Looking for Mississauga’s William and Lettie

This article is also a call for help. Much of the history of Mississauga’s early Black residents is unknown, unrecorded and unrecognized. We are trying, and in some cases succeeding in piecing together the fragmentary history, but there is much more to the stories, and pictures are scarce. Please reach out to us to share stories and images that you might have that could aid in better understanding these early chapters of our story.

Hutchinson - 1871 Census

Some years ago, in this series, in our ever-ongoing look at documenting the stories of early Black families in historic Mississauga, we touched on the 1894 wedding of Lettie Paul and William Hutchinson at St. John the Baptist Anglican Church in Dixie, as it was recounted in the Brampton Conservator newspaper:

“On Wednesday September 15th at 5 o’clock at the pretty little church of St. John was a day to be long remembered by those whose happy lot of fell to be there. It was the marriage of Ms. Lettie Paul (coloured) to Mr. Wm. Hutchinson (coloured) of Toronto. The bride was attired in a red cashmere dress, tan shoes and hose, drab hat and a smiling countenance. The groom wore a black suit, dude pants, open vest, Prince Albert coat, knock-about hat, red tie and piccadilly shoes. The knot was tied by the Rev. Ralph Hinds. The church was crowded to the doors. There were people from all parts of the section, some came them a distance of five miles to pay their respect to one of our esteemed citizens. After the knot was securely tied, and the newly married were proceeding to the residence of the bride’s guardian, at Cherry Hill, they were literally covered with showers of rice and good wishes. Arriving at the house, they were seated to a very sumptuous spread of all the delicacies of the season, after which they were escorted to the C.P.R. depot by a number of friends. At the station there were nearly one hundred people to wish them bon voyage and much joy as they stepped on the express to spend their honeymoon in Toronto, Oakville and other inland towns, after which they will return and take up house keeping in Mr. Robt. Pallett’s villa on the Middle Road, east of Corn Dilley Valley.” (Brampton Conservator, September 20, 1894)

The story of the wedding was intriguing. We knew a little about the bride, Lettie Paul. She was the daughter of Fanny Paul. Fanny (also referred to as “Old Fan”), was Black, had been born in the United States around 1832, and came to work for the Silverthorn family in Dixie around 1861. Lettie was born around 1871-72, and the identity of her father has not been documented. Lettie lived with her mother at the Silverthorn’s Cherry Hill House. Following Fanny’s passing prior to Lettie’s 1894 marriage, the Silverthorn sisters, Janet and Augusta, were recorded as her guardians.

Initially the wedding announcement from the newspaper contained all we knew about William, and we were at a loss about what happened to Lettie and William following their 1894 wedding. The article about the wedding also highlights, broadly, that the couple were well-liked and had “a number of friends”. But beyond that, we could find no further references to them. Recently, a new find led us down another path, and although we do not yet know the complete story, we thought it was an interesting one to share.

Hutchinson family from 1861 Census

So, who was William Hutchinson?

William was the son of Henry and Isabella Hutchinson. Henry was Black, born around 1793, and in the 1861 census was listed as a labourer and was living in Toronto Township (historic Mississauga). His birthplace is not clear – some records list him as being born in the United States, while others, including some records pertaining to his children, list Henry as having been born in Africa. His wife, Isabella (nee Canell, possibly Isabelle Mary Canell, 1821-c.1892), was born in Upper Canada (now Ontario). It is unclear if she was Black, as some census returns indicate that she was Black, and others identify her of English ancestry and do not give her racial origins. Regardless, Henry and Isabella were likely married prior to 1841. It is possible that Henry and Isabella were an interracial couple, at a time when such unions were not common.

Henry and Isabella had at least seven children that we have documented: Jane (1841-1900), James (1846-1942), William (c.1850-?), Joseph (1853-?), Julia (1855-?), Mary Elizabeth (1859-?) and Annie (1864-?). In the 1861 census, the family was living in a shanty in the Lakeview area of Mississauga, somewhere along Lakeshore Road in the vicinity of what is now Cawthra Road, and near the noted Duck family who owned a farm nearby. The reference to the Hutchinson family living in a shanty in 1861 would suggest that the family was not well off or well established.

