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A Brief Black History of Woodstock

2/22/2021

This is the fourth and final instalment of a four-part series from the article “A Brief Black History of Woodstock” that was edited and appeared in the What’s On Woodstock Magazine in the January/February 2021 issue.

Woodstock has seen its share of outstanding Black entertainers who have and continue to achieve tremendous success in the entertainment world with the Marshall and Morton families.

The Marshall family from Woodstock were well known as the four Marshall brothers all served in the armed forces. According to the book A Safe Haven, the Marshall family first appeared in Oxford County census in 1881 in Blenheim Township where the widow Eliza Marshall lived with her eldest son Thomas and his family. Eliza's two other sons, Horace and John moved to Woodstock in 1891 their older brother Thomas followed in 1901.

Horace and his wife Jane came to Woodstock in 1890 where all five of their sons were born: Harold, Wallace, Horace, Arthur and George. They all attended public school in Woodstock and Wallace went to Woodstock Collegiate (WCI). George died at 17 years of age. Growing up they all had jobs in Woodstock. Both Horace and Wallace worked for the Thomas Organ Company. However, the four remaining Marshall brothers moved to Toronto to find employment.

Both Horace and Wallace were WW1 veterans, and both also served in the Second World War where Horace was a Sergeant-Major in the Canadian Machine Gun Training Centre. Arthur Marshall was a Quartermaster Sergeant with the Frist Battalion of the Irish Regiment of Canada in the Second World War.

The Marshall Brothers, left to right: Horace, Wallace & Arthur

In 1920, Wallace Marshall moved to Barrie, Ontario and married Vera Irene Rolling. A later their famous daughter Phyllis Marshall was born. Phyllis was an exceptionally talented woman who studied piano as a child. She was also a dress designer, an actress and an athlete who was a contender for the 1940 Olympics for a runner.

Phyllis made her debut at the age of 15 as a singer on CRCT and CBC radio stations. During the 1940s she sang blues and jazz with various Toronto dance bands. During 1947 to 1948, she toured throughout the United States with the Cab Calloway Orchestra. Phyllis appeared on a CBC radio show “Blues for Friday” from 1949 to 1952. In the 1950s she starred in two television shows: “The Big Review” 1952 to 1954 and “Cross Canada Hit Parade” from 1956 to 1959. She also performed with the great Canadian jazz pianist the late Oscar Peterson on BBC-TV.

Phyllis Marshall, daughter of Wallace & Vera Marshall

In 1959, Phyllis performed on BBC Television in England in her own show “The Phyllis Marshall Special”. In 1964 she recorded the Juno Award winning album That Girl with two American jazz stars Buck Clayton and Buddy Tate. Phyllis’s second career as an actress began in 1956 at the Crest Theatre in Toronto. She took on both dramatic and musical roles stage, radio and TV productions such as the revue Cindy-Ella in 1964; “Paul Bernard, Psychiatrist” in 1971; “Voice of the Fugitive” in 1978 and in the CBS-CTV's Night Heat during the mid-1980s.

One of Phyllis’ last performances was for Nelson Mandela’s 70th Birthday Tribute at the Freedom Fest in Harbourfront in 1988. Phyllis Marshall died in Toronto on February 2, 1996. She is remembered as one of Canada’s pioneer Black television super star.

The Morton family originally resided in Peel Township in Wellington County where James and his wife, Sarah Ann Cornwall were listed in the 1861 census. Both James and Sarah were born in the United States as was their eldest son Walter. Of their six children, five were born in Ontario and three called Woodstock home. Walter Morton moved to Woodstock where he was listed in the 1891 Census at the age of 25. His two younger brothers, George and Henry along with their wives, were here according to the 1901 Census.

For forty years, Henry Morton worked at the McIntosh Coal Company. His first wife, Hattie died in 1906. He then married Annie Lewis in 1918. The couple had ten children: six sons Harold, Donald, McKenzie, Embry, John and Douglas; and four daughters: Dorothy (husband John James), Isobel (Allan Bennett), Elizabeth and Phyllis. Henry and Annie were married for 36 years when Henry died in 1954 at 81 years old.

After Henry’s death, Annie married jack Walters. In 1965 she published a book of seventy poems entitled This is Annie. By then she was a paraplegic. Annie died in 1967 at 68. Annie’s children Isobel, Don and Douglas remained in Woodstock. Douglas Morton was married to Ida nee Lawson and they have two children: Greg, the famous entertainer, married to Debra and Nanette who is married to Mark. After 55 years of marriage, Douglas died on November 22, 2010.

