Rev. John Frederick Augustus Sykes Fayette

1810 - 1876  (~ 67 years)

• Name	John Frederick Augustus Sykes Fayette
  Prefix	Rev.
  Born	Between 1809 and 1810	Atlantic Ocean   [1, 2, 3]
  Gender	Male
  Birth	, France
  Birth	, USA   [3]
  Occupation	1840	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [4]
  	school teacher
  		Fayette,JohnFrederickAugustusSykes0001-SchoolAdvert.JPG
  Business	Dec 1840	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  	School - Wellington Institute
  		Fayette,JohnFrederickAugustusSykes0002-SchoolAdvert.JPG
  FindAGrave	https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/118149045
  Race	Black
  Occupation	1871	London, Middlesex, Ontario, Canada   [3]
  	minister
  Eby ID Number	Waterloo-126718
  Died	27 Feb 1876	London, Middlesex, Ontario, Canada   [2]
  Buried	Oakland Cemetery, London, Middlesex, Ontario, Canada
  Person ID	I126718	Generations
  Last Modified	1 Dec 2024

  
  

  Family	Elizabeth Bartlett Forbes,   b. 1810, , Scotland ,   d. 10 Oct 1888  (Age 78 years)
  Last Modified	3 Dec 2024
  Family ID	F44291	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Photos		Fayette,JohnFrederickAugustusSykes=ElizabethBartlettForbes.jpg AAAA Fall 2019 | The Alumni Association | Case Western Reserve University. (2019). Retrieved 12 July 2020, from https://case.edu/alumni/stay-involved/affinity-groups/african-american-alumni-association/aaaa-fall-2019
  		John Sykes Fayette Portrait hangs in Harcourt House of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio https://case.edu/alumni/news-perks/alumni-news/legacy-first-black-alumnus-paints-portrait-activism

  
  

