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James Mink was a black man who became a respected businessman in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in the 1850s. He owned a hotel and livery on Adelaide Street near Toronto's St. Lawrence market, where many farmers would stay while in town selling their produce.

In Toronto, he operated the city’s largest livery stable and several coach lines. The hotel he operated was the Mansion House.^[1] James Mink, the son of Johan Herkimer's slave named Mink, became a millionaire, as did his brother, George.^[2] The Herkimers settled at the east end of Lake Ontario.^[1] He had a hotel, livery and coach service in Toronto, while his brother was located in Kingston, Ontario in the 1840s to 1860's. Both brothers started the first public transit system in their respective cities, James from the Town of [Yorkville, Toronto|Yorkville] to the St. Lawrence market in downtown Toronto.^[2] Furthermore, they dominated the postal transport of prisoners between Kingston Penitentiary and the Toronto jail. Mink was first living near the corner of Richmond and York Streets and then moved to 21 Adelaide Street East, by the head of Toronto Street.^[1] He married a white Irish immigrant, Elizabeth. James and Elizabeth 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.^[2] There was a myth that Mary Mink married a white Yorkshire cabman who sold her to slavery. However, this fictional story was created by a Scottish novelist who published his article in Blackwoods Magazine in 1860, which was reprinted many times. Instead, she married a well-respected Black man, William Johnson. They moved to Niagara Falls, New York because he worked at the Cataract Hotel, then later to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.^[1] 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.^[3]^[4]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Shadd, Adrienne L. (2022). The underground railroad : next stop, Toronto!. Afua Cooper, Karolyn Smardz Frost (New ed.). Toronto: Toronto: Dundurn Press. pp. 85–86. ISBN 978-1-4597-4897-2. OCLC 1273207252.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Black History Month 2006: The James Mink Story". Archived from the original on 2008-11-21. Retrieved 2009-02-19.
^ O'Connor, James (1996-04-12). "TV Weekend: Slavery as Experienced By a Mixed-Race Couple". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-02-19.
^ Petrin, Guylaine (Spring 2016). "The Myth of Mary Mink: Representation of Black Women in Toronto in the Nineteenth Century". Ontario History. 107 (1): 92–110. doi:10.7202/1050613ar. Retrieved 30 March 2020.

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+{{short description|American activist}}
-'''James Mink''' was a black man who became a respected millionaire businessman in [[Toronto]], [[Ontario]], Canada in the 1840s when slavery was rampant in the United States.
+'''James Mink''' was a black man who became a respected businessman in [[Toronto]], [[Ontario]], Canada in the 1850s. He owned a hotel and livery on Adelaide Street near Toronto's St. Lawrence market, where many farmers would stay while in town selling their produce.
+In Toronto, he operated the city’s largest livery stable and several coach lines. The hotel he operated was the Mansion House.<ref name=":0" /> James Mink, the son of Johan Herkimer's slave named Mink, became a millionaire, as did his brother, George.<ref name="blackhistorymonth" /> The Herkimers settled at the east end of Lake Ontario.<ref name=":0" /> He had a hotel, livery and coach service in Toronto, while his brother was located in [[Kingston, Ontario]] in the 1840s to 1860's.  Both brothers started the first public transit system in their respective cities,  James from the Town of [Yorkville, Toronto|Yorkville] to the St. Lawrence market in downtown Toronto.<ref name="blackhistorymonth" /> Furthermore, they dominated the postal transport of prisoners between Kingston Penitentiary and the Toronto jail. Mink was first living near the corner of Richmond and York Streets and then moved to 21 Adelaide Street East, by the head of Toronto Street.<ref name=":0" /> He married a white Irish immigrant, Elizabeth. James and Elizabeth 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.<ref name="blackhistorymonth">{{cite web|url=http://panachereport.com/channels/hip%20hop%20gallery/BlackHistoryMonth2006.htm|title=Black History Month 2006: The James Mink Story|accessdate=2009-02-19|archive-date=2008-11-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081121015135/http://panachereport.com/channels/hip%20hop%20gallery/BlackHistoryMonth2006.