Book of poetry by Annie Walters, who was previously married to Henry Morton

Greg Morton attended Woodstock Collegiate Institute. When he was 16 years old, he worked at a local department store as a P.A. Announcer. Greg graduated in animation and worked as an animator on the Scooby and Scrappy Doo Shows and the New Flintstones for Hanna Barbara. He provided voice-overs in the cartoon series of Robocop and Police Academy. Greg also has director role under his belt after directing several Saturday morning cartoons including ABC Hammerman and The Legend of White Fang that appeared on HBO

Comedian Greg Morton grew up in Woodstock, Ontario

In 1985, Morton ventured into the world of stand-op comedy. Thirty-five years later, Greg continues to entertain audiences worldwide and has opened for numerous celebrities like: Celine Dion, Dionne Warwick, Harry Connick Jr, and the late Luther Vandross. He is a long-time veteran of the famous Just For Laughs comedy festival in Montreal and has appeared in Laugh Factor.

Greg Morton appeared as a contestant on Season 14 of America’s Got Talent on May 28, 2019 where he impressed the judges that Howie Mandel promised to invite Greg to open for him. On the show Greg performed his famous two-minute rendition of the Star Wars Trilogy that had the audience of all ages in stitches. At 61 Greg Morton has achieved success that will continue. Greg Morton may even get a street named in his honour right here in Woodstock, Ontario.

Born in Hamilton in the 1880s, William (Hippo) Galloway came to Woodstock about 1899. He was a member of the Bain Baseball Team. This was a successful team that played in the Canadian Baseball League. Formed under the Bain Wagon Company, a manufacturer company in Woodstock, William played third baseman making him one the few Black players in organized ball until Jackie Robinson played in 1946.

William (Hippo) Galloway played both baseball & hockey

Also, in 1899, William and Charles Lightfoot from Stratford were the first Black hockey players in the Ontario Hockey Association. However, there was racial tension when an American player refused to play with William. Although his Woodstock hockey team wanted him to stay, they had to let William go. He left Woodstock for the United States where he joined the all Black team the Cuban Giants. William Galloway later played for the Page Giants.

Yet another famous, well respected and popular Black resident in Woodstock was George Gravy. He was born a slave in the southern United States around 1856. Prior to coming to Woodstock in 1925 where he proclaimed himself as the unofficial Town Crier, George resided in Chatham, Ontario. There he shined shoes at both the Hotel Rankin and the Old Hotel Garner. Aside from being the town crier, George also shined shoes and washed windows. He had a shoeshine stand in the back of Sam Kostis’ restaurant at 369 Dundas Street in Woodstock. He also worked at the Steward Manufacturing Company for less than a year.

Woodstock residents nicknamed him George “Washington Jones” a name he did not like but one that stuck and has since been immortalized. For twenty-five years George Gravy paraded around the streets in Woodstock advertising everything from hockey and baseball games to local events like dances, the Lion’s carnival, Woodstock Fair and the Rotary Bingo. Many of the Woodstock merchants hired George to advertise their products and services.

Dressed in a silk black hat, a swallow-tailed coat, striped pants and freshly polished shoes, he was bedecked with numerous medals, badges and flags, George started off with a sliver trumpet. He then had a handbell which was replaced with a double hand-bell which he rang before making his announcements through his brass megaphone. Which is now an artifact at the Woodstock Museum. He also caried a sandwich board which would promote the next motion picture showing at the Royal or theatrical production at the Capital. It was said that George’s booming voice could be heard in Eastwood, five miles away, if the wind was right.

George Gravy Woodstock's Town Crier 1925 - 1951

The late Ed Bennett wrote that during World War II, Woodstock soldiers serving in England claimed they could hear George’s voice announcing regular Saturday night dances. Bennett also mentioned that George’s favourite saying was “Well, bless my soul.” A friendly person, George was remembered as quite a character in town who “always had a big fat grin on his face.” and who referred to almost everyone as “Buster Boy” or to the very few he called “My friend.”

With failing eyesight, George Gravy would be seen around town tapping his way with his white cane. Many prominent citizens would help him across the street. On December 8, 1951, George Gravy died at the House of Refuge and was buried in the Baptist Cemetery in Woodstock. Famous businessmen were his pallbearers. In 1952, the late Percy Canfield took up a collection and erected a granite headstone that read “George Jones, 1856-1951, Town Crier”.

