Communities were divided, families split, and loyalties questioned by toxic politics.
It could be America today, but it was also Charlotte County, New York in 1777. The year before, the American colonies had declared their independence from Great Britain. But with the advance of British General Burgoyne’s army down Lake Champlain seeking to cut rebellious New England off from the other colonies, tensions on the edge of the New York wilderness were on a razor edge. Two of my ancestors, Robert Todd and John Lytle, both 6th great grandfathers, ended up on opposite sides of the American colonies’ struggle for independence. Here’s their story.
Charlotte County (later to become Washington County) reflected the complicated loyalties of the revolutionary period. Settlers from Pelham and Coleraine, Massachusetts mostly held the revolutionary fervor of the Minute Men colony where the revolution began. Most Scottish settlers, many who had fought for the crown in the Seven Years’ War and received free land for their service, remained loyal to the king. A large group of Scottish/Irish Presbyterian Seceders straddled the revolutionary divide. Their leader, the Reverend Dr. Thomas Clark, ministered to body and soul of both groups. Sentiments of his Scots-Irish Presbyterian flock ranged from revolutionary to neutral to Tory loyalists.
In 1764, Dr. Clark had led his entire Seceder Presbyterian congregation, from Ballybay, County Monaghan, Ireland to New York. The congregation was made up of Scottish immigrants to Ireland. Once in America, half the group were enticed to move to South Carolina. The others ventured up the Hudson River and beyond to the wilderness at the southern end of Lake Champlain.
Among the Ballybay congregation were my 6th great grandfather Robert Todd and his brother John Todd. In 1771, Robert and John Todd were clearing land for a homestead on Farrant’s Patent near the disputed border of New York and what was then New Hampshire. They were threatened with violence and forced from their land by a gang of Green Mountain boys led by Ethan Allen, Robert Cochran, and Remember Baker, who were terrorizing Yorkers all along the contested border between New York and what was then New Hampshire (later to become Vermont). The Todd brothers then took up land north of Salem, New York on the Turner Patent, where most of the Ballybay people were settling.
Also among the Ballybay Presbyterians who settled on the Turner Patent was John Lytle, another 6th great grandfather. Robert and John Todd certainly knew John Lytle, having sailed to the new world together, though their families wouldn’t merge for another three generations with my 3rd great grandparents John Todd Jr. and Rebecca Mills. John Lytle was an advocate of American independence and served in the Salem revolutionary militia led by Col. John Williams.
As Burgoyne advanced toward Saratoga, New York, he called for loyalists to leave their homes and seek protection behind the British line. He also asked residents to sell supplies to the British army, and that provisions brought to his camp would be paid for in cash. The murder of Jane McCrea at Ft. Edward and the John Allen family near Argyle by Native American allies of the British terrified Charlotte County loyalists and rebels alike. Those who fled to Burgoyne’s camp were called Protectioners. Rebels left their farms and villages and hid in the forest or moved south out of the path of the British.
In this charged atmosphere, John Todd and his brother-in-law John McCloughlin stole a yoke of oxen from John Lytle and drove it to the British camp. Presumably they sold the oxen to the British. Curiously, John Todd offered John Lytle a receipt so that Lytle could receive recompense for the theft. John and Robert Todd grew reputations as notorious Tories as the revolution proceeded to independence. In 1779 John Todd was indicted “for adhering to the enemies of this state”. He fled to Canada, later returning to sell his lands and then permanently removing to Quinte Bay, Ontario.
Robert Todd, known as “one of the worst Tories in Salem”, moved to Tory-tolerant Argyle, NY, possibly on the land that previously belonged to his brother John. The Scottish loyalists of Argyle, many of them Protectioners laid low for a while, kept out of local elections, and were soon accepted as fellow citizens. John Lytle was buried in the Revolutionary War Cemetery, Salem, New York in 1793.
Transcription of Indictment of John Todd
That John Todd _____Late of the town and county aforesaid Farmer Not having God before his eyes But moved and seduced by the Instigation of the Devil on the Thirtieth day of August in the year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy Seven in the Township of New Perth [Salem] aforesaid and in the County aforesaid [Charlotte] with Force and Arms Treasonably of his Forthought Malice on the Thirtieth day of August aforesaid and in the Township of New Perth aforesaid was Adherent to the Enemies of the State of New York and also advised Persons owing Allegiance to this State to take up Arms and Levy war against the same with the Common Enemy thereof and also yielding Aid and Comfort to the said Enemy by obtaining to them Provisions and Necessary Supplies. And so the jurors upon their oath aforesaid do say that the said John Todd ______On the aforesaid Thirtieth day of August in the year aforesaid at New Perth aforesaid in the County aforesaid In Manner and for aforesaid against the Peace of the People of this State and against the Form of the Statute in such Case made and Provided.
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