This site is a non-descript parcel of land settled by the Van Buskirk family sometime after 1783. 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. Lawrence Van Buskirk settled here with his family, including two enslaved Black people.
The Book of Negroes lists John Van Buskirk as arriving in Saint John with an indentured Black man named Joseph Collins, and another enslaved man named John Vans arrived in Saint John with “Mr. Van Buskirk Jr. Or the Van Buskirk “servants” may have been other Black people whose names are lost to history. 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!
Sources:
History of Kings County: https://ia801302.us.archive.org/19/items/cu31924028897936/cu31924028897936.pdf
The Book of Negroes, Carleton Papers: https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/loyalists/book-of-negroes/Pages/introduction.aspx
King’s College, Nova Scotia: Direct Connections to Slavery: https://ukings.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/KINGS-Slavery-Report-October-12-2021-FINAL.pdf
Images:
Black Kingsbridge 1698 to 1850 – A Community Revealed in Documents
https://novascotia.ca/natr/land/indexmaps/035.pdf
