USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > Chester > History of the Underground railroad in Chester and the neighboring counties of Pennsylvania > Part 18
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pertaining to it. This was the firmly maintained public opinion which the rising spirit of abolitionism in and around Kennett Square had to contend against, and it required a man of Simon Barnard's nerve, intelligence and ability as a speaker, to take a position in the van, to breast this tide of opposition and subdue its force.
Meetings were frequently held in that neighborhood, addressed by the ablest speakers. In the earlier days of the anti-slavery uprising these were but poorly attended. Those who were opposed to the movement, and who should have attended the meetings to know whether or not the arguments advanced were valid, remained at home, and many of these discouraged others from going. Simon Barnard on some occasions traveled many miles, day and night, to give information of meet- ings, took speakers to and from them and was rewarded for his labor by an audience of less than a dozen-nearly all abolitionists-and that, too, at one time, when the speaker was the eloquent Charles C. Burleigh.
Behold the difficulty of instructing and convincing individuals upon any reform or upon any subject in which they feel no interest, and upon which they do not wish to be convinced.
At that time the church, of all denominations, con- demned the movement as fanatical and incendiary. And the church sways a power like Archimedes' lever. But no great reforni, however salutary, no great first step in the advancement of science calculated to benefit the human family in its entirety, has ever been adopted without earnest opposition. Even the broad doctrine of Christianity, of salvation through Jesus Christ, was bitterly opposed, and Jesus was put to death. Men and
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women have been tortured upon the rack, buffeted in the streets, and have had their tongues pierced with red hot irons for preaching religious doctrines different from the belief of others. Michael Servetus and John Rogers were both burned to death for this offense. Galileo was imprisoned and threatened with death for teaching the theory of the earth's motion. Harvey lost a great portion of his practice for a time after he pub- lished a Treatise upon his Discovery of the Circulation of the Blood. He was defamed by eminent professors and by the older members of the profession generally. Jenner was stigmatized for introducing vaccination, doctors refused to try it, and it was denounced from the pulpit as "diabolical." Franklin had evil things said . of him for interfering with heaven's lightning, in at- tracting it from its course and making it to lie down harmless at his feet. We are not to wonder then that abolitionists were reviled throughout the whole country, mobbed in the North, and tarred and feathered in the South for advocating freedom to the negro. The spirit of denunciation is not confined to any age of the world, nor to any race or sect of people. But Progress is a law of Nature, stamped upon our being by the hand of Deity, and cannot be inhibited or repressed. Radical thinkers are necessary for the enlightenment and ad- vancement of every age, and the slow and deliberative reasoning of conservatives is oft-times essential to the modifying and maturing of original thought. Hence all fill important niches in the onward progress of the world's events.
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As it is not to be expected that all will see and believe alike at the same time, a respectful consideration for the
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honest views of others is ever due from man to man. And as religious beliefs and tenets are always dear to those who espouse them, it was as painful a course of action for the reformatory Friends in Kennett Square and the vicinity who sought, by extraordinary and ultra means, to ameliorate the condition of humanity, to absolve themselves from allegiance to their former re- ligious ties, as it was for those who remained within the pale of the church to disown from membership their former co-laborers.
Times since then have changed. A new era has dawned upon our nation. Differences have been settled. Over all the past the veil of charity should now be tenderly drawn, and the warm hand of love and friend- ship be cordially and tenderly extended.
The house of Simon Barnard being on the direct line of " underground " travel, was an asylum for the hunted slave on his perilous nocturnal journeyings toward the North Star and freedom. Hundreds received the usual attention, were harbored, fed, clothed and forwarded to other friends. But scarcely any reminiscences can be 'given in detail. Secrecy in the work was the one great feature, and not to know or remember too much was one of the essentials. The younger members of the family were exhorted to silence. They would hear whisperings, sometimes see colored people; the very atmosphere seemed laden with an impressive hush ; then soon, all was again as usual.
