n who had worked for us in the building of a saw-mill. I
arranged the matter without going to jail, but before I could return to
Port Stanley, my family, kindly assisted by Mr. White, had departed for
Buffalo. The weather was cold and the lake very rough, but they safely
arrived in Rochester, after a journey of three days. During their passage
up the lake my oldest daughter took a severe cold, from which she never
recovered.

I returned to the colony to attend to the duties of my office, and to
close my business with the colony, preparatory to joining my family, who
were now settled in Rochester, but in very different circumstances from
those in which they had left it. I had deposited quite a sum of money in
the Rochester Bank; but our continual expenditures at Wilberforce, in my
journeyings for the benefit of the colony, and in the transacting of
business pertaining to its interests, had left not one dollar for
the support of my family, or to give me another start in business.
Nevertheless, I felt willing to submit the case to Him who had known the
purity of my intentions, and who had hitherto "led me through scenes dark
and drear," believing he would not forsake me now, in this time of need.

Consoling myself with these reflections, I renewed my endeavors to do my
best, leaving the event with my God.

CHAPTER XXXII.

THE LAND AGENT AND THE SQUATTER.

I have named, I believe, that all the colored people, who purchased lands
of Lewis, could get no deed nor any remuneration for their improvements.
This they thought hard and unfair. Some had built a house and barn,
cleared land, &c.; but when they wished to pay for their farms, they could
get no deed, and were obliged to lose all their labor.

This raised such a general complaint against the land agents, that they
finally agreed to pay the squatters for their improvements, if they would
leave their farms. An opportunity was soon offered to test their sincerity
in this agreement. A shrewd fellow, who had been many years a sailor,
named William Smith, had made valuable improvements on land, for which he
could get no deed, and then he wished to leave it. His wife, also, died
about this time, leaving him with eight children, which determined him to
leave the colony, and after providing homes for his children, to return to
his former occupation on the high seas; but he also determined not to
leave without receiving the pay which the agents had agreed to give for
hi