Conductors & stations on the UR: Rudolf Kelker

    Rudolf F. Kelker (1820-1906), hardware store merchant and son of a prominent Harrisburg family was a well-known abolitionist. His home was at 9 South Front Street, now the site of the present-day Dauphin County Courthouse. "Rudolf Kelker would hide [the fugitives] as soon as they arrived at his home and at night would take them to his barn which stood on the corner of River and Barbara Streets. Then he would see to advancing them to the next station when the opportune time came." 16 This is the only known reference to Kelker's involvement with the UR. The site of Kelker's house is now the Dauphin County Courthouse.
    Perhaps an exhaustive search of the Kelker family papers and oral history interviews with family members might clarify Rudolf Kelker's role on the UR.
 
 

Conductors & stations on the UR: Dr. William Wilson Rutherford

    Dr. William Wilson Rutherford was born November 23 1805 in Swatara Township, Dauphin County. He died in Harrisburg on March 13, 1873. Dr. Rutherford graduated in 1832 from Jefferson Medical College [now Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia]. Dr. Rutherford lived at 11 South Front Street next door to Rudolf Kelker. It is said that Dr. Rutherford "helped convey many a slave to safety. He would convey them to Samuel S. Rutherford [known by his friends as 'Little Sam'], at Paxtang, where they were secreted in the old barn which stood near the spring near to the present Paxtang Park." 17 Dr. Rutherford was a vice president of the Harrisburg Antislavery Society. In 1847, he arranged for the abolitionists William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass to speak in Harrisburg. In a letter to his wife dated 9 August 1847, Garrison states:

Arriving at 3 o'clock, we found at the depot, awaiting our coming, Dr. Rutherford, an old subscriber to the Liberator, and his sister-in-law, Agnes Crane, both of them true and faithful to the anti-slavery cause in the midst of a perverse and prejudiced people; and also several of our colored friends, with one of whom (Mr. Wolf, an intelligent and worthy man] Douglass went home, having previously engaged to do so; while I went with Dr. Rutherford, and received a cordial welcome from his estimable lady. 18
 
 

Conductors & Stations on the UR: Samuel and Abner Rutherford

    Samuel Rutherford (1810-1872) was "an earnest opponent of slavery and for many years a member of the Anti-slavery Society of Pennsylvania. The dairy farm where he spent his whole life was part of the original tract purchased by Thomas Rutherford in 1755."19 The barn described by S. S. Rutherford in his 1928 article may be that of Samuel Rutherford. A photograph of the old farm on Paxtang Avenue in Paxtang in 1880 clearly shows the barn. Recent investigation revealed however, that the site of the barn and farm is now covered with private homes.20 Abner Rutherford (1814-1891) had a farm in Swatara Township near Samuel's place. Abner, who served both in the Pennsylvania House and Senate, is said to have been a member of the Pennsylvania Antislavery Society.21 S. S. Rutherford describes a particular UR incident in Paxtang.

It is reproduced below with some editing.

