The day after I arrived at the settlement, which consisted of a few rude
log cabins, a meeting was called to give the township a name. Several were
suggested, but I at length motioned to name it in honor of the great
philanthropist, Wilberforce. This was carried, and the township from that
time has been known by that name. It is situated on what is known as the
Huron Tract, Kent County, London District, and is the next north of the
township of London. Our neighbors on the south, were a company of Irish
people, who owned the township, and on the west side were a township of
Welshmen, a hardy, industrious and enterprising people.

In Wilberforce there were no white inhabitants; the land appeared level
and handsome, with but one stream of any magnitude running through it;
this was the Oxsable, which was dry during a part of the year. All was one
vast forest of heavy timber, that would compare well with that of Western
New York. Beech, maple, ash, elm, oak, whitewood, bass, balm of gilead,
&c. The soil was good for corn, wheat, rye, oats, and most kinds of the
grain and vegetables raised in New York, and was a superior grazing
country, about fifteen miles from London. This was a village containing
perhaps thirty dwellings, and two hundred inhabitants; a court-house and
jail all under one roof, built of stone and plastered; small doors and
windows in the style of some of the old English castles. London was built
in the forks, or between the east and west branches of the river Thames;
hence, you would hear people speak of "going to the forks," instead of the
village; it is about two hundred miles from Buffalo, and the nearest port
between the two is Port Stanley, thirty miles from London.

I returned from Canada, where I had seen an oppressed people struggling
with the hardships and privations of a new settlement; I had seen
wretchedness in some places, but by no means sufficient to justify
the report made by Mr. Lewis, and I determined I would remove there with
my family, and do all in my power to assist the colored people in Canada.

I had witnessed a disposition on the part of some to prevent our brethren
from settling in Wilberforce, while the colonizationists made a grand
argument of it in favor of their wicked policy. All must see that it
became a necessity with those who fled to Canada to save themselves from
constant abuse or from Slavery, and in some instances their lives; and not
because they admitted the justice