his petition, Adam requested a grant of 500 acres for himself, and 100 acres for each of Henry children. Adam had been under the impression that he had been given permission to select land at Carillon on the north side of the Ottawa River, only to discover that the land was reserved for officers of the Royal Highland Emigrants. In June 1789, Adam and "the heirs of Lieutenant Henry Hare" were approved for a grant of 500 acres on the Ottawa River, however, the Crown never undertook the required survey.

Osnabruck Patent Map
Source: Archives of Ontario

In their 1798 Upper Canada Land Petition, John, Barnabas, William, Mary, and Katherine Hare claimed that "your Petitioners are all married and Settled in the Eastern District and have never drawn any lands." While Katherine and Mary were firmly established in Upper Canada, it is doubtful that John, Barnabas, and William were actually residents. As well, both John and Barnabas had been granted land in Upper Canada in 1790.

In 1781, John travelled from Montreal to Fort Niagara and enlisted as a volunteer in Butler's Rangers. His uncle, Peter Hare, was a Captain in the Rangers, while a cousin, John Hare, was a Lieutenant. Two other cousins, William and Peter, served as volunteers. In an August 1781 letter to Governor Haldimand, Brigadier General Henry Watson Powell, who succeeded Bolton as officer commanding at Niagara, wrote that John "joined lately and is too young to be promoted."

After Butler's Rangers was disbanded in June 1784, John remained at Niagara for at least a year before rejoining his family. After a few years in Canada, he returned to the Mohawk Valley where he married his cousin, Annatje Vrooman, the daughter of Hendrick Vrooman and Margaret Vanderwerken. Their daughter Margaret was born on November 1, 1790, and baptised at the Dutch Reformed Church of Caughnawaga a month later. Their next two children, Alida and Henry, were baptised at Williamstown east of Cornwall. Their son Barney Vrooman Hare was also born in Upper Canada. By 1798, John and Annatje were back in the United States where their daughter Maria was born. John appears in the 1790, 1800, and 1810 censuses living in Montgomery County, New York.

What motivated John to return to the Mohawk Valley is unclear but the family's difficulties obtaining land in Upper Canada may have been a factor. John's father would have been entitled to a grant of several hundred acres had he survived, however, there was no clear policy about assigning land grants to the widows and children of deceased soldiers.

As late as 1815, Alida's son-in-law Jacob Weegar, wrote the government about 1000 acres in Binbrook Township, Wentworth County that had apparently been set aside for Hare's widow and children in 1791 but had reverted back to the Crown in 1811. Apparently the family was unaware that this land had been available to them.

John Hare's 1790 Petition

As a volunteer with Butler's Rangers, John was entitled to a grant of land in his own right. A petition from "John Hare late soldier in Colonel Butler's Rangers" was signed at Cornwall and dated on April 1, 1790. John was recommended for 200 acres by the Lunenburg District Land Board. He appears on the patent map of Osnabruck Township at Lot 2 Concession 4. Patent for this lot was granted on September 1, 1797.

John and Annatje may have returned to Upper Canada after the War of 1812. Their son Henry and daughter Catherine both married and made their homes in Matilda Township, west of Cornwall. Some of their other children, notably Margaret and Alida, remained in the United States.

In 1849, six of John and Annatje's children petitioned for monetary grants as the sons and daughters of an United Empire Loyalist. These petitions hint that John was alive and living in Cornwall at this time. The 1836 petition of his daughter Catherine, however, refers to the "late John Hare."

In 1794, Katherine Hare "of the Cedars" and David Summers (1767–1846) were married at the Williamstown Presbyterian Church founded by Rev. John Bethune in 1787. Katherine and David lived in Osnabruck Township and had eight children. As a result of the 1798 Petition, Katherine was granted 200 acres in Winchester Township and received patent on June 30, 1801. She died in Osnabruck on July 23, 1831.

Her sister, Mary Hare, married Jacob Weegar (1755–1827) at Christ Church Cathedral in Montreal on October 21, 1784. Mary and Jacob lived in Williamsburg Township and had 13 children. Mary petitioned unsuccessfully for land in 1791, but as a result of the 1798 Petition, received 200 acres in Winchester Township. She died in Williamsburg on September 6, 1854 at the age of 83.