    In the month of October, about the year 1845, ten runaways were brought to Mr Rutherford's [on a Thursday night] by some [UR] agent, now unknown...The party consisted of an elderly man and his six sons- all mulattos, the youngest of whom was a youth of eighteen... Mr. Rutherford quartered them in his barn and supplied them with eatables which were carried to the barn from time to time in a large basket . For some reason, now forgotten the [UR] conductors failed to appear at the appointed time [Saturday night]. Mr. Rutherford could have easily forwarded the party to some other station, but not wishing to interfere with the plans already perfected, and no intelligence of pursuit having reached him, he deemed it safe to allow them to remain over Sunday. Nothing extraordinary occurred during the day until about five o'clock in the evening, when the Negroes were assembled on the barn floor to partake of supper. The basket had been brought in and was about to be attacked, when someone called attention to a cavalcade, consisting of two carriages preceded by four horsemen, moving slowly down the turnpike road like a funeral. It excited no alarm, however, until it reached the old locust tree, when it suddenly wheeled in the lane at full gallop. Mr. S. B. Rutherford, then a boy, was in the barn and ran back to the house to tell his grandfather, who immediately sent him back to warn the Negroes of danger. When he reached the barn, however, not a Negro was visible.
    By this time two of the horsemen had reached the barn and dismounting [their horses], stationed themselves as outside guards [while] the other two took up similar position at the house. The leading carriage, driven by John W. Fitch, a liveryman of Harrisburg, add containing four men, stopped at the house. Mr. Rutherford came out and was introduced by Fitch to Mr. Buchanan of Maryland, a very courteous gentleman, who, after shaking hands, requested a private interview. The two retired to the front porch and sat down, when Mr. Buchanan explained his errand, showed his authority for searching the premises, and stated he had brought several officers of the law with him and would proceed with his search and get away as speedily as possible. Meanwhile, the second carriage, containing four men, one of whom was Mr. Potts of Maryland, owner of several of the fugitives- had driven to the barn and the men stationed themselves in front of the stable doors.
    Mr. Buchanan, having finished his interview, also went to the barn and with one or two others entered the floor. Nothing was visible but the basket of provisions, which in the hurry, had been left standing in the middle of the floor. [This] was looked upon as good evidence that the Negroes were not far off. The barn was full of hay and grain, and there was but one way of ascending from the floor to the mows, and that lay through a small opening in the threshing floor loft about four feet square. Messrs. Buchanan and Potts both called their servants [slaves] by name repeatedly, but got no answer. Whilst it was by no means certain that the Negroes were in the barn at all, not a man of the pursuing party dared venture up to see. Calls and threats and promises were again tried, but to no purpose. While this was going on, Mr. Rutherford's boys were doing up the chores, closely watched by the detachment of slave hunters stationed about the stable doors, so great was their fear lest someone might slip off and alarm the neighborhood. Among those who guarded the stables was a blustering, big whiskered Marylander (the owner of one 'nigger' and he one of the runaways), whose command of oaths was wonderful. He positively refused to allow the [Rutherford] boys to take the horses out to water, and was so troublesome generally that one of the younger men was obliged to get a pitch fork and threaten to impale him, whereupon he wilted and had nothing more to say.
    An hour passed, and not sound coming from the lofts, it was determined by the party on the floor to ascend and see what was up there. Upon hearing this, the Negroes became alarmed and one of them appeared at the top of the opening and threatened to brain the first man who came within his reach. This satisfied the hunters that the 'birds' had not flown. Additional precautions were now taken to prevent anyone from leaving the premises. By this time, night had set in, lanterns were procured, and several hours more wee spent in the vain attempt to persuade the Negroes to come down. A consultation was now held which resulted in sending a messenger to Harrisburg for reinforcements.
    Soon after the departure of the messenger, while Messrs. Rutherford and Potts were sitting in the house amicably discussing the slavery question, four strange Negroes arrived, two of whom went directly to the barn and the other two entered the house and sat down behind the stove. These were the [URI conductors sent to pilot the fugitives to Pottsville. Until their arrival at Mr. Rutherford's, [they] had no knowledge of the betrayal of the hiding place of their company. The guards arrested the two [blacks] that went to the barn. The two at the house were not molested, but remained quietly behind the stove until an opportunity offered of communicating with Mr. Rutherford. [He] explained the situation and advised them to slip off and collect a force large enough to intimidate the slave catchers. [The two UR conductors] soon afterwards disappeared.
    About 10:30 PM, the pro-slavery messenger arrived with two carriages and several men, prominent among whom was a character well known in Harrisburg at that time as 'Moll Rockey,' (who afterwards became a very respectable citizen and often spoke of that night's escapade as one of the things of which he had repented). Moll Rockey was a host in himself and proved a valuable acquisition to the slave catchers. For in a short time the Negroes surrendered and came down-when lo, instead of ten, there were only six. A search with lanterns and pitchforks was made in every part of the barn, but in vain. No more Negroes could be found. Among the missing [fugitives] was the 'nigger' owned by the blustering big whiskered man.
    By midnight, the search had ended and the slaveholders hurriedly took their departure. Instead of returning to Harrisburg, [however], they crossed the county to Middletown and thence to York. About an hour after their departure, a company of probably forty men, mostly colored, armed with all sorts of weapons, arrived upon the scene. They had come from Harrisburg and vicinity in two divisions over different roads, and their temper was such that had they encountered the slaveholders, a bloody battle would doubtless have been fought. Of the four slaves who escaped, two fled from the barn unobserved and secreted themselves in a neighboring cornfield until nightfall when they made their way to Mr. Abner Rutherford's barn. [There] they remained until the following night [Monday], when they were sent north in company with a third [fugitive] who had hid so deeply in the haymow that he was overlooked. The fourth, who was the father of the six sons, was in the mow at the time of the surrender. But [he] slipped down the hay hole into the stables and escaped through a cellar window, which the besiegers had not observed, and was consequently unguarded. He was never heard of afterwards [so one does not know whether he was ever caught or was successful in escaping to freedom]. So quietly was this affair conducted, that the nearest neighbors [of Rutherford] knew nothing of it until the next day.
    The hiding place of this party [of fugitive slaves] was betrayed by a mulatto named James Millwood, a waiter in Cloverly's Hotel, corner of Second Street and Market Square, when Messrs. Buchanan and Potts stopped when they came to Harrisburg [looking for the runaways]. It is a curious fact that in the majority of cases when [fugitive] slaves were captured and returned to their masters, they owed their betrayal to men of their own color. 22

