Vaporizer

Charlie Sandler

The VanDusen Family’s “Cresolene Vapo”

The object I chose to research was a vaporizer from the Chatham Kent Black Historical Society.I chose the object due to its unique and unfamiliar appearance u, intricacy, and my assumption that it was an expensive item. In the course of my research I discovered a lot about the “Cresolene Vapo”– a medical item used to treat coughs, fevers and other respiratory illnesses. The more interesting and engaging research I was able to conduct, however, was on the VanDusen family who at one time owned the vaporizer. The VanDusen Family had also donated a series of letters and documents from the 1850s to the Chatham Kent Black Historical Society. . In these letters and documents I found a rich cultural history of one family’s immigration to Canada during the aftermath of the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. The  research I have engaged in a rich history of the anti-slavery movement, where migration to Canada was a source of freedom and prosperity for African Americans. I was also able to examine how the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 affected immigration to Canada among free African Americans due to thethreat of  of kidnapping and enslavement, and the deterioration of civil rights. The VanDusen’s move to Chatham Kent also allows an examination of how migration patterns led to the establishment of black communities in Canada. The VanDusen family letters demonstrate how the actions of one family were able to influence the immigration of entire communities to Canada. Through the small VanDusen vaporizer, I was able to discover the family’s letters and explore African American migration as a source of black freedom, escape from slavery and empowerment during the 1850s.

Canada began its abolition of slavery in 1793 with a law by Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe that proposed limits on slavery Upper Canada.[1] By 1803 British politicians had declared slavery “inconsistent with British law” leading to the rapid end of slavery in Upper and Lower Canada as it was no longer being economically or legally viable.[2] At the time that slavery was formally abolished in all British territories in 1834 there were only 50 slaves in all of Canada.[3] For enslaved African Americans in the north during the early 1800s, Canada represented a portal of escape. If slaves were able to cross the Canada/US border they could achieve freedom. Although slavery still existed in Canada until 1834 it still represented a viable escape for American slaves as the 1793 law forbade the enslavement of any new African Americans.[4] Therefore, if escaped slaves could make it to Canada they could essential free themselves from slavery.  Many slaves were deeply rooted in Christian belief and Canada became the promised land of freedom. Prominent anti-slavery activists such as Harriet Tubman compared Canada to the Land of Canaan which is where the Israelites would go after escaping bondage in Egypt.[5] Canada entered the imagination of slaves as a biblical land of prosperity where black people could live in freedom. Slaves began to conceptualize their lives in the U.S. as hell, while Canada represented a kind of reachable heaven.[6] During the mid-1800s the Underground Railroad was able to help thousands of slaves escape to Canada.[7] While Canada became a sort of myth or idealized place, many African Americans were able to immigrate to Canada and find prosperity. By the 1830s Toronto had become an attractive destination for escaped slaves and African Americans. The economic boom occurring in Toronto created a demand for skilled labourers, attracting free blacks with its job opportunities and runaways for its safety from pursuing masters.[8] Across Ontario labour shortages and low populations made Canada an attractive option for immigrating African Americans.[9] Using this evidence it is clear that many escaped slaves and free African Americans did find prosperity in Canada.

The first escaped slaves would help determine the pattern of black settlement in Canada. During the early 1830s the entire black population of Canada grew by roughly three thousand.[10] These early migrators established communities that would become hubs of both black settlement and the abolition movement within Canada..[11] Settlements such as Dresden demonstrated that black immigrates could create prosperous communities in Canada.[12] These same settlements drew in more black immigrants during the 1850s.

