Читать книгу Quest Biographies Bundle — Books 31–35 - Rosemary Sadlier - Страница 10

The central location of St. Catharines, protected in the lee of the Niagara Escarpment, had made it the most populated Native Canadian area in Canada early in history. Its picturesque site was attractive to the first settlers who arrived during the American War of Independence as Loyalists. However, there was a need for water power to help with the running of mills. This led to the initiative by William Hamilton Merritt to follow through on the 1793 proposal of Robert Hamilton to create a canal from the Welland River, near Lake Erie, up to Lake Ontario. On October 24, 1829, the first Welland Canal was operational, although work continued on it until 1931 to reduce the number of locks and to enlarge its depth in order to facilitate the quick movement of larger ships through the canal. A writer of the time commented on the appeal of the area:

No work in Europe or America will bear comparison with its usefulness. In touching upon the mighty results which must soon follow its completion, the truth will assume the appearance of the most extravagant exaggeration, to those who do not make themselves acquainted with the singular geographical position of North America. The great inland seas above the Falls of Niagara, containing more than half the fresh water upon this planet — bounded by upwards of 400,000 square miles of as fertile land as can be found on the globe, and exceeding in length of coast, five thousand miles. These seas, affording the most beautiful and commodious means of internal communication ever beheld, on a scale which science and human labour or the treasures of a world cannot rival — can be approached by ships, only through the Welland Canal, with which in point of usefulness, no other work of the kind in Europe or Asia, ancient or modern will bear any comparison.

By 1835 St. Catharines was known as one of the terminals of the Underground Railroad. Canadian slavery had been abolished since August 1, 1834, and Upper Canada in the 1850s was still part of the British Empire. One of the symbols of the British monarchy is a lion, so when Harriet would speak of being under the “lion’s paw” it meant to be under the protection of British authority. It was understood that Queen Victoria, her government, and her armies would protect the freedom of self-emancipated people. While few records exist, it is likely that Harriet Tubman supported herself in much the same way she did in Philadelphia or Cape May. She likely worked as a housekeeper, cook, or laundress while in St. Catharines, which is in keeping with the types of jobs that other black women would have had. Service positions were occupations that many blacks and lower class whites were relegated to; only a few were able to break into businesses of their own. But these were people seeking to survive, and any respectable means of earning money for their survival would be acceptable. These were also the types of jobs that would allow Harriet to have the flexibility to begin and quit as she wished, making it easy to leave her job and carry out other rescue missions in the south. Harriet never asked for anything for herself, but if her wages did not supply her with enough money for the care of the many fugitives or self-emancipated people she had living with her, she might have turned to others for assistance.

Black men, and others, found work on the Welland Canal. The Canal itself helped industries develop that needed labourers — grist mills, flour mills, salt springs, foundries, machine shops, saw mills, woollen factories, distilleries, newspapers, ship yards, and dry docks — and blacks were called in to patrol the Welland Canal to keep the peace between Catholic and Protestant workers of Irish ancestry. The Canal provided cheap and plentiful power for the mills and manufacturing that developed. The security role for blacks was an extension of their military service in the Colored Corps, and continued until the Canal was almost complete and did not need so many workers. The Colored Corps had a role in customs and excise problems as they worked to end smuggling from the United States, and they would later work on road construction.

St. Catharines had the “look of prosperity and business capabilities, far in advance of its size and appearance.” It was a booming industrial town that needed and welcomed workers. Most of the American- or Canadian-born blacks who appeared in the Canada census by 1861 were self-supporting through working in St. Catharines as labourers, although some were skilled tradespeople such as masons, coopers, barbers, hairdressers, shoemakers, bartenders, boat drivers, or carpenters. Some men or women lived in the homes of wealthier whites and worked as servants, such as cooks, housekeepers, or care givers. Others were self-sufficient through farming. One visitor to the area noted:

Scattered around, and within five miles, are large numbers of [black] farmers, many of whom have become wealthy since escaping into Canada. Going into the market on Saturday morning, I counted 37 colored persons selling their commodities, consisting of ducks, chickens, eggs, butter, cheese, hams, bacon, vegetables and fruits of all kind.

