Martin, Peter

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: Natasha Henry-Dixon, “MARTIN, PETER (Martin Stout) ,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 5, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/martin_peter_5E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Enslaved Black man, soldier, and labourer; b. c. 1753, likely in New York; d. sometime between 1802 and 1816, probably in Upper Canada.
    • Martin Stout and his brother Richard Stout were enslaved by Colonel John Butler and his family in the Mohawk valley of New York, one of Great Britain’s Thirteen Colonies. Both brothers served in Butler’s Rangers, a loyalist unit, for more than four years during the American Revolutionary War. From 1781 to the close of hostilities, they were stationed in the Niagara region “and ” Peter Martin, as Martin Stout came to call himself, was one of at least 20 Black loyalists who relocated to western Quebec (present-day southern Ontario), which in 1791 became Upper Canada.
    • On 21 May 1796, just eight days after Butler’s death, Martin successfully petitioned Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe for the 300 acres he was entitled to claim as a veteran. He next sought the land grant owed to his deceased brother Richard, but his 28 September petition was rejected. Undeterred, Martin tried again on 20 Aug. 1797, this time explaining that he intended to sell his brother’s land grant and use the proceeds to buy George’s freedom.
    • The petition was approved the following day and Martin was awarded 300 acres. The year before, he had acquired the 300-acre grant of a fellow Black loyalist, Jack Becker (Baker, Barker), who transferred it to Martin for £25. It appears that Martin’s plan worked: it was probably the sale of some or all of these 900 acres that allowed him to pay Lieutenant Butler and secure George’s freedom.
  • United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=5044
  • Find a GRAVE: Cannot locate.