    It is conceivable that other properties owned by the Rutherford family may have served as havens for fugitives given the fact that Abner, William and Samuel Rutherford all were involved in the UR. In the Paxton Presbyterian Church cemetery, the remains of four former slaves are buried: "Dinah," Lucy Lorrett and her son George and "George Washington." Dinah belonged to the Cowden family while George Lorrett, said to be the last slave in Dauphin County, belonged to the Crouch family. It was not uncommon for burial plots to be purchased for the bodies of "former slaves by those who previously owned them."23 Clearly there was a lot of antislavery and slavery activity in Paxton.
 
 

Conductors & stations on the UR: George and Jane Chester

    George Chester [d. October 17, 1859) operated a restaurant with his wife Jane Marie [d. March 19, 1884) at North Third and Market Streets, the site of today's Whitaker Center. An advertisement for the restaurant in the 1856 Harrisburg City directory reads as follows:

    Later on, the Chester restaurant moved to the site of present-day Harrisburg Hospital, 69 Chestnut Street at North Front Street. In the 1880s, the Chesters' son, David R. Chester (1835-1889], took over his family's restaurant. By then it was inside the State Capital Hotel at 305 Chestnut Street. "Pennsylvania Place," a high rise apartment building, now occupies this site. The Washington Restaurant was noted in Harrisburg where one could find abolitionist newspapers, good company, and good food. The Chesters were one of the leading African American families in 19th century Harrisburg. George Chester often wrote letters to William Lloyd Garrison's newspaper. Jane Chester or "Auntie Janie," as citizens called her, was renowned for her homemade taffy.24 Legend has it that Mrs. Chester was considered Harrisburg's principal caterer. Several of the Chesters' children made names for themselves: Thomas Morris Chester (1834-18921 lawyer, Civil War journalist for the Philadelphia Press and colored troopers recruiter, 25 His brother David was one of the first African Americans elected to the Philadelphia City Council. His obituary says he was a worker on the UR.26 For the Chesters, the UR was a family activity. A state historical marker on Harrisburg's Market Street honors T. Morris Chester and his family.27
 
 

Conductors and stations on the UR: William Pap Jones

    William "Pap" Jones was a medical doctor who practiced in his home.28 J. Howard Wert claims that "the principal station on the Underground Railroad in Harrisburg was a frame building on River Avenue near Barbara Avenue, which was occupied by a colored man known as Doctor Jones." According to S. S. Rutherford, Jones was "one of the most efficient men connected with the UR in this locality. He had acquired a thorough knowledge of the routes leading northward, and was always prepared to furnish competent guides. His large covered wagon, drawn by two horse and driven by himself in the capacity of rag merchant, was frequently to be met on the roads leading toward WilkesBarre or Pottsville." Some of the information about Dr. Jones' involvement on the UR comes from secondary sources. An obituary of Dr. Jones' wife, Mary, states that "Mrs. Jones took an active role with her husband, to aid [fugitive slaves] and give them shelter, food and rest until their pursuers turned back and the way was clear to Canada and freedom. "29 The Jones were members of Wesley Union Zion AME Church which was founded in 1829.
 
