Weart C Banta (son of Cornelius Jan, son of Jan Cornelese, son of Cornelius Epke, son of Epke Jacobse, son of Jacob Epke, son of Epke Luuesz, son of Lleuwe Te Banta) was born August 21, 1743, and died August 29, 1795.

Sources for information on Weart C. Banta - Loyalist

Jones, Edward A. "Loyalists of New Jersey" pp. 17-18 (references his

claim in the Public Records Office in London, England)

Leiby, Adrian C. "The Revolutionary War in the Hackensack Valley" pp.

115, 124, 147, 86, & 121.

At the NJ State Library:

"Loyalty and Reprisal: The Loyalists of Bergen County, New Jersey and

their estates" by Ruthy M. Keesey (copyrighted 1957) (J 974.921 K 26) -

Weart Banta, Appendix II p253.

Weart Banta was born August 21, 1743. During the Revolutionary War he sided with the adherents of the King, and held a commission as Lieutenant in Captain Peter Earl's company of the "King's Militia Volunteers." Prior to the war he had been a resident of the town of Hackensack, New Jersey for many years but was in the city of New York in 1774. Late in the previous year, the Boston Tea Party had been held. Needless to say, "Tories" were rather unpopular, unpopular to the extent that, for a diversion, a Mr. Moore was being given a rather rough ride around town, by a mob of irresponsibles with whom the general populace were somewhat in sympathy. Mr. Moore had probably been strongly suspected of being a "Tory" - the word being used as an epithet. However, there were some who disapproved. In fact, a very large number of Loyalists lived in and near New York City, and one of the alderman, a Mr. Blagg, protested and attempted to stem the riotous wave. He tried to rescue Mr. Moore from the cart on which he was being given transportation, and where he formed a target for such handy vegetables as might serve as ammunition. To use his own language, Weart Banta, marauder though he might be, considered that "the mob were using Mr. Moore very rough" and, not being Irish but ever ready to get into a scrap, he joined the weaker side. That this was undiplomatic is instanced by his further words, "that getting notice that the mob were in pursuit of him, he made his escape to Albany and remained there for some time." Two years later the war broke out in earnest and in Albany, the whigs were having arrested all whom they might consider prospective recruits for the side of their enemies. Brought before the Committee, Weart Banta refused to ally himself with them and was summarily placed in jail for ten months. Preferring New York to Albany, now that it had become British headquarters, he managed to escape but the way from Albany top New York was beset with danger. It was no uncommon thing for revolutionaries, tired of fighting, to simply go back to their farms. In fact, enlistments at that time were only for short periods and the habit was one of Washington's serious handicaps. Many of his soldiers, wandering through the country, took advantage of opportunities offered in acting as highwaymen and should they find a "wanted Tory," were only too glad to reap any reward obtainable for his return. Should they kill him, there would be no accounting to make, nor would there if they had the fancy to maltreat or torture him. It may be readily imagined that Banta was more than once in deadly peril as he made his way toward New York. Sometimes in hiding, traveling as much as possible at night, concealing himself when any came within sight or hearing, probably fighting his way when only one or two might interpose, he eventually found himself opposite the city and had then little difficulty in finding a boat to take him across the river.

Documents relating to the Revolutionary History of New Jersey, Vol III

On Sunday night the 28th ult. a party of

about 30 men, belonging to Lieut. Col. Van

Buskirk's corps of tories and embodied

refugees stationed at Hoebuck in the county

of Bergen, who came out as far as Closter, for

the purpose of stealing horses, and of robbing

the inhabitants, were attacked and put to

flight by nine of the militia, commanded by

Lieut. J. Huyler, leaving their plunder behind

them, and one of their officers, the noted

Peter Myer, Ensign in Capt. David Peak's

company, dead on the field. Another of their

officers was wounded in the arm, and the

infamous Weart Banta, so notoriously known

for his complicated villainies, thefts and

robberies, was shot through the knee, and it is

supposed will, by the amputation of a limb,

be disabled from kidnapping and plundering

the loyal subjects of this state in future.

For notices of Lieut. Col. Abraham Van Buskirk and the Van Buskirk family, of Bergen county, see N. J. Archives, 2d Series, 1:55.

Port Roseway Associated Loyalist List

The Port Roseway Associated Loyalists were evacuated from New York City in April,

1783 by the British just as the Americans were poised to take over the city in their

successful attempt to build the new nation of the United States.

These men, the Port Roseway Associated Loyalists, and their families did not agree with

the Americans and their dream of a nation independent from Britain, and so they were

forced to leave their country and search for lands elsewhere.

