URR COALITION OF DELAWARE, MONDAY, JULY 28, 2003
The next meeting of the Underground Railroad Coalition of Delaware Meeting
will be held on Monday, July 28, 2003 at 6:00 pm in the 3rd floor
conference room at Wilmington City Hall. Agenda Items for discussion will
include: a briefing on the role the Coalition will play in the honoring of
the remains of the ancestors from the African Burial Ground in NYC as they
make their way from Howard University in Washington, DC back to NYC for a
re-interment ceremony (October 1st date for stop in Wilmington); a Round
Robin of participant activities; update on the congressional appropriations
for next year; a presentation on the August Quarterly by a representative
from the Mother AUMP Church; and an update on the work of the action teams.
For Information Contact: Robin K. Bodo, Delaware State Historic
Preservation Office, 15 The Green, Dover, Delaware 19901; (302) 739-5685;
or by e-mail to [email protected]
AASLH SESSION ON IDENTIFYING URR SITES, PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND, SEPT. 2003
The annual meeting of the American Association for State and Local History
(AASLH) in Providence, Rhode Island, September 17-20, 2003, will include a
panel on "Places to Hide: Identifying Underground Railroad Sites" chaired
by Church Arning, Wooonsocket, RI, Joan Beaubian, New Bedford Historical
Society (Massachusetts) and Bruce Jones, Salem Maritime National Historic
Site (Massachusetts), and Steve Strimer, Florence History Project,
Northhampton, Massachusetts. The conference will also include a panel on
interpreting slave quarters in New England historic sites. For information
about the AASLH, see their web site www.aaslh.org
Dr. Peggy Brooks-Bertram writes that she is seeking information about John
William Dungy. "John William Dungy (a later spelling change to Dunjee came
after he went to Oberlin College in the mid-1860's) was born in 1833 in New
Kent County in Charles City County, Virginia. He was owned, according to
his words, by the Terrell family which also had ties to Alabama. He was
hired out to the ex-governor of Virginia, Gregory and escaped while in his
employ. He escaped via the URR in 1860, made it to Canada. Returned to the
US. in about 1865 or 66. Had a rather extraordinary life in the
Reconstruction of Virginia and so forth. His last place of residence was in
Oklahoma City where he died in 1903. For the last 3-4 years, I have been
researching his life, visiting the places he lived and started churches,
and I now have his scrapbook from 1870-1903 which contained, I believe, the
only extant copies of his newspaper, the Harper's Ferry Messenger. I am
really anxious to talk about this man and to share information as there are
several gaps I am trying to fill in. I also have a lot of material written
by his children about him."
Contact Dr. Peggy Brooks-Bertram at the University at Buffalo by e-mail at
[email protected]
RESEARCH QUERY: DR. SHARREY OF DAUPHIN COUNTY, PA, 1836-37
Basil Dorsey and three brothers escaped from slavery in Frederick County,
Md., on May 14, 1836, reportedly going through Gettysburg, Harrisburg and
Reading, and ended up in Bristol, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He was
captured there on July 17, 1837. His case came to trial on August 1st, but
Dorsey was released by the judge as the claimants were unable to prove to
the court's satisfaction that slavery existed in Maryland. The National
Enquirer (which changed its name later to the Pennsylvania Freeman)
coverage of the Dorsey capture and trial carried a letter from a W.H.J.,
listing the names of three people who can testify for Dorsey: William
Wright of Columbia, Daniel Gibbons of Lancaster and a Dr. Sharrey of
Dauphin County [all in Pennsylvania]. Gibbons and Wright were well known
for their URR and anti-slavery activities, but who was Dr.
Sharrey? Possibly the name is mis-transcribed in the newspaper. If anyone
can identify Sharrey, please let me know. Chris Densmore
[email protected]
Christopher Densmore, July 23, 2003
Friends Historical Library
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