The History of York Village in Sierra Leone
Jeremiah Pratt
Copyright 2020 Rev. Jeremiah Moshopeh Pratt
All rights reserved
First Edition
PAGE PUBLISHING, INC.
Conneaut Lake, PA
First originally published by Page Publishing 2020
ISBN 978-1-6624-3016-9 (pbk)
ISBN 978-1-6624-3017-6 (digital)
Printed in the United States of America
Table of Contents
In memory of the Pratt, Faux, and Fewry families
Acknowledgment
Research for this book involved the endeavors of some members of the Yorkist Welfare Association, S. O. Nicol, T. S. French, especially the Rev. Dr. W. E. A. Pratt gave me a copy of their notes with instructions to write the history of York Village for posterity. They have all gone to the great beyond. I sincerely thank them, and may they rest in peace.
Thanks are due to W. S. Marcus Jones, OR, LLM, PhD, for the foreword and editing; Jeremiah Moshopeh Pratt Junior, Olivia Pratt Dennis for computer work and cover page; and Page Publishing Inc.
Last but by no means the least, my sponsors. This reduced the cost of production and eventually the sales price.
Foreword
By Dr. W. S. Marcus Jones
After a diligent and painstaking examination of available material, the Rev. J. O. Moshopeh Pratt and his Uncle before him, the Rev. W. E. A. Pratt, have recorded for the benefit of existing and future generations the vital history of York Village, targeting, proclaiming and putting into writing what ought to be widely known about our beloved Village which is in danger of being completely occupied by strangers who have no ancestral links with York. It is my sincere hope that this book will be a wake up call and bring together all genuine descendants of the Village of York (Yorkist) who share the same values and love for their ancestral home and encourage them not only to pour their resources into, but make investments in the Village, build it up and make it the Citadel it was meant to be and the lovely and graceful resort it has always been.
I would like to express my deep appreciation to Rev. Jeremiah O. Moshopeh Pratt for asking me to write this Foreword. I do so willingly and without the slightest hesitation in the full belief that this book is timely and will stir up and purify the consciences of all to do something to restore the Christian traditions of our City-Village. It gives me an opportunity not only to re-establish relationships with long lost relatives and friends but also to express my great desire and hope that this book will encourage them not merely to believe and have a clear conscience about it but to join the distinguished author in his conviction that the ultimate good for all, and more particularly for Yorkist, is that within their lifetime they will not just make it a duty to prioritize their residences in York, but also return to the totality of affection and devotion which we all have for our limited locality as well as for our country as a whole.
Introduction
It was the expressed wish of the Reverend Dr. W. E. A. Pratt (of blessed memory) that the history be written of the village of York. It was his intention to do it himself, but circumstances over which he had no control prevented him from doing so. Consequently, he asked me to do it.
The Rev. Dr. Pratt and his six brothers were born in the village of York. The villagers lived mostly on subsistence farming and fishing. Consequently, they classified them as poor people. Nonetheless, some of them were highly educated and held positions of authority in the country, in government, the church, as well as in business as we shall see in one of the chapters. It was also the aim of members of the Yorkist Welfare Association to leave some information about York Village for coming generations. That was the reason why he (Dr. Pratt) wanted the history to be written so that people will know how an insignificant village produced men and women of eminence in the Sierra Leone Society.
We cannot talk about historical places or events in Sierra Leone without reference to the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Majority of the people of York and other seaside and mountain villagers settled in these villages as a result of the abolition of slavery and the need to find a home for the freed slaves. The Yorkist Welfare Association and some individuals contributed immensely to the production of notes for the early history of York Village; some of which were by oral tradition. I will use important sections of the notes and refer to them as Nicol and French.
Brief mention will be made of York in the United Kingdom and York in the United States of America. This will enable us to compare first and third world development. We should know the reason why York after the production of men and women of substance, remained underdeveloped for this long period (i.e., 1819 to the present).
Chapter 1
The Slave Trade
Wrongful Transaction
It will be difficult to talk about Sierra Leone and its seaside and mountain villages forming part of the colony without mention of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
According to Messrs S. O. Nicol and T. S. French:
The majority of our people of York and the other villages came from overseas . Where from and How? European nationsthat is to say, the Dutch, Belgians, Spanish, Portuguese, French and English, sailed along the West Coast and captured and bought slaves, and sold them to the Spanish possessions in the Western Hemisphere. This was about the 16th century. Cunning devices used to entrap victims. Casks of rum put on the beach served as procure bait. They then go and anchor at a distance waiting for the result of their stratagem; and, sure enough, in a short time, the beach was strewn with drunken men, women, and children, who were soon taken on board ships, and very soon were on the way to the American continent, without their knowledge and consent.
Englishmen joined in the business; and a celebrated man, John Hawkins, made himself so conspicuous in it that Queen Elizabeth the First, who also took share in the transaction and even lent Hawkins a ship, afterward knighted him.
Hawkins sailed about buying or kidnapping slaves with five ships. He landed at the Banana Island. He was a man who blended piracy and piety rascality and religion. He drew up rules for his men whilst carrying on this nefarious traffic. Two of his rules were (1) serve God daily and (2) love one another.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the English seemed to have been convinced of the wrongfulness of the transaction; but they had then many Black people at their disposal: old soldiers, slaves rescued from slave ships, Maroons from Jamaica, and Nova Scotia. This resulted in the establishment of new villages: Leicester, 1809; Wilberforce, Regent, 1812; Gloucester, 1816; Kissy in 1817; Bathurst and Charlotte in 1818; and in 1819, owing to the increase in number of disbanded soldiers and more freed slaves, the portion of land at the disposal of government being too limited to accommodate these new arrivals, steps were taken, more land procured for the villages following: Kent, Hastings, Waterloo, Wellington, and York.
Slaves as Property
Plantation owners in the Americas were dependent upon slaves to ensure high profitability. In Britain, eighteenthcentury laws were designed to support trade in slaves. The king and parliament sanctioned it. A decision by the solicitor general stated that Negroes ought to be esteemed goods and commodities within the trade and Navigation Acts. Such a ruling permitted slave owners to use property law with regard to their slaves to recover goods wrongfully detained, lost, or damaged as they would any other property.
