that at that time the Refugee's Home Society had purchased
1328 acres of land of which 600 acres had been taken up by settlers.
The scheme was considered a good one but it was emphasized that good
management would be needed. The progress of the Elgin or Buxton
settlement showed that success was possible.

When Benjamin Drew visited Canada in 1854 he found that the Society
had purchased nearly 2,000 acres of land, that forty of the 25-acre
plots had been taken up and that there were 20 families located. A
school was being maintained during three-fourths of the year,
intoxicating liquors had been completely banned and a society known as
the True Band had been organized to look after the best moral and
educational interests of the colony.[11] The colony was fortunate in
the first teacher that was engaged for the school. This was Mrs. Laura
S. Haviland, who came in the fall of 1852 and began her work in the
frame building which had been erected for general meeting purposes. So
great was the interest in her Bible classes that even aged people
would come many miles to attend. Similar success attended her
experiment of an unsectarian church. In her autobiography she tells
something of the conditions in the colony while she was there. In
their clearings the settlers raised corn, potatoes and other
vegetables while a few had put in two or three acres of wheat. Mrs.
Haviland's account of the colony is much more favorable than some of
the adverse stories that were sent abroad regarding it.[12]

Rev. W. M. Mitchell, who was a Negro missionary among his own people
in Toronto, makes the following reference to the colony in his
"Underground Railroad":

"About ten miles from Windsor there is a settlement of 5000 acres
which extends over a large part of Essex county. It is called the
Fugitives' Home. Several years ago a very enterprising and
intelligent fugitive slave ... bought land from the government,
divided it into 20-acre plots and sold it to other fugitives,
giving them five to ten years for payments. Emigrants settled
here in such large numbers that it is called the Fugitives' Home.
The larger portion of the land is still uncultivated, a great
deal is highly cultivated and many are doing well."

The writer goes on to point out the evidences of the material
advancement of the colony. There were two schools, the government
paying half the salary of the teacher and the other half bei