For many, St. Catharines’s prosperity made it a likely place to settle in for good, but others moved on to cities serviced by the Canal, Toronto, smaller towns, and, by the end of the Civil War, back to the United States to try to reconnect with family. Blacks tended to live close to each other because they faced similar economic and social barriers, and their homes tended to be on the outskirts of the city on land that was not as desirable at the time. Because they lived close together, churches and schools grew to meet their needs as a community. African Canadians were sometimes settled together, as with the military, or they were attracted to areas where there was tolerance for their presence or because of reasonable rates. The St. Catharines black community lived primarily in the area bounded by North, Geneva, Welland, and Williams Streets. St. Catharines blacks were within this area because Oliver Phelphs and William Hamilton Merritt owned a large tract of land bordering on North Street. In 1835, African Canadians were encouraged to buy land there because they could obtain favourable terms to purchase the land, including long leases. It seems that in some cases payments were not made by the black residents if they were unable to manage the expense and that interest was not charged. Merritt also donated a lot of land for the building of a church and meeting hall for the black community along the North Street area.

William Hamilton Merritt was the child of former American residents who had fought on the side of the British during the American War of Independence. Not able to remain in the newly independent country, the Merritts initially moved to New Brunswick and then settled in the area now known as St. Catharines. William became a successful businessman and politician, and he was the visionary of the Welland Canal and the Niagara Suspension Bridge. Additionally, as his abolitionist views supported the growing numbers of enslaved African Americans entering St. Catharines as free people, understanding the oppression they had experienced in slavery.

The Hon. Mr. Merritt spoke in terms of condemnation of the institution, and favorably of the conduct of the refugee slaves in this part of Canada, and recommended that something practical be done in their favor.

— St. Catharines Standard, April 1852

Merritt’s provision of land to what is now the Salem Chapel British Methodist Episcopal Church may have cost about 1 dollar (5 shillings at the time). Merritt also worked to establish the Fugitive Slave Friends Society to proactively seek clothing, books, and funds to support the expanding community of new free black people.

Oliver Phelps was from Connecticut where he had worked as a contractor. He immigrated to St. Catharines and experienced great wealth through his business acumen — investing and profiting from investment in trade industries. He is responsible for naming both Geneva and Court Streets in the area of town where he, along with William Hamilton Merritt, owned most of the land.

St. Catharines was a beautiful centre with a mild climate that produced plenty of food and work through the many orchards and gardens. The Welland Canal and the abundant water power of the region made navigation central to the economy and helped in the development of goods and services. St. Catharines was close to other centres and is noted as having a good public spirit. The St. Catharines black community was viewed in a positive light. According to Mary Ann Shadd, the first black woman publisher/newspaper person in North America:

During my stay at St. Catharines I had frequent opportunities of examining the general improvements of the place and was in no way more gratified than when viewing the snug homesteads of the colored people. Messrs. Maddern, Young, Lindsay and others are adding largely by their enterprise to the beauty of the place. Their success is a standing refutation to the falsehood that begging is needed for the fugitives of St. Catharines.

Another writer, William Wells Brown, describes the “coloured settlement” as follows:

The colored settlement is a hamlet, situated on the outskirts of the village, and contains about 100 houses, 40 of which lie on North Street, the Broadway of the place. The houses are chiefly cottages, with from 3 to 6 rooms, and on lots of land nearly a quarter of an acre each. Most of the dwellings are wood-colored, only a few of them having been painted or whitewashed. Each family has a good garden, well-filled with vegetables, ducks, chickens, and a pig-pen, with at least one fat grunter getting ready for Christmas. The houses with the lots upon which they stand, are worth upon average $500 each. Some of them have devoted a small part of the garden to the growth of the tobacco plant, which seems to do well. Entering North Street at the lower end, I was struck with surprise at the great number of children in the street.… The houses in the settlement are all owned by their occupants, and from inquiry I learned that the people generally were free from debt. Out of the eight hundred in St. Catharines, about seven hundred of them are fugitive slaves. I met one old lady who escaped at the advanced age of eighty-five years — she is now one hundred and four. Among them I found seventeen carpenters, four blacksmiths, six coopers, and five shoemakers. Two omnibuses and two hacks are driven by colored men. Not long since, a slave run away from Virginia, came here, and settled down; a few months after, his master “broke down,” cheated his creditors, escaped to Canada, came and settled by the side of his former chattel. Their families borrow and lend now, upon terms of perfect equality.

As St. Catharines was becoming more noted as a terminus on the Underground Railroad, the Secretary of State for Canada, Henry Clay, stated in 1828 that he viewed “the escape of slaves as a growing evil which menaces the peaceful relations between the United States and Canada.” He hoped to see an extradition treaty to return runaways to their owners — this even after black people had been invited to join the side of the British and be granted their freedom for their loyalty. However, just as there were anti-slavery sympathizers among the residents of St. Catharines, there were also residents and visitors alike who felt the correct position for an African was in service at the least or in bondage at the most.

