Queen's Bush
43°39′16.68″N 80°42′10.14″W / 43.6546333°N 80.7028167°W The Queen's Bush was an area of what is now Southwestern, Ontario, between
History
Queen's Bush was a large tract of land between Lake Huron, Georgian Bay, and lands developed in the east and the southeast. It bordered what are today the Townships of Wellesley and Peel.[1]: 31 The land was acquired by
The area was densely wooded with an abundance of wildlife, and the soil was well suited for agricultural endeavours.
The land was settled later than other tracts in Southwestern Ontario because it had been set aside as
Settlement
Beginning in 1820, squatters settled on unclaimed land within the Queen's Bush near what would become
In 1851, there were eight African Canadian families in the northern part of
Survey of land
In the 1840s, the government ordered surveys of the district for settlement.[6][5] The decision was prompted by a heavy influx of migrants from countries such as England, Scotland and Ireland seeking agricultural land.[1]: 63 Recognizing their tenuous claim to land they had cleared and now lived on, existing inhabitants began efforts to secure their investments given that many were not in financial situations to purchase it outright.[1]: 63
In the fall of 1842 a letter was sent to James Durand, then member of parliament for Canada West, by Queen's Bush inhabitants asking that parcels of land be divided into smaller, more affordable lots.[1]: 64 The letter began with an acknowledgement of their "boldness of squatting into the Queens [sic] Bush the way we have," going on to explain that many arrived unable to support themselves or their families.[1]: 64 As a result, a decision was made to go into the woods and cultivate unsettled land with the intention of buying it should the opportunity arise[1]: 64 Citing their still poor financial situations and an inability to purchase land for cash the authors proposed that parcels of land be sized at 200 hundred acres so that there might be a chance for those already living there to purchase it.[1]: 64
The survey of Wellesley Township began in April 1843 under the direction of William Walker.[1]: 66 By September of the same year 66,000 acres of land in the southern area of the Queen's Bush had been surveyed and mapped to aid in the selling of the land.[1]: 66 Additional survey work was undertaken by Robert W. Kerr, surveying 74,627 acres of land that would become Peel Township in Wellington County.[1]: 66
As survey work progressed, the situation for those people already living on the land was further complicated. Surveys ignored the presence of existing structures so that multiple family farms were sometimes contained in one plot.[1]: 66 A subsequent petition for assistance from government officials was sent to newly appointed Governor-General of the Province of Canada, Charles Metcalfe, asking that the land be granted to the existing inhabitants due to their unfavourable financial situations, who described themselves as:
"being extremely poor having lately emigrated from England, and from the Southern states were we have suffered all the horrors of Slavery, and having no means of purchasing land".[1]: 66
The request that was denied. The petition included 123 of which 51 were identified as Black settlers by historian Linda Brown-Kubisch.[1]: 66
Another petition was submitted to Earl of Elgin, then Governor General of Upper Canada, in 1847.[1]: 98 Signed by 91 people, many of whom had signed the 1843 effort, the petition staked a claim to the land through a demonstrated allegiance to Queen Victoria and the squatters' role in making Queen's Bush land habitable and agriculturally productive.[1]: 98 This time the petitioners had the added support of Hamilton's Black community, including Paolo Brown, Moses Crump and Peter Price who presented a petition objecting to what they viewed violations of property rights.[1]: 98
In 1850 Elgin offered a deal to Black and white settlers squatting on land within the Queen's Bush, but the Black settlers could not afford the payment terms.[7]: 156 Many white settlers were able to remain on their land, and even appropriated the farmed lands of their now-displaced Black neighbors.[1] On January 1, 1850 the Queen's Bush was divided into counties, and the counties were divided into townships.[citation needed] Black settlers who lost their farms began a mass migration out of Queen's Bush to other African-Canadian communities.[7]: 156
Legacy
An Ontario Historical Plaque located on Road 45 near where the Conestogo River crosses the road reads to following description;
In the early 19th century the vast unsettled area between Waterloo County and Lake Huron was known as the "Queen's Bush". More than 1,500 free and formerly enslaved Blacks pioneered scattered farms along the Peel and Wellesley Township border, with Glen Allan, Hawkesville and Wallenstein as important centres. Working together, these industrious and self-reliant settlers built churches, schools, and a strong and vibrant community life. American missionaries taught local Black children at the Mount Hope and Mount Pleasant schools. In the 1840s the government ordered the district surveyed and many of the settlers could not afford to purchase the land they had laboured so hard to clear. By 1850 migration out of the Queen's Bush had begun. Today African Canadians whose ancestors pioneered the Queen's Bush are represented in communities across Ontario.[10]
Benjamin Drew was commissioned in the early 1850s by the Canadian Anti-Slavery Society to interview former enslaved people who settled in Canada. Some families from Wellesley were interviewed by Drew. He published the book, The Refugee, Narratives of Fugitive Slaves in Canada.[9]
See also
References
- ^ OCLC 285412025.
- ^ Monkman, Irene; Fleming, Roy (1912). Oliphant and its islands, Lake Huron - Canadiana Online. Toronto: The Ojibway Crafts. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
- ^ Anderson, Charnel. "Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
- ^ Robertson, Norman (1906). The history of the county of Bruce : and of the minor municipalities therein, province of Ontario, Canada. Toronto: W. Briggs. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f "Wellesley Township Heritage and Historical Society - History of Wellesley Township". Wellesley Township Heritage & Historical Society. Retrieved 2021-05-30.
- ^ a b c "The Ontario Heritage Trust". Ontario Heritage Trust. 2016-12-08. Retrieved 2021-05-30.
- ^ OCLC 551422142.
- ^ Siebert, Wilbur H. (1898). The underground railroad from slavery to freedom. New York: Macmillan. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
- ^ a b c "Queen's Bush Settlement". Wellesley Township Heritage & Historical Society. Retrieved 2021-05-30.
- ^ "The Queen's Bush Settlement, 1820-1867". ontarioplaques.com. Archived from the original on July 7, 2020. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
Further reading
- Drew, Benjamin (1856). A North-Side View of Slavery. The Refugee: or the Narratives of Fugitive Slaves in Canada. Related by Themselves, with an Account of the History and Condition of the Colored Population of Upper Canada. Boston: John P. Jewett and Company. Retrieved 10 September 2021.