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SERVANT - New Brunswick, Canada area

Replies: 15

Re: SERVANT - New Brunswick, Canada area - Help with African Canadian

Posted: 16 May 2012 5:08AM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 16 May 2012 5:21AM GMT
Surnames: Long
Thank you so much for your help. This is a pretty difficult project so far.

There is a post on Ancestry.
http://boards.ancestrylibrary.com
/localities.northam.canada.ontario.york/
5756.1/mb.ashx

About the Willson and Lawrence, and many other families who all left the Miramichi in 1793, and it included the Kendricks, formerly of Gagetown and Peter Long and his family. They had 7 children, born in N.S. and N.B. As far as I know, they were the only black family on the ship that left N.B. for Upper Canada.

I figured Peter Long might have met Davidson on the St.John's when Davidson was commissioned to cut masts for the Navy during the Revolution. It looks like the families left when Davidson died.

Peter appears in one petition in N.B. , I have a copy of it.


I have 2 possibilites for Peter's arrival from Massachussets, to the St. John's River. Maybe he came as a slave to a settler from Mass (in which case his name might not be recorded) or he might have come on a British ship at the beginning of the Revolution, such as the 1777 ship you mention. Many blacks served on board ship.

I read that small private ships did patrol the St.John's to protect against Rebel raids, since the Navy could not really send much.

I forgot to mention, in a different petition Peter Long claimed to have served in a Fencible Regiment, but I have not been able to find his name on a muster. Peter Long was literate, and he seems to always work on ships.

His wife Sarah is even more elusive. I have no maiden name for her. She might have been from Gagetown. She seems to enjoy a very close relationship with the Kendrick family from Gagetown. Her place of birth is also elusive.

The family had some children baptized in Church of England in Upper Canada.
The origin of the Kendrick is alwo interesting. Father John was a soldier in a British regiment who settled in Gagetown sometimes in teh 1760s. His wife was Dorcas and they had at least 4 sons and 1 daughter. A S.P.G. missionary baptized the youngest children, twins and noted that they were born in a canoe on the St.John's river.

The Kendricks left N.B. for Upper Canada in 1793, and they got land in Town of York (Toronto) and built ships and houses. They also captained ships.

Joseph Kendrick is the one who wrote the petition describing Peter's service on the St.John's River, and being a ship Captain, he gives a lot of details about the ship. I am pretty sure there was such a schooner Nova Scotia with Captain London, but what I would like to know if whether Peter Long was a civilian, or a Fencible on that schooner.

I am guessing I will have to visit the Archives in Halifax, but that will have to wait.

Thank you again for all your help. Context is so important to figure out a story.
SubjectAuthorDate Posted
SABANDMAR 16 Mar 2012 8:25PM GMT 
thomasamurray... 18 Mar 2012 1:12AM GMT 
dgfim22 22 Mar 2012 6:00PM GMT 
gpetrin169 16 May 2012 12:26AM GMT 
thomasamurray... 16 May 2012 4:07AM GMT 
gpetrin169 16 May 2012 11:08AM GMT 
thomasamurray... 16 May 2012 6:38PM GMT 
gpetrin169 16 May 2012 11:06PM GMT 
gpetrin169 20 May 2012 6:59PM GMT 
nqhkay 25 Nov 2012 12:43AM GMT 
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