CLAN ROSS CANADA - NATIONAL GATHERING
JUNE 23-25, 2006 in London, Ontario

Come and Discover South Western Ontario's Underground Railroad with Clan Ross! The Underground Railroad was the escape route to Canada for American slaves in the 1850s and early '60s. Please join us in 2006 in London, Ontario, for a wonderful weekend! Enjoy great food, interesting historical sites, fantastic entertainment and comfortable accommodation with Clan Ross members from across Canada!

Clan Ross - Canada will honour Dr. Alexander Milton Ross (1832-1897) as part of our 2006 Gathering.

The driving force behind Canada's involvement in the Underground Railroad was Dr. Alexander Milton Ross of Belleville, Ontario. Dr. Ross was an extraordinary character, but one relatively unknown except to historians specializing in his era. The theme behind Clan Ross's National Gathering is to help uncover the role this great Canadian played in helping bring freedom to thousands of people.

Our Special Guest will be a Dr. Ross expert, author Steven Duff. Clan Ross is honoured to have Steven Duff, an author, a historian and a Dr. Alexander Ross expert, as our guest throughout this incredible weekend. Mr. Duff's book, Hunter of Dreams reveals the story of the relatively unknown Dr. Ross, based on his own memoirs as well as contemporary magazine and newspaper articles. Steven will join us for all of the weekend's events, and will be our "after lunch" speaker on our Saturday bus tour.

Two of Dr. Alexander Ross's great-great-granddaughters will also attend our event. Coming all the way from England, sisters Gillian Blair and Janet Montague Jones are thrilled that we are honouring their ancestor. Both have a special bond with Canada. During World War II they lived in Victoria BC. Their father was part of the British Government of Singapore and they had to escape to Canada after the Japanese invasion.

WEEKEND EVENTS

Friday, June 23rd , Evening. 7 pm. [Scottish Ceilidh, at the Ramada Inn London] Enjoy the foot-tapping Scottish music of "The Gaels" folk group, who have entertained in the London area for 3 decades. Food.

Saturday, June 24th [Discovering the Underground Railroad in Southwestern Ontario] We'll take a bus tour from London to the Chatham area (a 75 minute drive) to visit 3 exciting sites. The trip will depart the Ramada Inn at 9am and return at 10pm. The tour fee includes lunch, dinner, the air conditioned coach, and entrance fees into all 3 sites! Tour itinerary:

A) Our First Stop - Uncle Tom's Cabin Historic Site. Visit the Cabin's Website for more information if you wish.
This world famous site commemorates the life of Reverend Josiah Henson and his contributions to the Underground Railroad. Josiah Henson's name became synonymous with the central character "Uncle Tom" in Harriet Beecher Stowe's famous novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. The novel sold 300,000 copies within the first year and helped to raise awareness to the brutality of slavery. Abraham Lincoln credited the book as being a catalyst of the Civil War. It was Henson's life experiences that inspired Ms. Stowe's creation of the character Uncle Tom in her 1852 outcry against slavery.
Born in Maryland, Josiah Henson worked as a slave for forty-one years. In 1830, he and his family escaped to Upper Canada (Ontario) via the Underground Railroad. In 1841, he moved his family to Dresden and helped to establish the Dawn Settlement. The settlement was established to provide a refuge and a new beginning for former slaves.
Clan Ross will enjoy a special guided tour of the site and a wonderful catered lunch. Our visit will conclude with an interesting presentation by Steven Duff on Dr. Alexander Ross's role in the Underground Railroad. We are tentatively planning on unveiling a gift to the site to honour Dr. Ross on behalf of Clan Ross Canada.

B) Our Second Stop - RM Classic Car Exhibit Visit the Museum Website for more information.
This restoration shop and museum features an ever-changing display of 100 historical automobiles from the last century. The exhibit offers an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see some of the world's rarest and greatest automobiles up close.

C) Our Final Stop - Buxton Museum & National Historic Site Visit the Buxton Museum website for additional details.
The site is a memorial to the Elgin Settlement, which was a haven for fugitive slaves. The tour guides are descendents of fugitive slaves and are a wealth of information and stirring personal stories. It is one of Canada's few remaining Black Canadian settlements in existence since the pre-civil war era.

At night we will feast on a Soul Food Dinner, home-cooked by the Buxton Ladies Auxiliary. Following the dinner, Clan Ross will enjoy an inspiring gospel concert and traditional African-Canadian entertainment. Not to be missed!

Sunday, June 25th - [Brunch, the AGM, and a Dinner]

- Morning, Optional Church Service at Chalmers Presbyterian Church, in London.
- Brunch at the Ramada Inn, followed by the National Annual General Meeting.
- Optional Dinner 6:00 pm at the Ramada Inn restauraunt. Participants will individually pay for their own meals.