Barnabus Hare petitioned for land in 1790 at the same time as his brother John. He was granted 200 acres in Matitda Township and received patent on May 27, 1797. He does not seem to have received any additional land as a result of the 1798 petition.

Barnabus married Anna Vankleek and was living in Soulanges in 1804 and in 1825. The parish register for Soulanges records the 1807 baptism of their son, William Henry Hare. Entries in the notarial catalogs also record that Barnabus was a blacksmith (forgeron a Soulanges). Barnabas was buried in 1852 at the age of 82 at Basilique Notre-Dame, Montreal.

As a result of the 1798 petition, William received 200 acres in Winchester Township with patent granted on June 30, 1801. The parish register for Soulanges records the burial of William in 1806.

Few details are known about the children of Alida and Adam. Only Alida and Elizabeth Empey are named in the 1804 Upper Canada Land Petition which Alida Vrooman and her son-in-law Jacob Weegar submitted on behalf of her minor children, which suggests that Alida's other two children may have died before then.

Alida, also known as Adelaide, was born on November 28, 1787 and was baptised at Montreal's Christ Church Cathedral on January 3, 1788. She married Jean Baptiste Lalonde on 25 Nov 1805 at Soulanges. Adelaide died in childbirth on December 23, 1809—eleven weeks after the death of her three-year-old daughter. She was buried at Soulanges on December 25.

Her sister Elizabeth married Francois Veronneau (1784–1835) at Soulanges on May 11, 1807, but died shortly after her marriage.

Adam Empey died at Soulanges in early 1796. A notarial record dated February 18, 1796 refers to the feu [late] Adam Empey and Alleda Vrooman sa veuve [his widow]. Three years later Alida married widower Pierre Bougis. A marriage contract between ""Le Sieur Pierre Beaugis et La Dame Alleda Vrooman veuve Empey" was notarized by Joseph Gabrion of Montreal on 8 May 1799.

Both Pierre and Alida had their testaments (wills) notarized on 3 May 1824 and were living in Soulanges in 1825.

Pierre was buried at Soulanges on 14 Jan 1826. Entries in the Quebec notarial catalogues indicate that Alida survived him but her date of death is not known.

Sources:

Cruickshank, Ernest and Gavin K. Watt. The History and Master Roll of The King's Royal Regiment of New York, revised edition. Global Heritage Press, 2006.
archive.org/details/historymasterrol0000crui

Crowder, Norman. Early Ontario Settlers: A Source Book. Genealogical Publishing, 1993. ancestry.ca/search/collections/48451/

"Empey Family." Herbert Clarence Burleigh Fonds, Queens University Library. archive.org/details/hcbempey

Green, Ernest. "Notes on the Empey (Impey) Family of Stormont." Ontario Historical Society Papers and Records, vol. 27, 1931.

Kipp, Edward, and Anderson, George. An Index to the 1786 McNiff Maps of the Townships of Lancaster, Charlottenburgh, Cornwall, Osnabruck, Williamsburg and Matilda (The Loyalist Maps). Orleans, Ontario: Edward Kipp, 2007.

Library and Archives Canada, Francis Goring Fonds, MG24, D4 heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_mikan_105975 

Library and Archives Canada. Haldimand Papers, MG21. heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_mikan_105513

Library and Archives Canada. Land Petitions of Upper Canada, 1763-1865. RG 1 L3. bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/land/land-petitions-upper-canada-1763-1865/Pages/land-petitions-upper-canada.aspx

Library and Archives Canada. Land Petitions of Lower Canada, 1764-1841. RG1 L3L. bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/land/land-petitions-lower-canada-1764-1841/Pages/land-petitions-lower-canada.aspx

Loescher, Burt Garfield. Rogers Rangers Privates Roster, 1755-1761. Unpublished Manuscript, Ticonderoga Historical Society. nyheritage.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16694coll98/id/603/rec/1

Simms, Jeptha Root. History of Schoharie County And Border Wars of New York. Albany: Munsell & Tanne, 1845. catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008731951

Watt, Gavin K. Loyalist Refugees: Non-Military Refugees in Quebec 1776-1784. Global Heritage Press, 2014.