• Notes

  Mr. John Frederick Augustus Sykes Fayette, a well educated mulatto, built a schoolhouse on his own account in rear of where the Royal Exchange hotel now stands, in 1840. He called it the "Wellington Institute," and opened it in December, charging the usual rates, but being poorly patronized he ran into debt and left a year or two afterwards quite suddenly, greatly to the chagrin of his creditors. His was the first school in Berlin in which any attempt had been made to teach grammar and also the first in which the pupils saw a geographical map. Jacob Y. Shantz, then 18 years of age, and the late Israel D. Bowman, a lad of 11, attended this school. Second Annual Report of the Waterloo Historical Society, Berlin, Ontario 1914 ___________________________________ The Wellington Institute John Frederick Augustus Sykes Fayette, an educated mulatto, opened a secondary school here in 1840. It was housed in a building in the rear of the Royal Exchange hotel in East King Street, and named, "The Wellington Institute." Mr. Fayette was the first person to teach grammar here and to display a map Among his students were Israel D. Bowman and Jacob Y. Shantz, Although Mr. Fayette's rates for tuition were moderate, the institute did not attract enough young folk to make ends meet. He ran into debt and after a year or two left for parts unknown. A History of Kitchener, W. V. (Ben) Uttley, Kitchener, Ontario 1937 pg 39 ________________________________________ COMMUNITY COLUMNIST: Oldest Mountain church celebrates its history OPINION OCT 05, 2011 HAMILTON MOUNTAIN NEWS By Barb Baker Is it important to celebrate 200 years as a presence on Hamilton's west Mountain? Yes, because you do not know where you are going until you understand where you have been! That milestone is being commemorated this year by the congregation of Barton Stone United Church, the little stone church on the corner of Upper James and Stone Church Road. The celebration has focused on looking at the people and events of Barton Township which helped shape the west Mountain community. Names in the church register include Rymal, Hess, Blackstone and Macklem - people who are part of the history of both this church and the city of Hamilton. Barton Stone Church began in 1811, when William Rymal gave a plot of land for the building of a two-storey wooden meeting house on Mohawk Trail. The only remainder of this history is the cemetery next to Westcliffe Mall close to where the meeting house stood. During the War of 1812, this building was used as a barracks and hospital for British soldiers. Damage during the war led to the building being condemned and a new stone church was constructed between 1845 to 1847 on the Caledonia Road, (now Upper James), at Stone Church Road. That same building continues to be used each Sunday as a place of worship and community involvement, making it one of the oldest churches in the city. The first preacher in the new stone church was John Frederick Augustus Sykes Fayette, a young black American and a friend of John Brown the abolitionist. Fayette made it his calling to come to Barton Township to help American slaves in their journey to freedom via the Underground Railroad. He served the congregation from 1845 to 1850. The question of whether or not the Barton Stone church or manse was a stop on the Underground Railroad remains unanswered. This year, the church produced a series of dramatic historical vignettes to tell our history. We learned that the pioneers of the west Mountain community worked tirelessly to build their church and membership. They constucted and maintained their building, supported and contributed to worthwhile causes, and demanded changes to reflect a changing world. The work of these first settlers is still carried on today by the present congregation. Our research was made easier because of the hundreds of church documents and photographs that have been preserved in our archives by the late Gordon Allison. Selected pieces from these archives have been on display throughout the year. On Oct. 16 at 10:30 a.m., a dramatic presentation will explore the relationships that link the Mackenzie Rebellion, two 19th-Century church members (Harmanus Smith and excommunicated James Young) and a mother and son and a Hamilton Doors Open volunteer. A luncheon and archival display will follow. Tickets for the luncheon are $20. The congregation welcomes you to come and experience and remember the past, while looking forward to the future of this community. Bark Baker is Barton Stone's archivist. Opinion | COMMUNITY COLUMNIST: Oldest Mountain church celebrates its history. (2011). Retrieved 12 July 2020, from https://www.toronto.com/opinion-story/5421656-community-columnist-oldest-mountain-church-celebrates-its-history/ ____________________ John Sykes Fayette, Class of '36 By Janice J. Gerda, Ph.D. (CWR '89), Associate Vice President for Student Affairs Perhaps you've seen references to or commemorations of CWRU's first documented African American student, John Sykes Fayette. I had too and began to wonder about this very early student and his story. After a little digging, I've learned he was a remarkable man who lived a long and interesting life. John Frederick Augustus Sykes Fayette was born around 1810. His early life is still a mystery, but he came to Western Reserve College by way of New York City. His minister, the Rev. Samuel Hanson Cox of the Laight Street Presbyterian Church, known for its radical inclusion, wrote a letter of recommendation to President Storrs in Hudson. Fayette enrolled in 1832 when Western Reserve College was only six years old, and a year before Oberlin College was founded. At Western Reserve, Fayette was an active student, participating in the college's abolitionist activity. He requested to live off-campus, attended a revival, collected funds for the church, signed a petition in defense of a faculty member, served on a committee to attend a convention and graduated in 1836. He remained another year as a divinity student. Since abolitionist John Brown and his family lived nearby, those in the college would have known the Brown family. In his 1909 biography of John Brown, W.E.B. DuBois wrote that Fayette was a witness to Brown's pivotal path to emancipation "when a Negro preacher named Fayette was visiting Brown and bringing his story of persecution and injustice." While a student, Fayette married a daughter of the founding family of Hudson, but she died shortly thereafter. Upon finishing his theology degree, he was married again in Hudson to Emily Preston, and in 1838 they had a daughter, Emelie Augusta. Fayette was given a missionary charge in Ontario, Canada, and the young family moved to what is now the city of Kitchener. There, Fayette started his own school, the Wellington Institute, where he taught the children of Mennonites, who went on to be prominent leaders of the area. After the school failed, Fayette was assigned to numerous Presbyterian congregations across Ontario, helping each to organize and sometimes build a church. While near Hamilton, he oversaw the construction of the 1847 Barton Stone Church, which still stands today at the site of a busy suburban intersection. Eventually, he became a naturalized citizen of Canada. Fayette's second wife Emily also died young, and he married a third time to Elizabeth Bartlett Forbes. In 1845, they had a daughter, Elizabeth Hyde Fayette. It appears that all three of his wives were white. He himself had many different racial identifications, being listed as black, mulatto, white and French at different points in his life. From the two photos that remain of him, as well as by accounts of those who knew him, his appearance led others to believe he had African ancestry. But his daughters' descendants would identify as white. Through the 1850s and 1860s, Fayette had a series of appointments with the Presbyterian Church, and with his