Black Dutch

Black Dutch: Boutellier - Lewis
Descendants of Catherine Elizabeth Boutellier (1770 - 1847) and Henry Lewis (1760 - 1849)

Our Boutellier-Lewis family is what is known as a "Black Dutch" family. The "Dutch" part has nothing to do with Holland, by the way, it's just the way the English said and interpreted "Deutsch" which means they spoke German. The principality (independent) of Montbeliard FR / Mompelgard DE moved back and forth between France and Germany a few times (it's on the border), though it considered itself independent, and the inhabitants spoke German "Deutsch" and were Protestants, the French (France) at one time tried to impose Roman Catholicism on them, and likely also forced them to take French names ... so that's likely why their names are French but they spoke German when they arrived in North America, hence "Dutch", They fled their homeland because of religious persecution by Roman Catholic France, the British Crown which was Protestant at the time, helped them escape and brought them to safety near Halifax, where they settled at first in the Mi'kma'kik district of Sipeknekatik, Kji panupek aka St Margarets Bay.

"Black Dutch" is a term used for mixed people (People of Color, inclusive of African and Native American, European and "mixed") whose European ancestors had spoken German, like our Boutellier / Boutilier ancestors had.

Our ancestor Henry Lewis of Virginia was one of what today are known by some as "Black Loyalists", he fought with Charles Cornwallis' army of Free People of Color (inclusive of Africans, Native American allies, East and West Asians, and Mustee, Mulatto and others of mixed ethnicity), and newly freed and runaway slaves, considered Loyalists by the English Crown. His life partner was a woman of European ancestry, whose ancestors had spoken German - Deutsch, hence she would have been called "Dutch" by many North American anglophones.

Because we were people who did not discriminate against others when it came to choosing a life partner, at one time we would have been known as the "Black Dutch" by the Englishmen of Nova Scotia and Canada.

"Black Dutch" is a term pretty much like "Melungeon" for mixed-race people, at first outsiders use it against others in a derogatory fashion, but then the people themselves decide to use it for themselves, not as an element of shame, but as one of pride in their people (ancestors) and their community which historically has been tolerant of and welcoming to and inclusive of different others.

-- 29 May 2018 Red Knot