The Women
of the Elgin Settlement
and North Buxton
by Joyce Middleton

When William King arrived in Raleigh on November 28, 1849, he brought with him fifteen former slaves, prepared to begin a new life in freedom in Canada.  Seven of these fugitives were women who left behind them a life of slavery, in which they had been unable to assume the role of wife and mother of their families.  These women and girls - Fanny, Eliza, Amelia, Emaline, Mollie, Sarah, and Harriet, may have been separated from their husbands, and parents, and may have seen their children sold at the will of their master.  Harriet, when she learned of King's plan to take them to freedom in Canada, begged her master William to buy her son Solomon so that they would not be separated.  This William King did.  These females, in coming to Canada and Freedom with Rev. King, would now have the opportunities previously denied them.  They would now know the joys and sorrows of life as the wives and mothers of families, a very new experience to these former slaves.

Although these seven arrived with William King, Catherine Riley was undoubtedly the first woman of the settlement, for when King and his party arrived, Catherine, and her husband Isaac and their children had already arrived and were awaiting the arrival of Rev. King.  Catherine and Isaac Riley were escaped slaves from Missouri who had found their way by the Underground Railroad to St. Catherines.  While in St. Catherines, they heard of William King's plans for the settlement in Buxton.  The Riley family, Isaac, Catherine and their four children at the time, walked the entire distance to Raleigh to await the arrival of William King.  Since Catherine's daughter Anna was not born until 1851, all her children at that time were boys and the total black female population of the settlement then numbered eight.

What was life like for these pioneer women of Buxton?  Was their freedom and that of their families worth the sacrifice and hardship they had to endure?  In "The Narratives of Fugitive Slaves in Canada" written by Benjamin Drew in 1854, Catherine Riley denied having lived under the abuses and separation of families, which many of the fugitives of slavery suffered.  However, she stated that she felt her present condition in the Elgin Settlement far preferable to what it would have been in slavery.  It is likely that the experiences of Catherine along with Fanny, Harriet, and the other women who accompanied William King were similar to those experienced by other female fugitives interviewed by Drew.  These women worked alongside their husbands in clearing the land and building a home for their families.  In addition, these women provided nourishment and other daily needs for their families with little material comfort available for them to draw upon.  It was however their spirit of determination and co-operation, that helped to strengthen their men and to unify the community.

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Were these women, who were so recently removed from the ravages of slavery, merely workhorses in their new environment, helping to clear land, build homes, cooking by the primitive fireplaces that were the central parts to their homes where family life evolved?  They were this and much more.  Their talents were hidden in their ability to produce the much needed family garden, make from the few materials available clothing for their families, prepare and preserve food for times of less abundance.  Their artistic abilities could be seen in the quilts fashioned from scraps and used clothing, in their ability to use the herbs and plants available to them and hand fashion garments for their husbands and children.  It was the hope of the settlers that a cottage industry would grow up within the community based around the spinning of wool from the sheep raised on their land. Although this never materialized, the women of the settlement continued for some years to provide clothing for their families in this way.

As the Elgin Settlement community grew to a hundred families in and around the settlement in 1852, and by 1857 to more than two hundred families, a school for females was added to assure that the girls of the settlement would be adequately taught domestic skills, while at the same time academic education continued to be made available to them.  The women of the settlement, in the evenings, joined their daughters, sons, and husbands in learning to read and write skills that had been denied them in slavery.

One of the fugitives, who came to the settlement with her husband William, was Eliza Ann Elizabeth Howard Parker.  The Parkers had escaped from slavery in Maryland, and while hiding in Christiana Pennsylvania, the slave catchers threatened their freedom.  During the rioting that followed, Eliza joined the men in using a gun in their defense.  In the repercussion following the riot, while her husband William and his friend Abraham Johnson fled to Rochester and then to Canada, Eliza was among those arrested and put on trial for treason against the United States.  The outcome of this trial helped to change the laws in the state of Pennsylvania where it took place, so that slave catchers were prevented from taking runaways.  The lives of Eliza and the others on trial were spared and Eliza eventually joined her husband William in the Elgin Settlement where she lived the remainder of her life.  Eliza, the grandmother of Frank Parker, North Buxton’s oldest citizen today, lies buried in the B.M.E. cemetery here in the village.

