PROVINCIAL HERITAGE SITE
Shiloh Baptist part of black history
Shiloh Baptist Church is hallowed ground for Crystal Mayes.
When she visits the site of the church and cemetery near Maidstone, she feels a need to be quiet.
Her great-grandmother, Mattie Mayes, who became a midwife in the Maidstone area, was one of the original Shiloh People who moved to Saskatchewan in 1910. The families built a church of hand-cut poplar logs from the North Saskatchewan River’s banks and around it, a community. The church and its adjoining cemetery were named a Provincial Heritage Property on Thursday.
“You kind of want to have a moment to take it all in and I guess of respect,” she said. Inside the church is a collection of photos. The pews are rough hewn logs.
Mayes reflects on the strength it would have taken the families seeking freedom to travel more than 1,600 kilometres to an area 30 kilometres northwest of Maidstone. Their only promise was free land, Mayes said, and they didn’t know what the climate or land would be like — but they were leaving the Jim Crow South behind.
They created the first and only black farming community in the province and laid the foundation of the social centre of their new community, which was complete in 1912.
Outside Shiloh Baptist Church is a cemetery with at least 37 graves of the original settlers and their descendants. Once marked by stones, they now are marked by white wooden crosses.
In a news release about the heritage designation, Parks, Culture and Sport Minister Gene Makowsky said the province recognizes the importance of the site and its significant effect in shaping the identity and culture of Saskatchewan.
“In the early 20th century, African-american families seeking freedom from discrimination made this small farming community in Saskatchewan their home,” he said in the release.
Leander Lane, whose greatgrandfather Julius Caesar Lane was one of the original Shiloh People, led the movement to restore the church and cemetery. Julius Caesar Lane was born in Virginia, sold as a slave in Mississippi and freed at the age of 15. He owned a couple hundred acres of land in Missouri and was the father of 16 children.
The church already had municipal heritage designation, but the provincial designation will protect it from further changes. Lane said no one will be able to change the nature of the site: if it needs new logs, for example, a modern product could not be used.
Leander Lane became involved when elders in the Mayes and Lane families approached him, asking him to go with them to Saskatchewan and meet with people about the condition of the church. At the time, it was in danger of collapsing, Lane said by telephone from his home in Edmonton.
When he returned to Edmonton afterward, he founded the nonprofit Shiloh Baptist Church and Cemetery Restoration Society in 2002. It raised tens of thousands of dollars over the years to restore the church, including replacing rotting logs and raising the building. With the bulk of the restoration complete, the attention has turned to ongoing maintenance of the grounds and replacing some of the windows.
“Most of the original Shiloh People, they all had been born into slavery from other parts of the South,” Lane said.
They had moved to Oklahoma, thinking of it as a safe haven, because they could set up schools and their own towns, he said.
But that all changed with the segregationist state government, which wanted to take away black voting rights.
Lane said his ancestors saw the same Canadian government advertisements that others did, calling for immigrants. It soon became apparent that black people weren’t welcome, however. Moves to curb black newcomers included then-prime minister Wilfrid Laurier’s cabinet approval in 1911 of an order-in-council to ban blacks from entering Canada. It never did become law.
“When my (great) grandfather died, white people in Maidstone did not want black people in their cemetery. So, they created Shiloh cemetery to bury him,” Lane said. When his great-grandfather died, the cemetery had not yet been set up.
“My belief is they just wanted to bury him according to their own way. One of those ways was to grab a field stone, lay it at the head of the grave and plant a spruce tree taken from the North Saskatchewan River,” Lane said. Then they would put the name of the person in a bottle and lay it on the grave.
Lane learned much about his great-grandfather and put together a family tree. He’s met many of his cousins and is supported by members of his family and the Mayes family.
Mayes’ family made a success of their farm, which the descendants own and rent to local farmers.
Mayes, a Saskatoon nurse, is a director with the Saskatchewan African Canadian Heritage Museum, which has been active in sharing the history of African Canadians to all Saskatchewan residents. Her siblings have also achieved much success: her brother was an NFL player, one sister was an internationally competitive bobsledder and another sister was the president of the Saskatchewan Veterinary Association.
“I think we have this mentality that we can do anything if you really set your mind to it. Of course it comes from our history,” she said. “That’s what my great-grandmother means to me ... she (was) a strong woman.”
Most of the original Shiloh People, they all had been born into slavery from other parts of the South. LEANDER LANE, a descendant of the first Shiloh settlers