While black Canadians helped in the building of at least one of the resort spas — the Welland House, renowned for its bathhouse with healthful saline and mineral spring waters, and worked as waiters — they were denied service because they were black. Neighbouring towns also excluded them from renting hotel rooms. In one case, a black minister and his wife travelling through Drummondville and Niagara Falls from Brantford, on their way to Buffalo, were refused accommodation during a snowstorm in January 1852. Wealthy (white) American tourists or political refugees from the States, who had little difficulty finding accommodation, would come in and pay $2 to $3 dollars a day and often reside at the spas for the season from April to October. In 1854, blacks were outraged that the public buses of the St. Catharines House and the American Hotel would not carry them. Two black ministers of the AME Church were among those denied transportation. At a meeting called at the BME Church at Geneva and North on August 4, a plan of action was developed by the ministers, some waiters of the hotels owning the buses, and other residents. The head waiter of the American Hotel threatened to quit his job in protest, followed by support from a St. Catharines House waiter, who stated that “insults and outrages heaped on others, on account of prejudice (are the same as if) … committed against himself.” It was decided at that community meeting:

Resolved, That in this glorious land of Freedom, and under this equitable and powerful Government, man is man, without respect to the colour of his skin, and that we, as men, will not submit to degrading terms of service, nor see our brethren treated with indignity by public conveyances, or excluded therefrom, without showing a manly spirit of resentment. Resolved, That, as waiters, at the public hotels, of St. Catharines, we will not continue in the service of our present employers, unless, in the management of their conveyances, they henceforth treat ourselves and our people with the respect and civility, to which we are entitled, as men. With this expression of affirmation and solidarity and with the support of influential members of the community also threatening to boycott these establishments, the hotels changed their policies.

The building of the Welland House provided jobs for black people in the 1800s. The Welland House and the other spa hotels connected to natural hot water springs or therapeutic waters — such as The Springbank or the Stephenson House — developed around the local salt springs which were thought to have healing powers. Affluent people from around the world were attracted by these springs, especially the United States, and they flocked to St. Catharines for rest and relaxation. Guests of the spas included Mary Todd Lincoln (the widow of Abraham Lincoln), the aunt of Robert E. Lee, various spies, and tourists from the American South who travelled with their enslaved black staff. Because the white guests from the south expected the black people in St. Catharines should be subservient but they were not, the guests forced the hotel owners to exclude black people from equal access to the hotels, giving rise to racial conflict. Today the spas are closed and only the structure of the Welland House remains.

Anthony Burns became a resident of St. Catharines after an arduous course of events and likely was convinced that Canada was indeed the Promised Land.

Born a slave in Virginia on May 31, 1834, Burns was owned by Colonel Charles Suttle. Suttle hired him out to work for others, and Burns was able to escape — finally ending up in Boston. On May 24, 1854, he was arrested in Boston under the terms of the Fugitive Slave Act. Following a town meeting in support of Burns, there was a riot in which several people were injured and one was killed. Burns was put on trial on June 2, and it was ruled that he had to be sent back to Colonel Suttle. Because of the anger of the citizens of Boston, Burns was escorted out of the city by twenty-two state militia to prevent any crowd violence. Over 50,000 people lined the street to protest the decision and witness his transfer back to Suttle.

Burns was returned to Virginia where he was severely beaten and confined to a cage for months by Suttle. He was later sold to a plantation in North Carolina. Finally members of the Boston church he had attended purchased him and a matron financed his education at Oberlin College in Ohio as a student of religious studies. By 1860, Burns had moved to St. Catharines, serving as the pastor of Zion Baptist Church on Geneva Street. He died on July 27, 1862, at the age of twenty-eight, and was buried at Victoria Lawn Cemetery in St. Catharines. His courage and dedication have been commemorated with a plaque — he was the last enslaved person to be captured in Massachusetts.

After rescue, kidnapped blacks tell their story.

Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

During her very first winter in St. Catharines, in December 1851, Harriet conducted a group of eleven people on the UGRR that included her brother and his wife.

They earned their bread by chopping wood in the snows of a Canadian forest; they were frost-bitten, hungry and naked. Harriet was their good angel. She kept house for her brother, and the poor creatures boarded with her. She worked for them, begged for them, and carried them by the help of God through the hard winter.

