On Sunday, April 24 from 2-3pm, we will be welcoming our penultimate presenter of History Speaks 2022!

We welcome back Roger Nason, whose presentation at History Speaks last year about the original Peleg Tripp property at 570 Tripp Settlement Road and its evolution through the generations, provided insight into the life and times of those early families in the area. This year’s subject is “John Hamilton: New Brunswick’s Forgotten Black Inventor”.

You can join us on Zoom at: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83136539610

Can't wait to see you there!

About the presentation: In our everyday lives we tend to take for granted those innovative tools and gadgets that have made our lives much easier or impacted society as a whole.

In the late nineteenth century this was the situation when John Hamilton, a first-generation Afro-Canadian from Saint John invented a practical method to help early train operators in New Brunswick to avoid disastrous derailments especially in winter.

New railways that expanded from Fredericton along the St. John River and northward through Keswick, Burtt’s Corner and beyond benefited immediately from the Hamilton Flanger of 1874. Likewise, other North American railroad owners recognized the genius in adding a mechanical device to clear ice and snow from the tracks, and ultimately save money and lives, yet, the Black inventor, who brought this invention to life, gained neither rightful recognition nor financial return. This is his overdue story of struggle and persistence.