The Suckles Family Family Tree Suckles Family View Family Tree

Dembo Suckles was born circa 1762. According to Diane E. Whitcomb, a descendant of Dembo Suckles, Dembo was “probably [born] on western Africa, where the “ngbo” sound in his given name is found in many local languages. Dembo’s only documented master was Irish born William Creed. Having immigrated from either Limerick or Cork Ireland circa 1772, Creed appeared in Providence, Rhode Island in the 1774 census. Dembo Suckles came to the Island with William Creed in 1767 and settled in the Three Rivers area in 1775.

William Creed married twice. His second wife, Elizabeth (Prince) Higgins was the widow of David Higgins, who had been responsible for settling Lot 59, where the Suckles family came to settle. Dembo Suckles married Mary Moore, a slave of Edmund Fanning on the 11 December 1802. Dembo and Mary had nine children in total, including a set of twins. Their first six children were baptized at St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Charlottetown and the three youngest, at the Methodist Church in Murray Harbour. None of their daughters married, but all four sons did.

Dembo is documented in the 1841 census as a farmer living in Lot 59. He was listed as a Methodist with seven people in his household. Of these seven, four were born on PEI, which were probably his four daughters. Two individuals are listed as “other,” and one as having been born in the British Provinces. He is also documented as having 6 of 999 years of his lease expired. Dembo Suckles died in November of 1845. A newspaper reference to his death stated “His death on [the] 11th November was much regretted by his numerous family and a large circle of acquaintances. He immigrated to this Island county years ago.”

Only one of Dembo and Mary’s sons married a black woman. Their oldest child John married Kesiah Martin, daughter of well known Charlottetown residents Samuel and Keisah (Wilson - Shepard) Martin. Many of Dembo and Mary’s grand children left PEI to settle in New Brunswick, Maine and Boston. A few Suckles descendants lived in the Montague area up until the 1950s and some of the descendants of Dembo and Mary are buried in the Methodist graveyard in Lower Montague. None of Dembo Suckles daughter’s married. Today, the Suckles family name does not exist in the Montague area.

Surnames appearing within the descendants of Dembo Suckles and Mary Moore:
  • Aitkens
  • Cook
  • Foreman
  • Henry
  • Richardson
  • Newton
Legend