History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 76

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1534

USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania > Part 76

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Taking a twenty-dollar note of our national cur- rency and turning to its back, we observe thereon a scene that has been suggestive for this article. We see a comely maiden on her knees before the altar in a church, with a clergyman in his robes administering the rite of baptism in the early history of this country. That young woman was the favorite daughter of one of the most powerful Indian chiefs throughout all that section, at a time, too, when the colonists were but few. She was fret-born, and if historians of that day state truth, her liberty had not been restrained. We shall now change the place, but not the subject. On October, 1745, the venerable stone church still stand- ing at the Trappe, having just been finished, was solemnly dedicated in the presence of many hundreds from the surrounding country. Three negroes, the - property of a Mr. Pawling in the vicinity, were on this occasion publicly examined as to their faith, which proving satisfactory, they were baptized by the names of John, Jacob and Thomas by the Rev. Henry M. Muhlenberg, the pastors, Brunnholtz, Wagner and Newberg being the sponsors and bearing testimony as to their profession. True, these were lowly African slaves, but who will not hail this occurrence as illus- trative of the universal brotherhood of man and the practical elevating tendeneies exhibited herein of Christianity in its broadest spirit? The former was the baptism of Pocahontas, and has been celebrated in a national painting, while for our information of the latter we are indebted to the early church records as entered by Mr. Muhlenberg's own hand.

From a list of taxables, prepared in 1776, of the several townships in the present limits of the county, we propose to give a partial list of those holding slaves. In Cheltenham: Joseph Linn, 1. Lower Salford: Jacob Reiff, Jr., 1. Providence: Henry Paw- ling, Esq., 2; John Pawling, 1; Samuel Halford, I. Horsham : John Barnes, 1; Hugh Henry Ferguson, 1; Thomas Davis, 1. Montgomery : Dr. Peter Evans, 2; George Smith, 2; Theophilus Shannon, 2; Edward Bartholomew, 2. Norriton : William Bull, 2; John Bull, Esq., 2; Dr. Robert Shannon, 2. Perkiomen : Joseph Pawling, 2; Abraham Saler, 2; John Paw- ling, 4. Moreland : Samuel Erwin, Esq., 1; Isaac Boileau, 1; Riehard Corson, 1; David Perry, 1; Samnel Bouteher, 2; Casper Fetters, 1 and Daniel Thomas, 1. In Abington for 1780: Thomas Beans, 2:

: 13

THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.

Jacob Paul, 2. Whitemarsh : William West, 2; Wal- ter McCool, I; Jonathan Robinson, 3. Lower Merion : Philip Pritner, 2; David Briggs, 2: Robert Elliot, 1; Hugh Jones, 1 ; Frederick Bieking, 1; and Benjamin Scheetz, 1.

Slavery here probably attained its greatest height about 1765, or when the Stamp Act was passed, and attention began to be directed to the evils attending the colonial system of government. In the conven- tion held at Philadelphia from January 23, to 28, 1775, it was resolved

" That it be and is hereby recommended to the several members of this Convention to promote and encourage instructions or advice from their several counties, to their representatives in general Assembly, to procure a law prohibiting the future importation of slaves into this province. "

We here see renewed evidence that the feeling that had so early exhibited itself against the importation of negroes had not died out, in spite of long and contin- ued enforcement by the royal government, but instead the people were becoming more and more sensible of the evils of the slave traffic. As the Revolution pro- gressed, and independence became more and more assured, the act of March 1, 1787, was passed,-

"That all persons, as well Negroes and Mulattoes as others, who shall be born within this State, from and after the passing of this act, shall not be deemed and considered as servants for life, or slaves, and that all servitude for life, or slavery of children, in consequence of the slavery of their mothers, in the case of all children born within this State, from and after the passing of this act aforesaid, shall be, and Here- by is, utterly taken away, extinguished and forever abolished, "

To strike more fully at the root of the system an act was passed March 29, 1788, which declared that all vessels employed in the slave trade should be liable to forfeiture, and a penalty of one thousand pounds be imposed for building and equipping them for the traffic. Congress took no action on this important matter until March 2, 1807, when an act was passed against the importation of Africans into the country and declaring the slave trade unlawful.