On September 18, 1850 the United States Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act.[13] During the period between the passing of the Act and the Civil War, Canada would experience its largest wave of black migration. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 forced the nominally free states to participate in the capture and return of runaway slaves to the South.[14] African Americans could be forced into slavery with as little as a claimant’s sworn testimony that they were an escaped slave. The accused runaway could not speak in court on their own behalf or request a trial by jury. Many free African Americans worried that they would be kidnapped and sent into slavery, even though they had never been slaves. The Act resulted in somewhere between twenty and thirty thousand African Americans immigrating to Canada between 1850 and 1860.[15] During this time period blacks became a sizeable minority within Canada. For example, black people made up 20% of the population in the Chatham area by 1854.[16] It was fears surrounding the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 combined with the promise of Canadian prosperity that convinced Henry and Catherine VanDusen to move to Canada sometime between 1850 and 1853.[17] Henry and Catherine traveled from Syracuse, New York to Buffalo.[18] They took a boat from Buffalo to Detroit, and then crossed the border to Canada.[19] Once in Canada, Henry and Catherine settled on a farm just outside the town of Chatham-Kent.[20] Chatham was a developing center of abolition at the time, with many abolitionist activist calling it home and prominent events taking place there.[21] Chatham was host to the Chatham Convention in 1858, where militant abolitionist John Brown planned his “new and free republic in the heart of the slaveholding states”.[22] The letters between VanDusen Family members indicate that Henry and Catherine traveled with only their stove and best furniture.[23] The VanDusens bought a standard farm plot in Kent County at concession 8, lot 10.[24] The farm indicates that they must have had some money with which to buy property, however I believe that Henry and Catherine put most of their life savings into the farm as the could barely afford to travel to Canada.[25] The Farm then remains within the family for some 60-70 years at least, indicating that Henry and Catherine found success in Chatham and were able to pass on their property to their children.[26] Additional documentation found with these letters also indicates that the VanDusen family was able to purchase another farm lot (lot number 9) sometime between 1871 and 1923.[27] The vaporizer itself is a relatively middle class item costing around 10$ at the time (around 220$ in 2018).[28] These facts indicate to me that the VanDusen family found prosperity in Canada. The VanDusens are a case study of African American immigration to Canada during the 1850s spurred on by the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and the prosperity that Canada represented.

Beyond Henry and Catherine’s immigration, their move to Canada seemed to have sparked a desire to immigrate within both their extended family and community. African Americans were spurred on to immigrate by many factors. Famous black abolitionists such as Mary Ann Shadd advocated for immigration to Canada.[29]  These abolitionists called for African Americans to establish communities within Canada focusing on education and self-sufficiency.[30] Shadd called for blacks to immigrate to Canada after the passing of the Fugitive Slave Act stating that “It is well known that the Fugitive bill makes insecure every northern colored man, free are alike at the risk of being sent south, consequently, many persons, always free, will leave the United States, and settle in Canada”.[31] In the letters between Henry and his family we see a different sort of motivation for immigration. The letters indicate that by 1854 Henry’s brother is considering moving to Canada. George, Henry’s brother, makes mention of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 as his reason for moving, indicating his fears over kidnapping and slavery. George demonstrates how word of mouth and family ties encouraged much of the immigration to Canada during the 1850s. Beyond his direct family, Henry’s former community are all curious about Canada and the opportunity it offers. In her first two letters to Henry and Catherine, Henry’s mother asks about the purchasing of land, the weather, the availability of land, and the viability of different crops and animals. Henry’s mother states that many in her community are curious about Canada and feel they should move due to their insecurity in the USA. The community wants Henry to help them purchase land and help them navigate their move from the USA to Canada. In her third letter, Henry’s mother indicates that she and a couple of neighbours are packing up their possessions and moving to Canada.[32] This indicates that Henry’s move encouraged many within his family and community to move as well. Demonstrating how personal ties motivated and facilitated immigration to Canada. Henry’s community was encouraged to move not due to broad political concerns or their support of abolition, but due to economic opportunity, safety and personal relationships.

The vaporizer and the accompanying letters and documents allowed an examination of how the actions of one family were able to influence the migration of an entire communities. Migration to Canada represented the possibility of  freedom and prosperity even though the “promised land” did not live up to its promises for everyone. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was the primary motivator of this migration and spurred the movement of tens of thousands of African Americans across the USA/Canada border. Earlier black abolitionist had established communities that welcomed these refugees and together they established rich and vibrant black communities within Canada. The story of Henry and Catherine VanDusen gives a personal account of these events played out within African American communities and allows an examination of how personal ties were the main influence behind black migration.

 

1] Sigrid Nicole Gallant, “Perspectives on the Motives for the Migration of African-Americans to and from Ontario, Canada: From the Abolition of Slavery in Canada to the Abolition of Slavery in the United States,” The Journal of Negro History 86, no. 3 (Summer 2001): 392.

[2] Gallant, “Perspectives on the Motives for the Migration”, 392.

[3] Gallant, ibid.  395.

[4] Gregory Wigmore, “Before the Railroad: From Slavery to Freedom in the Canadian-American Borderland,” Journal of American History 98, no. 2 (September 01, 2011): 450

[5] Renford Reese, “Canada: The Promised Land for U.S. Slaves,” Western Journal of Black Studies 35, no. 3 (Fall 2011): 210.

