Hepzibeth Betts, Revolutionary War British Loyalist and Founder of Kingston, New Brunswick, Canada
British Loyalists from America arrive in what would become Saint Johns, New Brunswick, Canada in 1783.
When the revolution broke out in Connecticut in 1775, 35 year-old Hepzibeth Lyon (4th Great-grandmother) found herself in a situation that would become increasingly common to women of the Thirteen Colonies. The War of Independence had divided her family into two distinct and very bitter factions. Her younger brother Stephen Betts had joined the Continental Army of the "patriots" (or "Rebels" as known to the British Loyalists); her husband John Lyon was fighting for the British with a loyalist regiment. The material on this page is from Patriot's Sister, Loyalist's Wife, copyright Stephen Davidson, from the Loyalists Association of Canada website, with some editing and additional material by Craig Parker. Davidson has also written The Burdens of Loyalty: Refugee Tales from the First American Civil War. SEE also Armstrong's Corner, New Brunswick page. I also add this paraphrased note from Canadian Bissell cousin on the Lyon side, Stephen McDonald of Ontario, Canada: he would suggest that Hepzibeth's experience as described in this article was not so forlorn, and that she was a dedicated Loyalist in her own right. So noted.
Not only did the revolution divide her family, it threw her life into chaos. Previous to 1775, Hepzibeth had been busy as the wife of a prosperous Connecticut farmer, occupied with all the responsibilities of raising six healthy children. She was involved in the congregational life of Christ Church, regularly visited her siblings' families, and enjoyed shopping trips to Fairfield and Danbury. The seasonal occupations of putting aside preserves for the winter, making butter, and gathering the fall harvest were the warp and woof of Hepzibeth's rural existence. All in all, it was a very good life for the tavern keeper's daughter from Wilton. (Hepzibeth's ancestry appears to go quite a ways back in England and needs more research, perhaps 500 years or more. Her father was Stephen Betts, b. 1 Aug 1698, Norwalk, CT.; her mother was Ruth Brinsmade, b. 1700 in Stratford, CT. Stephen's father was Samuel Betts, b. 4 Apr 1660 in Milford, CT. Samuel's father was Thomas Betts, b 3 Dec 1615. Thomas' father was John Betts, b. 23 Sep 1576 in Bearsted, Kent, England. John's father was Alexander Betts, b. Abt 1550 in Bearsted. Alexander's father was Robert Betts, b. 1508 in Bearsted.)
But from the outbreak of war until 1783, Hepzibeth's life was anything but enviable. Faced with neighbour's death threats, her husband had fled Redding in June of 1775. Local authorities seized John's lands and chattel, selling them off to his neighbours. A month after John fled for his life, Hepzibeth gave birth to little George. She was now responsible for the care a new born baby as well as six other children.
Hepzibeth watched her neighbours break into two vicious camps: Loyalist and Patriot. Her minister's life was threatened, her brother-in-law, Joseph Lyon, went into hiding in the woods, and her brother Stephen Betts joined the Continental Army to fight against his king. When the British army marched through Redding in 1777, it captured Stephen and incarcerated him in the prison ships anchored in New York harbour. (An act of Redding, Connecticut town officials was recorded in a May 5, 1777 meeting appointing "David Jackson, Seth Sanford, Thaddeus Benedict, and John Gray as selectmen" to take the place of Stephen Betts and James Rogers who had been taken prisoner by the British during their march through Redding en route to Danbury. Betts and Rogers were later released in September of 1777).
Meanwhile, John Lyon had joined a loyalist regiment and was serving his king on Long Island (see the "Military Service by Family Members" page on this website for more information about John Lyons' military service. Hepzibeth must have wondered if she would ever see her brother or husband alive again. Redding Ridge's tavern owner, Lieutenant Stephen Betts was a prominent character in the Revolution. He was an active patriot and a County Convention was held at his house/tavern on August 10, 1779.
