Wallbridge House Publishing

FOOTNOTE TO SLAVERY

John Graves Simcoe, the first lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada, tried to abolish slavery during his stint in office (1792-1796). He ran into strong resistance from Loyalist landowners who had brought slaves with them from the United States. The legislature of Upper Canada compromised in 1793: it allowed slaves to be kept but banned the importation of any more slaves to the province, and it ordered the freedom of slave children on their 25th birthday. The British Emancipation Act of 1833 banned slavery throughout the British Empire but by that time there were few slaves left in Upper Canada. One of the last slave auctions has been documented as being held in Cobourg, Ontario in 1824.


A STOLEN LIFE Publisher: Natural Heritage Books Author: Peter Meyler and David Meyler See larger cover sample
Price: $19.95 CAN/$15 US ISBN: 1-896219-55-1 Year: 1999 Cover: Paperback Pages: 140 Photos: Black and white, drawings and maps Category: History Additional Info: Bibliography, end notes and index Review by Lewis Zandbergen: Even though many of the pioneering families entering Canada after the American Revolution brought their slaves with them, unlike their masters, very little is known about these people. Unfortunately, few of their stories survive and, unlike the subject of A Stolen Life, even their last resting places are unknown. We learn from A Stolen Life that Richard Pierpoint was born in Africa around 1744, was captured when roughly 16 years of age, was taken to the United States and there served a life of slavery. There is evidence of involvement in the Seven Years War, the War of Independence. He eventually arrived in Upper Canada and settled in the area of Garafraxa Township (southwestern Ontario). He served in some capacity during the war of 1812. The Meylers, brothers Peter and David, have taken an obscure character of early Upper Canadian life and have given him his 15 minutes of fame but that's about it. They have succeeded in weaving a story which may or may not be factual because they don't really know who Bundu/Richard Pierpoint/Captain Dick/Pawpine was - and they freely admit this in the foreword. What A Stolen Life does do is whet the appetite for more about a people who, while the centre of attention in Alex Haley's Roots, remain a mystery on the canvas of Canadian pioneer history. And anyone wishing to quickly ascertain the high points of Richard Pierpoint's life will be disappointed. The work is a carefully blended piece of writing meshing well-known details of the years between 1760 and 1837 with conjecture about Pierpoint's life; there are tantalizing hints but one is never given the satisfaction of being absolutely sure. The date of a photograph of Omaribn Sayid on page 24 is dated to 1828 in North Carolina. I find this hard to believe first of all because of the way the man is dressed. He has on a pea jacket, a knitted hat of the type seamen wear, a high-collared shirt with a knotted cravat and sports mutton chops. The caption claims the man was a slave in North Carolina when he was photographed. First, the man is too well-dressed to have been a slave at the time the photo was taken. Second, photography was still in its infancy in the early 1840s. A shot of French rooftops credited to Joseph Nicéphore Niepce is acknowledged as the world's first actual photograph; it was "taken" in 1826. The photo recognized as the first taken in the United States is a self-portrait by Robert Cornelius (1809-1903); it was "snapped" in 1839. Third, the man's clothing style suggests a more realistic date of the late 1840s or early 1850s and even then worn out or out-of-style clothing was generally handed down to slaves; this could mean the photo was taken as late as the 1860s. This is not the fault of the writers. It's either a misprint or the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has been duped. A Stolen Life points up the need for Ontarians to more accurately define their past. Time, energy and of course, money, must be spent to bring the stories of the unheralded settlers not of British or French descent into the history books. A Stolen Life is one step in the right direction. Originally published in The Community Press, Belleville