Home in New Brunswick

Parrtown, New Brunswick, July 21, 1784

My dearest Ann,
I worry that you have not written back because my last letter has angered you. In my enthusiasm for our new life, I did not mean to be thoughtless. Please accept my humble apology. What is past is past, and I shall say no more about your country or your choice. You will always be my beloved sister. As I expected, life changes and improves rapidly in our new home. You will notice that although we have not moved, I write you from a whole new place! The flood of Loyalists like us has prompted the creation of New Brunswick, a separate colony from Nova Scotia. Many of us are pleased to no longer answer to faraway Halifax. I have purchased a cart and horse to transport newcomers and their belongings and carry goods for merchants. There is much here to keep us busy. Do write me back when you are able.
-William

White Plains, New York, October 9, 1784

Dearest William,
Please do not trouble yourself. I have not been angry, but busy tending to our newest family member. Little Isaac was born in May. Our growing brood is delightful but a great deal of work. I sometimes wonder how Mama managed all seven of us! I am training the older children to look after some tasks, which is often a great deal more work than doing them myself. With the garden, preserving, washing and so much more, the days fly by! I am very pleased to hear of your situation. A whole new colony for the Loyalists is quite an achievement!
-Ann

Saint John, New Brunswick, May 27, 1785

Dear Ann,
How happy I was to receive your letter from last October! It was delayed in arriving by the onset of winter, but I have read and reread it many times. You will note that our town has a new name, Saint John. It combines our former Parrtown and the neighbouring settlement of Carleton. I understand the new name derives from the river, which in turn was named by Samuel de Champlain for his arrival on the feast day of St. John the Baptist nearly two centuries ago. I must admit that I was partial to the names of British leaders for our towns, but we spell it out as “Saint John” in the most English way possible. Just last week, I received another grant of land, and I would not be surprised if another were offered later this year. May I impart to you an idea that has much occupied my mind of late? I am thinking of building an inn on land near the Lily Lake. Imagine your brother William as an innkeeper! Lavinah sends her love, as I do mine.
-William

William and Lavinah Burtis were real Loyalists who fled to what was then the colony of Nova Scotia after the American Revolutionary War. 

From 1783 to 1785, about 15,000 Loyalists arrived, quadrupling the population. Their numbers included about 2,000 Indigenous people who had fought for Britain, and at least 3,500 enslaved and free Black people. The land Britain gave people like William and Lavinah was the traditional territory of the Wolastoqey and Mi’kmaq. William had five sisters who stayed in the U.S., although we don’t know for sure if one was named Ann. 

We imagined these letters, but the things William mentions in them are real: his arrival, the creation of New Brunswick and Saint John, his plans to buy land and sell it for much more money (he did) and to build a tavern (he did), and even his cart and horse. You can even see William Burtis’s grave in the Old Burying Ground in Saint John.