Another woman who with her family came to live in the community, though not within the actual settlement, was Harriet Parnell Shadd, the wife of Abraham D. Shadd.  Harriet had along with her husband both in Wilmington, Delaware and in the West Chester, Pennsylvania, and providing assistance to runaways on the Underground Railroad, and helping to provide educational opportunities to the Black people of the area.  Both Harriet and her husband Abraham continued to expand their energies in their new home in assisting the fugitives and in making educational opportunities available to all.  A schoolhouse was built on their property for that purpose.  Harriet's daughters Mary Ann, Elizabeth, and Emmeline had grown to womanhood by the time they made the move to Raleigh.  Mary Ann the eldest was the first of the family to make a home in Canada.  She first taught school in Windsor, and later became publisher and editor of the anti-slavery paper "The Provincial Freeman".  Elizabeth, the wife of George Shreve, also contributed much to her new home in Canada.  She became quite involved in the Baptist Church, becoming a circuit-riding Missionary throughout the area.  Emmeline, who had been educated in West Chester, attended Normal School in Toronto, receiving the top mark in her class.  She took a position in Shrewsbury in the Black settlement there and became the first teacher at S.S. #13 Harwich.  It is interesting to note that when this school closed in 1968 the last teacher would be another woman named Shadd also of the Buxton area.  Saxonia Harris Shadd was the teacher at S.S. #13 Harwich when it closed.

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The talent of the Elgin Settlement women continued to be seen in the community in their contributions to the raising bees held to construct homes for new settlers, and schools and churches for the settlement.  Their talents were now put not to the axe and saw, but rather to the fireplace and kettles in preparing the huge quantities of food needed to feed the men.

The women also put their many abilities to work in their churches as they raise their voices in song.  Harriet Rhue, born in the settlement in the 1850's taught her own parents to read and write.  She became a talented musician because of her early training in piano, which she learned from Rev. William King's wife Jemima.  She attended the Buxton School and eventually was one of the girls of the settlement who became qualified to teach school.  After the Civil War, Harriet along with many other young people of the settlement went to the South to help her recently freed people.  She taught school in Kentucky where she married Millard Hatchett.  Some years later, they returned to Buxton where Harriet used her talents to write music, and to work with the young people of Buxton to develop their musical abilities.  Hattie Rhue Hatchett is credited with composing the song adopted by the Canadian troops as the World War I official Marching song, entitled "That Sacred Spot".  She is still remembered by many of the residents of North Buxton, as is her well-known "Jesus Tender Shepherd Lead Us."

Over the years from the early Elgin Settlement to the present, many of the community's women have used their abilities and artistic talents in working with their church.  This has been evident in the music of the church.  With women like Hattie Hatchett, Ella Crosby, Mary Timbers, Lottie Carter, Eva Cater, Ermie Prince, Laura Belle Steele, Vivian Chavis, Vera Shadd, Eileen Shadd, Ida Morris, Aletha Jones, Hilda Robbins Dudley, Julia Shreve, Theolia Cromwell, Erma Shreve, Rosie Hooper, Lizzie Robbins, and Mary Zebbs raising their voices, and providing accompaniment, the church was filled with song.  With women like Belle Parker, Libby Shreve Vincent, Minnie Robbins, Mattie Watts, Julia Prince, Florine Prince, Lizzy Dee Shreve, Gertrude Jones, Hun Kersey Beeks, Electra Rhue, Margaret Newby, Susan Garell, Gertie Prince, Beulah Robbins, Stella Garell, Minnie Jones, Verna Shadd, Maggie Brown, Perbenis Travis, Con Robbins, Ethel Alexander, Myrtle Moore, Evelyn Robbins, working in various women's church auxiliaries, planning programs, preparing meals, quilting and doing many other things to raise funds, the community and its spirit were kept alive. Only one woman in Buxton has taken the leadership role from the pulpit.  The people of the village will long remember Rev. Addie Aylestock for her contributions in the B.M.E. church.  The wives of many other ministers over the years have also added greatly to the spiritual life of the community.  Betty Gearo, Adele Talbot, Mary Drake, Lillie Richardson, and Flossie Stewart among others, worked side by side with their husbands opening their hearts and their homes to the community.

