USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > Chester > History of the Underground railroad in Chester and the neighboring counties of Pennsylvania > Part 16
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25
After escaping from bondage herself, she set about devising means by which she could assist others in leav- ing In her first effort she brought away her brother, with his wife and several children. Next she helped her aged parents from Virginia.to a comfortable home in Auburn, N. Y. And thus encouraged, she continued making these trips, at intervals, for several years. Many who escaped through her directions to Thomas Garrett were sent by him to Isaac Mendenhall.
When the war broke out, she felt, as she said, that " the good Lord had come down to deliver her people, and she must go and help Him." She went into Georgia and Florida, attached herself to the army, performed an incredible amount of labor as cook, laundress, and nurse, and still more as the leader of soldiers in scout- ing parties and raids. She seemed to know no fear, and scarcely ever fatigue. They called her their Moses. On account of the valuable services she rendered, several of the officers testified that she was entitled to a pen- sion from the Government.
After the Christiana riot, James N. Taylor brought Parker, Pinkney, and Johnson and one other whose name was not known, to Isaac Mendenhall's. When James returned, the hunters had been at his place in
253
252 HISTORY OF THE
search of any colored people who might have fled to him from the vicinity of Christiana.
The four men slept in the barn at Isaac Mendenhall's at nights, but during the day they husked corn in the field, with all the appearance of regular farm hands. If pursuers came, the family were to give a certain sound when the men were to flee to the woods. One day a messenger came and said there was a party on the track of these men, and it would not be safe to keep them longer. During the remainder of the day they con- cealed themselves in the woods. Isaac decided to take them that night to John Vickers; but Dr. Bartholo- mew Fussell, then living near by, at Hamorton, hearing that the men were there, went to consult with him about them. Learning his decision, he said, " Isaac, I am better acquainted with the route than thee is; and beside, I have no property to sacrifice if I am detected and thee has. Thee start with them on the road and I will meet thee and go on with them and thee can re- turn." After some deliberation, Isaac accepted the prop- osition, and at an appointed hour in the evening, started.
Dinah Mendenhall, in relating this case, said : " These men were not only fugitives but participants in the tragedy, and harboring them subjected us to heavy fine and imprisonment. But we had always said we would never submit to carry out that accursed Fugitive Slave Law, come what might. But that night when they started, the poor quivering flesh was weak and I had scarce strength to get into the house. But I held to my faith in an Overruling Providence, and we came through it in safety." "These," she remarked, " were the times which tried men's souls, and women's too."
UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.
Doctor Fussell, instead of taking them to John Vickers, took them to his niece, Graceanna Lewis, arriving there before midnight. Leaving them in the conveyance, he went to the house, awoke the family, told them whom he had with him and what the danger would be in harboring them. They admitted them, however, and put them in a third-story room, the door of which locked on the inside. They were told not to unlock it unless a certain signal was given. As the girl then living with the family was not to be trusted, they borrowed food for the men from a neighbor, so as not to excite her suspicion. The following day arrangements were made with J. Pierce West, living near by, to take them to the house of a friend in Montgomery county, about a mile or more from Phoenixville. A little after dark he and his brother, Thomas, started with them in a market dearborn, throwing some old carpet over them, just as they would cover a butter-tub. Passing through Phoenixville about midnight, they arrived at the friend's house, whose name is not now remembered, and there left them.
(A further description is given of them in the remi- niscences of Dr. J. L. Paxson, of Norristown.)
Fugitives were taken from Isaac Mendenhall's to John Vickers, William and Simon Barnard, John Jack- son, in Darby, and to Philadelphia. James Pugh, of Pennsbury, would frequently go to Philadelphia and make arrangements with Miller McKim and William Still, to meet Isaac outside the city and take the fugi- tives into their care.
Many families along these routes who were inherently opposed to slavery, refused, through fear, to give any
254
HISTORY OF THE
assistance whatever in facilitating the fugitives' escape. James Russell Lowell truly says :
"They are slaves who dare not be In the right with two or three."
There were many persons in Kennett township who were not strenuously opposed to the anti-slavery move- ment ; were inclined to be sympathizers in the cause, but thought abolitionists were running great risks.