On the organization of Montgomery County, in 1785, an enumeration was taken of those still remain- ing in slavery, the total number reported being 108. Providence township had the highest number, 20; Moreland, 19; Norriton, 14; Perkiomen, 7; Lower Merion, 7; Upper Merion, 6; Worcester, 5; Frederick, 5; Abington, 4; Montgomery, 4; Upper Salford, 3; Franconia, 2; Lower Salford, 2; Springfield, 2; White- marsh, 2; Douglas, 1; Horsham, 1; Limerick, 1; Marlborough, 1; New Hanover, 1 ; and Upper Dublin, 1. Upper Hauover, Hatfield, Towamensing, Whit- pain, Gwynedd and Plymouth contained none. Slaves were taxed in 1776, £4, aud in 1786, £40. The census of 1790 returned 440 free colored persons and 114 slaves in the county ; iu 1800 the number was re- duced to 33 slaves, of which 9 were in Providence, 3 in Lower Merion and 3 in Moreland. In 1810 there were three and by 1830 only a single one left. Con- cerning this last subject, a further account in this connection would be of interest. The colored popu-

lation in the county, in 1850 was 857; 1860, .904; 1870, 1237 ; and in 1880, 1763.

We shall now present a variety of advertisement once circulated in this county and additional y illustrative of the subject, showing the great changes that time has wrought here in less than a century and a half. Richard Bevan gives notice, in the Penn- sylvania Gazette of July 24, 1751, that he has for sale, " near the Gulf Mill, a likely negro man about thirty years of age, fit for town or country business. Also a negro girl about fifteen years of age." John Jones, of the " Manor of Moreland, near the Crooked Billet," announces in the same paper of October 12, 1752, that he lias for sale "a likely negro woman, about twenty- nine years of age, had the small-pox, and under- stands country business well. Also a negro child, a boy, one year old." In the same issue Dr. Thomas Graeme states that "a mulatto slave, named Will, about twenty-nine years of age, being of a Negro father and an Indian mother," ran away from his plantation in Horsham township. " Whoever secures him in any goal shall have five pounds reward and reasonable charges paid." " Peter Custer, in Provi- dence township, near the Trap," advertises in the Norristown Herald of February 14, 1806, that he has "for sale a black woman about thirty-five years of age and slave for life, with two children, the one about nine and the other three years. The children are entered in the office."

In the advertisement of John Jones we see one of the sad features of slavery,-for gain to sell a child one year old from its mother. That of Peter Custer possesses an interest, as possibly one of the last that appeared on this subject in the county. That Penn- sylvania would have become a considerable slave colony if it had not been for its strong German element ean admit of no doubt. In evidence, the census of 1790 returned 21,324 slaves in New York, 11,423 in New Jersey, and only 3737 in Penn- sylvania. It was almost solely owing to the British element, that had also settled so numerously in Dela- ware, Maryland and Virginia, that made those ad- joining colonies so slave-holding. The protest of 1688, though it made no impressiou on the denomi- nation for whom it was designed, yet on its origina- tors, their countrymen and posterity it was not lost, to the enduring honor and benefit of this great commonwealth.

"The Underground Railroad."-The branch of the Underground Railroad that passed through Mont- gomery County is known in history as the " Northern Route." It was a section of the road which extended from Columbia,1 Pa., to Canada. The southern

1 In the early days of this concerted management slaves were hunted and tracked as far as "Columbia. There the pursuers lost all trace of them. The most scrutinizing inquiries, the most vigorous search failed to educe any knowledge of them. Their pursuers seemed to have reached an abyss beyond which they could not see, the depths of which they could not fathom, and then bewildered and discomfited, they de-

