United Empire Loyalists were Americans who remained loyal to King George III and the British Empire. They moved to Canada after the American Revolution.
Gershom Wing married 1764 in Dutchess County, New York.
Gershom married Rebecca Chase.
Ruth Wing (1765, married James Howland and Abel Closson),
Anna Wing (1766, married Isaac Aiken),
Jedediah Wing (1767),
Rachel Wing (1770, married William Wright and Ezra Benedict),
Matthew Wing (1771, married Rebecca Landon),
Hannah Wing (1774, married Jesse Lamb),
Amy Wing (1776, married Edmund Mott),
Daniel Wing (1782, married Emma Palmer and Amy Hayes),
Thirza Wing (1780, married Isaac Booth),
Abel Wing (1784, married Sarah Sheldon),
Deborah Wing (1786),
Elizabeth Wing (1790, married Benjamin Yates),
Elisha Wing (1788).
They lived in Quaker Hill, New York.
During the American Revolution, he was a loyalist. He would not take the Oath of Allegiance and on February 26 1777, he was taken into custody
Gershom Wing who had been admitted on his Parole permitted to return home & Consider whether he would affirm his Allegiance to this State, appeared, and declared that he could not consistant with his religious Principles as a Quaker. Order'd that his Case be deferr'd for farther Consideration and that he in the mean Time, be admitted on his Parole not to depart more than Two Miles from the Stone Church, till the further Order of this Board.
(from Minutes of the Committee)
After the Revolution their property was confiscated and on the way to Canada many of their possessions were stolen.
The family came to Canada in 1789 where he was granted Crown, lot 31, 5th concession of Elizabethtown Township, Leeds County, Ontario.
1797 Elizabethtown census:
Gershom, Rebekah, Hannah, Elisha, Daniel, Abel, Deborah and Elizabeth
Matthew, Rebekah and Sarah
Ichabod and Mandany
In 1799 Hugh Judge visited the area. His journal was reproduced in Canadian Quaker History Journal, No. 63, 1998
[3rd month]19th. Set out from Kingston, with Hugh McMullin, a Friend, and Lewis Cameron (a methodist who accompanied me several hundred miles homewards) and we travelled that day about thirty miles, most of the way one continued wilderness, -- a part of which we had to pass in the night, which made it seem very lonesome; and more so, by reason of the wild beasts that inhabited those parts. In the midst of this dreary wilderness, the wolves set up a hideous yell, seeming to be very near us; but we were preserved from them, and got safely through to a house, near ten o'clock at night, were we lodged on the floor till morning. Next day we reached Gershom Wing's, and had a meeting in the evening among Methodists, Baptists, and others, to general satisfaction.
In 1804
Gershom Wing kindly concluded to accompany me through the fui*tlier wilderness that I had to travel on my way to Kingston. Thus was my gi-acious Master pleased to provide for his poor servant, through difficult, and almost trackless paths. After meeting he took me to his son-in-law's, fifteen miles on our way, where I had a meeting. (from Memoirs of the Life and Gospel Labours of Stephen Grellet )
Gershom died in 1825 and was buried in the Quaker Cemetery in Athens, Leeds County, Ontario.
Dutchess County, New York patriots forced colonists loyal to the British government to flee north into what became Ontario.
The Society of Friends (Quakers)began in England in the 1650s, when they broke away from the Puritans. Pennsylvania was founded by William Penn, as a safe place for Friends to live and practice their faith.
The first European settlements in Ontario were after the American Revolution when 5,000 loyalists left the new United States.
Ichabod Wing was born about 1773.
He married Mandana Henderson.
William Seneca Wing (1797),
Anna Wing (1799),
Samuel B. Wing (1800)
Elizabeth Wing (1803),
Nancy Wing (1804),
Amanda Wing (1809),
Ira Wing (1811)
Ichabod (Jacob) Wing (1813).
On February 6, 1813, Ichabod Wing was taken prisoner in a raid by the Americans and taken to Ogdensburg.
Jedediah Wing was born in in Quaker Hill, Dutchess County, New York.
Harvey Wing (1798, married Sarah Knowlton),
Rebecca Wing (1798, married Isaac Benedict),
Anna Wing (1800, married Joseph Derbyshire),
Catherine Wing (1802),
Philip Wing (1804, married Phoebe Blancher),
Jedediah Wing (1806, married Elizabeth Bentley),
Matthew Wing (1812, married Elizabeth Wooley) and
Emily Wing (1812, married Ebenezer Blanchard).