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May 6, 2021 · Thornton and Lucie (Ruthie) Blackburn, freedom seekers, entrepreneurs, anti-slavery activists and community benefactors (Thornton, born c. 1812 in Maysville, Kentucky; died in 1890 in Toronto, ON. Lucie, born c. 1803, possibly in the West Indies; died in 1895 in Toronto). After a dramatic flight from Kentucky slavery, their recapture in Detroit ...
Lucie Blackburn. Born. 1803. Died. 1895. Toronto, Canada. Lucie "Ruthie" Blackburn (1803–1895) was a self-emancipated West-Indian, American former slave who escaped to Canada with her husband Thornton Blackburn and helped him establish the first taxi company in Toronto. [1][2]
Feb 9, 2022 · Thornton decided to introduce this new method of public transportation to Toronto. In 1837, Thornton and Lucie hired a mechanic to build them a cab and decided to call it “The City.”. Their horse-drawn cab was painted yellow and red, and the cab stand was located on Church Street. They ran a successful business that lasted until the 1860s.
Thornton and Lucie escaped from Louisville to Michigan in 1831. They had been living there for two years when, in 1833, Kentucky slave hunters located, re-captured, and arrested the couple. [2] The Blackburns were jailed but were allowed visitors, which provided the opportunity for Lucie to exchange her clothes and her incarceration with Mrs. George French. [4]
Feb 26, 2020 · Thornton and Lucie Blackburn were designated “persons of national historic significance” by the Government of Canada in 1999. In the epilogue of Frost’s book, she wrote about the couple.
- Melanie Zettler
Thornton and Lucie Blackburn were freedom seekers who fled enslavement in Kentucky and established the first taxi business in Upper Canada. The Blackburns, whose story was lost and only re-discovered in 1985, were born enslaved in the United States. Almost extradited after escaping to Canada,
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Thornton Blackburn was born into enslavement in Kentucky. Separated from his mother at a young age, Blackburn was forced to work as a child, including driving carriages and working as a porter. As a teenager, Thornton met “Ruthie” (later known as Lucie), an enslaved, Caribbean-born woman who was working as a nursemaid.
