The Queen's Bush was an area of what is now Southwestern, Ontario, between Waterloo County, Ontario and Lake Huron that was set aside as clergy reserves by the colonial government. It is known as the location of communities established by Black settlers, many formerly enslaved in the United States, in what would become Canada. Established in 1820 and known as the Queen's Bush Settlement, the community grew to more than 2,000. In the early 1840s, the land on which they lived was surveyed for future sale. Following the survey, many of the Black residents were unable to pay for the land and migrated out of Queen's Bush.
History
Queen's Bush was a large tract of land between Lake Huron, Georgian Bay, and lands developed in the east and the southeast. It bordered what are today the Townships of Wellesley and Peel. The land was acquired by Francis Bond Head on behalf of the Upper Canada in 1836 as part of the Manitowaning Treaty with the Ojibway of Manitoulin Island and the Saugeen Peninsula. The terms of the treaty were later called into question as Bond Head had Indigenous leaders sign a copy of a speech rather than a negotiated agreement.
The area was densely wooded with an abundance of wildlife, and the soil was well suited for agricultural endeavours. In a history of Bruce County, Norman Robertson speculates that the land was so named in order to distinguish it from other large tracts of land purchased from the Crown from groups including the Canada Company and the German Company.
The land was settled later than other tracts in Southwestern Ontario because it had been set aside as clergy reserves in what is now Canada for the maintenance of the Protestant church, which received money upon rental or sale of the land. Unlike other clergy reserves, in which every seventh plot was set aside, the Queen's Bush was reserved in its entirety. In 1830, the Commissioner of Crown Lands was made responsible for managing leases and settlement on unsurveyed land in Queen's Bush.
Settlement
Beginning in 1820, squatters settled on unclaimed land within the Queen's Bush near what would become Heidelberg, St. Clements, and Wellesley, Ontario. There were some who also settled on the southern and eastern borders. Black settlers established farms in what are now the villages of Wallenstein and Hawkesville. Historian Natasha L. Henry-Dixon dates Black settlement of Queen's Bush to "as early as 1833." Some of these settlers had fought on the side of the British Crown in the Rebellions of 1837–1838, but many were either fugitives from the Southern American states or free Blacks from the Northern states. Queen's Bush, along with Toronto, Wellesley, Galt and Hamilton, was among the known Canadian terminals of the Underground Railroad. The Black community grew to over 2,000 people of African descent by the 1840s. They cleared tracts of land for farming. They also established churches and their children studied at schools run by missionaries.
In 1851, there were eight African Canadian families in the northern part of Wellesley Township. John Brown and Lucinda Green Brown settled in the area with their children. John had been an enslaved man from Virginia. His wife was born free and they met in Pennsylvania as he made his way to Canada. After starting out in Windsor and St. Catharines, they settled in Wellesley Township around 1843. They had eleven children. Brown owned one cow, one horse, and 120 acres. Keith Bell, the great-great grandson of John Brown, and grandson of Daniel Brown, created a video, Mutual Respect of the Brown family's life in Queen's Bush and of his son, Daniel's settlement in the United States.
Survey of land
In the 1840s, the government ordered surveys of the district for settlement. The decision was prompted by a heavy influx of migrants from countries such as England, Scotland and Ireland seeking agricultural land. Recognizing their tenuous claim to land they had cleared and now lived on, existing inhabitants began efforts to secure their investments given that many were not in financial situations to purchase it outright.