Once again, I have read new information in the Canada's History magazine. Harriet Tubman has been a name familiar to me for many years. She lived in Southern Maryland. And she spirited slaves via the Underground Railroad into the states that outlawed slavery. I recently saw a movie of her life. Then when the Fugitive Slave law was passed, where slave owners could find and return slave back home, Harriet was forced to take the slaves to Canada. But in none of my previous reading nor in the movie did it mention St. Catherines, Ontario.
In the lead article in the History magazine, Harriet had moved her base of operation to St. Catherines. She can be found in the censes, even giving her address and type of work. And she had great support there too with safe houses available to her for her slaves. Who knew? After the Civil War she left Canada and returned to the east coast. Just prior to the Civil War, there was 15% of the population was black living in St. Catherines.
In addition and in the same edition, was an article about the death of a French nun, who had worked for 30 years as a nurse in Quebec. But what interested me was that the nun's family name was Scottish. Her father had fled Scotland to France when the Catholics were required to convert to Protestents. I knew there was trouble between the religions but I did no know that 15,000. Scotish noble families fled Scotland for France. And my little nun was one of those families. Interesting.
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