Richard Pierpoint
| Richard Pierpoint | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1744 Bundul, Senegal |
| Died | 1837 Canada |
| Profession | slave, farmer |
Richard Pierpoint (Bundul c. 1744 – Canada c. 1837), also known as Black Dick, Captain Dick, Captain Pierpoint, Pawpine, and Parepoint was born about 1744 in Bundu in what is now Senegal. When he was about sixteen he was captured and sold as a slave. He survived the crossing of the Atlantic and was sold to a British officer named Pierpoint, probably in one of the northern British colonies. Richard Pierpoint would have acted as his personal servant.
In 1776, with the outbreak of the American Revolution, many African American slaves were offered freedom on the condition that they fought on the side of the British. By at least 1780 Pierpoint was one of about a dozen Africans fighting with the Butler's Rangers regiment. Some members of the regiment were former black slaves, which enlisted blacks only as non-combatant labourers or sappers. The total number of black soldiers in Butler's Rangers is unknown.
Following the British defeat the Rangers settled in Niagara. Among the Loyalists who came to Upper Canada (where they were given the name United Empire Loyalists) were several hundred Blacks (the "Black Loyalists"). Blacks represented about 10% of the total Loyalist emigration. Communities such as the Pierpoint Settlement and the Queen's Bush Settlement were examples of how Blacks created communities and helped develop many of the communities in Southern Ontario. Blacks were entitled to the same proportion of land as their fellow Loyalists.
In 1788 Pierpoint was located on 200 acres (0.81 km2) of land near present-day St. Catharines. The City of St. Catharines was first settled by Loyalists in the 1780s. Early histories credit Serjeant Jacob Dittrick and Private John Hainer formerly of Butler's Rangers, among the first to come to the area taking up their Crown Patents where Dick's Creek and 12 Mile Creek merge, now the city centre of St. Catharines. Although never documented, some local St. Catharines' historians speculate Dick's Creek was named after Richard Pierpoint, a Black Loyalist.
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