Ann Maria Jackson
Ann Maria Jackson (1810–January 28, 1880) was an enslaved woman with nine children who ran away from her enslaver in November 1858 after two of her eldest children had been sold. Her husband became mentally ill and died in a poor house. After finding out that four more of her children were about to be sold, she gathered the seven children who were with her and traveled along the Underground Railroad for Canada. She went through the way of Wilmington, then to Philadelphia, later to St.Catherines, and then to Toronto. This was rare as she had brought her seven children with her through the Underground Railroad. It was difficult for women to run away secretly. The Jacksons established new lives for themselves in Toronto. Her two eldest children later reunited with the family, and the youngest, Albert Jackson, became the first African American to work as a letter carrier in Toronto. Marriage and children Ann Maria Jackson, born about 1810, was described as a pleasant, intelligent, and attractive woman. She was enslaved by James Brown, who was a hard-drinking, wealthy widower. She had nine children with her husband John Jackson, a free blacksmith, and they lived in Milford, Delaware. According