Squire Jacob Lamborn was honestly opposed to the fanaticism of abolitionists, as their warring against the institution of slavery was engendcring a spirit of ani- mosity in the minds of the Southern people toward those of the North. But after hearing a cogent and exhaus- tive argument by Abbie Kelley, he was convinced of the true principles upon which they stood and united with them always afterwards.
Anti-slavery lectures in that township did much to enlighten the people upon universal liberty and to soften the asperity of antagonism toward abolitionists, although many meetings, in the early part of the time, were but slimly attended.
Many persons in Kennett and vicinity grew to be conscientiously opposed to using the products of slave labor, as by so doing they were patronizing an evil that they were endeavoring to uproot. To meet the demand of these persons, Sarah Pearson opened a free produce store in Hamorton, about the year 1844, and continued it fourteen years. She was well patronized. At first she kept only free produce ; but later kept mixed goods.
Kennett Monthly Meeting of Friends disowned seve- ral of its members who had, in a measure, separated themselves from it, on account of the meeting's not
255
UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.
taking as active a part in anti-slavery, temperance, and other needed reforms of the day, as they held it to be the moral duty of a religious body to do. Isaac Men- denhall was one who came under this decree of disown- ment, but his wife, as earnest in the progressive move- ment of reform as he, was never disowned. It is a principle of Friends to act in harmony. In the consid- eration of her case there was a " division of sentiment."
They united with a number of others in organizing the Society of Progressive Friends at Longwood. In conformity with a " Call for a General Religious Con- ference, with a view to the establishment of a Yearly Meeting in Pennsylvania," a large number of persons assembled in Old Kennett (Friends) Meeting House, on the twenty-second of Fifth month (May), 1853. The house was filled and many could not gain entrance. They invited to membership, "not only members of the Society of Friends, but all those who felt the need of social and religious co-operation, who looked to God as a Universal Father, and who regarded as one Brother- hood the whole family of man." Tney invited all such persons to take part in the deliberations upon such a plan of organization as might commend itself to their judgment, and to take action upon such other subjects pertaining to human duty and welfare as might appear to demand the attention of the assembly. The call to this Conference was signed by fifty-eight persons, chiefly Friends. Its sessions continued four days and were marked by frec and cordial interchange of views, de- velopment of thought, and an earnestness and unity of action for the enlightenment, improvement and general welfare of the whole human family. That aged and
1
257
256
HISTORY OF THE
religious emancipated slave, Sojourner Truth, was there, and spoke on several occasions. She touched the sym- pathies of all, and reached the deep fount of parental tenderness, when, after a few impressive remarks, she sang
I pity the slave-mother, careworn and weary. Who sighs as she presses her babe to her breast ;
I lament her sad fate, all so helpless and dreary, I lament for her woes, and her wrongs unredressed.
O ! who ean imagine her heart's deep emotion,
As she thinks of her children about to be sold ;
You may pieture the bounds of the roek-girdled ocean, But the grief of that mother can never be told.
A permanent organization was effected, and weekly and yearly meeting established. Joseph A. Dugdale was appointed their first treasurer. He served for several years. Isaac Mendenhall was next appointed and served until his son, Aaron, took his place.
Isaac was Treasurer of the Chester County Anti- Slavery Society from its organization at Coatesville, in May, 1838, until its labors closed at the termination of the war.
After the downfall of slavery and the establishment of universal liberty by the Government, the great object which had brought them together, had cemented their hearts in the one grand design and impelled them with enthusiasm and unfaltering devotion toward the one great end, was accomplished ; and with one accord they could offer up thanksgiving and praise to the Father of all, that four millions of human beings held as chattel slaves under our laws were now, henceforth, and forever FREE.
After the close of the war, when the slavery question ceased to be a disturbing element, the Friends of Ken-
UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.
nett Monthly Meeting invited those back into the Society, whom they had disowned, without requiring of them the usual acknowledgment.
Outside of their daily avocations and domestic duties, Isaac and Dinah Mendenhall were active and zealous workers whenever the cause of humanity needed earnest supporters. They were a firm and solid rock upon which the friends of progress and reform could ever rely. The earnest appeal for temperance, for the advancement of women, for the free expression of thought upon religion, found them strenuously, yet unostentatiously, working in the van.
