{"id":100292,"date":"2024-08-23T09:24:28","date_gmt":"2024-08-23T13:24:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=100292"},"modified":"2024-12-31T13:28:12","modified_gmt":"2024-12-31T18:28:12","slug":"lancaster-county-quaker-abolitionists-the-underground-railroad-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/lancaster-county-quaker-abolitionists-the-underground-railroad-part-2.html","title":{"rendered":"Lancaster County Quaker Abolitionists & the Underground Railroad (part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/em><\/strong> In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry writes more about some of the prominent abolitionist families who for many years acted as \u201cconductors\u201d on the Underground Railroad in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com<\/a>, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Today I continue my story of the Rakestraw-Bushong family in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, who were Quakers and abolitionists \u2013 and credited with manning Lancaster\u2019s \u201cColumbia to Christiana\u201d branch of the Underground Railroad from their homes in and around Bart Township.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration:
Illustration: \u201cA Ride for Liberty \u2013 The Fugitive Slaves,\u201d by Eastman Johnson, c. 1862. Credit: Brooklyn Museum; Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My finds in GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a> really assisted me with my research, along with the help of Lancaster County History<\/a> digital archives and a descendant, Richard B. Bushong, author of The History of the American Bushong Family<\/em>. Richard runs the Bushong Family Tree United<\/a> official webpage.<\/p>\n

Another treasure trove connected to the family was a large photo card album entitled \u201cFreed Slaves & Abolitionist Family Album\u201d (Lot 0323), which sold for $19,680 at Fleischer\u2019s Auctions\u2019 \u201cCivil War & African American History Collection\u201d on 5 August 2023.<\/p>\n

This album contains photo cards that date to the Civil War era with original photographs of two freed slaves as well as photographs of various members of the Henry Bushong family.<\/p>\n

According to its provenance, this photo album was originally presented to Dr. Charles Henry Bushong (1855-1913) by his grandfather Henry Bushong (1783-1870), who fathered many children with his first wife Sarah Gilbert (1787-1831), daughter of Jesse and Sarah (Harding) Gilbert. He had one additional son, Gilbert Bushong (1836-1911), with his second wife Esther Valentine (1799-1867), daughter of John and Mary (Taylor) Valentine.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: Esther (Valentine) and Henry Bushong. Credit: Bushong Family Tree United.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Charles Henry Bushong was born to Gilbert and Edith Kinsey (Paxson) Bushong. Gilbert is the son of Henry and Esther (Valentine) Bushong. Edith is the daughter of Elwood H. and Elizabeth Moore (White) Paxson.<\/p>\n

\"Photos:
Photos: (left to right) Gibert Bushong; Edith Kinsley (Paxon) Bushong; and their son Charles Henry Bushong. Credit: Bushong Family Tree United.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What I found on Charles Henry Bushong was very interesting; perhaps the most significant discovery was his role in the formation of a spiritual organization in 1900. It was a branch of the Hicksite sect, founded by Elias Hicks of Long Island in 1828.<\/p>\n

One of the six members to join Bushong\u2019s new sect was Robert Clemens Smedley, author of the \u201cHistory of the Underground Railroad in Chester and the Neighboring Counties of Pennsylvania<\/a>,\u201d which includes the Bushong\u2019s role.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Denver Post (Denver, Colorado), 22 January 1900, page 7<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article reports:<\/p>\n

A Quaker or Friends\u2019 church of the Hicksite branch was organized yesterday in the office of Dr. Charles H. Bushong, 1427 Stout Street, and another denomination to the many that are established in Denver has been added. The church starts with only six members, and in respect of numbers is probably as small as any church in the country. The members are:<\/p>\n

Dr. C. H. Bushong, New York; John C. Carpenter and wife, Ohio; John T. Plummer and wife, Illinois; William Malone and mother, Indiana; Miss Ellen Price, Philadelphia; Professor Robert C. Smedley (School of Medicine, Denver University), Blackburn, Philadelphia.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To recap: My last story covered a few members of the Bushong family, including Quaker and abolitionist author Abraham Rakestraw and his wife Lydia (Bushong) Rakestraw, daughter of Henry Bushong and his first wife Sarah (Gilbert) Bushong. (See: Part 1<\/a>)<\/p>\n

In addition, I introduced Jacob Bushong (1813-1880), a son born to Henry and Sarah who played a major role in aiding the underground railroad. He married Margaret Hobson (1818-1902).<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: Jacob and Margaret (Hobson) Bushong. Credit: Bushong Family Tree United.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Below is another photo of Jacob Bushong with his son, Edwin Bushong, and his nephew, Emmor B. Morrison, the son of his sister Caroline and her husband, Joseph P. Morrison.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: Jacob Bushong with his son, Edwin Bushong, and his nephew, Emmor B. Morrison. Credit Bushong Family Tree United.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jacob Bushong had taken in William Wallace, an enslaved man who escaped and came to Bart Township in Lancaster County, and found work with Jacob in 1835.<\/p>\n

The full story of Jacob and William can be found in the article \u201cThe Underground Railroad,\u201d authored by Marianna Gibbons Brubaker in the Journal of the Lancaster County Historical Society<\/em>, Volume 15, number 4, in 1911.<\/p>\n

Jacob and William were working in the barn one day when a party of slave holders showed up. They took William\u2019s wife and their two children, also the wife of another man who had escaped at the same time with Wallace, and held them in the Lancaster jail.<\/p>\n

Daniel Gibbons<\/a> helped them to escape. His father Joseph Gibbons along with Thomas Peart brought them to the next station on the Underground Railroad and they went on to freedom.<\/p>\n

Two other freed men whom the Bushong family helped were Green Staunton and Moses Johnson. Both men had been sold to go far South, and, having been lodged temporarily at the jail at Frederick, Maryland, broke out. They found their way to Daniel Gibbons.<\/p>\n

In 1835 Staunton came to live with Jacob Bushong and slaveholders found him two years later. They bound and gagged Staunton and took him to the Lancaster jail.<\/p>\n

Henry and Jacob Bushong decided to buy Staunton from his captors. They paid $675 and Staunton was liberated and departed for Canada.<\/p>\n

The other man, Moses Johnson, was also bought, for $400. He purchased a small farm and good buildings.<\/p>\n

The two photos below from the \u201cFreed Slaves & Abolitionist Family Album\u201d are not identified but are labeled as follows.<\/p>\n

First photo: \u201c[Freed slave] stayed on the farm of Henry Bushong.\u201d This may be a photo of Green Staunton or Moses Johnson.<\/p>\n

The second photo features a seated woman and marked to a photographer in Port Deposit, Missouri. An ink notation on the mount below the photo reads: \u201cBushong\u2019s parents kept this escaped slave after the Civil War \u2013 in the West Grove area.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Photos:
Photos: freed slaves. Credit: Fleischer\u2019s Auctions, \u201cCivil War & African American History Collection,\u201d Lot 0323, 5 August 2023.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Explore over 330 years of newspapers and historical records in GenealogyBank. Discover your family story! Start a 7-Day Free Trial<\/a><\/p>\n

Note on the header image:<\/em><\/strong> Harriet Tubman was the most famous conductor of the Unground Railroad who worked with Quaker abolitionists in Pennsylvania. Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison called her \u201cMoses.\u201d Photo: traveling exhibition for Harriet Tubman, \u201cThe Journey to Freedom,\u201d on exhibit at Philadelphia City Hall, Pennsylvania. Credit: Wofford Sculpture Studio, LLC.<\/p>\n

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