Monmouth County's Black Loyalists Emigrate to Canada
by Michael Adelberg
- April 1783 -
As discussed in prior articles, Monmouth County had a large African-American population prior to the start of the American Revolution—roughly 10 percent of the population, both slave and free. Free Blacks were generally poor; they are listed as “householders” and “single men” in the tax lists. In an agricultural society where farming was the primary path to wealth—only a few owned enough land to be taxed as landholders. In addition, African-Americans were excluded from the militia and did not meet the property requirements to vote or serve on juries. The first campaign of Monmouth County’s Revolutionary militia was to enforce a curfew on African-Americans and confiscate their guns.
When the British fleet landed at Sandy Hook in July 1776, they were soon met by Virginia’s Royal Governor Lord Dunmore and his Ethiopian Brigade. Dunmore had given freedom to the slaves of rebels who would join the British. Within a month, a handful of Monmouth County slaves escaped bondage to join the British as Loyalists. British promises of freedom throughout the war encouraged more slaves to seek their freedom behind British lines. But the British created few good opportunities for these African American Loyalists. Black Loyalists were banned from the British Army and its Loyalist corps. Some served as “pioneers” (manual laborers and earthwork diggers for the Army) and others became sailors.
By the middle years of the war, African Americans were common in the irregular Loyalist raiding parties operating out of Sandy Hook. In summer 1780, they confederated as the “Black Brigade,” conducting their own raids. After the death of their leader, Colonel Tye, in September, the Black Brigade lost cohesion though individual African Americans continued to be active Loyalists. 40 African American Loyalists reportedly joined the Pine Robber gang of William Davenport.
African American Loyalists Emigrate to Canada
It does not appear that a large number of African Americans boarded the first ships for Canada (in fall 1782). Perhaps these earlier groups were mostly self-financed white Loyalists. However, in April 1783, the preliminary terms of the peace treaty reached America and the British started shipping out black Loyalists with greater urgency. This was in large part because Article VII of the peace plan prohibited "carrying away any Negroes or other property of the American inhabitants."
A black Loyalist, Boston King, wrote of his worries that American slave owners would take them, "This dreadful rumor filled us with unexpressible anguish and terror." Indeed, George Washington wanted black Loyalists returned. His counterpart, General Guy Carleton and other British leaders claimed that the treaty language did not reverse the status of black Loyalists already free. Carleton wrote, "I have no right to deprive them of that liberty."
On April 16, 1783, the remnants of the Black Brigade (49 men, 23 women, 6 children under 10 yrs old) boarded the vessel L'Abondance in Manhattan. The emigres ranged from Sarah, a 72-year-old woman, to small children. Sixteen were from New Jersey and eight from New York. Interestingly, 31 were from southern states and seven were seven years with the British (suggesting they may have arrived at Sandy Hook with Lord Dunmore). Almost half (32) were young adults between the agenda of 16 and 30. At least five of these emigres (probably more) were formerly from Monmouth County:
Thomas Drake, 17 yrs old, 5 yrs away from Thomas Thurman;
Oliver Vinson, 30 yrs old, 6 yrs away from John Freeman;
Sarah Jones, 42 yrs old, 6 yrs away from Richard Stout;
Isaac Jones, 10 yrs old, 6 yrs away from Richard Stout;
Aaron Jones, 12 yrs old, 6 yrs away from Hendrick Smith.
Other transports brought off hundreds more African Americans in spring 1783. In New York, under the leadership of General Samuel Birch, black Loyalists were given passports to Canada and recorded in the Book of Negroes (sometimes called “The Black Books”). In Canada, attempts were made to list all of the African American Loyalists within a larger effort to log all Loyalist emigres—resulting in a compendium called “Carleton’s Loyalist Index.”
The Book of Negroes identifies 24 African American emigres as from Monmouth County. In addition, the baby, Peter Van Sayl, was free born in New York to Monmouth County parents. 21 were born into slavery. Five are listed as former members of the “Black Brigade” (Aaron Jones, Isaac Jones, Sarah Jones, Thomas Drake, Oliver Vinson)—they emigrated with the Black Brigade on the L’Abondance. Two others (Rose French; Jane); are listed as serving in the British Army’s Wagonmaster department. About half had been employed as servants or waiters to comfortable men.
The Book of Negroes also includes descriptors of the African Americans similar to the short descriptions in colonial newspapers when advertising the sale of a slave or the return of a runaway slave. For example, 15-year-old Joseph Stewart is listed as a "stout healthy Negro"; 24-year-old Lucy Lykes is listed as a “squat wench”; 27-year-old Judith Johnson is an “ordinary wench.” Since the African Americans were free people (with one exception discussed below), it is unclear what purpose these descriptions served—white Loyalists were not described this way.
Three of the African-Americans from Monmouth County have interesting additional information listed about them. Peter Johnson "says he got his freedom from Stephen Brinley, Quaker, New Jersey.” Anthony Loyal is listed as "born free at Monmouth” but was apparently laboring under an indenture: “served his time with William Wikoff, Monmouth County." The most interesting circumstance is that of Betty, a 20-year-old woman. She is listed as having an infant with the additional note: "Conradt Hendricks of St. John's claimant… property proved." Betty had likely escaped from Hendricks during the war, but because Hendricks was a Loyalist, Betty was apparently returned to him. (Slavery was not abolished in Canada until 1834.)
