Records and information on my Nova Scotian black ancestor?

Question

My paternal great great grandfather was a black Nova Scotian businessman named George Davis and he was doing business in Nigeria, when he fathered my great grandma Milicent Davis in 1900. I have checked the Nova Scotia Records and Management website for his birth certificate and have found only age records on the Black Loyalists (who incidentally are also ancestors of the Krios). I do not know if my ancestor was a Black Nova Scotian of African American descent or of Caribbeanbut I know for a fact he had slave ancestry. Is it possible that Black Nova Scotians never recorded their childrens births? How can I find information on my ancestor George Davis?

I am a 15 year African American boy and I live in Maple Grove, Minnesota. My family is ethnic Sierra Leone creoles (or Krios) who are descendants of African American and Jamaican slaves taken back to Africa.

Thank you to the two people who answered my question, I have been investigating and checking the census and I am led to believe that George T. (Thomas) Davis is my most probably my great grandmother's father. The problem is my great grandmother was born in Nigeria and I don't believe they keep records from 1900. Her father was a businessman and I do not know if he went back to Nova Scotia as the George Thomas Davis I found is listed in the 1901 census. I traced that George T. Davis's father's lineage..his father George Davis (born 1825) was a barber whose parents were Samuel Davis and Margaret Davis (nee Cambridge) who married in 1819..the marriage bond lists them as colored people and Samuel's occupation is a servant (as in a Canadian indentured servant). On George T. Davis's mother's side he seems to have some Scottish ancestry through his maternal grandmother Margaret Peters who was married to a man called Thomas and gave birth to his mom Rebena (Reuben, Rubina) Davis (nee Elms)

Here are some links to my findings...
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp?PAGE=census/search_census.asp

http://automatedgenealogy.com/census/DisplayHousehold.jsp?sdid=1435&household=185

http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp?PAGE=igi/search_IGI.asp&clear_form=true

http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/databases/bonds/bonds.asp?ID=4162

http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/vitalstats/death/halifax/death.asp?ID=8252

https://www.novascotiagenealogy.com/ItemView.aspx?ImageFile=1810-275&Event=birth&ID=46909

https://www.novascotiagenealogy.com/ItemView.aspx?ImageFile=1815-116&Event=marriage&ID=46327

http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/vitalstats/death/halifax/death.asp?ID=17131

I have more links if needed :)

I have not been able to find the link between Nigeria and Nova Scotia. Why woula black Nova Scotia goto Nigeria for business and then come back to Nova Scotia living in his father's household listed as a 27 year old single man? My great grandmother's father also had two other children besides my great grandma Milicent in Nigeria between 1890-1900...its possible he spent his time between Nova Scotia and Nigeria as 'George Thomas Davis' does not seem to be listed in the 1911 census. Thanak you very much for the information and all the help, both your answers have helped me greatly!!

Answer 1

It's possible he was UEL, but it's more probable that his family came to be in Nova Scotia via the Underground Railroad. Canada was the goal and it didn't matter which province. If his family was in a coastal town and they could get him on a ship out of Savannah for Port Royal, you bet they'd have done it. If they could get the runaway up the coast through Baltimore, Philly, NYC, Connecticut, Boston, Providence, and then up through Maine, then Nova Scotia was the logical landing point.

As for birth certificates, they didn't exist. Your only hope is baptismal records until 1910. It wasn't that he was black, it's that he was in Canada (and a very English part of Canada) and the systemic recording of births wasn't that important until the 20th century. Their goal was clearly stated...to populate the southern Canadian border with as many men, women and children who were loyal to the Crown as they could to prevent the US from invading or overtaking the southern lands in Canada and annexing them. Registering births wasn't a priority, but completing censuses was. If you can find him on the 1881 census, you may have the next set of clues that you need to locate his parents.

The first step I'd take it to look closely at the birth records of his children and his marriage record. You need to find his religious affiliation and where he was born. Both of those records will hold that information. Then you go back and use that information to find churches in the area and track down who's holding their records. The odds are high that the church itself still exists. Then you see what their registers hold on him and his parents. You keep working backwards that way until you find something more definitive on his parents/grandparents/great-grandparents that ties them into the US.

Answer 2

Going by the date of your great-grandmother's birth, this time frame would fit (he'd have been 37 at the time of her birth in 1900). Found at www.rootsweb.com but it didn't give a race.


ID: I12941
Name: George W. DAVIS
Surname: Davis
Given Name: George W.
Sex: M
Birth: 1863 in , , Nova Scotia, Canada
_UID: 9121BAA65B7BDB11930500E098A293D3ECA7
Change Date: 24 Mar 2004 at 00:17:32

Father: Charles DAVIS b: 1825 in , , Pennsylvania
Mother: Susan b: 1842 in , , Nova Scotia, Canada

This is from the 1881 Canadian census, and you will notice it says "African" for Race/Ethnicity. Shows his age as 8 at this time, which meant probable birth year of 1873 (or 27 when Milicent was born). Shows different middle initial though:


George T. DAVIS
Male

Other Information:
Birth Year <1873>
Birthplace Nova Scotia
Age 8
Occupation
Marital Status
Ethnic Origin African
Head of Household George DAVIS
Religion C. Presbyterian


Haven't found Milicent as yet. Is that the correct spelling of her name or was it MILLICENT??

Answer 3

My Father is gentle intricate with eyes that difference colours pink hair and talk the language of a Creole. Me then again I'm a brown intricate Creole with darkish brown eyes and all my youngsters have eyes like there Grandfather. And my mother has prime determine bones as a Creole I idea it was once so cool too determined how all of that got here approximately.