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Judy Wellman writes that a new project has begun, funded by the
Preservation League and the New York State Council on the Arts to survey
sites relating to the Underground Railroad, abolitionism and African
American life in Auburn and Cayuga County in New York State. Auburn was
home to Harriet Tubman, William Seward, Martha Coffin Wright and other
abolitionists, and Cayuga County generally had a large Quaker
population. A data base with name of all African-Americans listed in the
census reports from 1820 to 1860 has been compiled. The project will
include an oral history component.
For information, contact Judith Wellman, Director, Historical New York
Research Associates, 2 Harris Hill Road, Fulton, New York 13069 315-598-4387/ [email protected]
[Judith Wellman is well known for her work on Oswego and Onondaga Counties,
New York, and on Underground Railroad research generally. Her book on The
Road to Seneca Falls: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the First Woman's Rights
Convention has just been published by the University of Illinois Press.]
RESEARCH QUERY ON "NEW GUINEA" IN MADISON COUNTY, NY
Donna Burdick, Research Chair of the Madison County (New York) Freedom
Trail Commission is seeking information about the New Guinea tract:
"In an 1880 history of Madison County, there is a reference to New Guinea,
"a tract of 300 acres in the south part of the Indian Reservation in the
town of Stockbridge, the use of which was given by the Stockbridge
[Indians] to the Mohawk Valley slaves, who became a numerous colony,
outnumbering their Indian benefactors, and included among other families
the Welches, Fiddlers, Baldwins, Cooks and Mitops. They came in soon after
1800 and remained until the Indian lands were sold to the State when the
remnant dispersed." [Another source lists the family of Nathan Pendleton as
a New Guinea settler.]
"This tract did indeed exist and is shown on early maps of Madison County.
I have found the names of some of the New Guinea families, listed as free
colored persons in early census records.
Does anyone have knowledge of who they might have been or where to do
further research?"
Donna Burdick, Research Chair, Madison County Freedom Trail Commission,
[email protected]
QUERY ABOUT FRANCIS HARPER AND GERRIT SMITH, PETERBORO, NEW YORK
Wells Staley-Mays is seeking information about possible connections between
African-American abolitionist Frances Ellen Watkins Harper and abolitionist
Gerrit Smith of Peterboro, New York. If anyone has information, contact
Wells Staley-Mays at [email protected]
CHESTER COUNTY (PENNSYLVANIA) ARCHIVES REED CASE, 1820-1821
The Chester County (Pennsylvania) Archives has posted documents from an
1821 trial involving John Reed, a self emancipated slave living in Kennett
Township, charged with murder in connection with defending himself from
kidnappers who were attempting to return him to enslavement in December 1820.
http://www.chesco.org/archives/
(Editor's note: You must now use the search
box at the top left of the main page to locate these documents.)
WILBUR SIEBERT PHOTOGRAPHS ON-LINE FROM OHIO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The Ohio Historical Society, which holds an extensive collection of Wilbur
Siebert's original research notes, has made photographs from his collection
available on-line:
http://www.ohiohistory.org/etcetera/exhibits/ohiopix/galleries.cfm?Gallery=18
Christopher Densmore
Friends Historical Library
October 21, 2004
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