“John Butler, of Tyron, now Montgomery county, New York. Before the war, Colonel Butler was in close official connection with Sir William, Sir John, and Colonel Guy Johnson, and followed their political fortunes. At the breaking out of hostilities he commanded a regiment of New York Militia, and entered at once into the military service of the Crown. During the war his wife was taken prisoner, and exchanged for the wife of the whig colonel, Campbell. Colonel John Butler was richly rewarded for his services. Succeeding (in part) to the agency of Indian affairs, long held by the Johnsons, he enjoyed, about the year 1796, a salary of £500 stg. per annum, and a pension, as a military officer, of £200 more. Previously, he had received a grant of 500 acres of land, and a similar provision for his children. His home, after the war, was in Upper Canada. He was attainted during the contest, and his property confiscated. He lived, before the revolution, in the present town of Mohawk.”
“Joseph Canliff, in 1781 a lieutenant in the first battalion New Jersey Volunteers.” This person is probably of the same lineage as the writer of this work, great confusion often existing with regard to the spelling of names in the early days of America.
“Daniel Claus. He married a daughter of Sir William Johnson, and served for a considerable time in the Indian Department of Canada, under his brother-in-law, Colonel Guy Johnson.”
“William Claus, Deputy Superintendent General of Indian affairs, was his son.”
Coffin—There were several of this name who took part in the war against the rebellion. Of these, the following are connected with Canadian history:
“Sir Thomas Aston Coffin, baronet, of Boston, son of William Coffin. He graduated at Harvard University in 1772. At one period of the rebellion he was private secretary to Sir Guy Carleton. In 1804 he was Secretary and Comptroller of Lower Canada.” Afterwards Commissary General in the British army.
“Nathaniel Coffin, of Boston. After the revolution he settled in Upper Canada.” Served in the war of 1812. “For a number of years was Adjutant-General of the Militia of Upper Canada. Died at Toronto in 1846, aged 80.”
“John Coffin: was Assistant Commissary General in the British army, and died at Quebec in 1837, aged 78.”
“Doane, of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Of this family there were five brothers, namely: Moses, Joseph, Israel, Abraham, Mahlon. They were men of fine figures and address, elegant horsemen, great runners and leapers, and excellent at stratagems and escapes. Their father was respectable, and possessed a good estate. The sons themselves, prior to the war, were men of reputation, and proposed to remain neutral: but, harassed personally, their property sold by the whigs because they would not submit to the exactions of the time, the above-mentioned determined to wage a predatory warfare upon their persecutors, and to live in the open air, as they best could do. This plan they executed, to the terror of the country around, acting as spies to the royal army, and robbing and plundering continually; yet they spared the weak, the poor and the peaceful. They aimed at public property and at public men. Generally, their expeditions were on horseback. Sometimes the five went together, at others separately, with accomplices. Whoever of them was apprehended broke jail; whoever of them was assailed escaped. In a word, such was their course, that a reward of £300 was offered for the head of each.
“Ultimately, three were slain. Moses, after a desperate fight, was shot by his captor; and Abraham and Mahlon were hung at Philadelphia.