Who's Who in Pennsylvania's Underground Railroad

Documentation: "Mrs. Mary W. Mann," Obituary, January 1899.  Transcribed by Sheri D. Graves at "Early Obituaries of Potter County, PA," http://www.eg.bucknell.edu/~hyde/potter/Obituaries.html, Accessed 17 November 2006; W. W. Thompson, Historical Sketches of Potter County, Pennsylvania, 1925, p. 11; William J. Switala, Underground Railroad in Pennsylvania, 2001, p. 118-119.

Quaker lawyer John S. Mann and his wife, Mary W. (King) Mann, of Coudersport, opened their home to aid fugitive slaves.  Historian W. W. Thompson says that, at least once, a fugitive slave came to the law office of John S. Mann for assistance.  Knowing the fugitive was being closely tracked, and knowing his home would be searched, Mann hid the man with one of his employees in town.  Arthur B. Mann (born 1844), son of John S. Mann, recalled that "it was not unusual to find a colored person at the breakfast table."  They may also have hidden fugitives in a rear room of a store that they maintained at Third and Main Streets.

The obituary of Mary W. Mann describes the Coudersport home of the Manns as a "far-recognized" station, and notes that they passed fugitives along to John King, Mary's father, in Ceres Township, McKean County.  They also sent fugitives to Millport in nearby Sharon Township, via Niles Hill and Steer Brook Road, where John's brother Joseph Mann took charge of them.

Documentation: William J. Switala, Underground Railroad in Pennsylvania, 2001, p. 118-119; W. W. Thompson, Historical Sketches of Potter County, Pennsylvania, 1925, p. 14.

Joseph Mann, a surveyor in Sharon Township, and later a merchant in Millport, aided fugitives sent to him by his brother John S. Mann, in Coudersport.  Mann's store was in partnership with Rodney L. Nichols, who was originally from Arcade, New York but who had relocated to Millport in 1850.  He hid freedom seekers in his store and his home, some staying for several days at at time.  Joseph Mann sent fugitive slaves on to John King, in Ceres. 

Documentation: G. Craig Caba and Adam Ross, Gettysburg: 1836 Battle Over Slavery, 2004, n.p.

G. Craig Caba notes that fugitives walked from the Caledonia Iron Works (see Black, Robert) "to Peter Marks' Cashtown Inn.  Marks was a cousin of Adam Wert.  Nearby was the abandoned Tapeworm Railroad...Thus, runaway slaves had an easy path to follow.  At the end were Gettysburg and Pennsylvania College."  Jack Hopkins, at the college, would often intercept fugitives walking into town on the unfinished railroad bed.

Documentation:  Obituary, The North Star, 1 June 1849; "A Voice From York, (Pa)," The Liberator, 8 June 1833; 25 July 1840.

York correspondent "M.C." recorded, for Frederick Douglass, the death, on 28 April 1849, of "an eminent citizen, a faithful advocate, and an ardent friend of the way-worn slave...From the last passenger in the underground railroad down to the latest retired slave monger of Maryland, none are so unlearned as not to know; for, while the latch-string of his hovel hung free to invite the fugitive of the "Dismal Swamp," his heart was open and as free to hear their tales of oppression and woe."  Mars was politically active, having participated in 1833 in a large "meeting of the colored Inhabitants of the Borough of York, held at their church," to voice opposition to the American Colonization Society, and in national "Negro Conventions" in the 1840s.

Documentation: Charles Blockson, Underground Railroad in Pennsylvania, p. 76; local lore and oral tradition.

Harriet McClintock followed the example of her parents, Henry and Catharine McClintock, and worked with fugitives who were being sheltered and aided by her church, Wesley Union A.M.E. Zion.  She married escaped slave Elisha (also spelled "Elijah") Marshall in 1864. Her husband also became involved in aiding fugitive slaves.

Documentation:  Charles A. Garlick, Life, Including His Escape and Struggle for Liberty, 1902, electronic edition, Documenting the American South, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, "Charles A. Garlick, 1827-." http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/garlick/garlick.html, accessed January 10, 2006.

Fugitive slave Charles A. Garlick escaped to Pittsburgh from Virginia in 1843, then traveled fifteen miles to the home of Samuel Marshall, with whom he stayed for about a week.  Garlick recalls "Then I was sent to a relative of his, John Rainbow, at New Castle, where I found refuge at Rev. Bushnell's, who had a brother in Cherry Valley."

