1924 -
Community Celebration

 Many courageous people made the perilous journey along the Underground Railroad from the American South to escape enslavement, and pursue freedom, education, and a strong future for themselves and their descendants in Canada.

The Elgin Settlement became home for approximately 1,200 people of African descent, many of whom later returned to the US and held positions of prominence because of the opportunities they had while in Buxton.

The first Homecoming was initiated by the Sunshine Club of the British Methodist Episcopal Church and was held on Labour Day 1924 in a local pasture under a pear tree that still stands today. Former residents were invited to return ‘home’ to the community, where, still today, descendants make the homeward pilgrimage to rekindle memories and renew ties with their roots, family and friends.

This one-day event evolved to a full four-day celebration where people share their heritage through music, historical re-enactments, conferences, a parade, a ball tournament and other activities.

This event attracts many community members and tourists beyond those with Buxton connections, allowing Homecoming to remind us all of the injustices endured, struggles to overcome them, and the rewards of achievement.

1958 -
Ballet Dancer, Choreographer, Artistic Director

Born in Windsor and moved as a child to Chatham, David Nixon first trained as a dancer there at age 4 and then the National Ballet School of Canada, where he later became a principal dancer with the National Ballet of Canada.

While advancing his talents as a choreographer, Nixon joined ballet companies in Berlin, Germany and Columbus, Ohio before assuming the role of artistic director of Northern Ballet in Leeds, UK, in 2001.

While there he premiered 29 full-length ballets, 23 one-act works, and 14 original musical compositions, including new versions and adaptations of Madame Butterfly, Swan Lake, Beauty and the Beast, The Great Gatsby, Dracula, The Little Mermaid, among many others.

A guest artist at ballet companies around the globe, he was voted Director of the Year 2003 and 2006 by readers of Dance Europe magazine, and the Northern Ballet Theatre won the Audience Award in the 2004, 2005 and 2006 National Dance Awards.

Appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2010, and Commander of the Order in 2022, that year he stepped down from the Northern Ballet, and in 2024 joined the Cape Town City Ballet in South Africa as artistic director in its 90th anniversary year.

1966 -
Novelist, Essayist

Born in 1966 and raised in Chatham, Ray Robertson graduated from Chatham Collegiate Institute in 1985 before studying philosophy at the University of Toronto and creative writing at Texas State University.

He has authored numerous novels, collections of non-fiction, and a book of poetry. His writings have been translated into several languages. Manyof his books, including I Was There the Night He Died, David, and 1979 are set in the Chatham-Kent area.

The Globe and Mail wrote, “Clever, word-, drunk, and falling down funny…Robertson is a moral writer and a bitingly intelligent one.” His All the Years Combine: The Grateful Dead in Fifty Shows is a fascinating chronicle of the band’s history.

He has also authored the liner notes for several Grateful Dead archival releases.

1874 - 1950
Novelist, Screenwriter, Poet

Born in Chatham and moving to London at age 10, Arthur Stringer attended London Collegiate Institute, enrolled at the University of Toronto and later studied at Oxford University.

In 1895 he worked for the Montreal Herald and was publishing in Saturday Night and Canadian Magazine. In 1898 he got a job at the Associated Press and moved to New York City, where he was published in Harper’s and The Atlantic.

Stringer first married famed Gibson Girl and actress, Jobyna Howland, and after divorce, married Margaret Arbuthnott and moved to New Jersey.

He wrote crime fiction, wilderness adventures, and science fiction, He was most successful at social realism as demonstrated by his acclaimed trilogy, Prairie Wife (1915), Prairie Mother (1920) and Prairie Child (1921). In it he tells the tale of its narrator, a New England socialite who marries a Scottish-Canadian dairy farmer.

Many of his 45 works of fiction were adapted for the movie screen, first as silent films and then the first wave of ‘talkies’, notably The Perils of Pauline (1914), The Purchase Price (1932) and The Iron Claw (1941).

His chief claim to poetic fame rests on his 1914 book, Open Water, the first book by a Canadian poet to employ the modernist movement of free verse. He remained in New Jersey until his death at age 76.

1900 - 2001
Pianist, Teacher

Born Frances Alice Marr in Ridgetown, she began playing the piano at an early age, later studying at The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. In 1923, her first engagement as a professional accompanist was with violinist Harry Adaskin, whom she toured with and then married in 1926.

The couple premiered several Canadian works both at home and abroad and was featured on CBC radio. They traveled North America and Europe with the Hart House String Quartet and played with many leading instrumentalists and singers of the day.

Adaskin was also an entertainment writer with articles published in Saturday Night Magazine in the 1940s. She received the Order of Canada in 1976 “in recognition of a life devoted to music as accompanist of international repute and as a soloist and teacher beloved by her colleagues and pupils at the University of British Columbia, where she founded the Music Department.”

She died in Vancouver at 100 years of age.

1949 -
Guitarist

 Tom Lockwood has been a popular working guitarist for more than 40 years, influencing both the local and national music scenes.

He was born in Los Angeles, moved to Chatham at age 15, and then spent several formative years in Toronto. He returned to Chatham in 1978.

