cacakerbamakhlukpolitik

In the last post , we covered Abraham's grandparents, Hans and Elizabeth "Betty Jackson" Schad, and his parents, Jeremiah and Amelia (and Amelia) Shadd. Up until this point, the family was well-known and successful (especially considering that they were black, or at least "mulatto") in the local area, but starting with Abraham, their notoriety would extend to the national, and international, level. As noted, Abraham Doras Shadd (likely named after a prominent black Wilmington barber, Abraham Doras) was born into a vibrant and successful family. He spent his early life following in his father's footsteps, becoming a shoemaker. Although he and his family were successful and freely intermingled with white society, they made no attempt to remove themselves from black society. Shadd, not surprisingly, was strongly anti-slavery, but remained uninvolved with the fight until a new movement arose in the late 1810's to which he was fiercely opposed. The African Co...

Once in a while here, I plan on shifting gears a bit and writing a post not about a place or building, but about a person. I'm not usually a betting man, but I'd lay down good money that not many people know that the first black man to hold elected office in Canada was born and raised right here in Mill Creek Hundred. He even had a postage stamp issued in his honor in Canada in 2009. Not only is Abraham Shadd's story fascinating, but I think his entire family's contributions to history are greatly under appreciated. In my own attempt to rectify this, I'll focus in this post on Shadd's parents and grandparents, then in the next one on Abraham and his children. They have all made significant contributions to MCH, Wilmington, US, and Canadian history. Abraham Shadd's grandfather, Hans Schad, was a Hessian (German) mercenary who came to North America in 1755 to fight with Gen Braddock's army in the French and Indian War. At some point that year, he was woun...