School of the Loyalist / Loyalist Genealogy

The Bergen County Historical Society will be hosting the School of the Loyalist which welcomes Canadian researchers, historians, genealogists, and historical re-enactors to Bergen County August 28-30.

The Bergen County Historical Society and the recreated 4th Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers will host a weekend of lectures, interpretation, workshops and living history like no other. The American Revolution can rightly be described as America’s first Civil War. 

The fledgling country was far from unanimous in its drive for independence, with hundreds of thousands of Americans wishing to maintain their allegiance to the British Crown. Bergen County boasted more Loyalists than any other in New Jersey, leading the state’s governor, William Livingston to declare in 1777 that it was “almost totally disaffected!”

That is reflected here at the headquarters of the Bergen County Historical Society, Historic New Bridge Landing, the home of Loyalists John Zabriskie and Abraham Van Buskirk.

---

On Friday evening at 7pm, 28 August, Kathryn Lake Hogan will give a talk, "A Loyalist in the Family," about Canadian-Loyalist genealogical research and resources. Note that this talk is FREE.

Note: The lecture is part of a weekend-long activities and ticket information (nominal donation) is to be announced.

You've discovered your ancestor was a Loyalist during the American Revolutionary War. Learn the history of the United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada, and how to research your Loyalist ancestry.

Canadian by birth, Kathryn Lake Hogan, UE, PLCGS is a professional genealogist, author and educator. Giving back to the genealogy community is important to Kathryn. Currently, she is the Webinar Co-ordinator with the Ontario Genealogical Society, Director-at-Large with the Association of Professional Genealogists, member of the Ontario Chapter APG, and Dominion Genealogist of the United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada.

With more than 15 years of experience, Kathryn has dedicated herself to helping others discover the joys of family history. Her webinars and presentations featuring Canadian research topics appeal to a wide audience of family historians.

The talk will take place at the BCHS Library. The Library an excellent resource for local Colonial and Revolutionary War research, and only recently re-opened in its new home on the campus of Bergen Community College in Hackensack, NJ: Philip Ciarco Jr. Learning Center, 355 Main Street, Hackensack, New Jersey.