James Hutchinson gravestone, Eventide Cemetery, Brampton

By 1871, patriarch Henry had passed away, and his widow and several children had moved to Oakville. The family listed in the Oakville census of 1871 included Isabella, now a widow, and her children James, William, Julia, Margaret and Annie. The eldest daughter, Jane, was already married and living elsewhere. By 1881, only brothers Joseph and William remained at home with their mother. In 1890 Isabella was living in Toronto, and her daughter Annie was employed as a domestic servant. It is believed that Isabella died in Toronto around 1892.

The eldest Hutchinson child, Jane, and her husband George Coursey (1831-1894), lived in Oakville, raised six children, and are buried at St. Jude’s Cemetery. They were members of the African Episcopal Methodist Church (Turner’s Chapel) in Oakville after it was founded in 1891.

Sibling Mary Elizabeth (“Margaret”) and her husband, Frank Howard (1855-1893), lived in York with their four children, and brother James Hutchinson and his wife Mary Pierce, lived in Toronto and Oakville over time. James passed away in the House of Refuge (Peel Manor) in Brampton in 1942 at the age of 98 and was buried in the adjacent cemetery (Eventide Cemetery).

James Herbert Hutchinson Birth Record, Pittsburgh, 1902

So, what happened to William and Lettie? After their 1894 wedding here in historic Mississauga and the reference to setting up housekeeping at the “villa” of the aging Robert Pallett (1828-1906), they seemingly disappear from records. Or at least Canadian records.

William and Lettie left historic Mississauga and immigrated to Pennsylvania around 1900 – they do not appear (that we have found) on the 1900 United States census, and they do not appear on the 1901 Canadian census, likely indicating that they left Canada for the United States sometime between the summer of 1900 and the early spring of 1901. By 1902, they were living in Pittsburgh, in a house on Francis Street, which was an area of the city where many Black “day labourers” who worked in the steel mills lived. One article from the 1920s referred to area as the “Francis Street Projects”, highlighting the difficult financial and social circumstances of residents in the area. Nearby, at the intersection of Wylie Avenue and Francis Street in Pittsburgh, an African Methodist Episcopal Church was built in 1902-03, known as the Trinity A.M.E. Church., and is said to have been the hub of a large Black community in Pittsburgh.

Why William and Lettie left historic Mississauga and resettled in Pittsburgh is unknown, but perhaps highlights the lack of security – keeping house for the aged Robert Pallett was not likely a guaranteed long-term employment option – and job prospects for many early Black families may well have been scarce. Pittsburgh was home to some of the largest steel mills in the world, and between 1901 and 1910, they were rapidly expanding. There were dozens of steel mills, and they employed hundreds of thousands of workers, many of whom were Black. Black workers faced discrimination, racism, dangerous working conditions, and received lower wages, but were able to find jobs, and large Black communities developed. Was this William’s story? We do not know, but the place and time perhaps suggests the possibility.

Hutchinson-Paul Wedding registration, 1894

Sadly, we have come to learn that the story of William and Lettie was not a happy one. Lettie gave birth to a son, James Herbert Hutchinson, on April 6, 1902. Unfortunately, James Herbert died on September 5, 1902. The heartbreaking loss of a child was far too common. Lettie herself died only a few years later, on September 14, 1905, at the age of 32. She was buried in Highwood Cemetery in Pittsburgh. Lettie’s grave is unmarked, much like that of her mother, Fanny, who is believed to be buried in the Silverthorn plot at Dixie Union Cemetery here in Mississauga. What little we know of both mother and daughter gives a glimpse into the lives of, and challenges faced by, many early Black residents. Admittedly there is much that we still do not know.

As for Lettie’s husband, William Hutchinson, to date we have been unable to positively find him after 1905.