San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-03-06
HENRY CLAY'S COLONY
In Indiana Where He Located his
Emancipated Slaves.

Emanclpated Slaves.
A few miles north Of Elkhart,
Ind, is a settlement exclusively OF
colored people, and known as Cal
vim Center, says a dispatch from
Elkhart to the Chicago Inter Ocean.
In fact, the entire township in
which Calvin Center is located is
occupied by colored people, nearly
all Of whom are farmers on a large
and successful scale.
The township has no small de-
gree OF interest attaching to it,
both from a historical and socio.
logical standpoint, as some OF those
who now live there and the anCes-
tors Of the present generation were
slaves on the plantation of Henry
Clay, the great Kentucky states
man, and for long and faithful
servitude We're granted their free
dom by him few years prior to
his death.
Henry Clay, in recognition OF the
faithful services of a number OF
his old family servants, and in a
spirit of characteristic generosity,
gave them their liberty and con-
veyed them to Ohio, where he
bought them lands and located
them. He returned to Kentucky,
and but a few weeks afterwards,
whilst sitting on the Veranda OF
his plantation home one evening
in a reverie, he was aroused by
loud shout, and, looking up, saw
the entire band OF his emancipat-
ed slaves plodding down the road
towards him, swinging their hats
and sunbonnets and shouting no.
sannas OF gladness that they were
again on the old familiar grounds.
In response to his questioning they
informed him that they had be-
come so homesick that they could
stand it no longer, and pulling up
stakes and dispOsing OF their live
stock and goods, they had walked
the entire distance back to Ken
lucky to spend their remaining
days in the fields they had known
so well.
Clay had some pet theories in
regard to his scheme, and was
chagrined in being disappointed
at Its outcome. He decided to
make another effort, and after dis
posing of the Ohio lands he had
bought for them, he again loaded
them up. Concluding that he
would remove them to more dis
tant point, whence they would not
be so likely to walk back to Ken
lucky, he landed them in Calvin
township, a few miles north of
Elkhart, which was then scarcely
a village, and there they have
stuck ever since, multiplying and
prospecting even more in both re-
spects, it may truthfully be said,
than their white neighbors of the
surrounding townships.
II Henry Clay's theory was q So
Geological one-that the negro
could be made self-respecting, in
dependent and self-sustaining-he
was right, for under the thrifty
care OF his pioneer ex-slaves the
broad and fertile acres of Calvin
have been made to yield most
bountifully, and today the most
prosperous farmers Of that section
are to be found among the colored
people. Considera Die Indian blood
has crept into the colony, and
straight hair, high cheek bones
and an admiXture OF Indian and
negro features are noticeable.
The colored people showed a
great shrewdness in getting pos.
session of hundreds and hundreds
OF acres of the hardwood timber
land that abounded in their neigh
borhOOd before the matter of tim
Der supply assumed the impor-
lance OF question, and as the re-
suit they are today the owners of
nearly all the hardwood timber in
this locality, and have an absolute
monopoly Of the hard tirewood
market in Elkhart and the sur
rounding towns of less Importance.
In the summer time they push
their farming, and IN the winter
haul wood and saw logs, and by
this means always keep themselves
supplied with ready money, hav-
ing the advantage in this re spect
OF majority of their white friends.
Some Of them also do an extensive
charcoal burning business.
There used to be great deal Of
laWlessness in Calvin, but that has
become a thing OF the past, and
now the cOlored people of that sec
ton are looking after the educa-
tlonal interests OF their offspring
as ardently as are the whites, and
a majority OF the vnnnr mon and