According to the website http://www.royalprovincial.com/military/rhist/pwar/pwarhist.htm, the British Army recruited Americans. John Lyons initially joined "the Queen's Rangers" under the famous Colonel Robert Rogers and after several years joined the Prince of Wales American Volunteers Regiment. "Connecticut, in keeping with the other New England colonies, was firm in its opposition to the British and sent thousands of its citizens to assist George Washington and the Rebel cause. Like all the other colonies however, Connecticut also had a population that included many Loyalists, biding their time until the British Army should make its appearance." I have not yet had time to research where this regiment fought. We know some of their time was spent in the New York area. They were involved in a seige in Rhode Island in 1778. In April 1780, they sailed to South Carolina and were posted to a fort in the interior of the state as part of the British strategy to gain control in the South, to a place called Hanging Rock. The British lost the battle.
Stephen Betts was prominent in town politics, serving as Town Selectman during the Revolution, as well as on several town committees formed in support of the war. General Samuel H. Parsons, a major Revolutionary War American military figure, was headquartered at Betts' home/tavern from 1778 to 1781.
A Connecticut tavern, like the one owned by Hepzibeth Betts’ father and later run by her brother, American patriot Stephen Betts.
In the fall of 1778, the Continental Army camped in Redding for the winter, bringing hardship to the local farmers and subjecting the town to two brutal public executions. John Lyon, now a captain in the Prince of Wales Regiment, was fighting in Rhode Island.
Finally "in much distress", Hepzibeth and her seven children slipped out of Redding and sailed to Long Island. Until 1783, their new home was the community of loyalist refugees that had collected around Fort Franklin, a British garrison at Lloyd's Neck.
Cannon left by the British at the conclusion of the Revolutionary War at Fort Hill (Fort Franklin) at Lloyd’s Neck, Long Island, N.Y.
Here the Lyon family was finally reunited and Hepzibeth was able to introduce little George Lyon to his father John for the first time. Father and son would know each other for no more than a year before George's untimely death.
During their years at Lloyd's Neck the family made new friends, most of whom were other Connecticut loyalists.
John was regularly involved in raids on patriot towns across the Sound and defended Fort Franklin from a French naval assault.
Their refugee community was also subject to sudden night attacks from patriots in whaleboats. It could never have been very easy for Hepzibeth to sleep soundly or to be free of anxiety about a rebel raid. The one bright moment in all of the stress of life on Long Island was when Hepzibeth gave birth to William Henry Lyon on June 25, 1782.
The constant insecurity felt by the refugees at Lloyd's Neck came to an end in 1783. The mighty army of King George III of Great Britain had been defeated by the Continental Army of the United States of America. Hepzibeth and her family, unwelcomed in Connecticut, accepted the offer of a new home in the northern colony of Nova Scotia and bid good-bye to the land of their birth.
In April 1783 Hepzibeth and John Lyon entered the third phase of their lives as they walked onto the deck of the ship the Union. Two weeks later, their evacuation ship sailed into Parrtown's harbour. John's brother Joseph and his wife came with them to Canada; another brother, Eli, stayed in Connecticut. After fellow refugees had scouted out land for a settlement, the Lyons headed up the St. John River to found the town of Kingston.
For the next thirty-four years of her life, Hepzibeth Betts Lyon was a pioneer, a contributing citizen and then a venerable elder. Despite their wilderness setting, Hepzibeth's childhood skills as a tavern keeper's daughter in Wilton, Connecticut enabled the Lyons to earn a living through innkeeping, the first loyalists to do so on the Kingston Peninsula.
Following the Revolution, Hepzibeth's patriot brother, Stephen Betts, continued to operate the family's inn on the main road through Redding, Connecticut. A veteran of imprisonment and battles, Betts had also served on various committees to raise money for the Continental Army and had represented Redding in the colony's legislature. He died at 86 years of age in 1826 and was buried in an Anglican cemetery. His tombstone notes that he was a veteran of the revolution.
Far to the north of Connecticut, a gray, weathered tombstone stands in Trinity Church's graveyard in Canada, bearing the names of Stephen Betts' sister and her husband John Lyon. Hepzibeth died at seventy-seven on September 25, 1817.
Some Kingston townspeople had known Hepzibeth since the days when they sought refuge at Lloyd's Neck. Others first met her on the deck of the Union. Many simply remembered her as the innkeeper's wife. To John Jr., Sabra, Abigail, Ruth, Reuben, Peter and William Henry, she had been the mother who kept the family together during the darkest days of the revolution. The news of Hepzibeth's death slowly made its way up and down the St. John River, causing many in its refugee villages to pause and remember Mrs. Lyon, a patriot's sister and a loyalist's wife.
