I do have sufficient evidence to prove that I, my mom, and my children are descendants of the Queen’s Bush community. The documentary trail from my grandmother back through my Robinson ancestors (Myrtle Mae to William A. to John A.) to Peter Taylor and Margaret White is solid.

The question of whether we are descendants of escaped slaves are free Blacks is harder to answer, however. The answer could be one or both. Nevertheless, given that all my earliest known ancestors residing in Queen’s Bush hailed from slave-owning states, namely Maryland and Virginia, the evidence points more strongly in the direction that we are living legacies of slaves who struggled to obtain freedom despite the cost.

I believe there is evidence that I descend from known escaped slaves. Peter Taylor and Margaret White lived near Samuel White and Hannah (Gray) White. According to Brown-Kubisch (2004), Samuel White (at least) was born into slavery in Maryland. Given data from three successive censuses of Canada (1851, 1861, and 1871)—all of which agree that Samuel White was born in Maryland—his birth date ranges from about 1786 to about 1794. (Keep in mind that the accuracy of census data depends on the memory of the individual respondent.)

Brown-Kubisch reported that Hannah Gray was born in Maryland as well, but given the three aforementioned censuses of Canada, we cannot be so sure. The 1851 Census indicates Maryland, the 1861 Census says merely “U.S.”, and the 1871 Census says Virginia. Her birth year ranges from about 1788 to about 1802, depending on which census one goes by.

The two oldest children still living with them at the time of the 1851 Census, Henry (born circa 1828) and Sarah (born circa 1833), were both listed as born in Virginia. The family had arrived in Canada by 1834 as another child, David, was born that year in Canada. The 1851 Census listed another son, Jacob, born in Canada about 1836. By 1861 they appear to have two more children, Elizabeth and Frederick White, both born circa 1844, and possibly a grandson, Charles Smith, who was born about 1854.

Brown-Kubisch (2004) made no mention of my great-great-great-grandmother Margaret White, thus does not make any connection between her and Samuel White and Hannah (Gray) White. It is no surprise, because she appears to infer the family relationships mentioned solely from household data in the 1851 and 1861 censuses.

But I do believe there is evidence contained within the census data. Samuel White and Hannah (Gray) White lived near Peter Taylor and Margaret (White) Taylor in Peel Township according to the 1851 Census. Samuel White and his family are listed on page 37. Peter Taylor and his family are listed on page 38, the third or fourth household (depending on whether or not Lucinda Ross is part of Cornelius Taylor’s household (or vice versa) from Samuel White’s.

The two families are listed together on page 21 of the 1861 Census. By then, only one other household—that of David and Sarah Austin (the handwriting looks like Austin, at least)—separated them. It may be that Sarah Austin is actually Sarah White, Samuel and Hannah (Gray) White’s daughter, as David Austin is listed as a labourer, as are Samuel and Hannah’s sons, Jacob and Henry. Thus, it is possible that the White and Austin households are one, in which case they live adjacent to Peter and Margaret (White) Taylor.

In either case, I believe the reduced number of households between the White and Taylor families between 1851 and 1861 reflect the beginning of the exodus of squatters from Queen’s Bush. Both the White and Taylor families left Queen’s Bush later in the 1860s. Brown-Kubisch (2004) reports that Samuel White sold his farm to a John Fenton.

What is irrefutable, however, is that Samuel and Hannah (Gray) White lived next to Peter and Margaret (White) Taylor after those two families left Queen’s Bush. In the 1871 Census of Amabel Township in Bruce North district, Samuel and Hannah lived next to Peter and Margaret. They are listed on the same page, with Samuel and Hannah, now quite elderly, living in household No. 73 and Peter and Margaret in household No. 74.

Other evidence to a potential relationship is that some names repeat among both families. Peter and Margaret have a son named Samuel. Samuel and Hannah have a son named David, as do Peter and Margaret. Samuel and Hannah have a son named Henry. Peter and Margaret have a son named James Henry. Peter and Margaret have a son named Albert, as does Margaret’s brother Samuel (assuming my hypothesis is correct that they are siblings).

