On a more favorable note

I published an article a while ago about one of my favorite ancestors, Staats Springsteen: Knowing Staats. I concluded that article with ‘On a more favorable note.’ I am expanding a bit on references in that article with a brief review of published references to Staats in my library. I’ve written previously about another title: The Springsteen Chronicles.

Staats in The Burning of the Valleys; the Ballstown raid, 1780

Staats Springsteen and his older brother Caspar served the Loyalist cause in Butler’s Rangers during the American Revolution. This was a civil war that divided neighbors and families, most of whom just wanted to be left alone before hostilities commenced. I concluded my recent article about Staats with a reference to this raid, described by Gavin K. Watt in The Burning of the Valleys.^{^[1]}

Captain John Munro, of the King’s Royal Regiment of New York, led an expedition from Crown Point to the Mohawk River valley. Ballstown became a primary target when a coordinated attack with Sir John Johnson failed to materialize. Leaders of the Ballstown militia were targeted for capture, particularly Lt. Col. James Gordon.

A party led by Lieutenant William Fraser was sent to take George Scott, who was apparently a sympathizer of the rebellion and was known to both Gordon and Fraser. Unfortunately, Scott failed to heed a warning to drop his musket at his cabin door and was then struck by Mohawk tomahawks. Fraser and Staats Springsteen prevented the natives from taking Scott’s scalp, and he survived the assault. Staats had formerly been a hired hand of George Scott.

A letter from Lieutenant Patrick Langan to Daniel Claus, preserved in the Archives of Ontario, indicates that Staats Springsteen and Lewis Maybee were in a detachment to Claus’s Rangers at this time, possibly from a contingent of two sergeants and twenty Rangers on assignment from Butler to Carlisle Island in the St. Lawrence River.

Very little record exists of Staats Springsteen’s service assignments on muster rolls. He was listed as Staats Springston, private, in Colonel John Butler’s command company of Butler’s Rangers in 1788. This company included men who spoke a native language. It is likely that Staats was conversant with Mohawks, who lived at the eastern end of the Iroquois Confederacy near Albany where Staats was born.

Staats in John Walden Meyers: Loyalist Spy; abduction of recruits, 1781

In one of Staats Springsteen’s petitions for military land, he was reported to have brought in more than a hundred recruits during the war. Clearly an opportunist, he seems to have overstepped his bounds in this incident, described by Mary Beacock Fryer in John Walden Meyers: Loyalist Spy.^[2]

Sgt. Joseph Smith, a recruiting agent for John Walden Meyers, was bound for Lake Champlain with eight recruits in August 1781 when he encountered two agents recruiting for Butler’s Rangers. Mary Beacock Fryer identified these agents as Staats Springsteen and John Stoner. While traveling together, Smith’s recruits became dependent on provisions shared by Butler’s agents, who then claimed the recruits for Butler’s Rangers. Sergeant Smith objected, but the combined party was redirected to Butler’s base at Niagara, where Smith was jailed for insubordination. When Meyers received a report of Smith’s predicament, he sent a complaint to General Frederick Haldimand, the military governor of Quebec. Haldimand ordered the release of Smith and the return of his recruits to Meyers.

As I mentioned in my previous article, I learned of this incident and Fryer’s book in 2006 when I attended a conference of the Ontario Genealogical Society in Oshawa. Another attendee, named Murray, noticed my name tag and asked, “you wouldn’t happen to be related to Staats Springsteen, would you?” Needless to say, I was surprised, because in my experience no one had ever heard of Staats Springsteen and I had no reason to think anyone would have. Murray told me that Staats and his ancestor John Stoner had gotten into a bit of trouble during the American Revolution. Murray L, if you’re out there let me know.

Staats and Caspar Springsteen in United Empire Loyalists, A guide to Tracing Loyalist Ancestors in Upper Canada; 1807 petition

Brenda Dougall Merriman provides an analysis of Gaspar [Caspar] Springsteen’s 1807 petition to remedy the patent for his military land and to be registered on the United Empire Loyalist list. She also discusses Staats’ difficulties in petitions for his own military land.^[3]

Gaspar [Caspar] Springsteen petitioned in January 1807 for the patent on land he had received as a former soldier in Butler’s Rangers in Gainsborough Township, Upper Canada. Based on an earlier petition, he had been entered for 200 acres on the township plan. However, his name had not been added to the UE [United Empire] List due to the “negligence of your petitioner’s brother Staats Springsteen.” His petition was approved, granting 200 acres as a Military Claimant, not as a Loyalist, and inserting his name on the UE List. Brenda Merriman cited Library and Archives Canada, RG [Record Group] 1, L [Lot] 3, Upper Canada Land Petitions, Vol. 453a, S Bundle 8, petition 72; microfilm C-2809.

Merriman noted that classification as a Military Claimant might indicate that Gaspar’s original allocation was considered partial recognition of his service, possibly as more than a private soldier. She further noted that Gaspar’s children received grants as Sons and Daughters of a UE Loyalist.

Merriman observed that Staats Springsteen, who didn’t receive his full complement of land until 1808, apparently brought a lot of his difficulty on himself. She noted his verbal insults to members of the land board as one impediment. She also noted that his 1797 appeal for family land was denied because “It appears that the Petitioner’s children are illegitimate,” citing Library and Archives Canada, RG 1, L 3, Upper Canada Land Petitions, Vol. 450, S Bundle 3, petition 6; microfilm C-2807. This assessment might have reflected an unorthodox relationship, potentially with one of the Indian allies of Butler’s Rangers.

The denial of Staats Springsteen’s petition for family land was mentioned again in discussion of a petition denial for the daughter of Sir John Johnson’s acknowledged son William. William was born of a liaison and considered to be illegitimate.

Notes

^[3] United Empire Loyalists, A guide to Tracing Loyalist Ancestors in Upper Canada; Merriman, Brenda Dougall, copyright © 2006; Global Heritage Press, Campbellville, Ontario, Canada; pages 149-151, 166.