{"id":82543,"date":"2022-01-18T11:16:56","date_gmt":"2022-01-18T16:16:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=82543"},"modified":"2024-04-24T14:26:42","modified_gmt":"2024-04-24T18:26:42","slug":"brave-abolitionists-on-new-englands-underground-railroad-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/brave-abolitionists-on-new-englands-underground-railroad-part-ii.html","title":{"rendered":"Brave Abolitionists on New England\u2019s Underground Railroad, Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/em><\/strong> In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry continues her story about two brothers, William and Francis Jackson, who helped fugitive slaves on the Underground Railroad in Massachusetts. Melissa is a genealogist who has a blog, <\/em>AnceStory Archives<\/em><\/a>, and a Facebook group, <\/em>New England Family Genealogy and History<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

I continue with my story on the Underground Railroad \u2013 a flourishing system of routes, safe houses and sympathizers in the 19th<\/sup> century that helped slaves escape the South and head north to free states and Canada.<\/p>\n

You can find a goldmine of stories on the Underground Railroad in a collection of old newspapers, such as GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a>. \u00a0A Boston Herald<\/em> article published in 1971 featured New England families who helped run the Underground Railroad and pave a way to freedom for escaped slaves.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Boston Herald (Boston, Massachusetts), 3 March 1971, page 31<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Massachusetts brothers Francis and William Jackson opened their homes on Hollis Street, Boston, and 527 Washington Street, Newton, to fugitive slaves, and raised funds for their journey to freedom. Francis\u2019 records and letters are online at Digital Commonwealth<\/a> and other online archives.<\/p>\n

William Jackson had a large family, and many of his children inherited his ardent anti-slavery views and became very active in the struggle to end human bondage.<\/p>\n

One daughter, Ellen Dorinda Jackson, kept a record of events at the house, and his granddaughter, Louise Jackson Keith, preserved oral lore. Ellen published Annals from the Old Homestead<\/em>, and additional written accounts are preserved at the Newton History Museum, formerly her family home.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
Photo: the cellar of the Jackson Homestead in Newton, Massachusetts; fugitive slaves were hidden in the dry well when danger approached the house. Courtesy of the Newton History Museum.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to the Boston Herald<\/em> article:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe slaves would be kept in a cellar room [in the William Jackson home] while, often, a group of Newton women would be gathered upstairs sewing clothes for the current and future fugitives. If there was an alarm the fugitive would be dropped in a fieldstone-built well, about the size of a barrel. Boards would be placed over the opening and vegetables piled on top as thought that section of the basement was a cooling closet.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn one occasion, it has been said, a mother and her child were hidden in the well during a search. The baby began to cry when the opening was boarded over. Fortunately, five of the youngest Jackson children were in a nursery right above the hiding place.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey began to cry when the baby did. The squalling of five children successfully masked the cries of the fugitive baby, who later was sent on to Canada with her mother.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The risks undertaken were considerable, since providing this kind of aid was dangerous work: fugitive slave laws made it illegal to provide support to escaped slaves. The Boston Herald<\/em> article also provided these details:<\/p>\n

\u201cShe [William Jackson\u2019s daughter Ellen, in her diary] said her father would be awakened by pebbles tossed against his window, and would hide the fugitive or fugitives through the night or as long as was necessary before transporting them 15 miles to the next [Underground Railroad] station, possibly in Sudbury.<\/p>\n

\u201cJackson undoubtedly received fugitives from his brother [Francis] in Boston and, possibly, from such other abolitionists as Ellis Gray Loring and Lewis Tappan [who married William\u2019s daughter Sarah Jackson], both of whom lived in Brookline.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: the William Jackson family, 1846, from a daguerreotype by Whipple of Boston. Standing (from L to R): Caroline Bennett Jackson, 1819-1906, age 27; Lucretia Jackson, 1812-1848, age 34; Cornelia Wiswell Jackson, 1836-1903, age 9; Edward Jackson, 1827-1882, age 19; Ellen Dorinda Jackson, 1825-1882, age 19; Frances Elisabeth Jackson 1829-1868, age 17; Mary Bennett Jackson, 1823-1905, age 23; Sitting (from L to R): Marion Jackson, 1809-1868, age 37; Sarah Jackson, 1807-1884, age 39; Stephen Winchester Dana Jackson, 1834-1889, age 12; William Jackson, 1783-1855, age 63; Mary Bennett Jackson, 1792-1867, age 54; William Ward Jackson, 1831-1881, age 15; Timothy Jackson, 1811-1870, age 35; Louis Jackson, 1816-1853, age 30. Courtesy of the Jackson Homestead Archives, for \u201cThe Jackson Homestead — Station on the Underground Railroad,\u201d Newton Historical Society, Newton, Massachusetts.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Alice Fanny Jackson, in Three Hundred Years American; The Epic of a Family from Seventeenth-Century New England to Twentieth-Century Midwest<\/em>, describes a visit to the William Jackson home (which was in the family for 10 successive generations) when she dined with Louise Jackson Keith, who was the current occupant.<\/p>\n

\u201cMrs. Louise (Jackson) Keith invited us to dinner, showed us family portraits, the genealogical tree drawn by Francis Jackson, and other heirlooms. In the cellar we saw the old dry well, once Edward\u2019s \u2018pure water well\u2019 and long afterward a station of the underground railway for fugitive slaves.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: page 374 from Alice Fanny Jackson\u2019s \u201cThree Hundred Years American; The Epic of a Family from Seventeenth-Century New England to Twentieth-Century Midwest.\u201d Credit: Google Books.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Stay tuned for more!<\/p>\n

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