John Ton
John Ton (born Jan Cornelis Ton) (30 May 1826, Akersloot, North Holland - 4 June 1896, Chicago, Illinois) was a Dutch-born American abolitionist active in the Underground Railroad in Illinois.
Ton was born in a village in the province of North Holland north of Amsterdam. He emigrated to America in 1849 with a group of Hollanders seeking a better life in America. They settled in an area about 15 miles (24 km) south of Chicago which they named "High Prairie," now Roseland, Chicago. John Ton settled on farm land further south on the north bank of the Calumet River that was owned by the Dalton brothers, Charles and Henry. This land is now part of the Riverdale community. In 1853, he married Aggie Vander Syde, another Dutch immigrant, and began raising a family. In 1859, they purchased the land from the Daltons. Eventually, John and Aggie had 14 children that lived to adulthood.
During this time, the country was on the brink of war over the slavery issue. Illinois was a hotbed having a southern border with slave states and leaders such as Abraham Lincoln advocating the abolition of slavery. Having achieved a better life for himself in America, John joined with other abolitionists in the area including Cornelius Kuyper, Charles Dyer, the Dalton brothers and others to establish a "link" in the Underground Railroad. Fugitive slaves could be hidden at his farm, away from the settlement of Roseland, until safe passage could be arranged to the next underground safehouse in Hohman Bridge (Hammond, Indiana) or possibly with a sympathetic ship captain leaving the Port of Chicago for Canada. In 2000, a community group called the Chicago/Calumet Underground Railroad Effort (C/CURE) was established to research and possibly develop the John Ton Farm site.
Following the War in 1867, John sold the farm on the Calumet River and moved to the north side of Roseland to an area known as Fernwood. He owned 40 acres (160,000 m2) of land (8 city blocks) north of 103rd street and west of Wentworth. He donated the western edge of this land to the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad to provide commuter rail service to the area from Chicago. In 1893, he built a unique "Dutch Victorian" style home at 316 West 103rd Street. He died April 6, 1896 and is buried in nearby Mt. Greenwood Cemetery.
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