The effort was to pass all fugitives along as quickly as possible. Simon Barnard kept a large, two-horse, close-covered wagon, which was called " Black Maria," and by hanging a quilt close to the front seat where he
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sat, he could carry ten or a dozen men, women and children, with several babies, well concealed. His fear always was that the babies would cry. But the women seemed to have an astonishing power in stopping their cries. The moment one would begin, it was silenced as if by magic. This was a fortunate circumstance, for had the little ones cried when passing through a village at midnight, or by a hotel where, perchance, a slave-hunter was sleeping, as was sometimes the case, the success of the undertaking would have been seriously endangered. Marshallton, Downingtown and West Chester were in his direct routes to other stations.
A party of thirteen came to Simon Barnard's house one night and were taken to Nathan Evans. The men were well armed. There was cause for apprehension as they passed through West Chester at midnight, but all were delivered safely.
A party in a wagon of peculiar construction which was easily tracked, arrived at one time at his place in Newlin. He piloted them to John Vickers by way of Isaac Meredith's, taking Isaac with him through Mar- shallton. This ride was in the very face of most immi- nent risk, for slave-catchers were in close pursuit- somewhere in the neighborhood, they knew not where. It was discovered afterward that they had stopped for the night at a tavern in Marshallton, and were quietly sleeping there when the party passed by the house. [A further description of them is given in the account of John Vickers.]
So close was the chase sometimes that Simon thought it best to encumber his property that it might be un- available for damages to slave property.
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On one occasion, Charles C. Burleigh was arrested in Oxford and sent to jail in West Chester. He was in custody of a constable passing throngh Unionville, when word was sent to Simon Barnard, who immediately started, although the roads were deep with mud. He arrived there just as the door of the jail was about to close upon Burleigh, and took him out of custody on bail.
Burleigh deeming his mission at Oxford unfinished, repeated his offence by preaching abolition and selling his tracts there on the next Sunday. He was re-arrested, and on the evening of a bitter cold day, he and the Oxford constable drove up to Simon Barnard's com- fortable house, nearly perished-both nearly frozen. The ludicrous part of the scene was keenly relished by Simon, who used to say that instead of the constable taking Burleigh to jail, Burleigh was conducting the frozen officer to the house of his friend, where they were both kindly treated to a warm supper, lodging and breakfast ; not only they but their horses. Next morn- ing they departed, and Simon humorously remarked afterward that he was left in doubt as to whether the constable took Burleigh, or Burleigh took the constable.
His home was the frequent visiting place of the emi- nent abolitionists of those times, then unpopular, but now renowned, such as Isaac T. Hopper, Edmund Quincy, William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, Theodore Parker, John G. Whittier, Frederick Douglass, Charles C., William and Cyrus Burleigh, James Russell Lowell, Lucretia Mott, Joshua R. Giddings, and others.
In his humanitarian labors he was warmly seconded by his wife, a woman of superior intelligence and charac- ter. She died in March, 1881.
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Simon Barnard, a son of Joseph Barnard, and his wife, Mary Meredith, was born in Newlin, Chester county, Eighth mo. (August) 7th, 1802, on ancestral lands acquired in 1726 by Richard Barnard, the second, who was a son of the emigrant ancestor who arrived here in 1685.
In Tenth mo., 1827, he married Sarah, daughter of Emanuel and Martha Darlington, of East Bradford. In 1852 they removed to West Chester, and in 1863 to Philadelphia, where he still resides in the enjoyment of good health.
He was engaged in farming until about his fiftieth year. In West Chester he engaged in the lumber busi- ness and the building of houses; and in Philadelphia in the manufacturing of bricks by steam and in real es- tate investments. He is now enjoying in retirement the fruits of an active life.
The Barnards were all abolitionists. Richard M. Barnard, a brother of Simon, and occupying an adjoin- ing farm, rendered some effective service to fugitive slaves, but he was more of a politician in those days, and more conservative. He was a representative in the Legislature at Harrisburg in 1837-38. He was a prominent and influential man of the neighborhood, and was much relied upon as an umpire in disputed questions, being a clear-headed accountant, mathemati- cian, surveyor, conveyancer and man of affairs.
