erinemhatton.com
It's the anniversary of the Battle of Saratoga tomorrow, October 17th, 1777, an important date in the history of the American Revolution as it convinced the French to support the Americans.
One of my ancestor's served with the General Burgoyne campaign some 242 years ago. He fought with loyalist troops, and then managed to get away and escape to Canada. He was one of the very few out of his regiment who survived, and then escaped imprisonment after the battle.
He fled to Canada, where he eventually built a life as a teacher, surveyor and farmer. One of my distant cousins in Canada wrote a blog post about him a couple of years ago, I think it relates a compelling story about the hardships of living the life of a refugee and pioneer in Quebec's west.
https://erinemhatton.com/2016/08/15/josiah-cass-loyalist/
This last summer we went up to Canada and visited the area where the ancestor and his family settled in Canada, not far from Montreal in Ontario. I had the chance to meet with a distant cousin whose family have been farming the area since the 1790's. The farm makes maple syrup, and we bought some, it was very, very good, and a favorite of Bram’s, who consumes vast quantities of syrup as it is! It was great to have the chance to see the country where the family settled.