Land, Robert Sr.

  • The Robert Land and Clement Lucas, Jr. Families: https://uelac.ca/Loyalist-Info/extras/Land-Robert/Land-Lucas-Families-by-Pat-Blackburn.pdf
    • Robert Land Sr. was born in New York in 1738 and married Phoebe Scott in 1756. They had 5 sons and 3 daughters. Robert Land was a courier for the British during the Revolution. This was a very dangerous and risky job delivering messages within and behind enemy lines. The fate of these couriers if caught was hanging. In 1779 he was captured by rebel militia and brought before a military court in Minisink, N.Y., charged with spying for the British.
    • He was found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging but his conviction was overturned by General George Washington on the “grounds that as an inhabitant of one of the states” Land was not subject to the jurisdiction of a military court. Land was released on bail to await his new trial but he jumped bail and joined a small party of Tories heading for Niagara. The party was discovered, Land was shot, but escaped to New York City where his family was now located.
    • Robert’s wife, Phoebe, and some of their children had to flee the family estate in Pennsylvania for New York. New York was thought to be safe as it had remained British during the war. The eldest son, John, remained at the homestead in Pennsylvania. Robert Land, Sr. resumed his courier services in 1780, traveling between New York, Niagara and Montreal. In August of 1782 Land arrived in Niagara but was not able to leave to rejoin his family now in New York before the war ended. At the end of the war Robert Land received a grant of 200 acres near Lundy’s Lane, Niagara. 
  • Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory –https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=4547
  • Find a GRAVE:
  • https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8658284/robert-land