For the next Two Fridays, I'm doing blog posts about Canadian heroes of History... some you may have heard of... others you may not know... in under 800 words (not including my usual last note), I'm going to TRY and introduce them to you as best I can...

So far, I've done posts about...

- Wilfrid "Wop" May
- Tecumseh
- Sam Steele
- Molly Brant
- Mary Shadd Cary
- Madeleine de Verchères
- James FitzGibbon
- Harriet Tubman Davis
- Crowfoot
- Charles-Michel d'Irumberry de Salaberry

Born in Ireland in 1812, William King didn't have his first experience with slavery until he became a teacher in Louisiana in 1841... and what he saw... misery, torture, hopelessness... he didn't like.

The other thing that troubled King was that he also recognised that freed slaves would be more-or-less helpless until they gained economic independence, became literate, and gained the basic educational skills to be able to do things for themselves. He described the plan as "Self Emancipation".

In a series of events through his wife and an inheritance, King ended up with property, and despite his desire to free slaves, ended up in acquisition of fifteen himself. He wanted to free them, but without an act of government within Louisiana, that wouldn't happen.

He sailed to Scotland in 1844 to study to become a Presbyterian minister... and all was going well until the abolitionists in the church discovered he was a slave owner at which point, he had to prove to the church that he was not a disgrace... and he did so with flying colours.

Once he completed the course, the now thirty-three year old minister asked to be placed in Canada... this way, he could free his slaves and establish a community with "Self Emancipation" as it's model.

The church sent him to Chatham where he could set up his settlement which was a good choice as it was a terminal on the underground railroad and home to Josiah Henson's settlement. (Josiah Henson is probably better known by another name... and is often maligned because people don't understand his true nature and contribution to society... and if certain people knew Josiah Henson, I doubt they'd feel the same way as using his "nick-name" if you will as a put down... Click here to find out more about "Uncle Tom".)

In 1849, King found the perfect location for what would be The Elgin Settlement... over four-thousand acres of unbroken forest on the Clergy Reserve and only eight miles South of Chatham.

Raising funds was a problem... dealing with certain locals was another. Led by Edwin Larwill, a town councilor, school trustee, and a Member of Parliament, a group had been active for fifteen years doing everything politically and legally to dissuade black settlers... and make the life of their supporters that much more miserable.

Hostilities between King and this group hit it's apex at a meeting of the town of Chatham in the Royal Exchange Hotel. Larwill and his followers wanted to stop the sale of the land to The Elgin Association... and had let it be known that, if they had to, violence was an option.

The town swore in 12 special constables for the meeting.

Larwill and his supporters picked perfect spots to "heckle" from... but soon, the room where the meeting was being held overflowed with spectators... and the meeting was adjourned to being on King Street where the speakers could use the hotel balcony to deliver their speeches.

Larwill's friends went first... and they were met with seemingly the mass approval of the collected audience.

When Rev. King stepped up, the hecklers, many of them being also Irish, let loose with the insults... King, knowing his own people, patiently waited them out.

I have come two hundred miles for this meeting and you cannot put me down. Besides, I am from Londonderry, and Londonderry never did surrender!

After his speech, even the pro-Larwill Chatham Chronicle reported that King did himself and the cause well. "...the objects of the Elgin Association were pure and philanthropic, and they had suffered much from misrepresentation and prejudices which is was his (Rev. King's) anxiety to clear away."

In essence, King's oratory won him praise from his followers and even many of his enemies.

The following day, wasting no time, King bought his land.

For the next few months, however, there were still people that did not want the Elgin settlement to exist. It was to such a degree that King was almost constantly surrounded by a bodyguard of black men... granted, they weren't his guard... they were just with him and then on their way to go "hunting".

Work on the settlement began in 1849... House raising, school building, land clearing... all a community effort.

Only blacks could purchase land in the Elgin settlement and King initially insisted that the school be segregated.

Thanks to the passing in the United States of The Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, many blacks (free and slave) made haste to Canada in fear of being "captured and sold" and many came to the Elgin Settlement.

Also in 1850, King opened the elementary school to white students and now was responsible for the first fully-integrated school in North America. Out of the roll of only sixteen students, two were from Edwin Larwill's District Common School. By 1851, more white students came to the school because of it's excellent academic reputation. The District Common School ended up being closed due to lack of attendance as students flowed to King's Academy. King also opened a successful and fully integrated adult night class to teach literacy.

When the enrollment of the day school reached 150, they opened another school... a third was erected in 1866 when 250 students were in attendance.

In 1852, there were 400 souls in the settlement working in the sawmill, the brickyard, or the gristmill. They had what was considered the finest tobacco crop in the region and a lively potash industry. All things considered, a grand success... but the best was yet to come.

Within seven years, the population doubled and supported three churches and had pretty much removed all opposition to it's existence... Larwill's protestations were dead.

In 1861, with the outbreak of the American Civil War, the member's of the community were wondering if President Lincoln would pass the emancipation act... and in 1863 when he called on blacks to enlist, seventy men joined the 24th Kent Regiment of the Militia... many would not be coming home to Canada.

In 1865 with the passing of the U.S. Emancipation Proclamation, the Elgin Settlement ceased to be a true "cause" and the Association closed it's books. By 1871, over seven-hundred men and women from the settlement had headed South to help educate and establish the newly freed slaves. According to the book, "Tombstone Tales - From Ontario Cemeteries" by Harvey Medland...

They included physicians, teachers, professors, lawyers and three politicians who were destined to become a congressman, a state senator and a speaker of the state legislature.

Those who remained behind called the settlement Buxton... after Sir Thomas Foxwell Buxton who championed the Emancipation Act of 1849 for Britain.

Reverend King resigned from the Chatham School Board and from the management of the community he spearheaded in 1880.

He continued to preach until he passed away in 1895 of malaria.

His vision of freedom through responsibility, integration, and hard work saw not only the establishment of a society that was truly worthy of envy, but that helped spawn a quality of existence that lasted throughout the darker years of this continent and beyond. A wonderful legacy of true freedom and equality... showing that despite prejudices, the black culture could aspire and even surpass the standards of the day.

Resources:

The Presbyterian Church of Canada
Black History of Southwestern Ontario
Black History in Ontario
Buxton Historical Site and Museum
"Tombstone Tales - From Ontario Cemeteries" by Harvey Medland

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