Carleton’s Loyalist Index contains much of the same information as The Book of Negroes. But the sources are not identical—each source lists a few emigres not contained in the other source. Further, there are small differences in the names and ages of some emigres. Carleton’s Index also includes additional information: the name of the vessel that transported the emigre, the date of arrival, and the place of settlement. From this, we learn that African American Loyalists were transported on five different vessels between April and October 1783. They settled in six different places.
Table 1: Monmouth County African Americans Resettled in Canada
Name
Age
Former Owner and Place
Year Gone
Employer
Joseph Stewart**
15
Richard Crawford of Middletown
1779
American Dragoons
Lucy Lykes
24
John Woodward
1777
Capt. Robinson
Peter Warner**
30
Michael Mount
1778
Unknown
Anthony Lyall***
36
born free
1778
Daniel Grandin
Hagar Lyall (wife)***
25
David Forman
1778
Daniel Grandin
Robert Williams*****
23
born free in Shrewsbury
Genl. Ruggles
Andrew West*
24
James West of Shrewsbury
1779
William Wright
Catherine Van Sayl***
26
John Vanderveer
1778
Unknown
Mary Van Sayl***
5
John Vanderveer
1778
Unknown
Peter Van Sayl
1
born free in New York City
Unknown
Unknown
Cornelius Van Sayl***
30
John Lloyd
1778
Unknown
Robert Johnson*
24
Richard Van Mater
1779
Unknown
Peter Van Sayl
32
Gabriel Woodmancy of Dover
1778
Unknown
Anthony Townass******
40
Henry Townass of Middletown
1779
William Lisner
Vaughan Covenhoven**
19
Peter Covenhoven of Middletown
1779
Capt. Coggle
Tom****
26
Tunis Denice
1779
Capt. Palmer
Jane*
24
born free at Middletown
1778
Wagonmaster dept.
Rose French*
16
Obadiah Bowne of Shrewsbury
1778
Wagonmaster dept.
Aaron Jones*
42
Hendrick Smith
1777
Black Brigade
Isaac Jones*
10
Richard Stout
1777
Black Brigade
Sarah Jones
42
Richard Stout
1777
Black Brigade
Thomas Drake*
17
Thomas Thurman of Monmouth
1778
Black Brigade
Oliver Vinson***
30
John Freeman
1777
Black Brigade
Sam Smith*
36
Samuel Breese of Monmouth
1778
Unknown
Rachel Johnson*
24
born free at Shrewsbury
1779
Unknown
Moses Mount*
23
Michael Mount of Allentown
1776
Unknown
Judith Johnson
27
Garrett Langston of Shrewsbury
1778
Unknown
Betty
20
Conradt Hendricks of Monmouth
Unknown
*Port Mouton
** St. John
*** Port Roseway
**** Fort Cumberland
***** Annapolis
****** Abaco
When combined, the two sources place 28 African American emigres as being from Monmouth County. This undercounts the total because the books include a number of emigres and slaveholders with Monmouth County names (e.g., Covenhoven, Longstreet, Hendrickson), but the emigres are listed as from “New Jersey.” Since these names were not exclusive to Monmouth County, these individuals are not included in the table, though it is very likely that some/most were from Monmouth County.
The last group of African American Loyalists to leave New York for Canada appear to have left in October 1783. It was a large group—more than 700 emigres—and they were settled in three areas:
102 men, 59 women, and 61 children at St. John;
171 men, 145 women, and 114 children sent to Port Roseway;
84 men, 49 women, and 38 children sent to Annapolis.
Interestingly, while there are several surviving land grant lists for white Loyalists, the author has not located land grant information for African Americans. Historian Mary Tsaltas-Ottomanelli notes that many free blacks were settled in segregated communities like Birchtown outside of Port Roseway (present-day Shelburne). This raises the possibility that the African American emigres were not offered land, but instead they were expected work as laborers and servants to white Loyalists.
It has been estimated that 35,000 Loyalists went to Canada at war’s end. More than 10%, roughly 4,000, were African American. Despite affirming the freedom of African American Loyalists, the British, it appears, had no intention of treating African American Loyalists as equal to whites. The move to Canada was hard for nearly all Loyalists, but African Americans faced an added measure of discrimination.
Caption: The town of Shelburne and its Port Roseway was a common destination for Black Loyalists in 1783, 28 of whom are identified as being born in Monmouth County.
Related Historic Site: Shelburne Historic Waterfront District (Nova Scotia)
Sources: Mary Tsaltas-Ottomanelli, Black Loyalists in the Evacuation of New York City (The Gotham Center for New York City History, November 15, 2023); Black Loyalists: Our History, Our People, http://blackloyalist.com/canadadigitalcollection/documents/official; Black Loyalists: Our History, Our People. Book of Negroes http://www.blackloyalist.com/canadiandigitalcollection/documents/official/black_loyalist_directory2.htm; Black Loyalists: Our History, Our People, http://blackloyalist.com/canadadigitalcollection/documents/official; Graham R. Hodges, The Black Loyalist Directory: African Americans in Exile after the American Revolution (New York: Garland Publishing, 1996); Runaway Slaves in Carelton’s Loyalist Index, Carleton's Loyalist Index, http://www.uelac.org/SirGuyCarleton/PDF/NEGR_CLI.pdf.