Agnew, Stair

• DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: W. A. Spray, “AGNEW, STAIR,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 6, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/agnew_stair_6E.html

• DCB profile notes:
  • Landowner, politician, jp, and judge; b. in Virginia, likely on 19 Oct. 1757, son of the Reverend John Agnew and Teresa —; m. Sophia Winifred —, and they had at least eight children; d. 10 Oct. 1821, aged 63, at Monkton House, York County, N.B.”
  • Stair Agnew was educated in Glasgow, and returned to Virginia in 1775, at the beginning of the revolution. He volunteered for service in the British forces and was made an ensign in the Queen’s Loyal Virginia Regiment on 1 Dec. 1775; eight days later he participated in the action at Great Bridge, near Norfolk, the first major engagement of the revolutionary war in the colony. Commissioned a lieutenant in the Queen’s American Rangers on 27 Nov. 1776, he was severely wounded at the battle of Brandywine, Pa, the following year. After his recovery he rejoined his unit as a captain.
  • His father, also a staunch loyalist, became chaplain of the regiment in 1778. In 1781 both father and son were captured by a French squadron while on board the British frigate Romulus. They were imprisoned for the remainder of the war. On their return to Virginia they found that they were unwelcome and decided to go to England, where Stair would be married. Reduced on half pay in 1783, Stair was awarded an annual pension of £80 by the loyalist claims commission.
  • Dissatisfied in England, Agnew and his father had determined by 1789 to settle in British North America. They arrived at Saint John and after a visit to Fredericton decided to stay. The recipients of land grants along the Nashwaak River, they also purchased property, including 1,000 acres at the mouth of the Nashwaak. In this location they attempted to build an estate they called Monkton.
  • Entering the political field in 1792, Stair Agnew was elected one of York County’s representatives in the House of Assembly, and there became a spokesman for disgruntled landowners who opposed the restrictions that the British government had placed on land granting in 1790.
• United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=35
• Find a GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/154926950/stair-agnew