Josiah Henson was a slave that was born in Montgomery County, Maryland in 1789 and for a short period of time had lived as a slave from 1825-1830 on the plantation of Amos Riley. He was known as "Uncle Tom" by Harriet Beecher Stowe who wrote the famous book entitled, Uncle Tom's Cabin. Anybody that's taken U.S. history in high school has studied the antislavery movement. There were different abolitionists during that period. One of them was named Harriet Beecher Stowe. The "Uncle Tom" that she was referring to her in her book was Josiah Henson. Many people that lived in the Owensboro/Daviess County area didn't recognize the full story behind Josiah Henson until local Owensboroans such as Edith Bennett, Dr. David Orrahood and Hugh O. Potter learned of the facts. Ms. Edith Bennett who works for WOMI radio station in Owensboro, went on a trip to Canada around 1960. She had car trouble and as she was having work done on her car somebody told her to visit the Josiah Henson Museum in Dresden, Ontario. She was told that Henson lived in Daviess County for a brief period of time. Bennett told the people at WOMI but they didn't believe it at the time.
Then a few years later Dr. David Orrahood of Owensboro uncovered some more material relating to the case of Josiah Henson. Then Hugh O. Potter, the general manager of WOMI back in the 60's, had contacted the curator of Uncle Tom's Cabin and Museum in Canada. Then the curator came to Owensboro and he and Potter visited the site of Uncle Tom's Cabin in Eastern Daviess County. I have an old article from the Messenger-Inquirer on October 22, 1967 which verified that Uncle Tom lived in Daviess County. Mrs. Sue Hawes at the time was an 82 year old woman who lived in the area where Uncle Tom resided. She was the great-granddaughter of former slave owner Amos Riley. The article from the Owensboro newspaper gives the side that Mrs. Hawes told and then it gave the Canadian version.
Between the years of 1825 and 1830, Josiah Henson was an overseer of the Amos Riley Plantation, a 10,000-acre holding located in eastern Daviess County in the vicinity of Yelvington. Mrs. Hawes said her great-grandfather settled there in 1813 and owned numerous slaves. Mrs. Hawes said she heard of Uncle Tom and was told he was tall, intelligent, good-looking "darkey" and had a weakness for dancing and women. Mrs. Hawes was told he ran away because he became a little too familiar with the wives of the other slaves and they were going to kill him.
Uncle Tom in his book, The Life of Josiah Henson, Formerly a Slave, he said he arrived in Daviess County, Kentucky about the middle of April 1825 and he delivered himself and his wife, two children, and eighteen other slaves to Mr. Amos Riley, the owner of the plantation with from 80 to 100 negroes. He said his house was situated five miles south of the Ohio River and 15 miles above the Yellow Banks, on Big Blackford's Creek. Henson stated that he availed himself of all opportunities of improvement. He was admitted as a preacher by a conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Canadian version says Uncle Tom decided to run away only after being deceived many times by his master in regards to his freedom by his owner. Three years after he arrived in Daviess County his former master sent word to Amos Riley to sell all his slaves except Uncle Tom, who was to return to him with the proceeds from the slave auction. On his way back to Maryland, Uncle Tom preached and made appeals for funds with which to purchase his freedom. Since Henson passed through the free state of Ohio he could've stayed there a free man. However, he thought it was a point of honor to make all efforts necessary to buy his freedom. Just before Christmas he approached the house of Isaac Riley (Amo's brother) with $245 and the hopes of becoming free and pursuing his call as a minister.
However, the story has it that Isaac Riley tricked Uncle Tom into giving him his freedom. Knowing that Uncle Tom couldn't read, Riley took Uncle Tom's money and handed him an important looking but worthless document. Henson thought he was a free man until he returned to Kentucky and found out he had been deceived. Riley had twice inserted the stated price. A year later he was ordered to accompany his master's son, Amos Jr., to New Orleans to dispose of their farm produce. Amos Jr. was told to sell Henson, but fortunately Amos Jr. became seriously ill with river fever and was unable to continue the journey. Uncle Tom could've used that as an opportunity to escape but instead he stayed and nursed the boy back to health and returned him to his father. According to the Canadian version, Uncle Tom received no thanks for his trying to nurse Amos Jr. back to health, so he started looking for a chance to escape.
The opportunity came at last on September 1, 1830. A fellow slave rowed Uncle Tom, his wife, and his children across the Ohio River and landed them on the Indiana shore. By traveling by night and hiding by day they reached Cincinnati in two weeks. After six weeks, they reached Sandusky, Ohio where they found passage on a ship bound for Buffalo. From there he was rowed across the river to Canada and he finally found freedom on October 28, 1830.
For the next few years Uncle Tom lived in the vicinity of Fort Erie. He became a leader among the fugitive slaves and carried on religious work among them. He also helped slaves to escape as well. Through his religious work Uncle Tom met James C. Fuller, a Quaker that promised Henson he would try to interest some English friends in a colonization adventure. As a result, $1500 was raised. Henson formed the British-American Institute and took steps to set up a colony in Dawn, near the present town of Dresden. That was in 1839. On a 200-acre plot he established a sawmill, a blacksmith shop, and a carpenter shop and the first vocational school in Canada.
On one of his trips to New England in behalf of his settlement a brief story of his life was published by the Anti-Slavery Society of Boston. Harriet Beecher Stowe read the pamphlet and in 1849 she invited Josiah Henson into her home in Andover, Massasschusetts. That's where Mrs. Stowe required much of her material for the book, Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Uncle Tom had made several trips to England to raise money for the institute. He made three trips to England and it was on his third trip where he had met Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle. Josiah was 88 at the time. Queen Victoria told him, "Mr. Henson, I expected to see a very old man, but I am delighted to see such a well preserved, good-looking man as you."
After returning back to Canada, Henson spent the rest of his life there. He spent the rest of his days teaching and preaching. When he turned 94, he died of an illness only after three days. He died on May 5, 1883. Hundreds were said to have attended his funeral. The funeral was conducted by Bishop Walter R. Hawkins, head of the British Methodist Episcopal Church of Canada. Hawkins was a fellow slave on the Kentucky plantation of Amos Riley. Uncle Tom was an interesting figure who, after buying his freedom, devoted the rest of his life helping slaves to escape and trying to help those that had obtained freedom an opportunity to improve their lives by starting a colony. Henson had helped establish a vocational school to help them learn a trade in which they could make a living. Uncle Tom tried to make a difference in the lives of those slaves in which he (Uncle Tom) was once himself.
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