Abraham D. Shadd

[6] Abraham spent most of his early life in Wilmington, Delaware, eventually taking over the shoe-making shop his father Jeremiah had created.

He used both his homes in West Chester, Pennsylvania, and Wilmington, Delaware, to provide lodging for fugitive slaves fleeing southern states.

[8] He also was a member and early trustee of the Prince Hall Masonic Lodge, which assisted former black slaves and freed men in their immigration to Canada West.

[8][9] Shadd died on February 11, 1882, a very prominent and well-known man within Canada West and the abolitionist and civil rights movements of the 1800s.

His prominence fostered a large funeral ceremony attended at Maple Leaf Cemetery by residents of Kent County, where he would be buried.