Henry Bibb and Mary Miles Bibb
By Irene Moore Davis
Recognized today as Persons of National Historic Significance in Canada, Henry Bibb and Mary Miles Bibb once lived, worked, and made their mark in Sandwich. Born in 1815, Henry Bibb had lived in slavery in Kentucky, Louisiana, and Texas, making multiple escape attempts before his final, successful escape brought him to Detroit Michigan. There, he learned to read and write and quickly rose through the ranks of the anti-slavery movement as a noted orator, activist, and eventually, a writer. Fellow abolitionist Mary Miles was a teacher who had been born to free parents of African descent in Rhode Island in 1820. By the time they married in 1848, they were both well established in the movement.
With Mary’s help, Henry Bibb published an 1849 autobiography, Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, An American Slave, Written by Himself, a courageous recounting of his lived experiences in slavery. In it, he shared that he had been thinking about Canada for quite some time. Even while enslaved in Kentucky, he knew that “Canada was a land of liberty, somewhere in the North.” Like many others, the Bibbs felt compelled to leave the United States in 1850 in order to seek safety from the repercussions of the Fugitive Slave Act. They chose Sandwich as their new base of operations, bringing along with them Mildred Jackson, Henry’s mother whom he had previously assisted north to freedom. In Sandwich, they could carry on their anti-slavery activism and assist refugees while remaining in close proximity to abolitionist networks and Underground Railroad operatives on the other side of the border.
Observing immediately that the Black community had no access to the public schools in Sandwich, Mary Miles Bibb opened her own school where she taught day and evening classes without pay for over a year. She worked hard to secure donations from American philanthropists so that books and supplies could be purchased. She supplemented these endeavours with earnings from her dressmaking business.
In November 1850, Henry organized and chaired the Sandwich Colored Convention, where he convinced the delegates to pass a resolution to establish a militant abolitionist newspaper to advocate for Blacks in Canada West. The Bibbs published the first issue of The Voice of the Fugitive in Sandwich on January 1, 1851. The newspaper garnered support for the anti-slavery movement, provided tips for Blacks who were interested in emigrating to Canada West, and told stories of both success and hardship, the latter with the hope of raising funds and awareness around the Black refugees’ experiences. Both Henry and Mary were involved in writing and editing. Subsequently, Henry Bibb was among the organizers of the North American Convention of Colored Freemen, a gathering of hundreds of Black and white abolitionists at St. Lawrence Hall in Toronto over three days in September 1851. The convention discussed topics such as abolitionism, the Fugitive Slave Act, and efforts to assist freedom seekers and to establish agricultural communities across Canada West.
Regularly, Henry and Mary Bibb offered emergency settlement services to newly arrived freedom seekers, offering food, clothing, shelter, and guidance regarding housing and employment. In the Bibbs’ newspaper, Voice of the Fugitive, Henry Bibb commented frequently on the numbers of freedom seekers crossing the river to Sandwich, from fifteen per week to as many as sixty five in one day. One astonishing day in 1852, Henry received three of his own brothers who had made their way to freedom in Canada West. Concern for the well-being of refugees led the Bibbs to become involved in the Refugee Home Society. They were not the founders, but they were administrators and among its most vocal proponents. The Society’s fundraising efforts in Canada and the U.S. facilitated the purchase of land which could be resold to formerly enslaved families with discounted rates and favourable conditions. The Society provided refugees with tools, supplies, training, and protection from slave catchers. Settlements were formed in Sandwich and Maidstone Townships, totalling approximately 2,000 acres. Many current members of Windsor-Essex Black communities are descendants of original Refugee Home Society settlers.
In 1852, the Bibbs moved from Sandwich to Windsor. Mary opened a new school and obtained financial support from the American Missionary Association. At one point in 1853, she reported that she was teaching sixty-nine students.
Tragically, Henry Bibb died on August 1st, 1854 at the age of thirty-nine. Widowed, Mary Miles Bibb continued working as a schoolteacher and eventually married Isaac N. Cary. From 1865 until 1871, she operated a store in Windsor. When her second husband died, she relocated to Brooklyn, New York, where she remained until her death in 1877.
The federal heritage plaque regarding the Bibbs can be found on Sandwich Street in Windsor, just east of Mackenzie Hall, at the entrance to Mary E. Bibb Park, Windsor’s sole city park named after a Black woman and one of only three parks named after persons of African descent.