George Gravy, Woodstock’s famous Town Crier is now immortalized in a song written by the city’s current Town Crier. Scott Fraser was appointed Town Crier in November 1992 by Woodstock City Council. In 1994, Scott wrote about George Washington to composer James Gordon, from CBC Radio’s Ontario Morning Show, “Hometown Tunes”. That same year, James Gordon composed the song George Washington Jones. Furthermore, on August 6, 2004, close to 300 Woodstock residents gathered to remember this unofficial but loved town crier when a pathway leading to the Woodstock Museum, was named in his honour: The George Washington Jones Walk.

As illustrated, these are but a few of Woodstock’s Black residents who have been a part of history in Oxford County for over 150 years. These earlier settlers have and continue to contribute to their communities.

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A Brief Black History of Woodstock

2/15/2021

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The third instalment of a four-part series from the article “A Brief Black History of Woodstock” that was edited and appeared in the What’s On Woodstock Magazine in the January/February 2021 issue.

Reports indicate that the number of slaves who reached Canada via the Underground Railroad was between 30,000 to 75,000. Although no accurate figures can be given for the number of fugitives or Free Blacks in British North America. It is estimated that about 30,000 fugitive slaves arrived in Canada between 1800 and 1860.

Whatever the number however, not all Blacks who came to Canada were ex-slaves. Following the American Revolution many free Blacks settled here too. Some Blacks even fought in the War of 1812. Similarly, by the 1800’s, many Black people made their way to Oxford County trying to make a living in their communities. They worked in a wide variety of occupations like domestic workers, preachers, blacksmiths, framers, carpenters, bricklayers, plasters, roofers, framers and barbers just to name but a few.

The Attawandaron or Neutral Indians inhabited Southwestern Ontario before being exterminated by the Iroquois and the Hurons, who were supplied guns with the arrival of the British and French. The area then became the hunting grounds for the Iroquois. Travelling through this area during 1792-1793, the First Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, Sir John Graves Simcoe, felt the present site of Woodstock, would be a good spot for a garrison town. The area was named on the survey as “the Town Plot” and Simcoe proposed the name Woodstock after his hometown in England.

On January 1, 1851 Woodstock was incorporated and became the centre of a rich agricultural county with successful farms. Manufactures at the turn of century included the Woodstock Iron Works established in 1842 by H. P. Brown. The Vulcan Iron Foundry manufactured stoves, agricultural implements, tin and sheet-iron ware. There were a few grist and flouring mills in the city and two tanneries, a patent medicine factory, a large wholesale and retail book and paper warehouse that manufactured bookbindery. There was also an oil refinery and a brewery. Woodstock was also the chief station for the Great Western Railway which ran from the Town north, south, east and west. Documentation cites that some companies and business in Woodstock employed Black people.

A well-known barber in 1860 was Thomas Doston who escaped slavery in Kentucky in the 1840’s and came to Woodstock. Thomas and his wife Abigail had two sons, James and William. The family remained in the area until the 1880’s, when they moved to Detroit to live with their son James who became the Deputy Sherriff. Thomas died in Detroit in 1906.

Gilbert ‘Gil’ Sanders became known as the “only barber in town” who had a shop located on Dundas Street West in Woodstock. By the 1870 Census, Gilbert had two other Black men working for him as barbers, Henry Anderson and William Tillman. During the 1880s, Gilbert was married and had a family of three living in Woodstock.

Marshall Anderson, known as “Marsh”, was born in South Norwich in 1844. In 1871, when he was 27 years old, Marsh farmed on a rented property near Burgessville. He resided there with his first wife Sarah and their 3-year-old daughter Frances. Following Sarah’s death, Marsh married her younger sister Mary. The family moved to Woodstock in 1881 where Marsh joined the Woodstock town fire brigade until the fire department was made a permanent one and moved to the fire hall on Perry Street. However, that same year, Mary died. According to Joyce Pettigrew’ book A Safe Haven The Story of Black Settlers in Oxford County, the Woodstock Fire Brigade wrote a letter to the editor of the newspaper as public note of condolence.

Marshall Anderson

During the 1890’s, Marsh was the municipality’s law enforcement and known as “Woodstock’s Faithful Night Watchman”. Hired by local merchants, this large Black man patrolled the city after dark when policing did not provide night coverage after six o’ clock. Lieutenant-Colonial John White came up with the idea of having Marsh protect stores and business at night. Marsh’s beat was from Vansittart Avenue to Wellington Street, on both sides of Dundas Street as well as the stores and business around City Hall Square.

