Subscribe..
BURR LOCKHART PLATO
1833-27 September 1905
[People’s Press, 3 October 1905]
Burr Plato, the venerable patriarch of the colored settlement in this city, died in a Buffalo hospital on Wednesday night, at the age of 72 years. He had been ill for some time of an incurable malady and his demise was not unexpected. Deceased was born in slavery in Virginia and ran away in the early fifties with four companions and travelled by the Underground Railroad to Canada. He was then about 22 years of age. Of the five he was the last survivor. Young Plato became a member of the colony of escaped colony at the then village of Drummondville and sought work as a farm hand in Stamford and Thorold townships. Older residents remember how he use to work in the fields all day and tend limekilns at night. By this means and constant saving he gathered enough money to enable him to attend classes in winter and he soon learned to read and write. He showed unusual mental power for a man of his origin and was known as a successful man in all business transactions. Hr bought horses and a carriage and for many years plied the calling of Hackman on the river bank, being seen often this summer at his old vocation. In the bad old days he was sometimes called “The only honest Hackman around Niagara Falls.” Fifteen years ago he was nominated and elected to the council of the village of Niagara Falls, now the south end of the city, and for several years he served as a district representative of the people. Since his death, the flag at the city__________of his civic service. In politics he was a stalwart Liberal. He was a member of the old colored Masonic lodge, Victoria No.2, which existed here until a few years ago under special dispensation from the grand lodge of England. He was an earnest Christian, a faithful attendant at church and a constant student aof the Scriptures and there are few men who can claim more real credit at the end of their life’s work than Burr Plato. Forty years ago he married Mary Berry, who, with three sons and four daughters survive him. The sons are Jerry, Henry and John, the four daughters, Hattie, Hannah, Cassie and Clara. Several members of the family are dead. The funeral was held on Sunday afternoon at half-past one o’clock from the family home on Stanley street to Drummond Hill cemetery.
Add A Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.