Category Archives: Book Musings

Stories Retold – Wm. King, 22 of 28

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Rev. William King
Rev. William King

Today’s post will include some of the stories which were included in Emma Field, Book Three.  They came from Rev. King’s autobiography, the biographies written by Victor Ullman or King’s niece Annie Straith Jamieson or the narratives recorded by AC Robbins and Benjamin Drew.

  • Rev. King was adamant that the settlement at Buxton was not to be a re-creation of the slave quarters of the south. To that end he insisted on the dimensions of the houses and the distance they were to be located from the road. Each house was to have a flower garden.
  • He established four post offices along the middle road. “As soon as the new offices were established the people began to write letters and to get newspapers, to read and know something of what was going on in the world around them.” (91)* (Carol’s note – I, at first over-looked what an important move this was.)
  • The story about Henry Johnson and the Riley family came from both King and Drew. The story about Charles Watts came from Robbins.
  • The settlement removed alcohol in the way described. (pg.93)*
  • The settlement also decided they would accept the donation from Boston, but from that time forward would rely upon their own labours. (pg.93)*
  • King’s trip to Pittsburgh took place and the settlement received “books and proper maps for our schools and…a beautiful bell, 500 lb. weight, cast in Pittsburgh…with the request that it should be rung night and morning proclaiming liberty to the Captive. That request was carefully obeyed. The bell was erected at my own house and one of the servants rang it every morning at 6:00 and in the evening at 9:00 while the mission lasted and when it was closed the bell was transferred to the Church where it now calls the people to worship on Sabbath.” (pg.97)*
  • All of the details about the public dinner the settlement held for some 800 people came from King’s autobiography.
  • The successes of King’s many students are completely true and came from Bryan Prince, author, farmer and descendant of some of the original settlers.

*Autobiography of Rev. William King

Chopping and Hewing – Wm. King, 21 of 28

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An original log cabin at Buxton.
An original log cabin at Buxton.

The settlers had to immediately set to clearing the land for the spring crop. “There were so many log cabins to put up and the work required the assistance of their neighbours. It could not be done alone.  It required from 12 to 14 men to put up a log cabin the size wanted, and it required a yoke of oxen to haul the logs into the place.” (92) During the year Rev. King had spent with his family in Ohio he had learned to handle an axe,  to chop and hew and build log houses. “I took twelve men and a yoke of oxen and went into the woods one day at 7:00 in the morning and told the men I intended to put up the body of a log cabin before 7:00 in the evening. The wood was all standing.” (92)

By 7:00 in the evening the whole body of the log cabin was up, 18 x 24 – 12 feet high and ready for the roof. I assisted in putting up several and showed them how it could be done in one day and as it was always the same hands that were employed they soon became acquainted with the work and could themselves put up a log cabin in a day.

Swinging an axe all day long sounds very tough to me. I invite you to reflect on a time when you did hard manual labour.

Escort or Betrayer? – Wm. King, 20 of 28

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Former planters came to Canada for many reasons - some you would not expect!
Planters came to Canada for many reasons – some of which you would not expect!

“Daniel Ducket, a slave who had escaped from Kentucky many years before the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law had settled in Michigan. By his industry he had purchased a farm and had it well stocked. It was well known in the neighbourhood that he had been a slave and who his master was. A slave hunter who had ascertained the facts wrote to his master to come and claim him. Before the master arrived the slave got wind of what was going on, took two of his horses and fled to Canada, bringing with him  200 Dollars. The person who betrayed Ducket  (but did not know that he was his betrayer) volunteered to come to Canada with him and rode one of his horses. They both came to me one afternoon and Ducket stated his case. I told him to remain with me and he was safe. He agreed to do so and to settle with me on one of the lots. He handed me also the 200 Dollars that I had to keep for him. The betrayer who evidently wanted to get his money and if possible, to take him back to Michigan and deliver him to his master, not only claimed Ducket, but also the farm and the stock on it. The following night, when he saw he could neither get Ducket nor his money, he took Ducket’s horse and fled to the other side knowing that poor Ducket could not follow without losing his own liberty. Slave hunting after the passing of the law became so profitable that those persons who were engaged in this nefarious work along the lines, were anxious to get parties in Canada to join with them in kidnapping those who had made their escape and were living here. But no one could be found to join such diabolical work and when one or two attempts were made to claim fugitives under the pretense that they had committed murder, the claim was resisted and the right of asylum protected by Canada. (83)

“Sometimes the Planters would come into the settlement and converse with the slaves that had escaped from them and try to persuade them to go back with them, promising to be kind in the future and forgive the past, but they were never able to persuade any of them to return South.