Marsh had an assistant; a large Newfoundland dog named “Duke.” The two made an effective team but Duke was poisoned when he was 11 years old. Marsh’s second dog was a Great Dane named “Seeker”. While Marsh tried the doors of the local merchants, Seeker would stand and wait. If there were any sign of trouble, Marsh would let Seeker in to investigate. The beat back was in reverse; Seeker would lead the way down the allies behind the stores, followed by Marsh. If something usually was found, Seeker would “utter a deep growl and stand guard until Marsh” arrived with his gas lamp to investigate and make an arrest if necessary. If someone had to be placed in the lock-up, located in the cellar of the town hall, Marsh would lead the way, followed by the culprit and Seeker bringing up the rear. It was reported that Marsh and Seeker never lost a prisoner. In the morning, the prisoner would be freed.

However, according to the late historian, Edwin (Ed) Bennett, not all people who stayed overnight in the county jail were criminals or vagabonds. Ed once explained how his father, a well-known prosperous businessman the late Bill Bennett Sr., spent the night in jail. In the early morning in 1904, Bill first arrived in Woodstock by train. Bill met Marsh and asked if a hotel would be opened. Marsh offered Bill a bed in a section of the jail used as a hostel by prisoner’s dependants. Marsh told Bill that ‘it’s cheaper than a hotel!’ The senior Bennett accepted, and in the morning, he moved to the Oxford Hotel.

After 40 years of public service, Marsh retired at age 81 in 1925 and was granted a pension for life by the Woodstock Police Commission. In 1932, Marshall Anderson died in hospital after succumbing to illness by his coal-gas oven. A poem written about Marshall Anderson that went:

Go home to supper now.
You proud business man.
The “Seeker” and Marshall
Will secure all your land.
No crook will accost you.
No robbers appear
For in spite of brave Marshall,
It’s “Seeker” they fear.
J.C.D.

The Smith family were well-known and respected in Woodstock. Peter Smith was born into slavery on April 2, 1844 in Richmond Virginia. He escaped slavery via the Underground Railroad to Canada possibly in a crate that family members still have. Peter settled in Chatham but later moved to East Oxford in 1871, according to the Census that same year with his wife Martha who was from Chatham. The couple then lived in East Zorra then eventually moved to Innerkip. They had six children Samuel, Albert, Leonard, Martha, Annie and Rose.

Peter worked as a blacksmith, he farmed, and he also worked in the lime kilns in Ingersoll. He would gather scarps of metal, rags and bones to recycle. After his wife died on April 9, 1911, Peter moved to Woodstock to find employment. He eventually moved to the House of Refuge where he died on January 17, 1929 at the age of 85.

Samuel Walter Smith was the eldest of six children born to Peter and Maude Smith on December 13, 1871. Of his five siblings, Samuel was the only one of the six who reminded in Oxford County. He was born in Innerkip then moved to Woodstock to find employment. Samuel married Mary A. Anderson from Chatham in 1903.

Like his father, Samuel was a hardworking man and an entrepreneur. According to his son, Fred Smith, Samuel was the first person to plough the streets of Woodstock with his team of horses and a snow plough. He also delivered wood and cleaned up after fires. Sometimes Fred would accompany his father and his team of horses ploughing the streets at 4:00 in the morning.

Samuel also founded a gravel company in Woodstock. He built his home at 256 Phelan Street in 1903 which would become known as the Homestead. According to the book A Safe Haven, Samuel supplied milk from his two cows to the Silverwood’s Dairy. Samuel and Mary had nine children: John, Fred, Walter, Madeline, Leta, and Hilda, Selena who died at a young age, Mabel and Mildred. Only 4 of the Smith children remained in Oxford County.
On January 15, 1937, Samuel died from carbon monoxide poisoning while fixing his vehicle in his garage. He was 67 years old and credited as a prominent man who helped to re-build the church in his community.

The grandson of Peter Smith, John Smith and his wife Shirley resided in the family Homestead on Phelan Street. John worked at Oxford Regional Centre. Like members of the Smith family, John and Shirley were also active members of their church. In October 1974, they dedicated a Memorial Light and Plaque to the Dundas Street United Church in Woodstock in memory of John’s parents.

The memorial light is an outside light that was installed over the east side door of the church. Installed with a photocell, the light comes on automatically at dusk and turns off at dawn. The inscription on the plaque reads as follows: “This light is given to Dundas Street United Church by Mr. and Mrs. John W. Smith to the Glory of God and in loving memory of Mr. and Mrs. S.W. Smith.” John Smith died on February 1, 2002.

