Tom Elice was a slave from Pendleton County, Kentucky, who fled to Canada, arriving in Chatham, Ontario in 1854.

Information from the donor states that Tom lived on the Rhodum Ellis farm, near Peach Grove and the Licking River. This area, in the north-eastern part of the state, is close to the Ohio River, near well-known access points for the 'underground railroad' leading slaves from Kentucky to the free states of Ohio, Illinois and Indiana. The Ellis farm, founded in the 18th century by Rhodum Ellis of Virginia, would have been owned by William and Betsy Ellis at the time the letter was written. The 1850 Slave Schedule for Pendleton County lists nine slaves owned by the William Ellis household, of whom three are noted as 'fugitive from State'. Slaves were un-named, but generally took the name of their original owner.

Tom Elice's letter to Mary Warner mentions a reunion with others 'from our part of the country', in particular a Mrs. Hopday [sic].. The Slave Schedules confirm that the Hobday and Warner families were also slave-holders in Pendleton County.

Tom Elice's letter was written from Chatum [Chatham], Canada West. In it he asks Mary Warner to write him in Windsor, suggesting that he had just arrived in Canada and was planning to settle in Essex County.