This group of men were successful in negotiating the giving of land grants by the Nova

Scotia government to their association, and in particular, grants on the land surrounding

Port Roseway in Shelbourne County, Nova Scotia. The Nova Scotia government, under

Governor Parr, agreed to grant them the land if they would take it upon themselves to

clear it.

Here, then, is the list of men with their families who left New York City in 1783 for

Port Roseway, Nova Scotia. Note that the name of the town was changed to Shelburne

in 1783 in honour of Lord Shelburne.

This list is presented in alphabetical order.

Philip Ackland, James Allen, Jeremiah Allen, Samuel Allsworth, John Anderson, Peter

Anderson, William Anderson, Stephen Arrant, James Ashley, Joseph Ashley, William

Ashley, Weart Banta, Andrew Barclay, John Barr, Robert Barry, Thomas Batt,

Jonathan Baxter, Samuel Baxter, George Beattie, Robert Berry, John Billington, Joseph

Black, William Black, John Blackwell, Henry Bolton, Edward Boulby, Alexander

Bradburne, William Branthwaite, Richard Brazil, William Broome, John Brown

Senior, John Brown Junior, Nicholas Brown, Samuel Brown, Charles O. Bruff,

William Burke, John Burnham, William Burton, Samuel Butler, Andrew Calder,

William Caldwell, Evan Cameron, William Cameron, Alexander Campbell, Archibald

Campbell, Dugald Campbell, George Campbell Senior, George Campbell Junior, John

Campbell, John Capewell, Patrick Carland, William Carmichael, Daniel Carrol,

William Carson Senior, William Carson Junior, William Castle, John Cheese, Thomas

Chetwynd, George Chisholm, Charles Church, Archibald Clark, John Clawson, John

Clisby, James Cock, Alexander Cocken, Robert Connell, John Cook, John Cooper,

James Courtney, Richard Courtney, Thomas Courtney, Alexander Cowan, John

Cowling, Margaret Crawford, William Cruikshank, Arthur Cullum, Thomas Curran,

Alexander Curry, John Curry, Samuel Davenport, John Davidson, John Davis, Daniel

Delaney, Roger Dempsay, Thomas Denham, Nathaniel Dickinson, Hugh Dogherty,

James Dole, Luke Dorney, Alexander Dove, George Duncan, Thomas Duncan, George

Dundas, Joseph Durfee, Robert Durfee, Robert Easton, John Edmonds, James Ellis,

Henry Elvins, Joseph English, Isaac Enslow, Alexander Fairley, James Ferguson, John

Ferguson, Jonathan Finley, John Fitzpatrick, William Foster, Robert Fox, Alexander

Fraser, Daniel Fraser, Reverend Hugh Fraser, Hugh Fraser, Simon Fraser, James

Frazier, Thomas Full, James Gamage, Mathew Gammil, John Gardner, James Gautier,

William Gibson, William Glann, Henry Goddard, Job Goddard, John Goddard,

Alexander Gordon, George Goswell, John Graham, William Graham, Daniel Grandine,

Gregory Grant, Peter Grant Senior, Peter Grant Junior, Caspar Grasman, Isaac Gray,

Peter Gray, Edward Green, James Griffin, Benjamin Grosvenor, Henry Guest, William

Hale, Nathaniel Hannah, Edward Hanney, Jasper Harding, Joseph Hardy, William

Hargraves, William Harper, Daniel Harris, Samuel Harrison, Charles Hart, Thomas

Hartley, Joshua Hill, William Hill, John Hislop, Henry Hodgkinson, Thomas Hodgson,

James Holden, William Holderness, Robert Houston, Thomas Houston, William Hughes,

Enoch Hunt, William Jackson, John Jackways, Jenkinson Jeans, John Johnston, William

Johnston, Richard Jolly, Dennis Kennedy, John Kenney, John Kingston, David Knapp,

Henry Edward Knox, Michael Lamey, Thomas Laurence, Dennis Lawler, Jesse Lear,

John Leighton, Peter Lenox, James Leslie, Peabody Little, James Littlewood, James

Lodge, George Lowe, John Lownds, Peter Lynch, Charles Lyon, Timothy Mahane,

Michael Malcome, Samuel Mann, David Maxwell, David Mellow Senior, David Mellow

Junior, John Menzie, Thomas Merston, John Meyers, James Miller, John Miller, James