Born on March 22, 1909 and raised in Woodstock, Frederick (known as Fred) Alfred Smith was well-known and respected person around town. Fred was known to ‘break into song’ wherever and whenever he went. He was known as the area’s finest gospel singer who sang for churches and gatherings and even travelled to the States to sing.

Fred used to deliver the newspapers for The Daily Sentinel-Review, he worked as a polisher and janitor for James Stewart Manufacturing Company when he was 16 and worked there for 32 years. The James Stewart Manufacturing Company was established in Woodstock in 1892 then moved their operations in the early 1960s’ they wanted Smith to follow but he declined.

In 2000, Fred donated his family-owned century-old Stewart Good Cheer coal/wood burning stove to the Woodstock Museum which continues to be part of their collection. After the company left town, Fred then worked at the local freight company Overland Express Company as a janitor for 38 years.
Fred married Phyllis LaSalle and had 4 daughters: Gloria, Brenda, Shelia and Tammy. Of his 4 daughters, only one resides in Oxford County. Sheila Picknall is an Education Assistant in Woodstock and has two sons Nathan and Justin. Fred Smith died at Woodingford Lodge in Woodstock on October 2, 2007 in his 98th year.

In 1959, Mildred Smith, the youngest of Samuel Smith’s children, was appointed pastor of the British Methodist Episcopal (BME) Church in Woodstock where she had been the deaconess of the church since 1950. Her duties of a deaconess included visiting the sick and dying as well as assisting the pastor with service. In a newspaper article that appeared in the Woodstock Sentinel Review on July 9, 1959, Pastor Smith reported that she is on “old fashioned” type of minister and people would expect to hear an old-fashioned Gospel service. Despite her small congregation of five, Pastor Smith hoped that the old church would be bulging to its seams with people. This never occurred however, but the Smith family still went down in the history book.

The Smith family are one of the few remaining Black families who arrived in Oxford County via the Underground Railroad during the mid-1880s. The family has 150 years of history contributing to their community.

Built by former slaves, the British Methodist Episcopal (BME) Church was once the religious and social centre of Woodstock’s Black community. Known by various names: Hawkins’ Chapel and Park Row Community Chapel, the church opened its door on December 2, 1888. A porter at the O’Neil House George Washington and stonemason Dan Anderson, started canvassing in 1883. By 1886 the two local Black men purchased lot number 1 at 257 Park Row in Woodstock, to build the 200-seat frame church.

Also known as Hawkins’ Chapel and Park Row Community Chapel

The church was named Hawkins Church after the first minister, the Right Reverend Walter Hawkins. During the 1880s, the church serviced about 75 Black families and was one of the few Black churches in the community. The last burial service held at the church occurred on January 15, 1937 for Samuel Walter Smith (Peter Smith’s eldest son.)

After being closed for six years, Reverend George Boyce took over the church in July 1977 and re-opened it a year later as Park Row Community Chapel. To show that the church was open for any race, it was painted black and white. Reverend Boyce baptized Kevin James Mitchell, of Stratford son of Ray and Cecilia Mitchell (Mabel Smith’s daughter) on February 6, 1978, during the church’s re-opening. The child was the fourth generation of the Smith family to be baptized in the church before it was closed permanently in 1986. A single-family dwelling now stands at the site that was once a centre for Blacks in Woodstock.

Susan LeBurtis was born Susan Brown in Artemesia Township in Grey County in 1857. She was one of seventeen children born to Lemuel and Phebe Brown. Susan moved to Collingwood, Ontario to find work and met Reverend Charles William LeBurtis. In 1885, the couple moved to Woodstock where Reverend LeBurtis was a minister at the BME Church. Susan provided herbal remedies to cure her friends’ and neighbours’ numerous aliments. This became so popular that she sold herbal medicines from their home located at 331 Dundas Street. In advertisements, the business called The William LeBurtis Medicine Company in which was known for the manufacturer of LeBurtis’ Blood Purifier.

After Reverend LeBurtis died in 1910, Susan took over the business. By 1912, she renamed this business Le Burtis Medical Company and moved to 327 Dundas Street. Susan was so well known for curing ailments with her herbal remedies that many of her clients came from the United States. She only charged when there was a cure. Although charged by the Ontario Medical Association for practicing without a license, Susan’s case was dismissed. Susan LeBurtis continued to sell and practice herbal medicine until her death on April 8, 1926.

(The last instalment will be posted next week.)

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The Underground Railroad & Harriet Tubman

2/8/2021

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The second instalment of a four-part series from the article “A Brief Black History of Woodstock” that was edited and appeared in the What’s On Woodstock Magazine in the January/February 2021 issue.