On the twelfth of Fifth month (May), 1881, their life of united honest toil and faithful devotion to each other, reached the rounded period of fifty years. This Golden Anniversary of their nuptials was celebrated at their home by the assembling of two hundred and twenty-five guests of all ages, from the little frolicking child to the friends whose advanced age and feebleness rendered it necessary for them to be lifted from their carriages. Yet to these, the happy commingling of old- time friends, enlivened by the sprightliness and vigor of joyous youth, was like the balmy breezes and the fra- grant blossoms of the return of spring.
Fifteen of the seventy-two persons who signed their marriage certificate were present at this anniversary, and among them were the two first waiters on that occasion.
Their eldest son Aaron, living on the old family estate, now known as Oakdale, was there with his wife and three children, one of whom bears the name of Isaac. This property was originally purchased of William
258
HISTORY OF THE
Penn, by Robert Pennell and Benjamin Mendenhall, and the deed was signed by his deputies, Edward Shippen, Griffith Owen and James Logan, (Penn being then in England). The deed was dated Fifteenth day of June A. D. 1703, and was for six hundred acres of land, which according to present survey makes one thousand, and for which they were to "yield and pay therefor, yearly from the said date of survey, to me, my heirs and successors at Chester, at or upon the first day of March in every year forever thereafter, six bushels of gocd and merchantable wheat, to such persons as shall be appointed to receive the same."
The estate afterwards passed into the hands of Ben- jamin Mendenhall's son Joseph, then to an Isaac. Since then it has passed alternately from an Isaac to an Aaron, and from an Aaron to an Isaac through four generations. It has descended from the possession of one occupant to the other by will-but one deed was ever given, which bears the date of 1703.
Many testimonials of esteem and love were sent by persons who could not be present. Among these was one from John G. Whittier, who said, " I knew you in the brave old anti-slavery days, and have never forgot- ten you. Whenever and wherever the cause of free- dom needed aid and countenance you were sure to be found with the noble band of Chester county men and women to whose mental culture, moral stamina and . generous self-sacrifice I can bear emphatic testimony."
Mary A. Livermore, in a letter addressed to their daughter Sallie, on that occasion says, " With what noble people have they been associated ! How rich in reminiscences their memories must be! They have wit-
259
UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.
nessed the unparalled growth of the country, the down- fall of slavery, the nation convulsed with civil war, which ended in the death of a colossal national sin and the freeing of four million slaves."
-
Isaac and Dinah H. Mendenhall are living at the pres- ent writing. They have reached that summit in the upward progress of human existence, from which, in re- tirement, they can look down upon a beautifully diver- sified landscape, richly adorned with the fruits of their own labors. The sunset sky, toward which they are tending, is ruddy in its glow, while the sun of glory sends forth its effulgent beams from an unclouded sky, significant of the celestial brightness awaiting them around the Throne of eternal peace.
[Since the above sketch was written, Isaac Menden- hall has passed away, dying at his home at Hamorton, " full of years and honors," in peace, after so many con- flicts ; in honor, after so much obloquy.]
CHAPTER XVI.
DR. BARTHOLOMEW FUSSELL .- Parentage .- Teaches Colored School in Maryland .- Studies Medicine .- Lydia Morris Fussell .- Influence of Charles C. Burleigh .- Incidents .- About Two Thousand Fugi- tives Passed .- Women's Medical College .- Death and Burial .- Incidents Related by His Son .- JOHN AND HANNAH Cox .- Inci- dents .- Take Active Part in Anti-slavery Societies .- Golden Wed- ding Anniversary .- Greeting .- Death.
DR. BARTHOLOMEW FUSSELL. (1794-1871.)
Dr. Bartholomew Fussell, son of Bartholomew and Rebecca B. Fussell, was born in Chester county, Penn- sylvania, in the year 1794, and was by birthright, as well as by conviction, a member of the Society of Friends. His father, Bartholomew Fussell, Sr., was an approved minister in that denomination, but of remark- ably liberal tendencies, his peculiar mission being fre- quently to hold meetings among persons of different beliefs and often in remote country districts where religious meetings of any kind were rare. To gather the lambs and the lost sheep into the fold, seemed to be, largely, the work to which he felt himself assigned. He was a man of genial and cheerful disposition, often saying that " he served a good Master, and he did not see why he should be sad." His conversation was re- markably entertaining and instructive, and he had the power of winning young people to an unusual degree. His mother, Rebecca Bond Fussell, was of a shy and self-distrustful nature, lacking in confidence, but self- forgetful and devoted to the welfare of others and,
--.
