George Cromwell: A Black teacher in Etobicoke in the 1910s
George Cromwell and students of S.S. No.5, Etobicoke
This photo is in the collection of local historian Randall Reid, and there is a copy at Montgomery's Inn. It shows the students of School Section (S.S.) No. 5 Etobicoke ready for an outing in 1915 or 1916. It is surprising to see that the teacher and the two small children at the front are of African descent. The teacher is William George Cromwell, a descendant of Nova Scotia Black Loyalists. The two little boys are his sons: Dermont (about 2 or 3) and Whitney (about 3 or 4). The school was on Royal York, north of Eglinton. The building is now a residence, 1489 Royal York Road.
This article focuses on the Etobicoke Cromwells, where they came from, and where they went.
George Cromwell's forebears were among the more than 3,000 free and formerly enslaved people of colour who left the United States for Nova Scotia in the 1780s. During the American Revolution the British promised freedom and land to any who joined the British side. However, Black Loyalists received less (and poorer) land than white Loyalists. They faced such discrimination in Nova Scotia that many left for the African colony of Sierra Leone, or other parts of British North America. George Cromwell's grandparents made the long trek from Nova Scotia to Upper Canada in the 1840s.
William George Cromwell was born in 1885 in Raleigh Township, Kent County, not far from Chatham. At the time, about twenty percent of Raleigh's population was Black, as the township was the site of the Elgin Settlement, established before the American Civil War as a safe haven for freedom seekers. George grew up on the family farm and attended a local school. He went on to Chatham Collegiate Institute in town, followed by the Chatham Model School for teacher training. In January 1906, he was appointed teacher at S.S. 13 Raleigh, North Buxton. George's "Permanent Second Class Certificate" was issued in 1911, securing him an annual salary of $550. Apparently, he was a good teacher, but extremely strict.
In October 1911, George married Alice Harriet Shreve, a local Raleigh girl who was also a teacher. With the potential of family responsibilities, George looked east for a better paid teaching position, and moved to Toronto. Soon George and Alice had two sons, Dermont and Whitney. In 1914, George was appointed schoolmaster of S.S. No. 5 Etobicoke, with an annual salary of $600. S.S. 5 was better known as the B-line School, because it was on the road between Concessions B and C. (Today this is Royal York Road.) The one-room brick school was originally built in 1875. When George started teaching there, the average school attendance was 28. Local parents and children must have been impressed by the new teacher, because the following year the attendance rose to 35.
The Cromwell family lived in a house on Scarlett Road, on a large lot at the north corner of Yorkleigh Avenue. At the time that George was teaching, this was still a rural area. It was not until the 1930s that Royal York Road was paved all the way from the Lake to Eglinton. The Cromwells picked their mail up from the Weston Post Office. The 1921 Census gives the population of Etobicoke Township as 10,445. Of these only 25 people were identified as Black.
The Etobicoke school photograph captures schoolmaster W. George Cromwell and his pupils ready for the five-mile trip to the Thistletown School Fair. It was taken in the Fall of either 1915 or 1916. The School Fair was a junior version of the County Agricultural Fair. It gave rural children the opportunity to compete against their peers in all the classes of a country fair, encouraging involvement in farming and strengthening the government's strategy of building a strong agricultural nation. The Weston Times & Guide for 1917 gave extensive coverage to the Thistletown School Fair. The prize list shows that classes ranged from poultry, to produce, to patchwork, to public speaking. There was a "School Parade" class, and S.S. 5 came fifth that year. Children at another Etobicoke school (S.S.14 - Sunny Lee) dressed alike and sang "We'll Never Let the Old Flag Fall," (a 1915 wartime favourite) with harmonica accompaniment while they marched. Sunny Lee came second. In the photograph of S.S. No.5, dressed in their Sunday best, Mr. Cromwell and the children look prepared for an equally patriotic performance.
