This site is a non-descript parcel of land settled by the Van Buskirk family in _____. They actually typify the loyalist experience. The Van Buskirks, a Dutch New York family settled in the post war years, in several locations in the Maritimes; Port Roseway (Shelburne) where some of the family still remains, Saint John where they endured several years as refugees and political instability, and here in Kings County.
This site may have also been the residents of two nameless enslaved Black people who accompanied the family through the maelstrom of early loyalist politics. Here, as in many other rural areas first settled by the loyalists, the story of enslavement has all but faded from public memory.
This site, is a reminder that the early loyalist settlers, and many of the planters who preceded them relied on small numbers of Black people to both assist in farm labour, but also as property that could be leveraged against financial instability. This site is a reminder to consider the nameless settlers who also bore the brunt of war and desperation and upheaval, but who did not make it into the archives or history books.
Thanks to the Kings Country Museum!