Moffat, Robert Moffat, William Moody, Robert Moor, James Moore, Caleb Morgan,

George Mosley, James Muir, Daniel Munro, Nathaniel Munro, William Murchy,

Alexander Murray, William Murray, Bartholomew Musgrove, Frederick Myers,

Jeremiah Myers, Donald McAlpine, John McAlpine, John McAlpine [There were two

John McAlpines - ed's note], William McCrea, Donald McCrummin, Robert McCullock,

Donald McDonald, Neil McDonald, Robert McDonald, Ronald McDonald, Soirle

McDonald, James McEwan, John McEwan, William McEwan, John McGhee, John

McIntire, Donald McIntrye, Ronald McIntrye, Alexander McKay, Alexander

McKenzie, William McKenzie, John McKerlie, John McKie, Colin McKinley,

Alexander McLean, Donald McLeod, John McLeod, William McLeod, John McLinden,

James McMaster, Hugh McMillan, John McNeil, John McPhiel, Thomas McWaters,

Anthony Nelson, Archibald Nesbit, John Nichols, Neil Nicholson, Peter Nicholson,

Richard Nowland, Valentine Nutter, John O'Neal Senior, John O'Neal Junior, William

Owens, John Pack, Alpheus Palmer, Benjamin Palmer, Lewis Palmer, Joshua Parker,

Peter Parker, George Pashley, George Patton, William Peck, George Pell, Jonathan

Pell, Joseph Pell, Joshua Pell Senior, Joshua Pell Junior, Samuel Pell, Richard Penny,

Samuel Perry Senior, Samuel Perry Junior, Silas Perry, Thomas Perry, David Phillips,

John Phillips, Moses Pitcher, James Porter, Christopher Potts, Thomas Powers, James

Prior, Timothy Prout, Joseph Pynchon, Nathaniel Rand, William Randall, William

Rankin, James Reath, Alexander Reid, Colin Reid, Patrick Reily, William Rigby,

Alexander Robertson, Alexander Robertson [There were two Alexander Robertsons -

ed's note], James Robertson, Anthony Robinson, Peter Robinson, William Robinson,

James Rose, William Rose, Andrew Ross, William Ross, Thomas Rowlands, Cornelius

Ryan, George Scott, Stephen Shakespear, Thomas Shaw, John Sinclair, George

Singleton, John Smart, Benjamin Smith, Caleb Smith, Emphraim Smith, Whitford

Smith, James Smither, Peter Sparewater, Peter Sparling, Paul Speed, John Spencer,

James Spinks, Mathew Stacy, John Stanton, Latham Stanton, Moses Start, Delina Stout,

Thomas Stremboock, John Stuart, Jacob Styman, William Sutherland, Ann Taylor, John

Taylor, John Tench, Nathaniel Thomas, Richard Thomas, James Thompson, David

Thomson Senior, David Thomson Junior, Jon Thomson, Robert Thomson, John Tolbut,

William Tribe, Robert Turnbull, Thomas Turnbull, John Turner, John Turrel, John

Ure, Joseph Vassey, John Wade, John Walker, Richard Walker, George Wall, Joseph

Walsh, Edmund Ward, Ira Ward, George Watson, John Watson, John Webster, Thomas

Weir, George Wells, Richard Wetton, Amos White, Charles White, David White,

Duncan White, Gideon White, Richard White, Thomas Whiting, Robert Wilkins, Daniel

Williams, John Williams Senior, John Williams Junior, Richard Williams, Samuel

Williams, Richard Williamson, David Wilson, James Wilson, John Wilson, William

Wilson, Benjamin Wood, Daniel Wright, James Yule

The text below was transcribed from the William Perkins Bull Papers at the Ontario Archives on Microfiche MS 515 roll 74 from the Van Wyck family file. Pgs 69878, 69879, 69880 & 69881

Dominion Archives - Audit Office, U.E.L. Vol. 15, New Jersey, M.868F Pg.200

"To the Honble the Commissioners appointed by Act of Parliament for enquiring into the Losses and Services of the American Loyalists.

The Memorial of Weart Banta, formerly of Hackinsack in the Province of New Jersey.

Humbly sheweth, that your Memorialist was ever most firmly attached to His Majesty's Person and Government and wholly detested the late unnatural Rebellion in America. That he was for many years an Inhabitant of Hackinsack Town in the County of Bergen and Province of New Jersey.

That in the year 1774 he being then in New York, was obliged to quit the City for being a Tory, or he would have been tarred and feathered for assisting Mr. Alderman Blagg in taking a Mr. Moore off the Cart when the mob were using said Moore very rough. That getting notice that the mob were in pursuit of him he made his escape to Albany, and remained there in peace for some time.

