African Nova Scotians in the Age of Slavery and Abolition

Elizabeth Easson is paying Buckler for new shoes and boots and shoe repairs for her family. She is also paying for the same services for "Black Charles", "Black Mary", Mrs. Fisher and Thomas Prior. The Eassons were an old family of Lequille, Annapolis County. Their family tradition says that Prior was a freed slave, but his racial identity is difficult to prove. He may have been related to John Prior, freeborn black from Jamaica, who came to Port Roseway (Shelburne) in 1783.

There are marriage records for members of the Prior family at St. Luke's Church, Annapolis Royal, in which they and the other parties involved are explicitly identified as black people. For example, Phoebe Prior of Annapolis married Samuel Bell of Granville on 5 December 1820. Also, Margaret Prior and Aesop Moses, both of Annapolis, married on 5 February 1824. The burial of Nancy Prior ("black woman") is recorded at St. Luke's on 27 September 1827.

Date: 1811-April 1813

Reference: Easson family fonds  Nova Scotia Archives  MG 1 volume 3478 number A199