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

terminny of the- route was at Columbia, on the Sus- quehanna River, from whence arrivals were noted and consigned to the friendly agents along the line of operations The founder of the southern depot, near- ust the supply of passengers, was William Wright, of Columbia, Lancaster Co., Pa. As early as 1787, Samuel Wright laid out the town of Columbia. The lots were disposed of by lottery and all sold, and many substan tial persons from Bucks, Montgomery, and chester counties and Philadelphia settled there. A majority of these people were Quakers, or descend- ants of Quakers, and carried with them to the new settlement convictions hostile to the institution of slavery. The Wrights gave many small lots to the colored people in the northeastern part of the town and encouraged their settlement at the place. This brought into one community a large number of col- ored people, who became a source of refuge to those who were constantly fleeing northward. William Wright was uncompromising in his hatred of slavery ; an active man, he enjoyed a presence of mind equal to all emergencies. He assisted all fugitives who applied to him, and when he heard of any fugitives being recaptured, he lost no time or opportunity, either by process of law, device or artifice, in secur- ing their escape. On several occasions, when fugitives came to his place pursued, he hastily dressed them in women's clothing, and sent them by night-time to Daniel Gibbons, near Lancaster City. The free col- ored population of the town were industrious as a class, and thoroughly enjoyed the sympathy of the whites, who aided them in hastening the flight north- ward of those who reached them. The place soon became known to slave-owners, but early experience taught them to give it a wide berth. On one occasion a " slave-catcher," by the name of Isaac Brooks, made bis appearance in search of a "runaway nigger," as he was pleased to call him. He was soon surrounded by a score of stalwart colored men and hustled out of the town, stripped of his clothing and unmercifully whipped with hickory withes. He was never seen in Columbia afterwards. Brooks was a providence in carrying the news southward. His misadventure was told to many households, repeated by masters and servants, until, through Maryland and parts of Vir- ginia it was well-known to all escaping or runaway slaves that once at Columbia they were comparatively safe.

The number of arrivals made it necessary to pro- vide a means of transit to northern cities and Canada. Agencies were sought out among earnest sympathiz- ing Abolitionists in Lancaster, Chester, Montgomery and Bucks counties. Phoenixville, Norristown and Quakertown were stations on the line. Prominent among the agents in charge of this northern route

were Daniel Gibbons, Thomas Peart, Thomas Whit- son, Lindley Coates, Dr. Eshlemann, James Moore, Caleb C. Hood, of Lancaster County ; James Fulton, Gideon Pierce, Joseph Hains, Thomas Bonsall, Grav- ner Marsh, Zebulon Thomas, Thomas Vicars, John Vicars, Micajah and William A. Speakman, Esther Lewis, Dr. Edwin Fussell, William Fussell, Norris Maris, Emmor Kimber and Elijah F. Pennypacker, of Chester County ; Rev. Samuel Aaron, Isaac Roberts, Dr. William Corson, Jacob L. Paxon, George Wright, Jacob Bodey, Lawrence E. Corson, Thomas Hopkins, William W. Taylor, Charles Corson, Edwin Coates, C. Todd Jenkins, Seth Lukens, Thomas Read, John and Benjamin Jacobs, Elias H. Corson, George Cor- son, George Lukens, Daniel Ross and John Augusta (colored) and others, of Montgomery County ; Wil- liam Jackson and Richard Moore, Quakertown, Jona- than MeGill, Solebury, and William II. Johnson, Buckingham, with others, of Bucks County. These were the pioneers of this remarkable line of travel from the Susquehanna to the Delaware, with well- known coadjutors on the Hudson and St. Lawrence. All roads led to Canada in those days. The route through Montgomery County was deemed extremely perilous, because it lay near a great city, to which news of escaped slaves was promptly reported, es- pecially after the advent of the telegraph, and by reason of a large circulation of daily papers, carried through the country by railroad every day. The danger was further increased by the strong public opinion in favor of sustaining the law, especially after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law, in 1850. Re- wards were constantly offered for the apprehension of slaves, and the officers of a vigilant secret service in Philadelphia were ever on thealert. The Abolitionists, or "Wooly Heads," as they were frequently called, were persecuted and ostracized by Whig and Demo- cratic parties, while presiding judges and ministers of the gospel, with but few exceptions, looked upon them as among the most dangerous agitators of the age. They were, however, men and women who lived up to their conviction of duty, and time has fully vindi- cated their exalted humanity and patriotism. If the cause they pursued hastened the madness of the fatal hour when the South flew to arms and sought to dis- sever the country, then they may rightly claim to have been benefactors of mankind.

Among those who were most active, zealous and in- fluential in arousing the spirit of revolt against the sin of slavery and the horrid catalogue of crimes com- mitted in its name was the Rev. Samuel Aaron. He was a gifted orator, with a flow and force of language which never failed to hold his audiences, whether they assented to his views or not. He was at times the impersonation of eloquence enraged, as his keen invective flowed in torrents; and when he called his followers around him in the old Baptist meeting- honse, or, perhaps, in front of the old court-house, to review some act of "Northern submission to the

clared "there must be an underground railroad somewhere." This Bay- ing gave origin to the term by which the secret passage from bondage to freedom was designated ever after .- Dr. R. C. Smedley's " Under- ground Ruilroad."