ABOUT DR. ALEXANDER MILTON ROSS - THE "BIRDMAN"

Dr. Alexander Milton Ross was a little known anti-slavery activist and 'conductor' on the Underground Railway until Steven Duff (a former Toronto-area High School music teacher) now living near Parry Sound, Ontario, wrote the historical novel, Hunter of Dreams (published in 2001). Dr. Ross was born in Hastings County, Belleville, Upper Canada, on December 13, 1832, and he died on October 27, 1897, in Detroit, Michigan, USA. He was the son of William Ross (1792-1844) and Fredericka Grant (1796-1855), and married Hester Harrington in 1857.

Ontario's founding Lieutenant-Governor, John Graves Simcoe, had led the abolition of slavery as one of the first parliamentary acts in Upper Canada (Ontario) in 1793, fully 60 years before slavery's abolition in the United States.

As a youngster, Alexander's parents had discussed the evils of slavery with him. When Ross met refugees and anti-slavery activists in Toronto, he translated their hopes into action. Thereafter, he led a multiple life as an abolitionist, a medical doctor, a naturalist, and writer. At the age of 23 (1855), he went on extensive tours into the southern states, even as far as New Orleans, Louisiana, using his background in ornithology (the study of birds) as a pretense at doing research at the plantations. In reality, he was spreading the news about Canada and alerting slaves to the existence of the Underground Railroad and how fugitives could get there by travelling at night while staying at safe refuges during the day. The "Birdman" was known to give the freedom pursuers money, a compass, knives, pistols and food. In the process, he faced a number of dangerous situations.

When he read Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, which was published on March 20, 1852, Dr. Ross made a lifetime commitment to the abolitionist cause. In later years Ross said of Stowe's novel:


Dr. Alexander Milton Ross had a broad connection with the anti-slavery movement and the Underground Railroad. He publicized the route to the Black Settlements in Canada and the location of safe houses along the way. He not only supplied the slaves with provisions but he often accompanied groups to their destinations between Niagara Falls and Windsor. Reverend Josiah Henson's Dawn Settlement at Dresden was one destination on the Underground Railway. Another one was Harriet (Ross) Tubman's family refuge in St. Catharines.

He became a personal friend of abolitionist John Brown, and his work brought him to the attention of Abraham Lincoln, who commissioned him as a special agent to monitor the Confederate activities in Canada during the Civil War. Ross's work, declared Lincoln, shortened the Civil War by the better part of a year.

Between the years 1876 and 1881, Dr Ross was knighted by the emperor of Russia, and honoured with medals from the leaders of Italy, Greece, Saxony and Portugal; he was a member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Quebec and Ontario; he was a founder of the Society of the Diffusion of Physiological Knowledge; he became the Ontario Treasurer and Commissioner of Agriculture; he was appointed Canadian Consul in Belgium and Denmark, and he received the decoration of the "Academie Francaise" from the government of France.

The official opening of the "People and Places: London's Black Community" exhibit at Museum London at London, Ontario, took place on January 31, 2004, just prior to Black History Month (February). Featured was an historical portrayal of Dr. Alexander Milton Ross, considered a great shepherd on the Underground Railway.

BACKGROUND TO THE DECISION

On Sunday, April 24, 2005, there was a National Executive Meeting via speakerphone (tele-conferencing) to make plans for the Annual General Meeting in London in 2006 from the Friday evening reception and Scottish entertainment on June 23 until the AGM business meeting after lunch on Sunday, June 25. There was much enthusiasm about the plans for Saturday, June 24, which will focus upon the next Clan Ross - Canada Project.

Among the candidates for this honour were a Commemoration of Ross Township as a pioneer settlement on the Ottawa River north of Renfrew, James K Ross as one of founders of the original Clan Ross - Canada (1911) at the Ross Memorial Hospital he endowed in Lindsay, Philip D. Ross who was appointed by Lord Stanley as a trustee for hockey's Stanley Cup, Sir George William Ross who was an Ontario Minister of Education and an Ontario Liberal Premier and a member of the Federal Senate, Major-General H. Cameron Ross who commanded the UN Disengagement Observation Force on the Syrian Golan Heights and became Director General of the International Security Policy for the Canadian Department of National Defence, and Doctor Alexander Milton Ross of Belleville, Ontario, whose multiple talents were used as a conductor for the Underground Railway during the fight to abolish slavery in the USA.

The participants at the Executive Tele-conference decided that our next National Project should recognize the contributions of Dr. Alexander Milton Ross of Belleville to the Underground Railroad.

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