d corresponding secretary, the business of which is
to hunt up good workmen and raise the means among themselves to
send them forward.... No minutes of the organization nor any of
its proceedings are or will be preserved in writing. I formed
similar associations in Chat--and also at B-x-t-n."

John Brown, Jr., also speaks of going to Buxton where he found "the
man, the leading spirit in that affair."

"On Thursday night last" said he, "I went with him on foot 12
miles; much of the way through mere paths and sought out in the
bush some of the choicest. Had a meeting after ten o'clock at
night in his house. His wife is a heroine and he will be on hand
as soon as his family can be provided for."[515]

Such is the earlier history of the experiment in Canada of taking
bondmen and placing before them the opportunity not alone to make a
living in freedom but also to rise in the social scale. How well these
people took advantage of their opportunity is shown not only by the
material progress they made but by the fact that they gained for
themselves the respect of their white neighbors, a respect that
continues today for their many descendants who still comprise the
Buxton community in Kent county, Ontario.

FRED LANDON

PUBLIC LIBRARIAN, LONDON, CANADA, AND LECTURER IN AMERICAN HISTORY IN
WESTERN UNIVERSITY, LONDON.

FOOTNOTES:

[507] Drew, _A North-Side View of Slavery_, 1856, p. 292.

[508] Documents in Canadian Archives Department.

[509] _Toronto Weekly Globe_, January 1, 1858.

[510] Drew, _A North-Side View of Slavery_, 1856, pp. 292-293.

[511] The slaves who had been freed by Mr. King formed the nucleus of
the colony but others came as soon as the land was thrown open. The
advances made by this colony during the first years of its existence
were remarkable. The third annual report for the year 1852, showed a
population of 75 families or 400 inhabitants, with 350 acres of land
cleared and 204 acres under cultivation. A year later, the fourth
annual report showed 130 families or 520 persons, with 500 acres of
land cleared and 135 partially cleared, 415 acres being under
cultivation in 1853. The live stock was given as 128 cattle, 15
horses, 30 sheep and 250 hogs. The day school had 112 children
enrolled and the Sabbath School 80.

The fifth report, for the year 1854, showed 150 families in the colony
or immediately adjoining i