1884-08-29 Two Public Mtgs Involving Black Citizens

Members of Hamilton’s black community figured prominently in two stories appearing in the August 29 issue if the Spectator. Both stories involved meetings, but the meetings were of a widely divergent nature.

Oddfellows was a name used for a wide variety  of fraternal organizations .

One Oddfellow order was  the Grand United Order of Oddfellows. This particular order’s members were referred to in the Spectator article , as “Colored Oddfellows.”

In the years just before the American Civil War, and in the years after it, the many lodges of Grand United Order of Oddfellows in both Canada and the United States had very large membership numbers, but by 1884, it was slightly in decline.

On August 28, 1884, the Toronto Globe published an article which describing the events surrounding an annual meeting of the combined lodges of the Grand United Order of Oddfellows from the cities of Hamilton and of Toronto.

The meeting was to be held in Toronto at that City’s Temperance hall. Therefore the Hamilton members, their lodge known as the Mount Brydges Lodge, made their way from Hamilton to Toronto all together by train.

When the Hamilton contingent, numbering 175, arrived at Toronto’s Union station around 1 p.m., they were met by the members of the Toronto Lodge, the Peter Ogden Lodge. All the lodge members, in full regalia, formed in procession and marched together to Queen’s Park.

The procession was headed by Hamilton’s Prof. Jesse Gant whose exuberant gyrations in that role attracted much attention and applause,

Once at Queen’s Park, there was still some time to wait until the scheduled 4 p.m. starting time for the annual meeting. To pass some of the time, a spontaneous baseball match between some of the Hamilton and Toronto lodge members was played on the grounds of the provincial capital building.

The formal part of the annual meeting was reported in some detail in the Toronto Globe :

“About 4 o’clock, the members of the two lodges held their annual meeting in the lodge room, Temperance hall. These lodges are the only two lodges now surviving in Canada. District Master J. B. Gains occupied the chair, assisted by Deputy District Master J. T. Bryant, of Hamilton.

“After the examination of credentials, reports were read from the Hamilton and Toronto lodges, showing those lodges to have progressed satisfactorily since the last meeting, both numerically and financially. Reports from Amherstburg, Dresden and Chatham extinct lodges stated that hopes were entertained of reviving those lodges. Reports were also received from the “households of Ruth” of Hamilton and Toronto. These are the female courts. They are also in a flourishing condition.”¹

¹ Colored Oddfellows : Meeting of the District Lodge of Canada in Toronto”

Hamilton Spectator. August 29, 1884 (a reprint of Globe article).

Once the annual meeting was concluded, it was time for the members of the Hamilton and Toronto lodges to enjoy themselves:

“In the evening, a concert was given in Albert hall, and a programme of vocal and instrumental music was well-rendered. After the concert, the floor was cleared and dancing indulged in.

The Hamilton excursionists returned yesterday morning.”¹

The other meeting involving members of Hamilton black community had far fewer participants.

The meeting was held at the Macnab street Baptist church and was sparcely attended :

“Rev. Professor C. Astronomical Johnson, D. D., L. L. D., etc., the distinguished scientist, educationist, author, philanthropist, editor and proprietor of the British Lion and American Eagle, lecturer on abstruse scientific subjects, and colored gentleman, lectured to some fifteen or twenty persons in the Macnab street Baptist church on The Hiding Place of the Wind. The chair was occupied by Deacon Davis, the seer, who lectured in the same place on Tuesday night,” ¹

¹  “Astronomical Johnson”

Hamilton Spectator. August 29, 1884.

The titles of both main individuals in this story, the Reverend Professor Johnson and Deacon Davis, may or just maybe not, have been legitimately acquired. They were both flamboyant speaker who often set up public meetings to expound on their their outlandish theories.

At these gatherings, the speakers could take up a collection and/or sell their pamphlets or other publications in which their views were published.

As noted above, Professor Johnson was supposed to be the leading figure at the meeting, but, as described in the Spectator of August 29, 1884, his lecture was less than riveting for the small audience :

“The professor has already lectured on the same subject in the same place, and most of those present had heard it before. He had no new theories to offer, and his facts and illustrations were the same old ones expressed in the same way.

The audience grew impatient.”¹

There were calls for Professor Johnson to vacate the lectern and be replaced by Deacon Davis :

“The audience called for Deacon Davis to enlighten them further on the subject of his supernatural experiences; but the good deacon did not come there to talk; he came to preside; and he could not be induced to do more than tell a little that he saw in the neighborhood of Dousena, the fixed star, which is, according to his theory, stationed in the third atmosphere. He declared, also, that he would soon make known to the world his principle of perpetual motion, and would submit his p.p. machine to the inspection of a committee to be appointed for that purpose.”¹

The expected prime speaker for the meeting  was less than pleased with what had transpired:

“Prof. Johnson , disgusted at the partiality shown for his rival, left the church, and left the deacon to the mercy of the audience”¹.