The Knowles Story

Origins Chapters

Origins of our Black Family

by Dave Jordan

Our earliest known member of the Black family is Thomas Black who was born about 1823 in Scotland or Ireland. Additional information about the national origins of the Black family comes from varied sources. The 1871 Census indicates that Thomas was born in Ireland while his death certificate indicates he was born in Scotland. In addition, the 1881 Montreal Census indicates that his daughter was of Scottish origin. Years later in 1977, Thomas Black's g-grandson, Chuck Jordan wrote a letter which supports both an Irish and Scottish origin. He wrote, "I believe there were several Blacks scattered over the country, all of them born in Canada and the U.S.A. They originated in Ireland, County Armagh. The Knowles family came from the same part of Ireland, although I had been told that when my Grandfather Knowles died that the death notice in the paper gave his birthplace as Edinburgh, Scotland."

One possibility is that both an Irish and a Scottish origin are correct. How is this possible? This is possible if our immigrant Black ancestors were originally Scottish and had been for many generations, then moved to Ireland for one or more generations and then moved to Canada. If so, this could explain the confusion of our oral history that suggests both Scottish and Irish origins for the Blacks and Knowles families. In the early 1800s, the English government and the landowners of the Scottish Highlands decided that much of northern Scotland was needed to raise sheep. As a result many Scottish tenant farmers were evicted in a policy known as "The Clearances" to open up grazing land. Many of the "crofters" were crammed onto ships and exiled to Ireland and the New World (Canada), their cottages burned down so that they would have no place to come back to. Thus it is possible that our Black and Knowles families moved from Scotland to Ireland to Canada, always carrying with them their older Scottish origin. Furthermore, it appears that some of them married Irish woman during their long stay in Ireland and Canada, adding to the confusion of national origin of the offspring.

Notes
  1. Initial Web Publication Date:5/1/2003
  2. Modified:
  3. Desktop Master file: Stories_Knowles