“The Masters themselves, many of them during the (Civil) War, came to Canada to escape the draft and many of their sons also came and remained in Canada until the war was over.” (84)

From Autobiography of Rev. William King, National Library and Archives of Canada

I invite you to recall a time, when like Daniel Ducket, you had very little, yet felt like you had everything you needed. 

The Fugitive Slave Law – Wm. King, 19 of 28

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Fugitive Slave

The Fugitive Slave Law, passed by the United States in 1850, was enacted to enable slave owners to hunt for their runaway slaves “in free States and compel the North to assist them in catching them and sending them back into slavery. Should any person in the free States lodge, or feed, or clothe, a slave making his escape to Canada or aid him in any way knowing him to be a slave, such person was liable to be fined 1,000 Dollars. The enforcement of this law was galling to the North and rendered it very unsafe for any slave who had escaped many years before the passing of this law, and was living in the free States in safety. They could no longer do so after the passing of the law. The slave owner had power to go into the free States and take them  away with all the children that were born to them and all the property that they had acquired in the free State. It was only necessary for the Master to prove that the person claimed by him was formerly his slave. The person claimed had no power to defend himself: the trail of jury was denied him. He was carried before a commissioner, who got ten dollars if he delivered him to the person claiming him, but if the commissioner declared the evidence not sufficient and gave him his liberty he only got five Dollars.

“Some heart-rendering cases occurred in the enforcing of the act, that in many places aroused the feelings of the Anti-slavery spirit in the North to resist the surrender of the fugitives. At Christiana, Lancaster County, Pa, where a number of negroes were comfortably situated, Edward Gorsuch, a Maryland slave holder, who attempted with two or three accomplices to seize his alleged slaves (four in number) was resisted by the alarmed and indignant blacks and received a ball from a musket fired by one of them which proved fatal and his son who accompanied him was wounded. The slaves made their escape and one of them who fired the fatal shot made his way to me in Canada, with his family entered one of the lots and became a peaceful, sober and industrious settler. Slave hunting became a profitable business along the border States and Canada.”

The full story of the stand-off at Christina is well worth reading.

Quotes are taken from Autobiography of Rev. William King, National Archives and Library of Canada.

The Settlement Begins – Wm. King, 18 of 28

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Isaac Riley, his wife and children, were the first settlers.

Isaac Riley and his wife and children were the first settlers.

Mob violence was the next option for those opposed to the settlement. King was to meet the Government Agent and a surveyor from Chatham to have the land in Raleigh Township surveyed. The surveyor informed Larwill who assembled “a number of Roughs (who) came out to drive us off the land.” (80) But the Government Agent had become ill and the meeting was called off, but not before Larwill, the surveyor and “the Roughs” had spent the day in the woods drinking and threatening what they would do to the minister when he appeared. “A few coloured men in Chatham who had heard of the threats made against me by Larwill and others went out armed to the land under the pretext of hunting, as it was the fair season, but really to protect me from violence should any be offered. They continued all day on the land hunting. Had I come out that day there probably would have been bloodshed. “ (80)

“When informed of the treachery of the surveyor, I paid him off and employed another who remained with me until I divided the block into lots of 50 acres each and prepared it for settlement. I purchased 100 acres in the middle road and moved unto with my coloured servants.” (81)

Word of the settlement had travelled far and wide. When he and his former slaves moved in Rev. King found that he already had coloured neighbours. “Isaac Riley had entered on a lot adjoining mine as he told me afterwards that he might be near the School and Church to give his children a good education. He had just come from Missouri with his wife and four children. His Master was about to sell him to the South. He got word of it, crossed the Mississippi River into Illinois, made his way to Chicago, got on a boat that took him to St. Catherines, where he heard of the Elgin Settlement. He returned back with his family to Detroit and from there made his way to Buxton, entered 100 acres of land and became one of the best settlers.” (85)

I like the Rileys’ sense of agency. They, like so many of the refugees who were to head to Canada, were bold in their actions. They “made things happen”.  I invite you to think of those you have met who have that same sense.

