The Queen’s Bush Settlement: Black Pioneers 1839-1865

The Queen’s Bush Settlement of Waterloo/Wellington counties was generally known as a fugitive slave settlement. However, free Blacks from the US and Canadian-born Blacks also lived there. This book provides an overview of the introduction of Blacks into Canada, the early black settlements, the work of Paola Brown, the involvement of missionaries and mission, the AME Church, the BME Church, Fidelia Coburn, Lewis Champion Chambers and other people and events. The emphasis, however, is on the people of the Queen’s Bush Settlement. Here the situation was tenuous at best. Many Black residents were prevented from acquiring land by the Crown Land Agents and wealthier white settlers. The author’s research continues into establishing these residents’ relocation, some of whom returned to the United States, and some of whom migrated to other areas of Ontario. This work will be of great interest to local history enthusiasts and historians interested in Ontario’s Black History. Genealogists involved in tracing family connections with the early habitants of the Queen’s Bush will find a list of Blacks who lived in that settlement between 1839 and 1865, based on a variety of sources including census, tax, assessment, land, marriage and death records.