RICHARD PIERPOINT

Plaque, in the park at the parking lot off Oakdale Avenue north of Westchester Avenue, St. Catharines

Richard Pierpoint (1744 -1838) was a leader in the early African community on the site of present day St. Catharines. He was born in West Africa and sold into slavery as a young man, but won his freedom through service in support of the British during the American Revolution. He received a grant of 200 acres in Grantham township due to his service in Butler’s Rangers, although he was unable to keep control of his land and worked generally as an agricultural labourer. Known as “Captain Dick”, “he was well known in the area and with years of military service and connections to the African, Native and European communities, he was an integral part of the Niagara area”, according to David and Peter Meyler in A Stolen Life: Searching for Richard Pierpoint (1999). He also served in the “Coloured Corps” which fought at Queenston Heights and elsewhere in the War of 1812.