So sure, while my assertion that Margaret White is the daughter of Samuel White and Hannah Gray is conjecture, it is conjecture backed by a good bit of consistent evidence over at least a 20-year period.

—

I have heard of many African Americans today being ashamed of the fact that their ancestors had once been held in bondage. It is a sentiment I cannot understand. None of our ancestors volunteered to be treated as property.

Nevertheless, I feel a bit of pride in having a personal connection to that dark period of history, that I descend from those who bucked that vile system and risked their lives in a very personal fight and flight for freedom.

Bibiliography

Brown-Kubisch, Linda. 2004. The Queen’s Bush Settlement: Black Pioneers 1839-1865. Toronto: Natural Heritage Books.

Cooke, William. 2015. “The Queen’s Bush Settlement.” Stalking Dead People (blog), William Cooke. 27 Nov 2022. http://stalkingdeadpeople.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-queens-bush-settlement.html.

Drew, Benjamin. 1856. The Refugee: Or the Narratives of Fugitive Slaves in Canada. Boston: John P. Jewett.

Ontario Heritage Trust. 2008. “The Queen’s Bush Settlement, 1820-1867.” King’s Printer for Ontario. Last Modified 2 Aug 2008. Accessed 27 Nov 2022.

https://www.heritagetrust.on.ca/pages/programs/provincial-plaque-program/provincial-plaque-background-papers/queens-bush-settlement.

Pavlakos, Raphaela. 2021. “The Forgotten History of Wellington County: Queen’s Bush Settlers and their Legacies.” The Black Past in Guelph: Remembered and Reclaimed (blog), University of Guelph. 27 Nov 2022. https://blackpastinguelph.com/2021/02/15/the-forgotten-history-of-wellington-county-queens-bush-settlers-and-their-legacies/.

Siebert, Wilbur H. 1898. The Underground Railroad: From Slavery to Freedom. New York: MacMillan Company.

“In some other parts of Canada the same tendency to spread into the outlying districts and secure small holdings appeared among the colored people. Mr. Peter Wright, the reeve of the town of Colchester, noted this fact, and attributed the clearance of much land for cultivation to fugitive slaves. That such land did not always remain in the possession of this class of pioneers was due to their ignorance of the forms of conveyancing, and doubtless sometimes to the sharp practices of unscrupulous whites.”

MECHANICSVILLE, Va. (DML) — The settlers of the Queens Bush, both Black and white, were caught in a catch 22. As squatters, they had no right to the land. They could not obtain rights to the land because it was not yet surveyed and not yet for sale. But they needed to survive and did what they had to do—clear the forest and begin farming what they could.

The problem for them was, by clearing the land and establishing farms, they increased the value of the property once it was surveyed and made available for sale. Many of them foresaw the looming problem, and they petitioned Canadian officials for help—not so much for favor or mercy, but merely for recognition of the value of what we would now call “sweat equity” they had put in, of the value (monetary and otherwise) they had created by their efforts.

“We are aware that an apology for our boldness of squatting into the Queens Bush the way we have done, should be reasonably looked for. We would therefore beg leave to state to you that we are most of us, Emigrants, who came to this country without the means of buying land, either cultivated or wild, — and that we had therefore no means of making a living except as Day Labourers, which is by the way no very easy way of getting a living; but to which we would have still cheerfully submitted, could we have got places to live with our families and constant employment, but we could get neither one nor the other. . . . Taking these things into consideration, we thought it would be best for ourselves and Families, if we would go into the woods and cultivate that soil, which we saw that was at any rate, as long as it was unsettled of no more use than being a rendezvous of the wolf and the Bear, — contemplating at the same time, once to buy the land we have taken in possession, should it be sold upon such conditions that we could buy it and we are sincerely glad that there is a prospect of its being surveyed out.”

