- Note from George Hayward
The most distant ancestor to whom we can factually substantiate a relationship is Robert Hallett. The following information has been provided by George Hayward who has done extensive research into Hallett genealogy.
Robert Hallett was a Loyalist. He was a Private in the New York Volunteers, and later a Corporal in Delancey’s Battalion, during the Revolutionary War, and came to Saint John in 1783. He first settled on part of Lot 30, on the west side of the Saint John River about two miles (3.2 km) below the Town of Woodstock, N.B., which land was granted to him 15 October 1784. He later removed to Upper Brighton, on the east side of the Saint John River about one half mile above the Town of Hartland, where on the 6th of Dec., 1815, he was granted Lots 49 and 50, about 385 acres.
Tradition in the Hallett family in Carleton County is that Mary Lomax was a sister of Col. James Lomax of the British Army in 1804. He died a General in Nov., 1848, and was buried in Bristol, England. This is recorded in the Robert H Hallett family bible, but it has always seemed to me an unlikely circumstance. In 1782, it would have been unusual for an army corporal to marry the sister of a high ranking British army officer. My paternal grandmother, whose mother was Hannah Hallett, said Robert Hallett and Mary Lomax eloped. I don’t think she had any evidence to substantiate that, but maybe it was true.
It is said that Robert Hallett and Mary Lomax were married in Savannah, Georgia. This is not altogether an unlikely place. Muster rolls show that Robert was stationed there in 1781 and 1782 with Lieut. Colonel Oliver Delancey’s Brigade. However, I have no proof for their marriage in that location.
One of the many disappointments in my Hallett research is that I have not been able to establish who Robert’s parents were. At the time of the Revolution, there were several Hallett families living in the New York City area, descendants of William Hallett who was born in English in 1616, and I have always supposed he belonged to one of them, but I have not been able to establish that as a fact.
In Helen Hallett’s notes there is reference to a genealogical brief compiled by Rev. Murray H. Manual of Woodstock, N.B., on May 3, 1962, in which he said, in part: “Josiah Hallett, a Captain in the Colonial Army of the American Revolution, 17757575, married Mary Lomat, a sister of General Lomat of Bristol, England. Captain Hallett settled on a government grant of land on the Tobique River, Victoria Co., N.B. There were four sons and five daughters. Names of sons who resided in Victoria County, William, Joseph, James, Jacob.” I think this statement contains few facts. However, it is interesting that Rev. Manual, obviously referring to Robert Hallett, calls him “Josiah”, the name used by his daughter Lydia for her 10th child. I have often wondered if Robert may sometimes have been known by another name, that being the reason I could not locate his parents.
Mr. Hayward speculates further in a letter received from him in May of 1989: “I suppose he might have been related to Capt. Samuel Hallett. ... Muster Rolls of Delancey’s 2nd Battalion showing Samuel Hallett, Captain; Daniel Hallett, Lieutenant, who likely was Samuel’s son, born about 1751; Nathaniel Hallett, Sergeant, who likely was Samuel’s unmarried brother; and Robert Hallett, Private on the early rolls and Corporal on later ones. This probably is not Robert Hallett, Samuel’s brother, who was born 10 May 1714, because he would have been 66 in 1780. My guess is that it was our Robert Hallett, who would have been 21 in 1780. And I say Robert might have been related to Capt. Samuel Hallett because Samuel was in charge of raising men, first for the New York Volunteers, and later for Delancey’s Brigade, and it was often the case that several of the men in a Company were related.
... I have a list of ten children for Capt. Samuel Hallett, who came to Saint John in 1783 with the Loyalists and lived there the remainder of his life, but no Robert. However, I don’t know if my list is complete. It wouldn’t surprise me at all to discover that the young Corporal in Capt. Samuel Hallett’s Company was his son, but I suggest that only as a possibility.
... Too, I have often wondered if Moses Hallett, Loyalist, who settled at Bear Island, in the Parish of Queensbury, York County, N.B., might have been Robert’s brother. Moses Hallett’s son, Bartlett, married Robert and Mary Hallett’s daughter, Lydia. Maybe they were cousins, but first cousin marriages were not at all uncommon in the late 1700 and early 1800s. I mention these possibilities so you can think about them.....
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1759 - 1838 (79 years)
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Thomas Hallett 
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1769 - 1847 (78 years)
