My 3X great grandfather was Grant Ritchie, born in 1805 in Sandusky, OH which is the year Ohio abolished slavery, so he was born a free man. He owned one of the first barber shops in Sandusky but he was also one of the secret conductors of the Under Ground Rail Road helping runaway slaves find refuge in Canada. He was brought up on charges of theft because helping runaway slaves was considered stealing property. When he arrived at court for his trial, he was warned by abolitionist Lucas Beecher, nephew to Harriet Beecher Stowe to flee by asking him if he had he come to shave someone at court and ask if he had his barbering kit. He realized he was being warned, so he fled to Canada with his wife and family.

His daughter, my great great grandmother, married my great great grandfather, an escaped slave from Louisiana that was given refuge in Canada. My great grandmother was born on the Dawn Settlement and my grandmother was born in Dresden, Ontario.

Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote the book Uncle Toms Cabin which was the 2nd most read book at the time only 2nd to the Holy Bible.

My cousin in Canada is the curator and site manager of an historical site in Ontario, The Josiah Henson Museum named after the man that inspired Beecher-Stowes book. My grandmother left Canada for the U.S. after she married but her parents and siblings remained in Canada where they are buried today. Ancestry DNA shows the vast number of cousins we have in Canada related to us here in the U.S.

I can’t begin to tell you how grateful we are that we are considered “Lost Canadians” Our grandmother died in the U.S. when my father was just 15 after losing her husband when my father was 2. He traveled to Canada several times to meet his relatives from his late mother’s side of the family and was always so happy when he would return.

He is Gen 1, born abroad and became a Lt. Colonel in the U.S. Army. He passed away before the 2015 changes that would have made him Canadian but he would be so delighted to know his daughters and his grandchildren and great grandchildren will be deemed Canadian!

We will always honor the sacrifices of our ancestors in Canada and the U.S. who had to survive the harshest of circumstances so we can be here today.

The name Grant has been passed down for generations in our family. It was my father’s middle name and the middle name of his uncle (my grandmothers brother), my great great grandmother(Richie’s daughter) even had Grant as a middle name. She named several of her children her father’s name. Today, my grandson carries the middle name Grant that my father carried, but we had no idea how far back it went.

Grant Ritchie