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Black Loyalists: Land Petitions and Loyalism

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Black Loyalists: Land Petitions and Loyalism Black Loyalists: Land Petitions and Loyalism by Christine Harens Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at Dalhousie University Halifax, Nova Scotia March 2016 © Copyright by Christine Harens, 2016 Table of Contents List Of Tables…………………………………………...…………………………....iv List Of Figures……………...………………………………………………………...v Abstract………………………………………………………………………………vi Acknowledgement…………………………………………………………………..vii Chapter 1 - Introduction……………………………………………............................1 1.1 Historiography…………………………….………………………………....5 1.2 Defining The Terms …………...………......…………………………..…...27 1.3 Conclusion…………………………….…………………………………....29 Chapter 2 – Stephen Blucke: A Unique Settler…………………................................32 2.1.1 Margaret Blucke: The Influential Wife………………………….…40 2.1.2 Military Affiliation………………………..………………....……..42 2.2 The Promised Land: The Land Petition………………………………….....43 2.2.1 The Governor’s Request To Survey The Land……….…………......46 2.2.2. Chief Surveyor Of Land: Commission To Assess………………......47 2.2.3. The Surveyor Of Woods: The Assessment Of The Land…………...48 2.3 Analysis Of The Table And Figures………………………………….….…50 2.3 Marion Gilroy’s Genealogy……………………………………………..….53 2.4 Group B: A Hierarchy After All………………………………………..…..56 2.5 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………..57 Chapter 3 – Thomas Brownsprigs’ Land Petition….………………...........................64 3.1 On The Black Loyalist Myth…………………...……………………….…..66 3.2 Thomas Brownspriggs’ Land Petition…………………………….................72 3.3 The Loyalist Issue…...……………………………………………...............79 3.4 Council Minutes………………………………………………………….…84 3.5 Newspapers…………………………………………………………………89 3.6 Conclusion………………………………………………………………......91 Chapter 4 – Early Land Petitions: A Black Sergeant And Four Black Pilots………..95 4.1 Thomas Peters: A Black Sergeant………………………………………......96 4.2 Lawrence Buskirk Land Petition: 1784………………………………….....98 4.3 William Tying Land Petition: 1784…………………………………........101 4.4 Moses Pitcher’s Land Petition………………………………………….…102 4.4.1 Black Pilots: Analysis Of The Definition………………...............105 4.4.2 Four Black Pilots: A Close Analysis Of Who They Were…….…105 4.5 Free Blacks: Passports And Certificates……………………………….....110 4.6 Conclusion……………………………………….………………………..112 Chapter 5 – Conclusion ………………………………………………….................115 Bibliography………………………………………...................................................122 List Of Tables Table A: A List Of Petitioners Under Morris’ Petition…..…...……..………...….61 Table B: List Of Tracadie Petitioners…………………………………………….94 Table C: List Of Petitions And Acres Granted Under Moses Pitcher’s Petition..114 List Of Figures Figure 1: Chart Showing The Percentage Of Acres Granted……………...……...62 Figure 2: Division Of Groups And Acres Granted…………………………….....63 Abstract The Black Loyalists played a significant role in the history of Nova Scotia. They faced many difficulties, including discrimination during the process of land granting. There has been a lively scholarly debate over the identity and culture of the Black Loyalists. This thesis contributes to that debate through a close study of land petitions. It offers an in-depth exploration of the land petitions and the related administrative and political processes. This thesis employs a close textual analysis of the language, identities, and terminologies used in the petitions, and it explores how the colonial government viewed issues such as loyalty and ethnicity. The term “Black Loyalist” did not appear within any of the official colonial documents, including the land petitions, covered by this research project. This thesis argues that the term Loyalist needs to be redefined, because different types of loyalism can be attributed to the individuals classified as Black Loyalists. Acknowledgement Over the last two years many people have come to support me during the process of completing my M.A. First of all I need to thank the History Department and the faculty and staff at Dalhousie University for allowing me to pursue my Masters. I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Jerry Bannister, for overseeing my thesis project, and all the help and support he provided while I was working on my M.A. project. Thank you. Further, I would like to thank Dr. Justin Roberts and Dr. Martin Hubley, for being part of my thesis-committee. Val and Tina, the hearts of the History Department, thank you for all your hard work and being there for me whenever I needed help. I would also like to thank the staff at the Nova Scotia Archives, who helped me many times when I was struggling to find sources. To my family, thank you for supporting me all these years. I greatly