Brantford's Black History
John Lewis: A Millionaire from Simcoe's Black Community
In Simcoe's early days, an estimated quarter of the hamlet’s population was of African descent, concentrated in the area just south of present-day Simcoe Town Centre. Among their achievements was the establishment of one of Simcoe’s first churches. After years of petitioning, a dedicated school was established in 1852 beside the church on Chapel Street where their children could be educated.
Over the following decades, many members of Simcoe’s Black community migrated to places like Chatham, Windsor, or the United States, drawn by greater opportunities and connections to extended family. Among those who left was John Lewis.
Born in Simcoe, John Lewis eventually moved to New York City, where he achieved immense wealth through textiles and real estate. He is said to have been one of the wealthiest residents of New York City at the time. When he died in 1874, a search for his heirs led to a surprising revelation. Advertisements in the Toronto Globe brought forward his Canadian siblings, Henry Lewis and Mary Smith—both Black—while John Lewis had lived in New York passing as white.
John was later revealed to be the son of Duncan Campbell, a Scottish immigrant who would become one of Simcoe’s most influential figures. Campbell's mansion is now the Lynnwood Arts Centre, a National Historic Site of Canada. While Campbell never openly acknowledged John as his son, letters uncovered by author David Beasley suggest a private relationship between the two.
John’s mother, Sarah Lewis, escaped slavery in West Virginia in the 1820s and worked in the Campbell household for some time. Census records suggest an elderly Sarah Lewis may have eventually moved to Brantford from Simcoe. The same records indicate that Sarah was born in Africa, making her one of the earliest residents of Brantford born on the continent. Other accounts suggest that Sarah lived her last days in Collingwood, with her son John sending funds for her gravestone.
Sarah Lewis was a skilled tradesperson, much like many others in Simcoe’s early Black community. Their occupations may have granted them a more favourable status than what they would have encountered in nearby Brantford, where scarce job opportunities in mills and factories led to competition along ethnic lines. John Lewis grew up during a time when slave catchers from the South roamed Norfolk County in attempts to capture people and take them into bondage in the United States; however, local residents often banded together to fend off abductors. While Ontario's last racially segregated school remained open until 1965, Simcoe’s schools were desegregated over a century earlier, in 1859.
The story of John Lewis is just one of many shared by Simcoe’s early Black residents, whose contributions and narratives are essential to the area’s history. Long after Lewis, Black entrepreneurs like Albert Brown continued to make an impact in Norfolk County. The predominantly Black BME congregation on Chapel Street operated into the 1980s before being converted into a family home. Today, approximately 2% of Simcoe’s population is of African heritage, primarily of Jamaican origin. At least 100 multi-generational Black Canadians continue to reside throughout Norfolk County.
Author's note: Understanding the size of Simcoe’s early Black community and its unique stories is challenging. Census takers frequently overlooked the predominantly Black neighbourhood, with many accounts conveyed by neighbours and authors over a century later. As this remains a subject of further exploration, research on those mentioned in this publication is recommended before reprinting their stories.
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Works Cited
Baird, C. Population 300: Simcoe’s Black History [Broadcast].
Beasley, D. R. (2004). Sarah’s Journey. Davus Publishing.
Cardiff, J. Blacks in 1860’s Simcoe. Norfolk Genealogy.
Dixon, N. H. (2021). Racial Segregation of Black Students in Canadian Schools. Canadian Encyclopedia.
Glover, D. (2024). Who remembers Aunt Molly and Darkeytown? Out & Back.
Hamilton author talks about Sarah’s Journey at historical society meeting. (2006). Niagara This Week.
Slave couple’s remains unearthed in construction. (2005). The Expositor, 37. Sonnenberg, M.
Freed slave found refuge in Port Ryerse. Simcoe Reformer.
Statistics Canada. (2023). Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population—Simcoe [Population centre], Ontario.