Documentation:  Debra Sandoe McCauslin, Reconstructing the Past: Puzzle of a Lost Community, 2005, Gettysburg, PA, page 10-12, 14.

Edward and Annie Mathews opened their home to fugitive slaves that arrived in Quaker Valley, north of Gettysburg, from McAllister's Mill.  Edward would then take the freedom seekers to the farm of Quaker Cyrus Griest, where he would secret them in the springhouse on the large farm.  Mathews would then signal the Griest family by tapping on a bedroom window.  This operation is said to have occurred about twice a month in summer.

Documentation: G. Craig Caba, Episodes of Gettysburg and the Underground Railroad, 1998, p. 30-33, 53-54.

Organizer, in 1836, and first president of the Adams County Anti-Slavery Society, James McAllister also hid fugitives in his mill, located on the Baltimore Pike at Rock Creek.  Fugitives were fed, sheltered, clothed, hidden in the mill's cog pit, and also in nearby Wind Cave, located along the bank of the creek.  Family reminiscences note that the period 1850-1858 was when most slaves were hidden here.  Slaves were then led to the Quaker farms in northern Adams County (see Wierman, Joel and Wright, William) by way of Edward Mathews in Yellow Hill, or east to York County.  His farm adjoined that of another abolitionist/UGRR operative, Adam Wert.

The 1850 census shows McAllister, age 63, and the following family members: Agnes, 47; Margaret, 23; John, 22; James A., 21; Levi R., 19; Mary C., 17; Agnes J., 15; Sarah, 14; Martha, 12; Ellviera, 9; Theodore, 8; Calvin B., 6.

Documentation: Gerald G. Eggert, "The Impact of the Fugitive Slave Law on Harrisburg: A Case Study," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 109 (October 1985, 537-569); Mary Catharine McAllister, Descendants of Archibald McAllister, of West Pennsboro Township, Cumberland County, Pa. 1730-1898 (Harrisburg: Scheffer’s Printing and Bookbinding House, 1898), 14-19, 79; The Keystone (Harrisburg, PA), 24 May 1843.

The Federal Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 abolished court trials for those accused of being fugitive slaves, replacing them with hearings before specially appointed commissioners.  Richard McAllister, of Harrisburg, was appointed slave commissioner by Supreme Court justice Roger B. Taney and given jurisdiction over most of central Pennsylvania. McAllister pursued his duties with excessive zeal, utilized questionable legal tactics, and employed deputies who frequently overstepped the law in pursuing suspected fugitives.  He frequently butted heads with Harrisburg attorneys Mordecai McKinney and C. C. Rawn, who represented persons brought into his office as suspected fugitive slaves.  McAllister lost the trust of the Harrisburg community, which refused to reelect his deputies, and he disappeared from the local scene in the mid-1850's, leaving the office of slave commissioner vacant and forcing slave catchers to travel with their captives to Philadelphia to appear before Commissioner Edward D. Ingraham.

A grandson of Colonel Archibald McAllister of the Fort Hunter estate north of Harrisburg, Richard C. was born at Fort Hunter in 1819 and was educated locally, studying law at Dickinson College in Carlisle. After graduation from Dickinson, he traveled to Georgia and entered the law office of his cousin, prominent Georgia jurist and politician Matthew Hall McAllister. While in Georgia, Richard McAllister courted and married a young woman from New York, Cecelia Hoffman. The young couple eventually returned to Harrisburg where McAllister resumed the study of law under Hamilton Alricks, and he was admitted to the Bar of Dauphin County in November 1841 under the sponsorship of Esquire Alricks. He was appointed to the post of Deputy Attorney General of Pennsylvania, under family friend Governor Francis R. Shunk, but lost the post after Shunk resigned in 1848. When the federal post for slave commissioner became available in the late summer of 1850, McAllister, back to being a Harrisburg lawyer, lobbied for and won appointment to the controversial post. McAllister's office was on Walnut Street, facing the jail.  Specifically, J. Howard Wert located it in "a little frame building, adjoining 'the Exchange,' on the present Post Office site." (J. Howard Wert, "The Harrisburg Slave Law Riot," published in G. Craig Caba, Episodes of Gettysburg and the Underground Railroad, 1998, p. 83.)  This places it on the present day site of the Federal Building.