 

Conductors & stations on the UR: Harriet McClintock Marshall

    Harriet McClintock Marshall, born in Harrisburg August 14, 1840, was also a member of Wesley Union Zion AME Church. She helped with the care of runaway slaves in the old Wesley Church. She helped to feed, clothe, care for, and send them to another [Underground Railroad] station."30 Her husband was Elisha Marshall (1838-1903), 31 an escaped slave. Marshall came to Harrisburg during the Civil War when the Confederates first invaded Pennsylvania. He and Harriet McClintock were married in Wesley Union AME Zion on June 9, 1864.32 Charles Blockson contends that the Marshalls lived near Front and Calder Streets in Harrisburg.33 However, all extant city directories prove the Marshalls lived at 258 Paxtang Street and 708 East Street. The Paxtang Street address was the home of Harriet Marshall's parents, Henry and Catherine McClintock. The East Street home no longer exists; it was torn down in 1910 during the State Capitol Complex expansion project. It is not clear whether Mrs. Marshall sheltered the slaves in her home or at Wesley Union. There are no extant letters, diaries, memoirs, etc. Harriet McClintock Marshall died in 1923. Charles Blockson obtained his information on the Marshall family through an oral history interview with Juliette Marshall Harris in 1979.34 Again, Blockson does not cite any particular incident in which Mrs. Marshall assisted runaways and apart from Ms. Harris' testimony there is no collaborating eyewitness reports. Yet oral tradition, especially among members of Wesley Union AME Zion, represents Mrs. Marshall as a legendary conductor on the UR.
 
 

Conductors & stations on the UR: Joseph Cassey Bustill

    African American schoolteacher Joseph Cassey Bustill (1822-1895) was born in Philadelphia to a distinguished old Philadelphia family. Daughter Anne Bustill Smith claimed that he was only seventeen when he joined the UR, making him one of its youngest members. In the late 1850s, Joseph Bustill lived in a home on Cranberry Street and Tanner's Alley. 35 According to his daughter, "a kindly Justice of the Peace used to keep him informed as to the hunted ones; and private homes, churches, lodge rooms, halls, and the like, were at his disposal for use of the fugitives."36 Although Mrs. Smith does not name the justice of the peace who assisted her father, it could have been Judge John James Pearson (1800-1888) who was chief judge of the 12th judicial district made up of Dauphin and Lebanon counties. Below we are able to reproduce four surviving letters from Bustill to William Still in Philadelphia about the UR in Dauphin County.

Harrisburg, March 24, 1856
Friend Still:

    I suppose ere you have seen those five large and three small packages I sent by way of Reading, consisting of three men and women and children. They arrived here this morning at 8:30 [am] o'clock and left twenty minutes past three [PM]. You will please send me any information likely to prove interesting in relation to them. Lately we have formed a society here called the Fugitive Slave Society. This is our first case, and I hope it will prove entirely successful. When you write, please inform me what signs or symbol you make use of in your dispatches, and any other information in relation to operations of the UR. Our reason for sending by the Reading Road, was to gain time; it is expected the owners will be in town this afternoon and by this Road we gained five hours' time, which is a matter of much importance, and we may have occasion to use it sometime in future. In great haste.

Harrisburg, March 28, 1856
Friend Still:

    Your last [letter] came to hand in due season, and I am happy to hear of the safe arrival of those gents. I have before me the Power of Attorney of Mr. John S. Fiery, son of Mr. Henry Fiery, of Washington county, Maryland, the owner of those three men, two women and three children, who arrived in your town on the 24th or 25th of March. He graciously condescends to liberate the oldest in a year, and the remainder in proportional time, if they will come back; or to sell them their time for $1300. He is sick of the job, and is ready to make any conditions. Now, if you personally can get word to them and get them to send him a letter, in my charge, informing him of their whereabouts and prospects, I think it will be the best answer I can make to him. He will return in a week or two, to know what can be done. He offers $500 to see them. Or if you can send me word where they are, I will endeavor to write to them for his special satisfaction; or if you cannot do either, send me your latest information, for I intend to make him spend a few more dollars, and if possible get a little sicker of this bad job. Do try and send him a few bitter pills for his weak nerves and disturbed mind.

