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The
Latest Word
FROM THE BUXTON HISTORIC SITE & MUSEUM |
| Volume 1 Issue 1 |
August,1998 |
NAME CHANGE AT THE MUSEUM
The recent amalgamation of all municipalities in Kent County into a
single municipal entity means that the Corporation of the Township of Raleigh no longer
exists.
Before this amalgamation occurred, the Board of Directors of the museum resolved to
change the name of the museum to one that reflected the purpose and nature of the site. It
was then resolved that the name would be changed to the BUXTON HISTORIC SITE &
MUSEUM.
The former name, Raleigh Township Centennial Museum, accurately described it’s
formation as a result of the granting of monies by the three levels of Canadian Government
to fund an appropriate project to mark the one hundredth anniversary of the Confederation
of Canada in 1967. Now, thirty-one years have passed and times have changed dramatically.
The new name has been officially in place since the annual seasonal opening this past
May. It will be the name that will carry the museum into the next century.
Index |
NEW VIDEO A HIT
A new introductory video has been made, titled "The Many Roads to
Buxton". Thanks to the professional efforts of Robert Gibbons of Toronto, who
videotaped , edited and produced the piece, and the help provided by the technical staff
at CKSY radio in Chatham, Ontario. Glen Turner provided the narrative and the music was
styled by Tom Starks.
All who have seen the video agree that it is well put together and informative, the
presentation being very professional. The video will be shown all day at the museum on
Labor Day and can be purchased for $19.95.
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LABOUR DAY WEEKEND
WILL BE A FULL ONE
Labor Day weekend just seems to get bigger and bigger in North Buxton.
The Activities being sponsored by the museum and The North Buxton Community, run from
Friday to Monday this year.
On Friday, Sept. 4th, the museum will hold the first Annual Black History/Genealogy
conference at the B.M.E. Church in Buxton. There will be a "Blue Ribbon" panel
of of historians, writers, story tellers and lecturers from all over North America, and
will be an all day affair. The participation fee is thirty dollars (Canadian), and
includes a lunch provided by the Afro-Canadian association. For further details, call the
museum or check our web site.
Saturday, Sept. 5th is the sixth annual Family Feud Slo-pitch
Tournament, and this year is shaping up to be exciting as ever, with twelve teams
participating. The annual Labor Day dance will be held at the W.I.S.H. center in Chatham,
Ontario. Tickets are on sale from any Community Club member or at the door.
Sunday evening will see the annual Ride Back in Time, the feature being a re-enactment
of the Rapier-Thomas family, a saga if there ever was one.
The museum will be open Labor Day following the parade. |
FUNDRAISING NOW CRUCIAL
Anyone living in Ontario knows only too well of the fiscal restraint and
government down-sizing that has been introduced by the present government. Needless to
say, the Buxton Historic Site and Museum has been affected as well. We have managed to
weather the the amalgamation of Kent County with the City of Chatham into a single
municipality so far without operating costs increasing as a result.
We made a request of the new municipality to increase our operating grant to
bring us in line with the other small museums in Kent, but we were turned down for this
fiscal year. Tour-Bus numbers, nonetheless are impressive, with the museum being
host to over 3000 visitors to date this year. In order to facilitate the proper treatment
of our guests fund-raising is a priority with the board of directors. However admissions
from visitors are not enough to sustain the activities we are engaged in and other sources
of funding are being deployed.
For almost a year now, the museum has had a license to host charity bingos at the bingo
halls in Chatham. It was slow going at first, but now we have a regular monthly income
from this source. However, the funds raised cannot be used for day to day operating
expenses such a wages, only for purchasing equipment, or artifacts.
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Bake sales, the quilt raffle, proceeds from
the museum gift shop and admission revenue, along with the very successful fund-raiser," A Snapshot of the Family", held this past June
at the B.M.E. Church in Buxton, have allowed the museum to operate this summer, but at
reduced hours and with minimum staffing. Recently the black heritage sites and museums
of Southwestern Ontario have formed the African Canadian Heritage Tour Network to promote
these sites. It promises to be a resource for corporate funding.
| Tour-Bus numbers,
nonetheless are impressive. Over 3000 bus visitors thus far in 1998. |
Meanwhile the board of directors of this museum will continue to look
for ways of generating money to keep the museum operating.
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VOLUNTEERS ARE THE BACKBONE OF THE MUSEUM
Due to budget restraints, there has been gradual reduction of paid staff
and the hours for which they are paid. This has resulted in a shortening of the
museum’s summer season at a time when it should be lengthened,to take advantage of
the Museum’s increasing popularity.
At the founding of the Museum, the importance of volunteers was
recognized as crucial to the support and function of the Museum. Today, that fact is more
evident.
In recent years the volunteer staff has become reduced.
