Africa's Children - Sharon Robart-Johnson

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was Dinah.

      Those who were fortunate to have caring masters escaped the indignities of being sold at an auction. This was a common practice during the early 1800s, and several slaves were bought and sold in this way in Yarmouth. One such sale was that of a young boy named Jack:

      Bill of Sale for a Negro Boy Jack

      Know all men by these Presents that I, A.B., of the Township of Yarmouth for and in consideration of the sum of thirty-nine pounds in hand paid to me by C.D, have bargained and sold to him and by these presents do grant bargain and sell to him the said C.D. a certain Negro Boy named Jack, about seven years of age, born in my house from a wench and a man, both my sole property; and I, the said A.B., do promise to warrant and defend the said Negro Boy Jack against all lawful claim or claims of any person or persons whatsoever.

      In Witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal this twenty-third day of December, 1801.

      A.B.

      Signed, sealed, and delivered in the presence of

      E.F.

      G.H., & J.K.30

      Thirty-nine pounds is not much for the value of a human being, but this price was paid again for another slave. This time the slave was Manuel Jarvis (the previous spelling for Jarvis was Jervis). (Could this be the Manuel Jarvis/Jervis who received the twenty-four lashes in 1812?) He was brought from the West Indies by his owner, Colonel Lewis Blanchard. Manuel was sold to a Dr. Bond of Yarmouth (possibly the same Dr. Bond who gave evidence in the trial of the Andrews family in the murder of Jude?). He also purchased another slave named Kate in March 1802 for forty pounds. She soon after married Manuel.31

      It appears that Dr. Bond was not one of the sadistic slave masters as were some others.32 The granddaughter of Dr. Bond, Mrs. Maria J.L. Thorburn, told of how her grandfather owned two slaves, Manuel and Kate, who were employed as household servants. In approximately 1802, Kate gave birth to a little girl whom Dr. Bond promptly gave to his daughter for a gift, telling her she could give the child any name she chose. The name she chose was Hester as she had just finished reading the romantic adventures of Lady Hester Stanhope.33 This slave-born baby girl was given a heroine’s name, so fitting at a time when slaves were indeed heroes and heroines for enduring the indignities forced upon them.

      When slaves were finally liberated on August 1, 1834, it is said that Manuel rushed into his master’s kitchen that day, exclaiming to his wife, “Kate, we’se free!” This was all well and good, but having been slaves all of their lives and having been “cared for,” how would they take care of themselves? They had no knowledge of the world outside of slavery. Yet, to Manuel and Kate Jarvis, all that mattered was that they were free at last. Free to make a life for each other and possibly to have more children who would not be taken away and given as a gift to someone’s daughter.

      Dr. Bond offered to keep Manuel and Kate on his homestead and pay them wages, knowing the hardships they would face trying to eke out a living on their own. To Manuel’s and Kate’s credit, they were so elated with this new gift in their lives called freedom, they refused Dr. Bond’s offer. Their first winter was extremely hard. To stay alive, they frequently visited Dr. Bond’s potato bin. They were never turned away. Kate helped to increase Manuel’s meagre income by making molasses candy and selling it to the juveniles in town. At any time, whenever Kate had cause to visit the old homestead, she was never sent away empty-handed. “Yet not a few of these [former slaves], by the frequent acceptance of refuge in old haunts, and by their dependence upon their former owners and upon their children after them, bore witness that the period of bondage had not been wholly without its sunshine.”34

      Kate, born in 1773, was living in Weymouth Falls, Digby County, with her youngest son, Joseph, who was sixty-five years old when she died on February 6, 1878. Her obituary states that she was 110 years old when she died.

      Another case involving slaves that is connected to Yarmouth concerns a Nova Scotia man named Edmund Crawley. This man was originally from Halifax, but was now in Granwich Hospital, in Kent, England. Edmund gave power of attorney to his brother John Crawley, Esquire, of the town of Yarmouth. This enabled John to sell the property that his brother Edmund owned at Pictou, Nova Scotia. It also gave him the power to execute a bill of sale for a “Negro wench” named Tamor. This was registered at one o’clock in the afternoon on of March 20, 1804, in Yarmouth.35

      Since the Slavery Abolition Act only became law on August 1, 1834, it would be interesting to know how many unrecorded sales of slaves there were. Slaves may have been brought to Nova Scotia as early as 1713, and while some sales were recorded, others were not. One hundred million dollars was appropriated by the British Parliament to compensate those slave owners who had lost their slaves through emancipation. There is no record of any monies being granted to the slaves to give them a new lease on life or to atone for more than four hundred years of bondage.

      Today, Sweeny’s Funeral Home is one of Yarmouth’s most respected establishments for seeing to the needs of the families of the dearly departed. The men who own and operate Sweeny’s today, and in recent years, have shown us the true meaning of compassion. Their dedication and sincerity toward the bereaved is unquestionable.

      Unfortunately, this was not always the case. Jacob Sweeny purchased the business from his old boss, Mr. Allan, in 1867. Jacob, a manufacturer and dealer of chestnut, ash, antique oak, and painted chamber furniture, was also an undertaker, embalmer, and funeral director. His furniture store was in the front of the building and the funeral parlour in the back.

      When Jacob’s building caught fire and burned, he was forced to relocate to another area. It was at this time that his furniture business ceased to exist, allowing him to concentrate wholly on his duties as funeral director. He kept excellent records, so good in fact, that some of the entries, (it is not known for certain who made them) were not always complimentary. From 1891 to the early 1900s several ledger entries show blatant racism on the part of someone in Sweeny’s establishment. Eventually, as they came of age, Jacob Sweeny’s sons began to express an interest in the business. It was shortly after his oldest son Vern Sweeny joined the family business that the derogatory entries ceased.

      In the following ledger entries1 it will be noticed how often the “N” word is used, even when referring to the minister who, for the bookkeeper’s purpose, had no other name (typical of the day).

      ABOVE: Sweeny’s Funeral Ledger, 1899.

      FACING PAGE: Sweeny’s Funeral Ledger, 1903.

      When researching the cemeteries in Greenville, the first and only reference source I used was the transcribed ledgers of Sweeny’s Funeral Home covering the period from 1891 to 1997. It was brought to my attention that the woman and her husband who transcribed them were upset by certain early entries and refused to put them in the binders they had set up. The original Sweeny ledgers are from the Yarmouth County Museum and Archives. Copies were made of the pages containing derogatory entries. These ledgers are in the public domain and available to the public at the Yarmouth County Museum and Archives.

      Several years ago the owners of Sweeny’s Funeral Home added a chapel to the existing building. With a vaulted ceiling, carpeted floors, and comfortable seating for the bereaved and their friends, this new addition brings comfort to those who have lost loved ones. Sweeny’s dedicated owners will do anything and everything within their power to make the families and friends of the deceased as comfortable as possible, whether it be talking to them or simply filling out the necessary forms to relieve the family of the burden of having to do so themselves. Compassion is their business and they do it extremely well. The ledgers of former years are no more.

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