DR. BARTHOLOMEW FUSSELL.
261
UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.
perhaps, one of the kindest of her sex. Their son, Dr. Bartholomew Fussell, differed from either parent, and was apparently a new combination, unlike any one but himself, differing as strongly from his brothers and sisters as he did from his parents. In the period to which his youth belonged, the country schools in northern Chester county, where he resided, were not equal to the needs of a few families of Friends. In consequence his father, Bartholomew Fussell, Sr., although unaccustomed to the work, built with his
own hands a school-house, the walls of which are still in a perfect condition. Here his eldest sister, Esther, began her career as a successful teacher, begin- ning when only sixteen years of age, with her brothers and sisters and the children of a few friends. To this sister, more than to any one else, Dr. Fussell always re- ferred as the person who had stimulated, aided and encouraged him in his efforts to obtain a broad and useful education.
Removing with his father to Maryland, he decided upon the study of medicine, teaching school by day, and reading for his profession at night. But even this heavy strain upon his energies was not sufficient. Being deeply impressed with the ignorance, misery and degra- dation around him, he sought to alleviate the condition of the slaves, by opening a Sabbath School and inviting their attendance. Here he taught the rudiments of knowledge, not for a few hours only, but for the whole day, frequently having as many as ninety pupils in at- tendance, their advancement being the sole reward he desired or obtained. When they had progressed suffi- ciently to be able to read the Bible for themselves, it
263
262
HISTORY OF THE
was a manifest source of satisfaction and delight to them and it was too early for the slaveholders to see in his efforts any occasion of danger to themselves. We do not learn that he met with any opposition from the masters, while he did win the life-long gratitude of some of his pupils. It was an evidence of the splendid phy- sical constitution of the young student, that his health did not break down under these exhausting efforts. He continued on every occasion to manifest his opposition to slavery, becoming the friend and co-laborer of Elisha Tyson, one of the most courageous and devoted philau- thropists that the institution of slavery ever called into existence. At the time of his graduation, and in the face of the most influential slaveholders belonging to the medical profession in Baltimore, Dr. Fussell uttered his solemn protest against slavery, as a fruitful source of disease and demoralization and as a stigma on the race of those who enslaved their kind.
Returning to Pennsylvania to practice his chosen profession, he became eminently successful, both on ac- . count of his knowledge and judgment, and his intense sympathy with suffering, which seemed to inspire him with the faculty of entering into the feelings of others, of tracing the hidden sources of disease, and of keeping his mind ever on the alert, to select and administer the proper remedies. These principles actuated him just as much in the hovel of the poor as in the - elaborately furnished mansions of the rich. When life was hanging tremblingly in the balance, when the closest watching and the strictest care were needed, when the timely administration of a remedy, or judicious nursing might save life, or the neglect of these imperil
1 .. ruf
UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.
all chances of recovery, he would spend whole nights by the bedside of the indigent where he expected little or no reward, with just as assiduous devotion to the suffer- ing family as if he were attending the only daughter of a millionaire whose recovery would compensate him with a worldly fortune. His heart was in the welfare and happiness of the human family, and not in his purse.
He was fortunate in selecting for the companion of his life one who entered fully into sympathy with him, and who aided him in all his endeavors with wifely devotion. Lydia Morris Fussell was greatly beloved, not only in his own family, but in the neighborhood, where she was a spirit of kindness, doing good wherever opportunity afforded. She was an admirable hostess, and her doors were ever open to the most generous hospitality ; her cheerful spirit and free social nature making her home a delightful place of sojourn. Many were the guests there entertained, only to speak her praises. None knew her that were not attracted to her. During the greater part of her married life she and her husband owned the dwelling afterwards occu- pied by Chandler Darlington and his wife, near Ken- nett Square, Chester county, Pennsylvania, and as this house was always open to fugitives and their friends, it has already become historic. Nearly all of the dis- tinguished persons who visited Kennett Square, in the exercise of anti-slavery duties, were at one time or another entertained there as guests.
