Black, Canadian and Hotelier
AfroBiz • July 7, 2020
James Mink, a Respected Business Man in Toronto
James Mink was a black man born in 1811 in the United States. When slavery was very bad he moved to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He eventually became a respected businessman in the city, in the 1850s. He was buried in a cemetery in Riverdale.
Educated by Crestwood High School in Toronto, he ran a hotel in 1840 with his brother George. The hotel and livery were located on Adelaide Street near Toronto's St. Lawrence market, where many farmers would stay while in town selling their produce. Later on, the hotel burned down.
James Mink, the son of Johan Herkimer's slave named Mink, became a millionaire, as did his brother, George. His brother was located in Kingston, Ontario in the 1840s to 1860s. Both brothers started the first public transit system, with horse and buggy, in their respective cities. James offered this service from the Town of Yorkville to the St. Lawrence market in downtown Toronto.
He married a white Irish immigrant, Elizabeth and had a daughter, Mary, and possibly some other children. It was customary to offer a dowry for a daughter, and so James Mink offered a large dowry for his daughter's hand and there's evidence of his advertisements. It is believed that a businessman named William Johnson accepted the dowry, married the daughter, and took her on a honeymoon to the United States.
However, after the wedding, Johnson revealed himself to be a slave trader and sold Mary into slavery on a Virginia tobacco plantation. In the fictional movie, Mink pretended to be his wife's slave, traveled to the American South and successfully rescued Mary and several other slaves, but that is not true.
Archives reveal that it is more likely that he got the British government officials to buy her back and return her home, where the census reveals lived at his home on the Don and Danforth Road between Pape and Carlaw Streets.
Mink's story was told in the movie Captive Heart: The James Mink Story, starring Lou Gossett, Jr. as James Mink and Kate Nelligan as his wife.
Unfortunately he died alone in 1887 in a small house.
Source : Wikipedia | Fiora Books
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