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THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.

slave-power of the South, the occasion was esteemed of more than usual public interest. Such a leader in- spired an enthusiastic following, and nowhere on the long line of transit were worn and weary passengers received with greater solicitude, cared for more ten- derly and dispatched with greater promptness and prudence than at Norristown.

The gentlemen composing this "railroad staff" were not of the mutual admiration school. They were agitators, antipathetie, many of them valuable, all of them independent thinkers. They represented the activities of life in all its callings, from the plow- man to the philosopher. When the news of the Fugitive Slave Law reached the North these men came together at the peril of their lives and firmly resolved to resist it at all hazards. While defiant, they were not wanting in that prudence and caution necessary to their usefulness, and by day and by night their vigilance extended from the Plymouth Valley to the hills of Providence. The counsels of the cool and philosophie Allan Corson, of Plymouth, were matched by the promptness of Thomas Hopkins, William W. Taylor and Charles Corson, of Providence, in forwarding passengers through to Bucks County. In Norristown, Dr. William Corson was among the first to report arrivals. In active practice, a consis- tent friend to the colored people, slave or free, and by reason of his intercourse in his daily visits to all localities in the town and many miles in all directions around it, if arrivals occurred he was sure to be ap- prised of it. With coadjutors such as Lawrence E. Corson, James Paxon, Jacob Bodey, Daniel Ross, John Williams and John Augusta, the business in hand was quiekly and efficiently dispatched. If a collec- tion of money was necessary to forward passengers, John Augusta and John Williams were always ready to go to the right ones to get it. Paxon was always ready to give asylum to passengers, and the giant Bodey could always be relied upon for transportation. There was not a member of this staff who had not his special office of usefulness, and among them the quiet, unobtrusive, but persistent George Wright was always found responsive to duty. An enthusiastic follower of his cherished friend Aaron, he never tired in kindly offices to relieve the suffering and hungry as they tarried in or fled through the town. There was a direct connection between Norristown and the anti-slavery office in Philadelphia, via night-trains on the Norristown Railroad. Rev. Samuel Aaron, Dr. William Corson, Isaac and John Roberts and Mary R. Roberts were in charge of this line of transporta- tion. Daniel Ross would house or conceal the pas- sengers until a late hour, when they would be ticketed through to waiting friends at or near Ninth and Green Streets, thence, via the Philadelphia line, to Canada. Contributions were liberal in support of this line.

Incidents of Life and Travel on the Line through Montgomery County .- In 1841, Thomas Read lived

in a retired place along the Schuylkill, four miles west of Norristown. The fugitives he received were chiefly men, who, following directions given them, came in the night. Some were brought. He sent many to Miller MeKim, at the anti-slavery office in Philadelphia, William Still, being generally the re- ceiving agent. Others were sent in various directions. Some remained and worked for him when required. At one time four came, three of whom were large, intelligent young men ; the other was an old man who was making his second effort at escape. His first at- tempt was successful, and he had enjoyed his freedom for some years, when he was betrayed by a colored man and reclaimed by his master.

These four men were, therefore, very suspicious of persons of their own color in the North. They re- mained for some time and worked for Thomas Read; but one day a colored man appeared who said he was a fugitive, and showed numerous scars, but from his actions was suspected of being a spy. The four men threatened him with instant death if they discovered his story was not true. He left the next night, but so frightened were the real fugitives that they were anxious to leave the place. They were at once for- warded farther north. A mulatto came and remained during the winter. Toward spring he became fright- ened at rumors that slave-hunters were on his track, and he was anxious to make his way to Canada. Ile was taken by Thomas Read to Philadelphia. The day was very cold, and he wore his coachman's over- coat of a peculiar light color. When nearing the city he grew apprehensive that the color of his coat might identify him too easily, and he insisted upon removing it and riding in his shirt-sleeves, which he did, bearing the coll without a murmur, believing that his ruse made the chances of detection less. He reached Philadelphia safely, and was forwarded to more northern agents. In 1848, Thomas Read moved to Norristown, and the fugitives received there were mostly women and children.