Harrisburg, May 26, 1856
Friend Still:

    I embrace the opportunity presented by the visit of our friend, John F. Williams, to drop you a few lines in relation to our future operations. The Lightning Train was put on the Road last Monday, and as the traveling season has commenced and this is the southern route for Niagara Falls, I have concluded not to send by way of Auburn, except in cases of great danger; but hereafter we will use the Lightning Train, which leaves here at 1 1 /2 and arrives in your city at 5 o'clock in the morning, and I will telegraph about 5 1/2 o'clock in the afternoon, so it may reach you before you close. These four are the only ones that have come since my last. The woman has been here some time waiting for her child and her beau, which she expects here about the first of June. If possible, please keep knowledge of her whereabouts, to enable me to inform him if he comes. I have nothing more to send you, except that John Fiery has visited us again and much to his chagrin received the information of their being in Canada.

Conductors and stations on the UR- Abraham Lewis and Dr. Lewis

    Charles Blockson mentions two other conductors of the UR in Dauphin County: Abraham Lewis and Dr. Lewis. A check of Harrisburg city directories for 1843, 1856, 1860, 1864, and 1869 reveals no Abraham Lewis or Dr. Lewis in the city. Conceivably, Blockson cites these individuals from older UR authors' work. Siebert cites a "Dr. Lewis" as a Dauphin County UR operator while Smedley cites a "Dr. Lewis" in Lewistown, Pennsylvania.44 So far we do not know whether Abraham Lewis and Dr. Lewis were distinct individuals or actually the same person. Moreover, one cannot conclude that either person was an UR conductor. This is a case of uncritically accepting legend as truth.
 