family lived in many places across Ontario. When his daughters married, the extended family settled near London, Ontario, and he took leadership in the local schools. He retired in 1869. Elizabeth died in 1888, and Fayette lived with his daughter and son-in-law, a German bookbinder and bookseller and son of a professor of music. Fayette died on February 27, 1876, and is buried in Oakland Cemetery near the other leaders of the Presbyterian missionary movement in Ontario. Fayette was not the only African American student in Hudson during that era \endash three other students, Richard W. Miller, Samuel Nelson, and Samuel Harrison, were students at the attached Western Reserve Academy. Harrison went on to be a chaplain in the Northern Army during the Civil War and was the subject of the PBS documentary, A Trumpet at the Walls of Jericho. But that's another story… AAAA Fall 2019 | The Alumni Association | Case Western Reserve University. (2019). Retrieved 12 July 2020, from https://case.edu/alumni/stay-involved/affinity-groups/african-american-alumni-association/aaaa-fall-2019 __________________________ In Waterloo, Mennonites both supported and attended a school run by an African-American man. At least two Mennonites received some instruction from Western Reserve College's first African-American graduate, John Frederick Augustus Sykes Fayette. Referred to as "a mulatto" in Gottlieb Leibbrandt's history of German Canadians in Waterloo County (1977, p. 204), Fayette attended the college from 1832-1836. He was a student of theology in 1836-37 and graduated with a Bachelor's degree. Fayette was described by his own pastor as "a regular & worthy member of the church of my pastoral care; a young man (of colour) whose principles appear fixed and sound; a candidate for the Christian ministry, of good & hopeful promise; & a scholar of respectable attainments and behaviour. He has the best wishes of Christians who know him, for his prosperity in all things" (Case Western Reserve University, February 17, 2011). While at Western Reserve College, Fayette became known for his abolitionist sympathies. In 1833, Fayette and twenty-four other students signed a petition defending one of their professors for supporting abolitionism. He also supported an anti-slavery resolution in the college church. In his biography of John Brown, W.E.B. Du Bois recorded Fayette's attendance and influence at an important turning point in Brown's life: It was in 1839, when a Negro preacher named Fayette was visiting Brown, and bringing his story of persecution and injustice, that this great promise was made. Solemnly John Brown arose; he was then a man of nearly forty years, tall, dark and clean-shaven; by him sat his young wife of twentytwo and his oldest boys of eighteen, sixteen and fifteen. Six other children slept in the room back of the dark preacher. John Brown told them of his purpose to make active war on slavery, and bound his family in solemn and secret compact to labor for emancipation. And then, instead of standing to pray, as was his wont, he fell upon his knees and implored God's blessing on his enterprise. (Du Bois, 1997, p. 46) The next year saw Fayette traveling to Ontario as a missionary of the Presbyterian church and establishing the Wellington Institute (the Waterloo Historical Society's Second Annual Report, 1914, records Fayette as having "built a schoolhouse on his own account"), the first school in Berlin (now Kitchener) to teach grammar and how to use maps. Uttley states that the Wellington Institute was "housed in a building at the rear of the Royal Exchange hotel in East King Street" (Uttley, 1937, p. 39). In an 1840 issue of the Canada Museum, an early German newspaper of the area, the institute is advertised as having just opened that December, and as being "comfortable" and "well calculated for the object to which it is appropriated […] to impart instruction to both sexes," with the following encouragement from the paper's editors: we hope that all of them [Waterloo villagers] do readily accede to the following trite & true saying- and acceding thereto, will avail themselves of its advantages- viz. 'Tis Education forms the common mind- Just as the twig is bent the tree's inclined. Fayette provided the Canada Museum with a short statement regarding the institute, dated December 4, 1840: "Instruction, at present, will be given in READING, WRITING, ARITHMETIC, GEOGRAPHY, ENGLISH GRAMMAR, &c." Fayette also noted plans to expand the curricular offerings: "as soon as circumstances will admit, Scientific and Classical instruction will be given." Fayette also assures parents of students that "the Pupils are under the eye of the Principal of the Institute, who has the supervision not only of their Education, but also of their Habits and Morals." Two of Fayette's students were Jacob Y. Shantz, at age eighteen, and Israel Bowman, at age eleven (Bowman later appears in a school reunion photo of the 1820s schoolhouse). Shantz would later be instrumental in Mennonite settlement in Western Canada (Steiner, 1988). It is also interesting to note the endorsement of the school in the Canada Museum (Dec. 4, 1840), as signed by, among others, Jacob S. Shoemaker, Esq., a Mennonite merchant, and Benjamin Eby, a prominent pastor/bishop in the Mennonite church who had migrated from Lancaster County to Ontario in 1807. Eby was a key share-holder and supporter of this newspaper, founded in 1835 (Roth, 1986). The endorsement, dated December 7th, 1840, reads as follows: Mr. Fayette, the Principal of The Wellington Institute, is a regular Graduate of a distinguished Literary Institution, whom we consider fully competent, both from his respectable Testimonials of Character and Ability, as well as of our personal acquaintance with him, to discharge the important duties devolving upon an Instructor of youth. Unfortunately, "lack of students and increasing debts soon forced the school to close. At a cost of two dollars per person plus fuel, a student at the institute could get proper instruction in English grammar and use real maps to study geography. But this was expensive in those days and few could afford the fee." (Steiner, 1988, pp. 25-26) In contrast, Uttley records that while "Fayette's rates for tuition were moderate, the institute did not attract enough young folk to make ends meet. He ran into debt and after a year or two left for parts unknown" (Uttley, 1937, p. 39). Fayette became a minister and served for many years in various churches in Canada, including those in the Niagara Presbytery. He also served as a superintendent of schools in Ontario. He died in London, Ontario, Canada in 1876, leaving behind his wife and two married daughters. Anabaptist-Black Interaction in Upper Canada: An Initial Reconnaissance Timothy Epp, Redeemer University College _______________ REV. J. F. A. S. FAYETTE. The Rev. John Frederick Augustus Sykes Fayette died at London, February 27th, 1876. Mr. Fayette graduated at the Western Reserve University, Hudson, Ohio, in 1836. He was licensed by the Cleveland Presbsrtery\emdash Old School\emdash in 1839, and thence sent as a Missionary to Canada; and in 1844 he was ordained and inducted by the Presbytery of Niagara into the pastoral charge of the congregation of Ancaster. He and his congregation connected themselves with the Flamboro' Presbytery of the late United Presbyterian Church, in 1852. He was subsequently and successively, pastor of the congregations of St. Vincent, Tecumseh, and Watford. On account of failing health he was compelled to resign his charge at Watford. Although without a pastor's charge for a considerable time, his zeal for the work to which he had consecrated his life was unabated, and he gladly fulfilled appointments to the vacancies and stations in the London Presbytery to the extent of his abiltity. Presbyterian Year Book of the Dominion of Canada and New Foundland 1877 Toronto