Introduced to many musical styles early in life, Lockwood rooted his playing in the blues, jazz, classical and Americana music genres. He was recognized by Guitar Player magazine early in his career, and renowned classical guitarist Liona Boyd called him “an exceptional guitar player.” He has released six albums plus numerous collaborations, played with some of the country’s finest musicians, had compositions featured in television and radio productions in 33 countries, and taught hundreds of young people how to play.

His 2011 blues album, Common Ground, with Nashville singer Jaimee Paul, has featured on streaming services worldwide, and in 2018 he and singer/ guitarist Paul Langille were nominated for the prestigious Jack Richardson Music Award (blues category).

At one time, Lockwood and his music was featured on the CBC so much that he earned the nickname “house guitarist”.

1882 - 1967
Composer, Singer, Professor

Born in Chatham, Geoffrey O’Hara entered Royal Military College in Kingston at age 18 but left after the death of his father to come home.

He moved to the US in 1904, the same year the Irish tenor began performing in vaudeville. He began recording for Edison Records in 1905 and, in 1913, was asked by the US government to record and preserve traditional American Indian songs.

During World War I, he was a singing instructor of patriotic songs for American troops. O’Hara lectured on music and songwriting and held positions at Columbia University and the University of South Dakota, where he later received an honorary Doctor of Music degree in 1947.

In 1920 he helped organize The Composers’ and Lyric Writers’ Protective League and was a board member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).

During his career he composed more than 500 popular and patriotic songs and hymns. His one huge hit was his song K-K-K-Katy (1918), one of the most popular tunes of the World War I era. He was also asked by President Woodrow Wilson’s administration to modernize the musical arrangement of the Star Spangled Banner.

In 1967 he died in St. Petersburg, Florida at age 84.

1961 -

Born in Chatham and raised on a farm in nearby County of Lambton, Lawrene (Jones) Denkers began a Toronto-based professional acting career in her early fifties after raising a family, working as a writer and editor, and acting with local theatre groups, including Theatre Kent.

She found success in film and television, with more than 100 credits, consistently cast in features, shorts, and series shooting in Toronto, Vancouver, Lisbon and Cancun, and playing nationally and internationally.

Three of her lead roles garnered eight Best Actress awards. Two of the films in which she appeared went to the Toronto International Film Festival: I Don’t Know Who You Are (2023) and Anne at 13,000 ft (2019).

Denkers has also appeared in several television commercials for well-known brands airing in Canada and the US.

Still very much tied to the local area, she sings with a cappella quartet, Dulce, and helps coordinate the community food bank as a volunteer.

She lives near Florence with Harry, her husband of more than forty years.

1960 -
Landscape Artist

Born in Chatham and now residing in the rural outskirts of north Harwich, Tracy Bultje is a self-taught artist whose work explores the natural world through vibrant and bold stylized landscapes. Working with acrylic paint on large size canvas, she is inspired by the waterways, marshlands and rugged tree lines that surround her.

She captures the chaotic and rhythmic forms of nature, subverting familiar scenes with a direct and expressive approach. Patterns that emerge in her work demonstrate the refinement of chaos into order.

Her paintings have been featured in various juried shows and exhibitions across Ontario and western Canada, and are in many private, public and corporate collections. Bultje is represented by numerous galleries across Ontario.

Among her many community accomplishments is the development of an arts program for children with developmental challenges at the Children’s Treatment Centre of Chatham-Kent, where for several years she coordinated a fundraising art auction. For years Bultje served in an advisory role to ARTspace, a not-for-profit gallery dedicated to the promotion and development of Chatham-Kent artists.

1915 - 2001
Wildlife Artist

Born in Chatham in 1915, Frank Jordan served his country in the Royal Canadian Air Force during WW II and, upon returning to Canada, owned and operated a commercial artist business for more than 30 years located downstairs in the Capitol Theatre.

A prolific wildlife painter in the school of realism, many of his originals and prints supported Ducks Unlimited and other wildlife conservation charities and non-profit organizations. Long sought after by knowledgeable collectors, his wildlife prints are on display in homes, businesses, and institutions around the world, including at 15 Wing, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, home of the Snowbirds aerobatic team.

Confined to a wheelchair in his later years, Jordan continued to work, including producing paintings of the four dogs of the Chatham-Kent Police Service Canine Unit at that time. A lifetime member of the Royal Canadian Legion who learned to play the clarinet at the age of 80, he passed in 2001.

1941 - 2023
Landscape & Figurative Artist, Builder

Born in 1941 in Chatham and raised in Pain Court, Leonard Jubenville graduated from the Ontario College of Art and Design and earned an honours degree in cultural anthropology from the University of Windsor. He sat on the committee that founded the Thames Art Gallery and served as the educational coordinator and curator of the gallery. He also was a founding member of ARTspace and a member of the francophone artist group BRAVO-Sud.

Predominantly working in oil, Jubenville started as a landscape painter but expanded his focus to include portraits, still life subjects and, later, works focusing on quantum physics.

Fiercely independent and incredibly visionary, he found success with paintings featured in galleries across Ontario, as well as Montreal and Detroit.

He was also a passionate director with Theatre Kent and a creative, inventive set designer.

Intensely curious, his interests stretched from gardening and cooking to quantum physics and politics. Considered by his contemporaries to be a ‘renaissance man’, he passed away suddenly in 2023.