August 1 marks the anniversary of the enactment of the British Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 that abolished slavery across the British Empire. Though it was only officially recognized by the Canadian government in 2021, it has been celebrated in Waterloo Region for much longer. For nearly two centuries, Black communities in Waterloo County, Wellesley Township and Queen’s Bush have gathered on August 1 to mark the occasion with food, music and community.
In honour of Emancipation Day, the team in the Grace Schmidt Room of Local History is sharing the story of John Brown, one of Waterloo Region's early Black residents.
The Brown Family
Born in 1816, John Brown came to Canada sometime around the 1840s, emancipating himself from enslavement in Virginia. While travelling through Pennsylvania, he met his wife, Lucinda Green, a free-born Black woman. They travelled north to Canada and lived near Windsor and St. Catharines before settling in Wellesley Township in what is known as “Queen’s Bush.”
The Queen’s Bush Settlement was an area near Wellesley Township that hosted a thriving community of over 1,500 free and formerly enslaved Black settlers. The Brown family lived on a plot of land in the northeast of Wellesley, near present day Hawkesville. Their farm can be located on this map of land ownership from 1861.
By 1851, John and Lucinda had eight children between the ages of 2 and 16. We can see their names and ages in the 1851 census pictured below.
Although John and Lucinda hadn't been afforded an education, the 1871 census shows that they were able to put their son, James, in school. According to the Tax Assessment records from the same year, pictured below, the family was also farming on 120 acres of land.
Learn More
To learn more about the Queen’s Bush Settlement and early Black residents of Waterloo Region, check out Linda Brown-Kubisch's book "The Queen's Bush Settlement : Black pioneers 1839-1865." You can find more books for Emancipation Day on our reading list for adults and our reading list for children.