That the Committees in that city wanting him to sign their association, he was upon his refusal taken up as a Tory, and confined in Goal for ten months.

That he then made his escape to New York, his majesty's forces being in possession thereof where he was employed by Colonel William Bayard and Lieutenant Colonel Van Buskirk to recruit men for their respective Regiments which he did to the number of Sixty two Recruits, (a Service at that time performed at the imminent risk of his Life) being then assured of a Commission in one of their said Regiments.

That his knowledge of the Country, his Activity and Zeal in the Service of his Sovereign acquired him the notice of Head Quarters, where he was employed in the procuring Intelligence, acting as a Guide &c.

That among many other Services he was put out on the express purpose of bringing into the Line the Infamous Brown who had murdered Captain John Richards which he effected - and afterwards took the Rebel General Ward and Colonel Bradford with the assistance of only five of his men having first disarmed the General's Guard, consisting of a Serjeant & thirteen men, his Errand then being to surprise the Post.

That he was also sent out by General Howe to reconnoitre Fort Montgomery, which he did effectually and afterwards helped to take it.

That he was also sent as a Guide with the Light Infantry and fell upon and destroyed Washington's Light Horse.

That he was also sent out on Expeditions to intercept the Rebel Mails.

That these services were the sole means of preventing his getting a Commission in the new Raised Regiments as promised him, he being found much more useful in the Scout and reconnoitering duties from his knowledge of the Interior Country as aforesaid.

That however on the 21 of February 1779 His Excellency Sir Henry Clinton was pleased to give him the Commission of Lieutenant in the King's Militia Volunteers in which Corps he served without pay, and that on the 28th day of March following being in a hot engagement with the Rebels, he was severely wounded in the knee, which wound has crippled him for the remainder of his days.

That he hath a wife and three small children living in Shelbourne, whom he is unable to maintain, his Wound rendering him incapable of those Exertions for their Support which the rude face of this Country absolutely requires; and having by his Loyalty & Services lost property of various kinds to the amount of between Eight or Nine hundred Pounds New York Currency as will appear by the Schedule or Statement herewith.

That during the whole of his said Services he was never put upon any pay or regular Subsistence, nor hath he received any kind of Compensation for such his Services & Sufferings, either during the War or since.

That his Services above humbly detailed can be fully proved by the Certificates and Depositions of the respective Officers and Gentlemen whose names are hereunto annexed.

Your Memorialist therefore most humbly prays that his case may be taken into your consideration, in order that he may be enabled under your Report to receive such aid or Relief as his Losses and Services may be found to deserve.

And your Memorialist as in Duty bound shall pray."

From the collections of New Jersey Historical Society Vol X

- The Loyalists of New Jersey by E. Alfred Jones M.A.

Weart Banta - He was of Hackensack, born New Jersey, but had

settled as a carpenter and joiner in New York. In 1774 he

was obliged to quit this city "for being a Tory" and for

assisting Alderman Blagg to remove a Loyalist, one Moore,

off a cart when about to be tarred and feathered by a mob to

Albany and there remained in peace for some time, until

requested by the committee to sign an Association. having

refused he was taken up as a Tory and imprisoned for ten

months. He escaped to New York, then in possession of

British troops, and was employed in recruiting and in

procuring intelligence. Among other active services rendered

by Banta was that of capturing "the infamous Brown", the

murderer of Captain John Richards. He also captured with the

aid of only five men, the American General Ward and Colonel

Bradford, after first disarming the General's guard of a

sergeant and 16 men. Weart Banta would seem to have been of

a courageous and enterprising nature; he was on several

expeditions to intercept the Colonial mails and was sent by

General Sir William Howe to reconnoitre Fort Montgomery, a

service successfully accomplished and afterwards was present

with the British force which took that fort. As a guide, he

was with the Light Infantry which once fell upon and is said

to have "Destroyed" Gen. George Washington's Light Horse.

In all these services, he was considered most useful but the

promised commission was not given to him until Feb 2, 1779

when he was appointed a Lieutenant in the King's Militia

Volunteers. On March 28, 1779, he was severely wounded in an

engagement in New Jersey and permanently disabled.

Inquisition against him in Bergen County, N.J. was found in

October, 1780. He was working as a carpenter at Shelbourne in

Nova Scotia in 1786 and from 1788 to 1804 he was in receipt

of a military allowance of 70 pounds. ( *Note OHS has him

dead by 1796, perhaps his wife collected his allowance after

his death.) Sieba Banta is mentioned in A.O. 12: 110 ff. 23-