EUSEBIUS BARNARD. (Born Seventh Month (July) 1802 .- Died 1865.)
When the number of slaves that were forwarded by Daniel Gibbons to friends in Lancaster county and the northern part of Chester county, and by Thomas Gar-
EUSEBIUS BARNARD.
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rett to Philadelphia and other places, became so great as to necessitate another route through Chester county, Eusebius and Sarah P. Barnard, of Pocopsin, were among the first to make their residence an established station on this new line of travel. Slaves came to their place chiefly from Thomas Garrett, Isaac and Dinah Mendenhall, Dr. Bartholomew Fussell and others. If they arrived in the early part of the night, they were fed, and about two o'clock in the morning were taken to other stations, generally by Eusebius himself, until his sons were old enough to be sent on these hazardous missions. During his absence on one occasion, his wife sent their oldest daughter Elizabeth. If fugitives ar- rived in busy seasons, or at other times when their labor would be of service, and there was no immediate dan- ger, they remained a few days, worked, and were paid
the customary wages. If women and children came, they were taken in a dearborn to other places. If there were no children along, and the fugitives were able to walk, they were taken part way to some other station, generally to William Sugar, six miles distant, and given a slip of paper containing his name, and direc- tions how to find his place.
Seventeen men came on foot one evening, when no one was at home but the daughters and the youngest son, Enos. He knew where his uncle William Barnard lived, and being just old enough to ride a horse, he mounted one and rode in front of the men to the place, and delivered his charge safely.
A party of six or eight came one First-day (Sunday) morning, just as the family were starting for meeting. Eusebius and his brother William were on a religious
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visit to Ohio, and were expecting some of the family to meet them on their return to Downingtown the next day. Upon the oldest son, Eusebius R., now devolved the task of conducting these passengers. It was some- what hazardous to venture out with them at that time of day, but he loaded some in a dear- born so as to give them the appearance of going to a colored Quarterly Meeting, then in session near by. The balance of the party were to walk far enough behind to keep in sight of the dearborn, while he rode on horse-back some distance in advance. He took them to Dr. Eshleman's, left the horse there which he rode, and returned with the dearborn. They met a great number of persons, but no one suspected that the load of dusky humanity which passed, were passengers on the "Underground Railroad," traveling in open daylight, with their conductor in front, piloting them with as much calmness as though he were riding on an ordinary errand. On the following day the dearborn was driven to Downingtown, Eusebius and William re- turned in it, and the horse was ridden home from Dr. Eshleman's house.
On the 27th of October, 1855, while a number of friends were assembled at Longwood to level the ground and make arrangements for building sheds, a party of eleven came there from Wilmington'; they were kept until evening, when Eusebius took them home with him, gave them supper and lodging, and at two o'clock next morning sent Eusebius R. with them to Downingtown. To avoid suspicion which so many in one gang at that place would excite, he was directed to divide the party before reaching there, to take those in the dearborn to
SARAH P. BARNARD.
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Zebulon Thomas, and send the others on foot to Dr. Eshleman. Arriving at a wood near the town, he separated them as directed. When he arrived at Zebu- lon Thomas's house and Zebulon saw the number he had, he advised him not to stop a moment, but to keep on toward John Vickers. Eusebius remarked that he thought he had gone far enough, but Zebulon, knowing the risk of delay just then, replied, " We cannot talk now, this is a very dangerous pro-slavery place; keep on and I will gear up and overtake thee soon." As he was starting he saw the remainder of the party still following him. Whether they had failed to comprehend his directions, or were afraid to go without a guide, or were unwilling to be separated from the others, he could not devise, and he began to tell about them. Zebulon quickly interrupted him and told him to go on and he would attend to them. He drove on some distance to a suitable place, where he waited until Zebulon with his colored men came up with the others, and took them on toward John Vickers' place. Returning to Thomas's, he ate his breakfast, had his horses fed, and then started homeward, rejoiced that he had passed them so far in safety.
