Dorland, Thomas

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: Robert Lochiel Fraser, “DORLAND, THOMAS,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 6, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/dorland_thomas_6E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Jp, politician, office holder, and militia officer; b. 1759 in Beekmans Precinct, Dutchess County, N.Y., son of Samuel Dorland; m. Alley Gow, and they had two sons and three daughters; d. 5 March 1832 in Adolphustown, Upper Canada.
    • Thomas Dorland was descended from Dutch Quakers who immigrated to North America in the mid 17th century and settled on Long Island, N.Y. His family was loyal during the American revolution, but only Thomas broke with the non-violent doctrines of the Quakers and fought. According to legend, he was captured by rebels and escaped; his slaves, although threatened, refused to reveal his hiding-place.
    • Dorland was one of the many loyalist refugees who made his way to New York City. He served there with the Associated Loyalists until September 1783, when he left in a company led by Peter Van Alstine. After wintering in Quebec at Sorel, Van Alstine’s company moved on and arrived at Township No.4 (Adolphustown) along the Bay of Quinte in June 1784.
    • In 1804 Dorland was elected to the House of Assembly for the riding of Lennox and Addington. The timing was important. Dorland came to York (Toronto) when opposition to Lieutenant Governor administrative reforms was acquiring a parliamentary focus. Led by Rogers and Weekes, a small, fluctuating group of assemblymen used the house to air public grievances. Although never a major figure in the assembly, Dorland was active through the session of 1805.
    • The opposition found its stride during Alexander Grant’s brief administration and, under the leadership of Robert Thorpe and then of Joseph Willcocks, grew in strength until the War of 1812. Branded by its detractors as a “party” – a contemporary synonym for faction – the group was, in fact, a loose coalition of interests coming together at times, often for disparate reasons, on matters of perceived common concern. The loyalists had a profound sense of grievance because of many of Hunter’s reforms, particularly the limitations placed on free land grants to loyalists and their descendants, and in 1807 Dorland and Allan MacLean petitioned the Executive Council on behalf of local loyalist children. Thorpe hoped to make common cause with the loyalists and actively courted loyalist assemblymen such as Dorland and Ebenezer Washburn.
    • The appeal was successful; a Thorpe resolution to discuss the claims of loyalist and military claimants for land was defeated in March 1807 by only one vote. Cartwright considered men such as Dorland “simple folks” who were the “dupes of Mr. Thorpe in his attempts to create confusion.
    • The truth, however, was not so simple. Dorland was a man of independent bent. He actively supported attempts to assert the rights of the assembly and to use the power of that institution to redress grievances.
  • Proven United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=2358
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