w thousands of refugees cross narrow strips of water to
"shake the lion's paw" and find freedom in the British queen's
dominions. During the forties and fifties there was a constant stream
of refugees into Canada. As many as thirty in a day would cross the
Detroit River at Fort Malden alone. Many of these went to the cities
and towns, but others found greater happiness in the separate Negro
communities which grew up here and there.

The history of the Buxton settlement, one of these, is closely linked
with the name of Rev. William King. King was a native of Londonderry,
Ireland, a graduate of Glasgow College, who had emigrated to the
United States and become rector of a college in Louisiana. Later he
returned to Scotland, studied theology in the Free Church College,
Edinburgh, and in 1846 was sent out to Canada as a missionary of the
Free Church of Scotland. While he was living in Louisiana he became,
through marriage, the owner of fifteen slaves of an estimated value
of $9,000. For a time he placed them on a neighboring plantation and
gave them the proceeds of their labor but that did not satisfy his
conscience and in 1848 he brought them to Canada, thereby
automatically giving them their freedom. His effort on their behalf
did not end here. Having brought them to this new country, he felt it
a duty to look after them, to educate and make of them useful
citizens. The same thing, he believed, could be done for others in
like circumstance.

The first effort to secure a tract of land for the refugees was made
by the Rev. Mr. King as the representative of the Presbyterian Church.
This application was before the Executive Council of the Canadian
Government in September, 1848, but was not successful. Steps were at
once taken to organize a non-sectarian body to deal with the
government and this new body took the name of the Elgin Association in
honor of the then governor-general of the Canadas who seems to have
been well disposed toward the refugees. The Elgin Association was
legally incorporated "for the settlement and moral improvement of the
colored population of Canada, for the purpose of purchasing crown or
clergy reserve lands in the township of Raleigh and settling the same
with colored families resident in Canada of approved moral
character."[507] Rev. Dr. Connor was the first president; Rev. Dr.
Willis, of Knox College, Toronto, first vice-president, and Rev.
William King, second vice-president. J. T. Matthews was