The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Beaver THE OAKVILLE Voted Ontario's Top Newspaper Four Years in a Row - 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 www.brantflorist.com/ob www.dentistoakville.com 905.639.7001 905-842-6030 www.carstaroakville.com HALTON TRANSMISSION (905) 559 SPEERS ROAD, UNIT #3 Beaver Trails around Page 18 the world 905-8457579 905-847 -2595 2212 Wyecroft Rd. 547 Trafalgar Rd. 842-0725 A member of Metroland Media Group Ltd. Vol. 48 No. 83 "USING COMMUNICATION TO BUILD BETTER COMMUNITIES" THURSDAY, JULY 22, 2010 32 Pages $1.00 (plus tax) Rare Certificate Close encounter of Freedom finds home in Oakville Museum By Carlie Oreskovich SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER I t could have been a scene right out of Aladdin and the Magic Lamp. There was Joe Johnson at his home in Kokomo, Indiana, polishing the case of the pocket watch his father had left him, when out popped a document that would excite the staff at Oakville Museum at Erchless Estate and lead to some pretty expensive upgrades at the local museum. What had been care"Oakville had a really fully folded into the important role to play back of that durable in the underground railroad watch was his great grandfather, railway that isn't as Branson Johnson's, well known in the Certificate of Freedom. community." Bill Nesbit, manager of the Oakville Museum, n Bill Nesbit, said it was an exciting Oakville Museum manager find for the museum. "Oakville had a really important role to play in the underground railway that isn't as well known in the community. And the document is going to help us tell the story of the role of the underground railway and Oakville's place in the process of bringing slaves to Canada," said Nesbitt. Freedom Papers were essentially like the Get-OutOf-Jail-Free card of Monopoly. But it was a lot more serious in slave-owning parts of the United States. In slave-free states, Freedom Papers were issued to African-Americans who were born there. These papers were essential for black Americans to guarantee they were not runaway slaves and could not be picked up by bounty hunters. The Freedom Papers carried the person's name and See Owner page 3 MICHELLE SIU / OAKVILLE BEAVER SHAKE HANDS WITH THE COOKIE MONSTER: Joe Lucas giggles as he says hello to the Cookie Monster at Sears in Oakville Place on Sunday afternoon.