Hiram Wilson Papers, 1835-1856
| Oberlin College Archives
Arrangement
Administrative/Biographical History
Hiram Wilson was born on September 25, 1803, in Ackworth, New Hampshire, the son of John Wilson and Polly McCoy. He attended the Oneida Institute, an institution that incorporated both education and manual labor and embraced the literal concepts of perfectionism and Bible communism; and subsequently, he studied theology at Lane Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio. When a group of theological students, called the “Lane Rebels,” protested against efforts by the School’s trustees to put down their abolitionist activities, Wilson joined the other three rebels. Upon hearing that the theological students threatened to leave Lane en masse, the Oberlin Collegiate Institute invited the “Lane Rebels” north to the school’s recently created Theological Department to advance the “cause of Christ” and to fulfill the spirit of equality coming off of the American Revolution. Thirty-two students came to Oberlin, including Hiram Wilson. He was among those who received a theological degree from Oberlin in 1836. That same year, revivalist minister and theological professor Charles G. Finney gave Wilson twenty-five dollars to travel to Canada West and do educational work and training among thousands of fugitive slaves or refugees there.
Wilson returned to Canada the following spring as a delegate of the American Anti-Slavery Society. He then began raising and borrowing money in order to establish an educational institute for free blacks to prepare them for full citizenship and an integrated society. By 1839, Wilson had established ten schools (for blacks and poor whites) and recruited 14 teachers. Oberlin graduates filled a large percentage of those teaching posts. His work, which adapted social theory to native facts and conditions, gained the attention of abolitionist Gerrit Smith of Rochester, New York, and Quaker philanthropist James Cannings Fuller of Skaneateles, New York. In particular, Gerrit Smith's Rochester committee raised funds to supply Wilson’s schools with Bibles, clothing, and money. The bulk of the money raised by Fuller established the foundation of the British-American Institute, established by Wilson, Fuller, and ex-slave Josiah Henson (1789-1877) at Dawn, near Chatham, Canada West. The intent of this black settlement institute—situated on about 200 acres of land—was to integrate labor and education and introduce ex-slaves to freedom. Capitalism and Republicanism was to turn them into self-sufficient freed-persons (northern refuge for blacks). The institute opened on December 12th, 1841.
Until 1849 Wilson acted as one of the leaders of the institute, except for a visit to England during the World Anti-Slavery Convention in 1843. Although the Dawn settlement had a profitable and successful lumber industry and substantial farmland, the Institute itself suffered a series of setbacks owing to internal conflicts and financial instability. Prejudice in Canada had also become more evident following the increased visibility of blacks, along with the arrival of growing numbers of white refugees, seeking employment and other settlement opportunities in this supposed “Promised Land” to emancipate slaves. Wilson resigned from the institute in 1849 and established another fugitive sanctuary in St. Catharines. Under the auspices of the American Missionary Association, he opened a school there with his second wife. He housed approximately 125 refugees in his own home between 1850 and 1856. He also established a Sunday school in St. Catharines, but he abandoned his labors in 1861, possibly because of political or financial issues.
White abolitionist Hiram Wilson died in St. Catharines on April 16th, 1864.
Administrative Information
The papers consist of 41 items of which the majority are letters received by Hiram Wilson. Five items appear to have been written by him and perhaps 8 others are by relatives of him. the papers deal mainly with efforts to aid blacks in Canada and elsewhere. The is information about the work and how it was supported, including financial aid and the obtaining of teachers. Examples of efforts elsewhere are Augustus Wattles (1842) telling of his school in Ohio and Charles Marryat writing from London (1842) of the possibilities of black emigration to Trinidad. Hiram Wilson describes to his wife (1842) his efforts in England to gain help for their work and Josiah and Isaac Henson write (1847) in support of Wilson's efforts. Other writers include Elizur Wright, Jr., Erastus Child, George Whipple, Hamilton Hill, and James C. Fuller.
INVENTORY
Arranged Chronologically
Box 1 oversize
Originals; use copies in Box 2
Merrill, A.S. (Cincinnati) to Hiram Wilson (Oberlin),
June 12, 1835
Wilson, John (Ridgeway, NY) to Hiram Wilson
(Oberlin), January 20, [1836?]
