James Mink

James Mink was a black man who became a respected millionaire businessman in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in the 1840s when slavery was rampant in the United States.

Mink's story is told in the loosely autobiographical made-for-TV movie Captive Heart: The James Mink Story, starring Lou Gossett, Jr. as James Mink and Kate Nelligan as his wife.

Mink was the eldest of 11 children of a slave known only as "Mink" . His father and mother were owned by United Empire Loyalist, Johan Herkimer.

James Mink became a millionaire, along with his brother, George. Both started hotels, liveries and coach services, first in Kingston, Ontario. James moved to Toronto in the 1840s, while his brother remained in Kingston. They transported travelers between Toronto and Kingston, the capital city of Upper Canada; a colony of Great Britain. The brothers transported passengers to the other's base city, meeting at the halfway point in Brighton. They exchanged passengers, procured fresh horses, and returned home with the passengers.

They gained the respect of their fellow Canadians and were assigned the mail runs. George would take the mail from Kingston to Montreal, while James took the mail to Kingston and other towns surrounding Toronto. James' hotel was used as a voting station in Toronto elections. The mayor hired his coach service for his inauguration in the 1850s. Farmers outside of Toronto would stay at his hotel when they came to town to sell their produce at the farmer's market, St. Lawrence Market, not far from the hotel. Many Torontonians used his livery service, as did the Sheriff of the city.

Both brothers started the first public transit system in their respective cities. James took people from the Town of Yorkville to the St. Lawrence market in the downtown area.

James Mink married a white Irish immigrant, Elizabeth. Irish girls and women often arrived in Canada penniless and without families, so priests arranged marriages with single men who were making a decent living. It is suspected this is how James and Elizabeth met, but cannot be confirmed. Black men in Canada were free to marry anyone they fell in love with and intermarriage was encouraged either for political, social or natural reasons. Toronto census in the 1840s and 1850s show numerous Black men who escaped slavery in the United States, to arrive in Canada and marry Irish women. Keep in mind, inter-marriage was illegal in the "slave states" of the United States of America, but all Black people were free at this time in Canada.

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