LOCKPORT, March 27th, 1854.

Mr. F. DOUGLASS: DEAR SIR:—Will you
have the kindness to advertise in your paper
for my brother-in-law, Peter Hughes, a col
ored gentleman; and also, when you go to
Cincinnati to attend the Convention, make
enquiry for him. He has been absent 6 or
7 years, and I am anxious to hear of him.
Please do me the above favor, and very much
oblige. I remain

Most resctfully yours,

WOODFORD MILLSMills, Woodford

Woodford Mills (c. 1795-1870) was born into slavery in Woodford County, Kentucky. He escaped to Canada as a young man, joining the British Navy as a Captain’s Servant. By 1840, he was living in Lockport with his Canadian born wife, Amelia Carr. In Lockport, he supported his family working as a laborer. Mills was an active member of the community, participating in social clubs and the local Zion AME Church, being one of the original trustees of the church in 1844. “Niagara Discoveries: Black Lockportians of the 19th Century,” Lockport (N.Y.) Union-Sun & Journal, 13 February 2021; 1855 New York Census, Lockport, Niagara; Sharon R. Amos and Sharon A. Savannah, eds., Open Doors: Western New York African American Houses of Worship (Buffalo, N.Y.: The Writer’s Den, 2011), 88. .

P. S. When he left, he informed me that
he intended to make his residence in Cincin
nati; but I am fearful he has been made a
slave. W. M.

[If any of our friends in Ohio, or else
where, know such a man as Peter Hughes,
they will confer a favor upon Mr. Woodford
Mills, by sending him a line to Lockport,
N. Y.]—EDITOR.