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Amos Gilbert - Fugitive Slave from Maryland - Married and Died in St John

Amos Gilbert - Fugitive Slave from Maryland - Married and Died in St John

Posted: 19 Sep 2010 10:34PM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: Gilbert
Looking for information on my Gr gr greandafther's brother, Reuben, who escaped from slavery in Maryland in the 1848 timeframe. He chanegd his name to Amos Gilbert and eventually wound up in Nova Scotia and then moved to St John, NB where he "married and settled in business" per the account left by my gr gr grandfather. Amos died at Fredickton of cholera.

He left a widow and two children (girls) one was married to a fur dealer in Halifax and the other to a book keeper at the United States Shirt and Collar Company, Troy, NY.

Does anyone have suggestions on how I should go about looking for information on him? I do not know when he died, but it must have been after 1849.

Please help - and guidance is appreciated - and thank you!

Re: Amos Gilbert - Fugitive Slave from Maryland - Married and Died in St John

Posted: 24 Sep 2010 9:22PM GMT
Classification: Query
I couldn't find anything for this name on Danny Johnson's newspaper vital statistics. I'd suggest contacting Fernhill Cemetery to see if he was perhaps buried there if you suspect he died/was buried in Saint John.

Phone 506-652-1133
Fax 506-633-5007
Email fernhill@nb.aibn.com

They're extremely helpful and have very good records.

Good luck

Re: Amos Gilbert - Fugitive Slave from Maryland - Married and Died in St John

Posted: 25 Sep 2010 1:20AM GMT
Classification: Query
arewerelatd, I cannot express how grateful I am than you took the time to check for me! Thank you!

Actually, my GrGrGrandpop left a narrative stating that Reuben/Amos died in Fredericton, NB of Cholera in 1853. Perhaps there was an outbreak?

Here is what he wrote:
"My brother, Reuben, went to Halifax, N.S. from there to St John’s N.B. where he married and settled in business. He died at Fredickton near St. Johns, 1853 with Cholera. He left a widow and two children (girls) one is married to a fur dealer in Halifax and the other to a book keeper at the United States Shirt and Collar Company, Troy, NY. "

Re: Amos Gilbert - Fugitive Slave from Maryland - Married and Died in St John

Posted: 25 Sep 2010 12:43PM GMT
Classification: Query
I "think" I remember seeing a book at the library once about a cholera outbreak in the 1850's (in Saint John) but I've never taken a look at it. I did take a glance at the marriage books and there was no Amos GILBERT listed in them.

Since you mention Nova Scotia both for Amos and for the residence of one of his children, maybe take a look around novascotiagenealogy.com for any records that may pertain to Amos or his children. Maybe he married in Nova Scotia before moving on to New Brunswick? Since you also mentioned Fredericton, I'd suggest posting a marriage lookup on the York County boards (where Fredericton is located) to see if someone with access to the books of marriages for that county can see if maybe he was married there. (The Saint John library doesn't have that county's books). If you google York County NB genweb you can go to their webpage which I have found incredibly useful as it has some marriages, baptisms and other records.

Good luck!

Re: Amos Gilbert - Fugitive Slave from Maryland - Married and Died in St John

Posted: 26 Sep 2010 1:45PM GMT
Classification: Query
Thank you, agian, arewerelated.
I will follow that advice today.

Is it likely that a black man would have been recorded in marriage, death and burial records?

I don't know enough about the laws and racial climate in these parts of Canada in early 1850s.

Thanks again

Re: Amos Gilbert - Fugitive Slave from Maryland - Married and Died in St John

Posted: 26 Sep 2010 2:16PM GMT
Classification: Query
FOR ANYONE READIG THIS THREAD, I want to correct my original post:

I know that Amos died in 1853 in Fredickton, of cholera.I re-read the narrative left by my GrGrGrandfather see that he did leave a date of death for his brother. Thank goodness!

Re: Amos Gilbert - Fugitive Slave from Maryland - Married and Died in St John

Posted: 26 Sep 2010 3:08PM GMT
Classification: Query
THE POWER OF THE NET and HELPFUL PEOPLE!

Arewerelated - I found him!

I took your advice and went onto Novascotiagenealogy.

First I found a widow Gilbert and thought maybe it was his widowed wife. Then I found the widow Gilbert's daughter's marriage and guess who was listed as her father - Amos! This gave me her sister's name (her sister was the witness to the marriage). So now I have the my cousins, their husbands (so I have their married names!!), Amos' widow's 2nd husband's name....

I am stil seaching to see if I can find his death and i havent yet clicked on the tab for death certificates, so I am hopeful - but I am already over the moon with what I have found in the last 30 mins. This opens up a whole new area for me to search:)

Hooray!!

