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Tasker's claim that Donald McCall
"served also under Wolfe at the battle of
the Plains of Abraham and the taking of Quebec" is dubious at best.
Surviving historical records show Donald was paid for military service in
Havana at the time.
Tasker's claim that:
"When he returned to his New Jersey home he soon found that he was
regarded as an alien and shunned by his neighbors. Not caring to remain,
in 1783 he made his way to New Brunswick and settled on a small allotment
there."
Is not supported by the historical record. No surviving historical record
of this McCall family in the Canadian province of New Brunswick has been
found. There are surviving historical documents of this family living in
New Jersey until and beyond May 1796 when they resigned their pew in the
local Presbyterian Church. Donald and Elsie's eldest son John appears on
New Jersey tax rolls after the Revolution as a prospering farmer. Their
second son Duncan, a New Jersey businessman, married there in 1802.
Whatever ill feelings Americans felt toward Loyalists apparently did not
extend to the McCalls. The only known surviving historical record of the
McCalls in New Brunswick, refers to the village of New Brunswick in New
Jersey.
Tasker's claim that:
"In 1796 a party from New Brunswick, led by Donald McCall, came west to
the Long Point settlement. He was selected as the leader because he had
previously visited the country. Among the party were the loyalists Lieut.
Jas. Munro and Peter Fairchild. They landed at the mouth of Big Creek on
July 1st, 1796, and took up land in various localities."
Is not supported by the surviving historical record on several fronts.
"The McCall Party" was actually "The Haggerty & McCall
Party," a business venture most likely co-organized by Donald's
sons, John and Duncan. Although James Munro, Noah Fairchild and his sister
Jeminia Fairchild (all McCall in-laws) were members of this party, the
surviving historical record does not include Peter Fairchild. Surviving
historical records report the McCalls arrived in June, not on July 1st.
Tasker's claim that:
"The old leader, remembering his adventures with the French and Indians,
and the episode of the speckled trout fishing alluded to above, made his
way inland to the identical spot where the camp fires of his Highland
regiment had been lighted forty years before"
would be more plausible if Donald had not settled for two years in Walsingham
before removing to Charlotteville. If true, the story has at least been
abbreviated.
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Return to Tasker's McCall sketch.
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