This party left their master's plantation in Maryland about eight o'clock the night before, taking with them a couple of two-horse carriages, and arrived in Wilming- ton early next morning. They went immediately to Thomas Garrett's. He told them to leave the horses hitched on the street, while he conducted them quickly out of town, and directed them up the Kennett "pike," to friends at Longwood. Their meeting with a number of them together at that place was casual.
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About eleven o'clock Thomas Garrett passed along the street and called attention to the horses ; said they looked in bad condition, and wondered whose they were. No one knew, but some observed that they had seen them there since early in the morning. He suggested their being taken to a stable and cared for. Perhaps some people had stolen them in the night and driven them to Wilmington for a ride, or for some other pur- pose. If the owners should call they could be told where to find them, and the matter be explained. The crowd which had then collected thought this the best thing to do, as the horses looked badly in need of provender. The news soon spread over town. In the afternoon the slave-hunters came, and were told where the horses were. They supposed then that the slaves were hidden somewhere in the town, and would be crawling out of their coverts at night. So every sus- pected place was well watched-Thomas Garrett's in particular. The hunters remained in town a day or two and continued an assiduous and determined search, but hearing no tidings whatever of their slaves, they abandoned their efforts and returned home.
The fugitives reached the home of Graceanna Lewis and sisters, where they were separated and forwarded on different roads toward Canada.
About the middle of March 1861, two women, both . somewhat crippled, with four children, were brought to Eusebius Barnard's place late in the evening. The reasons given for leaving their master, were that one or more of the children were about to be sold, and that in their own crippled condition they could not perform the tasks given them each day without great fatigue and
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suffering. They were given food and comfortable beds. At two o'clock in the morning Eusebius R. was called. He had retired early in the evening, before the party arrived, as he had to prepare a lecture next day to deliver at the close of the session of Fairville Seminary which he was attending, five miles from home.
It was the custom to select one or two members of each class to give a lecture on Commencement Day upon such subject as the professors might select. One hour was allotted to each class for this purpose. The subject given to Eusebius R. Barnard was Electricity. Being called at two o'clock, the hour invariably fixed for starting with fugitives, he knew well what it meant. He was always willing to rise at night and do whatever was asked of him, but having only three days left of the session, and that being the last day of the week, on which they had but few lessons to recite, he wished to devote the whole day, aside from the time required for those lessons, in preparing himself to meet the large audience which always assembled on those occasions, to give an instructive lecture in a clear manner, and to make it still more interesting by illustrating different parts of it with appropriate apparatus. He therefore asked to be excused from going that morning. But excuses were vain. The demand was absolute. The women and children had to be hurried along as fast as possible, and no one could then go in his stead. For once he arose with reluctance, and mused pensively over the gloomy prospect of preparing his lecture that day.
He took them to the nearest station, one to which he seldom went, thinking if they could be received there it would enable him to return soon. But peculiar circum-
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stances just then made it impossible for the family to give any assistance at that time. He went to another place, which formerly was a good station, but the member of the family who had given it his personal supervision for years, having recently died, the others did not feel easy to undertake the continuance of the work. This second refusal came to him like a stunning blow. He knew not what to do next. He was off his usual route. It was then breakfast time, and he had been travelling since two o'clock through deep, muddy roads. He was asked to get out and take breakfast, but he declined. The women were invited; they accepted. But he was not in a mood to wait for them. He said they were cripples and bundled up, and it would take too long for them to get out and eat. The family then brought victuals out to them, and a plate for him. But he again declined, saying " he could not eat anything ; it would choke him." The disappointment that morning had spoiled his appetite. He was in a complete dilemma as to what to do. He inquired for a place he had fre- quently heard his mother speak of. The family advised him not to go there, but directed him to a person in Coatesville. He persisted in going to the nearest place. Again they advised him not to go, but gave no reasons. But he wanted to unload quickly and get home, and was therefore willing to risk more than usual. He went there. He was not acquainted with any of the family. He asked first for the man; was told he was not at home. Then he asked for the wite, to whom he told his errand. She would not accept the fugitives. He begged her to accomodate him that time. But she still refused, as they were not in that business and didn't wish to
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begin it. On his way out the lane he met a man whom he supposed to be the one he wished to see ; but he was afraid to importune any further, and passed silently by. In a few days Eusebius Barnard received a note from this man requesting him not to send any more fugitives to his place as he did not wish to identify himself with the work.