Mr. Cromwell's school also competed regularly at the Weston Fair. It lasted two days, and competition (both for adults and children) was open to residents of York County. It featured the usual fair livestock judging and horse races, and one day was devoted to school children, with sports and singing competitions. S.S. No. 5 did well in both singing and marching in 1914, 1916, and 1917.
The Cromwells were very involved in their local community. In Etobicoke they attended Humbervale Methodist Church, although both George and Alice had been raised as Baptists. At a special July service celebrating fifty years of Confederation in 1917, George was one of the speakers. At Humbervale's anniversary event and Christmas party in December of that year, George was billed as an "elocutionist," presumably giving a recitation of a popular piece of writing. Alice was active in the Humbervale Ladies' Aid Society, and George entertained the ladies with a reading at their sale in June 1918.
At the end of the 1918 school year, George Cromwell resigned. The Cromwell family was heading for new horizons - Alberta. It may have been a decision a long time in the making: the Canadian Teachers' Agency had been advertising in the Globe for teachers in Saskatchewan and Alberta from as early as 1910. By 1917, there was a desperate plea for 300 qualified teachers for rural schools, with salaries ranging from $720 to $960. In Etobicoke, George was paid $700; and as a married woman, Alice was not allowed to teach.
People in the neighbourhood were sorry to see the Cromwells leave. A farewell presentation was held at the school. There were speeches from the School Trustee and from a student, "little Miss Philida Chapman." Master Royale Rogers presented Mr. Cromwell with a gold watch "as a token of the high esteem in which he was held." The couple were thanked "for the many services which they have rendered to the neighbourhood, both in church and social work."
A few days later the members of the Humbervale Ladies' Aid surprised Alice with a farewell party in her own home! (That was not something to spring on anyone except a really good friend.) George sang at the gathering - he had probably been in league with the ladies to prepare the surprise event. There were speeches and a presentation.
Friendships that George and Alice had forged in Etobicoke would last for a very long time. They corresponded with their friends, and the Weston Times & Guide printed Cromwell news from time to time. A return visit by George in 1935, and by Alice the following year, were reported but they may well have returned more often than that.
In 1918, the railway was the only practical way for the Cromwell family to make the journey of over 3500 km to Edmonton. From there, they headed further north (the last part of their journey by mule) to the remote Black settlement of Pine Creek. Years later, when the community petitioned for a Post Office, a more identifiable name was needed. Inspired by the beautiful Fall colours, Alice suggested "Amber Valley," and that is what it is called to this day.
The settlement had been established about 1910 by African American migrants from Oklahoma and surrounding states who were fleeing the rising Ku Klux Klan. Attracted to the prairies by a Canadian government promotion of free land in "The Last Best West," these new immigrants found themselves north of Edmonton, on uncleared land with weather so challenging that the previous European settlers had abandoned it. Nonetheless, these people stayed and in 1913 built a log schoolhouse. It opened in 1914 with 36 students. By the time George and Alice arrived, there were 45 pupils. Like the Etobicoke school George had left, all the students were taught in its single room. Typical of many rural communities, the schoolhouse was the only public building, and served many community uses. When the Cromwells arrived in Amber Valley, their boys were both of school age, so Alice taught too - one of many benefits of their move to Alberta.
With farming in their blood, in 1920 George and Alice applied for a quarter-section near Donatville, about 10 km east of Amber Valley. The next four years saw the Cromwells build a house and granary. They grew grain and raised cattle and horses. George and Alice also continued to teach. By the 1950s, they were ready to retire. They divided their time between their son Whitney and his family in Winnipeg, and Dermont and his family in Vancouver.
William George Cromwell died in Abbotsford, British Columbia in 1964 at the age of 79. Alice moved to California, where Dermont was working in the chemical industry. Alice died in Los Angeles in 1972. Wherever they lived, George and Alice were role models and leaders in their communities, and in half a century of teaching, they had influenced many thousands of young lives.
Researched and Written by Hilary J Dawson.