John I’s Children could use UE after their name but did they qualify for land?

 

On November 9, 1789, Lord Dorchester, the Governor of Quebec, declared that it was his wish to "put the mark of Honour upon the families who had adhered to the Unity of the Empire."  He had realized the importance of some type of consideration for Loyalist families.  As a result of Dorchester's statement, the printed militia rolls carried the notation:

Those Loyalists who have adhered to the Unity of the Empire, and joined the Royal Standard before the

Treaty of Separation in the year 1783, and all their Children and their Descendants by either sex, are to be distinguished by the following Capitals, affixed to their names: U.E. alluding to their great principle The Unity of the Empire.

All John I’s children would qualify for the UE designation based on the above statement, but not necessarily for land as a “child of a loyalist”.

On July 1st 1783, the King of England signed a proclamation to provide land grants on the remaining British territories to the Loyalists that had supported the British.

Back to my predicament regarding why John II applied for land at such a late date.  When John II’s sisters, Sarah & Hannah applied for land as the “child of a loyalist” they both stated their full age, 42 & 32 respectively.  Their request for land was denied “The Petitioner not having come into the country as part of her father’s family and having delayed coming in so long, has forfeited her privilege as the daughter as a UE Loyalist.”   Interestingly though, they both reapplied without mentioning their full age, just that they were over 21.  Both requests were then approved. 

Probably none of John I’s adult “children” qualified under the spirit of the definition for “child of a loyalist”, except the four that John I brought with him initially.  I do suspect though that there was enough confusion about what warranted the designation of “child of a Loyalist” that they all applied/reapplied “in case”.

John II applied after the application became a printed form, the form now stating automatically that the applicant was over 21.  Still not sure why John waited so long to apply for the grant, I can speculate, but that is all it would be.