Morehouse, Daniel

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: Darrel Butler, “MOREHOUSE, DANIEL,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 6, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/morehouse_daniel_6E.html
  • DCB profile:
    • Miller, soldier, militia officer, jp, and office holder; b. 26 Nov. 1758 in Weston, Fairfield County, Conn., son of Joseph Morehouse and Hannah Banks; m. 30 April 1783 Jane Gill, probably in Lancaster, Pa, and they had one daughter and six sons; d. 20 Jan. 1835 in Queensbury Parish, N.B.
    • Fairfield County was an uneasy area in which to be living as the American revolution began to unfold. It had a larger number of tories than most other counties in Connecticut and was a centre of discontent for that state. The Morehouses, staunch Anglicans and loyalists, found themselves in difficult straits in the spring of 1775 after the General Assembly of Connecticut, which was dominated by whigs, passed harsh measures designed to suppress dissent.
    • Daniel had been attending Yale College for a few months when the local committee of safety attempted to draft him into the patriot militia. His uncle paid a fine of £10 to prevent his arrest but after three months the rebels returned and confiscated a prized horse, a saddle, and a bridle. Enraged, Daniel left Connecticut and travelled to New York to join the British forces. He applied to Lieutenant-Colonel John Graves Simcoe and served with the Queen’s Rangers from at least 1778, first as a volunteer, and then as a sergeant. He later assumed the duties of sergeant-major and eventually became quartermaster.
    • At the end of the war he received a half-pay pension of £40 annually. The frustration he was expressing was typical of the experience of many loyalists. As a young man he had had a promising future but his college education was terminated by the war. Although compensation for his service with the Queen’s Rangers during the revolution included an annual pension and a large land grant in New Brunswick, a labour shortage made it difficult for him to clear his land. His prominence came, not from any stature as a large-scale farmer, but from the positions he was able to secure in the local administration and militia.
  • Proven United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=5995
  • Find a Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/113636286/daniel-morehouse