From the Queen’s Bush settlers petition to James Durand, MP, 1842; reprinted in Appendix 2 of Brown-Kubisch 2004

The 1842 petition led to no resolution. The settlers followed up with a petition to Charles Metcalfe, Governor General of the Province of Canada, in 1843 in which they pleaded for grants of land; and again to Governor General James Bruce, Lord Elgin, in 1847 requesting favorable payment terms once the land does come up for sale.

“That your pettrs (petitioners) has settled on these lands for many years and under Every difficulty has mad Improvements on the lots of land that your pettrs hav taken up by making roads fencing and Cultivating these land Your pettrs Having no Capital to Comence with makes your pettrs not able to purchase these lands Except that Your pettrs is granted time to pay it by instalments which Your pettrs will do if allowed to pay the same and we earnestly intreat your Excellency favour to grant your pettrs this their Humble request for if your pettrs is driven from our little Homes our distress will be great not knowing what to do. Many of your pettrs hav large families to suport and no means of suporting them if your pettrs Hs to leave these lands that vour pettrs Has settled upon . . .”

From the Queen’s Bush settlers petition to Governor General Lord Elgin, 1847; reprinted in Appendix 2 of Brown-Kubisch 2004

A small group again petitioned Lord Elgin in 1850. The result was the same: nothing. The lands were surveyed, with surveyors having little regard for existing homesteads—even to the point of drawing boundary lines right through dwellings in which families lived. The work many of the Queen’s Bush settlers had put in to create a new home from wilderness amounted to nothing when others stood to benefit from their labors.

“The surveying of the tract called Queen’s Bush, and the subsequent arranging of the terms of payment for land already occupied, caused a number of colored settlers to sell their clearings in ‘the Bush’ and move away. Some of these, it appears, went south to Buxton, but some went north to the shores of Georgian Bay and located at Owen Sound. From this testimony it is certain that by 1850 fugitive slaves had found their way in considerable numbers throughout the inter-lake portion of Canada West.”

Siebert 1898, 218-219

—

My ancestors were among those who were eventually forced to leave Queen’s Bush. They were still there in 1861, Peter Taylor and Margaret White and their family (including my great-great-great-grandmother, Harriet Ann Taylor) still lived on their farm in the settlement. The Taylor family lived not far from a John Little, who may or may not be the intrepid John Little interviewed by Drew (1856). (There was another escaped slave named John Little in Queen’s Bush.)

Shortly after the time of the 1861 Census of Canada, my great-great-great-grandfather John A. Robinson met and married Harriet Ann Taylor in Canada. Their first child, my great-great-grandfather William A. Robinson, was born in Canada in June 1863. Their young family had relocated to Pittsfield, Michigan, by 1870.

By 1871, Peter Taylor and Margaret White had moved to Amabel Township, Bruce County, Ontario. Amabel is near the Owen Sound area where many former Queen’s Bush residents moved. They weren’t there for long. By 1880, Peter Taylor, Margaret White and the rest of their children had relocated to Michigan where John Robinson and Harriett Ann Taylor had moved a decade earlier.

Peter Taylor and Margaret White have left quite a few descendants that have spread across the United States. But all of them struggled to find a sense of home here. Some of their grandchildren—including some of the children of John and Harriet Ann (Taylor) Robinson—were able to pass as white and did, as I have found in a number of Census records. (My great-grandmother was clearly not the first to be evasive about her past.) Others, like my great-great-grandfather William Robinson, did not have that option. They were too dark-skinned to be other than Black.

References

Brown-Kubisch, Linda. 2004. The Queen’s Bush Settlement: Black Pioneers 1839-1865. Toronto: Natural Heritage Books.

Drew, Benjamin. 1856. The Refugee: Or the Narratives of Fugitive Slaves in Canada. Boston: John P. Jewett.

Siebert, Wilbur H. 1898. The Underground Railroad: From Slavery to Freedom. New York: MacMillan Company.