Sarah Toliver

 

 

                                                      1839-1896

 

Hello. My name is Sarah Toliver. I was born on July 28,1839 in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada. There I met James H. Toliver. James was a runaway slave that made it to Canada by crossing the river at Detroit, Michigan with the help of a Conductor. In those days the Freedom Seekers like James needed help traveling from one place to the next. Those people were called Conductors.
Soon after James and I met we decided to marry. We had one child while we were in Canada. We named our son Albert. We were happy with our family, but James wanted to go back to Michigan because he wanted to be an American once again. He wanted to be a free man and work and raise his family there. James told about a place where he had stopped for a time. The name of the small town was Saline. There he had met kind and supportive people. They were members of the Underground Railroad. They were good people that wanted to help James and many other slaves from the South escape and become free men and women. They hid James and others in secret places in their homes or barns so their slave owner or tracker could not find them. If they did find a slave, they would take them back and enslave them once again on their plantations and many of them were brutally punished in front of the other slaves for trying to escape.
We finally decided to travel back to Saline, Michigan with our family. James was a good worker and had no problem getting jobs. Our family grew once again when we had Amanda Ann and a bit later William. Many people were respectful and supportive of our family. Our children were able to go to school and we attended church every Sunday.
James was right, it was a good place for us to live. There were many helpful people in our community such as Mr. and Mrs. Harwood, Mr. and Mrs. Lowry and Mr. and Mrs. Asher Aray. I helped them out by cooking and doing chores when they had guests. They were all part of the Underground Railroad in the Saline area.
Did you know that more and more free slaves were leaving Canada to come back to America? We were just one family of many. In 1850 the government passed the Fugitive Slave Act. The act was made to punish anybody that helped the slaves escape. However it just made many people more angry and some people said that more slaves were helped to escape the next two years than ever before.
Mr. John Lowry painted a large board sign with, “Welcome to the Fugitive Captive” to mark his Underground Railroad station in Lodi Township near Saline. Captain Lowry and his wife Sylvia defied both public scorn and the law by boldly inviting freedom seekers like James to their home. The sign was Mr. Lowry’s expression of his desire that slavery and oppression would end.
I passed on to be with the Lord on April 6, 1896. James was able to give me a proper burial. Many poor colored could not afford a proper burial. They are in an area just over there with no markers. It is called a Potters field. My James was a good man. He treated me good all my life. Thank you for stopping by to hear my story.