Wright, Jr., E. (NYC) to Hiram Wilson (Toronto),
December 8, 1836, with copy of Anti-Slaver
Society Commission (negative photostat)
Wright, Jr., E. (NYC) to Hiram Wilson (Canada),
February 21, 1837
Wilson, Mary (Vermont) to Hiram Wilson (Canada),
June 4, 1837
Wilson, John (New York) to Hiram Wilson (Buffalo,
NY), July 21, 1837
Wright, Jr., W. (NYC) to Hiram Wilson (Canada),
September 16, 1837
Wilson, Benjamin (Ohio) to Hiram Wilson (Canada),
November 5, 1837
Woods, Levi W. (Ohio) to Hiram Wilson (Canada),
December 27, 1838
Alden, J.W. (Boston) to Hiram Wilson (Canada),
March 23, 1841
Wilson, John (Knowlesville, TN) to Hiram Wilson
(Buffalo), July 11, 1841
Wilson, Hiram (Toronto) to "Dear Brother",
July 12, 1841
Hunt, A.H. (Utica, NY) to Hiram Wilson (Canada),
September 10, 1841
Child, Erastus (Whitesboro, NY) to Hiram Wilson
(Canada), October 4, 1841
Child, Erastus (Whitesboro, NY) to Hiram Wilson
(Canada), October 22, 1841
Whipple, George (Oberlin) to Hiram Wilson (Canada),
November 9, 1841
Fuller, Jason C. (Skaneateles, NY) to Hiram Wilson
(Canada), November 11, 1841
Haskell, Benjamin F. (Cornwall, VT) to Hiram Wilson
(Canada), December 14, 1841
Wattles, Augustus (Chickasau, OH) to Hiram Wilson
(Canada), May 9, 1842
Marryat, Charles (London, England) to Hiram Wilson
(New York), August 3, 1842
Lillie, Rev. A. (Toronto) to "people in England", etc.,
April 2, 1843
Hill, Hamilton (Oberlin) to Hiram Wilson (London),
May 18, 1843
Wilson, Hiram (London) to his wife Hannah (Canada),
July 3, 1843
Cropper, Jr., John (Liverpool) to Hiram Wilson (London),
August 24, 1843
Alden, R. (London), letter supporting Wilson's plan,
September 27, 1843
Barrett, Richard (Croydon, England) to Hiram Wilson
(Cheapside, England), October 19, 1843
Fuller, Jason C. (Skaneateles, NY) to Hiram Wilson
(Rochester, NY), January 15, 1847
Wilson, John (Knowlesville, TN) to Hiram Wilson
(Canada), May 30, 1847
Henson, Josiah & Isaac (Canada) to Hiram Wilson
(Canada), August 1847
Colored Citizens of Toronto to Attorney General Badgley
(Montreal), August 24, 1847
Haskell, Benjamin F. (Cornwall, VT) to Hiram Wilson
(Boston), January 17, 1848
Wilson, Hiram to J.C. Brown & George Johnson,
May 13, 1848
Wilson, Sarah S. & Joseph D.(Meigsville, OH) to
Hiram Wilson (Canada), January 1849
Reverands Roaf & Lillie (Toronto) re: Hiram Wilson,
March 28, 1849
Fisher, Schuyler (Winfield, NY) to Hiram Wilson
(Canada), July 5, 1849
Steele, J.C. "Dolly" (Boston) to Hiram Wilson (Canada),
August 29, 1849
Cleaveland, J.P. (Lowell, MA) to Hiram Wilson,
July 21, 1856
Wilson, Mary Ann H. (Newburyport, MA) to "My Dear
H.", December 15, 1856
re: The Institute property and other matters,
n.d. [c.1855?]
[Wilson, Hiram?] to Rev. Algernon Wells (England),
n.d. [c.1848?]
[Wilson, Hiram?] to "Dear Sir", n.d. [c.1848?]
Box 2
User copies of contents of Box 1