From the very inception of the Elgin Settlement, the education of the people of the community has been of great importance.  The earliest settlers attended King's Buxton Mission School, and the Mission's Sabbath School, where Rev. King awarded young scholars such as Senneth Burns, who excelled in different areas of study, books for their proficiency.  Some of these awards remain in the Raleigh Township Museum today.  Later the settlement boasted several schools including separate schools for girls and boys, and offered courses as diverse as Latin and Greek on the one hand and "domestic science" of embroidery on the other.

Built in 1861, S.S. #13, Raleigh became the third school in the settlement.  Located in the heart of what is now North Buxton, until it closed in 1968, providing a centre of activity in which almost all families of the area were at some time involved.  Amongst the women who found fulfillment by teaching the children of Buxton at S.S. #13 were, Muriel Brooks Brown, Marie Hanson Carter, Verlyn Ladd, Dorthy Shadd Shreve, Marion Shadd Griffith, Saxonia Harris Shadd, Fern Shadd Shreve, and Fern Watts Meyers Gibson.

Some of the women of Buxton exhibited their talents by their ability to successfully operate businesses in the community.  Such a woman was Harriet Shreve Dyke who kept the Post Office and General store in the village for fourteen years.  Saxonia Shadd became the second women in the village to run the same businesses after her retirement from teaching.  Although Saxonia gave up the position of Post Mistress to her daughter-in-law Shirley several years ago, she continues to run the general store in the village today.  Several other women can be remembered helping in family business ventures in the village such as Charlotte Prince at Papa Prince's Pleasure Parlour, Verna Shadd, and Martha Steele Shadd in the two Shadd stores, and Myrtle Brooks who is fondly remembered for her pies, which she sold to the young people following their BYPU meetings many years ago.  Many of Buxton's women, who left the village, started and successfully ran their own businesses in other parts of Ontario and in the United States.

Often in the early days of the settlement, the fugitives from slavery who arrived at the settlement were children.  Clarissa Bristow and Ann Marie Weems were two such young girls who found their way to the Elgin Settlement, after their escape from slavery. There was always some family in the settlement that gladly took these children in and made them members of their family.  Clarissa Bristow eventually grew up and married Abraham Johnston.  Although Clarissa gave birth to 12 children, and was widowed at a young age, she managed to keep her family and the family farm together.  The farm remains in the Johnston family to this date, a span of nearly one hundred and thirty five years.  Many of the early settlers had large families, for example Charity Jones who drew up the last plan of the village of North Buxton in 1875, was the mother of twelve.  Serena Lewis Rhue, mother of Hattie Rhue Hatchett was mother of 15 children.  Nancy and Charles Watts who settled just outside the settlement in the 1850's had ten children.  Their farm, although unoccupied at present, continues to be owned by family members.  When Julia Watts married Horace Black whose wife Maria Poindexter had died, she became mother to six children.  Julia went on to have nine more children of her own.  Martha Ann, wife of John Kersey had twelve children, and Elizabeth, wife of John Robbins, was mother of seventeen children.  Margaret, wife of Williams Timbers, was mother of twelve, while Barbara Ann Hatter, wife of Jim Morris was mother of thirteen children.  Ann Robinson who married James Travis was mother of twelve children, while her husband James was himself, one of the thirteen children of John and Mary Louise Travis.  Although, Emma Toyer had no children of her own, she and her husband William Ruffin Toyer opened their hearts and home to many youngsters in need.

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website created July 2008; updated November 2009; by Lori Gardner