Documentation: A. J. Davis, History of Clarion County, Pennsylvania, 1887, p. 122.

Documentation: Family lore cited in various sources

Born Catherine Yellets/Yellots in Dauphin County in 1803, Catherine married first James Williams, and after his death married Henry McClintock. Catherine was a founding member of Wesley Union Church, which itself became an Underground Railroad station. Catherine's daughter, Harriett McClintock Marshall, was also very active with providing aid to freedom seekers. Familly lore holds that both Catherine and her second husband Henry McClintock were Underground Railroad activists.

Documentation: Earle Robert Forrest, History of Washington County, Pennsylvania, 1926, p. 424.

Farmer Kenneth McCoy sheltered fugitives he received from agent Joseph Gray, in Graysville, Greene County.  When it was safe, he would send them twelve miles to the McKeever family in West Middletown.  Historian Forrest notes that an alternate station in West Alexander was the Bell farm (this could refer to either of three Bell families in West Finley Township: John, James or Franklin Bell), and a few miles to the east was another alternate station, a two-story frame house "at the foot of the Coon Island hill, on the National pike, west of Clayville."

Documentation: “Kidnapping of Rachel and Elizabeth Parker-Murder of Joseph C. Miller in 1851 and 1852,” in The Underground Railroad, William Still, Philadelphia, 1872. Reprinted in Microsoft Encarta Africana Third Edition, 1998.

Thomas McCreary is most notorious for his role in the kidnapping of Rachel Parker from her home in Chester County.  McCreary was known to have been involved with kidnapping a man from Unionville, Chester County in 1849, and his numerous exploits caused northern newspapers to refer to him as "the infamous McCreary."  He escaped one attempt by a mob to arrest him near Lancaster in late 1852.  Researcher Milt Diggins has turned up one extradition request from Pennsylvania in reference to the 1849 kidnapping.  The request was turned down by Maryland Governor Phillip Thomas.  Thomas was later part of McCreary's defense team in the Parker kidnapping case. (Milt Diggins to Chris Densmore and Afrolumens Project, 5 December 2006)

Documentation: Gregory Wilson/Warren County Historical Society, "Underground Railroad Sites in Warren County, PA," 2005, http://www.paundergroundrailroad.com/sites.htm, accessed January 6, 2006.

In an incident reported in the Warren Ledger and reprinted on the Sugar Grove Convention pages, several slaves were hidden on Seth McDonald's property in 1851.  They were armed and hidden in his barn, and fed by friends.  "Mrs. Pratt" cooked a meal for them before they departed for the next stop, William Gray at Beaver Dam, Erie County.  It seems highly likely that Seth McDonald knew about and condoned, if not provided, the aid and shelter in his barn.

Documentation: Earle Robert Forrest, History of Washington County, Pennsylvania, 1926, p. 423, 426-427.

Abolitionist farmer Thomas McKeever sheltered runaway slaves in his barn until they could be forwarded toward Washington Borough.  Both McKeever men, according to historian Forrest, were personal friends of John Brown, who visited the Thomas McKeever household several times.  William McKeever sheltered runaways in his attic, at this house in the town of West Middletown.  If the McKeevers could not forward fugitives immediately, they sometimes relied on a wooded hiding place called "Penitentiary Woods," about a mile from town on the Washington Road, which had a cabin and fields under cultivation.  This enabled fugitives to remain for an extended period of time.  Often, they were led from this place to Beaver County by neighboring free African American conductors.  The McKeevers were sometimes aided by John Jordan, an African American hired hand or neighbor.

Matthew McKeever also received fugitives from his brother-in-law, Joseph Bryant, who lived in Bethany, Brooke County, Virginia (now West Virginia).

Documentation: William Still, The Underground Rail Road, 1872; Cooper H. Wingert, Abolitionists of South Central Pennsylvania, The History Press, Charleston, SC, 2018.

