My Great Great Grandfather: The First Black Canadian Constable

PETER BUTLER III

Peter Butler III, was a black constable and my great- great- grandfather; and this is his story.

BIOGRAPHY

Peter Butler III was the grandson of a run-a-way slave named Peter Butler I.  Peter Butler I, was born in Baltimore in 1797.  When he was a slave in Baltimore Maryland his last name was Bowzer and when he escaped from slavery and came to Canada he changed his name to Butler.  In 1829, Peter Butler I and his native wife, Salome Squawker moved their young family to Upper Canada.  Peter worked as a caulker in Port Stanley on ships and then moved his family to the Wilberforce Settlement. Peter and Salome raised seven children in the new settlement.   He became the treasurer and also served as the doctor and gave black and white neighbors herbal medicines.  Peter I, was a very smart man, he owned a lot of land in Lucan Ontario. When Peter Butler I died in 1872 at the age of 75, his estate was worth over $22,000. He had a son named, Peter Butler II, who inherited most of his fathers property and his father’s herbal knowledge.  Peter II also gave herbal medicine to his neighbours just like his father did.  Peter II had a son named William Asher Peter Butler III.

 William Asher Peter Butler III (Peter Butler III), was born in Lucan, Ontario in 1859, he weighed about 85 kg and stood 1.8 meters tall.  Peter Butler III was the first and only black constable in Canada. He served for over about 50 years in Lucan Ontario.  He was a tough, but fair, county constable.  He rarely carried a gun; instead he used a big stick and his large fists to keep peace and order.  He would only carry a gun when taking prisoners to the jail cells in London or when he was chasing cattle.  Some of the British immigrants did not like having a black constable at first, but Peter quickly gained their respect. Peter was a member OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) since 1913, and stayed with the force until he retired in 1936.

BEING A CONSTABLE

Peter Butler III, had a large collection of guns in his home.   He had 38 guns that he mostly took from law-breakers, including the notorious Donnelly’s.

He was a kind and generous constable, every Saturday night he bought huge buckets of beer for $ 0.25 and took it to the prisoners. Instead of taking local drunks and other offenders to jail he would often bring them to his home to keep them off the streets for a little while. 

He would always help tramps that came threw town.  Once he picked up an escaped criminal, black tramp, near the railway and after hearing the person’s story, he decided not to turn them over to the authorities, but let them stay on his farm and work for room and board.

          Constable Peter Butler III died in 1943. Many local high ranking people and government from the county and the province, and guest from the U.S.A. attended his funeral. Six OPP officers followed the casket to the historic resting place of the very first Wilberforce Settles at Sauble Hill. A tribute well deserved.

          Peter Butler III was a great man and did many great things in his community, I am very proud to be related to a man of great honor, and a man that did not allow his race, size or prejudice  to stop him from doing what he wanted to do.