After the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law the determined members of the organization still per- severed in their efforts to aid the fugitives to escape. Others faltered and knew not what to do. At an evening company where several of these faltering ones were in attendance, two young school-girls were pres- ent and listened to the conversation. The thought occurred to them to test by actual experience the standing of those present. Leaving the room upon some pretext, they shortly after knocked at the kitchen door, and, closely disguised and muffled, said they were fugitives and asked for help. This brought. the question home to the men present, "Would they give aid?" A long parley ensued, the girls being left in the kitchen. It was finally decided to take them to a neighboring house, and, as soon as a wagon could be procured, two of the men volunteered to drive them to Quakertown. By this time the girls were so full of laughter at the success of their plan that when

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

passing elose to a light their emotions were discovered to be other than those of grief and fright, and the disguise was detected. But the joke was so serious to some of the men that they could not laugh at it. The girls were severely reprimanded; yet all concerned were glad at heart that they had discovered how those present stood in regard to the Fugitive Slave Law. At a convention held in the old court-house in Norristown shortly after the enactment of that law, a commitee of prominent anti-slavery advocates was appointed to circulate petitions for signatures asking for a repeal of the law.

Thomas Read's daughter Mary was appointed one of the committee. Being young at the time; she thought she had but to present the petition, and names would be willingly put thereto. But she was astonished at the almost universal reception she met with. Doors were shut in her face as soon as she made known her desire. People insulted her, snubbed her and would not talk with her on the subject. One minister, however, thought it his duty to talk with her, and pointed out the wrong she was doing : " Nay, she was committing a crime, for laws were made to be upheld and not to be opposed.". His morality took the law without question, and he wanted her to do the same. Needless to say she did not. .

While this describes the general public opinion, there were many benevolent individuals who had not courage to express their secret convictions, yet were willing to aid the Abolitionists by pecuniary contri- butions. John Augusta, an old colored resident of that plaee, and an important attaché of the Under- ground Railroad, said that many citizens came to him and remarked : " John, I know you must be needing considerable money to forward passengers on your road. When you need contributions come to me, but do not let my name be mentioned as one contribut- ing." Norristown first become a station of the Under- ground Railroad about 1839, the year of the first meeting of the Anti-Slavery Society at that place. The number of fugitives who passed through there, assisted by their friends, increased from year to year, as many as fifteen or twenty being occasionally con- cealed within the town at one time. A very strong and bitter animosity existed there against the Aboli- tionists, especially in the early days of the anti-slavery agitation ; and for individuals to make any active efforts in behalf of fugitives was to ineur general de- nunciation and social ostracism. Malignant threats were made, but never carried into effect. The furthest extent of a mob demonstration was the stoning of the Baptist meeting-house and the breaking up of an anti-slavery meeting which was being held there. This was the only building in which these meetings were held in the early part of the work in that town. In later times, when publie sentiment was growing strong in favor of emancipation, very many, even among public officials, were hearty sympathizers and

silent helpers. The positions which they held, de- pending upon public suffrage or popular favor, made it politic for them to enjoin secrecy when bestowing aid and to make their sentiments known to but few, even of the well-known and trusted Abolitionists.

As public sentiment in Norristown was inimical to the anti-slavery cause until the exigencies of the times and the acknowledged justness of universal lib- erty throughout the country made it popular, the har- boring of fugitives in that place was particularly hazardous. Yet among those who dared to do it, who was openly known to do it, and who built a secret apartment in his house for that especial purpose which it was almost impossible to discover, was Dr. Jacob L. Paxson. Independent and fearless, he did his own thinking, kept his own council, took his own course, and concealed, fed, and forwarded hundreds that even the anti-slavery people knew nothing of. He kept a horse and wagon, and took them himself to William Jackson, Quakertown; Jonathan McGill, Solebury ; and to William H. Johnson, Buckingham, all in Bucks County. He entertained abolition speakers after the passage of the penal slave law, when they were refused admittance to the hotels. One evening when Garrison, Burleigh and several others were at his place, Samuel Jamison, who owned a large manu- facturing establishment adjoining, came in and in- formed him of a conversation he had just overheard in a small assemblage of men concerning a plot which was being laid to burn his house if he did not dismiss his guests. "Tell them to burn it," said Paxson, "and scatter the ashes to the four winds ; I'm a free man."

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History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 76

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901 Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 1534

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1534