The first major wave of fugitive slaves to Canada occurred between 1817 to 1820 and the choice of refuge was Essex County as it was the easiest and fastest to reach from the United States. About 20 terminals were set up in Ontario dotting along the shores of Lake Erie and the Niagara River, as well as Amhertsburg, Sandwich, Windsor, Owen Sound, Hamilton, St Catharine's, Toronto, Kingston, Brantford, Collingwood and Prescott. Many Great Lakes ships would carry runaways without charge and drop them on Canadian soil. Ships such as Bay City, United States, Arrow, Mayflower, Forest Queen, May Queen, Morning Star, and Phoebus. Areas in Oxford County that both escaped slaves and free Blacks settled included, Ingersoll, Woodstock, Blenheim, Norwich, Summerville and Otterville.

About 20 terminals were set up in Canada along the Lake Erie shore.

Escaping slaves usually travelled at night on foot through swamps, bayous, forests and waterways guided north by the stars and hid at stations or ports, during the day. Slaves passed information on escape by songs like “Follow the Drinking Gourd,” “Wade in the Water,” “Steal Away, or "Sweet Chariot”.

The most northerly terminus of the Underground Railroad was the former Wesleyan Methodist Church in Ingersoll. Led by Quakers by the way of St. Thomas, slaves escaping bondage from their plantations from Virginia, Georgia, Louisiana and even as far as New Orleans, were smuggled into the attic of the Ingersoll Church during the night. Anti-slavery supporters would try to find work for them on neighbouring farms throughout Oxford County or would transport them to other areas to work, to enable them to safely reach their destinations.

A legendary conductor on the Underground Railroad was Harriet Ross Tubman. Known as the “Black Moses” of her people, Tubman was born into slavery around 1820 on Edward Brodess plantation in Maryland, Ohio. One of 9 children, her parents Harriet (Rit) Green and Benjamin Ross named her Araminta or “Minty” Ross. Harriett grew up with the harsh realities of bondage. From the young age of 5, she was hired out to care for a baby. At nighttime she had to constantly rock the baby, if he cried, Harriett would be whipped. She received such beatings that Harriet bore scars. As an adolescent, Harriet tried to protect another slave and suffered a head injury after an overseer throw a two-pound weight aimed for a slave she helped escape. This incident left Harriet with a scar in her forehead. She suffered from terrible headaches and endured sudden loss of consciousness throughout her life.

In 1848, she married a free Black man, John Tubman. Harriet told her husband of her wish to escape but aborted it when John threatened to tell her master. After the death of Edward Brodess, the estate was divided, and Harriet’s sisters were sold. After a failed attempt to escape with her brothers, Harriett found out she and her brothers would be sold and sent to Georgia in a chain gang.

In 1849 Tubman escaped on her own foraging through the woods at night, she found shelter and was helped by free Blacks and Quakers. She eventually reached freedom in Philadelphia. There, Harriet met with the prominent abolitionist and civil rights activist William Still. Like him, she too became a conductor on the Underground Railroad. Tubman quickly gained respect among both the slaves and abolitionists. Abolitionist John Brown called her “General Tubman”.

Despite a $40,000 price on her head by a group of slave-owners, Harriett Tubman continued to lead escaping slaves to freedom. She brilliantly used disguises—sometimes posing as a deranged old man and at other times, as an old woman—to avoid suspicion when travelling in slave states. During her expeditions, Tubman carried sleeping powder to stop babies from crying and a pistol to prevent her charges from backing out once their journey began. However, Harriett never lost a passenger, although threatened, she never had to use her gun.

Over a period of ten years, Tubman made an estimated 19 expeditions into the Southern States and personally escorted about 300 slaves out of bondage to become free in Canada, including some of her siblings and her aged parents. She lived in St. Catharine’s, Ontario for ten years before returning to the United States to serve the Union Army during the American Civil War in 1861 in South Carolina. While there she served as a nurse, a scout and a spy. Harriett Tubman is still considered the first and only woman to led American troops into war. She also helped prepare food for the 54th Massachusetts Regiment—composed entirely of Black soldiers.

Following the war, Harriet continued to be a champion helping the poor newly freed slaves, raising money for clothes and adequate educational facilities. She also became a strong supporter of woman suffrage. Tubman was not able to read or write, but in 1869, her friend Sarah Bradford helped her publish her biography, Scenes from the Life of Harriet Tubman, so that her achievements could be an inspiration to others. Harriet Tubman died on March 10, 1913 at the age of 93. This extraordinary woman was buried with military rights at Fort Hill Cemetery in Auburn New York.

