In Consequence of Loyalty, A Pioneer History. (Books Worth a Look).

Authors: John and Kay Chessers UE

Cobourg: John and Kay Chessers. 2002. Softcover. 177 pages.

Reviewed by Peter W. Johnson UE

This slim volume is a bit hard to categorize. It is not what one could term scholarly or academic history, nor is it historical fiction. Rather it is an easily read account of a century in the life of the Chessers family. Unlike more academic studies, it lacks a strict bibliography, although there are indeed numerous sources listed in a less formal manner. Missing also is an index, which would perhaps be most keenly felt by people who spot a non-Chessers name and forget where they saw it. Where was that reference to Josiah Cass?

Reading this book, is rather like looking through a camera with a zoom lens. At first you see the big picture, and then you zoom in on the finer details. Thus the book begins with a section on the Seven Years' War, which brought the first John Chessers over to America. Not surprisingly there are few documents relating to this early Chessers, so authors John and Kay provide an overview of what events took place in that turbulent time. Indeed, we learn quite a bit about the more famous Skene family, who had business links to the Chessers. There are a few errors that creep in, and perhaps an occasional question of interpretation. Sir John Johnson's King's Royal Yorkers were not rangers, (p. 54), and it is odd to dismiss the St. Leger Expedition as a failure, without considering the victory at Oriskany, but these are certainly the exceptions rather than the rule.

The book then follows the Chessers through new settlement in Canada, the War of 1812, business ventures in Quebec and Plantagenet, ON, especially in the logging industry, and the terrible cholera epidemics of the early 1830s, which took a high toll on the family. With each passing year and generation, the focus in the book moves more from world events to local events and individuals, hence the zoom effect.

It's an entertaining book, and certainly one for those who have roots in eastern Ontario and Quebec, not to mention Skenesborough. In one sense it is almost a companion piece to Reflections of the South Nation Watershed, reviewed in the last issue.

John and Kay are to be commended for taking on this ambitious project. The price of the book is Cdn.$18 plus shipping and handling. The Chessers can be reached at [e-mail] or at 734 Duncan Crt., Cobourg, ON K9A 5N8.