A discharge certificate of a member of the 29th Regiment of Foot at Fort St. John's dated 24 May 1784. This is from the same regiment, although a different company, as that of Robert Flowers. Robert Flowers last appears in a record of the 29th on a muster taken at the same fort a year earlier. (WO12/4493) (Hollier 1783) It is reasonable to assume that there was also a certificate like this at one time for Robert Flowers and other members of the 29th that settled in New Carlisle. Peter Collier, the subject of this certificate, settled in Cataraqui (Kingston, Ontario). This certificate is obviously from a volume that may contain similar certificates. Its pages are numbered 79c and 79d. To date, I have not been able to locate either where this certificate was archived, or where there may be similar certificates.

This copy of the certificate was given to me by Dr. Paul Cole and the following abstract of it is by him: "Sergeant Peter Collier, Major Christopher Carlton's Company, His Majesty's 29th Regiment of Foot whereof Lt-General William Evelyn is Colonel. Born in the Parish of Leigh in or near the markettown of Leigh in the county of Lancaster, aged 29 years and by trade a weaver. In the regiment 9 1/3 years. Discharged at Fort St Johns, Canada, May 24 1784."

Thanks to Bruce Murduck for the following email in response to my questions and after his viewing the above certificate. Bruce is a professional genealogist and he may be contacted through his website.

"Thanks for the image of the Discharge Certificate. This has the appearance of being one of a series of records filed as part of what are known asUpper Canada Land Petitions. Let me check...

* Yes. Peter Collier submitted at least 5 petitions between 1806 and 1816.One of them is identified as C-79.

This discharge certificate, then, would probably have been submitted as oneof the supporting documents to Collier's petition dated 28 April 1812. You should be able to find this item in Upper Canada Land Petitions, C - Bundle 10, Volume 98, #79; on microfilm reel C-1651.

It's rare to find discharge certificates anywhere in official records. They were usually given to the soldier and would have been carried much as we carry our id cards today. I know of a couple of originals from provincial corps, most held in descendant family hands, but they sometimes turn up,randomly (and surprisingly!) in other series of records - Heir and Devisee Commission records, Land Petition records, court records, and so on, all in an Upper Canada context."