February marks Black History Month, a time to recognize and celebrate the rich and diverse Black History of New Brunswick.  The majority of the Black individuals living in New Brunswick can trace their ancestry to the United States and the West Indies. Their ancestors, originating from West Africa, were brought to the Americas as slaves by white settlers seeking a cheap labor force for their plantations. However, it is essential to remember that West Africa was home to great civilizations with political organization and administrative structures comparable to those in Europe long before the arrival of white settlers. These African empires traded in gold and ivory and created remarkable works of art, such as the bronze sculptures of Ghana.

A common misconception is that the first Black people arrived in New Brunswick as slaves with the Loyalists after the American Revolutionary War. In reality, Black individuals had lived in Canada and New Brunswick before the province’s establishment in 1784. Although many Black people did arrive as slaves or “servants” with the Loyalists, a significant number also came as free individuals.

The first recorded presence of a Black man in New Brunswick dates back to the late seventeenth century. This man, from Marblehead, Massachusetts, was brought to New Brunswick against his will by the French, who captured him during a raid in New England. He was freed in 1696 by Major Benjamin Church, who led an attacking force from Massachusetts to raid French settlements on the St. John River. Church later returned to Boston with the man. Although there is no recorded evidence of Black individuals in French settlements in New Brunswick before the late seventeenth century, it is highly likely that Black slaves were brought to the region since they were present in New France and present-day Nova Scotia in the early part of the seventeenth century.

These records demonstrate that Black people lived in Canada and New Brunswick long before the arrival of the Loyalists. Slavery was an accepted fact in Canada during the French Regime. However, after the Loyalists arrived, slavery became more widespread in New Brunswick, and the first free Black settlers began to establish themselves in the province.

The largest influx of Black people to New Brunswick occurred between 1783 and 1784 with the arrival of the United Empire Loyalists. Following the loss of the American colonies, 30,000 to 35,000 individuals who remained loyal to Britain moved to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. In response to their arrival, the Province of New Brunswick was established in 1784 to accommodate the Loyalists who had settled near the St. John River and did not want to be governed from Halifax. Alongside the Loyalists, several thousand Black people arrived, some as slaves or indentured servants, others as free Blacks or Black Loyalists. In official documents, Loyalists often referred to their slaves as “servants”; however, the majority of those listed as “servants” were likely no different in status from those labeled as slaves.

It is difficult to determine the exact number of Black people who arrived in New Brunswick as slaves with the Loyalists. One report from 1784 lists 1,232 servants accompanying the Loyalists, while another account states that 1,578 servants arrived in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

Many Loyalist officers owned one or two slaves, some had four or five, and a few even had nine or ten. Numerous other Loyalists not affiliated with the disbanded regiments also brought slaves to New Brunswick. Notable figures include Gabriel G. Ludlow, the first mayor of Saint John; Colonel Isaac Allen, a Supreme Court judge; Colonel Edward Winslow, a member of the Executive Council of New Brunswick and later a Supreme Court judge; and several Anglican Church ministers, such as Reverend James Scovil, who brought two slaves with him to Kingston.

St. Peter’s Anglican Church in Fredericton was built in 1837 by the local Black community, comprising former slaves and their descendants. From the very beginning, the level of integration between Black and White individuals at St. Peter’s was exceptional. Whites and Blacks not only worshipped together, but Blacks also served as sextons, vestry members, and made up a considerable part of the choir. In St. Peter’s cemetery, Black and White individuals are buried together without any distinction. This was in sharp contrast to other nearby churches and community cemeteries where segregation and separation were common. St. Peter’s cemetery is the only known example of integrated burial from the nineteenth century in the greater Fredericton area, and possibly throughout New Brunswick. For more information, see Black Settlement Burial Grounds.

The Wheary graveyard, located on private property in Keswick, contains gravestones that are over 100 years old and have started to crumble. The cemetery is overgrown, making it difficult to see, and the gate has fallen from its post. Some of the gravestones are barely visible through the brush and have begun to decay.

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The Mactacquac Heights cemetery was only discovered when the land around it was developed in the 1990s. Now cared for by neighbours, the tombstones of some of the first African Canadians in the area such as Wheary, O’Ree and Dymond can be found there.

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We also discovered the Black Settlement Burial Ground in Willow Grove located on highway 111. It was founded in 1831, and is the resting place of some 100 of those Black loyalists and Black refugees.  

Elm Hill was established by black Loyalists from Virginia in 1806, as one of Canada’s earliest black communities. It is located on the St. John River between Saint John and Fredericton. The Elm Hill Cemetery is located 6 miles east of Highway 102, on the south side of Elm Hill Road. Over a hundred people were buried there over the years, many field stones – too worn to read. 

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Here is a list of those buried in the Elm Hill Cemetery. It may be incomplete. 

Name                                                  Age                                    Date of Death 

 Boyd, Frederick                                  3 months                               October 15, 1910

 Boyd,  Prince Arthur                          11 months                             June 19, 1912               

 Bree, Douglas                                       6 years                                  June 29, 1935

 Bree, Marsha Elizabeth                      76 years                               July 30, 1940

 Cole, Donald H.                                    8 months                             August 29, 1931

 Cooper, Benjamin                               48 years                                November 30, 1927

 Cooper, Francis                                   30 years                                October 22, 1903

 Diggs, Alexander                                52 years                                 April 23, 1917

 Charles Hall, Child of                         2 days                                   January 28, 1910

 Charles Hall, Child of                         stillborn                               March 13, 1911

 Charles Hall, Child of                         1 day                                     May 20, 1917

 Hall, Charles T.                                   4 days                                   June 07, 1921

 Hall, Emily                                           44 years                               January 28, 1922

 Hall, Emily                                           23 years                               May 31, 1934

 Hall, Irene                                            17 years                                June 28, 1916

 Harrison, Almon                                48 years                               December 31, 1913

 Harrison, Blanch                                10 months                           May 27, 1903

 Harrison, William                               1 year                                   February 09, 1910

 Harrison, Willis                                   2 years                                 June 04, 1903

 Hector, Joseph                                     55 years                              May 09, 1912

 Hill, Rachael J.                                    39 years                               March 03, 1920

 Jackson, George                                  59 years                               December 12, 1892

 Jackson, Mary                                      92 years                              September 07, 1926

 Kennedy, George                                 70 years                              April 28, 1900

 Kennedy, Georges                               52 years                              March 17, 1935

 Kennedy, William                               26 years                              August 24, 1904

 Parrot, Julia                                         75 years                               August 12, 1913

 Roach, Ronald                                     1 month                              June 17, 1943

 Roche, Edward                                    50 years                              June 05, 1939

 Roche, William Percy                         4 months                           November 10, 1921

 Sasso, Anne                                          39 years                              July 22, 1935

 Shears, Joseph W.                              66 years                              February 23, 1941

 Shears, Walter                                     1 year                                   January 05, 1906

 Snead, Bertha                                      89 years                              June 22, 1935

 Snead, John                                         65 years                              November 18, 1922

 Taylor, Daniel                                      50 years                              December 20, 1910

 Thompson, James                              72 years                               December 02, 1935

 Thompson, Hannah                           78 years                              December 21, 1940

 Williams, Freda St. Clair                   20 years                             December 18, 1919

 Williams, Henry John                        Very Old                            December 31, 1925

Resource: Information for this post came from “The Blacks In New Brunswick” by W.A. Spray. Click here to view the entire article. Please note: this link takes you to a PDF. 

Visit the New Brunswick Black History Society or the  Heritage Branch, Province of New Brunswick site to read more about NB Black History.