14 Untitled manuscript by Rev. Nathan Stem of Wernersville, PA, in MG 12, Antislavery Society of Dauphin County, Dauphin County Historical Society.
15 A search of the abolitionist newspapers Pennsylvania Freeman and The Liberator for this time period produced no information on this group.
15 Letter, Joseph Bustill to William Still, 24 March 1856, in Still: 43
16 Recalls Thrills of Underground Railroad," Harrisburg Evening News 25 November 1927.
17 Ronald V. Di Ninni. History of Rutherford, Pennsylvania. [Baltimore: Gateway Press Inc.,1979]: 403. Proceedings of the Harrisburg antislavery Society, January 14, 1836. MG 12, Harrisburg antislavery Society, Dauphin County Historical Society.
18 William Lloyd Garrison to his Wife, 9 August 1847. In: William Lloyd Garrison, 1805-1879. The Story of his Life told by his Children. Vol. III, 1841-1860. [New York: The Century Co., 1889): 190.
19 William Henry Egle ed. Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania Containing Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens and Many of the Early Scotch-Irish and German Settlers. (Chambersburg: J. M. Runk & Co., 1896): 1022-1023. Paxtang Borough., 50, Anniversary of the Incorporation of Paxtang Borough 1914-1964. {Paxtang, 1964].
20 On 3 November 1999, the author and Douglas Reynolds of the Bureau of Historic Preservation of the PHMC visited Paxtang and inspected the site of the Rutherford farm. Upon inspection of theneighborhood, it was determined without doubt that the barn is gone. See Morton Graham Glise; .History of Paxton Presbyterian Church 1732-1976, (Harrisburg: Paxton Presbyterian Church, 1976) cites the Samuel Rutherford barn as slave refuge.
21 Egle, Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia: 256. William Henry Egle, History of the Counties of Dauphin and Lebanonin the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: Biographical and Genealogical. (Philadelphia: Everest & Peck,1883): 595. 22 S. S. Rutherford, 'The Underground Railroad," Publications of the Historical Society of Dauphin. County. (1928): 4-7. 23 Morton Graham Glise, History of Paxton Presbyterian Church 1732-1976 urith Paxton Church Marriage Record 1901-1976 and Selected Sermons. (Harrisburg: Paxton Presbyterian Church, 1976].
24 Osler & Irvin's Harrisburg Directory for 1856 [Harrisburg: Osler & Irvin, Printers, 1856]: 56.
24 Obituary, Harrisburg Telegraph, 19 March 1894. Directory of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania ...for 1869, {Philadelphia: Sherman & Co., Printers, 1869}: 39.
25 See R. J. M. Blackett, Thomas Morris Chester: Black Civil War Correspondent: His Dispatches from the Virginia Front. [Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1989].
26 Obituary, Harrisburg Telegraph, 14 December 1889; Roger Lane. William Dorsey's Philadelphia and Ours: On the Past and Future of the Black City in America.. [New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991]: 213.
27 The T. Morris Chester historical marker was first dedicated in 1986 and rededicated in 1999.
28 Boyd's Business Directory ...Together with a General Directory of All the Habitants of Harrisburg. (Philadelphia: William H. Boyd, 1860]: 63. Rutherford: 7.
29 Obituary clipping unnamed publication, March 1887, Clipping files on African Americans, Library, Historical Society of Dauphin County.
30 Underground Railroad in Pennsylvania: 76. Wesley Union AME Zion Church. Souvenir Program of the 150th Anniversary and Dedication of Wesley Union AME Zion Church {Harrisburg: Wesley Union AME Zion Church, 1966]: 7; Robert Grant Crist, ed. Trails of Faith: Histories of Religious Groups in Cumberland and Dauphin Counties. [Harrisburg: The Council of Churches of Greater Harrisburg, 1976]: 7. Obituary, Hanzsburg Patriot, 6 July 1903: 2. The obituary is in error as it says Marshall married in 1863 rather than 1864 as the Wesley documents reveal.
31 Obituary, Harrisburg Patriot, 6 July 1903:2. Dauphin County Court Records, Register of Deaths, 1903-1904, Book G, Record 796: 199.
32 Souvenir Program of the 150th Anniversary: 7. Elisha Marshall served in the 24th regiment of the United States Colored Troops. His name isinscribed on a monument dedicated to colored soldiers in Lincoln Cemetery, Paxtang, Dauphin County. 33 Blockson, The Underground Railroad in Pennsylvania: 76. Blockson's statement aboutthe Front & Calder Streets home of Harriet Marshall has been accepted uncritically by local Harrisburgers. See Paul Beers, "Reporter At Large," Harrisburg Patriot, 26 October 1981.
34 Boyd Cousins, comp. Harrisburg City Directory, 1874-1875. [Harrisburg: Boyd Cousins, publishers, 1874]: 229. Obituary, Harrisburg Patriot, 1923. "Last Will and Testament," Dauphin County Court House Records, Will Book A, Vol. 2: 47. The will was processed on August 10, 1925. The estate was equally divided among her heirs, members of the Layton and Marshall families. Blockson, The Underground Railroad in Pennsylvania: 168. The present author does not know whether Ms. Harris is still living as of the year 2000.
35 Documenting Bustill's residence in Harrisburg is hard. He is only listed in the 1860 Harrisburg city directory at an address cited as "Cranberry Alley near Tanners alley.
36 Anna Bustill Smith, 'The Bustill Family," The Journal of Negro History 10 no. 4 (October 1925): 641. For Pearson's biography see The 20th Century Bench and Bar ofPennsylvania 2 vols. (Chicago: HC Cooper Jr.; Bro. & Co., 1903): Vol. 2: 746-747.
37 Still: 43.
38 Still: 323. See also Carter G. Woodson, "Letters of Negroes, largely personal and private," Journal of Negro History 11, no. 1 (January 1926): 80.
39 Still: 323. Woodson: 81.
40 Still: 218. Lloyd L. Brown, The Young Paul Robeson: On My Journey Now. (New York: Westview Press, 1997): 154. 41 Blockson, The Underground Railroad in Pennsylvania: 77.
42 Carter G. Woodson, 'The Bustill Family," Negro History Bulletin 11 no. 7 [April 1948]: 148. Anna Bustill Smith, 'The Bustill Family," The Journal of Negro History 10 no. 4 [October 1925]: 641.
43 Carter G. Woodson, 'The Bustill Family," Negro History Bulletin 11 no. 7 [April 1948]: 148. Anna Bustill Smith, 'The Bustill Family," The Journal of Negro History 10 no. 4 [October 1925]: 641.
44 Wilbert Henry Siebert. The Underground Railroad from slavery to freedom. [New York: Arno Press, 1968 [c. 1898]]: 432. Robert C. Smedley, History of the Underground Railroad in Chester and the Neighboring Counties of Pennsylvania. [Lancaster: Office of the Journal, 1883]: 39.