appreciate your encouragement. Oma and Opa, thank you for your support. Oma Resi, thank you for believing in me and having my back. Mama und Puppi, thank you for enabling me to live my dream. I could not have done this without you. Thank you so much. And finally to everybody else that was part of this journey and that I have forgotten here. Thank you for your support. Chapter 1 - Introduction Following the American Revolution in 1783, approximately 3,500 Black Loyalists migrated alongside fellow White Loyalists to British North America and in particular to Nova Scotia. The Black Loyalists are grouped together with White and First Nation Loyalists. This being said, scholars often neglect to realize that their motives to join the British troops in their fight against the Patriots may have been extremely different than that of their counterparts. Can we even classify the Black Loyalists as loyal, or were their motives solely based on their desire to gain freedom and independence in the late eighteenth-century? And if they were loyal in the sense that they were loyal to who ever would grant them their wish for freedom, can they be grouped together with White Loyalists, who were not loyal to the King of England because they were rooting for their freedom but they were fighting for the monarch and their desire to live in a monarchy? As such, can we call the refugee slaves of 1783, loyal in the same sense as the White Loyalists or do scholars need to redefine loyalism? If loyalism needs to be reevaluated, subcategories will be useful to encompass the different groups of people who are considered Loyalists, as they had different outlooks and reasons to be loyal. A new term may be required for some of the people, as their motives to support the British varied drastically from the twenty- first-century definition of the term Loyalist. If we agree that loyalism, at least in the Black Loyalists case, needs to be re- evaluated, then we not only need to look at the term in a new light but also explore their loyalism as attributed to them by the colonial government with the help of land petitions. By this I mean the kind of loyalism within the community, and how certain events, such as the granting of land to the free blacks can attribute to the understanding of society and their treatment of the black population. In short, if Black Loyalists were considered loyal in the same sense as White Loyalists were, they would have been granted the same acreage, but they were not. They would have been treated the same as their white counterparts, and the official documents would have used the term Black Loyalist, but they were referred to as free blacks. This results in a debate around their kind of loyalism and if the term needs to be reevaluated. Individual free blacks may have had different motives for joining the British, which would result in different understandings of their loyalism found within their community. For instance, can we measure the kind of loyalism by the Black Loyalists based on the land granted to them, and how did this form of loyalism change because of said petitions. In other words, this thesis will not study the Black Loyalists as a history of a group but rather evaluate how their dynamics changed between 1783 and 1792 based on petitions. Land petitions can enlighten scholars on this topic because they give insight on the colonial governments treatment of the Black Loyalists and the official terms, which were used in the late eighteenth-century. The question remains if the Black Loyalists were understood to be ‘loyal’ in the late eighteenth-century, or if scholars need to redefine the Black Loyalists identity. The term Loyalist is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “one who is loyal; one who adheres to his sovereign or to constituted authority, esp. in times of revolt; one who supports the existing form of government.”1 The term loyal is defined as ( # $ (.)'(, (,)'(, %%! ! ! ! ! ! % %%(('-+*" / & ! ) “faithful in allegiance to the sovereign or constituted government.”2 This thesis aims to clarify that the government did not use the term Black Loyalist within land petitions in order to refer to the black refugees. The significance of this topic is that the group of people who scholars have come to call, Black Loyalists, needs to be redefined. The identity of the Black Loyalists will need to be reshaped, as they were not loyal in the sense that academics of the twenty- first-century understand, and the Oxford English Dictionary defines the term. This thesis aims to redefine the identity of the Black Loyalists with the help of five land petitions. The first petition that will be studied included Colonel Stephen Blucke, who was a resident of Shelburne County, and was granted 200 acres.3 This was the most acreage any known free black was granted in
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