Researching Ancestors who were Loyalists in the Revolutionary War: Print Resources

The list below is not exhaustive, but highlights some of the most important print resources held by NYPL for genealogy research on Loyalist ancestors. For additional titles, try browsing our online catalog with the following subject headings:

• American loyalists
• United Empire loyalists 
• African American loyalists

 

1. Abstracts and compilations from American Loyalist Claims records:

*R-USLHG E277 .C655 1980  v. 1 -- American Loyalist Claims / abstracted from the Public Record Office Audit Office series 13, bundles 1-35 & 37 by Peter Wilson Coldham [editor, Sally Lou (Mick) Haigh]

*R-USLHG E277 .C656 2000  --  American Migrations, 1765-1799: the lives, times, and families of colonial Americans who remained loyal to the British crown before, during and after the Revolutionary War, as related in their own words and through their correspondence / Peter Wilson Coldham

*R-USLHG E277.C6243 D89 1985 -- Index to Series I of American Loyalist Claims / compiled by Clifford S. Dwyer

 

2. Abstracts and compilations from court and military records:

*R-USLHG E277 .S12 1979 -- Biographical Sketches of Loyalists of the American Revolution / by Lorenzo Sabine (2 volumes): available online through HathiTrust (NYPL also holds an earlier edition which is also available online) 

*R-USLHG F128.44 .S36 -- Rivington's New York Newspaper: Excerpts from a Loyalist Press 1773-1783 / Compiled by Kenneth Scott (obituaries; runaway slaves, apprentices, and wives; real estate transactions; etc.)

 *R-USLHG E277 .B86 1989 -- The New Loyalist Index, by Paul J. Bunnell (2 volumes)

*R-USLHG E277 .B86 2000 -- American Loyalists  Migrations and Documents / by Paul J. Bunnell

*R-USLHG E277 .H87 1995 -- New York Loyalist confiscations / edited by Laura Penny Hulslander (compiled from lists located at NYPL and NY State Library)

*R-USLHG E277 .D67 2011  -- Military Loyalists of the American Revolution: Officers and Regiments, 1775-1783 /Walter T. Dornfest

*R-USLHG F123 .Y682 -- The Disposition of Loyalist Estates  in the Southern District of the State of New York  / by Harry B. Yoshbe 

*R-USLHG E277 .C43 2008 -- American Loyalist Troops 1775-1784 / Rene Chartrand

*R-USLHG E263.N6 M4 1972  -- The Refugees of 1776 from Long Island to Connecticut / by Frederick Gregoy Mather

NYGB CAN. L ON6.102 -- United Empire Loyalists: enquiry into the losses and services in consequence of their loyalty : evidence in the Canadian claims / by Alexander Fraser

APR (Pennsylvania)(In: The Pennsylvania genealogical magazine, v. 30 -- Opponents of the Revolution whose Pennsylvania estates were confiscated

APW 96-15813 -- The American Loyalist: origins and nominal lists / Diane Snyder Ptak

APWD (Ontario) 86-1718 -- Loyalist lists: over 2000 Loyalist names and families from the Haldimand papers / E. Keith Fitzgerald

IGA (List of Tories who took part with Great Britain) -- Black list. A list of those Tories who took part with Great-Britain, in the revolutionary war, and were attinted of high treason, commonly called the Black List! -- available online (also held in Rare Books)

 

3. Research Guides/Directories:

*R-USLHG Z1238 .B85 2000 -- Research Guide to Loyalist Ancestors / by Paul J. Bunnell (Directory to archives, manuscripts, published and electronic sources)

APK 82-1981 -- A bibliography of Loyalist source material in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain / ed. by Gregory Palmer; with a preface by Robert A. East

JAY E-2336 -- Loyalist literature: an annotated bibliographic guide to the writings on the Loyalists of the American Revolution / by Robert S. Allen

 

4. General information and overviews:

*R-USLHG E277 .L35 1987 --- South Carolina Loyalists in the American Revolution / by Robert Stansbury Lamber (includes chapter on African-Americans)

IG (Flick, A.C. Loyalism in New York) -- Loyalism in New York During the American Revolution -- available online through Internet Archives -- appendix includes list of New York confiscations 

IG (Brown, W. Good Americans) -- The good Americans; the loyalists in the American Revolution / Wallace Brown (also held by Schomburg)

IG 11-3899 -- Liberty's exiles : American loyalists in the revolutionary world / Maya Jasanoff. 

IG 71-108 -- The loyalists of America and their times: from 1620 to 1816. 2d. ed. / by Egerton Ryerson -- available online

IG 90-11401 -- The Loyalists in the American Revolution / by Claude Halstead Van Tyne  -- available online

IGA 10-8304 -- Tories : fighting for the king in America's first civil war / Thomas B. Allen

IGF (New York) 02-7601 -- Generous enemies: Patriots and Loyalists in Revolutionary New York

 

5. African American Loyalists: 

See the Resources Relating to African American Loyalists page of this Guide

 

6. Maps:

Map Div. 86-1024 -- Loyalist settlements, 1783-1789: the land: maps and sketches, 1783-1800