Researchers dig homestead site to reveal details about legendary Black cowboy John Ware

Researchers from the University of Calgary spent the weekend trying to uncover more details about trailblazing Black cowboy John Ware, who carved a path for himself against all odds as a respected Alberta rancher in the 1880s.

A team of experts from the University of Calgary's department of anthropology and archaeology dug around at the site of the Ware family homestead near Millarville, Alta., in a bid to learn more about the day-to-day challenges faced by Ware and his family.

Ware, considered to be one of Alberta's first Black residents, was a former slave who established his reputation as a skilled cowboy after moving to Alberta from the United States.

"He was an incredible cowboy and rancher and just [an] all-around person. A Black cowboy who came to southern Alberta in 1882 and he never left. He made this place his home for the rest of his life," said author and filmmaker Cheryl Foggo, who made the 2020 documentary film, John Ware Reclaimed.

"Why are we here today? Well, we've never lost curiosity in him. He's been a person of such inspiration for so many for 120-odd years since he died in 1905."

Foggo admitted she has related to Ware's story for years.

"I personally have connected with his story very strongly from a pretty young age because I, like him, was a black person from this part of the world who loved horses and this beautiful, beautiful land. And so I have been curious about him, and working on projects about him."

Foggo joined the U of C researchers during the excavation project, which is a more elaborate followup to a dig that was undertaken to aid the filmmaker's 2017 film.

"John Ware's life connects to so many people for so many different reasons. People who live in rural Alberta, in southern Alberta, connect very strongly to his story because he was so smart and he was so innovative," Foggo said.

"He was a formerly enslaved person who often people did not have high expectations for, and yet he blew everyone's expectations out of the water in a million different ways."

A lasting legacy

Dr. Lindsay Amundsen-Meyer is an associate professor of archaeology at the University of Calgary. 

"There's two pieces I think to it that are really important from a purely archaeological, historic sense … he's got this longevity to him, right? Everybody talks about John Ware. You hear about Alberta's first Black cowboy all the time," she said, citing examples such as the school that's named after him, John Ware Junior High in Calgary.

"But we don't actually know that much about him, right? So most of what we know comes from stories that were written in the 1930s and later. And he himself died in 1901. So how much of those remembrances and those stories really reflect his day-to-day [life]?"

WATCH | Uncovering details on John Ware's life:

Archaeological study digs into the daily life of an influential Alberta cowboy

4 months ago

Duration 2:46

John Ware was one of the province's first Black residents when he established his homestead near Millarville, south of Calgary, in 1887. But since then, no substantial archaeological study of the cowboy's life has ever been done until now. University of Calgary archaeologist Lindsay Amundsen-Meyer and her team had three days to dig for evidence of the daily lives of John Ware and his family.

One of the primary goals of the project is to look for archaeological evidence that may offer more insights into the famous rancher's life and experiences, according to Amundsen-Meyer.

Another thing that stands out is the potential impact Ware's story can have on others, including those from diverse cultures and backgrounds.

"Regardless of what we find, I think doing a project like this is really important for [the] community and to elevate those voices, right? We need more diversity in our history," Amundsen-Meyer said.

"We need to elevate these diverse voices that we know have been in Alberta for a long, long time."

The team has previously recovered interesting artifacts from the site, such as a hand-forged horseshoe, square nails that likely predate 1900, and cow bone.

The latest project, which lasted three days, focused on exploring the site of Ware's former home with the help of drones and ground-penetrating radar.

Every tiny clue helps — even bits of glass and ceramic dinnerware can allow the team to locate more information such as markers that prove crucial in helping date the artifacts more accurately.

Whatever the team has managed to find will be analyzed in a lab at the university before being sent to the Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton. 

"If we could find something like a dump or an outhouse that would contain [the] kind of goods that he used, you know, give us a real sense of his daily life. That's kind of, that's our big hope," Amundsen-Meyer said.

Grit and resilience

Steve Fischer's family bought the land in the 1900s where Ware and his family spent several years.

"Why did he pick this place? Who really knows? But when you go back to the 1880s, you had to think about food, water, shelter. We've got water right there, probably [an] abundance of food around here.… There's lots of timber here for spruce, for building," he said.

What stands out to Fischer, though, is Ware's resilience.

"When he left home somewhere in 1865 or 1866 … he left with no money. He would have had some kind of an education … but could not read or write. He was a Black man walking through probably some tough areas," he said.

Fischer noted that Ware somehow managed to make his way across the southern states in the U.S., learn the tricks of the trade and build a life for his family in Alberta.

"The resilience is why it's a great story on its own."

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.