this land
to be disposed of in 25-acre plots. Bibb suggested that there should
be at least 20,000 acres secured at once.

To aid in forwarding the plans Bibb enlisted the support of a number
of Michigan people and at a meeting held in Detroit on May 21, 1851,
the Refugee's Home Society was organized with the following officers:
president, Deacon E. Fish, Birmingham; vice-president, Robert Garner;
secretary, Rev. E. E. Kirkland, Colchester; assistant secretary,
William Newman. It was decided that an effort should be made to secure
50,000 acres of land. New officers appear to have been elected almost
immediately after the society had started operations, the new
executives being as follows: president: J. Stone, Detroit;
vice-president, A. L. Power, Farmington; secretary, E. P. Benham,
Farmington; treasurer, Horace Hallock, Detroit.[8] The whole movement
was heartily approved at a convention of colored people held at
Sandwich on May 26, 1851. The Canada Land Company offered to sell
large blocks of land to the Society at from two to four dollars an
acre but no large purchases were immediately made. Instead, the
society began a canvass for funds, sending out Charles C. Foote of
Commerce and E. P. Benham of Farmington for this purpose. A letter
from Foote in _The Voice of the Fugitive_ of July 30, 1851, says "The
plan seems popular and he looks forward to the day when the colored
people will nestle in the mane of the British lion." In the latter
part of 1851 a purchase of land was made from the Canada Company and a
contract was entered into for further purchases as soon as the funds
should be available.

At the meeting of the Society held in Farmington on January 29, 1852,
the following officers were elected: president, Nathan Stone, Detroit;
vice-president, A. L. Power, Farmington; treasurer, Horace Hallock,
Detroit; recording secretary, E. P. Benham, Livonia; corresponding
secretary, Mrs. Mary Bibb, Windsor; Executive William Lolason,
Detroit; Colman Freeman, Windsor; Elisha Vanzant, Detroit; David
Hotchkiss, Amherstburg; and Henry Bibb, Windsor, Vanzant and Bibb were
appointed trustees, the latter reporting the purchase of 200 acres of
land at three dollars an acre. It was decided to reserve ten acres for
school purposes, to send out J. F. Dolbeare as agent to collect funds
and to make Bibb's newspaper the official organ of the society.[10]

The second annual report of the Anti-Slavery Society of Canada (1853)
reported