how to find a Tory ancestor?

[lazarus]

One of my ancestors, named Cotney, fought for the Tories in South Carolina. Footnote has nothing on him, but I think they mostly have pension info (that's all I've been able to find for my other ancestors who fought). Any resources for tracking down the evil Tory side of things?

[Spider Jerusalem]

1. I'd look to see if you have the name spelt properly

from what you've given it could be Courtney or Courtenay, possibly. I'd try as many variants of the surname as possible, to see if anything comes up; also Google is good, usually, as a starting point: http://bit.ly/90RxSN

[lazarus]

2. thanks

I keep forgetting how spelling was so, well, malleable back then. Changing spelling is what opened up one branch for me. On successive census forms, it was ed, edmund, and edwin.

[Spider Jerusalem]

3. Spelling tended to be pretty variable and a lot of it has to do with literacy

if your ancestor was illiterate then odds are that his name was transcribed as heard by someone keeping records; and 'Courtney' as pronounced in a southeastern English accent could conceivably be transcribed as 'Cotney' (the accent of the southeast of England is what's known as 'non-rhotic'; R is only pronounced where it immediately precedes a vowel sound...think of the stereotypical 'old southern' Charleston/Savannah accent, for instance).

[Grey]

4. I had one ancestors that had 4 sons,

He was in business and each of the sons started a business. At a family meeting they agreed to each spell the surname differently. So, as not to confuse people about which Hamlyn, Hamlin, Hamelin, Hamblin, Hamblyn, owned which business.
I have no idea where the B came from. In a letter from my Grandmother to her gentleman friend, later my Grandfather, She spelled several words as we hear them, not as we would spell them. I can't remember the year the first dictionary was published, till then words were pretty elastic.

[csziggy]

5. Try Coatney - some in SC and a LOT in Virginia in the right time

Though most of the Coatneys in VA were Rev. War soldiers fighting for independence. I didn't find records for Tories on Footnote.com.

[htuttle]

6. Look in the book, "The Loyalists in Ontario"

Loyalists who emigrated to Ontario were commonly granted land and other benefits in exchange for their service to the Crown. I found two lines of Tory ancestors in there.

Ancestry.com has it. You can find it for sale on Amazon, etc. I would expect to find it in a good library as well.

You might also check here:
http://www.uelac.org/