Quote: "Slavery is the next thing to hell." ~ Harriet Tubman to Benjamin Drew [author of The Narratives of Fugitive Slaves] St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, 1855 ~

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Early Canadian Black History

2/1/2021

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February is Black History Month. For each week this month, I will be posting a segment of a larger article I wrote on A Brief Black History of Woodstock . This article was edited and appeared in the What’s On Woodstock Magazine in the January/February 2021 issue.

Black Lives Matter; marches for racial equality. Images conjured up from anywhere in the United States right? Wrong. A march for racial equality occurred right here in Woodstock Ontario on Sunday June 7, 2020 at Victoria Park. Organizers, Hannah Hodder and Jessica Hoffstetter, are two young Black women who grew up in Woodstock. They decided to join in on the nationwide protests over the killing of George Floyd on May 30th in Minneapolis and to highlight the systemic racism and violence against Black people. Growing up Black in Woodstock, both Hannah and Jessica experienced racism and described the lack of resources for Black youth during their interview by the Woodstock-Sentinel Review.

Both women were surprised but pleased by the large turnout for the protest. They were also contacted by Woodstock Police Chief Daryl Longworth who wanted to begin conversations and they now sit on a new advisory board to address diverse cultures.

Like the United States, Woodstock and Oxford County, Black people have been a part of history for quite some time. Like many parts of Canada, Oxford County was home to a number of Black communities that have since disappeared and are largely forgotten. Few monuments commemorate these long-gone hamlets neither of early Black settlers nor of the individuals who made contributions to Oxford County.

The late Mary Evans-Smith volunteered at the Oxford Historical Society who dedicated her time researching Black history in Oxford County during the 1990s. She believed if you “talk about Canada being a multicultural country, every race and colour must be included in its history.” Otterville historian, Joyce Pettigrew, documented local Black settlements in her 2006 book, A Safe Haven The Story of the Black Settlers of Oxford County. Although limited compared to other communities throughout Oxford County, Woodstock does have a rich Black history in both people and buildings that the scope of this four-part blog post will address.

However, to understand how and why Black people came to Oxford County, we must know the history of Canada, one which and to some extent, is still not taught in school. Forgotten in our history books is the mention that slavery existed Canada. Black people first arrived in Canada as slaves by the British around 1608. But the first recorded Black person to arrive on Canadian soil was Mathieu da Costa from Azores. He was not a slave but a linguist, an explorer, a pioneer and a translator between the Micmac Indians and the French explorer with Samuel de Chaplain in 1606.

Da Costa was favoured by explorers due to his knowledge in several languages: Dutch, English, French, Portuguese and pidgin Basque, the dialect that many Aboriginals used for trading purposes. As a result, his talents helped to bridge the gap between the Europeans and the Micmac Indians. It is possibly that da Costa could possibly have been in Canada as early as 1603.

Olivier Le Jeune, a boy from Madagascar, was the first recorded slave that came directly from Africa and sold in New France in 1628. Captured in Africa at 6 years old, Le Jeune was transported to Canada by David Kirke. When Kirke left in 1629, Olivier was sold to a Canadian. He was baptized in 1633 and given the last name of one of the priest, Jesuit Father Paul Le Jeune. Oliver Le Jeune died in 1654 in New France.

From 1628 to 1759 (when the British conquered New France), 1,132 slaves were transported to New France, all of African descent. In 1688, Governor Denonville’s request for royal permission to import slaves directly from Africa was denied. As a result, a direct slave trade from Africa to Canada was never established.

In 1685, The Code Noir or “Black Code” became law which provided guidelines on the sale of slaves, their religious instructions and training, and the disposition of their offspring. Although referred to as “servants” rather than slaves, both Indians and Blacks were deemed to be property by their masters and were sold. French settlers preferred Indian slaves or panis. The majority of Indian slaves were Pawnees or from closely related tribes. The English settlers chose and brought Black slaves.

The slave population increased rapidly in Canada after 1783, when the United Empire Loyalist migrated from the United States to Canada after the Revolutionary War from 1775 to 1783. About 40,000 Loyalists found refuge in the British provinces of Nova Scotia, Quebec and later made their ways to other areas: like Kingston, York, Toronto, Newark, Niagara-on-the-Lake and Amherstburg. Along with these early Loyalists were Black soldiers who volunteered to serve with the British forces during the war. However, aside from Black Loyalists, some Loyalists brought over their slaves to Canada who would later see an end to slavery.