I cannot tell you how thankful I am! OK, off to go sketch out this timeline :)

Re: Amos Gilbert - Fugitive Slave from Maryland - Married and Died in St John

Posted: 26 Sep 2010 5:20PM GMT
Classification: Query
I know while looking through Saint John marriages in my own SQUIRES research I did come across a few SQUIRES marriages where the parties were listed as black (after their name).

Re: Amos Gilbert - Fugitive Slave from Maryland - Married and Died in St John

Posted: 26 Sep 2010 5:22PM GMT
Classification: Query
You are so very welcome! I know how frustrating it is to not be able to find someone and then once you find one thing how excited it makes you. Glad I could help!

Re: Amos Gilbert - Fugitive Slave from Maryland - Married and Died in St John

Posted: 27 Sep 2010 2:15AM GMT
Classification: Query
Louise Hill (Isabel Louise Hill), amongst other works, wrote a four volume study of the Old Burying Ground in the centre of Fredericton. I had the opportunity to speak to her on several occasions, especially once when she pointed out an unmarked area of the cemetery and indicated that that was where the cholera victims were buried. Presumably there was some need of haste in the burials, and little effort would have been taken to determine who was buried where, or (in many cases) even who they were. I sense Reuben/Amos may have been amongst these. I believe, however, Miss Hill was referring to the epidemic of 1832. In APR1854, however, the ship, 'Blanche' brought the disease to Saint John. 5,000 caught it and 1,500 died in Saint John. It spread to Fredericton as well. 1853-4 was referred to there as "this year of pestilence."

This seems the likely time when Amos/Reuben died. The Saint John, "New Brunswick Courier", dated 9JUN1855, has a notice:

"(Case 12) Two young women named KELLY went in steamer "St. John" to Fredericton 28th July and took lodgings in the house of a coloured man named GILBERT. There were people from cholera houses in almost every boat that went up about this time. One of these women, about the third day from her arrival was taken down with cholera and died after two days illness. Gilbert, the man of the house died the same day as the woman. Among the ( ) subsequent to these were two labouring men who worked aboard the steamer named HOPE and McARTHUR."

That the event took place in July, and the paper was dated in June, suggests the event took place in 1854 rather than in 1855. It also suggests that Mr. Gilbert lived in Fredericton. It would appear he died about 2AUG1854. At least its seems to match to some degree the story you have. I would guess, however, that he was not there before 1851 (not in the census), and that he was buried in an unmarked grave. In the two or three years between, there was not much opportunity to leave a trace.

My dating may be about right as another entry was:

"(Case 11) Nelson PIDGEON ... conveying people who were fleeing from the Cholera .... 24th July 1854 ... Two men refused to take them (baggage, etc.) on board when Pidgeon called to a man named JACK to assist him. Jack did so with out hesitation ... Jack took the cholera the same day and died at night in the Steamer at Fredericton. The man named BURNS who attended and rubbed on him, died on the return of the boat the same day. When the Steamer returned the next day, Capt. BARKER learned that Pidgeon also was dead."

There were several Black communities in New Brunswick. Willow Grove near Loch Lomond about 17 miles from Saint John; Elm Hill near Gagetown; Kingsclear near Fredericton; largely composed from 'servants' accompanying Loyalists in 1783, slaves freed in the War of 1812-14 and escapees who made their way north. If Reuben/Amos was in New Brunswick by 1851, I cannot find him, at least not with the surname, Gilbert, in the 1851 census. That a daughter married in Halifax suggests his widow may have gone to Halifax, Nova Scotia after his death.

I looked for furriers in Halifax in the 1881 census, but found little useful except that one furrier was, in fact, a farrier (a blacksmith who specialized in shoeing horses, etc.) Perhaps suspicious is Silas Haskon? (the surname is hard to read) a fur dealer in Amherst, Cumberland Co., Nova Scotia in 1881 with a wife, Elizabeth. Silas was b. New Brunswick ca. 1835, and Elizabeth was b. Nova Scotia ca. 1839. Race is indicated in this census, and Silas is English, as are the children, but Elizabeth's race is 'not given', which seems unusual. Children are Lily (14), Chandler (12) and Gertrude (9.) In 1891, the surname appears to be Hewson (although given as Henson), and Elizabeth is a widow, b. NB (rather than NS), father b. England and mother b. NS. The entries for the children indicate that it was Silas who was b. NS, and they are Lily J. (25), Chandler C. (23) and Gertie (21.) When Chandler Crane Hewson died, his death record gave his mother as Elizabeth King; so that suspicion gives no results.

Thomas
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