worked to send the now free blacks on to Toronto. Many of the surnames of African Canadians who settled for a time in St. Catharines as reflected in the 1861 census, spread throughout the area and continue among contemporary blacks in Ontario today. Names like Ball, Hollingsworth, Miles, and Jackson exist among Toronto families which have long roots in Canada. Other families documented in the 1861 census, such as Johnson, Jones, Miller, Sheffield, and Stewart, have descendants living in St. Catharines, Hamilton, Brantford, Cayuga, Collingwood, Owen Sound, Windsor, and London, Ontario. The following is an 1899 death notice about a black man who settled in Brantford, Ontario. Note his surname and the surnames of his pallbearers — more survivors of the UGRR.
Ex Slave Dead
Peter Johnson Passed Away — Attacked with Blood-Hounds
Peter Johnson aged 78 died Saturday at the hospital. He was born in slavery on a southern plantation, and after reaching maturity made a dash for liberty. He was tracked with blood-hounds, but succeeded in effecting his escape and finally reaching British soil by way of “the underground railroad.”
Johnson lived in Brantford since 1857 and was respected as a hardworking capable citizen. He is buried at Mt. Hope Cemetery. Pallbearers were Messrs. John S. Jones, Thomas Snowden, Nocholas MGormas, Charles Walker, Joseph Purly and Stephen Brown.
— The Brantford Expositor, June 26, 1899
From the entry point at Niagara and their stay in St. Catharines, many travelled further from the border in search of jobs, their own land, or family members. Hamilton was attractive at the time since people could get their start in the ship-building industry there. The need to fell the forests of black walnut, oak, and ash provided employment for black people in “Little Africa” — what towns heavily populated with fugitive slaves were called — until the wood reserves were exhausted.
Harriet Tubman remained in St. Catharines and was one of the black people who was an active member of the interracial RSFS. She was also an executive of the Fugitive Aid Society (FAS) in 1861. She is credited with being the reason for the success of the FAS. Harriet’s work in conducting people from the land of bondage to the land of freedom contributed to the role St. Catharines’ importance with the UGRR. She was obviously interested in making sure that all of “her people” were going to get the start-up or ad hoc assistance they would need.
Harriet’s fourth trip on the Underground Railroad was a turning point for her. She had to travel further than she was used to, so she came to Canada first and began to work with other Underground Railroad “staff” to ensure the safety of her passengers. Frederick Douglass, abolitionist, orator, and a self-emancipated man, gave freedom seekers shelter in his Rochester home; William Still kept records of blacks who needed assistance in order to potentially reunite families, including his own, in Philadelphia; Thomas Garrett routinely escorted passengers across the Christiana River.
Both Still and Garrett documented the work of Harriet Tubman, indicating that she made four trips by 1851 and at least eight more trips by 1856. Harriet claimed to have made nineteen or more trips before the Civil War, probably eleven of those trips beginning and ending in St. Catharines. On one rescue mission, Harriet stopped at what had been the home of a free black to obtain food, shelter, and other assistance. Instead, the home was now occupied by a white man who told Harriet that the previous resident had to leave because he was harbouring runaway slaves. Harriet quickly joined her hidden passengers and moved them to a swamp to avoid detection. She prayed all day, and by dusk a Quaker walked to the edge of the swamp and said that his barn had a wagon with provisions that they could use. This showed the effectiveness of the Underground Railroad communications. Abolitionists were watching for her party, which reinforced Harriet’s faith. By 1854, a formal connection with Garrett ensured that other freedom seekers would not get stranded at this point in their flight.
Harriet felt that something was wrong in Bucktown, and this was confirmed through Underground Railroad communication. Someone who was secretly working with the Underground Railroad passed a message on to someone who could give it to Harriet. Harriet learned that her brothers, Benjamin, Henry, and Robert, were to be sold on December 26, 1854. She arranged for a coded letter to be sent to a literate free black named Jacob Jackson who knew her family. Jackson was under suspicion of helping slaves escape, so to protect the letter writer and the family she wished to rescue, Harriet needed to find an indirect method of communicating her intentions. The letter was “signed” by Jacob Jackson’s adopted free son, who lived in the north, William Henry Jackson. Jackson’s letter was first read by his employer (even free blacks could not expect privacy or respect for their mail) who did not understand the meaning of the letter, even after he consulted others in the community. Finally, Jackson himself was summoned and given his own mail to read. It stated in part:
Read my letter to the old folks, and give my love to them, and tell my brothers to be always watching unto prayer, and when the good ship of Zion comes along, to be ready to step on board.
Jackson, having no parents or brothers, pretended he did not understand it when questioned by his white overseer, but he immediately told Harriet’s brothers to get ready because Harriet was coming to get them. On Christmas Eve, Harriet met her brothers near Ben and Rit’s cabin with three other freedom seekers: John Chase, Peter Jackson, and Jane Kane. They knew they could not expect Rit to be quiet if she knew that Harriet was there — she would be too excited! They did, however, let Ben know that they were leaving, and he discreetly brought food to the group as they hid during the day. He covered his eyes with a bandanna so that he would truthfully be able to say, when questioned by his owner, that he had not “seen” his sons. He knew he would be interrogated and he wanted to be ready. After travelling the 100 miles to Wilmington, they were assisted by Garrett. They arrived in St. Catharines in early 1855.
A portrait of Frederick Douglass, included as one of the “Heroes of the Colored Race.”
Courtesy of the Library of Congress, LC/USZC2–1720.
Harriet was quoted in an 1858 St. Catharines newspaper, saying, “I wouldn’t trust Uncle Sam with my people no longer…. I brought ’em all clar off to Canada.” But Harriet and others were more like exiles than immigrants — they were forced to leave the land of their birth because of the severity of southern slavery and the risks of remaining in the north. Harriet longed for the familiar aspects of her life, but could not have the freedom she desired in the country she was from. While in St. Catharines she said, “[We are] in a foreign country among strangers. We would rather stay in our native land, if we could be as free there as we are here.”
Passengers on the Underground Railroad often wore disguises to further throw off any suspicion. Sometimes women dressed as men, or a light-coloured slave might assume the role of a slave owner in order to travel with other darker-coloured freedom seekers. If someone was light skinned, they might be darkened. Fancy outfits belonging to free blacks might be borrowed to give the freedom seeker wearing the clothes the look of an affluent person. There were instances when a disguise might not have been enough to escape the reach of a search party, and individuals are known to have been hidden away until the intensity of the search seemed to be over, sometimes for months, before they could continue on their journey to freedom. According to oral history from descendants, particularly the late Marlene Wilkins, Harriet often wore several layers of clothing, especially pantaloons, in order to protect herself from the cold, perhaps to appear heavier, but also to protect herself from the tracking dogs. If a dog were to chase Harriet as she was travelling with a party of escaping slaves, and if it were to bite her, the dog would only be left with her clothing. She was concerned that these hounds not have the opportunity to taste her blood since she would then not be able to successfully conduct on the Underground Railroad — they would track her to death.
Harriet may have appeared as a simple