St. Catharines was a significant centre for the reception of black people on the Underground Railroad, with an African-Canadian population of over 1,000 out of a total population of about 7,000. Blacks primarily lived around the Geneva, Niagara, Cherry and Williams Street area, although some lived in the homes where they were employed throughout St. Catharines or in nearby farming areas. From the assessment records of St. Catharines, it was learned that Harriet rented a house for herself and for the reception of refugees on Lot 11, North Street, near the corner of Geneva. It was close to what is believed to be her house of worship, now called the British Methodist Episcopal Church of Canada, Salem Chapel, at 92 Geneva Street, which still serves the needs of the present-day community. She also had a connection to the AME Zion Church.

Financial assistance, in addition to what Harriet earned, came from many sources, including the American Missionary Society and the Anti-Slavery Society of Canada, presided over by Dr. Michael Willis of the University of Toronto. Ideological support came through George Brown, an abolitionist and owner of the Toronto newspaper, the Globe and Mail. Anti-slavery support was very high in Toronto and was shared by some local, influential people. Black people settled throughout Canada, especially in Ontario and the Maritime provinces, but within Ontario Harriet preferred St. Catharines. Why did Harriet Tubman prefer St. Catharines to other Canadian cities? Clearly the booming economy of the 1850s made it relatively easy to make a living, but the acts of anti-black racism detracted from this potential prosperity and security. Since Harriet and her charges were fresh from plantation-style experiences she may have found more positive than negative in the St. Catharines community. Its distance from the American border suited her, it was inland enough to not be too attractive to bounty hunters and it meant that her Underground Railroad trips were somewhat brief within Canadian territory.

The industrial growth in the area had ensured that former enslaved Africans would be able to find a means of supporting themselves. But Harriet liked to have a main contact in each town she passed through, someone whom she felt she could trust completely, someone who could provide unconditional support to herself and to her people, and in St. Catharines she found Reverend Hiram Wilson. Born in New Hampshire, Hiram Wilson had settled in Toronto after completing his religious studies. Acting as an agent for the American Anti-Slavery Society, he travelled throughout Ontario and established ten schools. He worked with Josiah Henson to establish the British North America Institute in Dresden. However, he was saddened by the loss of his wife and the concerns over the financial management of the Dresden scheme. As he was about to return to the United States, the passing of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act made him consider remaining in Canada to assist the large numbers of fugitives entering the country.

I was almost in despair of continuing in Canada & thought seriously of seeking some other field & in fact had packed up my effects at Dawn to facilitate removal before we made our journey to the East in September thinking then of planting ourselves in the West but after the infamous fugitive Bill had passed & became a law I resolved to return & continue in Canada, at this most fearful crisis with the colored people.

He settled in St. Catharines, received financial support from the American Missionary Association, operated a fugitive relief station, and set up a number of schools with teachers who he knew from Oberlin College. He was one of the four whites to have attended the North American Convention, and with others he represented St. Catharines.

I am to guard the Niagara Frontier and do all that can reasonably be done in this section of Canada for the welfare of the Refugees who are here quite numeral are rapidly increasing.

We are in the midst of an enterprising village of 4000 inhabitants but 14 miles from Niagara falls 11 miles from Queenston 12 [miles] from Niagara 3 [miles] from Lake Ontario 34 [miles] from Buffalo.

He was a main contact for Harriet Tubman in St. Catharines and was active as an abolitionist and a refugee supporter. In fact, upon her initial arrival she may have met him, or he may have made arrangements for her to be hosted by his supportive wife at Bethel Chapel, AME Church, a log building on North Street. It later became a BME Church. Wilson indicated that he was in New York State in December of 1851 — when Tubman made her journey with eleven others — and did not return to St. Catharines until New Years Day, which would have been January 1, 1852. He does not mention travelling with a band of freedom seekers — is this when Tubman arrived, or was it later? Was he just being overly cautious, or had he yet to realize the significance of his new arrivals? A letter Wilson wrote states:

St. Catharines C.W

Dear Brother Hill Feb. 5th 1852

Some time having elapsed since I have communicated I take the liberty to make known to you something of our circumstances the foremost winter. I spent the latter part of Dec. in the state of N.Y making Utica the farthest point of travel Returned to my family on New Years day I have been at home …

In his many letters written to fellow classmates from Oberlin, members of the American Anti-Slavery Society, or potential sponsors, he is careful to not reveal too many details of his efforts to aid refugee slaves. While Tubman was among the most famous of his associates, he rarely made full mention of her by name. Granted, this was early in her “career” as a freedom leader. Such was the ongoing issue connected to interacting with “fugitive slaves,” even when they were on free soil.

