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Gates of No Return

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Free Love: Freelove Haszard Allen was convicted and sentenced to be hanged for stealing coins and clothing with a value of £25 from Colonel Robert Gray in 1796. Women in Charlottetown petitioned Governor Fanning asking for respite that she be banished from the island instead of hanging.

Roma Jean Pierre: Roma started a settlement at Three Rivers in 1732. He brought 12 slaves from Benin. A slave girl was pregnant and died giving birth. The baby Marie survived and was baptized in Quebec and adopted by a friend. It seems Roma was the father.

The Gates of No Return: Written from the perspective of the old, sick and infirm people left behind after slavers took their families.

Sook: Susannah Schurman was a slave owned by William Schurman. They had a love affair that was a well-known “secret” in the community.

Father Please: The story of Paul Keough. He interrupted the priest’s dinner until he learned the identity of his birth family.

Old Chocolate: George Godfrey ran a gym in Boston. A bout between George and the great John L. Sullivan, who was the bareknuckle boxing champion, was shut down by police before the men got in the ring. Word on the street was Sullivan was scared to fight Old Chocolate.

The Black Battalion: In WW1 Black men petitioned the Government for the right to serve King and Country.

Benny Binns: A pugilist of some renown, died by his own knife in a fight with a friend.

West End Rangers: Charlottetown’s Black hockey team, in their first indoor game against the “Abbies”, the wooden puck hit the goalpost and split in half. They lost 5 to 3 1/2.

Half Moon Beach: My ancestors thanking me for bringing them Home.