John Brown, Jr., also speaks of going to Buxton where he found "the man, the leading spirit in that affair."
"On Thursday night last" said he, "I went with him on foot 12 miles; much of the way through mere paths and sought out in the bush some of the choicest. Had a meeting after ten o'clock at night in his house. His wife is a heroine and he will be on hand as soon as his family can be provided for."[515]
Such is the earlier history of the experiment in Canada of taking bondmen and placing before them the opportunity not alone to make a living in freedom but also to rise in the social scale. How well these people took advantage of their opportunity is shown not only by the material progress they made but by the fact that they gained for themselves the respect of their white neighbors, a respect that continues today for their many descendants who still comprise the Buxton community in Kent county, Ontario.
Fred Landon
Public Librarian, London, Canada, and Lecturer in American History in Western University, London.
FOOTNOTES:
[507] Drew, A North-Side View of Slavery, 1856, p. 292.
[508] Documents in Canadian Archives Department.
[509] Toronto Weekly Globe, January 1, 1858.
[510] Drew, A North-Side View of Slavery, 1856, pp. 292-293.