Wilberforce Colony - Decline Into Obscurity

Decline Into Obscurity

The schism between early and later colonists continued to grow, particularly in subscription campaigns. In 1831 two fund-raising agents were appointed, Israel Lewis in the United States and Nathaniel Paul in England. Both agents failed to live up to expectations, and suspicions of wrongdoing, particularly by Israel Lewis, exacerbated the problems of Wilberforce.

Gradually most of the Cincinnati leaders abandoned the colony within that first decade, and many of the leaders of the emigration movement, who had located in Wilberforce, left. By the late 1840s the Irish began moving into the area, and the Black population declined greatly. Eventually the Irish community supplanted Wilberforce altogether, and the town of Lucan was incorporated. Wilberforce as a free Black colony faded into history. By the end of the 20th century only a single family, that of Peter Butler, had descendants still in the area of the Wilberforce Colony village.