Samuel Adams, a free African American from Cantonsville, Maryland, came to Bronte in 1855 with his son Jeremiah. With $800.00 in gold from his successful business in Maryland, Adams opened a blacksmith shop. He was kept very busy in his work, from shoeing horses to outfitting schooners with hardware. Having invented the equipment for “stonehooking” – lifting flat stones from the bottom of the lake – Adams became very prosperous and was at one time the biggest land owner in Bronte.
Samuel Adams’ brother-in-law was the Reverend William Butler who was well known, and toured throughout Canada on lecture tours with then Prime Minister Sir Wilfred Laurier. Butler also had the distinction of meeting Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace to discuss with her how the African Americans were doing in Canada. He traveled on a speaking tour throughout Britain, hoping to generate financial aid for African Canadians continuing to settle in the community.
About 1860, Samuel Adams and Reverend William Butler started to organize a church in Bronte. Drawing on the African American population in Oakville, the British Methodist Episcopal Church was formed in 1875. Their continued work with the Church eventually led to the building of the Turner African Methodist Episcopal Church in Oakville.
© Oakville Museum at Erchless Estate, The Corporation of the Town of Oakville, 2000
The following information is reproduced from the display panels in the exhibit “Oakville’s Black History”, as written and designed by Deborah Hudson, Curator of Collections, Oakville Museum at Erchless Estate.