Thus disappointed at every step, Eusebius R. Barnard started next for the place of their old, tried and true friend, Dr. Eshleman. It was nearly night when he arrived there; neither he nor his horses having eaten anything all day. While dragging along at a slow, labored gait, through the deep, heavy mud, he met a stranger who looked scrutinizingly at him, and then peering into the wagon, asked what he had there. Fear for a moment tingled through every nerve. He imagined the man must be a slave-hunter, for he could not suppose that any other stranger would have the audacity to act in that manner. He gave a short answer, and drove on with apparent unconcern. The inquisitive stranger stood there for awhile gazing at him, and then started off, much to the relief of Eusebius' mind.
It was nearly night when he reached Dr. Eshleman's. He related his day's tribulations to the good doctor, who told him to unload and he would take care of the party. These were the most joyous words that fell upon his ears that day.
" Joy never feasts so high, As when the first course is of misery."
After the women and children were taken into the house, he was asked to stay, have supper, and let his horses be fed. He accepted the invitation for the horses,
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but declined for himself. The fatigue and disappoint- ments of the day had destroyed all appetite.
He had now but two days left in which to prepare his lecture, in connection with other school lessons. But
" Like a ball that bounds According to the force with which 'twas thrown ; So in affliction's violence, he that's wise, The more he's cast down will the higher rise."
He applied himself with redoubled energy, and when the day arrived he and another student, who was at the same time a teacher of some branches, were to occupy the hour allotted to that class. Eusebius was called first, although he wished the teacher to lead off in the programme. Tremblingly, but trustfully, he stepped upon the rostrum and faced his audience.
He expounded the principles and properties of elec- tricity, illustrating the lecture with the apparatus at his command ; nor was he conscious of how time was pass- ing until nearly the whole hour was consumed. The second speaker had scarcely finished his exordium when the bell tapped, announcing the expiration of the time-much to the disappointment of the latter as he had prepared with great care a very elaborate speech for the occasion.
This terminated the labors of Eusebius Barnard in the Underground Railroad work. These were the last fugitives that called on him for assistance. The war broke out soon after and he lived to see the glorious work accomplished-the abolition of slavery-for which he had given his time, labor and money for a number of years.
Like all others on regular routes he had passed hun- dreds on their way to freedom.
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The old house is still standing, and the kitchen floor upon which so many fugitives lay and slept upon comfort- able beds waiting for the "two o'clock A. M. train" to leave, frequently calls up reminiscences of by-gone times.
Eusebius Barnard was a " recommended minister " in the Society of Friends, and a member of Kennett Monthly Meeting. He spoke at anti-slavery and tem- perance meetings, and preached against the evils of slavery and intemperance in the meetings for worship in the Society. He was disowned from membership along with William Barnard, Isaac and Dinah Menden- hall, Isaac Meredith and other reformers. He then united himself with the Progressive Friends. At the close of the war when slavery was no longer an ex- citing topic, and Friends were no longer exercised upon the subject, he was about asking to be again taken into membership when he died.
His first wife, Sarah Painter, was an excellent woman and united with him in all his religious and re- formatory labors. His second wife, Sarah Marsh, was also in sympathy with him in all the good works that characterized his life. Thus two congenial companions were faithful helpers to him in the performance of his life's mission.
WILLIAM BARNARD.
(Born Fourth Month 16th, 1800 .- Died First Month 22nd, 1864.)
William Barnard, of Pocopsin, Chester county, be- gan assisting slaves about the year 1840. They came to him chiefly through the hands of Thomas Garrett and Dr. Fussell, and were from Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and as far South as Georgia. When they were on foot, and were asked how they found his place, N*
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