Josiah Henson

Josiah Henson
Josiah Henson in 1877
Born	(1789-06-15)June 15, 1789 Charles County, Maryland, United States
Died	May 5, 1883(1883-05-05) (aged 93) Dresden, Ontario, Canada
Nationality	American, Canadian
Other names	Uncle Tom
Occupations	Author abolitionist minister colonizer soldier army officer
Spouse	Nancy Henson
Relatives	Matthew Henson
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Josiah Henson (June 15, 1789 – May 5, 1883) was an author, abolitionist, and minister. Born into slavery, in Port Tobacco, Charles County, Maryland, he escaped to Upper Canada (now Ontario) in 1830, and founded a settlement and laborer's school for other fugitive slaves at Dawn, near Dresden, in Kent County, Upper Canada, of Ontario. Henson's autobiography, The Life of Josiah Henson, Formerly a Slave, Now an Inhabitant of Canada, as Narrated by Himself (1849), is believed to have inspired the title character of Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852).^[1] Following the success of Stowe's novel, Henson issued an expanded version of his memoir in 1858, Truth Stranger Than Fiction. Father Henson's Story of His Own Life (published Boston: John P. Jewett & Company, 1858). Interest in his life continued, and nearly two decades later, his life story was updated and published as Uncle Tom's Story of His Life: An Autobiography of the Rev. Josiah Henson (1876).