Pam I did research for that person on Carter and in all that I came up with there was only one reference to a Black man. All the other census showed White. That census being 1901 for William Carter. "Racial/tribal origin" column: Colour Ob: other breed Could possibly be an error on the enumerator's part. That census was difficult to read also. xoxo Sandy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Message: 1 > Date: Sat, 25 Jul 2009 16:28:24 -0400 > From: Pam Tessier <[email protected]> > Subject: [CAN-ONT-SIMCOE] CARTER family > To: Simcoe List <[email protected]> > Message-ID: <[email protected]co.ca> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed > > All Carter researchers - sharpen your pencils and open your databases. I > have a puzzle for you. I am addressing the list with this problem as it > contains an element that gave me and my colleague a bit of a surprise > last week. We were approached for assistance in locating the ancestors > of a visitor who claimed a family member was a Black man from London, > Ontario who had lived in Penetanguishene. As evidence he produced a copy > of the 1901 census that clearly shows the record was altered to read > "B'" and the origin was entered as African.

Sandy, There is a clear copy of the 1901 census on Ancestry.ca and it reads as follows: Ontario, East Simcoe, Tiny Township Line 13, 84-84 Carter, William, male, B (the original letter(s) has been overwritten), Head, married, May 22, 1847, 53, born Ont., African, Can., Presby., sawyer, mother tongue English In the margin, very faint, is written the notation: negro origin. His children are all recorded with the letter B as above and their origin is also African. His wife is white and English which is correct and borne out by other documents. In the 1911 census (and others) the enumerator refers to him as English, Canadian. We have determined he was employed by the Davidson Lumber Mill as a sawyer/millwright in 1901 and living in Penetanguishene at 150 Main Street. Both enumerators were probably known to him. Likely it was a case of bias or prejudice on the part of the enumerator based on what he perceived to be the facial features and hair texture of the family members. A photo of William's son shows a man of fair complexion, ordinary features but very closely waved hair. A living descendant, who met father William before he died in 1933, claims that other than his hair, he was an 'ordinary looking man'. If we can locate other Carter family members or documents predating his arrival in Simcoe County about 1872, we may be able to put this story to rest. Pam