Born a British subject in America 1812

[alexvanboerum]

Can anyone help me with this? I have an ancestor, Robert George Summers - in the 1851 census it tells me that he was born a British Subject in America, round about 1812.

Given the war of 1812 what on earth was he doing there? Was his a Naval family? Did they have wives on ships in wartime? Was it a military family?

Given my total and complete ignorance on the subject, if anyone has any ideas about where I might go with this I would be very, very grateful. He's currently one of my biggest dead ends.

Alex

[Rod Neep]

It isn't unheard of for a family to have homes in both America and in England at the same time during that period.

I once did some research for someone whose ancestor's birth couldn't be found in England, and finally ended up with parents that had a house in Virginia and Liverpool. In fact, the family story/legend is that the son (born 1806) ran away from school in Manchester, jumped on a ship and went to America. In reality, he went home! He was born in America, came back with his parents to Liverpool, who put him in boarding school in Manchester.... and yes.... he did run away and jump on a ship.

Rod

[Peggy]

Hi Alex,

Don't give up on the military yet. From everything I've read, the Army would have had wives (and other women) along. Burgoyne's army certainly did during the earlier altercation. Not so sure about the Navy.

But America didn't necessarily mean the USA. I've seen people on the census who were born in Toronto, America or Buenos Aires, America. We don't really have it copyrighted. ;)

Peggy

[Stephen M. Kohler]

There's a wealth of information out there if you Google it!
As a start I found the following: http://www.regiments.org/nations/europe/uk.htm

Scroll down to: "Wives and Camp Followers, Women and the British Army [18th century]"
There's an outline of books written on the subject that includes: "The Women of the British Army in America, by Don N. Hagist;" "Female Camp Followers in the American Revolution: A Reading List, by John U. Rees;" "A Soldier's Family in the British Army during the War of 1812, by Robert Henderson; and, "Camp Followers and Family Members, by Chris Robson."

/R

Stephen
Washington, DC

[Stephen M. Kohler]

In the 19th Century Caribbean’s and Canadians were still British subjects.
Many of the soldiers in the ranks of the British Army in North America were loyal subjects living in the Caribbean Islands and Canada.

/R

Stephen
Washington, DC