We appeal to those who have left the volunteer program and to anyone who has an hour or
so a week, to consider becoming a volunteer. We need you now more than ever To volunteer,
or for further information, send an e-mail addressed to;
Judy Dudley
at the following address
jdnewby@ciaccess.com
Index |
| An examination of the historical records of
the original Buxton Settlement will yield the name of Henry Thomas. Mr. Thomas had
emigrated from Buffalo, New York in 1852, to avoid the Fugitive Slave Laws enacted in the
United States. He purchased One Hundred acres of land and settled down to live in the area
for the rest of his life. A search for his past reveals a rich and diverse family
history with relatives found all over North America .
The family history ranges back to the state of Tennessee and a slave named Sally, owned
by Charles Thomas. Sally was a hard working and ambitious woman who,being the mother of
three Mulatto Boys, John, Henry and Richard, saved what meager earnings she made, to buy
the freedom of her sons.
She did eventually manage to buy free papers for her youngest son, Richard. Her eldest,
John was given his freedom by Richard Rapier, a bargeman whom John had been hired out to
for a number of years. John then took the name Rapier as his own. Henry, with the
encouragement of his mother, escaped and made his way first to Buffalo New York and
finally to Canada and the Buxton settlement.
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All three sons apprenticed as and became
barbers and all three were prosperous,developing thriving businesses and buying real
estate. Sally died in 1851, certain that her sons were free and prospering. All three
of her sons married and had numerous children. Three of these stand out as having links
with the Button Settlement. Richard Rapier, the son of John Thomas/Rapier, received part
of his education in Buxton. When older, he set out with his brother, Henry Rapier, for
California where the two of them bought farmland and prospered. The two
| Sally died in 1851, certain that her sons
were free. |
brothers had a falling out over the handling of the operation and
departed from his brother and
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was never heard from again. Richard remained
in California for the next twenty-five or thirty years.James Rapier had not originally
gone to Canada with his brother Richard and his uncle Henry Thomas, but led a the life of
a young rake, gambling and drinking and consorting with women of ill repute. In 1856 he
agreed to continue his education at the Buxton school, in Canada. he started out well, but
soon fell back into his old ways. He experimented with several business ventures became
involved briefly in local politics and had a strong preoccupation with material things. In
1857 he a religious experience that caused a complete change in his behavior He
joined the Methodist Church, repented his youthful indiscretions and began (cont. pg. 4)
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| his studies in earnest at the Buxton School.
In 1860 he moved to Toronto, Canada, to continue his education at the Toronto Normal
School. In spite of having no money and little means to get any, he was successful in
graduating in1863 and returned to Burton, having gained a teaching certificate, and took a
job teaching in the Buxton School. While in Buxton, he joined the local Militia and
purchased fifty acres of land. In 1864 he returned to the southern United States following
the Civil War to help his people during the Reconstruction of the South. Another of the
Rapier Brothers John Jr. remained in the United states , although he had tried to emigrate
to Liberia and, failing that traveled to Central America with his uncle James Thomas. They
returned to America, having discovered that the plight of |
blacks was, if anything more precarious than
in the States. He embarked upon a career in writing (journalism and poetry), in Minnesota.
He was still restless and felt that black people could not attain complete freedom and
dignity. He left Minnesota in 1860 and went to Haiti, the first free black country in the
western hemisphere. Disappointed with what he found there, he traveled then to Jamaica in
1861, stayed there for two years while he studied dentistry. He returned to the States,
settled first in Ohio then enrolled in the the University of Michigan Medical Faculty but
withdrew after a few months because of the hostility of faculty members and students
toward him. He then applied to and was accepted by the medical school in Iowa University
and obtained a M.D.. He applied to the U.S. Army as a surgeon, was accepted as an
assistant surgeon, and was stationed at the Freed-mens’ Contraband Hospital in
Washington, D, C.,1863 -65. |
Though separated by hundreds of miles,
forbidden to travel, and denied postal privileges, this family remained close.
Correspondence between the Thomas-Rapier brothers was regular if infrequent, and between
the sons of James Thomas wrote to each other as well. Though there were laws forbidding
the education of blacks, they managed to gain various levels of education and
accomplishment. Although blacks were forbidden to own property in most of the South,
Sally's children attained property in Tennessee, Wisconsin, New York, Missouri and
Ontario, Canada.
Index |
The
Latest Word
| BUXTON HISTORIC
SITE & MUSEUM P.O.BOX 53, NORTH BUXTON,
ONTARIO, CANADA
NOP 1Y0
(519) 354-4799 |
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PUBLISHED BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
AND
THE STAFF OF THE MUSEUM
Bryan Prince, President:
Doreen Kuhn, Secretary and
Newsletter Editor :
Send all correspondence to;
Buxton Historic Site
&Museum |
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