Defenders of Eccles Hill Fenian Raid, near Franklin, Vermont, about 1870. Anonymous. MP-0000.107. McCord Museum, Montreal, Quebec.
If your ancestor served in the Fenian Raids between 1866 and 1871 and was still alive in 1912, he may have applied to the Canadian government for a bounty claim of $100.
Until Ancestry released its collection of digitized images on Friday, we had to go to Library and Archives Canada to look at the original applications.
To receive a bounty claim, a veteran of the Fenian Raids had to complete a form about when and where he served and to find a comrade who could fill in the back of the form, declaring that the information provided was accurate.
The description of the Ancestry collection says: “Between 1866 and 1871, the Fenian Brotherhood, Irish nationalists based in the United States, launched raids against Canada in an effort to force the British government to withdraw from Ireland. The raids took place at Campobello Island, New Brunswick; Ridgeway, Ontario; along the Quebec/US border at Eccles Hill and Huntingdon; and in 1871, an attempt was made to invade the province of Manitoba.”
James Young, 1st Regiment, Prince of Wales Rifles of Montreal, Volunteer Militia, ca. 1862.
My great-great-grandfather James Young and two of his brothers, William and John, served in the Prince of Wales Rifles volunteer militia, and their sister’s husband Joseph Craig served with the 5th Royal Light Infantry. All were called out for the Fenian Raids, but only two lived until 1912 when the Fenian Raid Volunteer Bounty Act came into play so they could submit a claim.
Three years ago, I placed an order to have my great-great-grandfather’s bounty application sent from Library and Archives Canada’s Gatineau storage facility to the public research room in downtown Ottawa.
When a staff member handed me the archival box labelled, Fenian Raids Bounty, Lists 1 – 7, I treated it as if it was a delicate Fabergé egg.
Opening the box was like opening a treasure chest. Inside were seven large, fragile envelopes, dated 1912.
The original Fenian Raids Bounty applications are held at Library and Archives Canada and are available upon request.
I started with the envelope marked List No. 1, 25th June 1912. It was the most damaged one, probably because it was at the front of the box. The first two pages were stapled together and listed several names of men who had completed the application form for the $100 bounty. I immediately flipped to the end of the second page, looking for the name, Young. I found it: James Young, No. 2 Coy., P.O.W.R., 4544 St. Catherine St., West, Montreal, Que.
James provided the following information:
I was enrolled in the Prince of Wales Rifles and served with it at Hemmingford & Durham in the Province of Quebec from 2nd June to June 18th in the year 1866.
In the same envelope, I found the application and a handwritten letter from James Young’s brother-in-law, Joseph Craig, who had been living in Portland, Maine for about 40 years at that point.
Once I had finished looking at applications from family members, I looked at the names in all seven envelopes. In envelope No. 5, I found Henry Birks, founder of the jewellery store. His application was completed in very shaky handwriting. Attached to the application was a letter from the 72-year-old jeweller, typed on Henry Birks & Sons letterhead, dated June 20, 1912:
It is so many years ago that I do not remember all the details, but Col. Osborn Smith was our Commander, and I am pretty sure he was Commander at that time.
I was one of the first to join the Victoria Rifles, and went out with them to Hemmingford and Huntingdon during the rain and was corporal at that time.
I’m pleased to see the Fenian Raids Bounty collection is now available on Ancestry, but nothing beats holding the original documents, written and signed by my ancestors.