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> There was a myth that Mary Mink married a white Yorkshire cabman who sold her to slavery. However, this fictional story was created by a Scottish novelist who published his article in ''[[Blackwood's Magazine|Blackwoods Magazine]]'' in 1860, which was reprinted many times. Instead, she married a well-respected Black man, William Johnson. They moved to Niagara Falls, New York because he worked at the Cataract Hotel, then later to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Shadd |first=Adrienne L. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1273207252 |title=The underground railroad : next stop, Toronto! |publisher=Toronto: Dundurn Press |others=Afua Cooper, Karolyn Smardz Frost |year=2022 |isbn=978-1-4597-4897-2 |edition=New |location=Toronto |pages=85–86 |oclc=1273207252}}</ref> 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 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'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.<ref name="nyttvweekend">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/04/12/arts/tv-weekend-slavery-as-experienced-by-a-mixed-race-couple.html|title=TV Weekend: Slavery as Experienced By a Mixed-Race Couple |last=O'Connor|first=James|date=1996-04-12|work=New York Times|accessdate=2009-02-19}}</ref><ref name="Myth">{{cite journal |last1=Petrin |first1=Guylaine |title=The Myth of Mary Mink: Representation of Black Women in Toronto in the Nineteenth Century |journal=Ontario History |date=Spring 2016 |volume=107 |issue=1 |pages=92–110 |doi=10.7202/1050613ar |url=https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/onhistory/2016-v108-n1-onhistory03908/1050613ar/ |accessdate=30 March 2020|doi-access=free }}</ref>
-Mink was the eldest of 11 children of a slave known only as "Mink" . His father and mother were owned by United Empire Loyalist, Johan Herkimer.
+==References==
-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, Ontario|Brighton]]. They exchanged passengers, procured fresh horses, and returned home with the passengers.
+{{Reflist}}
+==Further reading==
-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.
+* {{cite book|title=Recollections and Records of Toronto of Old, With References to Brantford, Kingston and Other Canadian Towns|first= W. H. |last=Pearson| location=Toronto |date=1914| pages=63–64}}
+"THE BLACKS IN CANADA - A HISTORY" by Robin W. Winks, 2nd Edition, McGill-Queen's University Press, 1997
-Both brothers started the first public transit system in their respective cities.  James took people from the Town of [[Yorkville, Ontario|Yorkville]] to the St. Lawrence market in the downtown area.
+LANDMARKS OF TORONTO Volume 1, - by John Ross Robertson Reprint Series No. 70, page 50, Mika Publishing Company, Belleville Ontario, 1976.
-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.  It is suspected this is how James and Elizabeth met, but cannot be confirmed.  Black men in Canada were free to marry anyone they fell in love with and intermarriage was encouraged either for political, social or natural reasons.  Toronto census in the 1840s and 1850s show numerous Black men who escaped slavery in the United States, to arrive in Canada and marry Irish women.  Keep in mind, inter-marriage was illegal in the "slave states" of the United States of America, but all Black people were free at this time in Canada.
+"SLAVERY, THE LOYALISTS, AND ENGLISH CANADA". QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES
-James and Elizabeth had a daughter, Minnie.  Though the film portrays Minnie (Mary in the movie) as an 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.  Read Mary Ann Shadd's writings - first female newspaper publisher in North 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 for their children, so James Mink offered a substantial dowry for his daughter's hand. Some research reports that he offered a $10,000 dowry, which would have bought a city block in 1852!   A man named William Johnson married their daughter and their wedding certificate is on record in Methodist Church archives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.   After taking the dowry, Johnson took Minnie on a honeymoon to the United States where he then sold her into slavery to a Virginian tobacco plantation owner.  Why Virginia?
