United Empire Loyalists

I am willing to bet that most US citizens don't know what a United Empire Loyalist is. If you ask a Canadian, you will learn the answer. These people are descendants of the families who sided with the British during the American Revolution and whose property was confiscated at the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783. The British government gave land grants to these families primarily in the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. In the case of my ancestors, the grants were allocated in the easternmost part of Ontario Province. Ontario was called Upper Canada during this time, Canada West sometime later and finally the Province of Ontario. Unlike the organizations founded around 1900 such as the Daughters of the American Revolution, Colonial Dames, Sons of the American Revolution, etc., United Empire Loyalists was established by 1786 and the designation UE is an honor not motivated by exclusion.