Wilson needed to be able to travel freely to solicit funds, and his concern for undermining the effectiveness of the UGRR, should his letters have been intercepted, was clear. What is also clear was the difficulty in finding the means to provide the type of assistance that the new arrivals required. In this letter written soon after Harriet Tubman and her first group arrived in St. Catharines, one can see how dedicated Wilson was in trying to assist them with their crucial settlement issues, namely food and fuel:

We have had some intensively cold weather this winter in this quarter, colder than has been known for many years thermometer having fallen down to 15 [degrees] below zero. It has been very hard on the poor.

A considerable number of colored families had come over from the state of New York for protection late in Autumn & not having opportunity to prepare for winter they have suffered to some extent and but for over timely & [illegible] exertions in their behalf they would have been many greatly sufferers[.]

From the first of [January] till about 10 days ago I was inexpertly on the move for the purpose of [illegible] living the destitute. Some were entirely out of provisions & had no means of obtaining any Some destitute of both food & fuel. My means were soon exhausted & to prevent people from suffering I have made the best use I could of credit and owe now [invalued?] to a considerable amount in behalf of others.

In view of the destroyed condition of the people & my own [liabilities] incurred in releasing them I have made appeals to friends in New York and at the last which may meet with a response if we wait patiently but I do not expect much.…

Wilson assisted those in need and harnessed the resources of individuals who could inspire the new Canadians — people like Jermain Loguen. Loguen was an ordained AME Zion minister who came to St. Catharines to avoid being arrested in Syracuse, New York, for his part in helping a slave escape. A self-freed man himself, Loguen worked not only with the church, but also with the Underground Railroad movement in New York. His own experiences and his expertise with fugitives made him a helpful addition to the abolition group in St. Catharines. He worked with Reverend Hiram Wilson providing for their needs.

Another St. Catharines black resident, Nelson Countee, a signor of the hotel petition, entered Canada in the 1840s and the AME ministry in 1844. He also was involved in fugitive relief.

As previously mentioned, William Hamilton Merritt, MP, was key in setting the tone in St. Catharines. He was born in Bedford, West Chester County, New York, on July 3, 1793. Merritt’s father was a United Empire Loyalist and a military man who served with a unit commanded by Colonel John Graves Simcoe. Upon learning of Simcoe’s new appointment as Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada (now Ontario), he visited his old friend in Niagara and moved his family to Canada when William was three years old. Merritt’s father was appointed sheriff of the Niagara district and purchased land on Twelve Mile Creek — the area that became known as Merriton. His father was also credited with promoting the healthful qualities of the springs in St. Catharines.

As a young man, William Merritt fought in the War of 1812 and following the war he opened a general store, sawmill, and flour mill on the site of present-day St. Catharines. He also purchased some three hundred acres of land nearby. He promoted the transportation system to enhance commerce between Ontario and New York, including construction of the Welland Canal, which saw the first boats through the canal on October 24, 1829.

By 1832 he was elected to the legislature of Upper Canada and continued his interest in transportation facilities between the two countries. In the 1840s, he developed the concept of the Niagara Suspension Bridge, which was completed by 1849 and used by escaping enslaved Africans in the following years. He died on July 5, 1864.

The idea for a land connection between southern Ontario and Upper New York came from Merritt’s success in building the Welland Canal and his interest in improving trade between the two countries. He felt that a land route would allow carriages access to the markets of St. Catharines, encourage more business on both sides of the border, and attract tourists for the mineral spring spas. Merritt used his experience as a financial agent for the Welland Canal Company to start the project.

A community called Suspension Bridge grew up near Drummondville at the north end of Niagara Falls, Ontario, and a similar settlement on the American side had the same name. Later the community referred to as Suspension Bridge became known as Niagara Falls, and today Bridge Street marks the location of the centre of this community in Ontario. In 1849 the building of the suspension bridge was complete, with two levels combining a train bridge with a motor way, one over the other.

It was ideal for freedom seekers — perhaps there would be no guard posted at the entrance, or the guard would just look the other way. It is known that on at least one occasion, Harriet Tubman took an actual train ride across the suspension bridge with her human “cargo,” before making their way into St. Catharines.