Nova Scotia Archives

African Nova Scotian Teaching and Learning

Benjamin Belcher of Belcher Street (near Port Williams), estate inventory
view page 1 2 3

Slaves were bequeathed by will and included in the inventory of the property of the deceased. Belcher (1743-1802), an early settler of the New England Planter township of Cornwallis, was a member of the House of Assembly and a pillar of the Church of England. Two of Belcher's former slaves were among the original settlers of the historic black communities of Pine Woods and Gibson Woods. Both settlements were later destroyed when the area was given over to military use (Camp Aldershot).

Date: 1802

Reference Nova Scotia Archives Kings County probate records estate case file B7 (microfilm 19779)

Questions to Consider

  • When do you think the document was written?



  • Who do you think wrote the document?



  • Why do you think the document was written



  • Who do you think received the document?



  • Who do you think this document was written for?



  • What information do you think this document provides? What do you think it tells us about the past?



  • How do you think the document reflects the attitudes and values of the time period in which it was written?



  • What impact do you think the document had at the time it was written?



    • Do you think those were different impacts for different people?



Nova Scotia Archives — https://archives.novascotia.ca/teaching-learning/african-novascotian/archives/?ID=217

Crown copyright © 2025, Province of Nova Scotia.