On June 19, 1793, Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe introduced a bill prohibiting the import of slaves into Upper Canada (Ontario). However, known as the “Slave Bill” faced great opposition but once passed, Upper Canada became the only British Colony to legislate for the abolition of slavery. This bill prohibited further entry of slaves into the province. Slaves already living in Upper Canada remained slaves for life, their children, born after 1793, could be free at age 25 and their children would be free at birth. It took another 41 years to abolish slavery throughout Canada.

On August 1, 1834, about 781,000 slaves were emancipated throughout British North America by the British Imperial Act. On that day, known as Emancipation Day, a slow exodus of Black people began from United States into Canada. Emancipation Day celebrations occurred in Woodstock and Ingersoll. In Natasha Henry’s book Emancipation Day, Woodstock hosted an event in 1898 that was advertised in the Daily Sentinel Review on July 22, 1898.

Between 1840 and 1850, there was a huge influx of Black people exiting the United States due to the passing of The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. (This act was a much stronger act than the earlier Fugitive Slave Law of 1793.) This law allowed slave owners to recapture runaways and even free Blacks, in northern Free states.

For many slaves, Canada represented a dream of freedom where slave catchers and lynch mobs couldn’t hurt them. Slaves on the Underground Railroad endured months and even years, of living like fugitives while bounty hunters and racist government policies were always trying to impede their flight to freedom. Most slaves started out their journey on the Underground Railroad by running away from their plantation in the middle of the night. Often the runaway slave was alone, but on many occasions whole families would escape together. Many Black people followed the North Star to Canada and some came to Oxford County via the Underground Railroad.

The Underground Railroad (also called the “Liberty Line”) was not underground nor did it have tracks but was a movement consisting of network of escape routes. The Underground Railroad emerged as a result of over 415 years of slavery in the United States that started in 1450 and continued through the Civil War until the passing of the 13th Amendment which abolished slavery in 1865. Oppressed slaves wanted a way out and with the help of Abolitionist and other Anti-Slavery advocates, many slaves escaped to freedom in Canada by following the North Star via the Underground Railroad. Slaves not only escaped to Canada but also to Mexico and the Caribbean.

The term “Underground Railroad” originated supposedly in 1831 when a Kentucky slave named Tice Davids fled his plantation with his master in hot pursuit. Tice jumped into the Ohio River determined to swim to Ripley, Ohio, on the other shore. Pursued by his master in a boat, Tice made it to shore. When his master reached the shore, however, Tice was nowhere to be found. The frustrated slave-owner declared that Tice had vanished before his very eyes disappearing on some kind of “underground road.” The success of Davids' escape soon spread among the enslaved on southern plantations.

With the advent of the steam railway, terms like the “Underground Railroad” were used as code words. The “train” would occasionally be nicknamed the “Gospel Train”. “Conductors” consisted of people or groups of people like the Quakers, freed Blacks, Sympathetic Whites, Native Americans, German farmers and various religious groups, who feed, clothed and hid escaping slaves from one point to another until freedom was reached. “Stations” were places the abolitionists hid their “cargo” - escaping slaves - like barns, churches, attics, cellars farmhouses or secret passages. The Underground Railroad began in the 1780s by the Quakers.

The relationship between Blacks and Quakers goes a long way and it is a close relationship. Quakers or - the Society of Friends - were the backbone of the abolitionist and anti-slavery movements. Being peaceful people, Quakers do not believe in violence and they also believe that all men are created equal and had concerns for social reform and education. The origins of the Quaker testimony against slavery and the slave trade can be traced back to George Fox, the founder of Society of Friends also known as the Father of Quakerism. He first spoke out against slavery in 1657.

(Levi and Catherine Coffin)

The President of the Underground Railroad was a Quaker named Levi Coffin. His home in Newport, Indiana (and later in Cincinnati, Ohio) was known as the “Grand Central Station.” Through their work in the antislavery movement, Levi and his wife Catherine helped thousands of runaway slaves. During a visit to Canada in 1844, Levi visited many people whom he had helped escape slavery. (To be continued.)

Quote: "...no man can tell the intense agony which is felt by the slave when wavering on the point of making his escape....The life which he has, may be lost, and the liberty which he seeks, may be gained." ~ Frederick Douglass ~

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A Brief Black History of Woodstock

A Brief Black History of Woodstock

The Underground Railroad & Harriet Tubman

Early Canadian Black History

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