James Mink

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James Mink was a black man who became a respected millionaire businessman in Toronto, Canada in the 1840s when slavery was rampant in the United States.

Mink's story is told in the loosely autobiographical made-for-TV movie Captive Heart: The James Mink Story, starring Lou Gossett, Jr. as James Mink and Kate Nelligan as his wife.

Mink was the eldest of 11 children of United Empire Loyalist Johan Herkimer and was formerly enslaver, as well.[1] James Mink became a millionaire, along with his brother, George. Both started hotels, liveries and coach services, first in Kingston, Ontario. James moved to Toronto in the 1840s, while his brother remained in Kingston. They transported travelers between Toronto and Kingston, the capital city of Upper Canada; a colony of Great Britain. The brothers transported passengers to the other's base city, meeting at the halfway point in Brighton. They exchanged passengers, procured fresh horses, and returned home with the passengers.

They gained the respect of their fellow Canadians and were assigned the mail runs. George would take the mail from Kingston to Montreal, while James took the mail to Kingston and other towns surrounding Toronto. James' hotel was used as a voting station in Toronto elections. The mayor hired his coach service for his inauguration in the 1850s. Farmers outside of Toronto would stay at his hotel when they came to town to sell their produce at the farmer's market, St. Lawrence Market, not far from the hotel. Many Torontonians used his livery service, as did the Sheriff of the city.

Both brothers started the first public transit system in their respective cities. James took people from the Town of Yorkville to the St. Lawrence market in the downtown area.

James Mink married a white Irish immigrant, Elizabeth. Irish girls and women often arrived in Canada penniless and without families. So priests arranged marriages with single men who were making a decent living.

James and Elizabeth had a daughter, Minnie. Though the film portrays Minnie (Mary in the movie) as in only child, they may have had other children. They believed in the races "blending together as naturally as two tributaries forming into one river." (a common theme among many Free, Canadian Blacks at that time when slavery still plagued America). Some black people of the day felt that there was better opportunity for their children if their skin was lighter. Colorism persists to this day, with the mindset of lighter or whiter meaning better or more opportunities.

It was not unusual for millionaires of the day to arrange marriages, so James Mink offered a substantial dowry for his daughter's hand. Some research reports about $10,000, which would have bought a city block in 1852! William Johnson married their daughter. Johnson took the dowry and Minnie on a honeymoon to the United States, where he then sold her into slavery to a Virginian tobacco plantation owner.

James Mink learned of his daughter's plight and went through a lot of red tape to get the British to buy her back on his behalf. Census records show that she was living with a son on Mink's farm on the Don and Danforth Road in Toronto in 1862. (now Danforth Road between Pape and Carlaw Streets).[2]

In the movie, Mink, pretending to be enslaved by his wife, traveled to the American South and was successful in rescuing his daughter and several other enslaved people from captivity.[3]

After Minnie returned to Toronto, she had another son and lived with her family. Later, an arsonist set fire to Mink's livery and hotel and they lost everything. Eventually, trains began transporting people into the cities and George and James Mink's business became redundant, eventually shuttering. James Mink died in 1866. He was living alone near today's Windsor Arms Hotel in Toronto, at the time. He is buried in the Riverdale Cemetery in the area of Toronto known as Cabbagetown.

References

  1. "The Negroes of Toronto" Frederick Douglass's Paper, November 13, 1857.
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Recollections and Records of Toronto of Old WITH REFERENCES TO BRANTFORD, KINGSTON AND OTHER CANADIAN TOWNS by W. H. PEARSON -TORONTO 1914 p. 63-64

Owen Thomas, "A Bitter History" Toronto Star Starweek 13 April 1996