[6] Reese, Canada: :The Promised Land for U.S. Slaves”, 210.

[7] Reese, Canada: The Promised Land for U.S. Slaves, 210.

[8] Ibid., 213.

[9] Gallant, Perspectives on the Motives for the Migration, 394.

[10] Ibid, 395.

[11] Nina Reid-Maroney, The Reverend Jennie Johnson and African Canadian History: 1868-1967 (Univ. of Rochester Press, 2013), 23.

[12] Ibid., 23.

[13] Stanley W. Campbell, Slave Catchers: Enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law, 1850-1860 (Chapel Hill, N.C: University of North Carolina Press, 1970), 16.

[14] Campbell, Slave Catchers, 16

[15] Gallant, Perspectives on the Motives for the Migration, 399.

[16] Gallant, Perspectives on the Motives for the Migration, 405.

[17] Glen Ladd, VanDusen Family History Collection, 1965, MS 1426, Family History, The Chatham-Kent Black Historical Society, Chatham-Kent.

[18] Ladd, VanDusen Family History.

[19] Ladd, VanDusen Family History.

[20] Ladd, VanDusen Family History.

[21] Reid-Maroney, The Reverend Jennie Johnson, 29.

[22] Reid-Maroney, The Reverend Jennie Johnson, 29.

[23] Ladd, VanDusen Family History.

[24] Ladd, VanDusen Family History.

[25] Ladd, VanDusen Family History.

[26] Canada, Department of Agriculture, Health of Animals, Application for Licence approval, by Geo. Hilton (Ottawa, Ontario: Department of Agriculture, 1926).

[27] Canada, Department of Agriculture, Health of Animals, Application for Licence approval, by Geo. Hilton (Ottawa, Ontario: Department of Agriculture, 1926).

[28] Ladd, VanDusen Family History.

[29] Shirley J. Yee, “Finding a Place: Mary Ann Shadd Cary and the Dilemmas of Black Migration to Canada, 1850-1870,” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 18, no. 3 (1997): 4.

[30] Ibid..

[31] Ibid.

[32] Ladd, VanDusen Family History

 

Bibliography

 

Basinger, Scott J. “Regulating Slavery: Deck-Stacking and Credible Commitment in the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.” Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 19, no. 2 (October 01, 2003): 307-42. doi:10.1093/jleo/ewg013.

 

Campbell, Stanley W. Slave Catchers: Enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law, 1850-1860. Chapel Hill, N.C: University of North Carolina Press, 1970.

 

“Chatham Township Map.” Historic Map Works. Accessed December 02, 2017. http://www.historicmapworks.com/Map/CA/574/Chatham Township/Kent County 1880/Ontario/.

 

Collison, Gary Lee. Shadrach Minkins: From Fugitive Slave to Citizen. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1997.

 

The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. “Fugitive Slave Acts.” Encyclopædia Britannica. September 13, 2002. Accessed December 2, 2017. https://www.britannica.com/event/Fugitive-Slave-Acts.

 

Gallant, Sigrid Nicole. “Perspectives on the Motives for the Migration of African-Americans to and from Ontario, Canada: From the Abolition of Slavery in Canada to the Abolition of Slavery in the United States.” The Journal of Negro History 86, no. 3 (Summer 2001): 391-408. doi:10.2307/1562457.

 

Canada. Department of Agriculture. Health of Animals. Application for Licence approval. By Geo. Hilton. Ottawa, Ontario: Department of Agriculture, 1926.

 

Ladd, Glen. VanDusen Family History. 1965. MS 1426, Family History, The Chatham-Kent Black Historical Society, Chatham-Kent.

 

Reese, Renford. “Canada: The Promised Land for U.S. Slaves.” Western Journal of Black Studies 35, no. 3 (Fall 2011): 208-17.

 

Reid-Maroney, Nina. The Reverend Jennie Johnson and African Canadian history: 1868-1967. Univ. of Rochester Press, 2013.

 

Wigmore, Gregory. “Before the Railroad: From Slavery to Freedom in the Canadian-American Borderland.” Journal of American History 98, no. 2 (September 01, 2011): 437-54. doi:10.1093/jahist/jar256.

.

 

Yee, Shirley J. “Finding a Place: Mary Ann Shadd Cary and the Dilemmas of Black Migration to Canada, 1850-1870.” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 18, no. 3 (1997): 1-16. doi:10.2307/3347171.

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