Born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, James Miller McKim was introduced to anti-slavery thought by local African American barber John Peck, who kept copies of anti-slavery publications in his shop. McKim, after reading a copy of "Thoughts on Colonization" lent to him by Peck, wrote "The scales fell from my eyes. . .from that time to this, I have been an Abolitionist." (Wingert). McKim began lecturing for the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1836.  He became involved with publishing the Pennsylvania Freeman in 1840 and became corresponding secretary for the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, settling in Philadelphia.  J. Miller McKim was present when the crate containing Henry "Box" Brown was opened at PAS headquarters.  He frequently defended fugitive slaves brought before the Federal slave commissioner in Philadelphia.  McKim and his wife Sarah (nee Speakman) attended the execution of John Brown and accompanied Brown's wife in claiming his body and bringing it home.  Special resource: J. Miller McKim visits a slave prison

Documentation: Gerald G. Eggert, "The Impact of the Fugitive Slave Law on Harrisburg: A Case Study," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 109 (October 1985, 537-569).

An accomplished lawyer and judge, Mordecai McKinney worked with Charles Coatesworth Rawn to represent accused fugitive slaves who were brought before Federal Slave Commissioner Richard McAllister in Harrisburg in the early 1850's.  Because the Federal Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 denied a court trial to those accused of being fugitive slaves, McKinney and Rawn were frequently the only voices speaking on their behalf at the hearings.  Abolitionist and former slave Jane Marie Chester worked for a time in the McKinney household when she first came to Harrisburg.  Click here for a detailed article on McKinney's activities.

Documentation: Henry W. Storey, History of Cambria County, 1907, p. 186-192.

William "Mose" McLain sometimes led parties of men guiding fugitive slaves from Johnstown to Dick Bacon's cabin above Laurel Run.  Occasionally his party was pursued by slave hunters, and McLain had to rely on the protection of anti-slavery iron workers from Cambria Furnace.

Documentation: "An Interview with Nevin B. Moyer by Galen Frysinger, Paxton Rangers Historic Association, Lower Paxton High School," in The Junior Historian III/3 [February 1946], Harrisburg. Reprinted on the Internet as "Nevin Moyer, of Linglestown, Pennsylvania, USA," Galen Frysinger, http://www.galenfrysinger.ws/nevin_moyer.htm, accessed July 31, 2005.

Historian Nevin Moyer identifies the Joseph Meese Farm as an Underground Railroad station. The village of Linglestown was a documented stop on the Underground Railroad and was apparently the first stop after the Rutherford Family farms in Swatara and Lower Paxton Townships. In 1850, Meese worked the farm with his wife Sarah, four daughters aged 3 to 16 years, and two teenaged farmhands. One of those daughters was Catherine (Kate) born in 1842 and mother of Nevin W. Moyer. It is likely that Moyer, a respected local historian, learned the Underground Railroad history of the farm from his mother, who probably witnessed, if not took part in, such activities, lending credibility to Moyer's statement. (1850 Census, Lower Paxton Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania; Lower Paxton Township, Pennsylvania, 1767-1967, Harrisburg, 1967, pp. 126, 174.)  From Linglestown, Meese sent fugitives to Harpers Tavern, and the route then wound through Lickdale and Pine Grove before reaching Pottsville, where Quaker James Gillingham took in freedom seekers.

Documentation: George Prowell, History of York County, Pennsylvania, p. 594.

Quaker family who sheltered fugitive slaves in their home until they could be safely ferried across the Susquehanna River by Robert Loney.  Jonathan and Susannah Mifflin were active in this activity until 1840.  After that, much of the operation was conducted until 1847 by their son, Samuel W. Mifflin.

Documentation: Sugar Grove Historical Commission, "Anti-Slavery Sites in Warren County, PA," http://www.paundergroundrailroad.com/sites.htm, accessed 1 September 2006.

Organized the Sugar Grove Female Assisting Society and the Ladies Fugitive Aid Society to support Underground Railroad operations by sewing clothes for fugitives and making donations.  Miller also sheltered fugitive slaves in her home in Sugar Grove.

Documentation: S.S. Rutherford, "The Underground Railroad," in Publications of the Historical Society of Dauphin County, 1928, p. 7.

S. S. Rutherford recorded an incident from October 1845 in which a party of eleven Maryland slaveholders, led by John Fitch, rode from Harrisburg to the William Rutherford farm, where ten fugitive slaves had taken shelter in the barn. The Maryland slaveholders were identified as Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Potts. According to Rutherford, the slaveholders were tipped off to the location of the fugitives by "a mulatto named James Millwood, a waiter in Coverly's Hotel, corner of Second Street and Market Square, where Messrs. Buchanan and Potts stopped when they came to Harrisburg."

