Eliza Winston
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In 1860 Eliza Winston, a thirty-year-old slave was visiting St. Anthony, Minnesota with her owners, Richard and Mary Christmas of Issaquena County, Mississippi. During that time it was typical for tourists to travel to cooler climates by steamboat up the Mississippi River during the summer months. The Christmases and five-year-old daughter, Norma, and Eliza Winston were staying at the Winslow House hotel when she gained her freedom with the help of Ralph and Emily Grey.[1] According to her deposition, she and her late husband had previously purchased her freedom, but Ralph Christmas had purchased her from her previous owner, Mr. Gholson, and did not honor her emancipation.[2]
Minnesota was a Free state, and Judge Charles Vandenburgh agreed to hear her case. The judge sent the sheriff to the Winslow House to take her into custody. The following day, after a hearing, the judge ruled that Winston was a free woman. Many in the community believed that the event would damage the tourism trade. That evening, a mob surrounded the Grey's home and demanded her return to the Christmases, but with the aid of the underground railroad she was already on her way to Ontario.[3]
Ironically, she voluntarily returned to the Christmases in Issaquena County before the Civil War broke out.[4]
