Who's Who in Pennsylvania's Underground Railroad

D Surnames

Delany, Martin R. 1812 - 1885
Location: Chambersburg, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh; Role: Anti-slavery activist, organizer and publisher

Documentation: Jim Surkamp, "To Be More Than Equal: The Many Lives of Martin R. Delany," West Virginia University Libraries, http://www.libraries.wvu.edu/delany/home.htm, accessed 14 December, 2005.

Born in Virginia and brought by his mother to Pennsylvania after his family was discovered writing passes for fugitive slaves, Martin R. Delany used his literary skills to establish, in 1843, a successful anti-slavery newspaper, The Mystery, in Pittsburgh.  A few years later he joined forces with Frederick Douglass to publish The North Star.  He studied medicine with Dr. F. Julius LeMoyne, was admitted briefly to Harvard Medical School, and later established himself as a physician in Pittsburgh.  Delany traveled extensively through the north, campaigning against the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law, and after becoming disillusioned with white support for African American rights, promoting emigration to Central America and Africa.

Quotation:  "Sir, my house is my castle. . .If any man approaches that house in search of a slave. . .if he crosses the threshold of my door, and I do not lay him a lifeless corpse at my feet, I hope the grave may refuse my body a resting place, and righteous Heaven my spirit a home. O, no! He cannot enter that house and we both live."  (Surkamp, "To Be More Than Equal"}

Monument photos, from Bennie McRae: http://www.lwfaam.net/event/delany_monument.htm  | http://www.lwfaam.net/event/delany_dedication.htm

 
Devan, Eden
Location: Gettysburg, Adams County ; Role: kidnapper

Documentation: G. Craig Caba, Episodes of Gettysburg and the Underground Railroad, 1998, p. 58-59.

Several witnesses wrote about an African American man who lived in Gettysburg and kidnapped suspected fugitive slaves, turning them over to slave catchers for the reward money.  S.R. McAllister, in a letter to J. Howard Wert dated 2 December 1904, remembers "There was a yellow kidnapper in town who was very busy and got away with several.  His name was Ede Devan.  He made considerable money at it."  Eden Devan appears in the 1850 census as a 37-year-old Mulatto hosler, with $900 in real estate.  He lived in town with his wife Mary and three children.

 
Donahower, Michael
Location: Philadelphia; Salem, New Jersey; Role: Slave Catcher

Documentation: The Liberator, 10 January 1835; Maryland Gazette (Annapolis), 12 February 1835.

Michael Donahower, a Philadelphia constable, was identified with several notorious slave catching incidents in the 1830s. The most noted was the part he played in rounding up a group of fugitive slaves from Maryland that had settled in Salem, New Jersey. A violent fracas in the courtroom during the hearing for the accused slaves culminated with his arrest for pulling a pistol and threatening to hold the accused slaves by force. Read a detailed account of the incident here.

 
Dorsey, Samuel W.
Location: Washington Borough, Washington County ; Role: UGRR conductor

Documentation: Boyd Crumrine, History of Washington County, 1882.

Washington Borough barber Samuel W. Dorsey received fugitives from West Middletown.  The sending agent was not identified by Crumrine, but until 1846 it was most likely William Asbury and after that date possibly the McKeever brothers.  Dorsey is one of several African American agents identified in Washington Borough; "Tar" Adams is another.  The census of 1860 shows Samuel Dorsey, age 38, living with Margaret Dorsey, age 56 and Mary Allen Dorsey, age 13, all born in Pennsylvania.

 
Douglass, Frederick
Location: Boston; Role: Speaking Engagement in Harrisburg; publisher

Documentation: "The Eagle Abroad," The North Star, December 3, 1847

Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison came to Harrisburg on August 7, 1847 at the invitation of William W. Rutherford to deliver an anti-slavery lecture at the county courthouse, but were met by a hostile white crowd that threw rotten eggs and stones. Garrison was hit by an egg and Douglass was hit by a stone. They were able to deliver their lectures at the Wesley Union A.M.E. Zion Church in front of a supportive audience.  While in Harrisburg, Garrison stayed with Rutherford and Douglass stayed with John Wolf.



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