Documentation: Capt. C. T. Adams and E. White, History of Indiana County, 1880.

Robert Mitchell, Jr., was a merchant living near Diamondsville.  He conducted fugitives that came to his house to the next station, which was George Atchison's farm in Burnside, Clearfield County.  Mitchell used a route that went through Cherry Tree, Hustenville and Pine Flats.

Documentation: Obituary, "Death of Mrs. Maria Molson," Clinton Republican, November 1890.

From her obituary:  "In the days before the war of the rebellion her house was a refuge for runaway slaves who were fleeing to Canada to escape from bondage.  As many as seventeen runaway slaves have been concealed in her house at one time, and she has often related how she dressed the wounded backs of the refugees who were suffering from whippings."

Lock Haven was on the underground route from Williamsport to Olean, New York.  William Switala identifies the route as running through Williamsport to Jersey Shore, to Lock Haven, then following the West Branch, Susquehanna River, then along Sinnemahoning Creek to West Keating and Coudersport, and finally to Olean.

Documentation: R. C. Smedley, History of the Underground Railroad in Chester and the Neighboring Counties of Pennsylvania, 1883, reprinted 2005, pp 77-79.

Jeremiah Moore frequently received fugitives sent by Daniel Gibbons of Lancaster.  Moore hid the fugitives in his home, and when safe sent them in a furniture wagon to James Fulton in Ercildoun.  Smedley mentions that a local African American man drove the wagon as conductor for the fugitives, but does not name him.  In a few cases, Moore allowed fugitives to live and work on his farm for an extended period of time.  Moore also provided medical care and clothing to fugitives before sending them to the next station.

Documentation: History of Mercer County, 1888.

The Mercer County history notes that William Moore is "thought to have cast the first Abolition vote in Mill Creek Township, and his house was a station on the underground railroad."  Moore was a carpenter by trade, who came originally from Washington County, PA.

Documentation: "Obituary," in The Colored American, 22 September 1838.

Junius C. Morel was one of the early advocates of conventions as a means whereby African Americans could develop political clout and address issues with a common voice.  He moved, with his wife Caroline Richards, to Harrisburg in the 1830's, where he wrote regularly to The Colored American, addressing letters to his "Esteemed Brother [Charles B.] Ray."  The obituary of his wife, Caroline, noted "her door was ever open to the unhappy fugitive from oppression.  Food and raiment, with friendly counsel, and means to aid them in the pursuit of Liberty, was always cheerfully given."   Writing from Harrisburg, Morel advocated the establishment of local vigilance committees "in every country or town from the Land of Abominations to the Lakes; indeed, much may be done to make the North Star appear more brilliant and all should be instructed where to find Ursa Major." (The Colored American, 30 May 1840)  By 1850, Morel can be found in New York City, a member of the Committee of Thirteen, formed to aid fugitives in response to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.
Read more about Junius Morel and Caroline Richards in Harrisburg, here.  

Documentation: Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, 1905.

Morrison hid slaves on "a bit of swamp land" on his farm in Dickinson Township.  He was involved in the rescue of the Butler family, who were kidnapped from Dickinson Township in 1859.

Documentation: Bacon, Margaret Hope, Valiant Friend: the Life of Lucretia Mott, Walker and Company, 1980.

Lucretia and her husband James Mott were devoted Quaker abolitionists who sheltered fugitive slaves in their Philadelphia home.  Her importance to the cause of abolition, however, is marked by her political activism and fiery anti-slavery speeches, delivered on frequent tours of the Northeast and Midwestern states.  She, along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and others, organized the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, fostering active political participation by females.

Documentation: Capt. C. T. Adams and E. White, History of Indiana County, 1880.

Fugitives were fed and hidden in the barn of farmer James Hamilton, who lived near Indiana.  David Myers, another nearby farmer, would conduct fugitives from Hamilton's barn to the home of Jacob Myers, in town.
 

Documentation: Capt. C. T. Adams and E. White, History of Indiana County, 1880.

Fugitives were brought to Jacob Myers by David Myers, a local farmer. Jacob Myers, an Indiana Borough resident, hid fugitives in his houses, sometimes for several days, until they could be safely conducted to the next station near Georgeville.