Refuge in Nova Scotia
With few resources and no family nearby, Elizabeth made the difficult choice to travel back to Nova Scotia. In February 1814, Elizabeth traveled over one hundred miles around Lake Ontario to York, the provincial capital. Most travelers to Upper Canada passed through York on their way from the eastern seaboard, following or navigating through Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River. Although Elizabeth might have traveled by water when she moved with Donald from Nova Scotia in the early 1800s, the threat of American warships and high cost of passage on the lakes likely forced her and the children to walk.
Official documents recorded Elizabeth's careful and determined use of social capital while she was in York. With Newark in ruins, York was the best place for Elizabeth to leverage her military connections. As the widow of an officer, Elizabeth could make requests of the military, which was better supplied than local governments at the time. From the military commissary at York, she received a ration of fuel and candles, and discussed with an officer her request for rations owed to her.[27] Elizabeth also found external sources of support for her family. On February 19, 1814, the Loyal and Patriotic Society, which operated to relieve sufferers throughout Upper Canada, reported:
Mrs. Campbell, wife of the late Donald Campbell, Fort Major at Niagara, lost her house and property by fire. The enemy burning it in the most wanton manner, leaving her and her helpless children in great distress. Being at York on her way to friends in Nova Scotia, the Society ordered her [£50].[28]
Although Elizabeth was leaving their jurisdiction, the society recognized her status as a sufferer of Niagara and granted her aid, which likely helped fund her family's relocation. On March 10, 1814, while still in York, Elizabeth submitted her first claim to the government for remuneration of her losses in Newark. The documents list James Crooks as her attorney.[29] Crooks was a well-known lawyer and friend of William and Charlotte Dickson. By February 1814, he was living in Thorold, a small town about twenty miles from Newark.[30] At some point, Elizabeth met with Crooks to draft her petition, perhaps with the support of William Dickson. In York, Elizabeth visited William Allen, Justice of the Peace, to present her claim. At this time, no official process existed for submitting or reviewing claims, so Elizabeth addressed her petition to Sir Gordon Drummond, president of the provincial legislature and commander of the British forces in Upper Canada.[31] In support of her claim, she acquired the testimony of three influential men from Newark. Reverend Robert Addison, William Claus, and Thomas Dickson (brother of William Dickson) all signed her petition, swearing, “We the subscribers hereby certify that the facts stated in the within Petition are true, and that we believe the annexed list of Mrs Campbell's losses to be just as to the articles therein mentioned.”[32] Addison was closely familiar with the Campbell family, while Claus and Dickson would have known Donald through military service on the Niagara front.
Unfortunately for the sufferers of Upper Canada, Drummond was not authorized to distribute funds to individuals for losses incurred during the war. A military board was convened to review claims against the British government for goods and services provided to the army or taken by British soldiers. When it became clear that there were many more losses as a result of enemy actions, a larger commission was tasked with collecting and reviewing claims for losses resulting from a wider variety of causes. The first commission reviewed claims throughout 1815-16, but did not issue any payments and dealt with complaints about false claims.
In 1814, with no evidence that the government would accept petitions from sufferers, Elizabeth continued her plan to travel eastward to Nova Scotia. Her family still lived in Windsor, where her father held respect and influence with the local government and inhabitants. Assuming that she did not cross through American territory in Maine, which would have shortened the distance, Elizabeth must have traveled over one thousand miles with her children, likely walking most of the way.[33] Fewer records about Elizabeth's time in Nova Scotia have survived. In 1819, her sister Sarah Clarke married a minister named John Sprott, who mentioned Elizabeth in his memoirs.[34] It seems likely that once in Windsor, Elizabeth likely found refuge in the home of her father or one of her siblings who remained in the town.
