Bernard, Samuel

From: An Island Refuge- Loyalists and Disbanded Troops on The Island of Saint John, The Abegweit Branch of UELAC, 1983

  • In 1787 SAMUEL BERNARD moved. The journey from Charlotte Town to the north shore of Saint John’s Island would scarcely deserve a footnote in the annals of the peripatetic Bernard family if it did not provide one of the first firm dates we have in a history that is little more than conjecture and contradictory traditions.
  • The Bernards supposedly left their native Normandy because of the religious persecution rampant in the 16th and 17th centuries in France. We do not know when this Huguenot family left France. If history repeats itself, we may suppose it was at the last minute. From Normandy they moved to Holland, then on to England. Whatever the attractions of life in 18th century Yorkshire, the Bernards were unable to resist the lure of the New World. They moved to New York. Curiously enough, they were referred to as New York Dutch. We do not know when they arrived in America, nor do we know precisely when they felt compelled to leave. Tradition has it that Samuel Bernard would not take up arms against England. Whatever his convictions, they did not lend him speed. It is unlikely that he moved north before 1781; one family tradition puts it at 1783, another even later.
  • The first mention of Samuel Bernard on the Island of Saint John is a 1787 reference to his residence in Charlotte Town. He is described then as being a carpenter, formerly of New York, New York.