“I Will Not Surrender” – Wm. King, 17 of 28

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Rev. William King
Rev. William King

Rev. King left “his slaves” with his brother in Ohio and proceeded on to Canada West to purchase land on which he could settle them.  The Chatham area had the “soil, climate and nearness to market” he desired.(74)  Nine thousand acres were to be purchased “for settlement by people of color and to solicit for this purpose the aid of all who are desirous to promote the improvement of this long neglected and deeply injured race.” (75)

Word got around Chatham that the popular minister who had preached on two different Sundays had “chartered  a vessel and intended to bring in a shipload of coloured persons from the United States and settle them in Canada in the Township of Raleigh…My popularity fell rapidly; the next time I visited the Town I got the cold shoulder. Scarcely anyone would speak to me. One man came to me when riding down King Street on horseback and told me as a friend that my life was in danger, and that I should not expose myself after dark in the town.

A public meeting was scheduled and a memorial written “in not very respectful language to the Coloured people and signed by 400 citizens. A copy was sent to the Governor General and one to the Commissioner of Crown lands, and one to the Synod of the Presbyterian Church with a letter threatening my life if I should settle the coloured people in Raleigh. On my way to Toronto I met with the Sheriff in the stage who handed me the requisition calling the meeting, who also informed me of what the enemies of the coloured persons were doing.” (77)

King finished his business in Toronto and returned to Windsor by lake the night before the meeting. “To my dismay I found the boat (for Chatham) was disabled in her machinery and would not run for a couple of days. The meeting was to take place.” (77) He hired a horse and buggy and travelled all night and arrived at Chatham to find the Magistrate swearing in twelve special constables to keep the peace, as trouble was expected at the meeting.

The crowd that assembled was too large for the barn in which the meeting was to take place, so they moved to the front of the Exchange Hotel where the speakers could be heard from the balcony. “The crowd became noisy, and would not let me speak. Mr. Larwill (the loudest opponent) said I was a Yankee, and had no right to speak. I said I was a British subject, owned property in the Township, paid taxes and had a right to speak. I had come 200 miles to attend this meeting and they could not put me down. Besides, I am from LondonDerry and LondonDerry never did surrender.  Several influential persons at the meeting insisted that I should be heard.” (79)

And heard he was! By the end of the meeting the land was secured and Rev. King could begin surveying.

Tell of a time when you stood up for yourself or others.

Northward Bound – Wm. King, 16 of 28

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King and "his slaves" travel north on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers.
King and “his slaves” travel north on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers.

On May 5th, 1845 William King and “his fifteen slaves” boarded a steamboat bound for Cincinnati. “A crowd of spectators had gathered to see me start with my negroes (sic) to Canada. Some of the planters present had slaves there who had gone without their knowledge or consent… We had now a journey of 1500 miles through a slave country 1000 miles on the Mississippi River with slavery on both sides of the river and 500 miles on the Ohio with slavery on the south side of the river. “ (70)

During a lay-over in Cincinnati some “abolitionists called on them (the slaves) and asked where they were going. Stephen, one of my old faithful slaves said he did not know, he was going with his Master wherever he was going. The man told Stephen I was going to take them to a slave state and sell them.  Stephen replied, ‘my Master has brought me 1500 miles from New Orleans and if he had been going to sell us, he would have sold us there.’” (70)

First to Louisiana – Wm. King 15 of 28

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King had to settle his affairs in Louisiana.*
King had to settle his affairs in Louisiana.*

Still surrounded by sorrow, William King finished the last of his theological studies and exams and accepted an appointment as missionary to Canada. But first he needed to return to Louisiana. His father-in-law had also died that year and King – now Rev. King – was named executor, along with Mr. Phares’ widow. “I could know see the dispensation which appeared so dark and mysterious to me at the time that I lost my whole family that it was preparing the way for me to manumit the slaves that were coming to me by inheritance. By my being appointed Executor of my Father-in-law’s estate and the death of my own family I was left free to do what I pleased with all the slaves that belonged to me which I could not have done had my family been living.” (62)