From Nova Scotia, Elizabeth continued to appeal to the government for support. In 1816, she was awarded just over £63 by a board of trustees appointed by Drummond to distribute funds provided by the Province of Nova Scotia for sufferers in Niagara. Despite having left Niagara, Elizabeth was supported by her contacts in the region. The money for her was left in the trust of Thomas Dickson, brother of William Dickson whose home Elizabeth had lived in during the war. Records do not indicate whether Elizabeth ever collected the money from Thomas.[35]
Although Elizabeth's long battle for compensation provided only moderate amounts of currency, her tenacious striving to provide for her children's futures extended beyond mere financial wealth. Using her father's connections to the Windsor community, she enrolled Edward at King's College. Even from Nova Scotia, Elizabeth reached back into the community at Newark to draw on her social capital to create an opportunity for Edward. When Edward finished his education in 1824, Elizabeth contacted Robert Dickson, son of William Dickson and successful lawyer in Newark. With help from his father, Robert was helping to rebuild the town after its devastation during the war.[36] Elizabeth asked if Robert would take Edward as an apprentice in his law practice, which was the most common form of legal training beyond school. Although Robert was careful about who he considered taking on as apprentices, he was persuaded by “the very high recommendation of the young man together with the former acquaintance of the families.”[37] Instead of the usual procedure of charging a high initial apprenticeship fee, Robert proposed to take Edward into his home and make him part of the family and business in return for an annual fee. Robert also demonstrated the close connection between the two families, writing, “I mentioned my intended proposition to my father and he approved it from a partial recollection of your son and his acquaintance with you.”[38] Although Edward was only seven when the Campbells left for Nova Scotia, William Dickson remembered the boy and approved of his return to the community.
As demonstrated by many of her postwar efforts, Elizabeth showed her resourcefulness by reaching out to former friends to find a place for her son to study law. She accepted Robert Dickson’s proposal for Edward and sent her son back to Newark. In the only letter undeniably written by Elizabeth's hand, she wrote to Edward, “I am sensible it is much to your advantage to be in Mr D family & I the more cheerfully accepted his offer on this account.”[39] She also wrote, “I could not let John write this time as I am almost ashamed to be so troublesome to my friend.” This reference is likely to Edward’s younger brother John. Despite her self-conscious remarks, however, Elizabeth Campbell was never afraid to use her connections. This single glimpse of Elizabeth's own thoughts and expressions about her relationship with her children shows her love and determination to provide for her family. “I hope you will continue to write me often,” she wrote, “Write me all the news. I hope to see your hand improve. I wish I could set the example of improvement. Affectionately, your mother, E. Campbell.” Unfortunately, her son's relocation to Niagara to begin his career was one of the last major events in Elizabeth's life. In May 1825, she passed away in Windsor, Nova Scotia.
Notes
[27] Captain C.L.L. Foster to Elizabeth Campbell, February 19, 1814, Niagara Historical Society & Museum, http://images.ourontario.ca/1812/70297/data.
[28] Loyal and Patriotic Society of Upper Canada, The Report of the Loyal and Patriotic Society of Upper Canada (Montreal: Printed by William Gray, 1817), 230–231.
[29] Elizabeth Campbell, RG19 E5A, Volume 3742, File 3, Claim 174.
[30] David Ouellette, “James Crooks” (Toronto: University of Toronto/Université Laval, 1985), http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/crooks_james_8E.html.
[31] Kenneth Stickney, “Sir Gordon Drummond” (Toronto: University of Toronto/Université Laval, 1985), http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/drummond_gordon_8E.html.
[32] Elizabeth Campbell, RG19 E5A, Volume 3742, File 3, Claim 174.
[33] Although Maine was not particularly hostile to British subjects during the war, it would still be dangerous for a lone woman and her children to cross enemy territory, especially in the northeastern wilderness.
[34] Specifically, he mentions her death in 1825, along with a few other family members, including Elizabeth's father. John Sprott, Memorials of the Rev. John Sprott, ed. George W. Sprott (Edinburgh: George A. Morton, 1906), 19.
[35] Thomas Scott, John Strachan, and William Dummer Powell to Elizabeth Campbell, June 28, 1815, https://niagarahistorical.pastperfectonline.com/archive/1277EB85-4E68-40F6-B521-011837567212.
[36] In fact, Robert built a new mansion on the site of his father's brick farm house, which the American soldiers had gutted by fire. British soldiers then pilfered bricks from the remaining walls to make chimneys. William Dickson, RG19 E5A, Volume 3740, File 1, Claim 5, 1823, Library and Archives Canada.
[37] Robert Dickson to Elizabeth Campbell, February 2, 1824, Niagara Historical Society & Museum, https://niagarahistorical.pastperfectonline.com/archive/1D721696-EBC5-42C4-B629-431999706269.
[38] Ibid.
[39] Elizabeth Campbell to Edward Clarke Campbell, 1813, https://niagarahistorical.pastperfectonline.com/archive/91846BD6-8875-46F5-A222-011224390929.