Carly Holmstead, Kayla Hefford, Jennifer Williams
Who is Sophia Pooley?
Sophia Pooley’s story may be the only existing first-person narrative of someone who was a slave in Canada. The daughter of Oliver and Dinah Burthen, Sophia was a born a slave in Fishkill, New York. At the age of five, Sophia and her sister were taken to Niagara Falls, where they were sold to Mohawk chieftain Joseph Brant. The sisters were brought back to the Mohawk reserve in Upper Canada, joining the thirty other slaves Brant owned. During her time with Brant, she was often the victim of the barbarous and violent nature of his mistress. After several years on the reserve, Brant sold Sophia to Samuel Hatt: “at twelve years old, I was sold by Brant to an Englishman in Ancaster, for one hundred dollars, – his name was Samuel Hatt, and I lived with him seven year.” (Ontario Ministry of Government and Consumer Services). Separated from her family at an early age, Sophia’s early life was spent in isolation and fear, under the mental and physical brutality of her owners.
During the time Sophia was enslaved by Samuel Hatt, legislations had passed marking the end of slavery; unbeknownst to Sophia, she continued to live under the confines of slavery. Thanks to the interference of neighbours, Sophia was informed that she was being held illegally and she was able to safely escape. Soon after, Sophia married Robert Pooley, a black farmer in Waterloo, but their marriage didn’t last long. Robert ran away with a white woman; Sophia would later state with great certainty that “he is dead.” It was in her old age that Sophia settled in Queen’s Bush, where she boarded with various families (Kubish 62).
What we know about the Queen’s Bush Settlement?
Queen’s Bush refers to a vast unsettled area between Waterloo County and Lake Huron. Beginning in the early nineteenth century, the area of Waterloo County and Lake Huron became a haven for more than 1,500 free and formerly enslaved Blacks. This group of Black pioneers cleared the land for farms that were scattered across the Peel and Wellesley Township border, with Glan Allan, Hawkesville and Wallenstein as important centers. The Queen’s Bush settlement was a fully-functioning and self-reliant community. However, in the 1840s, the government ordered the land to be surveyed; many of the Black pioneers could not afford to pay for the land they had worked hard to labor and were forced to abandon their farms or sell them at below value. Queen’s Bush pioneers moved to villages and towns in the surrounding areas, including Guelph. Although Black population in Queen’s Bush began to dwindle after the land was surveyed, a significant number of them remained and prospered, well into the latter half of the nineteenth century.
Sophia Pooley’s Queen’s Bush
The Queen’s Bush settlement offered Black people an opportunity to create a community made by and built for them; a place where Black people could find belonging among neighbours who helped and supported one another. This Black community stood for courage, strength, and perseverance, as it continued to exist after the surveys forced many to leave. Sophia arrived in the settlement in the years after the land surveys forced so many others like her to leave the community that was their home. Sophia’s story of charity and care in the Queen’s Bush settlement reflects the persistence of a community that existed against all kinds of odds. In the Queen’s Bush settlement, Sophia, for the first time in her life, was able to join a community that took care of their own. Before she found this sanctuary, Sophia’s life was one of isolation, dislocation, and violence. While in the settlement, she found the unending support of the community through the people who boarded, supported, and cared for her until the end of her life. Sophia’s Queen’s Bush was a strong black community that thrived and withstood the many pressures that tried to break it apart. It was a place where Black people could find a sense of belonging and home within the space of Canada.