Learning about black history in Oxford County

Heather Rennalls’ display highlights some of the milestones in the discovery of Black history in Oxford County. (Jeff Helsdon photo)

Jeff Helsdon, Editor

In the days of the Underground Railroad and Black slaves fleeing America in the 1800s, Oxford County had a strong connection to this part of Canadian history. 

As part of its Lunch and Learn series, Annandale National Historic Site presented Almost Forgotten: Black History in Oxford County by Heather Rennalls on Feb. 26 and 27. The presentation included a lunch catered by SnackRite.

Although the Black cemetery in Otterville is well known, there were substantial Black populations in Woodstock, Ingersoll, and the Norwich Township villages of Milldale, Summerville, and Hawtrey. In Tillsonburg, there were Black barbers, as columnist Laurel Beechey outlined in a recent column.

“Slavery existed in Canada, it just didn’t last as long,” Rennalls told the audience.

The first Black person in North America was Mathieu DaCosta from the Azores, an interpreter who spoke five languages and accompanied Samuel de Champlain on his 1604 voyage. A few years later, in 1628, Olivier LeJeune was the first slave brought to Canada. He came from Madagascar and was eventually set free.

While early French settlers preferred Indigenous people as slaves, the British preferred Blacks. France’s Code Noir provided an outline of rules for keeping slaves and deemed them as property.

In 1793, John Graves Simcoe’s Act Against Slavery legislation was the first step towards freedom in Canada. On Aug. 1, 1834, British Emancipation Day, slaves were freed. Local celebrations of this were held in Ingersoll and Woodstock. Slavery did continue in the U.S. until the passage of the 13th Amendment in 1865. This created a background for the Underground Railroad, a network that helped slaves escape from the southern U.S. Quakers, who believed all people were equal, helped establish the Underground Railroad, and there was a substantial Quaker settlement in Norwich.

The former Wesleyan Methodist Church in Ingersoll was built in 1854, mostly by Black people who were grateful for the assistance they received in achieving their freedom. At the time, Ingersoll was the northern terminus of the Underground Railroad. In the mid-1800s, 400 of Ingersoll’s 2,000 residents were Black.

Samuel Jones was the first known Black settler to live in Norwich Township. Black settlers owned mills in Hawtrey and Milldale, and a school for Black students was built in Summerville. Isaac Joiner, another Black settler, built a sawmill in Otterville. The African Methodist Episcopal Cemetery was established in Otterville in the 1850s, and the settlement northwest of Otterville was one of the largest Black communities in the area. It is one of few Black burial grounds in Ontario.

Camp meetings were popular in the Otterville area, where up to 1,000 people – both Black and white – would come together for two to three days of camping, singing, and preaching.

However, many Blacks were not treated well in Oxford County and left to move to the cities.

The Lunch and Learn series continues with Joan Weston’s presentation on the food industry in Tillsonburg on March 26 and 27.