-Speculation is that most of the Virginian tobacco plantations had used up their fertile soil and were unable to make money on the crop.  (crop rotation hadn't been initiated yet).   Subsequently, they started breeding their chattel - and White slave owners looked upon their slaves as nothing more than chattel.  Mary would be desirable for her "breeding capabilities."  Black slaves, and children of slaves, were then sold to the labour-intensive states of Georgia, Alabama and Louisiana, to work the cotton fields.
-Also, it was illegal for Black people to read and write in the state of Virginia as a consequence of the Nat Turner rebellion.  (Nat Turner was literate and they believed he was inspired to want freedom for all Black people because he was able to learn about that right through his readings).  Minnie was most definitely educated in Toronto, and she was now a literate slave in Virginia, where she could be punished for simply reading!
-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.
-Toronto census records show that she was living with a son and her parents on their farm on the Don and Danforth Road, in Toronto in 1862 (now Danforth Road between Pape and Carlaw Streets).
-In the movie, Mink, pretended to be his wife's slave and they traveled to the American South and were successful in rescuing their daughter.<ref name="nytoverview">{{cite news|url=http://tv.nytimes.com/show/42943/Captive-Heart-The-James-Mink-Story/overview|title=Program Overview: Captive Heart: The James Mink Story |publisher=New York Times|accessdate=2009-02-19 | first=John J. | last=O'Connor}}</ref>
-Some years after this incident, an arsonist set fire to Mink's livery and hotel and they lost everything.  Toronto census shows that he then set up a livery on Bay Street where Toronto's new City Hall now stands.
-Eventually, trains began transporting people into the cities and George and James Mink's business became redundant. James Mink died in 1866. Census and the old Globe Newspaper show he was living alone near Bloor and Avenue Road, near today's Windsor Arms Hotel in Toronto. The Globe newspaper reported his funeral procession because he was still a respected citizen for his innovations and contributions to the city. He is buried in the Riverdale Cemetery in the area of Toronto known as Cabbagetown. Unfortunately, his gravestone was made of limestone and weather eroded the writing on it, so one must see their archives to visit his gravesite.   No further information was found as to what happened to his daughter and wife, or where they were buried.
-The movie attempts to put the blame of what happened to Minnie squarely on James Mink's political ambitions, which was not true. His brother, George Mink, was nominated to be an alderman in Kingston, the capital city of Upper Canada, but James Mink had no such known goals. The American screenwriters erroneously conjured this theory up. One can only speculate by what was common in the day. It was the desire for wealthy people to arrange marriages between their child and that of another respectable family or person.  It was also common for some Black intellectuals, who theorized that the perceptions of Black people would change, if a new mixed race evolved. There was the idea that marrying a person of lighter skin would offer more opportunity to children. And yet, another theory might be that they just fell for the wrong man.
-==References==
-{{Reflist}}
+"THE FREEDOM SEEKERS – BLACKS IN EARLY CANADA (1981) " by Dan Hill.
-Recollections and Records of Toronto of Old WITH REFERENCES TO BRANTFORD, KINGSTON AND OTHER
+* {{cite book|title=Recollections and Records of Toronto of Old, With References to Brantford, Kingston and Other Canadian Towns|url=https://archive.org/details/recollectionsrec00pear|first= W. H. |last=Pearson| location=Toronto |date=1914| pages=63–64}}
-CANADIAN TOWNS  by W. H. PEARSON -TORONTO 1914
-p.&nbsp;63-64
+"THE MYTH OF MARKY MINK: REPRESENTATION OF BLACK WOMEN IN TORONTO IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, by Guylaine Petrin. Ontario Historical Society Vol. CVII No. 1, Spring 2016
-Owen Thomas, "A Bitter History" Toronto Star Starweek 13 April 1996
 {{DEFAULTSORT:Mink, James}}
-[[Category:People from Toronto]]
+[[Category:People from Old Toronto]]
-[[Category:African Americans in the Civil War]]
+[[Category:African Americans in the American Civil War]]
 [[Category:Underground Railroad people]]
 [[Category:Year of death missing]]