When African-American communities favoured emigration (and many did not), they preferred going to a country where free Black people could hold full political control over their destiny.

Near the end of June 1828, the Black population of Cincinnati elected Israel Lewis and Thomas Crissup to survey a site in Canada to which they could emigrate.

Lewis and Crissup met with John Colbourne, the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, to discuss prospects of settling in the area.

Those who were primarily forced out of Cincinnati by violence, fear, and inability to work generally settled in nearby towns or villages.

They appealed to other sources for additional support, with efforts to raise monies in Cincinnati and pleas to the Ohio state legislature made in vain.

On September 20, 1830, James Brown, former US Minister of France and US Senator from Louisiana, and Stephen Duncan, an extremely wealthy planter and slaveholder from Pennsylvania and Mississippi, purchased 400 acres (1.6 km2) for the settlement.

American social reformer William Lloyd Garrison visited the colony in 1831 and noted that 20-30 children attended schools.

The proximity of the settlement to the Ausable River gave transportation access to goods, and provided a way to export products, both agricultural and forest-related.

The Mother Bethel Church in Philadelphia assembled Black leaders from across the north to search for solutions to empower all African Americans.

Impetus began at the first annual convention of the ASFPC, with the proposal to establish a manual labor college for young men in New Haven, Connecticut.

Within the first 18 months, as Wilberforce grew from the initial few families, other Black American emigrants joined them from Boston, Rochester, Albany, New York, Baltimore, and other cities.

[7] According to a historian of the area: Nathaniel Paul, who was sent to England to solicit funds, returned with over $7000 in collections, but his expenses totaled over $8000, leaving the Colony with a substantial debt.

Lewis spent over 10 years collecting funds throughout the United States and Canada, but obstinately refused to turn over any money to the Board of Managers.

Angry and frustrated, the Board of Managers were forced to publish notices in several newspapers warning contributors not to donate any money to Lewis.

[4]By the late 1840s, the Irish began moving into the area as part of a wave of immigration resulting from widespread famine in Ireland.

The Black population declined greatly, with many of the original colonists moving on to larger, growing urban centres such as Detroit, Cleveland, or Toronto to obtain wage-based employment.

But, by the end of the 20th century, only the family of settler Peter Butler still had descendants in the area of the Wilberforce Colony village.