Lost gravestones of freedom-seekers unearthed in St. Catharines cemetery
Keeping alive the stories of people who fled slavery in U.S. is about more than just preserving history
It's early morning in the Victoria Lawn Cemetery in St. Catharines, Ont., – a sprawling graveyard established in 1856 that holds the remains of nearly 80,000 people – and Adam Montgomery and Alan Ernest think they've located a lost gravestone.
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Once Ernest and Montgomery can feel the granite headstone, they abandon their tools and use their gloved hands to gently sweep away the dirt.
"The word 'Mary' is on it pretty clearly here," Montgomery said with excitement. Montgomery is a local St. Catharines historian who specializes in cemeteries.
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Historian Rochelle Bush watches the team work – it was her idea to start the Cemetery project. For years she combed through local church archives and researched graveyard maps to find out where former slaves were buried in her hometown.
Bush explains that the gravestone belongs to Mary Hutchinson, who was enslaved in Maryland before eventually escaping to Canada with her husband William. Once settled in St. Catharines, they worked with Harriet Tubman – the famous abolitionist who was a key figure in the underground railroad – as part of Tubman's Fugitive Aid Society of St. Catharines.
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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/salem-chapel-underground-railroad-cemetery-project-1.6859012