This house soon became the goal of the slaves and thither they made their way long before the general pub- lie was awakened to the iniquity of the system of slavery. Dr. Fussell had become a strong and determined oppo-
264
HISTORY OF THE
nent of this evil by seeing its ruinour effect and its in- human cruelties in Maryland, and his own convictions had been intensified by his association with Elisha Tyson, so that he was fully prepared to attend the Anti- slavery Convention in 1833 and to append his signature to its immortal " Declaration of Sentiments." He was a subscriber to the Liberator from the time the first number was issued until, the battle being ended, the last number was announced.
The real earnestness and activity of Chester county abolitionism had its date with the advent of Charles C. Burleigh, who, about the year 1835, appeared as a lecturer in the neighborhood of Kennett Square.
There being at that time no railroad or stage facili- ties by which he could be accommodated, and being a remarkable walker, this gifted orator left Philadelphia for Dr. Fussell's, one mile east of the village of Ken- nett Square, traveling on foot over bad roads, the whole distance. Arriving at his destination in the evening, he learned that the doctor and his wife had already de- parted to attend a discussion on the subject of Phreno- logy, in the village. Tired as he was and supperless, our friend immediately followed, and soon overtook and passed the doctor and his wife in their carriage. Being excessively muddy with travel, this young athlete did not present an extraordinarily attractive exterior. The first impulse of the kind doctor had been to invite the ·stranger he saw passing to a seat in his carriage, but a glance at his boots, and a thought of the wife by his side checked the impulse, and the wayfarer was allowed to pass on. When they reached the place of meeting, he was already there, and during the debate which fol-
UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.
265
lowed he modestly asked permission to speak, exhibiting such an amount of knowledge, extent of research, pro- fundity of thought, and such oratorical and logical powers as to astonish and captivate his hearers. Dr. Fussell used often to tell the story of how he was cheated of doing a kindness to Charles C. Burleigh, by allowing himself to be governed by a pair of muddy boots.
At this meeting, all were so delighted that Charles C. Burleigh had only to express the wish to have ap- pointed and announced a meeting on the subject of slavery. This meeting was largely attended, for the fame of the speaker had gone abroad. Here he pictured slavery and liberty in such clear contrast, and depicted the Christian duty of man to his fellow men in such glowing colors, embellished by the sublime rhetoric of which he was master, that the latent sense of justice and anti-slavery emotions were stirred up in the hearts of the good people of Kennett, and organization and agita- tion were at once instituted. From that time onward until emancipation was effected, Kennett Square was noted among those who were slow to accept the move- ment, as the " hot-bed of abolitionism " while the earnest sympathizers with the negro in bondage, in this and in other States, found here kind-hearted, able, and intelli- gent men and women to aid in the cause, ever ready to assist with their money and their labor, and in whose homes they always had a hearty welcome. It was the cynosure alike of the fugitive and his friends.
Discussions were now held in West Chester, Lion- ville and various other places throughout the country, between the abolitionists and colonizationists, each side M
1
267
266
HISTORY OF THE
being supported by able speakers. These discussions aided greatly in arousing public sentiment, which grew in favor of freedom for the negro under our own Gov- ernment.
Dr. Fussell was an intimate friend of Thomas Gar- rett, of Wilmington, and laboring in connection with him and many others at available points, about two thousand fugitives passed through his hands on their way to freedom. Among these he frequently had the pleasure of welcoming some of his old Maryland Sab- bath School pupils, who made the knowledge he had afforded them of service in their escape from slavery long years afterward. The delighted recognition of him by these poor beings in a strange land, was the occasion of the most heart-touching scenes.
In his practice as a physician, while at Kennett Square, Dr. Fussell occasionally met with colored per- sons whose constant dread of being recaptured so affected their health as to render his medical services necessary. In one instance, the shocking details of which are omitted, he was called upon to save the life of one who had preferred death by his own hand to such a fate. In many cases he gave far more sympathy than medicine, benefitting each by administering what their needs required, whether it be clothing or food, en- couragement, mirth or reprimand, which latter was sometimes needed, but was kindly and wisely given.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.