  
  

• Sources

  [S116] Vit - ON - Death Registration. Name: Elizabeth Hyde Lafayette Event Type: Death Event Date: 26 May 1936 Event Place: North York, Ontario Gender: F Age: 91 Born: 17 Mar 1845 Ontario Father's Name: John Lafayette b. Atlantic Ocean on France to America Mother's Name: Elizabeth Forbes b. Scotland Record Number: 1246 [S116] Vit - ON - Death Registration. Name: John Frederick Augustus Lafayette Event Type: Death Event Date: 27 Feb 1876 Event Place: Middlesex, Ontario, Canada Gender: Male Age: 66 Occupation: Clergyman Birth Year (Estimated): 1810 Birthplace: France Death Place: Middlesex, Ontario Death Age: 66 years Burial Place: Ontario, Canada Cause: Abcess of the bowels 11 weeks Occ: Clergyman [S2430] Census - Canada - 1871, Ontario, Middlesex, London Div 9 pg 8. John F. A. S. Fayette, 61 b. States, French Minister Elizabeth B. 60 b. Scotland [S707] Book - Second Annual Report of the Waterloo Historical Society, Pg 37.

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - Between 1809 and 1810 - Atlantic Ocean Birth - - , France Birth - - , USA Occupation - school teacher - 1840 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Business - School - Wellington Institute - Dec 1840 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Occupation - minister - 1871 - London, Middlesex, Ontario, Canada Died - 27 Feb 1876 - London, Middlesex, Ontario, Canada Buried - - Oakland Cemetery, London, Middlesex, Ontario, Canada  = Link to Google Earth