Finding Your Loyalist Ancestors
Research When Your Family Backed the Crown
It’s 2026! And that means that it is the 250th Anniversary of the Revolutionary War. This may have you wondering about your American Revolution Era ancestors and their ties to the war. Maybe you know your ancestors were in the colonies pre-revolution, but have never been able to locate records about them. Well, this quick post is for you.
If your ancestors were in the American Colonies before the Revolution, and you have never been able to locate documents telling you about their involvement in the war – your ancestor might’ve been on the losing side of the American Revolution.
And that’s exactly why they’re hard to find.
Loyalists—a.k.a. colonists who remained faithful to Britain—faced displacement, property confiscation, and forced exile after 1783.
Entire families fled to Canada, the Caribbean, or back to Britain.
Others stayed and buried their allegiance, changing names and rewriting family stories.
There are always multiple sides in a war. So, if your ancestors were Patriots, they most likely left a clear trail of military records.
Loyalists, on the other hand, left holes where records should be.
I’m here to tell you, there may still be some records out there. You just need to know where to look.
How to Find Them:
Start with Loyalist Claims records at the UK National Archives.
Britain compensated refugees for property losses. These claims include detailed statements, property descriptions, and witness testimony. (You can find them at the link above. Also, Ancestry has a database of records as well.)
Check Canadian archives.
Particularly Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Ontario where 50,000+ Loyalists resettled. Many received land grants documented in provincial records.
Search confiscation records in state archives. If the state seized your ancestor’s property, there’s a paper trail. (The link above is for the Canadian Archives, but there are also records on FamilySearch.)
Displacement in the US has been happening since 1776, but now, your Loyalist ancestor’s story is findable.
You just have to know where they ended up.
KEEP AN EYE OUT! At the end of the month I’ll be posting a list of resources. Keep an eye out!
Thank you! I just happened to find (possibly) my first Loyalist in my tree yesterday! It looks like my ancestor moved from Connecticut to New Brunswick about. 1783. Later, they crossed back over to Maine abt. 1845, a generation later.