Enslavement to
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Re: Slaves in Westmoreland County
From Jan Slater, March 19, 2006
Dear Mr. Danzer & Mr. Nagle,
While I have done research in Western Pennsylvania on the subject of
Slavery, George is overly generous in referring to me as an expert. I do
enjoy the research and get very excited with each new bit of information
that helps to connect the dots for other researchers. I have to admit I
know little about Westmoreland County. Most of my interest has been in
Greene and Washington Counties.
I have sent off an email to my friend Bill Davison who lives in Greene
County asking if he knows of any researchers in Westmoreland. Bill,
along with Marlene Bransom, have been researching slavery and Free
Persons of Color in Greene County for years and are the experts in that
county.
Marlene's story is similar to yours, Mr. Danser, as she grew up in
Greene County and was taught that there was no slavery north of the
Mason Dixon line. When she discovered the truth, she set out to research
and document not only slavery in the county but all Free Persons of
Color who were generally left out of the history books.
Bill has an ancestor who was freed in Greene County and has been
researching burial places and working to preserve cemeteries. It seems
that Greene County wants to pave over what is probably a cemetery with
possible slave burials, located on land originally belonging his
ancestor's slave owner. It is a very interesting story because the land
now belongs to the county and houses the Greene County Library System.
There are stories of the house being a stop on the Underground Railroad
after Thomas Hughes freed his slaves. The State of Pennsylvania spent
over $700,000 restoring this home. Currently the American Legion leases
a part of the land where several headstones are found and uses it for a
parking lot. It seems that Jefferson Borough wants to do some kind of
development on another portion of the property where Bill believes there
are slave burials. So they restore the house that was a stop on the
Underground Railroad, the original owner owned slaves, and now they want
to pave over a likely slave cemetery. Go figure.
Bill also successfully located the County Home (poor farm) Cemetery when
he was concerned that the building of a Wal-Mart might erase it. In both
cases Bill has personal interests in these two cemeteries but he is also
responsible for the protection of other cemeteries in the county.
After following Bill Davison's experience with early burials I believe
that it will eventually take on-site research to find any slave burials
in Westmoreland County. A search of some mailing lists and sites related
to Westmoreland indicates to me there hasn't been any research done or
at least not published other than the
Slave Register at Afrolumens. I think the only way to start would be
to study the slave register and research individual slave owners. Local
histories might also mention slaves and slave owners. Location of the
land might yield information on family cemeteries which is my best guess
as to where slaves would be buried. As in other Pennsylvania counties it
appears that there were few families who owned large numbers of slaves
which indicates that upon death a slave might be buried in or near the
family plot in an unmarked grave or possibly with fieldstone markers.
While I haven't found slave ancestors I was fortunate to find a family
cemetery with persons related to my ADAMS family buried in Greene
County. It was a family plot located on the same farm where Eli and John
Adams hid escaping slaves (one of the few mentions of my greater family
in the history books and the closest connection I have found yet to
slavery). The daughter of the current owners restored the cemetery and
reset the toppled stones as a high school service project. I have not
yet located the burial sites for many of my Adams and Wilson family
members even though there is proof in the probate records that they died
in that county.
Mr. Danser can you tell me if there are particular families or surnames
you are researching in Westmoreland? I will forward any response I
receive from Bill Davison.
Jan Slater
Vashon Island, WA