Things were not going well on the plantation King owned. “The cotton crop had been destroyed during two years by the Army worm, that great pest of the cotton plant. They are so numerous when they come that a large field of cotton will be eaten bare with them in a few days.” (65) King sold the plantation, paid the debt and placed the slaves on his father-in-law’s estate until matters could be settled with it. The widowed Mrs. Phares (his father-in-law’s second wife)  was young. She “expected that King would settle down in the south and become a Planter, put an overseer on the Plantation, take a church and preach to the Planters.” (65)  But Rev. King had other ideas. He turned down an offer of $9,000 for his slaves and another to hire them out at $900/year. He announced that he was taking them to Canada where he would free them. “They seemed not to understand what was meant by going to Canada. Most of them thought it was some new plantation that I had purchased. I explained to them that Canada was a free country, that there were no slaves there and that when we reached that Country I would give them their freedom and place them on farms where they would have to support themselves by their own industry.” (68) “They had come to consider that slavery was their normal condition.  They did not know what freedom meant. They thought that to be free was to be like their master, to go idle, and have a good time.“ (69)

“One of my slaves had married a woman in my absence in Edinburgh. The woman belonged to the Estate of my Father-in-law and had a child two years old. In the division of the slaves, the woman fell to me but the child fell to another of the heirs. The woman came to me with tears and asked if I would not buy her child that she might take it with her. The heir had agreed to sell it for $150. I told her I did not see it my duty to buy children and set them free. However the woman was so distracted about leaving her child that I bought it. Here is a bill of sale, a curious document in its way. He is warranted to me to be a slave for life although I was going to set him free in a few weeks.” (69) This was the boy Solomon.

I invite you to tell of a time when you turned down money because it would involve selling your soul.

* This photograph is a story in itself. To learn more about it see http://www.mirrorofrace.org/carol.php

Death and Wings of Kindness – Wm. King, 14 of 28

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More death.

Toward the end of the first year after the couple arrived in Edinburgh Mary King gave birth to a daughter. Not long after Mrs. King began to show symptoms of consumption. William King details in his autobiography how he cared for her and how he got a wet nurse for the child. But his wife was to die Feb. 25, 1846. “After the death of my wife my whole affection was placed on the Child now left the last of my family and the very image of her Mother, her playful innocence had drawn my affection strongly towards her. On coming from the Class she would stretch out her arms as soon as she saw me enter the door, to leave her nurse and come to me and quite contented when she got on my knee… My child who was growing well with her wet nurse was taken suddenly on the fifth of May with Hydrocephalus or water in the head and died on the ninth of May.”

Dr. and Mrs. Chalmers were to take William King under their wings. He often breakfasted with them, especially on Wednesday mornings when they held public breakfasts for the many guests who would call upon the president of the college and head of the church.  “A great deal of information was obtained at those breakfasts; as the guests were men of learning and from all parts of the world.”

Who would you like to sit down to breakfast with?

A Storm of Controversy – Wm. King, 13 of 28

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The people of Edinburgh are furious with members of the anti-slavery movement holding slaves.
The people of Edinburgh are furious with members of the anti-slavery movement holding slaves.

In the winter of 1845 a delegation from the Abolition Society of USA came to Scotland to decry the fact that the Free Church of Scotland had not only received money from wealthy American slave owners, but  also had a slave owner in their midst studying to become a minister.

“The lectures were attended by crowded audiences. The large hall was filled to overflowing. Placards were put up everywhere in the city crying, ‘Send back the Money!’ Children on the streets, when they saw a Free Church minister, they would cry to him, ‘send back the money’”. (56) “In one of the public meetings the Delegation stated that one of the students attending the Free College was a slave owner. I was not named but the Students all knew that I came from a Slave State and that my wife was the Daughter of a planter, I was not able to explain my position. I was a Slave owner but there were legal difficulties in the way that I could not then set them free, but those difficulties were removed two years afterward when I gave them their freedom. I told Dr. Cunningham my position and said that I would go on the platform and explain my position but he advised me to say nothing about it. I was abused in good company. When a person is doing that which is right and gets abuse for it, he need be in no haste to vindicate his character. It will vindicate itself. When Frederick Douglass (former slave and orator of the highest caliber and leader in the Anti-Slavery movement) heard two years after that I had given my slaves their freedom and brought them to Canada and planted a colony of freedmen there called the Elgin Settlement he came from Rochester, NY, called a public meeting in the Settlement and apologized for the hard things he and others had said about me in Edinburgh.” (57)

I love the line that is in bold. Does this passage stir up any memories of similar circumstances?